Much Ado About Nothing...In Nebraska

January 31st

2012-01-31T20:09:00.006-06:00

So, did they mean to misspell it?

Of course after seeing signs with misspellings in public, it always makes me second guess the correct spelling of the word!

January 30th

2012-01-30T20:08:00.000-06:00

My Betsy Ross and David:

To kick off 'Catholic Schools Week' they kids were given the option to dress as a historical or biblical figure for the day. These costume days always turn into bigger projects than what I think.

January 29th

2012-01-29T20:08:00.001-06:00

Teaching Jack how to use the Dremel tool:

William self soothing himself while he plays the fishy game:

January 28th

2012-01-28T19:42:00.026-06:00

Had the scariest night of my night last night. William has been coughing the past couple of days. After I put him to bed, he continued to cough on and off. He would wake me up every so often. Finally around 1AM I went over to check on him because he kept making this weird noise. When I walked into the room, I freaked out because it sounded like he couldn't breathe! I snatched him out of the crib - scaring him to death I imagine - and took him to the bathroom and tried to shove a drink down his throat. I am sure that freaked him out even more. So, he started screaming crying and I am really freaking out. I frantically get dressed and wake up Abby to let her know I am taking him to the ER. Luckily Bartley was in the basement in case something happened while I was gone.

Now, keep in mind that Mike was supposed to be coming home last night - but his flight to Omaha was delayed 1 1/2 hours, so he ended up spending the night at a hotel in Omaha. So, I rushed William to the ER where they gave him a steroid right away to deal with the inflammation and help him breathe better. Then they gave him a breathing treatment - which he HATED and SCREAMED the entire time - and diagnosed him with croup! With four kids this was my first encounter with croup! And it was a scary one. After we got back home, I was scared to let him go to sleep! And after reading the paperwork they gave me, one of the things you are NOT supposed to do if you child is having problems breathing with croup is try to give him some water! It also said to hold him close and rub his back and stay calm! Which is the opposite of what I did! So, it was an interesting night for me and William!

The good news is Mike finally made it home and brought us some Belgium chocolates:

He also brought the kids home some Euros and brought me a card with some homemade lace - which is very popular in that town. It is wonderful to have him back home with us!!

January 27th

2012-01-27T19:41:00.000-06:00

Bartley sporting his Case Red!!

I am excited I have yet another subject to photograph:)

January 26th

2012-01-26T19:41:00.000-06:00

I am finally getting around to organizing my many recipes that I would like to try. So, I let the kids sift through them and choose a couple of main dishes and desserts. They never got around to choosing the dessert - there were too many to choose from:) So, I chose a simple one for today:

It was a different twist on the traditional rice krispie treat. I haven't decided yet if I would make it again for just our family or not.

January 25th

2012-01-25T08:32:00.000-06:00

This is what I found on my kitchen floor this morning:

Bartley must have dropped some of his breakfast on the floor! Any guesses on what this is??

January 24th

2012-01-24T20:26:00.001-06:00

This little guy had to bring along his pillow pet and his blankie and his paci to go get the kids from school:

And of course he fell asleep within the first few minutes in the car!

A few of us girls went out to the movie tonight:

Joyful Noise was anything but! I was not impressed and was thankful for friends who still made the evening enjoyable:)

January 23rd

2012-01-23T20:32:00.003-06:00

Mr. Will does not make my grocery trips an easy chore. He only lasts in the cart for about 5 minutes. Then he wants out and runs around. It is usually OK because the stores are usually pretty empty at 8AM. But sometimes he gets mad at me. Today was one of those days. He stopped in the aisle and just stood there crying with his hands over his eyes. It was the cutest thing. I couldn't get my camera turned on fast enough before he saw me and ran to me.

Sometime in the future, I know that I will miss these grocery shopping trips:)

January 22nd

2012-01-22T20:25:00.000-06:00

Abby and Jackson finished one of their Christmas gifts today:

Along the way they lost one piece - we still haven't found it. But they were very happy to have completed the entire thing by themselves:)

And here is a picture of Bartley's dinner this evening:

I think it consists of some Cherry ice cream, some cherry cake, some whipped cream, and of course some milk:)

January 21st

2012-01-21T21:03:00.000-06:00

We finished celebrating Abby's birthday today with gifts and cake:

The cake definitely looks better than it tastes! It is a cherries jubilee cake - and I am just not a big cherries fan. We all agreed it would not be a cake that I would make a second time!

Her number of candles are starting to put out some heat:

After church this evening, I decided to let them have a movie night - complete with pizza and popcorn and M&M's:

And tonight is my halfway point! I am now halfway through my time without Mike! It was a long week, but we survived. I just hope we can survive one more week:)

January 20th

2012-01-20T20:46:00.002-06:00

Kind of sad that this is our first birthday family picture without our whole family:(

Abby's choice for dinner tonight was KFC! After we went for some ice cream at Freddy's!

Happy Birthday Baby Girl!!

2012-01-20T00:01:00.000-06:00

You

have

brought

NINE

years

absolute

joy!

You are becoming such a sweet young lady. We love you and love having you for our daughter! Happy Birthday Abby Dooby!!!

