Iowa part III... Santa Claus has come to town!

On Christmas eve, before bed, the boys got an idea that they would ask Santa to wake them up so they could go on the sleigh with him.  Along with the orange, the cookies, caramel turtles and carrots they left him, they also wrote him a letter..

The letter read,  "Please wake Michael and Gabriel up before you eat your cookies and milk.  I love you and can we please see your reindeer? Pretty please!"

Michael was determined to catch Santa and purposely slept with his arm outstretched so he could catch Santa having a snack.

That night Santa came and left gifts under grandma and grandpa's storybook tree...

In the morning when the boys woke up (everyone in the picture below just woke up), they were super excited to see if Santa had come.  And while excited, they were pretty sad they didn't get to go on Santa's sleigh.

Here they are waiting for their sister to wake up so they could go find their presents...

When they went to their stool to see what Santa had left them, they found a note... (and most of the treats missing).

The note Santa left them said, "Michael and Gabriel, I tried to wake you up, but you were sound asleep.  I hope you like your gifts!   Love Santa
PS:  I'm always watching!
Upon seeing the note, they were even more excited (and perhaps a tiny scared- see Michael's face).  Michael said, "Santa's got to be real, he left us this note.  And do you see how he said he's always watching."
Yep Michael we did see that. Tell us how you feel about that.

And after reading their note, they were off, determined to find their gifts...

Even sleepy head got up to join in the fun.... got to love that morning hair!

Turns out, it didn't take her long to wake up.  Within seconds of seeing Mickey waiting for her under the tree, she was back to her full-of-energy self.  Ready to bounce off the walls.

Gabriel was pretty excited about his gift...

And so was Michael...

The boys ripped right into their presents, while Isabelle took her time, eating almost the entire box of Frozen Fruit Snacks Santa had brought her for the long car ride back home.  While it wasn't the best parenting decision I've ever made, I told myself it was Christmas and to let it slide.

Lots of smiles on Christmas morning...

And movie gifts to watch on the long car ride back home!

Isabelle's excitement continued too as she happen to spot Daisy Duck under the tree.  Now she had two friends to play with.

Here she is asking Grandma where Donald Duck is... guess Santa messed up and forgot another key member of the Mickey Mouse Club House gang.

This is her, "I guess Mickey and Daisy duck will do" face...

While a completely horrible picture of Mom (one I debated about posting many times), Mom got to enjoy Christmas morning with the kiddos too.  Here we are looking at a Pok-e-mon book the boys got trying to find one of the guys they like.

MaeLyn and Aaron spent the night at Grandma and Grandpa's house too as she wanted to see the kid's reaction to their gifts on Christmas morning.  It was nice to have her there too.

Santa was sure nice to the kids bringing them some fun gifts and a note that convinced the boys there must be a real Santa.  Considering those factors, in my mind, that is the definition of a great Christmas.  I'd like the magic of this wonderful holiday to last as long as possible.

Until next time,
Angie

Christmas Part II

In catching up from our trip back home, there were many highlights.  Just one of them was taking a family portrait.  Last time we hired a professional photographer to come in and take our pictures.  This time we didn't think about it til the last minute, so in true my family fashion, we simply took the old family picture off the wall, told everyone to stand where they were standing in the last picture and we built a tripod for the camera to set on. Then we set the timer and I ran back to the steps and pretended to pose just as the flash went off.  

Without having some one to check it, I was pretty impressed with how it turned out. 

You may notice we have a very special little guy in the picture.  My sister and her husband are on the wonderful journey of growing their family (the old fashion way and hopefully through adoption too).  They (actually we) are hoping and praying that cute little baby she's holding, (yes, the one whose identity we have hidden), may some day be theirs.  Until then, we will keep sending prayers to God that he will be forever theirs.  And because they like a challenge, they will also be welcoming their daughter (Meg's got a baby belly under the other baby) this spring.  So exciting!

Isabelle had a lot of fun playing with everyone.  Here she and Grandpa Ray were playing with her blanket.  

Here's uncle Adam helping me test out the timing feature of the camera.  Looks like he knew how to get the timing of his smile right on!

MaeLyn and Aaron, posing with Grandpa Ray.  This coming fall we will celebrate their marriage. Yet another exciting time for us to travel back home.

And my brother and his wonderful fiance, Kacee will be getting married in May of this year, while celebrating their big day on a cruise in the spring of 2016.  So many fun things to look forward to, being home at Christmas was so fun as everyone looks forward to what the future brings.

