Chris caught this precious moments between the boys. Mason sat there and watched Cole playing his DS with his arm around his neck. At one point, he leaned over and gave Cole a kiss on the head. :)
Thursday the 24th finally came! We slept in, but not too much. We knew everyone would be sleeping in over there, so we didn’t want to show up too early, but we were excited to get over to Mom and Dad’s to have our New Year’s celebration with everyone. After a phone call from Brian asking where we were, we quickly got ready and headed over the river and through the woods. Everyone was up and waiting for the festivities to begin. Since this year was full of new traditions in our family (having our New Year’s celebration on the 24th since that was only day available), we decided to shy away from the old youngest-to-the-oldest-opens-first rule and we decided to draw names from a hat to see what the order would be for opening gifts. I had to quickly run upstairs and wrap the presents for Chris that I had sent to Mom and Dad’s house. Well, Kelly needed to wrap a present too, and I unknowingly used up all the scotch tape. So, I helped Kelly wrap Brian’s gift in ribbons and wrapping paper. She kept laughing and saying that this just went right along with how the rest of her New Year’s was going. Little did I know that most of the gifts she tried getting everyone were on back order and were going to be delivered late. So, she wrote those individuals cute little poems about how their gift was going to be late. It was very creative and cute – not surprising for Kelly though. (Just so you know, a lot of these pictures have blurry spots in them. My fault completely because I apparently move my hands and shake the camera when I push the shutter button down. That on top of having bad lighting in some of the pictures is cause for blurry pictures. Sorry in advance.)
Brian's beautiful present being wrapped in ribbons and bows....and a lot of love. That's the most important thing.
Dad with his cool Elmo wrapping paper!
After all the New Year’s gifts were opened, it was GAME TIME! We spent the rest of the day eating Chili and playing games. The first game we played was Pit (one of Kelly’s presents). I made the mistake by saying I wanted to play Pit silently and without the bull and bear cards. Well, Chris and Danny never ceased to stop teasing me about it. So, that was a big joke with games all week. Another joke was Sammy. She kept getting into stuff, chewing stuff and just being annoying and every time she would do something she wasn’t supposed to, Paulette would say, “She doesn’t usually do that.” So, that became another huge joke too because apparently Sammy doesn’t “usually” do anything! J The other big joke was that Paulette kept forgetting Chris. The first day we were there she forgot he was playing a game with us and forgot to deal him in. Then she wrote everyone’s names down on the score sheet for another game and wrote him down as Joe instead of Chris. So, Chris had to keep giving her a hard time about not loving him and forgetting her middle child and Sammy taking his place. It was pretty hilarious. We got some good laughs.
The second game we learned this year was Mexican Train. It seems that our family adopts a new game that we play non stop every year and then we get bored of it after a while. This year, the game was Mexican Train. It was about 7 or 8 o’clock at night when we decided to play it. Chris asked, “How long does this game take?” Dad replied, “Oh…about an hour or two. Not that long.” SIX HOURS LATER…..guess what we were still doing? Yup! Playing Mexican Train! Lol The game does NOT take an hour or two to play! It is a very long game, but it’s fun. Chris didn’t like it, but everyone else wanted to keep playing it.
A picture of the spoiled, loved-more-than-Chris (haha jk) dog that apparently doesn't "usually" do anything she's not supposed to, right? :) lol
The next day we were back over to Mom and Dad’s again. This time we brought my piano. Danny got some music books and he’s been learning piano, so he asked if we could bring ours. He showed us a few songs that he learned (by the way, he’s doing VERY good for a beginner – fast learner and possibly a natural, like Chris) and then Chris pulled out his guitar and they tried playing some songs together. At one point, all the women were in the kitchen fixing lunch and we heard the piano being played. Mom asked me if that was Chris or Danny playing. I said it was Chris because I had heard him play that particular song before and I didn’t think Danny knew that one yet. Then we hear Danny yell, “Tasha, come here for a second!” I peeked around the corner and saw Chris and Danny sitting side by side playing the piano. They were playing a duet. It was the cutest thing ever! So, I quickly ran into the kitchen and told Mom and Kelly about it. They dropped what they were doing and Kelly and I both ran to find our cameras. We get our cameras out and ready and then…….Chris and Danny take their hands off the keys and miraculously….the song is still playing! Lol They were pretending to play along with one of the songs that programmed into my piano. It was too funny!
Haley’s big present this year was a sewing machine of her own. She wanted to sew so bad so she kept sewing little scraps of material Paulette had. Chris decided he’d help her out and give her something real to sew, so he brought in his coveralls from the trunk that were all tore up. They look awful! They really need to be thrown away, but he still wears them. So, he brought them in and gave Haley a dollar to sew up the pant leg. It was so cute. As she was sewing, I happened to glance at the thread she was using. She was sewing up Chris’s pant leg with hot pink thread. HAHA.
