Wednesday, December 31, 2008

STI Family Party

Kevin's office throws a family party each year. This year, STI rented out the toboggan shoots in Strongsville. Even though it was cold and windy and Isabella was too small to ride, we had a nice visit with the families, yummy donuts and warm hot chocolate. Even Santa made a visit, but Isabella wasn't fooled: "It's Daddy," she said right away. Even after much convincing she continued with: "I'm aggravated! It's Daddy. Those are his glasses." We finally convinced her that Daddy was asked by Santa to fill in since Santa was really busy at the North Pole. Santa gave Daddy special glitter and his suit. That way the kids wouldn't be disappointed and Santa would still get their lists. She was fine then!





Sunday, December 28, 2008

Our Holiday Season - Part 1

Wow! We've had a lot of Christmas fun this year. Like always, I'm behind in posting pictures of our events and parties. Sorry! But at least I know I have lots of pics to post over the next few days so visit often.

These pics are from the annual NEO Guatemalan Adoptive Families Christmas Party. A group of families with children from Guatemala get together several times a year to talk, play and raise money for families living in Guatemala. We all had a great time!








Wednesday, December 24, 2008

Sunday, December 21, 2008

Holiday pictures

To save some cash, I decided to take our Christmas card picture this year. I had more than 120 wallets printed at Sam's Club for less than $12. Woo hoo! Here are some of the attempts to get the pictures. The winners are below, too!




And the winners are...

Thursday, December 18, 2008

Soldier's Silent Night

As Christmas nears, I want us to remember and thank our soldiers for their sacrifice for our country. Isabella prays for our soldiers each night before bed. Good bless our service men and women wherever they may be.

Please take a moment and visit this site to hear the Soldier's Silent Night.
http://www.soldiersilentnight.com

Wednesday, December 17, 2008

Decorating

We put up a large tree in the living room, and Isabella puts up a tree in her room. Isabella's tree features her handmade ornaments along with ornaments from Guatemala and those she receives as gifts. This year Isabella got to put the star of the family tree.




Wednesday, December 10, 2008

Oh, New Christmas Tree...

Kevin found the deal of Black Friday. He was up at 3:30 a.m. and out the door to hit a few places early before heading to Home Depot to buy a new Christmas tree. The Kramers gave us an old tree to use from when they lived in Florida (Kevin was in like fifth grade at the time). We've used it since we got married. It's gotten a lot of use, but it was time to retire the poor droopy tree.

He was ninth in line of about 100 people when the doors opened at 6 a.m. Our neighbor who was also there for a tree was about 50th in line. Home Depot had just 20 trees. Why the frenzy? Home Depot was selling $200 trees for just $49!

Kevin got in and grabbed not one but two trees (the second for our neighbor who was battling the crowd). Some lady nearly knocked Kevin over and then yelled at him for taking two trees. I would have loved to see Kevin's face. But he got ours and Todd got one, too.

Isabella was so excited about the tree. She's really into Santa and the reindeer this year so it's so much more exciting for me!

Saturday, December 06, 2008

Finally

Sorry for the delay in posting Thanksgiving pics. But they have been worth the wait. Isabella met cousin Matthew for the first time!