Michigan

After living in Michigan for 8 months I finally switched my license plates from Idaho to Michigan.  I as dreading doing this for more that one reason.  I didn't want to go to the DMV, I felt a connection with Idaho while I had the license plates and I knew that I was late and would be hit with a fee because I was late.  So it is official I live in Michigan, even my car says I do. 

Anniversary

David and I celebrated our 8th anniversary on Jan 21.  That weekend was the Brian Regan show so we really enjoyed ourselves that night.  It was downtown at the Fox Theatre and it was huge.  We couldn't believe how ornate that place was decorated.  It was huge. Brian Regan was so fun and so funny.  It was great to go to a comedian that was clean and not offensive. 
I gave David a little wall saying that said "you are my happy".  I am so glad I found such a great man to be my husband, best friend and father of my kids.  We have had so many great adventures and I am excited to see adventures are to come.  He makes me want to be a better person but still loves me for who I am.  I love him and am grateful for him in my life.

The boys

 Carter loves the bucket on his head.  He wears it all day and runs around.  We went away for a weekend and when he came back and put his helmet on he looked like he was finally at home.  Silly boy.

We took the kids skiing over Christmas break and although they call it Mt. Holly, I refuse to call anything that small a Mt so I call it Holly Hill.  It was a fun place to take the kids and get them more experience on the slopes.  Eliza loves skiing and did awesome.  Fenton is good but isn't as easy to teach and whined a lot.  Carter was on David's back and was pretty good for about 1 1/2 hours but they started to cry and be cold.  Poor kids. 

Outside of Holly Hill was a town called Fenton and of course we had to check it out. It was a cute little town and Fenton felt so special.  What a cute town and a cute kid.

Christmas

Christmas was so magical for the kids.  They left out cookies and carrots for Santa. 

When they came in the next morning the first thing they saw was the jingle bells that Santa left and then they looked down and saw that Santa left some foot prints.  They just could believe how cool that was.  The things they really wanted was a snow globe.  They each got a snowglobe that sang songs.  They both got tennis rackets and baseball gloves and flashlights.  They got a huge cardboard house to color and they played in that for a long time.  Fenton got Mario Bro Wii. 

I got tickets to Les Mis the movie and tickets to Brian Regan. 

The big story was with David's present.  David always finds out his present.  Either he looks for it, or I don't lie very good, but by a week before Christmas David knew almost everything I was getting him.  But I had one trick up my sleeve.  I bought him a TV and hid it over at a friends house.  I texted them Christmas eve and told them to put the TV in the car anytime Christmas eve or Christmas and text me when it was there.  They texted me at 12:30 am Christmas morning so I woke up at 3:30 and went outside and snuck the TV in the basement and went back to sleep.

Christmas morning we opened presents and played and ate and played the Wii.  About 10:30 I asked David to go get the whites (laundry) from downstairs.  He kind of ignored me and continued doing something.  I asked him again to please get me the whites because I wanted to take a shower.  He finally went downstairs and in front of the washing machine was the TV.  He yelled and hugged me and yelled some more.  He was so surprised and excited.  I loved doing it for him.  It was fun to keep a secret from the kids and David.  We have enjoyed joining the 21st century. 

We had friends over the next day for boxing day and we played games and ate great food.  It snowed Christmas eve so we had a wonderful white Christmas.  It was so great to be with our little family and friends.  We are blessed in so many ways. 

Winter pics

We went for a little train ride and were freezing.

We visited another Santa. He was so sweet.  He talked to the kids and told them he had been waiting for them all day.  He talked to them about their toys they wanted and then said "i love you".  I thought it was sweet.

We got a lot of snow on Christmas day so we went out side and had a great time.  We built a huge snow fortabout 3 1/2 feet tall and 8ft by 6 feet.  It was awesome.  It melted about 3 weeks later. 

Frankenmuth

We went north to Frankenmuth and it has the largest Christmas store in the world and it was huge!!!  It was awesome and huge and overwhelming.  The kids loved it.  We had a great time but after about 1 1/2 hours it got super crowded and we were done.  What a great happy store.  I loved that throughout the store it kept reminding you that Christmas is about the birth of Christ. 

Polar Express

Our community has an little event for families for Christmas.  They set up a polar express ride around town.  We bought tickets early and the kids have been looking forward to it for a month.  They hae their golden tickets and we all showed up in our pajamas.  We hopped on a little bus and they played Christmas music and the Polar Express read outloud while we drove around and looked at Christmas lights.  This is David being our conductor.  "All aboard"

When we made it back to City Hall Santa was waiting outside for us and we walked into the North Pole.  It was so great and relaxing.  There were only about 20 people on the bus so we got to have some unrushed time with Santa.  We had hot cocoa, cookies, and M&M's. 

Eliza had drawn a picture for Santa and gave it to Santa.  She was so sweet.  She looked off in the distance and was thinking and I kept asking her what she thought.  I knew she was trying to process something.  I was worried that she didn't love the Polar Express and was disappointed.  But later that night she kept asking if we can go again on the polar express about 5 times.  I think she loved it and was transported to a dream land. 

Eliza turns 6

December was filled with so many great things including Eliza's birthday.  She wanted a polar express party.  The kids invitation was a golden ticket to ride the Polar express.  All the kids came in their pajamas and they made trains out of graham crackers.  We had Polar Express playing on the tv all night for fun and I attempted a Polar express cake.  It was a small party but Eliza loved it.

I am so blessed to have her in my home and to be her mother.  She is so beautiful and kind.  She loves learning and reading.  She loves her friends.  She loves decorating, coloring and doing art projects.  She is a great colorer and artist.  I love her so much.