Movie

We decided on a whim tonight to take the kids to a movie, that's right I said kids-plural! Drake has been going to see occasional movies at the theatre since he was about 2 1/2, but I would have never dreamed of taking him at 18 months. But, we thought, hey let's try it! So, after a yummy dinner, we headed out to see The Tale of Despereaux. And to my shock, Hadley sat on my lap through the WHOLE movie. There were occasional comments like kitty, uh-oh or Bible (when she saw a big book), but she contently sat, ate a cookie, drank some milk and had a sucker during the 1 1/2 hour movie. She's a keeper!

Christmas, Christmas and more Christmas!

We have had a wonderful time celebrating Christmas with lots of family, lots of food, and lots of fun! Our Christmas week started on Tuesday, the 23rd with the arrival of Uncle Eric and (HIS FIANCE!!) Sarah in the afternoon along with Uncle Bart, Aunt Kara, Zane and Annabeth a little later in the afternoon. After a delish dinner at our house, the madness ensued as the boys rough housed and the girls sat quietly watching. Kara and I headed out after dinner and clean up was done to pick up a few last minute details for Christmas and enjoy some leisurely walking of the aisles without one whine! After the kids all hit the sack, we stayed up sipping some decaf coffee and munching away on this amazing caramel chex mix that Sarah taught us how to make! On the 24th, the kids got to play with some new sparkly playdough that Aunt Kara made just for a winter treat!

After some yummy frozen pizza for lunch, Gabe took off for work and the little ones went down for a nap. Shortly after that, Nana and Papa arrived and B,K,Z,A all took off for Lincoln to stay at Grammy's for the rest of the week. We had a nice time at Christmas Eve service that evening and staying up to visit late into the evening. On Chrismas Day, I was up SO early- so unlike me! I woke up about 6:00 and couldn't get back to sleep, so I made some yummo breakfast, got all the presents out and ready to go and then just sipped my coffee and ate my breakfast in silence- it was great! Once the kids were up we let them open the presents from us.




Uncle Josh, Aunt Jacki and Joel arrived just before a fine lunch of fried turkey and lots of other yummy food. Then we let the kids take naps before the present madness. The kids had a great time ripping open packages and the present that was the biggest hit for the little ones was the animal crackers!

A fun time was had by all. We all stayed up long after the kids went to bed discussing our upcoming vacation together this spring. I wish the kids would catch on to the whole sleeping in when your parents stay up late, but that hasn't happened yet. On the 26th, we got to have a yummy brunch, courtesy of Nana and then stayed in our jammies a better part of the day until it was time to pack up and head to Lincoln for Chrismas with Grammy.

We had another yummy meal in Lincoln, sang "Happy Birthday" to Jesus, the boys ate some birthday cake and the present madness began once again. The kids really did a pretty good job waiting their turn for presents. Gabe, unfortunately ended up getting sick this day and the next so he missed out on all of the visiting and wedding planning for Eric and Sarah's upcoming big day! We headed home on the 27th and concluded Christmas 2008. It was so great to spend time with family and we feel very blessed to have such great families.

Prayer

When: bedtime
Where: Drake's bed
Who:Drake and the Big Guy upstairs

"Dear God,
Please help the boo-boo on my arm feel better and please help me not get a hole in my new shirt. And thank you that we can bless the King- that would be you. And thank you that Jesus died for our sins on the cross. And thank you that we can bless God at church. Amen."

18 months

Hadley is officially 18 months, as of yesterday. We went today for her check-up and she checked out A-OK! She was in the 90% for both height and weight and she's got a big 'ol noggin in the 97%! She weighed in at 27 lbs 10 oz. and is 33 inches tall. She's saying lots of words now including mommy, daddy, bubby (Drake), Hadley, pretty, bye-bye, "NO!", mine, papa, nanny, puppy, kitty, blue, purple, Elmo, go, see, "NO!", baby, toes, yummy, apple, Bible, pray, Joel, "NO!", gus-gus (when she wants to watch Cinderella), juice, please, more, ta-da, "NO!", yeah (for yes), pillow, nigh-night, and Wall-E. There might be a few more I can't think of off the top of my head.

Coffee Date

Drake has been asking for at least a month to go on a coffee date with me. So, since we had no plans on Sunday evening and Hadley and I had been gone most of the weekend, I thought it was the perfect night. So, Drake and I first headed to Target and browsed the toy aisle slowly, checking out each toy that sparked his interest. We ended up leaving with a Cars wallet from the dollar spot. And we topped the night off at Starbucks with a Decaf Caramel Latte for me and a Caramel Apple Spice for him. It's fun to have a 4 year old that wants to go on a date with his mom.

Fingernails and a Baby

Hadley had two "firsts" this weekend! She got her fingernails painted by Grandma Sugar and got to go to her first baby shower. Hadley and I headed down to southern Illinois on Friday afternoon with Nana. Hadley was a great traveler considering the long drive. Friday night we got there in time for her to show off a few of her tricks to Grandma and Grandpa Sugar (which include finishing the line of this song: l, m, n, o... and Hadley finishes it with "P!", answering the question: how old are you? with the answer "2", while holding up one finger. I guess when June hits, she'll be ready.) After some muffin tops for breakfast on Saturday morning, Hadley got her fingernails painted red before getting ready to head to her first baby shower for cousin Liz. Hadley was a little on the crabby side upon arriving at the shower and was not really interested in performing for the crowd gathered. Soon, she warmed up though, and we ended the time down south with a sweet kiss for Baby Casey. (excuse the crazy, i just woke up hair!)

Museum

Last week we took a trip over to the Children's Museum, where we met up with our "old" next door neighbors. Drake sure misses these kids! We had a great time, spending 3 hours, with the museum all to ourselves!! It was great, the kids got to play and have a wonderful time and it's always fun to visit with people you haven't seen in awhile. I wish I had one of these museums in my backyard, it is so cool! Here are some shots from our fun afternoon...

Decorate

We're on our way to being decked out for the Holidays. After we rearranged the living room and Gabe spent a good portion of the afternoon re-routing the cable to the new TV location, we put up the tree while Hadley snoozed and then decorated it later when everyone could "help". I have been pleasantly surprised at how little Hadley bothers the tree. We just love to have the glow of the Christmas lights in the evening and we really like the new arrangement in the living room. Even though I'm not a fan of the cold weather this season brings, I do love the warmth of Christmas decorations.

Lots of Thanks

We had the opportunity to give lots of thanks last week. We left on Monday evening and headed down to southern Illinois where we were thankful with Gabe's family. The kids also got to have their Christmas with their great-grandparents. Grandma Sugar was a big hit! Hadley got a stroller that she LOVES and Drake has watched his new movie about a million times.


On Wednesday, after a superb lunch, we headed to northern Indiana (after a LONG but surprisingly pleasant car ride!) to be thankful with my extended family. Every year, this celebration grows as the cousins' families grow. This year, there were 8 children 4 years and under. The kids did amazingly well playing together and went to bed nicely so all of the adults could stay up and play Pictionary until way too late and laugh until our bellies hurt! We are so thankful for our wonderful families!