International Museum Day

Two weeks ago it was International Museum day. In the next county over, they had free day to many of the local museums, In Sandusky they had free trolley rides between stops and boat rides too. Ethan was kind of in the midst of a cold, just getting over a fever, so we didn't want to overwhelm him. We planned on starting in Milan and going from there. We started at the Milan Historical Museum. I love to sort through these old artifacts and think about how different life was back then. Makes you so appreciative of the lives we are fortunate enough to be living today. They had period outfits that the kids could try on to be photographed in, but mine would have nothing to do with that. Ethan did try on the hat.The dollhouse museum, Natalie was interested and a little frightened. (I was too) Some of the dolls were a little scary. Elena thought this detailed doll house was very interesting. She took some time to check it outThe girls observed a child's playroom set for a tea party.Outside the Merry Go Round MuseumThere were some pretty neat looking carousel horses and figuresWe got to take a ride on the big Merry go round which was the highlight of the dayA wood carver was busy whittling away at the wood creating a carousel horse for a raffle.We stopped for coffee and the kids got a kick out of these geese next to us.At the Maritime Museum they learned how to tie different types of knots.Natalie traces the paths that the ships would follow on Lake Erie.

It was an interesting and Educational day for us all. Ethan was beat, so we didn't continue on to any more that day, but hey a day with the family and all free. Sounds like a perfect day to me:)

Baby Addison's shower

I was so happy to see my cousins Liz & Mindy when they came back to Ohio for Liz's baby shower. I do miss them and wish we were closer. Their girls are absolutely adorable! We went to a baby shower for miss Addison, who is so precious. I could of just taken her with me:) Something about her reminds me so much of Ethan when he was a baby, probably because Ethan resembles the Gribben side more. Who knows, but she was so sweet!
My girls get a little excited about parties and showers, any event that they can get dressed up for. So they loved that I found dresses that were alike for them to wear.
Here is Liz & Addison with Grandma Witt The girls bellied up to the bar and started chowing.Look at that face! Those cheeks! I could just smother them with kisses!What a happy little girl.I didn't want to give her back to mommyNatalie was loving on her cousin miss Lilly. They are such cuties! It was good to see them and hopefully someday soon we will get out to AZ to see them.

Happy Birthday Aunt Judy!

Just click the arrow above to hear the greeting:)

Hope your day was wonderful!

Frozen Toezen

A weekend or so ago. We were frozen in. Well not literally, but school was cancelled because it was so blistering cold outside. The kids were already scheduled a 4 day weekend from school so getting an extra day in a row was alright! ( I kept whining that we NEVER had 5 days off in a row in January when I was a kid) Anyways, the day school was cancelled, I watched some friends kids for the day and they brought their Wii to play. They had so much fun jumping and bouncing around all day it was a great way to beat the boredom! I called up our cousin and borrowed hers for the next day or so since we would be housebound. It was a great idea! Their arms were aching, they had to keep taking breaks...AHHHH!

Miss Natalie of course was to little to Wii, but she found other ways to keep herself busy!I thought this was so funny! She lined up her animals all along the railing and played with them all afternoon. I am scared of this dart gun girlie!

I love to have at least one weekend like that each winter. So cold that we made cookies one day brownies another, so the whole house was smelling yummy. We just snuggle up and keep warm. Gotta love winter in Ohio:)

Christmas Break

Is it over already? Part of me was glad to get back on a schedule, more of a daily routine. The downtime was nice, and I love being here with everyone, but our kids get a little crazy with an over booked schedule, or to much downtime. We had a little of both, but our time off was good. We were able to have Jason here for the first half of break which was so nice. He taught Bill and Ethan how to play rummy, so honestly for the first 3 days of break that is all they did. They had a tally sheet for their points and would be at the breakfast table playing cards as well as after dinner. We had all our family Christmas parties, We got to have my nephew over to do Christmas with him and he was able to stay the night. We got the kids a Bingo game so we are doing a weekly "Bingo night" for a game night and so far it is a big hit. We celebrated Bills birthday over the weekend and we didn't play and the kids were wondering why we didn't. Natalie is our official Roller. She picks the balls. It's a lot of fun. We had one day of really nice weather. It got up into the high 50's maybe 60's so we were outside all day. So nice to get some fresh air. Especially when a week before the wind chill was -20!! Elena was able to get out her scooter that she got for her birthday and they were having races down the driveway. It was funny to watch them, because although it was nice, it was VERY windy so little Natalie was getting blown away!!The kids had friends over a few of the days. I babysat miss Natalie's friend a few times. Here they are getting ready to take a nap. They are just so cute!

Christmas Eve 2008

This Christmas was a nice one, Christmas day a whole other story. I will post only about Christmas Eve now. The kids woke up so excited! We usually have my nephew over and exchange gifts with him, but his little sister was sick. So we spent the day getting things ready with friends stopping by dropping off gifts and just a lot of excitement.

We had a sit down Christmas dinner this year which is something we haven't done for at least 10 years. When the family started growing, we changed it to an appetizer buffet, which has always been great- chock full of yummy food. This year everything was great and it was nice to just sit down together and be thankful for one another.
The kids got everything they wanted, so they were all wound up and goofing around with their cousins. Aunt Sandy got the grasshoppers going and we all got silly! The silly gift exchange wasn't as crazy as in years past. Everyone kind of picked a gift suited for them. It was weird..
While we did our gift exchange Jen had put together gingerbread houses for the kids to decorate. They broke into two teams and had fun. Of course 10 minutes after they built them, they asked if they could destroy them. Only our kids......

Round 2 was desserts and coffee and don't forget the plum pudding!
After our fun filled evening, we came home with a bunch of sleepy heads and read the night before Christmas and Shreks version as well. Hee, hee. and off to dreamland we went!

Christmas at Grandpa & Grandma Witts

We celebrated Christmas with my side of the family over the weekend. It was nice to see everyone and get together with them. The kids didn't even realize it was a Christmas party until we were getting ready to go. Then the excitement began!! Ethan liked getting to see cousin Joseph.
Elena was soo happy that she got her Barbie Computer.My sister Kristi, Just got her drivers license! SCARY!My little girls...What handsome guys. Looking so festivis-ish

I will add more when I get them. Grandpa took the group shots, I don't have them. So that's all for now. Merry Christmas!

Thanksgiving 2008

Before I start overloading with all the Christmas pics and events that are happening already, I wanted to post about Thanksgiving this year. We went to my dad's house for an early dinner and spent time with my dad and grandparents and my brother Jeremy too. It was nice to see him and catch up.
I have always claimed Christmas as my favorite Holiday, but I realized this year that Thanksgiving is. You get together with family just to be together and eat. Think of all the blessings you have and just spend time together. What a wonderful thing.The kids enjoyed themselves, they always love to go to Grandpa's to hang out. Jeremy has tanks of fish and turtles all over the house so the kids were quite entertained with that. We later stopped by Aunt Sandy's and had some dessert and looked through the piles of sale ads for the next day. It was a wonderful Thanksgiving and I am so Thankful for that!!