CHRISTMAS!

Christmas was FABULOUS! Matthew had sooo much fun and got everything he wanted from Santa (which wasn't much)... he wanted a "REAL HOCKEY STICK"! Santa came through and even added in a pair of REAL HOCKEY GLOVES! He was so sweet... I wish I could have captured it on video but my mom dropped the camera last night and broke it :( I was able to use her camera to get photos this morning, but no video.... such a bummer. Oh well accidents happen! Christmas eve was spent with my family... had a birthday party for Jesus... the kids decorated cupcakes, we sang happy b-day and my mom read the Christmas story. The little ones think it is fun because they get the bring the characters forward when it is time. The older ones complain but deep down they love it too. All 20 of us went to mass which is ALWAYS a production... Matthew and Ava were fighting over her new doll... we were all crammed into one pew and practically sitting on top of each other! These are the things that we will look back on and laugh about. Griffin had the honor of playing Joseph in the Christmas story and Grace played a shepherd... she wasn't too thrilled with that honor! But they both looked adorable! Christmas Day was spent with most of the Schwieger clan.... it was a great day, super relaxing! We ate all day long and watched Mama Mia and just hung out. The kids played pretty well together, except when Matthew gave his sweet cousin Lauren a large welt on the side of her face. Fighting over toys of course! Ben has off for the rest of the week and most of next week too! We are very excited to plan some fun outings! His sister and her family are coming up from Iowa on New Year's Eve... so we will have lots going on next week too!

Hope that you all had a great Christmas and made some good memories! Much love to you all!

Here is Matthew with his REAL hockey stick!

And the gloves...

And his very cool Gopher hockey hat!

Skating again!

Matthew has his 2nd experience on the ice... this went much better than the first time. He was so excited... he didn't want to leave. We took him out last weekend when it was almost 40 degrees, so he wasn't freezing! There is a video clip below with him showing off his skills and poor grammar! :) Don't mind my obnoxious commentary! :) I don't know who was more excited, Ben and I or Matthew! :) I left shortly after taking this video and he and Ben stayed for awhile longer... Ben said by the time they left, he was skating on his own with no chair. So cute!! We were baby-sitting my nephew Lukey for the weekend so he was with us and so much fun... Matthew loved pushing him on the chair! And Lukey loved to ride!

SKATING!!

As most of you know, my 2 year old is OBSESSED with hockey! He wears his skates around the house and is in love with them! So Ben and my dad brought him to try out his skates on the ICE! It was FREEZING last night, so of course he didn't last too long. But he had fun for the 5 minutes he was there. I am so sad that I missed it! :( But I had to laugh because my dad and Ben got all bundled up in their snow pants, jackets, etc and they were there for literally 5 minutes! It took them longer to get ready to go there than it did to actually skate! So cute! :) They skated at the rink across from my brother's house... so my sister in law took the photo! Thanks Mary!!

As you look at the photo those of you who know Ben well will be wondering what he is wearing. My husband is not much of an outdoorsmen... he doesn't do the hunting or fishing thing... he isn't into Nascar or snowmobiling... but the garb he is wearing would say differently, right? Ben's boss is really into snowmobiling... so he asked Ben to go with him on a weekend snowmobiling trip in January to the UP of Michigan! Ben said of course he would like to go. His boss then came back to the office with all the gear that Ben will need! :) He was pretty excited! You should see the helmet he has! Bright red!! Matthew loves to wear it. I will take a picture and post it soon! So that explains Ben in his Ski-Doo gear! I love it!!

You will also notice that my dad is wearing BLAZE orange! That "get-up" is about 30 years old... Gotta love it!

Cookie Baking

Well as you all know, we are shacking up with my parents. This weekend 2 of my nieces spent the night and we did some cookie baking. They enjoyed cutting out the cookies but got bored with decorating, so I ended up doing most of it. Then they talked my mom into giving them pedicures! So funny!! I wonder if I will turn into a push-over when I am a grandma? My mom does whatever they want... it's sweet! We had a super nice relaxing weekend!! On Friday Kristin and I brought the kids to see Santa... PURE COMEDY! Matthew did great at first... we had a little chat with Santa while we waited for the photographer and Matthew told Santa that he wanted a REAL hockey stick and told him about Jesus' manger and that if he was good he got to put hay in it and on and on... So it comes time for the photo when he had to SIT on his lap and he flipped out and was screaming and trying to get down! So funny! Then my sister's kids were next, just the younger 2... Ava is 4 and Luke is 19 mos.... they looked at Santa and started to FREAK! The photos are totally hilarious!! LOVE IT! So after we tortured them with Santa we let them go on the carousel at the mall... they loved it! Then on Friday night, I went out to dinner with Meredith and Sara to celebrate Mer's bday. Then Mer and I braved the bad roads and came here and had a slumber party! It was so much fun! Yesterday we went to a hockey game for my nephew and then the girls came over so we just stayed in. And today, we went to church and then I made chili and some beer bread and even got to nap on the couch for an hour! It truly was the perfect weekend!! Oh, last week at daycare the kids made paper chains to count down the days to Christmas... Matthew has his own tree in the basement so he and MeeMee and Papa put it on his tree... pretty cute! You'll see photos below.

SO proud of his tree...

Here we are on the carousel after the Santa incident...

MeeMee and the girls rolling the dough...

Me and my cookies!

And last but not least... MeeMee's nail salon.. notice Matthew looking on wonderin what the heck is going on!