Bowling Bonanaza!

Yay, Me!

Look, my ball!
Leo is explaining to Luca the finer points of bowling

like moths to a flame, little hands to the ball machine

Massimo supervises while Juan gets his ball

Andres is guarding the remaining balls while Soph helps Leo with his

Lisa giving some good tips to Isaac

Leo gave up on bowling and hung out with his buddy, Alexander

I got a coupon for 10 free games of bowling, so naturally I invited 10 friends! It was a little chaotic but fun. A few of the friends had never bowled before and everyone seemed to have a good time. This was a good warm up for us since we seem to have made bowling on New Year's Day a Hirner Family tradition, so more bowling pics coming soon!

Walking the Dogs

Sophia and her girl, Fluffy

Sophia got this Fur Real dog from Santa Claus and she is so in love with her. In her pitch to me when she originally saw it and wanted me to buy it for her, she threw in the fact that we could walk our dogs together and then everyone would get good exercise. Who can resist that logic?! So, since she opened her she's been begging for a walk. Me, knowing how much patience would be required for this activity, has been avoiding it! ;) Anyway, I finally caved. First off, poor Walter. He was all kinds of jazzed for a walk that just turned into walking a few steps, stopping. Walking a few steps, stopping. Going backwards a lot of steps, helping to fix Fluffy, going forward a little bit more and then stopping again. This went on for a solid hour. I should get an award.

Sophia was very proud of herself however and Fluffy certainly did get a lot of exercise! All in all, it's a pretty cute toy, I just wish it walked better. It does an okay job inside, but the roughness of the sidewalks drove her off the edge every few feet.

Merry Christmas!

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Our kids were so tired we had to wake them up! Honestly, it would have been nice to continue to let them sleep, but we figured we had to get the day started since we had a lot on our plate! Mom came over for present opening and it was quite a frenzy. It took us 2 days to get it all organized! For lunch we went to Sue's and for dinner we went to my mom's house. It was a day full of fun and family for sure. Our kids were spoiled and adored and they had a wonderful day. It was delightful to see their happy faces, especially seeing them open what they really wanted the most. I hope you all had a Merry Christmas too!

For the Record...

...I'm just not sure I'm cut out to raise a boy. I don't know, maybe my expectations are too high or my patience is just too low, but this boy has given me a run for my money lately. Just moments ago he, at point blank range, launched his sippy cup right into my face, probably leaving a bruise, because I wouldn't give him more juice. Among the highlights (read: just what has happened today) he runs away, right into the street because he knows he is not supposed to, he hits his sister when she has something he wants, he continually attempts to ride the dog, and he won't sit down to eat (which let's be real, what he eats is hardly all that great, but at least I'd like him to eat something) before he's running in circles through the house. I could go and on. I know others are in my same position and I am both sorry and thankful for them, because at least I'm not alone! ;) But I wonder...is it me or is it them? Is this the very nature of the boy beast or is it I who have created this monster and I who hath not the patience to tame it?

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve was quite busy! We hosted dinner at our house and invited everyone! This is the day in pictures, which there are many, but few words so that should make you happy!

hard at work rolling balls into strings
Matching aprons help us cook better

Sophia insisted on making candy cane cookies for Santa. I'm not really sure why she got this hair in her head, I mean she does like candy canes, but I wasn't thrilled with the idea. BUT, in the spirit of Christmas and all...Anyway, after about 4 cookies she was over it and didn't want to have to roll any more out. Luckily I had only made one batch so I finished, with my supervisor watching over me, fairly quickly. They tasted pretty good but next year I might add a bit of peppermint extract along with the crushed candy canes.

AND, just for the record, we had just come home from the gym, so forgive my totally haggard appearance!

Here are the 3 attempts at trying to take a picture of my children. UGH!

Is it so hard to not look stoned and to stay still...?! Apparently.

Later everyone started arriving. I was prepared with an abundance of food!

the kids hovered closely to the candy bowls, of which there were many, and so can blame them!

and here they gather to nosh some more! Included were stuffed mushrooms, various cheeses, mini pigs in a blanket, veggies and baked brie

I had to take a picture of the brie, it was so pretty!

Cooper and Leo play a duet

Leo and Cathy getting some chili and other bites

Our friend Jason and his boys, Trevor, Cayden, and Alex

Cathy and Sue

Meredith and Stacy

Cooper is so cute, he just can't be a Scrooge!

The Owsley Fam

Tired me and my big bro

Anne and Sophia, who has now changed into a tu-tu!

two red-clad Divas!

leaving a trail of reindeer food to the chimney

What, Mom? You seem sort of angry that I'm on my 10th candy cane?

opening presents on Christmas Eve...what could it be?

leaving cookies for Santa, out of the reach of Walter!

Our new Christmas Jammies, that's what we opened!

One last snuggle before we're off to bed!

Our Little Performer

So now that I'm finally in this century, I have a new* phone so I can, when I remember, start taking some videos since the video function on our camera no longer works. This is my first attempt at a video, so let's see how it turns out! We really just need to get a little video camera but we're kind of dumb about electronics so if anyone out there has a recommendation we'll take it! Anyway, I digress...here is Sophia in a little play that she organized. The doll in the picture is a Little Miss Muffin doll that she received for Christmas, the "spider" is a spaghetti ball that was in her stocking and the rest is her imagination!

*Charlie, who is notorious for losing and/or breaking phones, called in for a replacement for his Droid when he thought he had lost it. In fact, it was not lost and since my phone was acting up I decided to activate his leftover phone for myself. Let's just hope he doesn't need it! ;)

Penguin Park

Notice the themed outfits worn by the children! :)

We've been wanting to hit the "famed" Penguin Park in the Northland for a while now and just haven't made it happen. So since Cathy had taken Friday off we thought it would be perfect, especially since the weather had been so nice and warm...or so we thought! ;) Of course, this was the first super cold day in weeks, but we decided to bundle up and head out anyway. I'm really glad we did because it was good exercise, the kids had fun and there was NO one at the park, a trait I really appreciate in a good park. ;) Afterwards we went to Panera to warm up with a breakfast pastry and a hot chocolate. It was Leo's first experience with hot chocolate and he was really thrown for a loop! He would sip it and then exclaim..HOT, Too Hot, and then make a swirly motion from his mouth all the way to his tummy. It was really cute actually and he finished his whole cup, no surprise there really.