Bowling!!

On Christmas eve, we went bowling with our friends. To say that it was embarrassment on my part is an understatement!! I don't think that I have bowled this bad in years!!! I guess that it just means that we need to go more often so that I can get my game back!!!! Geoff on the other hand, did amazing!! Macie had a good time and was really fun to watch. She was sooo excited about each and every ball she threw. Even if she only 1 or 2 pins down. So stinking cute!! Addie had fun just watching and eating treats!

Geoff taking his turn.I asked Addie if she wanted a turn and she said yes. So here we are ready to give her a turn, only to get up there and then she chickens out and decides that she would rather watch.Addie watching.

This is a video of Macie bowling!! LOVE it!!!

"Feed Me!!"

The other night during dinner Macie was having a really hard time focusing and eating her meal. The rest of us were all done eating and she had only had 2 bites. (She was too busy talking the rest of the time!!) So we all had left the table and she was still there, by herself :( eating. She started asking Geoff and I to come and feed her, which of coarse we said no to. We are trying to teach her a lesson here after all. .....In the meantime, I am in the kitchen doing dishes and Addie is crying at my feet for me to hold her, so I tell her to go and feed Macie her dinner just to try and get her out of the kitchen for a few minutes so I could finish.
Next thing I know, Geoff is telling me to come and see what the girls are doing. Addie had pushed her chair closer to Macie and climbed in and started feeding her. What a good little sister Macie has. The best part is that they both stopped crying and started laughing!! "Say AHHH, Bacie"Addie feeding Macie. They thought that this was soooo funny!! And so did we!!!

Addie food

Addie lately has done some pretty funny things when it comes to food. Here are a few that I have caught on camera.

The first couple of pictures she was helping me with dinner and kept telling me that she wanted some cheese which was sitting out on the counter. Well, I hadn't gotten that far yet and was busy cooking when I turn around to see her taking bites out of the huge block of cheese. Disgusting!! But hey, she was happy and enjoying it so who am I to argue?!

Here she is taking a bite.Showing me the cheese.

The next few are from when she was eating lunch one day and wanted some more chicken nuggets. So while I was cooking her some more, I came into the dining room to check on her and this is what I found her doing.....

Licking her plate clean of all of the extra ranch dressing that was on it. Gross again!!! But hey, this girl LOVES her ranch and can't get enough of it!!Licking it clean.Trying to get more!! Just look at that devious face!!

Cruise

A couple of weeks ago Geoff and I were able to go on a cruise. It was an early graduation present for Geoff. Geoff's parents were nice enough to fly out and take care of the girls for us while we were gone. Thanks!!! We had a great time. It was nice to go on a trip just the two of us. It is something that we have never done and talked about doing all of time. So, we bit the bullet and we went. It was a 5 day cruise with stops in Grand Caymen and Cozumel, Mexico.

The weather was supposed to be great! Right?! Not so!!! We packed for summer and brought only one jacket and one pair of pants. Well, we ended up wearing that jacket and pair of pants almost the entire time. The first night on the boat there was crazy big waves. The boat was rocking so much that I woke up in the middle of the night thinking that we were going to die!!! Seriously!!! There was a drawer in our room that everytime the boat rocked back and forth it would open and close-that's how bad it was. I seriously laid there and just prayed that we would make it through the night. Geoff got sick the next morning and just laid in bed to try and sleep it off. He was feeling better by the afternoon, but the boat had stopped moving so much. The weather the next few days was about the same, cold and windy and crappy. So, we didn't do as much sun bathing as we had hoped, but still had a good time with no kids. On Tuesday we were supposed to dock in Grand Caymen. Our boat got almost all of the way there, only to find out that the weather was to crappy for us to dock and they wouldn't let us in, so we got to turn around and head to Cozumel instead. Wednesday in Cozumel was a pretty good day. We were at least able to hit the beach and swim and snorkel a little bit. Thursday was by far the best day. The sun finally decided to shine and we were warm and finally got to wear our shorts. Because of everything that happened, I don't know that we would choose to go on a cruise again, although we did have a pretty good time, just not quite what we were expecting. Here are some pics. Here we are at the airport.In Cozumel in front of our boat.The boat.What we were doing almost the whole time on the boat. If we were on the deck, we were all covered up because it was so cold.At dinner the last night.

