January 2012

 We haven't done much this month. We were all a little sick and basketball started, but other than that, nothing! I think the only real thing we've really done this month is that we had Charlie's 8th birthday party. We held it at a local art studio. The boys have taken art lessons/classes at this studio and have loved them. Recently, Charlie completed a movie class, and really liked it, so that's what he wanted to do for his birthday. The party ended up a little larger than I thought it would be. It was 11 little boys, including Jack and Charlie. The party was three hours long and it consisted of the boys filming a movie trailer called "Who Stole the Cookie from the Cookie Jar." While some were filming, the others played games and had snacks. When the filming was complete, the boys had a dance off and did some filming of their very interesting dance moves. It was pretty entertaining.

December 2011

Most of December consisted of getting ready for Christmas and Charlie's birthday. My grad classes ended at the beginning of the month, which was a nice break for me! I start back up again mid-January. We made a trip to Cedar Rapids one weekend to visit with Doug's family for Christmas. It was good to see everyone and the boys always love going.
December always means Christmas break for me and the boys. It was much needed this year. We haven't had much snow and the weather has been abnormally warm. This week it was mostly in the 50's. We went outside without coats and even made a trip to the park a few of the days right after Christmas to let the boys use their new Razor PowerWing scooters.
Christmas Eve was spent with the four of us as a family. We had a fantastic day. We made sugar cookies, ate crab legs (which were amazing) and played games. The boys went to bed pretty early and Doug and I got to watch part of a movie...which never happens. We spent the entire day in our pajamas.
On Christmas Day, my mom, Bob, Nate and Julie came over for presents and dinner. We had a fun time playing with the new basketball arcade game the boys got for Christmas. Doug and Nate competed to see who could get the highest score. We had lots of food and presents. Overall, a really good time.

One day after Christmas, the boys and I met a few of my former students at the Con Agra ice skating rink. One of the girls had babysat for the boys a few times, so they liked seeing her and going ice skating outside. 

Charlie turned 8 after Christmas. I can't believe he's so old! We had his favorite blueberry-lemon breakfast cake. Then we spent the morning putting together their new electric train. Then we went to the movies to see Arthur Christmas, which was a really good movie. We went home and opened a couple of birthday presents and then met my parents for his birthday dinner at Genji's. It was a great choice of a restaurant. The boys loved watching the chefs cook the food in front of us. We had a lot of fun and then headed back home for cake and presents. Charlie got Skylanders for the Xbox and a magic set from my mom and Bob. He was thrilled. He also got a pogo stick, which he had really wanted and was actually able to use pretty well for doing it for the first time.

For New Year's Eve, we spent our forth evening together with the Bell Family and friends. Doug ended up being sick, so he stayed home, but the boys and I headed over to their house. The party as an 80's theme and it was fun to see all the outfits.

We were very lucky to have such an amazing 2011 as a family. Work is good for both me and Doug and both of the boys do very well in school. We are blessed.