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.

Brooke's 6th Birthday

We celebrated Brooke's birthday with doughnuts in the morning and then she picked Steak and Shake for dinner (2nd year in a row). She had her party at Build a Bear and because she only has 15 kids in her whole class, she was able to invite all of the girls from her class. She had a GREAT time and I will have to say that girl parties are MUCH calmer than boy parties!

Halloween

Andrew was Albert Pujols, Luke was a ninja, and Brooke was a cat. We began the evening with the annual neighborhood parade and firetruck visit. Notice that Brooke and her two best friends were all cats! Every year we have lived here we have the perfect Halloween weather for trick or treating. Once again it was a cool, crisp fall evening. Andrew, who has never loved dressing up finally had no costume dilemmas this year. He felt very comfortable in his baseball clothes. I wish he would have gone as a baseball player the past ten years! It would have saved us a lot of grief! Luke, however, had costume woes as his ninja ties weren't in the proper place on his arms and legs. Luke takes his role playing VERY seriously! Brooke, who usually gets tired after a few houses, was on fire and could have trick or treated all night. She was thrilled with the obscene amount of candy she got, but the funny thing is she has hardly eaten any of it!

More hiking in the fall

We couldn't get enough of the beautiful fall hiking this year. We are trying to earn our 4th badge in the fall hiking spree.