The next morning, Robin and Russ took all of the kids to a local fishing farm. It was Tyler and Ryan's first fishing experience. Ryan caught the biggest fish of all, but as you can see, he wasn't too sure what to think about it!

Later that evening, we left Russ and Kristy's house and drove to Robin's mother's house in Bay City. As soon as we arrived, we dropped off our luggage and then headed over to April and Shane's house for a 4th of July picnic and bonfire.

4th of July Michigan Vacation

We spent the 4th of July holiday in Michigan for our annual Van Pelt family reunion. The first thing we did when we arrived in Michigan was visit Robin's brother Russ, his wife Kristy as well as their 3 kid's Nicholas, Jacob and Emily. Here are some pics of Tyler and Ryan enjoying Russ and Kristy's HUGE front and backyard with their cousins.

Easter Egg Hunt #2

Tyler's school hosted an Easter Egg Hunt at Eldridge Park for all of the preschoolers. My sister, Kari, my neice, Taylor and my other son, Ryan all came along to share in the holiday festivities too.

Easter Egg Hunt #1

Today we went to Lost Creek Park for the MOMS Club Easter Egg Hunt. The boys were so excited. As soon as they found their eggs, they wasted no time in finding out what was inside them. Tyler ate a few pieces of his candy and saved the rest for later, but Ryan immediately began stuffing his tiny mouth with as much chocolate as he could fit in there and kept shoving in more as fast as his hands could open the wrappers. By the end of it all, Ryan was covered in chocolate goo from head to toe.

HAPPY HOLIDAY HUGS!!

The boys were up later than usual on Christmas Eve so they were still asleep when Robin and I awoke on Christmas morning. We were up till 2am getting everything ready the night before so we were happy to have the chance to put on a pot of coffee and get the video camera ready to capture their reactions before waking them up. The boys were so excited that they immediately started tearing into the gifts faster than we could snap pictures. Santa had also left the boys a big inflated ball pit in addition to other presents under the tree. It was wonderful to see their excitement and expressions with every opened gift. What fun it was to experience the wonder and magic of Christmas all over again through my children's eyes.

After all of the presents were opened, my mom and I got started cooking the Christmas feast. Our menu items included garlic mashed potatoes, corn, roasted turkey, cornbread stuffing, greenbean casserole, sauteed mushrooms and brussel sprouts, bread rolls and cranberry sauce. We ended the delicious meal with fluffy Pumpkin Mousse. Mmmmm, yum.

Twas the Night Before Christmas...

Tyler and Ryan helping us prepare goodies for Santa's arrival.







Right before bed, our family Christmas Eve tradition is to spread reindeer food on the lawn to attract the reindeer to our home and give them energy to fly to the next house. Then, we come inside and put together a plate of cookies and a glass of milk to set on the fireplace for Santa. Ryan doesn't quite grasp the idea that the cookies are for Santa and not for him so we had a few cookie casualties before we finally got everything together. Then, we set about getting the boys ready for bed when we suddenly heard a smacking noise coming from the fireplace and realized that our cookie plate preparations had met an untimely fate. There sat our dog, Cinnamon, happily smacking her chops after devouring one of Santa's cookies and licking the rest. (Santa's reindeer were in for an extra treat this year...leftover doggie slobbered cookies. Oh Yum!)

Christmas Cookie Decorating with The Browns

For the past 3 years, our neighbors, the Browns, have invited us over to decorate homemade Christmas cookies with them and their kids. This year, they also invited a couple of other neighbors to join in the fun too. The kids look forward to this special night as it has become another one of our favorite Christmas traditions.

MOMS Club Holiday Party 12-14-05

I've been a member of the Sugar Land-South MOMS Club, which is a national support group for stay-at-home mothers, since Feb 2002. Each year, the MOMS Club hosts a holiday party for all of it's members and their children to enjoy. It's held in a big meeting room at our local library and Santa always drops by for a special visit to hand out gift wrapped books to all of the children. We also feast on holiday munchies and do a few crafts and activities. One craft we've done in the past was construct and decorate gingerbread houses using graham crackers, icing and candy. This year, the kids decorated a paper bag to look like a reindeer and then filled it with reindeer food (oats, raisins, corn, cheerios, etc.) to sprinkle on the lawn Christmas Eve, which has now become one of our annual family traditions.





Ryan smiles as he eats holiday treats. What a happy kid!










Ryan coloring his reindeer bag










Tyler and Ryan looking at their new books