Christmas Morning

Here is the our Christmas tree all ready for the kids to open presents. Jon got it on his own, and it is a little too pear shaped for me. But that's ok. At least I didn't have to go out and help cut it down & haul it in. Tyler was up by 5:30 to open presents. But we held them off until about 6:10. Talk about a long day!

The kids got Jon a great gift this year. Awhile back Jon said that he needed new underwear. I told he could have some for Christmas. He said it was no fun getting boring old underwear for Christmas. Soooo, we surprised him with FUN underwear. I bought some new ones and some fabric paint. Then at mom's house the kids painted the underwear for him. They had the best time doing that. They were so excited. They turned out really beautiful, as you can tell. As a side not, that has nothing to do with Christmas. It is just my own observation...the relective panels on Hannah's jacket really do work don't they! Just in case you were wondering what that bright shape is in the back of the picture.

Christmas Day

Chloe was not quite sure what to think of her penquin. I think she is trying to figure out how to get the balls out of him. Tyler loves to "box" with him even more than Chloe does.

Here is the Poyda clan on Christmas Day at Todd & Sandy's. It is all of Grandma Shirley's grandkids & great-grandkids. Although Lisa is missing. We have Sam, Chloe, Matt, Alex, Tyler, Nick, Hannah, Taylor, Tabby, Keegan, Joni, me, Jake, Shawn & Trevor.

At Lorin & Julee's Chloe got to play with Felicity. Felicity is my cousin Tracy's daughter. Chloe is about 6 weeks older than her. Although our due dates were only 2 days apart. I went 3 weeks early and Tracy went about 3 weeks late. Their nicknames are CoCo and FiFi. Although Tracy & think they sound kind of dog names. We hope they grow up to be the best of friends.

BUT FIRST... Chloe needs to learn to not pull other peopl's hair. She pulled Felicity's hair and then Felicity cried. This was Chloe's reaction. And then she laughed. Felicity just has too much hair and Chloe was jealous! She just couldn't help herself.

Here is a family picture. Everyone except Lisa. We missed you Lisa!!!! Did anyone notice that Hannah is wearing a Bat Girl costume? Yep, she insisted on wearing it all day. She wanted a "special " dress and all of her normal dresses were not special enough. So she wore a Bat Girl Halloween costume. I was too tired to argue. But she wore it all day and loved it. Some day when she is 16 she will say, "Mom, did you really let me wear that all day for CHRISTMAS!!!???"

Christmas Eve

We went to Grandma Johnson's after church on Christmas Eve. Tracey loves to play the fishing game. Even when she is all by herself.

Chloe insisted on being part of the game. Only her thought is "Who needs a fishing pole when you can use your bare hands!" Needless to say, Tyler & Hannah don't go for her playing too long before I had to take her away. Besides, she was trying to eat the fish.

Here is a cute family picture before church at mom's house.

Which baby is which?

Baby A

We used to think that Chloe didn't really look like the other kids. But I think she looks a lot like Hannah. Can you tell which baby is which? There is poll on the side where you can cast your vote. Is Chloe Baby A (above) or Baby B (below)?

Baby B

Santa Clause

We went to visit Santa recently at County Market. The kids were actually not even scared of him. When he asked Tyler what he wanted, Tyler gave a well rehearsed answer. "I want a Nintendo Wii." He was well trained by his father, since Tyler has no idea what a Nintendo Wii is.

Christmas Cookies!

Here was Chloe's job..."give me more frosting!!!!"

I never would have made it through the frosting of the cookies without some very special helpers. You see, Jon was at work so I was alone with the kids to do this weekend cookie project. AAHH! Thank God for these two! Joni makes very pretty cookies where I just slap some frosting on to get it done with.

I gave each kid their own dough to keep rolling out and cutting cookies. And then I would "put them on the cookie sheet" to cook. Here is Hannah and her lovely cookie dough. SSHH - they didn't really get on the cookie sheet. So my cookies are safe to eat.