January 19th

2012-01-19T21:58:00.000-06:00

Abby's treats for school tomorrow:

The crazy uncle living in the basement:

He went on a shopping spree tonight and enjoyed showing me his purchases. He is just like a little kid in a candy store:)

January 18th

2012-01-18T21:27:00.003-06:00

Slowly but surely we are getting out the new toys from Christmas:

A few friends and I went down to Winestyles tonight for the local pub quiz.

I had never been to Winestyles, but it was a very neat quaint place. Mike and I might have to have a date night here on a Friday night for their $5 wine tasting!

This was some chocolate coffee beer:

I think the name of it was 'Buffalo Sweat'! YUCK! Even after a few glasses of wine, it still did not taste good to me:)

January 17th

2012-01-17T21:20:00.000-06:00

My baby holding a baby:)

William loves this little guy! They are going to be best buds in a few months!

January 16th

2012-01-16T19:30:00.005-06:00

Text message I had waiting for me this morning:

Mike made it to Belgium! Two days down - eleven to go! I think I can......I think I can!!! At least Bartley is here so I can go out with the girls after the kids are in bed:)

January 15th

2012-01-15T19:37:00.005-06:00

Good thing she is around to remind everyone!

January 14th

2012-01-14T20:28:00.000-06:00

This is the best I could come up with for organizing the kids' games:

I have the perfect shelving unit pictured in my mind that would work wonderfully for boardgames! But it just doesn't exist in real life. So, this is what we did today - sorted through all the boardgames and found homes for all the miscellaneous game pieces that were piled up on the shelf. I taped all the boxes the best I could. Now how do I enforce the rule of putting a game away before getting another one out?:)

January 13th

2012-01-13T13:25:00.000-06:00

William found some sunglasses today:

January 12th

2012-01-12T22:23:00.000-06:00

The kids love their Highlight magazines:

January 11th

2012-01-11T13:22:00.000-06:00

Finally completed my 'Couch to 5K' program.

I actually finished the program in mid December, but I never took that very last step and ran the full 5K or 3 miles. Today I finally did it! I used to tell myself it would be nice if I could run a couple miles three times a week. Now I might be stepping it up and running a few miles three times a week! I have never ever been a runner - and I still don't feel like much of a runner. Have I experienced that runner's high? NO! But I do feel great the rest of the day after I run in the morning. So, my goal for the year is to track all my miles and see how many miles I run during 2012! I am not really looking for speed right now. I am pretty happy with my 11:19 mile pace - at least for the time being. We'll see what happens when I can push myself to run at least 3 miles every time I get on the treadmill.

January 10th

2012-01-10T22:21:00.000-06:00

Wondering if this wonderful warm weather is going to cause us to have worse weather later? The kids had fun playing outside after school though!

January 9th

2012-01-09T13:18:00.000-06:00

Our basement has been 'Bartleyized'!!

January 8th

2012-01-08T21:17:00.000-06:00

How about this very vintage oven???

Went to an open house today just for the fun of it - and couldn't believe this oven and how SMALL it was!!

January 7th

2012-01-07T20:02:00.007-06:00

Abby had the opportunity to participate in a junior colorguard camp and perform at the basketball game tonight:

What do you think Aunt Jen? Does she have a future in the colorguard??

January 6th

2012-01-06T22:33:00.001-06:00

This post is for my father-in-law Jack Schaefer!

Here is a picture of us girls at bible study:

And here is a picture of us tonight out celebrating one of our birthdays!

It might seem like all we do is go out and have fun, but with 9 of us in the group - that is almost one birthday every month! And we have to celebrate the birthdays:)

January 5th

2012-01-05T19:30:00.005-06:00

As promised:

Pictures of my Santa Baby!!!

And don't ask why he has my socks on his hands! He thought it was funny though.

January 4th

2012-01-04T19:25:00.001-06:00

Talk about a day of big change for me!

The first big change:

Certain people have bugged me about not recycling. But we just couldn't figure out a good spot to put the red recycling bin. Then I happened to see that they were offering these nice new big totes. I decided I would give it a try! Hopefully we will all get into the habit of recycling!

The second big change is that I started my new 'job' today!

I will be watching this handsome little guy during the day. He was here for the afternoon today and the kids had an early dismissal. So, they also got to enjoy him for the day. Abby and Jackson loved holding him. I thought for sure William would want nothing to do with him, but I was wrong. He wanted to share his toys with him and he wanted to hold him and touch him! I see him getting jealous though when the little guy is with us day in and day out all day long.

The third big change is this guy:

Uncle Bartley will be living in our basement for awhile since he has a new job at CNH! This is why we had to get the basement all cleaned up! The kids were super excited for him to arrive. I just wonder what type of stories they will tell 20 years from now about 'the uncle that lived in the basement'!

January 3rd

2012-01-03T19:24:00.001-06:00

Last day of Christmas break! Mike had to go back to work today. I slept in a little bit and this is how I found the kids:

Notice what is in Williams lap? His doggie!!

January 2nd

2012-01-02T19:19:00.004-06:00

While we were cleaning up the basement yesterday, we came across Thunder while putting some things up into the attic. So, today we put him together and William loves him!

January 1st

2012-01-01T19:17:00.000-06:00

We spent the first day of this new year by tackling our basement and getting it ready for the big change! Closet it all cleaned out:

Family room area is toy free!

Now we need to tackle the family room on the main level:

December 31st

2011-12-31T23:07:00.001-06:00

Did I really complete this task of a picture a day? I know that occasionally I got a little behind on posting the pictures, but at least I did finally get caught up and finished!