Saturday was baking day. While the women baked, the guys and Ethan and Nolan were going paintballing. They got all decked out in their camo and headed out. They got about 10 minutes down the road and decided to turn back. The roads were bad. So, they came back and had fun while we finished up the cookies. They were going to go play paintball the next day after church. So, after making 10 different kinds of cookies, we cleaned up and headed out to Olive Garden for dinner.
Sunday was a typical Sunday. Church service and lunch at Grandma and Grandpa’s. Well, it was typical for everyone except Danny. When we got to the building, Kelly informed me that Danny had lost his wallet. He was still back at the house searching for it. So, up until service started I was texting Danny and giving him different ideas of where to look for his wallet. No luck. After service, Chris called him to see if he found it yet. No wallet still! We had come to the conclusion that it had either dropped outside while he and Joe were shooting guns or he had lost it at one of the stores he was shopping at the day before. He had turned the house upside down searching for his wallet, but with no luck. So, frustrated and with a splitting headache, he borrowed cash from Paulette’s dresser and headed home. We ate lunch, the guys went paintballing, we played Mexican Train, and then headed home late that night.
Monday was Ford Museum day. There was a big Lego display that we wanted to take the kids to. After a two hour drive there (because the roads were bad) we made it there, stopped and had lunch, and then spent the rest of the day at the museum.
A knight entirely built out of Legos. It's amazing what some people can do with Legos. And how much time they have to do it!
They had a huge section of Lego tables where the kids could build their own castles and whatever else they wanted with Legos. The boys could have stayed there all day! We had to pry them away from the Lego tables when it was time to move on.
Poor Mason was so short and he wanted to play with the Lego's so bad! He had to stand on his tippie toes so he could look down inside the barrel of Legos.
Hmm...wonder how many germs are in there! lol
Chris made a helicopter for Mason. He's so proud of himself. :)
Mason dressed up as a knight. Don't ask me why they gave the knights pepto bismol colored shields, but that's what they had.
Now they're dragons.
He looks so intimidating! lol
Out for a leisurely drive in the countryside. haha
Listening to some old 70's music.
Mason was listening to 80's music.
Going to school.
They had a big section where you could make paper airplanes....
...then you took them into the "testing area" to try them out. I started out in the testing area watching the kids and taking pictures, but I think Grant had it in for me. He kept facing my direction (which was in the opposite direction as the huge, ginormous target they had on the wall, and kept throwing his paper airplane. Every single time he threw it, it skimmed the top of my head! I'm so lucky I still have my eye balls! lol So, needless to say, I left and stood on the outside.
Mason kept begging to see the trains. All he cared about was seeing the trains. As we neared the train section, Cole started shouting and pointing. He had found a semi truck with his name plastered all over the side of it. He was thrilled to death! Mason kept calling it the really big school bus. lol
Walking all through the Ford Museum made me super thirsty. I was so happy to see a drinking fountain that I didn't even care about the millions and trillions of germs on it. I didn't touch it with my mouth, of course. I stood there forever! The water was ice cold! Mmmm! Chris snuck up on me and took my picture.
Mason is watching the electronic trains built out of Legos go around the city that was built entirely out of Legos.
Tuesday was Girls Shopping Day!!!! We started out around noon and didn’t get home til around 7 that night. It was so much fun. I think that was the first time I was able to spend an entire day just being lazy and shopping with Kelly and Paulette. We got home that night to four wheelers and sleds and kids everywhere outside! Joe told me that Mason was falling asleep on the four wheeler, so I took him from Joe and started in the house with him. Mason wanted to stay outside so bad. So, I left him outside all bundled up where he practically fell asleep on the back porch watching everyone else go around the yard. We didn’t stay super late that night because I had tons of laundry and packing to do. The next day we were leaving for Kelly’s house to have our New Year’s celebration with the rest of the family.
Wednesday morning dawned and we woke up to pack. I ran up to the salon real quick to get a hair cut and then it was home for more packing. We met up with everyone for lunch at McDonald’s and then we headed out! While we were at McDonald’s we were told that Danny’s wallet had been found! The four wheelers uncovered the wallet! Danny had dropped it outside but they couldn’t see it because it was covered by snow. Well, the quads ran over it just enough that it was visible when Joe went out to search one more time before he left. After a long drive, we stopped for dinner and Bible study in Plainfield, IN. We arrived at Kelly’s house late that night. As soon as I walked into her house, I started sneezing like crazy and immediately got stuffed up and my eyes started watering and itched. She had to kittens in the house and I did not realize I was that allergic to them! Good thing I brought my Claritin. It seemed like an eternity before it kicked in though! I felt awful! I could barely talk or breathe and I was constantly sneezing and blowing my nose. My one eye had swollen almost shut! LOL I was a beauty to behold, that’s for sure! I was so bummed because I thought we were going to have to stay in a hotel. Luckily, the medicine kicked in and it was tons better! I just had to make sure I kept the allergy medicine going all the time I was there so I could breathe. Haha
Mason was so hyper and excited about getting to Aunt Kelly's that he fell asleep before we even got there and stayed sleeping once we got there and didn't wake up til 8:00 the next morning!