Here is the crew hard at work. They actually did a really good job.

Here are some of the frosted results. I have 5 huge tins of cookies, and I could only get a few in the picture. My favorite ones are the ones with one huge pile of sprinkles in the middle. Who needs a cookie when you've got sprinkles - right Hannah!?

Christmas Program

I know that these pictures are kind of fuzzy, but the kids had the Christmas Program at church on Sunday. They both did a great job saying their lines. They had been working so hard on them! You can kind of see Hannah going for the microphone here.

Tyler loves getting up there and doing his thing!

Packer Game!

On Sunday the kids stayed wiht Tabby & Andy while Jon & I went to the Packer game. It was so cold! We froze in the 15 degree weather, but it was still fun. We had really good seats. We were up 19 rows and right about on the 15 yard line.
Here is Jon freezing. Unfortunately the Packers lost. And although that was disappointing, at least I did not have sit through over time! I couldn't feel my toes the way it was. But it was great to have a date day with just Jon. Thanks to Tabby & Andy for taking the kids!

Chuck E. Cheese's

We went to Appleton this past weekend to visit Tabby & Andy. It was a great time. Thank you Tabby & Andy for letting us destroy your house and drive you nuts! Tyler has always wanted to go to Chuck E. Cheese's. He loves the commercials, but there isn't one around here. But there is in Appleton so we had to go. The kids loved it! The actual little kids, and also the daddy and the uncle. Here is Tyler enjoying a ride.
Here is Hannah crawling around in the tube thing having a blast.

Even Chloe got in on the rides. She is actually sitting where your feet are suppose to go. See the seatbelt there on the seat? Oh well, she loved it.

Here they are by the mouse while he was out giving a show. Don't tell him that I am telling you, but Tyler cried because he was scared of him. See him clinging to Jon? Hannah couldn't get close enough. She pulled a chair right up to him and stood there watching. She even tried to touch him. It was just a robot atleast and not real person. Although a person in the costume was out in the games section shaking kids' hands. Tyler stayed clear of him. But it was a great time and we were there over 2 hours! Too long in my opinion, but it was for them so it was worth it.

Happy Thanksgiving

We spent most of Thanksgiving at Mark & Becky's new house. It was a great time. One of Hannah's favorite things to do is play with Taylor. Hannah told me that what she wants for Christmas is a room exactly like Taylor's.

Tyler & Alex spent a lot of time "playing pool" . Tyler could do this almost all day if he could.

Oh no! Did Joni break her leg?!?!?!? Nope. She was just playing hurt. She stole Jacob's bunyon crutches just to be fun. Although she did a good job looking like she was in pain. Check out Joni's blog for a great story on Black Friday. (A link is in my favorite blogs section). Take notice that I stayed home in bed - I'm not that crazy.

Here is Tabby & Chloe. Tabby gave us the exciting news that her and Andy are expecting their first child! FINALLY! My kids will not be the only ones! We are super excited for them and can't wait until August. Jon is already starting to pack things up to take down to them. But I think he needs to hold off a little bit yet.

And isn't Chloe just the cutest thing on her first Thanksgiving! She is getting really good at sitting all by herself. And if look really, really close...you can see that she is starting to get hair!! Trust me - she really is.

Good Times

Chloe has been eating cereal! She loves it and can not get enough of it. Although she still makes quite the mess while eating. It is actually entertaining to watch Tyler & Hannah while Chloe eats. They keep gagging and running away because "It is so gross!"

Here is Joni & Tracey at a surprise birthday party we had for Joni. It was a fun game of Taboo, which Joni, Jake & I kicked butt. Joni kept a close eye on Tracey's words.

Here we all are playing the game. Jon, Andy & Andy's brother, Matt, were sleeping on the couches in the living room. And it was only 9:00pm! But, they had spent most of the day baling Christmas trees so they were exhausted. See mom's blog, Poyda Postings, for pictures on that story.

