Every time I think I need to update our blog, I find a million other things on my to-do list and it just keeps getting pushed down to the bottom of the list. Then I find myself up way way too late, unable to sleep for multiple reasons, and I think to myself...now is the time to update the blog.
December has been a busy month to say the least. It will always be that way in this house. We have three birthdays in December in one week and that is just in this house. Our extended family pretty much cover at least half of the December calendar. Jayce had his birthday the day after Lena's. We actually had a bowling party that morning for Lena because her birthday was on a weekday and Jayce didn't want to have a party. I did tell him he could have a friend come to bowl with him though since it was his special day. He wanted to go to Chuck E Cheese as a family and play some games. To be honest, that's the way to go. We all had fun and it didn't cost us near as much as any birthday party we've ever had. I like it!
Jayce being celebrated at school.
On the night of Lena's actual birthday, we had Pizza with Santa at dad's school.
Jayce wanted donuts for his birthday breakfast and we just recently got a Dunkin Donuts in our town. :)
Our elf visited Jayce's stocking for his birthday too!
Bowling party! It was so awesome to see Lena in her element with her friends who are deaf like her. I can't wait to see her with her new sister!
Jayce and his buddy he invited. They had a blast!
Lena with a friend and school classmate. His sister came too. She was in pre-school with Lena when Lena first started at the school for the deaf since kids start at age three and stay until they move on to kindergarten.
Jayce and daddy!
This was just too cute for words...they kept doing a ring around the rosie like thing. I did have to try to move them off the alley though so others could bowl..lol!
Jayce at Chuck E Cheese
Jayce's cake- he wanted a lot of sprinkles.
We had a lot of Christmas concerts to attend too. Jayce's was on my birthday...my little angel.
Lena had two Christmas concerts two days later. The first was for her hearing 4K class that she goes to in the afternoon, where she has an interpreter. 4K concerts are like controlled chaos. The kids all tried to sign some- that was cute. Her second concert was at the school for the deaf. The pre-schoolers did a cute little skit- short and sweet.
We try to get a picture of all the kids together around the holidays each year. Every year it gets harder to get a good one. Someone is always doing something with their hands, making a funky face, not looking, or crying. :) Rowan has had a lot of pictures like this, this month.
Christmas Eve we spend at Rick's parents' house. We were missing one of his siblings and his family this year due to the flu. :( The kids had a blast and Rowan was LOVED on big time by all his cousins, but especially by his two oldest girl cousins. :)
Opening gifts for the cousin gift exchange and gifts from grandma and grandpa!
Rowan got a ride around in a box and loved it- it got turned into a little car for him. :)
Christmas morning at our house- checking out their stockings!
Evan is the lucky one who got one of nana's awesome homemade stockings...then we just grew too quickly and no one else in this house has one yet. I treasured mine when I was a kid!
Rowan was getting into somebody else's candy that they left on the floor.
After we opened gifts, we headed up to Wisconsin Dells where my mom, step-dad, brother, and his girlfriend were waiting for us. My aunt, uncle, and cousins from Texas were up and had a time share there. We spent two nights up there and the kids had a blast at the water park!
Thank you Aunt Denise and Uncle Jeff!!
This is my crazy younger brother in a borrowed swimsuit because he didn't bring one of his own. He was doing an impression from a Youtube video he showed us. It was ridiculous, but pretty funny!
Here's the video, "Stop Buying Stuff: Love is the Answer!!"
Evan had his first sleepover at a friend's house! He was so excited and the kids had a great time! Those sleeping bags from grammy and grandpa are sure coming in handy!
This picture just says TROUBLE! Between all gift openings, Landyn ended up with THREE nerf guns. I'm starting to wonder if I should have even put that on his wish list...lol. I'm picking up the soft bullets everywhere!
Grandpa Linse came up from Florida for a surprise visit for a couple days. We hadn't seen him since about this time last year. The kids enjoyed spending time with him!
Evan wanted hockey gear for Christmas this year. Rick decided to make a little ice rink on our patio in the backyard. It should be totally frozen and ready to go in the morning. We plan to put some padding around those pillars and we realized we had a 3-4" slope on the patio. The kids are excited! I am wondering how many trips to the ER/doctor we'll have! Just praying for no broken bones or teeth. :) I'm sure a lot of memories will be made!