We did get a few new toys out today. The main one being the Mario and Luigi remote control cars:

Later in the evening, we played some games with the kids:

That Headbanz game is harder than it looks!

And playing Chinese checkers brought back some childhood memories:

The kids went to bed around 10pm. Maybe next year we will consider letting the older ones stay up until the ball drops, but we figured they were too tired this year since we traveled all day yesterday. Mike and I somehow managed to stay up not only to see the ball drop at 11pm our time but past midnight!

Happy New Year everyone!

I don't know if I will commit to a picture a day in 2012, but I will keep taking lots of pictures and annoying all of my family and friends! And yes, someday you all will thank me that I have taken all of these pictures:)

December 30th

2011-12-30T23:07:00.003-06:00

We headed back to Nebraska today! We got a very early start. This is how I found the boys when I went in to wake them up:

Once we started driving the three kids in the back row were zonked out:

That is one of the rare times Abby has actually fallen asleep in the car!

I never had a chance to eat my Steak n Shake while in Indiana or Ohio, so we had to get it on the way home! We stopped in the Quad Cities for lunch:

It was pretty tasty!!

We made it home in about 13 hours! We unloaded the van and basically went to bed! It felt good to sleep in our own bed again! Thanks everyone for all of the hospitality, all of the gifts, all of the memories made, all of the laughter and fun games, and all of the love! We are very fortunate to have such a wonderful family!

December 29th

2011-12-29T23:04:00.000-06:00

Today was our last day in Indiana. While Mike and I started to get things packed up, the kids played some Chinese checkers with Great Grandma and Aunt Karen:

Then we headed to my aunt Julie's to celebrate Christmas with her and my cousins and Grandma Teresa.

Again we had to get some pictures! Here is a picture of my mom and I:

A picture of my aunts and uncles and mom:

My mom with her grandkids:

Tried to get a picture of all the kids - at least it wasn't my kid screaming this time:)

My aunt and uncle are big IU fans. They decorated their hallway leading to their bedroom in IU decor - complete with wallpaper:

a small IU Christmas tree:

and even the carpet:

It is great:)

December 28th

2011-12-28T22:03:00.006-06:00

Today was Christmas with Great Grandma and Aunt Karen. Do the Christmases ever end?:)

And of course everyone expects Grandpa Gingerich to make his milkshakes!

Got a great group picture - but too bad it doesn't include everyone:(

At least William was cooperating for these pictures!

Great Grandma with the kids:

Aunt Karen with the kids:

December 27th

2011-12-27T22:43:00.008-06:00

We left Ohio early in the morning. Throughout this trip we have had great weather - no snow or ice - except for today when we traveled from Ohio to Indiana. We decided to take the interstate rather than the 2 lane highways because we figured the interstate would be more traveled and cleared off better. Luckily it didn't really start snowing hard and heavy until we arrived at my Grandma's house. It was the most beautiful snow I have ever seen. The flakes were HUGE!

We went to Grandma and Grandpa Gingerich's house to celebrate Christmas today.

After opening the gifts, we started playing some games. Abby received the Disney version of Headbanz:

Grandpa and William were having fun together:

In the evening it was time for some games of Marbles!

December 26th

2011-12-26T22:36:00.000-06:00

Today was our last day in Ohio, so we went back to the nursing home to visit Great Grandpa again. It was much quieter this time since it was just our family.

Then it was just more hanging out at the Mollohans! Some of the boys played Wii:

Lunch was Marion's Pizza! YUMMO!! The boys were in charge of getting it all ready and on the plates for the kids. It was quite humorous to watch!

The kids are getting pretty good at looking and smiling when they see me with the camera!

Well, maybe not all of the kids:)

Time for a picture of all the cousins.....oh....wait.....what is going on in the front row?

Oh yeah - that is just my kid.....causing problems once again during picture time!

After lunch the Dubins left to go back to Cleveland.

This group played some cards:

While the older boys played a game of 'Risk'.

Later the women played some Rummikub! But I didn't get a picture of that.

December 25th Christmas!

2011-12-25T20:06:00.000-06:00

The kids were excited to see what Santa brought for them:

William loved digging into his stocking:

Thought I would get a nice picture of them all in their footie pajamas - but once again, William was not in the mood:

Abby showing off her new bling - including dangling earrings!!

One of Williams favorite things to do on the trip - scream until Jackson brought his head closer so William could play with Jackson's hair at the same time he played with his own hair:

The whole Schaefer clan went to the nursing home to see Great Grandpa Streacker. It has been a couple of years since we have been able to get a full group picture because Mike and I haven't been back on Christmas day. So, since we were all here on Christmas day this year, we had to get a big group picture. And luckily all the kids, big and little, cooperated!

Great Grandpa loves to see William:

After we came back from the nursing home it was time to open up gifts. The biggest gift of the day was a fire pit for Grandma and Grandpa!

After opening gifts, all the kids scattered. Andrew and Abby ended up playing Headbanz together:

Bartley's favorite gift was his new hat:

He thinks he needs one in preparation for his move to Nebraska! For some reason he thinks it is like Antarctica out here or something:)

December 24th Christmas Eve

2011-12-24T22:48:00.003-06:00

We hung out at the Mollohans this morning. At one point I could hear William screaming 'Mom Mom Mom' - and no he wasn't specifically hollering for me, that is just his way of saying everything! So, I ventured through the house looking for him and this is where I found him:

He was stuck on the top bunk bed! He climbed up, but he couldn't get down. At least he just sat and hollered until someone came to get him rather than trying to climb down by himself!

