Christmas Morning

We had a great Christmas. The kids loved their gifts and even though we didn't get over to my families for breakfast (our first white Christmas forbid it) we did get out to Geoff's parents that night for dinner. Probably 80% of Hayden's gifts were Dinosaur themed, while Kaylyn recieved a Barbie Doll House and Princess toys and DVD's. Geoff and I didnt' have any surprises, but we got exactly what we wanted. Geoff actually got his 50" Flat Screen in Sept, because of the amazing deal we got on it, so that is his 'yearly gift' as he calls it. (It covers Christmas, Birthday, Anniversary and Fathers Days!) He then got his HD programing two weeks before Christmas, yet again because of the deal he got, but he's incredibly happy. I bought my new Digital Camera. My old one was about 7 years old and the flash, red eye and battery had stopped working so it was time for a new one before the new baby comes. We finally ended up having Christmas with my family Sunday evening, so this year Christmas was extended out for 4 days....kinda made it more enjoyable!

Christmas Eve

For the last three years Christmas Eve has been spent at our house with our parents and sometimes Geoff's sisters family and Great Grandma. We weren't sure this year with the weather if we were going to be able to keep the tradition up, but we were and we all really enjoyed ourselves. We do finger foods and munchies for dinner and then open our gifts from Geoff's family and the kids open their new Pj's, which every year continues to be a surprise! Then when everyone leaves we make sugar cookies for Santa, write letters to him and read 'The Night Before Christmas' and the story of Christs Birth from the scriptures. I think Christmas eve is my favorite time of year. It's such a wonderful time of family togetherness, traditions and excitement!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year Everyone! We hope this finds all of you with loved ones, creating memories, and enjoying the season.

Love

The Verbeck Family

WOW.....more snow.

I know, I know....more snow pictures. This is for all of our friends and family that don't live around here, I figure I'll update you on how much more we've gotten. I would say we have to be up to atleast 18" or more, with more expected to hit Wednesday morning and continue till Thrusday afternoon. I was excited when it started, but now I'm over it. The feeling of being trapped in my home day after day (with two very excited kids, this close to Christmas) is driving me nuts. Also, I'm affraid our holiday plans/traditions with family are going to change, so it's kinda a bummer. On the bright side...we'll finally have a white Christmas! Happy Holidays everyone.

"Arctic Blast"

We've been hit with the "Arctic Blast"!!! The news channels always feel they have to 'name' every storm we have in the NW, although I think the entire west coast has been dealing with this in one way or another. According to my ruler I've stuck out on our patio table it's over 7" high. (The ruler is only 7", and I can't see it anymore.) We awoke this morning with about 1/4 " ice on top of the snow we had and now it's snowing very hard again. Who know's when we're going to get a break. It's kinda fun and beautiful to watch, but I hate feeling house bound and Geoff has had to work thru all of it, so I've worried everytime he goes to or comes home from work, since he's been driving the van without chains. Tonight he's staying at my mom's, since she lives closer to his work. They're saying we should have some thawing by maybe Wednesday (Christmas eve).....cross your fingers.

It's begining to look a lot like Christmas

Yeah for snow!! We had more snow today, and more is still expected to fall this evening and tomorrow. As of right now they're saying snow thru Christmas, which would be very cool, because since we've lived here (17 years) we've never had snow on Christmas. This time we actually got some of the white stuff, unlike on Sunday when everyone around us got hit, and we were in this weird little pocket that got nothing. Today has been a day for playing in the snow, drinking hot cocoa and sitting by the fire. Hayden hasn't had school this whole week so far, and I'm thinking it's not going to change. He starts winter break next week for 2 weeks...what I would've given to have had almost the whole month of Dec. off when I was in school, but he misses it. They had a great time playing with their neighbor friend today for a combined total of almost 4 hours!!

Let it SNOW, Let it Snow, Let it SNOW!