Adam, Daddy and Belle danced the Mickey Mouse Hot Dog Dance.  As you can tell by the huge smile on her face, Isabelle didn't like it at all, NOT

We look forward to the number of kids growing in the coming years for this picture.

Like father, like son...  I love this picture.

Adding in Isabelle and Grandma.  Isabelle is trying to show the grandparents how to vogue.

And another one of the kids.

After taking some family portraits, it was time for the kids to open presents., 

Here Isabelle is opening her Elsa dress from Grandma and Grandpa.  The dress she wears daily and insists that we call her Princess Elsa when she's in it.

Here Adam is very excited about his new Hawkeye gear to have in their house.

Also at Christmas we got to spend time with Great Grandma Dorie.  She was so kind in making us a tasty lunch and giving the kids a nice gift.

They kids were very excited about their packages.  Getting race cars and dollies to play with. I'll let you guess who was excited about what gifts.

On Christmas eve, we went to church.  Here are the kids dressed in their Christmas best.

And we had to get Grandma and Grandpa in a few pictures too.  

Isabelle wasn't excited at all it was Christmas.  :-)  She could hardly contain her excitement.

Wait, as you can see above, she couldn't contain her excitement.  We told her Santa would be coming soon.

And here's a quick family one we got before the kids ripped off their church clothes, jumped into their pj's and got ready for bed.  For the one night in the whole year, the kids were excited for bed.  Santa was on his way and they for sure, didn't want to be missed!

Until next time,
Angie

Duck crossing...

On the way to the boys' school we drive on a road that divides two parks.  The parks each have ponds that are often visited by ducks.  The other morning, on our way to school, we saw this... 

Yes, that is a flock of ducks crossing the street.

One by one they walked waddled across the street one after the other.  I thought it was pretty funny because they completely stopped traffic.

What made it even cuter, at least to the kids and me, was that off to the side of the road was a sign with a picture of a duck and the words "crossing".

Upon seeing the sign along the side of the road Michael said, "Mom- how do the ducks know to cross the road right here?"  Gabriel, being the all knowing older brother said, "Duh Michael, the ducks saw the sign and knew that is where they are suppose to cross."

Until next time,
Angie

Wedding Planner in training...

My youngest sister MaeLyn is getting married this fall and because I love planning things, especially weddings, I said, okay ,maybe insisted, that she let me help plan her wedding.

This week we are working on Save the Dates.  Today's task was to get them ready to mail, and with my little assistant-in-training, we got them knocked out in no time.

Here is my young assistant, working to get every stamp perfectly positioned correctly on the postcard.

 With my anal retentiveness, I like to see someone to pays close attention to the small details.  For 2 years old, she was super specific about how the stamp went on and how it had to be straight.  Before pressing it down she'd make sure she'd align everything perfectly.   I felt like I was watching a mini version of myself.

Press it down carefully...

 In fact, there may have been a time or two she caught mom's stamping job and rejected it from the box.  She said, "NO, make it straight!"

 Then we put it in the box neatly.

Cheeseburger smile from my little helper!

Until next time,
Angie

His hero...

Yesterday, I was sorting through a huge stack of papers that seemed to have accumulated in our office.  Funny how piles of stuff just seem to appear around our house, but that is a blog post for another day.  As I sorted through the papers, I came across this...

This was a report Gabriel wrote earlier this year in school.  His teacher, kept it and shared it with me at parent teacher conferences.  As she told me about his writing and the fact the most other kids picked a famous athlete, singer, movie star or one of their friends at school, she thought it was really nice Gabriel picked his family.

Of course hearing her explain what he had done and reading his note, I couldn't help but cry.  It still makes me emotional reading it.  I explained to his teacher after reading the letter and her probably wondering why I was a sobbing mess, that Gabriel is adopted.  I briefly told her our story and that his words mean more to me than I think my tears were conveying.

Gabriel has always been our sensitive, expressive in his love child.  He doesn't take things, I took for granted as a child, for granted and I think still to this day, he remembers what it was like not to have the security and the home, like he has now.  

As a mom, I worry constantly about if I'm doing the right things, or how my mistakes in parenting will affect them.  I worry that I spend too much time trying to protect them from things, and too little time helping them with what they need.  The reality is, I probably need to find a better balance in both.  The truth is, I'm doing the best I can and every morning I get up with the determination to do better than I did yesterday.