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas everyone. This Christmas was soooo fun. The girls are at an age that we were able to teach them the true meaning of Christmas and they understood it and they were so excited for Santa and understood that to. It just made it so fun. Christmas day was nice and relaxing with the girls busy playing with their toys and Geoff and I just hanging out with them and doing a puzzle while listening to Christmas music. So nice. Here are a few pictures of what the girls got. Addie in her new ball pit. She loves it!! At first I was a little worried because all she kept saying was that she wanted a baby, but as soon as she saw this, she forgot that that is what she wanted. All day whenever someone would ask her what she got she would say "I got balls!"Macie checking out her stocking. She got the dollhouse in the background. We really haven't seen much of her since she got this.The girls also got a swing for the basement!! They love it!! It is so fun to hear them down there playing and laughing because they are pushing each other in the swing.Here is Macie with her present from Grandma and Grandpa Bradley. Personalized luggage!! The girls love them and keep asking me when we are going to go on a trip so they can use them. Thanks mom!! So cute!Here is Addie with her luggage. It is so funny because the luggage is about as big as she is, but she is so in love with it. She was having a fun time pulling it around and had to put the backpack on right away.Here is Geoff with is IPod docking station. Just what he wanted. I got a fondue set, just what I wanted. It was a great Christmas.

Merry Christmas!!

Getting ready for Santa

This year we decided that Santa's reindeer might want some food. So, we cut up some carrots and put them in a pan with water and then froze it. When it was frozen we took it outside and hung it on a tree for the deer to eat while Santa was here. The girls loved it and were excited to see if the reindeer had eaten their food.Cute little Addie helping me hang it up.Macie standing by the carrot wreath.Here are some pics of the girls on Christmas Eve by Santa's cookies and milk. We made him cooies that have reindeer on them. Macie thought that he would really enjoy those.

Gingerbread Houses

Here are our Annual gingerbread houses. We did these with the Welch's. Macie and Addie actually enjoyed doing one this year which was really fun. It was fun to see what they chose to decorate and how they chose to do it. Here are some pics.I love this picture!! Addie is such a ham!! Anytime you tell her to say cheese, she does this!! Love it!Geoff working hard at his house.Geoff and I working. The girls are off playing while their houses "dry".

Here are Laura, Cole, and Trent working on their houses!!

Addie putting on her decorations.

Macie waiting to decorate.Macie almost done. (notice the standing candycane with a smaller candycane ball on top. This was her north pole and it was all her idea.)Macie beside her finished house.Addie by her finished house.

Santa's Inventionism

Here in Cleveland they have a Santa's Toy Inventionism. I looked into doing it last year, but didn't register in time, so we weren't able to do it. We made sure to fit it in this year though and we are soooo glad that we did. It was so cool. The kids (and adults) loved it.

Here is the group outside the entrance. (The Welch's and the Barnum's)Inside hearing about what we do inside the workshop. Invent new toys for Santa!!Here everyone is putting on their thinking caps and getting inspiration.Macie is drawing her invention on the wall!!Macie and Cole making their newly invented toys

Next up was making new puppets for other kids. (These were super cute! It was just a plain puppet with a bunch of different velcro eyes, arms, hair, etc.) For those of you who are do it yourselfers...these would be super easy and the kids loved them!!Family pic by the puppet tables.

Then we got to go and learn how to make snow for the places who didn't have any. This was also super cool. You mixed a little of this magic snow in with some water and it made what felt like real snow. It was super neat!!!Here are the girls playing in the snowThe last thing was that you got to build a new toy with these tinker toy things. Here is Macie showing me the wand that she made. (In the beginning they asked the kids if they wanted to wear a lab coat, so that is what Macie is wearing.)Here is Addie building her toy.

At the very end, you got to sit on Santa's lap. (They wouldn't let any outside photography in there. so no pics of Santa) Macie actually sat on Santa's lap this year and told him what she wanted!! (a doll house) She was very proud of herself and we were all shocked that she actually did it!! Yea Macie!!

At this same building they had a talking tree. Here is Macie asking the talking tree a question.Here is Geoff and the girls outside of the talking tree. They all thought that it was sooo cool!!

-For those of you who live in the Cleveland Area.....Do this next year!! It is sooo fun and totally worth it. It is at Tower City!!-

Playing in the Snow!

Geoff went out to shovel the other day and the girls wanted to join him. Here they are in their snow gear playing in the snow. I love the snow suit that Addie is wearing because when she wears it, it reminds me of Ralphie on the Christmas story when he can't move. So funny!
Addie..happy to be outside.Macie's snow angelAddie showing me her snowJust a really cute picture of Macie