Tyler & Hannah were so excited for snow. They ran out the door in their pajamas. Atleast he put a scarf on though. As you can see, I am not ready for snow...the patio chairs were still on the deck. Oops. They are put away now, they really are.

Halloween Fun

We went to the Halloween Parade again this year. Here is Hannah wondering where all the candy is! But trust me, they got plenty. And I think Jon & I are eating most of it. Great.

Here is Chloe for her first Halloween. She was a cute little caterpillar. It actually helped to keep her nice and warm. Jon kept holding her during the parade because women giving out candy always stopped and gave some to her - but really to him. But they didn't stop and give her candy if Joni or Tabby were holding her. Hm. Men with babies really do draw attention!

Here is my lovely Incredible Hulk. I tried so hard to try and talk Tyler into being something different. I just think it is so ugly. But I had to give in to the fact that I have a 6 year old boy. The funny thing is, he has never watched anything Incredible Hulk. He just loves it though.

And here is Hannah Snow White. She was really cute in her black wig. She loves being a princess.

Deeply Missed

As many of you know, Jon's dad passed away October 29. It was kind of expected, but yet this soon was a shock. He will be deeply missed by so many. It was a rough week for our family. Jake passed away on Wednesday and then Kari's dad had a heart attack on Thursday. He is doing pretty good and recovering. In the last three weeks we have had in this order: Tyler with the flu, Tyler's birthday, Chloe with a bad rash (she still has it) Chloe's baby dedication, Jake's passing, Jim's heart attack, the funeral, Halloween, Hannah with the flu, Kari with step throat and mastitis. I know, everybody has a list, but I needed to vent mine a little. :) But we are all recovering from everything, slowly but surely. Thank you everyone for your thoughts, prayers, cards, meals and so much more. You are all deeply appreciated.

Super Star of the Week

Tyler was chosen as Super Star of the week. He got to wear this awesome vest everyday, we made a book that was all about him and his life - he had to draw Ellyn as his best friend. He got to have this trophy for the week. He got to take a special toy to school - his baseball glove. But best of all - he got to be first in line for everything and he got to be Mrs. Zuleger's special helper. He even made up a nice little song about being a super star. You will all have to ask him to sing it for you sometime. What a Super Star!

Busy, Busy Weekend

We had a crazy & busy weekend. On Friday we had the Homecoming Parade. The kids had been hoping for more candy, or at least some candy. But they had fun anyway.

After working at a different wedding on Saturday afternoon, we were able to go to another wedding Saturday night for the dance. The kids took late naps so that we would be ready to go. They danced the night away. Here is a picture of Tyler's great break dancing moves. I honestly have no idea where he got that from.

Here is the family. We really do struggle to get a picture with everybody sitting still and looking at the camera. Oh well, it still works. And it was the end of the night.

On Sunday we went to Todd & Sandy's for Nick's birthday party. They had some great leaves to take pictures in. The kids played "looking for a bear". The "big kids" (Tabby, Joni & Jacob) had a great time sneaking back through the woods to growl like bears and send the little kids screaming for the house . They eventually figured it out. Since Tyler threw a tennis ball into the woods and somehow the bear threw it back. Hm.

Here is the bunch doing a fun & crazy picture while they waited for their pieces of cake. It was a great time for everyone. And Happy 5th Birthday Nick!!

Friday Night Football

Here is Chloe at her First Friday night football game. It was actually pretty nice out so we thought we'd give it a try. The kids were all well behaved. We watched Jacob march and Medford won! Yeah!

Hannah enjoyed eating her M&Ms more than she did the game. Although she decided that she wants to be a Color Guard. And she kept calling the Raiderettes cheerleaders.

Daddy with his girls. Did you notice that Chloe can't even see anything.
Her hat kept falling down over her eyes.

Tyler enjoyed cheering for the players. Although I have no idea how many times I said,
"Yes, we want the ones in red to win."

And I love this picture. Do you think Chloe is having a good time or what?!?!?!