Christmas

I hope everyone had a great Christmas!  We had a great time relaxing with the kids.

We watched The Grinch who Stole Christmas on TV.  We drove through Downtown Rochester to see the lights.  We ate lots of popcorn and played a lot of the Wii.  Our favorite is guitar hero right now.  The boys love Mario Kart, but Audrey and I love to "compete" on Guitar Hero.  The greatest song per Hudson & Audrey is "You Give Love a Bad Name" by Bon Jovi.  

 We learned that Marshall LOVES popcorn and will growl while digging into the bowl.  Upon learning that he can eat popcorn I've decided no more homemade pureed baby food for him.  If he can eat popcorn he can eat any soft people food.

I love our Christmas tree.  Here are some of my favorite ornaments with a new camera lens that I'm still struggling with!

The kids were up at 6:30 am to open presents.  Audrey found her princess long gloves in her stocking and decided the occasion called for the Snow White outfit.  So we all have our pjs on and she is dressed up in her dress & gloves ready for the day.

We had a great Christmas break!!!

Haller Christmas

We had a great time at the Haller Christmas last weekend!  It was nice to see everyone even if most of the visits were too short.  Here are some pictures from the weekend.

Burleson Christmas

We had a great time at my Dad and Step-mom's house near Kalamazoo this past weekend.  It was really great to see everyone and hang out.  The kids had a great time even if the babies didn't sleep!!  :)

Marshall makes his "mad face" a lot so Josh and Hudson like to copy him.

They had snow drifts waist deep in their backyard so the kids had a great time in the snow.  Josh, Jeremy, and my Dad were outside with the kids!  It looked cold from my view point - which was inside most of the time.

The cousins sure do like each other...especially right before they get to open the mountain of presents behind them!

Big THANK YOU to the Grandparents for getting Hudson the spiderman "web" slinger.  As soon as we got home Hudson emptied the whole can on the pine trees out front.  He loves it and we'll have to get a refill.

Random Pics

Here are some random pictures of what has been happening here:

Audrey got the tunnels out to play with in the kitchen.  Marshall found that he loves to crawl into them!

I made five monsters for this past weekend's Christmas at my Dad's.  They were fun to make.  I'll post more about that weekend probably later tonight.

We are getting ready for the next Christmas celebration which is this coming weekend.  In the meantime we have three Christmas parties at two different schools, one "sing-along", and one work outing to play bocci ball all before Friday!

Christmas Extravaganza!!!

We are on the cusp of the Haller Christmas Extravaganza.  It consists of four family Christmases to take place over three different weekends.  This year my mom's Christmas will actually be in January.  It is a great time to see family, but we are bushed by February!!!

Hudson had some homework that he had to write what type of Holidays he celebrates.  Here are his answers:

At the bottom of the page it states: Draw a picture of your family celebrating on the back.  Here is his picture:

Yes, he drew out almost everyone that we visit for Christmas and labeled them.  He is missing his Aunts and Uncles, but has all of his cousins and Grandparents.  That is a feat!  I'll post pics soon of our gatherings!

Have a great one everybody!!

Trying to win a purse & other stuff

Friends and Family...I'm trying to win a purse!  These are adorable and I want one.

Charm Design Bags and Totes $50 gift card GUEST GIVEAWAY!!!!

Everything else here is going well.  I am finishing up some homemade Christmas presents so between trying to win fantastic purses, sewing, and taking care of my family...I'm bushed!!

I'm trying to get more into the Christmas mood so I made an Advent Calendar for the kids.  I like how it turned out, but it's huge.  I had to put it on the piano.  Next year I think I'll try envelopes vs. the cones & branches.  I lucked out and was able to piece this together with items I had in or outside of the house.

I put activities that the family can do together in the proper cone the night before it is to be opened.  Audrey opens odd days and Hudson opens even days.  We cut out paper snowflakes and put them on the windows the first night.  Last night was make your own ice cream sundae!  Tonight is pick your favorite homemade dinner (they had to agree on it).  They decided on french toast, which we use Aunt Rhonda's recipe that she gave me as a shower gift almost 12 years ago!!  It has been fun so far.  

Did you know that my baby boy is 10 months old?  He is adorable and INTO EVERYTHING!!

Thanksgiving

The kids and I visited the lower half of Michigan over Thanksgiving to visit my family.  Josh went up north to ride bikes with his brother & Dad.  He had a good time, but we had a GREAT time!!

This is the beginning of our trip!  Packing up the car:

Playing football outside at my Dad's on Thanksgiving:

All the Grandkids!  Hudson, Marshall, Jack, Owen, Audrey, & Willow!

Cousins at Grandma C's house.

The Christmas parade in South Haven!  Santa on the fire truck was awesome!!