New Year = New Start to the Blog!!

Happy New Year!! It's been a long time since I posted to this blog, but I'm going to start fresh. I attempted to start blogging just over 2 years ago, and never really got into a routine. I'm hoping to make a change now.

We've had a lot of BIG changes this past year - Mike's new job, surprise pregnancy/birth of baby Lauren, moving half way across the country and more. I want to be able to update our life events more than what Facebook can show (if that's even possible).

This will be my longest post with some of the pictures from our first trip back to Kansas City. Enjoy looking/reading and make comments as you wish.

Ashlyn and Jacob getting ready to board the plane! They were very excited!!

We made it!!

Movie night with Grandma!! I think they were watching Santa Paws.

Our yearly playgroup at Crown Center and the Crayola Playland.
Just because we moved away we couldn't miss this.

Since Santa already made a visit to our house in California, the kids got to say thanks!!

This was only SOME of our friends there!! It was great getting together with everyone!! I'm in the middle...didn't realize how short I am until I saw this. LOL

Shopping out at the Legends...it was a little chilly!!

Poor baby girl had to visit Children's Mercy...diagnosis - RSV. :-(

We made Spritz cookies, and Jacob wanted to help. It didn't last long because he didn't like the smell. He was just creaming the butter and sugar together, but if he didn't quit...we might have had a repeat of when he scooped out his pumpkin a couple years ago. ;-)

Christmas morning!!
Santa made another visit for them and filled their stockings with goodies and left some books.

Look at all those presents from Grandma!! I was a little worried we wouldn't be able to get them all home. But we made it work out!! :-)
THANK YOU, GRANDMA!!

Uncle Pat and Ashlyn putting together a puzzle.
They had sooooo much fun together!!

Jacob and Uncle Chris working together.

Who needs baby food when you have Grandma and she has pie?!?!?!

Since we flew home on Ashlyn's birthday, she wanted to have a party at Chuck E Cheese with her friends. So we got some friends together and celebrated Ashlyn turning FOUR!! I still can't believe she's THAT OLD!! YIKES!! They aren't babies for long!!

Mike and I were able to away alone and go to a Chiefs game. It was nice tailgating and spending time without the little ones since that doesn't happen very often anymore. Even though the Chiefs lost, it was still a great day.

After the game, we had the Hendrix's over for dinner. My mom cooked an awesome turkey, and the kids had a blast running around, playing their DSs, playing hide and seek and just having fun together. They all get a long so great!!

The kids LOVED having (board) game nights!! Even though they love the electronic games, Jacob especially enjoys the board games. They got a few new ones for Christmas.

At the airport to say our goodbyes!! :-(

Ashlyn tells Grandma goodbye one last time!! :-(

This is just some of what we did. The kids got to see their friends quite a bit, Jacob was able to go to karate a couple times - once for their Christmas party and once for class when they did "marker wars." He had fun and was happy to start karate when we got home. It was just nice being back "home" - in Kansas City. The kids enjoyed waking up seeing Grandma and playing wild and crazy with their Uncles. Uncle Sean and Aunt Katherine took the older two on an overnight adventure and bowling the next day. Fun was had by all. We did not like to see the trip come to an end, but now we get to look forward to the next time!! Grandma is going to make a surprise trip to California in March - I hope I can keep my mouth quiet about it. I'm excited to see the expressions on their face when Grandma surprises them!!

Ok, I think I'm done now for now. Until next time...