Here is the usual picture of the kids gathered around the table eating:

After lunch it was time to get ready for Christmas Eve Mass. And since we were all dressed up, it was a good time for some family pictures:

I had a tough time choosing a favorite picture of the Mollohans.....this one:

or this one:

I told Aunt Jen that I had to get a picture of her dressed up with her slippers on:)

After mass we headed back to Grandma and Grandpa Schaefer's house for dinner. We took some more pictures before everyone changed into their comfy clothes. Here are the Dubins:

And Grandma and Grandpa Schaefer:

Figured it would be a good idea to get a picture with all the grandkids, but guess whose kid was causing problems this time???

William was not in the mood to get his picture taken:(

Then it was time to eat:

Somehow the table gets filled up with kids and the adults either wait to eat after the kids are done, or we just stand and eat:

And you see the pretty Christmas tree cake on the table? Well apparently there were two of them but a certain dog decided he needed to eat the other one:)

Once William got some food in his belly, he was ready to cheese it up for me:

Picture of Great Grandma with all the kids:

We headed back down to the Mollohans so the kids could get to bed otherwise Santa would skip us!

William had to go to bed, but the older kids prepared the plate of cookies and carrots for Santa and his reindeer:

And Santa received a Coca Cola this year rather than the traditional milk!

December 23rd

2011-12-23T22:05:00.001-06:00

Today was our traveling day!

We surprised JJ when we pulled into the Lincoln airport and I informed him that he and I would be flying back to Ohio while the rest of the family had to drive! This was a surprise for him since he didn't get to go to Disneyworld with us back in November.

Our flight was at 5:40AM - so it was still dark out for our first flight:

At first he didn't want to go - but once we boarded the plane and got going, I think he really enjoyed it.

We had a connecting flight in Chicago and luckily we were only delayed about 45 minutes. The 2nd flight was neater for JJ because he could actually see out the window since it wasn't dark anymore.

We hung out with Grandma and Grandpa Schaefer for a couple of hours then the Dubins showed up. And an hour or so after they showed up, the rest of our family arrived! The cousins didn't waste any time and started playing games right away:

December 22nd

2011-12-22T22:26:00.001-06:00

Time to say goodbye to our old phones:

I got some brand new ones for Christmas from Mike and the kids:

Hopefully these will last longer than the old ones!

December 21st

2011-12-21T22:25:00.002-06:00

As predicted William loves his new doggie! He had to take him along this morning when we took the kids to the bus stop:

There was an early dismissal today so I put the kids to work making some peanut butter blossoms:

December 20th

2011-12-20T17:59:00.002-06:00

After much begging and pleading, I finally gave in and let Jake create something with his Doctor Dreadful lab. He decided on the barf drink.

I don't think he liked it very much. I even tried it and it was disgusting! There were chunks in it just like barf! YUCK!

December 19th

2011-12-19T14:58:00.015-06:00

JJ had his preschool Christmas program this morning. He was one of the shepherds:

Then they sang some songs:

JJ is one of the louder singers!

After watching the videos JJ commented on how he is always pulling his pants up! Maybe after seeing it, he will try to stop that habit:)

December 18th

2011-12-18T22:06:00.002-06:00

Never thought the weekend before Christmas that Jackson would be able to go outside and try out his new kick n go scooter - and he didn't even need to wear a coat!

The kids also had fun today playing with Williams new workbench:

December 17th

2011-12-17T22:04:00.041-06:00

This is my life with William:

He wasn't in the mood to get his picture taken and all I wanted was a simple picture of the kids in front of the tree with the gifts before we started opening them. So, we had to bring out the fruit snacks:

JJ was very happy to receive the Doctor Dreadful Lab from his siblings:

Abby got a Dicecapades game and some new headbands:)

William got a moving barking dog. (We removed the pink collar so it doesn't look so girly!) Every time we went to the toy department in Wal-Mart he ended up in front of these dogs, so I figured he would love to have one!

Jackson got a Cruncher Dinosaur:

Here is one of Mike's wrapped gifts - complete with an IU pitchfork drawn on it!!

And this is the reason why the IU pitchfork was drawn on it:

Everyone enjoyed playing with their new toys:

December 16th

2011-12-16T13:05:00.000-06:00

'Tis the season to wrap presents:

I let the kids wrap some of the gifts in plain paper and then they get to decorate however they want!

December 15th

2011-12-15T13:04:00.000-06:00

William was very proud of himself after putting Jackson's shoes on:

December 14th

2011-12-14T22:51:00.001-06:00

This was my view for most of the day:

I woke up around 3AM and didn't feel well at all. I spent the next 7-8 hours in the bathroom! Mike tried to go to work, but I had to call him to have him come back home. Luckily I was feeling better by the evening. Hope nobody else gets it!

December 13th

2011-12-13T12:41:00.004-06:00

This was another purchase of mine from my weekend of shopping in Omaha:

I'll have to post a picture of my 'Santa Baby' when he is wearing one:)

December 12th

2011-12-12T22:20:00.002-06:00

Received the best Christmas card in the mail today:

Perfect timing after their victory on Saturday evening! And the Santa basket was one of my bargain purchases in Omaha - cost me less than $2!

