Adalai and Wyatt's visit

After Christmas, my niece and nephew, Adalai and Wyatt, got to stay with us a few days.  I wanted to make sure they had a fun time at our house so we planned a lot of fun stuff to do.  It also helped that they had a ton of Christmas presents here to play with.

On Thursday, the day after Christmas, we decided to hit up Discovery World in Milwaukee because I had never been there before and they love it!  I've always wanted to take the kids there and they were finally old enough (6 and 8) where they could really appreciate it.

on a submarine

looking out the 'scope

on a pirate ship

lifting 300 lbs!

laying on a bed of nails!

just hanging out

 After we were all exhausted from playing at Discovery World, we headed home.  Adalai took a nap in the car to recharge for Grandpa Jeff and MaryLu stopping by for dinner and opening presents!  We decided after having to make dinner on Christmas, we would take the easy way out and get take out.  The kids asked for Buffalo Wild Wings so that's what we had and it was SO good, like always!  We opened presents after dinner, and played some of the games they received.  We had a blast!  Haven't laughed that hard in awhile!

Headbanz

duck face

fibber

 We played "Headbanz" first.  This is where you put a picture on your headband and have to ask questions to figure out what the picture is.  Even though this game is for kids, it is NOT easy!!  Although it is in our house when you are surrounded by glass.  Kids figured out really quickly to check their reflections, which the adults couldn't see as easily.  So after some cheating... we decided to try "Fibber", which is exactly what it sounds like.  If you are caught fibbing you have to add a nose to your glasses, kind of like Pinocchio.  It was hilarious!  The kids really enjoyed it!

Friday morning, Adalai asked if we could all go to Zumba!  I, of course, loved this idea.  Wyatt wasn't so sure it was for boys, but there ended up being a lot of kids at the class.  Adalai made it through the whole hour, like a champ, and Wyatt joined in a bit at the end.  Adalai got applauded and told she is the Zumba Champion!  She was so excited!  After Zumba, we hung around the house until the Soos's came over for dinner.  We have a tradition of decorating gingerbread houses every year, so this time Adalai and Wyatt got to join in on the fun!

they turned out great!

After dinner, we played some games with Hanna and Lilien.  The kids had a lot of fun!   And then after they left, it was time to Zumba again.  Grandpa Jeff and MaryLu got them the Zumba kids WII game.  Uncle Mark even got in on the action.

 On Saturday, we headed to Kenosha to the Jelly Belly Factory.  It's a free tour, where you take a train around their warehouse and learn about how the candy is made.  It was OK, but the kids really enjoyed it, and that's what really matters.  Plus, at the end of the tour, you get a free sample pack!  We let the kids each make a bag of their favorite flavors to take home with them. 

Saturday night, we took the kids to church with us.  They went to play with kids their age, and seemed to really enjoy it!  When we got home, we just hung out and let them watch a movie in bed.  Sunday morning they headed to Doms!

We had so much fun with them, and I missed them so much when they left!  Can't wait for their next visit!

Five on Friday

We had a good week!

1.  We rang in the new year with just the two of us.  Me and Marky Mark decided to go out to an early dinner at People's Park (my fav).  After that, we headed home and played a little Yahtzee and then watched "We're the Millers".  I have to say it was a really funny movie!  And, of course, I love Jennifer Aniston.  We were in bed by 10:30pm and asleep by 11pm.  It was great :)

2.  New Year's Day started with Mark installing the garage door opener!  This is a BIG deal because it was so hard having to manually open the garage door, then back the car out, then manually shut the door, and then run through the house to leave out the front door.  NOT fun!  So I'm very happy to use the garage door like a normal human being!


3.  Grams always has lunch at her house on New Year's Day.  She hosted a fabulous lunch like always!  We just hung out and watched the Rose Bowl Parade.  Nobody stayed for too long because Mom wasn't feeling well and we had some errands to run.

this was one of our favorites

4.  We got asked to do respite care!  We thought it would be a good way to try out fostering, so we decided to accept and we will be having a little friend come stay with us for a week, starting next week.  We are really excited to give this whole thing a try. 



5.  We got the nursery set up!  It's not done by any means, but we set up what we have so far.  It's so exciting to see the crib and all the toys.  Can't wait to start using it :)

We are having our friends over tomorrow night to see the house and for a puppy play date :).  We will also be hopefully getting a lot of work done around the house, and getting the rest of the stuff we need for fostering together.  Our visitor is coming on Tuesday so I have a lot to get done before then!

My favorite picture from the week.  All the doggies snuggling together.

holidays

Things were so hectic for us the last couple of weeks, but we have been having A LOT of fun!

After being sick for THREE days (!), I finally was able to get up enough to get the house ready for Christmas.  We thought it would be really special to have the family over for Christmas, and it was a great time.  It was definitely hard getting the house ready for it, but I'm so glad we made it happen!

We had a wonderful Christmas! 

We went to church on Monday night with my mom.  This was the first Christmas service we had been to at our new church and we really enjoyed it.  I thought the message was great, not just like a traditional Christmas service. 

We went to my mom's and Mark's mom's on Christmas eve.  We opened lots of gifts and spent some quality time with the families.  At my mom's, we had a good time playing Farkle, eating and opening some gifts.  We were able to spend a little time with my sister and her family before we headed to Mark's mom's.  We were able to eat dinner with them, and then we spent time opening gifts.  It's always fun spending time with our niece and nephew.  The baby, Eva, doesn't like me very much yet (haha) but Greyson always has fun playing with us. 

Than on Christmas day, my family came to our home to celebrate.  This was the first time we had a party at our house (after living here for a week) and our first time cooking lunch for Christmas too!  Mark made ham, and I made some sides.  Luckily mom helped out and brought some things to eat too.  It took the pressure off of us a bit.  We spent the day playing games, hanging out with the newest member of the family, Abe (my sister's tiny puppy), and eating!  It was a blast!