Trip to the Football Hall of Fame

Matt and his brother, Brian, took Andrew and Luke to the Football Hall of Fame in Canton. This was their second time to go. They were very excited to see a display dedicated to Peyton Manning and Kurt Warner who are two of their favorite players. The boys are currently so into football (but that is nothing new) and Andrew's favorite pasttime is watching Sports Center. We are still mourning the Cardinals loss last week. We were really hoping to see Warner bring home another Superbowl win. Now we will root for the Colts to go all the way!

Ice Skating in downtown Akron

The kids had off of school for MLK day so I deicided to take them ice skating downtown. Andrew and Luke hadn't been in 5 years! Brooke had never been. What I remember about our first experience was that Luke was more comfortable on the ice and Andrew was more cautious. Well nothing had changed in 5 years! Luke went out there with no hesitation while Andrew clung to the wall for a while. Brooke clung to the wall and me for the first few minutes and then was brave enough to let go and didn't mind falling. The skates we rented were the WORST ones I have ever used. They were like ski boots with blades. We had a great time though and finished off the outing with lunch at the Spagetti Factory down the street.

Snow Day!

First snow day of the year! The kids had fun building forts and playing with Ryan and Ben. Brooke and her cronies (Meghan and Elena) all looked like big pink fluffs of cotton candy playing in the snow. Top off the afternoon with hot chocolate - ahhh perfect!

Visit with Missouri Bendicks

Brian, Abby, Amelia (5), and Anne Marie (1) came up from St. Louis for the weekend. Matt and Brian took the girls sledding one day before Brooke went to school. Then we went up to Sandusky and stayed at Castaway Bay (which is an indoor water park/hotel) for the night. The kids had a great time and I loved watching the sheer joy on their faces when a ginormous bucket dumped hundreds of gallons of water on their heads! Also notice the boys' "potty" pictures. They thought that was hilarious. Unfortunately, I had laryngitis which is not convenient when you are in an enclosed exceptionally loud water park! We had fun on the slides and deciphering the many tattoos we saw displayed there. Why is is that people with multiple tattoos like to frequent water parks? Is is that they are in a bathing suit and like to show off their body art. You would have thought there was a tattoo convention going on. This led me to give my children the "no tattoos ever" speech. By the way, Leviticus states we are not to tattoo our bodies!

Christmas 2009

My parents came in from TX for the 4th year in a row for Christmas. We LOVE having them here and we always have so much fun doing all of the normal Christmassy things we do each year. They are always such troupers arising at the wee hours Christmas morning as three eager little children are rushing them to put their robes on, hurry up in the bathroom, and demand that absolutely no coffee be poured until they check out their loot. This year it was Peyton and Eli Manning jerseys, Playmobil, football, Wii games, American girl doll bed, and a jewelry box. My Uncle Steve and Aunt Cindy came up from PA the day after Christmas and shared some time with us. It is wonderful to be with family!

Youth Christmas Party

We hosted the Annual Montrose Zion United Methodist Youth Christmas Party. We had such a great time as 30 teenagers invaded our house. I thought it would be a great idea to go caroling in the neighborhood. Sounds nice, festive, and easy, right? Wrong! Caroling is harder than you would think. Perhaps it had something to do with managing a crown of 40 to not make too much of a scene as we went from house to house. After the third house we decided to give up. Luckily none of my neighbors filed any complaints! We had the ugliest Christmas sweater contest again and the white elephant gift exchange. However, the gifts they brought were so horribly lame that no one wanted to steal anything!

Thanksgiving in St. Louis

We had a wonderful time in St. Louis as usual spending time with Matt's family. We took a trip to the zoo and took our usual hike in Rockwood Reservation. The highlight for the boys was playing on the Wii with Uncle Mike. Even though we have one at home for some reason it is much more fun there. Brooke loved being with all of the girls. We say goodbye to her when we arrive at the door because we don't see much of her as she is busy with her cousins. We then reunite with her when we leave! This has been the pattern during our last few visits.