New Years

All the fireworks Kyle bought with the kids during the car trip to Arizona were a little more high end than anticipated.  We originally started shooting them off in front of Michael's new house, but when winds started blowing burning embers into neighboring yards/trees, we took our party to the backyard and eventually back to Nana and Papa's for the grand finale.

We had put the kids to bed and woke them up close to midnight in hopes of enjoying the best of both the rested kids and adult only evening worlds.  It ended up being a great idea, because everyone, but Ben, was rearing to go see fireworks and were still able to go back to sleep when we were done.

No Wonder

I walked into the bedroom we share with Ben tonight around 10:30 only to find Ben in this position.  Between a constantly flat blow-up mattress and a nasty cough, it's no wonder this is the sleepless room.

Fishing Trip

Another fun activity with Papa is fishing.  He enjoys it, the kids enjoy it, Kyle and I become eagles as we watch over the kids so close to the water-a win, win situation.  No one fell in this time and no fish were harmed, pizza was had and a playground was nearby, glad we squeezed this in.

Intermission

Instead of spending even more money on junkie souvenirs or watching other people do the aforementioned, we headed outside and played around a little while the circus took a break.

The Circus

As if donuts, rockets, and a doctor appointment weren't activity enough, we decided an impromptu trip to the circus was also a necessary part of our Saturday.  The show was similar to those we have seen back home, but at least we were able to visit with some cousins before and afterwards (they didn't sit by us during the show).  I ended up having a bad allergy attack and skipped the second act with Ben, who was also done with the circus.

Dr. Time

This guy has bronchilitis.  But since it is affecting his sleep, he is going to start a round of steroids!  He looks pretty happy about the situation.  Thank you urgent care.

Rockets!!

Every time to visit, we have to make sure we find some one on one with Papa.  These kids love him so much, yet he can't visit Texas as much as Nana, leaving an even bigger need for some Papa time when we are in AZ.

The rockets will never get old, even though the kids are only setting one rocket off each, chasing down the parts and loading everything up seems to just as entertaining.

Thank goodness for Christmas breaks from work!

She CAN Be Nice!

Norah, and most of our kids have been kind of crabby this whole visit.  It has even made Kyle and I wonder what we did wrong as parents!  On one rare occasion, though, I caught Norah being sweet with Papa.  I'm sure he appreciated this snuggle after all the other stuff she did to him throughout our visit!

Need a Donut!

Another rough night of sleep for us, landed us at Bosa Donuts for an early breakfast.  Hopefully this sugar high can keep him going-we have a lot going on today!

Chicago Style

It's no secret Chicago is known for its hot dogs and more particularly in my family is know for its Portillo's Hot Dogs.  Lucky for us while we were in Arizona we were able to eat at this newest location in Tempe.

We dragged Tate, Melanie, Michael and his girls as well as our brood along for the most delicious meal!

Box Car Races

Apparently, as an oldest child, Kyle was quite creative with his brothers and sisters.

One of the ideas he had was racing down a hill in a box colored to look like a car.

With a skateboard balanced underneath.

Hopefully, they had more success than we did today!  We all went down at least once, but found that the lighter members of the group did better, while the heavier groups needed the support of two skateboards to cruise any distance down the hill.  Good times!

Movie Date

We got all the cousins together and watched a movie at the $1 show.  We had already seen Turbo, but that was fine with this bunch.  The kid in the front on the left, didn't get the hint and smiled for the picture.

Frousins

These two seemed like an unlikely pairing as playmates, but with Ava and Claire and Norah and Evie hanging out together, it was only natural.  Grace is a bit of a tomboy anyway, so Jack felt right at home playing games on the IPad with her as much as we would allow.

Nativity of Course!!!

It is a Komenda tradition to have Papa read from the scriptures the story of the birth of Christ and have the kids dress up and act out the parts.  Our kids love this tradition and were eager for their parts.  Kyle got in the action too as a wise man.  I hung back and tried not to laugh too much!

Sick!

It wouldn't be a Christmas on the road if one our kids wasn't sick.  This time is was Benny.  He was so miserable, coughing, running nose, not sleeping-the works!  Hopefully he can get enough rest for tomorrow!

Frothers!

These brothers have not been all together for years!!!  Everyone was here this time!  Mike recently moved back to AZ in July, Eric hasn't left for grad school yet and Matt and Kyle were both able to visit for Christmas.  These pictures say so much about them!