Seeing Gabriel's note reminds me that with all my shortcomings, I  we must be doing something right.  I'm so thankful, so proud and so honored that Gabriel would choose us to be his heroes.

Until next time,
Angie

Iowa take 1

We arrived in Iowa the weekend before Christmas and were able to get together with the Cochran family in Newton.  Jarrett's aunt Tammy and Uncle Lee are some of the best hosts in the world and invite the entire family over to their place for an overnight Christmas gathering.

I know it is a TON of work for them, but man do the know how to host and put on a party.  This was the first time we made it back and the kids got to experience a Cochran Family Christmas.  They were definitely NOT disappointed.









Isabelle's favorite friend to play with was Cousin Kat.  Here Katherine is teaching Isabelle how to pucker up her lips.  No, not to kiss boys but to give lovely kisses to mommy and daddy!  Isabelle didn't want to let Kat out of her sight.  Isabelle begged Kat, "Kat you want to go play with me?"  over and over and over.  Kat was so wonderful keeping Belle happy.





Another wonderful thing about getting together at Lee and Tammy's for Christmas is that their house is a pretty much the perfect Christmas house.  Tammy spends weeks getting ready for Christmas, she transforms her house, Christmafies everything.  From the pictures on the wall, to the throw pillows.  There is a Christmas tree in every room (including the bathrooms) of the house and their house is huge.  Every aspect of the house is decked out.  Their house belongs in the magazine's pictures we put under our coffee table.  In fact, their house is put on tour during the holiday months for others to come through to admire its pure beauty.  Walking into their house is like walking into Christmas and it makes the holiday.  Tammy is my inspiration for Christmas and it is her house I picture each year as I decorate our house.

This is their new tree.  I believe it is at least 17-20  feet tall.  While I've never been to Rockefeller Plaza to see the NYC Christmas tree in person, I have seen Tammy and Lee's tree and I think its the best.

When you are at Lee and Tammy's another sure thing is exceptional food and drinks.  Here are the adults enjoying a tasty Christmas cheers!

Aunt Tammy and Uncle Lee made Christmas magical for the kids, she found perfect gifts to get our kids.  Such a kind thoughtful gesture.  Here Isabelle is about to open a singing Mickey Mouse.  She LOVES it! 

The boys had fun too.  They got lots of attention from the older girl cousins, and there were big guy cousins there to play football with.  In the above photo, Gabriel was making friends with Cousin Claire, Lyndsey and Shelby.  We were in the middle of the gift exchange and Gabriel decided it was best to be right in the middle of the action.

Here's a group shot of the cousins, their spouses and our boys.  It was so fun to see everyone and have time to get to catch up.  Most of the time when we visit we are always racing from one thing to the next, that actually having time to sit down and talk with everyone, it was relaxing and oh so enjoyable.

While everyone enjoyed getting together, it was obvious one person was missing.  This summer we lost Grandma Hazel and this year she spent Christmas in Heaven.  On our way to Lee and Tammy's house, Jarrett and I reminisced about prior Christmas' at Lee's and the memories of Grandma Hazel at them.  One year, Tammy had gotten a paraffin hand spa and while the men played cards, us ladies got manicures.  We distinctly remember Grandma Hazel coming out of Tammy's bathroom with her paraffin glove covered hands.  As she entered the kitchen she started dancing to the music and waving her hands back and forth with the beat.  Just thinking about those memories make us smile and miss her even more, all at the same time.

This year we definitely felt her absence and she was on our minds constantly as we celebrated.  Jarrett's parents sent gifts back with us to give to her siblings.  Here is a picture of Sharon's sister Annette opening the beautiful tree of remembrance ornament.

The card attached reads, "Just as a tree undergoes changes he as it grows from a seedling to maturity, our lives are full of unique and important people and moments that define us as individuals.  The tree of remembrance encourages us to treasure each of life's moments and cherish the memory of people and places that are near and dear to us- the children, the friends, the parents and the occasions that create the mosaic of our lives."

We miss Grandma Hazel and wish oh so much she was there to spend Christmas with us.  But if there's one thing I'm sure of, it would be that she would be very happy to see her family spending time together on Christmas.

And boy what a fun time we had.  Thanks again to Lee and Tammy for being such gracious, generous and wonderful hosts and for everyone else we got to see.  It was oh so much fun!

Until next time,
Angie