Visit with the Egberts

We couldn't stay the night in Cincinnati and not stop into our friend's, the Egberts, house for a visit! The kids had a blast playing together, and we had a nice visit, too! Joe and Josh played with Josh's Christmas present, a remote control helicopter, and the girls played with Krissy's new present, a Krupp espresso machine! I think Krissy had the mochas down, just about perfectly by the 3rd try - just in time to fill up our mugs before we headed back home. Thanks, guys, for your hospitality!!I was having fun with my new camera, too - but by the trip home that evening, my boys had had enough of it!!! "Stop DOING THAT!!!" they kept saying... :-)

Mini-Vacation to Cincinnati

Our good friend, Annie, was in town (her hometown of Cincinnati) over Christmas break on "home leave" from Japan. She has been over there for over a year, and won't be returning until June. So needless to say, we were very excited to meet up with her and spend the day together! We spent some of the day at the Cincinnati Children's Museum, and the boys had a blast. Annie was such a trooper, she carried everyone's jackets for us the entire time, and followed us around as we chased the kids!

First bit of fun - the escalators!!!
Next up - the balls with chutes to put them in, air to blow them with, and baskets to throw them in... (I'm sure there's a cute name for it like "Discovery Zone" or something...)
Fun with water in the Splash Zone!
We wrapped up in the treehouse fun area. Can you tell I asked (no, begged) the boys to pose for one picture before they ran off???
They went right to the top, and Dillon was so kindly holding Owen's hand, telling him it was going to be okay. They started through the rope tunnel...When O was about halfway through, he got spooked, and turned back... When we got to our hotel, the boys had a blast riding on the luggage cart - next to jumping on the beds, one of the best parts!
Thank you so much, Miss Annie, we had a wonderful time!!!

Post Christmas

My parents came over the day after Christmas, because the previous two days were too crazy to fit in one more gathering! The kids loved their gifts that Grandma and PawPaw got for them, and we all had a well-deserved, restful day.
The following day, Grammy and Poppy came over - they just couldn't get enough! We had a wonderful meal together and a great memory. Wish we would do that more often...

On to P-burg...

After a nice dinner at Grandma Betty's, we loaded up into the van, and headed down to Perrysburg to visit with my dad's parents for a bit. I remember Christmases over there when I was young - there were so many people in the house, you could barely walk from room to room. Usually us kids just hung out in the back room and watched TV. This year, my parents and we were the only visitors they had on Christmas Day. I hope that what short bit we were able to visit was enough to lift their spirits, though - I'm sure seeing the boys, so FULL of energy and enthusiasm, made their day. And of course, we didn't leave empty handed - we left with about 10 lbs. of Christmas cookies - they make them every year, and this year did not disappoint! Sugar cookies, snickerdoodles, Russian tea cookies, French cookies, tarts (made just for Joe), fudge, we got it all... Makes me wish Christmas came around twice a year! Thank you, Grandma and Grandpa, we love you more than you know!!!

Road Trip

After we were all dressed, we packed some PB&J sandwiches, apples, and chips, and off we went - 2-1/4 hrs. up the road to Grandma Betty's house. The whole family was there - I can't remember when the last time everyone was together at once, it was really nice. The boys had fun playing with my Uncle Jim's old toys, their new 40-pc socket set, Uncle Matt, and I had fun playing with my camera! ;-)

Christmas Morning

After staying up until 1:30AM putting the boys' new trampoline together, we were totally expecting the kids to come in at 6AM, ready to go downstairs. Surprisingly, Dillon didn't get up until 7:30, and somehow forgot (or didn't realize) that it was Christmas morning. It was easy to keep him in our room while Joe went down to make coffee, set up the camcorder and do all the prep-work that goes into Christmas morning! He played with his new car, while I played with my new camera!Owen got up, came in the room, did remember it was Christmas morning, and was ready to go downstairs! So off we went..Hooray!!! Santa came!!! There's presents in our stockings!!!
Yay! Yay!!!!! Look at all the presents!!! We had a very nice morning, and the boys were loving every second of it. Okay, shower, dressed, off we go up to Toledo...

Christmas Eve

Ah, the rush of Christmas begins... Our Christmas Eve was spent at the Gilkerson's house for lunch and afternoon snack... The kids were spoiled by their grandparents and uncle, and loved every minute of it. We had a nice visit, but wish we could have stayed longer - we had to leave to make it back to our church's 5:30 Children's service.(Poor photo quality b/c my point-and-shoot was acting up, so I could only use it when I used the manual settings, and I had NO idea what I was doing!)

After the service, we came back to the house and decorated Jesus' birthday cake, sang Happy Birthday, and had a deliciously yummy bedtime snack! Baths and bed, and get ready for another hectic day...