And this was sitting on our front steps when I got home:

Apparently when William threw up the 2nd time on Friday evening, he was in his crib and most of it stayed in the crib, but some of it landed on this stroller. Rather than clean it up, he just stuck it outside. Not outside in the back of our house though, on the front steps! What a sight!

December 11th

2011-12-11T22:19:00.001-06:00

I made it back from Omaha! It was a nice weekend away - now back to reality and the busyness of the Christmas season!

We said goodbye to Abby's hair feather today:( It was cute while it lasted, but I think it was time to take it out.

William loves to get mad and cross his arms. Don't know where he learned it - but I finally captured a picture of it:

December 10th

2011-12-10T22:03:00.001-06:00

Before lunch on Saturday, our foursome turned into a threesome! One of the girls got sick and went home early.

The three of us shopped til we dropped though! We started around 9AM and didn't get back to the hotel until around 10PM I think. It was a fun but exhausting day. I think the best part of the day was being able to watch the 2nd half of the Indiana/Kentucky basketball game while we ate dinner. (Indiana beat Kentucky who was ranked #1!!!)

Unfortunately I didn't take many pictures throughout the day, so I had to get a picture of us in the hotel room that night where we enjoyed facial masks and a huge bottle of wine!

December 9th

2011-12-09T22:39:00.000-06:00

Girls Weekend in Omaha!!

My bible study group is trying to make it an annual tradition to go Christmas shopping for a day. This year we chose to go to Omaha and spend the night. Originally it was supposed to be Saturday night, but then someone suggested also spending Friday night. Half of us were going to spend the night and the other half were just going to drive to Omaha for the day. After it was all said and done and with everyone's schedule changes and conflicts and sickness - only 4 of us ended up going! We left on Friday evening and drove two cars since we were not all going to spend the night on Saturday night.

We decided to eat dinner at the Cheesecake Factory.(Can't believe I didn't get a picture of our cheesecakes!!) Just as we were pulling into the parking lot, I get a call from Mike informing me that William had just thrown up all over the kitchen floor - little chunks of hot dog from the mini corn dogs he had for lunch! I was so glad I was 2 1/2 hours away:) William threw up one more time that night and I think Mike finally got to bed around 11pm or so.

The four of us were able to get to bed after Tracy rigged the curtain so the street light wasn't shining in on us:

December 8th

2011-12-08T21:35:00.000-06:00

Today was cookie exchange day!

My bible study group gets together every year and has a cookie exchange day where we bake many different kinds of cookies and take home lots of goodies!

The kids decorated the sugar cookies we made yesterday - this time William helped and he was THRILLED!!

Hastings Catholics Schools had the day off - so my older kids were able to enjoy the fun this year!

I am not sure if any of these sugar cookies get eaten by anybody except for the kids, but it is fun to watch them decorate all the cookies!

Abby had to leave for a couple of hours to head to a birthday party. It was at the local beauty college and all the girls got their hair done and toenails and fingernails painted:

Eventually the boys ended up piled on top of each other in the recliner watching TV:

Here are all the goodies - and they normally don't last long at my house!

December 7th

2011-12-07T21:34:00.002-06:00

This little guy has such an attitude sometimes:

He wasn't happy with me because I told him it was nap time! And I think he knew the other kids were going to be doing this:

Today the kids had an early dismissal, so it was a perfect day to roll out some sugar cookies!

I love that they are getting to the ages where they can really do most of it:)

Maybe next year I will let William try to help out a little bit.

December 6th

2011-12-06T21:32:00.000-06:00

Sad sad day in the Schaefer house. This toy has bit the dust:

Don't know what happened - it was working fine just last week. We will all miss Annie Annie Ooo, Ooo Ooo Ooo:) If I remember correctly the Mollohans got this toy for Abby when she was a toddler, so it lasted quite awhile!

December 5th

2011-12-05T21:28:00.000-06:00

What is wrong with this picture?

If you look closely, you will see that there is something in William's ear! This is what happens when Mike is in charge of feeding the kids! William started sticking the food in his ear!

December 4th

2011-12-04T15:27:00.000-06:00

It was a very tough decision for me to make - but this is as far as my Christmas decorations made it this year:

I took all the totes out of storage and then just realized that we didn't have time to get everything out this year. So, we made sure the nativity scene and advent calendars and stockings made it out of storage. But the rest was put right back away. I didn't even pressure Mike to put any Christmas lights up outside. There is always next year, right?

December 3rd

2011-12-03T22:09:00.000-06:00

Today was the annual kids' Christmas party at Mike's factory. It is always a chaotic busy party, but the kids look forward to it every year. I also look forward to it because I am able to get free Santa pictures! Normally I have Mike's help getting the kids into position for the picture. But this year he had to stand at the door and greet everyone as they came in. So, it was just me and the four kiddos! Mike and I both thought this would be the year for William to cry. I even told Santa to just hold onto him tight so I could get my picture. But guess what William did:

He cheesed it up for the camera! When I first put him on Santa's lap, he had a worried look on his face until he saw me pull out the camera. Then he instantly smiled a big cheesy smile!