That night as we were going to bed, I happened to notice Kelly carrying a thermometer through the house. I stopped and gave her a puzzled look. She read my mind and answered, “Grant has a fever of 101.5.” So, we went to bed hoping he would be better in the morning. Hopefully he was just overly tired and had too much junk food or something. The next day he was better, but he stayed in the bedroom just to be on the safe side. We had to go out shopping to buy all our food we were making for New Year’s and I had to get the rest of the things for Cole’s birthday party. While we were out, Kelly called to let Robin know about Grant’s possible temperature. Well, Brian called and said that his fever was back. So, they got a hold of Robin again and she decided to stay home. Her family, grandma and grandpa, and Linda and Terry were all staying at Robin’s house and not coming over to Kelly’s for our New Year’s celebration! So, the three of us stood in the middle of Walmart for what seemed like forever trying to figure out what to do as far as food because half the people weren’t going to be there. We finally got it figured out and headed to the car. While we were walking to the car, Paulette’s phone went off. It was Danny. His brakes went out on his truck an hour from home and he was stuck at a Jeep dealership waiting for his truck to get fixed. What a day this was turning out to be! We just decided to make the best of it and have fun no matter what happened. Thankfully, his truck got fixed and he got there later that evening.
Saturday was Cole’s big birthday party! He was so excited! Kelly and Joe helped me make the cake that morning. I was so nervous making the cake. I let Kelly frost it because she’s the pro. Grant hadn’t had a fever in over 24 hours, so everyone who stayed at Robin’s house was able to join us for Cole’s party.
This is the awesome army tank cake that Kelly and Dad helped me make! I was so stressed trying to make this. I don't know what I would have done without their help! Thank you so much you guys!
Chris had the really good idea of getting real dog tags made for all the kids. So, I called around and found an army surplus store that said they would make them for me. I also picked up bandanas for all the kids too. We came up with nicknames for all the kids to make it all little more army-like. There was Captain Cole, Machine Gun Mason, Eliminator Ethan, Nix Em Nolan, Hot Shot Haley, Grenadier Grant, Renegade Rebekah, Pit Bull Patrick, and I'm drawing a blank for Michael. lol
This picture of Haley makes me think of Fiddler on the Roof. lol "Match maker, match maker, make me a match....." HAHAHA!
I think the birthday party was a success. I'm so happy we had Kelly's big house to have it in. Thank you everyone who pitched in and helped me with everything. I truly appreciate it!
Sunday was a sad day. The day we had to go home. The night before, Chris kept looking at me with sad puppy dog eyes and a long face and saying, “Do you realize my vacation is almost over? I have to go to work on Monday!” It’s bittersweet. You’re always ready to be in your own home, your own bed, your own surroundings, but at the same time, you’re sad to leave all the family and not having any responsibilities. It’s nice to be lazy, sleep in, not have to get the kids up for school, not have to pack lunches, not have to miss your husband while he’s at work – it’s just nice. Chris was very ready to be home in his own bed though. Every night he complained about Nolan’s bed. The metal slats in his bunk bed hurt Chris’s back. (But, thank you very much, Nolan, for letting us use your bedroom all week. It was very sweet of you. We appreciated it.) After church service and lunch at Kelly’s, we started the long trek home. I didn’t get my nap in like I usually do. I drove all the way to Coldwater. It was about 8:30 when we finally got home. We were so ready to be home in our warm house and our warm bed and have a few minutes to relax before we had to go to bed. Well, the warm house and warm bed were a problem. The house was only 37 DEGREES! The battery in our thermostat went bad and so the heat was not working. So, we kept our coats on, unloaded the car, unpacked suitcases, and froze! We kept watching the thermostat go up slowly. 37, 38, 39, 40 – oooh!! We had reached 40 degrees and were excited. Lol I had to go to the bathroom but I was holding it in as long as I could. Finally, I couldn’t hold it in any more. I seriously felt like I was sitting on a block of ice. I think my skin went numb from sitting on the toilet for those few seconds. Well, 10:00 came and the house was in the high 50’s, so we gave up and went to bed.
We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves this past week and a half! Thank you SO MUCH for everyone’s help with Cole’s party! I could NOT have done it without everyone’s help. Kelly, I don’t know how you do that every year! I don’t know why it seemed so much more stressful this year. Not being at my house probably was part of it and partly that I was doing a lot more for this party than parties he’s had in the past. We had so much fun! I loved seeing our kids play together. I wish so much we lived closer so they could have more time together. Thank you for opening your home to us. We loved every second of our vacation with the family.
3 comments:
We had fun too! So glad to spend time with you all. Oh, it was Mad Dog Michael.
I think this New Years season was one of the best ever! We got to spend so much time together with all our kids and grandkids. What a fun time we had!
cute! Looks like everyone had a great week!
Post a Comment