Happy Birthday Abigail!!!

 Abby has been waiting patiently for her turn to celebrate a birthday. Not only is she the youngest, but her birthday comes right after both her siblings. It was finally her day to shine and she was ready!!!

 

 Abster chose to have her party at Monkey Joes again this year. She had so much fun last year, why not do it all over again? She and her buddies had a great time sliding down one of the giant inflatable slides.

 Abby and Keeler are best buddies. 

We tried to have the kids huddle together for a nice family picture to showcase how much they love and care for each other...this was the best they had to offer!

 Catie and her buddy Isaac enjoying a slice of pie. Stiv thought that Issac was supposed to be a hobo, but apparently he was some kind of supper hero???

Jackson thought it was time for the master to teach his little sister how to build a decent train track...

Basketball 2012

The Bobcats!

Catie and Bella are enjoying Chick-fil-A biscuits on the side of the of the court while the rest of the team is participating in pregame warm-ups!

The girls at least managed to put down their food for the pregame prayer.

A quick smile before tip off.

 Catie displaying her laser-like focus and fierce determination on defense as she chases down the ball...

Let's get going!

Looks like Catie is actually moving toward the ball on this play! She continues to have a great attitude and is a good teammate to the rest of the Bobcats.

The Bears!

Jackson is enjoying basketball and continues to improve each year even though he never really practices at home. 

This year Jackson's age group has moved up to a full size court, which makes for a lot more running.

He may be the lightest kid on the court, but he has a big heart and hustles. This year Jax has shown a remarkable ability to anticipate the play, as evidenced by the number of steals he has already made.

Abby had a blast running sprints along the baseline of the court during the game. She even found a little friend to race. She is looking forward to when she can join the team in two years!

Happy 7th Birthday Catherine Cooper!!!

Our newly minted 7 year-old Catherine Cooper was so excited to host a sleepover with four of her girlfriends. We had a "co-ed" party at Stevi B's with a bunch of her friends from school and around town, then the girls all headed back to our house for a night of fun!

As most of you know, Catie loves dogs and so we are sure it is no surprise that she selected a cool dog cake for her party.

Preparing her seven candles oh so carefully....

  Catie was reunited with her old best buddy Bella and was so happy to rekindle their dormant friendship.

After the party, the girls opened presents and played games for the evening. It was so much fun listening to their conversations.

 

Bedtime was a long drawn-out event! The girls started talking about how a robber could get in through the window and hide in the closet.... This caused one of the girls to get so spooked that Stiv ended up driving her home late at night. The girls all ended up sleeping in the bed together... except the brave Catie Cooper who slept on the floor. Everyone ended up having a great time and Catie was in her element as the hostess and center of attention.

Christmas 2011

Our elf Scout showed up like clockwork on December 1st to watch over the kids and fly out at night to report back to Santa. The little guy always whips the kids into shape leading up to Christmas.

One of our new activities was a gingerbread house making contest at Briarlake Baptist. It seems like we do everything there except actually belong to the church?? The kids had a blast and made a pretty good looking house too (sorry the finish photo did not turn out).

The Lego King got into the holiday spirit by building a Christmas village to display in the Lego room (dining room) throughout the season.

We enjoyed the holiday program at Midvale and got to listen to different "holiday" songs from around the world. Catie was proud of her performance in spite of the fact that she was the only kid not wearing red or white... nice going mom and dad!

This was our year to make the trip to Grandpa and Grandma Moe's house in Eau Claire. The kids love visiting and exploring the house, finding old toys from when their mom was a kid. Here they are raring to go as present opening time was approaching on Christmas morning. 

Abster was excited to open one of her too many presents!

Catie had a blast going through her stocking and finding all the little creative treats that Santa selected just for her.

Abby is into winter hats and thought this one was a winner!

 

 Jackson doesn't care much for receiving clothes as a gift but who wouldn't want to be Clay Mathews!?!? 

Thanks Uncle John! 

 One of our outings was going to the indoor waterpark for some indoor water fun. They have all kinds of huge slides and a cool lazy river. These huge water playgrounds are all over Wisconsin, kind of like Waffle Houses in the Southeast. 

 Usually, you can count on a white Christmas in Eau Claire, but this year there was no snow when we arrived. In fact, there was no snow when we went into the waterpark. We were surprised to find several inches of the fluffy white stuff on the ground when we left! 

A Christmas Miracle! 

 Catie got to visit her buddies Calvin and Sierra. She was so excited to be reunited with her hairy friends. She took them for walks, and fed them but did not pick up their poo during the walks.

She found a new friend Alli the cat...Alli is the boss of the household. So she and Catie had a lot in common.

Jackson's Birthday Party

 

The soccer season finally ended, and we were able to fit in Jax's birthday party at Stars & Strikes. Of course, it was a Lego theme.

Catie and Abster worked together to hand out the Lego cupcakes to the guests.

The balloon figures were a hit. Most of the boys requested swords and ran around fighting with them before lunch. What else did you expect???

Lizzie and Catie hamming it up.

Abby loved hangin' with big kids and had a blast.

A few of the dudes waiting for pizza.

Laser tag is the main draw for the kids, and they loved running around and shooting each other. It was fun to stand in the corner and watch them move around like rats in a maze.

The dreaded air ball blaster!!!

The birthday boy got to enter the "Fun Machine" that blows hundreds of tickets in the air that he had to grab and hold on to. It was fun to watch Jackson scramble!

Thanksgiving

Atlanta Half Marathon

 We started the day off early by running the half marathon with several friends. It was a perfect day for running a distance event. As we like to believe, it provided us with a license to eat for the rest of the day!

  We had Thanksgiving at our house this year and... surprise, it was a casual event. Grandma Schwartz, Grandpa and Grandma Moe and John and Ann came down for the weekend. We gave thanks with a wonderful meal that Moe created and then watched the Packers destroy the Lions. What a way to spend the day!

Check out our ornaments

  

The morning after Thanksgiving, it is tradition that Stiv and Jax put up the tree while the girls sit around and eat bonbons. Once the hard work is done, the whole family goes into decoration mode while our favorite holiday CD, a Charlie Brown Christmas, is piped in throughout the house! 

Jackson is the architect of the decorations.

Grandma "Swartz" with the kids in front of the tree.

Yes, the guinea pigs are still thriving... and stinking up our living room...