After we got my Santa picture done, the kids were off! They rode the barrel train a few times:

I contemplate each year if they really enjoy the ride or if they enjoy the free piece of chocolate they get every time they ride:)

And this year they were giving out finger lights as well as the chocolate:

The kids also enjoyed jumping on the inflatables, making crafts, and eating more chocolate. William is still scared to get into the inflatables - so he literally ran circles around me after drinking some Mountain Dew!

December 2nd

2011-12-02T21:00:00.000-06:00

I made the kids get dressed in their Christmasy clothes to get a nice picture of them in front of the tree:

December 1st

2011-12-01T22:39:00.000-06:00

My friend had a few extra tickets for the Polar Express ride in Kearney. JJ and Jackson were the lucky ones to get to go! They had to wear their pajamas. We rode on a trolley to the 'north pole' where Santa gave them a bell. We had hot chocolate and sang Christmas carols.

Afterward we walked around a little in downtown Kearney. They had a live nativity scene and some reindeer:

The younger boys were pretty exhausted on the way home:

November 30th

2011-11-30T21:26:00.000-06:00

These two are the best of friends when the others are at school:

The weather has been beautiful here for November! JJ decided to try out his birthday toy:

November 29th

2011-11-29T21:20:00.000-06:00

Thanks to Pinterest I hung our stockings up differently this year. It always bugs me when the stocking holders twist and turn and the stockings are not always facing the right way. I saw this idea of hanging a curtain rod for the stockings to hang on. It worked out great for our stockings:

Happy Birthday Grandma Teresa!

2011-11-29T10:30:00.001-06:00

November 28th

2011-11-28T21:15:00.003-06:00

Every time we head to Wal-Mart, William insists that we venture back to the Christmas section so he can watch the two Santas pop out of the chimney and the Christmas tree. He gets so excited to watch these!

November 27th

2011-11-27T22:38:00.001-06:00

We had to say goodbye to the Sonnenfelts today:( It was a fun weekend watching the cousins play together!

We actually took some good pictures of all the cousins:

Alyssa and William are still trying to get the hang of the goofy picture:

After they left we finally finished our Christmas tree. This is how it looked the whole Thanksgiving weekend:

William enjoyed putting ornaments on the tree:

November 26th

2011-11-26T21:02:00.001-06:00

This was just another day of laziness!

In the evening I introduced my kids to the card game of Skip-Bo:

They loved it!

Happy Birthday Grandma Gingerich!

2011-11-26T10:23:00.004-06:00

November 25th

2011-11-25T21:01:00.007-06:00

Mindy and I ventured out overnight for 'Black Friday Shopping'!! We left the house around 9PM and headed to Kearney. Our first stop should have been Wal-Mart, but instead it was this:

I was pulled over for speeding on the way to Kearney! Luckily he gave me a written warning:)

We then headed to Wal-Mart. I don't the shopping would be so bad if it wasn't for the loooooong check out lines. And to make matters worse, my sister almost got into a fight with the people behind us. This was their cart:

And they had the audacity to try to push their way around us because they had someone 'saving' them a spot up ahead in the line. My sister refused to move so we had to listen to them complain the whole time we were in line. It might have been a different story if they would have asked nicely, but they just tried to shove their cart through and at some point shoved both myself and my sister with their cart. And if they would have had a few items we might have been more kind as well. But why is it fair for them to be able to jump ahead in line when everyone else has to wait? The ironic part - we saw them at every other store we went to the rest of the night!

By the time we were leaving Kearney, my sister was getting grumpy. She refused to stand at the back of the van so I could get a picture of her with all of our purchases:

We left Kearney around 3AM. That put us home at 4AM - after a quick stop at McDonald's for some food:) I ended up just sleeping on the couch so I made sure I would be up at a decent hour. So, the kids came down around 7AM. It's been a long time since I have only had 3 hours of sleep for the night!

The rest of the day was pretty lazy. Mike had a gazillion Christmas cards to sign for his work:

My sister brought all these materials - wreaths, ribbons, accessories, mesh, etc to make some wreaths that she saw on Pinterest. So, we started making those. Unfortunately we couldn't find the specific mesh ribbon we were looking for - and this was after hitting every store in Grand Island and Hastings that we could think of - so they didn't get finished. But it was fun working on them!

At the end of the day, the kids enjoyed a game of 'Doggie Doo'.

November 24th

2011-11-24T21:00:00.002-06:00

Happy Thanksgiving!!

For the past few years we have deep fried a turkey! It gives me a way to get Mike involved in the cooking and it allows my oven to stay open for all the other food!

This year I was too busy in the kitchen to capture the moments of Mike dropping the turkey and taking it out when it was done. So, Abby was the videographer today! (It is pretty great that she is getting old enough to help take some pictures and videos:))

But, as you can see from the video, she still needs some practice:

My favorite part is when she says you can't see it very well on the camera - and she doesn't realize it is her thumb or finger in the way:)

This year we had the pleasure of having my sister here for Thanksgiving and also a dear friend with her two children! There is just something about a fuller than normal dining room table:

William had fun playing too:

It was unusually warm today. It made for some fun tire swing time in the dark!

November 23rd

2011-11-23T23:13:00.002-06:00

My two pilgrims:

November 22nd

2011-11-22T23:16:00.000-06:00

Trying to get back into our normal routine - only to be interrupted again with Thanksgiving!

