Family

We took the train back to St. Louis to visit family and the kids actually enjoyed most of the ride.  Ashley was scared of the train arriving, but once on board they had fun and it's much easier to entertain them when not in the car although it does take a little longer.

Since it was the weekend after Halloween my parents had their party for all the kids and everyone wore their costumes.  Of course I had forgotten to pack theirs so a walmart sale had to do, but unfortunately I couldn't find a costume there for Ash.  I was able to create Waldo with the wardrobe we had on hand which was a huge hit and the adults had way to much fun with it.  The kids had fun with the games and even went on the haunted trail after dark multiple times!

We also got family pictures since the last time we had done that was pre-Ben/Ash.  The kids were all troopers and the weather cooperated really well even though it was late in the season.  Here's a few of my favorite pics.

Funny Faces!

Cousins chillin'

Tackle pic

 And of course - one of the whole fam.

July

July was full of outside fun and the kids have loved every minute of summer.  We went back to visit my family for the fourth and we may have to do that every year.  The kids enjoyed swimming in my sisters pool and we basically had our own fireworks display from my parents deck.  Of course Ashley was terrified of it even though it was far away Ben couldn't get enough of it.  If that wasn't enough, their neighbors decided to put on their own display right over our heads bascially which even had Ben standing a little closer to us even though he said he liked it.

 

The kids with Momo - Ben was already tired at this point

 

And again we put the kids in swim lesson which took a little bit for them to get used to, but in the end was well worth it.  It showed at my sister's pool when they hung out in the water as long as they possibly good.

My company picnic was at worlds of fun and oceans of fun.  Ashley had just hit the height requirement for Snoopy land which was a good thing since she would've been really upset to see Ben go on everything if she couldn't.  It was ridiculously hot, but that made for no lines at worlds of fun.  By the time we got to worlds of fun it had cleared out enough that the kids could swim around without too much bumping into others.  overall it was way more successful than I anticipated and we may need to consider taking them there once or twice a year from now on.

Ben also finished up his t-ball season and did really well.  He is definitely better at hitting the ball when we throw it at him rather than off the tee, but hopefully we can get him to coach pitch early instead of having t-ball another year.

The kids have gone to a t-bones game (minor league baseball team) and we are always at the park. 

Little sisters pushing big brothers

Merry Christmas!

Well Christmas has come and gone all to quickly yet again.  As the kids get older the more they are enjoying the holiday spirit and presents.  We had an extended time with family and were able to squeeze a lot of cousin play time in which Ben loved and even Ashley too this year.  Ashley was even willing to go with the older cousins to play downstairs away from us without any prompting.

Deebo with Ben and Ash

On Saturday we went to two indoor soccer games and were able to play with my cousin's little girl for a short playdate.  And unfortunately it was short due to a misbehaving Ben, but it was still good to have time with them and Ash loved playing with new toys.  Then on Sunday the whole family went to dinner and then ice skating at Steinberg in Forest Park.  It was chilly, but Ben had a blast and even went around with his two cousins who play hockey.  They helped him skate along for a little bit which was neat since they were clearly lapping everyone else at the rink with their speed and agility.  It's crazy how good and fast they are even at such a young age.

Ben, Sam and Danny

For Christmas Eve it is tradition to go to my Grandma's (Momo's) house along with the rest of my mom's family for some food and presents.  Momo gave Ashley a baby doll with a changing table and accessories.  She immediately proceeded to try and change the baby's diaper and feed her the bottle.  I guess she doesn't need any explanation on what to do there since she's all too familiar with that from her baby days of not long ago.  Ben received a chiefs football helmet and jersey (I think I heard a few boos in the background when he opened it since we were in St. Louis and surrounded by rams fans), but nonetheless he was thrilled and pretty much wore the helmet for 2 days straight.  He also got moon shoes.

This is crazy!

Before bedtime Ben dictated a note for Santa to Brian.  It was too cute not to include in the post.  And yes, this is what Ben wanted to tell Santa and Hockey (our elf).

Christmas morning was nice and relaxing and Ben wanted to keep opening presents.  He was happy to receive the first of two zambonis which is a matchbox car size and then the second which is much larger and really cool if I do say so myself.  Although once he opened the second one he said he wanted 5 and not just 2.  Looks like he forgot to inform santa he had changed his mind on quantities of said zambonis.  He also got a hot wheels track, tons of dinosaurs (which I've only seen Brian play with so far), spiderman DVD, Imaginext playset and candy.

2 zambonis

Putting the zambonis to good use immediately

Ashley followed Ben's lead and tried opening a few presents.  She loved her slinky, magna doodle, and candy.  She also got a trampoline although we didn't take it out of the box since we had to transport it home still.  I told her what it was and she tried jumping on the box, but got bored with that quickly for obvious reasons.  She probably thought I was crazy and didn't know what I was talking about when I told her what it was.  But once we got it set up at home it has been in full use almost any chance she gets.

Ash jumping on her trampoline box

 

Christmas afternoon all the family came over and the kids got presents from Deebo and Papa.  Ash got a roller coaster and books.  Ben got a inflatable tumbler, car wash playset, mini air hockey table and hop a roo.  The kids then did their gift exchange and Ben got football guys which are a great alternate at playtime from his hockey guys.  Those two toys are some of my favorites that he's received along with the parking garage Amy gave him last year.  All are toys he will play with off and on for a little while on his own.  Ash got princess dress ups and shoes which she proceeded to wear one of the dresses the rest of the night.  She loves it and once her feet get a little bigger I'm sure she will get tons of use out of the shoes, but for now they fall off a lot.  She also took her turn at the karoake machine some of her cousins got and it turns out she has a future on soundtracks for whale noises.  We nicknamed her Orca for the night.

All the cousins

biggest present goes to Ash!

Ash: "Woah, what's in there Ben?!"

Hockey guys!

Ash putting on chapstick while her cousins open her present for her.  She sure knows how to dictate already....

Improvised roller coaster courtesy of Uncle Dean - Ash loved it

Ash 'singing'

"Mwooooaaaaaaawwwwpppphhhhhhh"

Fun in a trampoline

Overall it was a great Christmas and we will get the last set of presents with Brian's side this weekend.  Now I really need to purge old toys to make everything fit!

This year didn't start so great, but has ended well.  Hope 2013 has more good things in store. Happy New Year!!!!