We got a small dusting of snow today. Not much to really play in, but enough to enjoy the ground being white. Some places less than 20 mins away had 3-5 inches, so the kids were kinda bummed at what we got. Not sure yet if school will be canceled tomorrow, but things are real icy right now and is expected to stay this way for the next week, with temperatures in the teens and more possible snow by Wed. Lets Hope!! I love Snow around Christmas time.

Sleeping Angels

I have to post this because I thought it was the cutest thing......I went up to check on Kaylyn before I went to bed last night (around 11:30pm) and was startled when I saw her bedroom door open. After checking her room and turning on the lights I realized I had no idea where she was. I knew she was upstair somewhere, but she was so quite I assumed she had fallen asleep somewhere. So I start quitely calling her name, as to not wake Geoff and Hayden, but I didn't get any response, so then I went to check on Hayden and sure enough she had snuck in to his room and curled up in his bed with him in his tent and both were out cold. They looked so peaceful, and I had thought about leaving them, but Hayden had school in the morning and Kaylyn gets up really early, so I had to move her, but not without taking this picture first.

It's Time to Decorate!

We spent the day before Thanksgiving decorating for Christmas. We were worried that Geoff's days off next week wouldn't be sunny (for the outdoor decorations) and that they would be at the end of the week (which then puts off decorating until 3 weeks till Christmas) so we just did it all in one day. It took us 11 hours, but we got the outside all done, plus trees and inside decorations. It was a long, but fun day and it feels good to have everything done to just relax and enjoy the rest of the season. Happy Thanksgiving everyone!!

Haydens Friends Birthday party

I'm such a horrible Mom. I had been telling Hayden since Sept. (which is his actual birthday) that he could pick 2 friends to go to Chuck E Cheese with him to celebrate. We just got around to going last week (2 months late). We ended up celebrating his friends birthday at the same time, because his mom had felt bad that she hadn't done anything either, when his birthday was in Oct. It was great because the boys played for hours, and us moms enjoyed pizza and talking. Atleast I followed thru and finally gave him his party!

Twilight Movie

Yeah.....I just got home from seeing Twilight and loved it. I admit that there were a few cheesy special effects, but if you love the book, more than likely you'll like the movie. The music was an enjoyable addition also. Since I went to the first showing this morning (opening day) I'm dying to discuss it with someone else who's seen it, so when you see it, please email and tell me what you think.

A few things to share....

1. I had my 24 week OB appointment today and everythings going great. My Dr. couldn't get the babies heart beat at first because the little thing wouldn't hold still. She was in the process of talking to me and trying to find the heart beat, and had to keep stopping and saying...."Wow this is an active one here!" or "I can't believe how much this one is moving, is it always like this?" She has no idea.

2. Not to toot my own horn, but I made a Ham today that was to die for. It was seriously the best Ham I've ever had. I found a recipe online and had a ham (boneless, not seasoned) in the freezer for months trying to decide how I wanted to cook it. All the recipe calls for is 2 Cups of Brown Sugar, Ham and a Crock Pot. I put 1 1/2 Cup of the Brown sugar on the bottom of the crock pot, then patted the rest around the ham and placed it in the crock pot to cook on low for 8+ hours. It was the most tender, flavorful, delicious ham ever. Poor Geoff can't eat pork or he gets very very sick, so we'll just have to enjoy it all for him. ( Luckily he was working till 11:30pm tonight so it's not as though we all ate and made him watch!)

3. Just had to mention these few things that kids have said recently about Christmas, that have made us laugh out loud.

Kaylyn- I asked her today what she wanted Santa to bring her. She responded with "I want a car". I assumed she meant a Barbie car or maybe a girly pink remote control car, so when I mentioned those things she looked at me like 'are you dumb', she said "no, I have a Barbie car, I want a car like you.....you know like the one parked in the garage that I can drive, and then you can sit in the back." I was laughing and she was acting offended. I'm scared for her to turn 16 if this is what I can expect!!!