The kids enjoying their new cups:

November 21st

2011-11-21T23:10:00.000-06:00

Here is the sign that JJ and William made for us:

November 20th

2011-11-20T23:08:00.000-06:00

A HUGE thank you to Grandma Schaefer for coming to stay with JJ and William.

William was already napping when it was time to take Grandma to the airport, so he wasn't able to be in the picture! I know the boys had fun with Grandma while the rest of us were gone!

So, here is a picture after he woke up!

November 19th

2011-11-19T22:08:00.001-06:00

We didn't go to any parks today. It was time to pack up and get ready to fly back home:( We took a long walk around our resort to get some pictures of all the cool props!

This was our staircase up to our floor:

Giant can of Play-doh:

Waiting for the bus to come to take us to one of the parks:

I think this was the best prop:

The classic Big Wheel with the handbrake!!

Mickey telephone:

Life size Potato Heads!

One of the Pac-Man ghosts:

Huge keyboard:

Mike in front of the stack of floppy disks:

This was a staircase on one of the other buildings - a giant Rubik's Cube:

Decade columns out in front of the resort:

This is the section we stayed in - with the bowling pin shaped pool:

The other pool shaped like a groovy flower:

Kids in front of our room:

November 18th

2011-11-18T23:08:00.014-06:00

Today was our last full day at Disneyworld, so we headed to Animal Kingdom and Hollywood Studios.

Jackson and I were able to enjoy Animal Kingdom this time since Jackson no longer had an earache!

This huge dinosaur was the entrance to the children's area at Animal Kingdom.

One of the shows we saw was It's Tough to be a Bug. It was a 3D show - almost everything at Disney is 3D.

Family shot in front of the Tree of Life:

Each park had a huge Christmas tree set up:

After Animal Kingdom we decided to let the kids play a round of miniature golf. It was a pretty nice course with lots of moving obstacles.

Then we went to Hollywood Studios one last time:

Another favorite of ours was Star Tours. Two out of the three times we rode this ride, Abby was chosen to be the rebel spy!

I have a picture of myself in front of this backdrop back from my band trip to Florida in the late 80's!

The Christmas lights display is one of a kind. And it was just nuts with so many people!

We even found some hidden Mickey ears during the lights show!

We ended the evening with a late dinner at the Sci-Fi Dine-in Theater:

The tables were old cars converted into eating areas. And while you ate they were showing old black and white alien and zombie movies on the big screen!

Our last ride on the Disney buses!

November 17th

2011-11-17T21:02:00.014-06:00

Since we had went to every park and still had two full days left, we decided to go back to Magic Kingdom and Epcot again today.

I made the kids wear their ears so I could get some classic traditional pictures!

By this time the kids were groaning every time we saw a Disney photographer!

We made sure to ride our favorite rides one last time: Space Mountain, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, Tomorrowland Speedway and Stitch's Great Escape.

We loved this ride - Splash Mountain:

We only rode it once though because you get pretty wet. And none of us really wanted to walk around wet for the rest of the day again!

When we were done at Magic Kingdom, we hopped on the monorail to Epcot:

There was a character greeting spot that had all the classic characters. So, yes, I made everyone wait in line for about 30 minutes just to get pictures taken with Mickey and the rest of the gang:)

After that and riding some of our favorite rides - Test Track and Mission: SPACE - we headed over to the other side of Epcot. Abby and Jackson teamed up to help save the world from supervillains on the Kim Possible World Showcase Adventure! They were given a 'kimmunicator' that told them clues. We had to search within each country to find the answers and stop the villains! It was a neat way to get the kids interested in exploring the countries a little bit.

Our attempt at humorous photography:

Loved the look of Spaceship Earth at night:

November 16th Part Two

2011-11-16T23:55:00.008-06:00

The highlight of our day at Hollywood Studios was enrolling the kids into Jedi Training!

Abby looked less than thrilled the entire time.

The Jedi Trainer gave them specific instructions.

And then the ominous music started and Darth appeared!

Then the new Jedis were able to fight Darth one on one!

I am still not sure if Abby enjoyed the whole experience or not.

If you listen closely towards the end of the video you can hear the trainer tell Abby to go eat some sugar:)

November 16th

2011-11-16T22:48:00.008-06:00

Hollywood Studios was our destination today!

While we were walking around - we happened to see Phineas and Ferb. They were one of the few character spots we actually waited in line to get our pictures taken!

Right next to them we saw Lightning McQueen and Mater!

The kids really enjoyed the Muppets attraction.

Ever since Saturday when Jackson saw something advertising the Tower of Terror - that is all he talked about. And finally we were at Hollywood Studios! He couldn't wait to ride it. I, on the other hand, had no desire. I am not a fan of rides that drop you vertically and that is it. So, I opted to not go on it. Abby only went on it out of peer pressure from Jackson and Daddy.

Later Daddy was chosen to participate in a movie scene:

Loved the huge Fantasia hat!

Aerosmith's Rockin' Roller Coaster was another favorite! It was in the dark and was one of those coasters that takes off super fast in the beginning.

November 15th

2011-11-15T20:45:00.002-06:00

We went to Epcot today. I think one of our favorite rides at Epcot was the Test Track:

The kids and Mike also enjoyed Soarin' - but I didn't like it much. It gave you the sensation that you were hang gliding over mountains and the ocean, etc. It actually almost made me feel queasy. The one cool thing about the attraction was it also had scents - so when you were flying over a huge forest, you could smell a pine scent.