Mexican!

 

Living in Texas is great, eating Tex-Mex is not, that's why after we got the kids in bed from our Disneyland trip, we headed to Mi Amigos with Kaitlin and Jacob.  Great food and conversation!

The LONG Walk

We had to turn our stroller in at the entrance and had to man handle Ben all the way back to the car.  To get to our car we had to walk through Downtown Disney and even with all that's going on there, Benny passed out on Kyle's shoulders right after the picture.  All the kids were so beat.  Our princess Norah walked the whole park for the first time in her life and was snoring within 30 seconds of getting in her car seat.

Jack even passed out on the 5 minute drive back to the rental, leaving Ava the only candidate for a return trip with Kyle.  They ended up staying until 1AM, having a blast!!  So glad they got to go back together.

OH! The Lights

Right before the parade started, the whole park was lit up in lights-it was so amazing.  We were sitting right by the Small World ride and snapped this pic as we were leaving after the parade.

Holiday Parade

 

The parade we saw back in September was nothing like the one we saw tonight.  This one was way longer and seemed to have a whole bunch more of the characters the kids love (ie. princesses).  There were also some other pretty impressive stuff, like these toy soldiers, Disney sure knows how to throw a parade!

Where's Norah

After we reunited, I took a turn with the kids on Space Mountain.  I started out with three of them, but in this picture, one was missing!  Norah was seriously crouching down so low, she isn't even visible.  Not to mention Jack's blow-out and Ava's hands!  Love this picture.

Our Little Gift

After we got inside the park, Kyle took the big kids on Space Mountain while Benny and I hunted around for a stroller to rent.  This kid does not like to walk!

No California Adventure

When Jack heard we were only doing Disney and not California Adventure, the wind was completely out of his sail.  It was hard to feel too bad for him, after-all it was still DISNEYLAND!!!

The rest of the kids were cool with it, though.

Disney Anyone?

When Kyle finally arrived from Texas a day and a half after I did, we planned on surprising the kids with a trip to Disneyland that we would need to leave for immediately.

We posed the question like this, "We have some good news and some bad news..."  When they heard the bad news was getting back in the car, Ava flat out said she didn't want to go.  Kyle and I were kind of stunned, but given we had just been for three days in September and she had just been in the car for the last 18 hours, it was a little understandable.

An hour later, everyone had a chance to get some energy out and Kyle was able to visit with Matt, and even Ava was on board with another 6 hours in the car.

We got in late, slept well in our super nice rental and then headed for D-land the next day.  We didn't bring a stroller, though, which was a big mistake!!!

Welcome

After a smooth flight for Norah, Ben and I, we were picked up at the airport and when we arrived at Nana's house, Santa was there to greet us.  The kids couldn't have been happier to see him!

Kyle started his 18 hour drive right about the time we landed.  He won't get here until tomorrow at lunch time.  I'm pretty sure I got the better end of that deal!

First/Last Glimpse

This is what our tree looked like tonight with all of our presents beautifully wrapped and strategically placed under our new 9 foot tree.  After I finished wrapping these up I had to pack for our Christmas trip to Arizona.  Our first Christmas in our new home won't actually be spent in our new home!

Texas Sunsets

I caught a glimpse of this tonight and had to stop, walk outside and snap this picture.  It was a glimpse of what we will be seeing more of in Arizona next week.

Super Helper

Not only did Ava help "plate" all the goodies in the boxes she helped me prepare with tissue, she also helped me make all the adorable black pom poms that held the boxes closed.  I couldn't have done it without all her help.  And I seriously love the end result!

Christmas Goodies

This year's Christmas treats almost didn't happen, again.  Every year at this time, Kyle is beyond swamped and has no time to help with pretty much anything Christmas.  This year was more of the same and I tried to simplify with our impending Arizona trip looming on the horizon, but to no avail.

We ended up simplifying a bit and only doing 4 treats:

Peppermint Fudge
Brownie Bars
Jam Thumbprint Cookies
Peanut Blossoms

So Adorable

As much as I love seeing Jack aggressive on the court, this tender shot of our basketball boys was the highlight of today's game.  Kyle is an assistant coach and was sitting next to Jack on the bench when Ben made his way down from the stands and sat still enough for me to catch this on film.