Hayden-I had just completed some nativity craft projects and then lined up on the table and Hayden came over to look at them. He started asking questions like "Where's Mary?" and "There's the Baby Jesus." Then he asked "who's the guy holding the stick?" and I had said that it was a shephard. His next question was "Where's the German?" Geoff and I looked at each other and just busted up laughing. My only though is he was thinking of German Shephards (as in the dog), since we had watched a show on dogs a week before. It still makes me laugh when I think of his face, all serious and confussed.

Oh the things kids say!!

Holiday Photos 2008

So we went and did our Family Holiday Photos today at Lewisville Park, only about 5 mins from our house. We were planning on going last week on Geoff's days off when the storm hit, so then we originally thought we'd do it this week on his days off, but ofcourse it's supposted to rain again for the next 5 days straight. Today was suppost to be the only nice, clear day all week and ofcourse it was foggy and kinda misty, but it wasn't raining so we can't complain. We got some really cute pictures, now the decision on which one to choose??

Movie Night

We've had a big storm hit the NW the last few days, and all of our original plans got changed, so we decided to make it a family relaxation day, by renting a Wii game and movie. The kids really wanted to see "Journey to the Center of the Earth". We didn't know there were two sides of the DVD one 3D and then the regular movie, we watched it in 3D by finding glasses from around the house. The kids loved the popcorn, candy, movie and most importantly spending time as a family. It just shows we don't have to spend a bunch of money to make the kids happy and give them memories they won't forget.

Star of the Week

Haydens kindergarten class has a "Star of the Week". Every week a new child is choosen, and that week they get to be the special helper and bring in a Poster that describes the things the child likes and enjoys. Hayden has been choosen for this following week, so we worked on his poster today for a few hours. He wanted Dinosaurs, Transformers, Animals, Disneyland, Soccer and pictures of his family on it. He went thru magazines and cut out the pictures he liked, along with coloring some of his own. I then took a picture of him with our pets to put on it. We had a good time creating something together, and I enjoyed learning more about what's going thru his little head. Kaylyn was jealous of Haydens poster, so we may be creating one for her fairly soon. I hope he has a wonderful week and enjoys being the "Star of the Week".

Kaylyns Big Girl Bed

Kaylyn just got her Big Girl Bed last week. Yes, she is 3 1/2 years old, but she hasn't been willing to give up her crib until recently. (Maybe the new baby coming helped her decide it was time.) Her big girl bed was my daybed growing up, just painted white. She then picked out the Disney Princeses bedding. The first night she cried a little when we put her down, but now she loves it. If you notice she still insists on her Fish Aquarium, but that's fine by me. She doesn't need to loose/change everything all at once. Thanks Great Grandpa for coming over to help put it together.....it needed alot of love and was missing parts.

High School Musical on Ice

One of the kids favorite movies is High School Musical, so ofcourse when it came to town with Disney on Ice, we had to take them. In all honesty we've taken them every year to the ice show, and it's now become a tradition, but I think this was one of our favorites. In years past Geoff hasn't been able to go with us because of his work schedule, so my mom and I have taken the kids, but this year it all worked out, so he got to enjoy Troy and Gabriella singing to "We're all in this Together!"

Professional Pictures

A friend of ours (and my visiting teacher) came over to take some professional pictures of the kids in their Halloween costumes. They turned out so cute I had to post a few! Thanks again Gena.

Halloween 2008

The kids had a great Halloween and I didn't make myself exhausted this year. In years past I've drug them to mulitiple church parties, grandparents houses and then Trick or Treating in our neighborhood, and this year we opted to just go around the neighborhood. Hayden was "The Dark Knight" Batman and Kaylyn was Sleeping Beauty. They got LOADS of candy and had a great time. Another Halloween passed!

Pumpkin, Pumpkin Round and Fat....Turn into a Jack-O-Lantern just like that!

Our family carved our pumpkins this year just a day before Halloween, and it was a good thing, because they were starting to go moldy on the bottom, before they were carved. This was the first year Kaylyn wasn't affraid to stick her hand in the pumpkin and get messy. She wanted a "Happy, Smiling Pumpkin", while Hayden and I went for the more detailed ones and Geoff did his traditional "Puking Pumpkin".