New York City

We took a family day trip to New York City this past weekend to visit a very good friend of mine/cousin of Steve. Julia and Michael took us around the city with their beautiful son Liam and we had so much fun! We decided against touring the Statue of Liberty due to the cold temperature but thankfully the kids saw her as we crossed a bridge and they were very happy with that. We got to Julia's place in the morning (we woke up very early) and had some yummy coffee and then off to the subways. What fun the subways are to kids. This was one picture where they were sitting on their bottoms, they were usually on their knees staring out the windows.

 Lydia was a little scared of this statue so she opted to skip the picture:)

I was really excited to take the kids to this Off Broadway play of The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe that Julia directed. It was great! Lydia said it was her favorite part of the day! I have wanted to see it for a couple years now and finally the kids were old enough..Thank you Julia!

Walking Manhattan on our way to lunch, I forget the name of the place we ate but it was located in the New York Times building which was pretty neat. You can't really fully enjoy walking downtown New York City with 2 kids but it was still fun:)

We toured the Transit Museum which was great. If you had time to read everything I bet you would have learned a great deal of the hows and whys of the subway system, but...Daddy and I enjoyed looking at the old subways and the kids enjoyed climbing in them and running through them. Nathan's highlight of the day was "driving" the bus:) He was a very focused driver...focused on all the gadgets that is.

So after the Museum we were exhausted and we hopped on the real subway and headed back to Julia and Michael's home. The adults just relaxed and chatted while the kids relaxed and watched video's. This was my highlight:) I love chatting with my old roommate and miss her dearly. It was so good to be with her.

Finishing up the evening, Steve's other cousin and his wife came over to have some Pizza with us and it was really nice to see them again also. And then we said our goodbye's, I especially said a goodbye to Julia's dog that we shared for a year before I was married. Poor Tally is 14 years old now, never know if I will see her again, sweet dog. We got in the car and started our drive...30 minutes into the drive Lydia gets car sick..the only downer of the day!

Thank you Julia and Michael for having us and giving up your day to share with us!

Celebrating Our First Ship (Nathan)

We celebrated Nathan's 5th adoption day and had his cousin with us for the celebration. We took the kids bowling for the first time. Lydia tried to throw the ball and it totally flopped and she refused to play any more but still totally enjoyed her self, helping everyone get their balls, cheering for us and looking at the arcade games. Nathan, in true Nathan form had to try to throw the ball the correct way the whole time and actually did really well. And Will added a great mix to the table, we loved hanging out with him for the night. We all had a great time!

Snow Ice Cream!

I got the idea from someone on Facebook. It was very simple and tasted pretty yummy as well! I was impressed. Made mine with half stevia and half sugar, low fat milk. http://www.gimmesomeoven.com/how-to-make-snow-ice-cream-recipe/

Seven

This bundle of energy is seven today! How we love his excitement and energy he presents all the time. He loves being silly and is always ready for any kind of activity especially if it involves outside no matter what the weather is. He is full of life, ready to be seven for a whole year even when his Mom told him last night that she was sad he would never be six again...Didn't sway him at all:) We love you Nathan and are praying that you would see more and more how much Jesus loves you and that it will effect your heart and draw you to our Savior.

Love this picture with his excitement so visible and Lydia's excitement for her brother. Thankful Gramma, Papa and Great Gramma were able to come via FaceTime:) and Grammy and Poppy came braving our sick home. It was a perfect birthday party for our Nathan!

 Loves Legos

 Loves his Under Armour. He opened the box and immediately took his shirt of and put his gift on.

Crazy Hair Night

Awana had crazy hair night again and I was a little stumped with how I was going to make Lydia's hair crazy, but then I remembered a Library book we happened upon the other week:

Such a cute story about a little girl with hair like Lydi's...so Lydia became Franny for a night:)

And here they both are, all hyper for Awana!

Lego Mania

In the past couple months Nathan has took on a new love for all things Lego. We have been amazed at some of his creations he makes by himself. He will spend hours each day creating and playing with things, we have been very surprised with his attention he gives to this new toy. Are not these great!

And Gramma, do you recognize their favorite play station:)

Favorite Christmas Pictures

Nathan's favorite, Prince Caspian outfit.

 Lydia's Favorite, Frozen playset

 My Favorite:)

Who Needs Sleds!

We have had much sled riding fun already this past December. But this particular day we didn't need sleds:) Sled riding is getting easier as the kids grow up too...we don't have to carry anyone back up the hill this year!

Olaf

Do You Want To Build A Snowman? After watching Frozen these two kiddos really wanted to build Olaf and finally the snow was right and we were able to:)

Christmas Preparation

This year we had really great family time in the month of December. It seemed like we could do more things with the kids this year. Which makes sense I guess since they are growing up, but sometimes as parents it seems like it will never come:) We made cookies together and baked breads and decorated the tree and made gingerbread houses, we saw light shows and went to a Christmas village and shopped, you know, the things families do but this year we actually enjoyed doing them:) Thank you Lord for great family memories!

Grandparents Day

We celebrated grandparents day in November I believe (way behind in my posts). The kids really enjoyed showing them their schoolwork and having them help with their schoolwork instead of their regular teacher:) During the month of November we learned about the Pilgrims, their journey and their hard life here in America. We made corn pones and then had our homemade butter with tea. And we played a Thanksgiving bingo.