Artist

Last year we found out too late that Ava's artwork was being displayed at the annual Arts Festival, but thankfully have since seen it on the School's official website.  When this year rolled around and Jack vaguely mentioned an involvement we jumped on the chance to see his artwork being displayed at the festival. 

After Ava's performance we wandered around the exhibits and found Jack's picture.  He recognized it from a distance and we all stood around and admired his hard work.

Christmas Choir Performance

Today was the Lovejoy ISD Arts Festival held at the high school.  We knew ahead of time we would be attending this event for Ava's choir performance.  She joined the 3rd Grade Choir at the beginning of school and has religiously attended every Monday rehearsal since then.  I have no doubt Ava was just as good as every other kid, but I couldn't keep my eyes off of her and loved seeing her light up when she was doing all the actions associated with the songs.  Despite the Christmas label on the program, I was disappointed in our school's lack of representation of the spiritual side of the holiday.

Homework

This girl is the best at doing homework.  She knows it needs to get done and will do it without a word from me.  It is such a relief that she is so self-driven.  Love you AVA!

True Spirit of Christmas

Santa hat: check.  Skeleton costume: check.  Batman socks: check. Ben knows how to usher in the "spirit" of Christmas with his hybrid Halloween-Christmas get-up.

This is the first Christmas where Ben has a good understanding of what's going on. He's especially excited about the tree in our foyer, although we could probably use a little less help re-hanging the ornaments every couple hours!

Tree Trouble

The day after Thanksgiving we hauled our fake tree out of the garage and set it up only to find that half of the pre-lit tre was completely dark.  In a moment of frustration I actually convinced everyone to go to Lowe's and pick out a real Christmas tree if a fake one without lights was unavailable (which was the case).  We eyed a bunch of potential trees, but in the end, reason (or Kyle) got the better of me and we opted to go home and search online for a fake tree without lights.

On cyber-Monday we  tried to take advantage of an incredible sale on trees, and in the end had to wait a week and half for it to show up at our house.  Normally that wouldn't be a big deal, but this year we were planning to leave for Arizona shortly thereafter.

Once it arrived we immediately set it up and got out all the decorations today.  Everyone was very excited for the house to finally feel more Christmas-y.

Pork Shank

Kyle purchased some frozen pork shanks from a local German deli a few weeks ago and had been waiting for a special occasion to fix up the German delicacy of Schweinehaxe!  The restoration of power to our home called for something special!  That, and the freezer losing power for 60 hours leaving the meat thawed and waiting to be prepared.  With church cancelled because poor conditions on the roads, Kyle slaved away to get the -haxe ready. Everyone was pretty skeptical, and in the end, we probably prepared one shank too many, but a hot, hearty Sunday dinner was just what the doctor ordered to help us thaw from our own deep freeze.

Need to Warm Up

Kyle worked late into the night Thursday listening to freezing rain pitter-patter against the windows, when all at once, around 2am, the power went out. The insulation of our new home was put to the test with temperatures in the teens and no power (read: no heat). The first 24 hours went pretty well, although the roads we coated with ice and Kyle had no way of working with the power out.  In fact, Kyle had purchased airfare and plane tickets to fly to Arizona to watch a football game, only to have his flight, and his entire trip, cancelled.  This was for the best as the power would remain out for yet another 24 hours.

Day 2 of Ice-pocolypse, things started to get a little chilly in the house.  While the roads were a mess, we needed to get the kids out of their cold house, so we decided to do breakfast at one of our favorite haunts--Mimi's Cafe. The hot chocolate was a-flowin'! In fact, we spent most of the day finding excuses to be out of the house, eating out, at the movies, wherever there was heat.  And just as we were preparing to book a hotel to escape our freezing home, the power flipped on, immediately bathing the house in warm electric light and the comforting warm air of heaters back online! It's episodes like these that remind us how it important it is to be prepared for emergency, because it is startling how much we rely on technology to get us by day to day!

Big Girl Layers

After months of Norah wanting to go get her hair cut at my stylist's salon, I relented and got her an  appointment at the same time as Ava.  I shouldn't have waited the aforementioned months for a trim, and paid the price in a bunch of unevenness in Norah's locks.  Shanna was not worried, though, and made some face framing layers for both her and Ava that took their locks from "rough" to extremely polished.