12.29.2011 A Busy Day Part 1

Thursday was a packed day of fun...so packed it won't fit into one post...or even two...so enjoy part 1 :) This picture just made me laugh. It's very telling of how lunchtime goes when everyone is home-the kitchen is so crowded you can't get to the silverware drawer, so you just eat with the spoon that stirred the soup. My dad is always resourceful :)
There was lots of hanging out in the family room. Grandpa's recliner chair is a favorite spot. Leah thinks she's somethin' else when she gets to sit in it.

Playing with Grandpa & Grandma's new ottoman...wait...is someone inside that thing?

Apparently there's room for two :)

After this there were some ground rules made for playing with the ottoman...including NOT hiding inside.

The little boys loved playing with cars. Eli had loads of fun playing with cousins that enjoyed cars as much as he does!

Parker playing with Grandpa...

Good catch Grandpa! This is now one of Parker's favorite games at Grandpa & Grandma's house...little daredevil.

Thursday Renae made her cinnamon rolls as well...YUM!

There is always fun to be had in the pool as well.

Love those goggles!

Nothing better than swimming in the winter!

A fun start to the day!

12.28.2011 They're here!

As we enjoyed our time at Grandpa & Grandma's house, we patiently waited for Renae & Josh to get there...One day the kids went up to Aunt Kristi's house to play. Julean is so cute with Leah :) On Tuesday night Renae & Josh got here for dinner. It was a very fun, loud evening as the cousins were reunited, and we all hung out. Wednesday morning the kids were up early, ready for breakfast.
Adriana & Keira enjoyed their Marshmallow Matties-a standard at Grandma's house :)

One of the coveted spots at Grandpa & Grandma's house...right in front of the fireplace. Caleb looks ready to defend his spot ;)

Renae & Josh brought their Xbox & Kinex. Eli LOVED it. He got so excited when it came on and tried to play...even if it wasn't his turn.

Throwing the javelin...

Adriana & Matthias 'boxing'. Don't mess with Adriana...

Eli & Aunt Renae dancing.

One of my all-time favorite pictures of Renae.

The kids fought their way to be as close to Grandpa & Grandma's tv. (Ignore the creepy spider on the screen...)

Uncle Josh getting some snuggle time with Julean.

Grandpa & Chloe.

After the kids went to bed the McGregor kids had their turn playing the Kinex. Hilarious. I almost peed my pants I was laughing so hard as we were dancing. Enjoy some pictures off our suweet moves...

At least we got our workout for the day :) After this vacation I can see a reason to actually buy an Xbox...it was FUN! But we probably won't for a very long time :)

12.26.2011 Eating Oatmeal

One new 'skill' Leah has acquired since being at Grandpa & Grandma's is using a spoon. She's....ummmm..kinda good at it...
Only minor messes (depending on your definition of minor)

She won't, however, let me feed her with a spoon anymore. So I suppose we'll be dealing with a lot of messes at breakfast for a while...

12.25.2011 Seeing Great Grandpa

After church on Sunday and after lunch we went up to see Great Grandpa. He was sleeping when we got there, but mom woke him up, and he was in a good mood. We went down to look at the fish.
Leah was very excited to see the fish :) She kept saying 'fishyfishyfishyfishy'. Super cute :)

Kisses for Great Grandpa.

:)

Love this pic :)

Grandpa really wanted Eli to see the 'big fish'. Every time the fish swam by Grandpa would say 'There he is! The big one!' Then he would sit and stare at it until he saw it again :)
It was very nice to see him. We'll get up there again soon!

12.25.2011 Our First Week in Michigan

On the 18th of December the kids and I headed for Michigan to visit Grandpa and Grandma...and the rest of the family too :) The kids played for a while in the play area at the airport. Whoever thought to put these in an airport was a genius. They played until we had to board the plane. We got very lucky-we had paid for 2 seats, because Leah was going to sit on my lap, but the lady that checked us in put us in a 3-seat row and blocked the middle seat so no one else could sit there...so we had 3 seats. It was a huge blessing. Leah is a little...well...mobile. She doesn't like to sit still. Ever. So having the extra room was nice. When we got on the plane the kids ate their lunch, and Leah took a 45 minute nap, so they were occupied for most of the trip. The last 45 minutes Leah got a bit antsy, but overall she did really good. We arrived, met up with mom and dad, strapped the kids in car seats and headed for home...via Tim Horton's, of course :)
We got there and the kids got right in to all of grandma and grandpa's toys. It's always fun to play with new stuff :)

Parker came over to play. He's SO cute! He and Leah are pretty cute together

Not sure why Leah is laughing and Parker is crying...but I'm pretty sure it's Leah's fault.

Within 24 hours Leah had already broken something, and nearly broken several things. She's into EVERYTHING! She's so quick too...and when she gets a hold of things she's not suppose to have she runs away, and then throws it right before you catch her...apparently she's trying to dispose of the evidence. She does it all with a smile on her face, so it's hard to be mad at her...

Eli had fun playing with Aunt Randee's iPhone. He was giggling so hard. I took a video, but it was 65,000 kb...way to big to upload to blogger...so if you want to see the video you'll have to come and visit us ;) That boy likes technology...

I have gotten the Play Doh out a couple of times. One day I had it out and Eli played with it for 3 hours. I'm not kidding. I did form all 26 letters out of Play doh so that was what he was playing with. He is completely obsessed with letters.

I looked up from what I was doing at one point and he was playing with this little knife thing...and no, I did not take it away from him. He was playing so good...and it wasn't that sharp...

We've watched some tv too :) Parker and Leah fit quite nicely in Grandpa's chair.

One of Leah's current obsessions is trying on other people's shoes. She had Grandpa's cowboy boots on at one point. She thinks she's pretty funny...and she's right :)

Saturday night we went with mom and dad to their Christmas eve service. It was very nice. We also went to the Christmas morning service-Eli's all dressed up for that :) (Leah was in a super cute dress too, but I failed to take pictures of her...I'll have to put her back in her dress...) The Christmas morning service was very nice too. They didn't have nursery, though, so I had to take the kids out for a while. I talked to some other parents that were doing the same thing, though, and had a nice time.

We had kind of a laid back week...MUCH more relaxing than before we left :) It's amazing how much you can relax when you're not at your own house with a million things staring in your face to get done...And it was so nice to just hang out with mom and dad in the evenings.

12.17.2011 Melendez Family Christmas

This year we had the privilege of hosting the Melendez Christmas at our house. It was so fun to have everyone there! There was SO much food, and lots of great family time.
Every year there are more kids :)

This was the first time in a very long time that we had all been together, so it was nice to see everyone together.

Ruth took time to tell the story of Christmas to the kids. At different points in the story the kids put a different ornament on the tree.

It was a nice way for the kids to participate.

Abuela and Abuelo :)

Later that evening Edgar read the Christmas story from the Bible.

Then we opened some presents.

Leah loved this little doll :)

Abuelito was there too. So glad he was able to be there :)

A beautiful evening with family. Such a blessing to see everyone around this very special time of the year!