We had lunch reservations at the Coral Reef restaurant and we were lucky enough to be seated right in front next to the glass of the huge aquarium. We watched fish and sharks and a huge turtle swim around while we ate!

November 14th

2011-11-14T22:30:00.003-06:00

Last night was a much better night. We all slept very well!

Today we headed to Magic Kingdom.

The Haunted Mansion had some cool things to play with while waiting in line. Luckily though we weren't waiting in very long lines.

Ghost carriage outside of the Haunted Mansion:

Family picture with famous castle:

Disney has wonderful photographers and you hand them your photo pass and they will take your pictures which you can then later buy and download. It is worth it if you have a lot of pictures taken and just want to purchase them all. Plus it allows you to get some great family pictures without having to ask strangers to take your picture for you.

We had late lunch reservations today at Cinderella's Royal Castle. This is not something I would ever have to do again. They definitely catered more to the younger kids who were all dressed up in their princess dresses. I think Abby and Jackson might have been a few years too old to really get into meeting all the princesses.

And the photographer that was in the castle taking the pictures, was NOT friendly at all. This is the only picture I got on my camera because I felt like they were rushing us along. And the pictures that the photographer took were not put onto my photo pass. We did get a printed out copy of the picture she took - but if I want the digital download, I have to pay some more money. I love the concept of the photo pass, but I think it should be inclusive of all the photographers on the Disney property.

We sat down to eat and we met Snow White:

Aurora:

Belle:

and Ariel:

More pictures in front of the castle:

All of the parks were decorated for Christmas. It was very pretty:

There were tons of poinsettias. And we even gave Abby and Jackson some practice at taking some pictures of Mike and I:

The picture does not even begin to depict how beautiful the castle was at night. I was even mesmerized as an adult! And at certain times the lights changed colors, etc.

November 13th

2011-11-13T23:26:00.044-06:00

It was hard to get up for our early breakfast reservations at BOMA this morning after the night we had. It started last night when we started getting ready for bed. Jackson started complaining that his ear hurt. I figured it was just from the airplane ride so I told him to go to sleep and if it still hurt in the morning we would give him some medicine. Next thing I know it is around midnight and Jackson is in tears because his ear hurts so much. We gave him some ibuprofen and then couldn't get back to sleep because Abby had a coughing fit - but she NEVER woke up! All I remember is Mike carrying her to the sink to force her to wake up and get a drink of water so she would stop coughing! I think that is the worst night we have had in a hotel.

So, back to breakfast - I thought the restaurant was located at Animal Kingdom Park, but we quickly learned that it was at Animal Kingdom Lodge. Those are two totally different places! So, once we found the restaurant, the food was very good!

We then headed back over to Animal Kingdom Park.

The kids are standing in front of the Tree of Life:

That is Expedition Everest in the background - home of the Yeti!

Unfortunately after a few attractions, Jackson's ear started hurting again. The ibuprofen was wearing off. Luckily Disney provides free transportation to the urgent care facility and luckily they were open on Sundays! Abby and Mike stayed at the park and enjoyed themselves while Jackson and I went to the clinic. He had an ear infection:( He fell asleep while waiting for the prescription to be filled:

Once we got back to our resort, Jackson was feeling better already and he was ready to go swimming. Mike and Abby came back soon thereafter and Abby and Jackson went swimming in the pool shaped like a bowling pin!

That evening we had dinner reservations at Chef Mickey's! Jackson was feeling normal - evident from the jellybeans on his ice cream:

The characters took turns coming out to greet all the guests!

Jackson refused to give Minnie Mouse a kiss:

November 12th

2011-11-12T22:56:00.000-06:00

Today was the big day - the start of our Disney trip!

We woke up Abby and Jackson very early; they had no idea we were even leaving on a trip until we woke them up this morning.

Once we were in the car, we asked them to try to guess where we were going. Their guesses included Cocoa Keys in Omaha - a hotel with waterslides, the Amazing Pizza Machine restaurant, and Great Wolf Lodge. Boy, were they in for a surprise:)

Once we arrived at the airport, we found our gate and then had them look at the screens to see if they could figure out where we were going. They narrowed it down to Orlando or Washington DC. After we told them Orlando was the correct answer, Abby kind of questioned if we were going to Disneyworld. We said yes!

We had signed up for the Disney transportation from the airport to our hotel. They take care of the luggage and bring it to our room a few hours later. So, it was nice to check out the hotel a little bit. We stayed at the Pop Century Resort. Mike and I had fun looking at all the cool old '80s toys!

We arrived early enough in the day that we decided to head to the Magic Kingdom!

Wow - it was crazy busy! Luckily we knew that today would be busy but by Monday the crowd levels were supposed to be pretty low. So, we walked around a little bit and decided that our first ride should be:

It's a small world!!

We rode a couple more rides, but for the most part we walked around and just took everything in - including the castle all decorated with Christmas lights.

We ate dinner and everything revolves around 'ears'!

When we got back to the room, the kids found their 'ears' in their suitcases!

November 11th

2011-11-11T22:28:00.000-06:00

My boys

helping me make

some fruit salsa!

Yummy!