Claudia's 9th Birthday

Okay this isn't THE announcement.  But today was Claudia's birthday :).

Before cake..

Next she's a cheeseball...

 We got her a 'retro' Game Boy Advance SP...

 ...with a game and a video.

 Got her a couple of doll dresses too.

 Dora from the Grandparents (Verhulst)

And also a new bike helmet

If you thought we were crazy before...

...just wait.  It gets crazier.  Big news getting ready to break here soon.  Stay tuned...

Christmas Day 2011

We went to church first on Christmas morning, so didn't get around to opening gifts until afterward.  Before you start feeling too sorry for our poor, mistreated children (haha) - you should know that they got (entirely too much) stuff from their Grandma Schoemig on Christmas Eve.  And after we opened gifts at our house Christmas Day, we went over to Grandma & Grandpa Verhulst's house and they got more (a Nintendo Wii with a charger and 4 controllers).

Tim and I (okay, I - since Tim doesn't shop for any gift other than mine) didn't go nuts on Christmas this year.  However, as you will see below, I think the kids were happy to get what they got from us.

Now she has the big pillow pet, the small pillow pet and the matching slippers...

Oscar with his iPod Touch and a new zip-up hoodie...

...and the matching slippers for Claudia too.

A penguin hat and gloves for Diana (she has a serious penguin addiction).

Dog treats and toys are unveiled for Hank and Hanai.

 

...and this is what we saw - pretty much for the rest of the day (or at least until the batteries died).

Photo Shoot

In my never-ending quest to trim our family budget, I decided that I would take the photos for our Christmas card this year instead of hiring a photographer.  Next I had to decide where we would take them and what the kids were going to wear.  I bought some super-cute dresses off eBay for the girls - they aren't wearing all the same ones this year, but they all match in style and color.

I also decided that we would do a 'location' photo shoot at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in KC.  The kids weren't real excited when we told them that we were taking them to an art museum (instead of a photography studio) to take their Christmas pictures.  However, when we arrived at the Nelson they really liked it!  What's not to like?  The place is gorgeous inside... and full of some really cool stuff!

Once again, I won't post the actual picture we plan to use.  But, I will post another one that we really liked - but didn't make the final cut for our 2011 card:

Cost for parking at the Nelson $5.  Cost for forty, semi-custom, self-designed Christmas cards from walmart.com $16.68.  Cost of hearing your kids say "Cooooool Mom, can we come back again some day?" - about a museum of art - ...priceless.

Thanksgiving, etc.

As we have every year since about 2001, Thanksgiving was at our house this year.  We were down 5 people though since my younger sister and her family moved to Florida back in May of this year.  But we still had a nice family gathering with my Mom, my older sister and her family and two of my aunts (my Mom's sisters).

Looking ahead, I'm pretty excited about Christmas this year.  Last year I had a hard time figuring out what to buy everyone for Christmas.  I think they liked what they got, but I don't think they were 'blown away' by their gifts.  This year I bought the kids each an iPod Touch (don't wig out - we didn't win the lottery, I bought them all off eBay so I saved more than half what the newest 4th gen costs).  I think they are going to absolutely love them - just my gut feeling.  I've found tons of inexpensive educational games and ebooks on iTunes - and also PBS kids TV shows.  Awesome!  Can't wait to see their reactions!

This month we also moved our old PC and the printer out of the 3-seasons porch (off Tim's and my bedroom) and put it in the dining room for use as a 'family computer'.  I cleaned up the hard drive and added a gig of RAM to the motherboard.  It was running very sluggishly - now it runs like a champ and didn't cost me that much to fix :).  After that, I bought and loaded several kids learning games on it.  The girls all ask me constantly now if they can play on the computer (they actually started asking before I even had a chance to get everything set up).  The dining room is a little more cramped now, but it think it is well worth it.

In other news, our friends from church are leaving this week to travel to China to adopt their little boy Jesiah.  Their family had a really rough time this past year, but are ending on a positive note by finally being given the green light to go to get their little one.  Keep them (Nathan & Michelle) in your prayers if you are so inclined, they are leaving two small children behind here in the States while they travel.  I know they are worried about all their children - near and far - at this time.

Mayerly's 10th Birthday

I wish I had something witty and inspiring to write today in honor of Mayerly's birthday.  Unfortunately, I've been fighting a chest cold for about 2 weeks now and I'm too wiped out to come up with anything.  So, I'll just be posting some pictures before I call it a night.

 Blowing out the candles

 She's cheezin' in this one with her imaginary knife and fork ready to eat all the cake herself...

 Bratz Leapster game from Grandma and Grandpa Verhulst

 Furry green body pillow, also from G'ma & G'pa Verhulst

 Incredibles Leapster game from Mom & Dad

 Doll clothes from Mom & Dad

Doll from Grandma Schoemig

The Starfish

One day a man was walking along the beach when he noticed
a boy picking something up and gently throwing it into the ocean.

Approaching the boy, he asked, “What are you doing?”

The youth replied, “Throwing starfish back into the ocean.
The surf is up and the tide is going out. If I don’t throw them back, they’ll die.”

“Son,” the man said, “don’t you realize there are miles and miles of beach and hundreds of starfish?
You can’t make a difference!”

After listening politely, the boy bent down, picked up another starfish,
and threw it back into the surf. Then, smiling at the man, he said,
“I made a difference for that one.”