An new addition

 On Christmas Eve we allow the kids to open 1 present.  Before they opened a gift Grandma and I headed to Kitty City, KC to go look at a kitten named Lilipede.  I fell in love with her right away because the instant I put her in my arms she started purring and would let me hold her like a baby.  SO she came home with us!  Justin and I had been talking about getting a puppy but that didn't work out, and Justin had promised Caroline a cat if she met certain criteria, so we got a cat!
Lili has been so welcomed into the house and she and Miles are getting used to each other.  They aren't best buddies but I have no doubt it will happen.

Lili has already bonded with Caroline and loves sleeping on her bed.  Caroline doesn't mind at all.

 Lili is the softest cat you've ever felt and loves to be around us.  She comes and greets us when we get home and sits on top of Justin's chair at mealtimes.

 She has taken this chair as hers!  Justin can use it upon request!!

Will came into the room to met Lili and she just climbed right in his lap and rubbed her face on his.  He thought that was pretty awesome!

 And Eric has learned that you don't go bouncing up to the cat, scoop her up, then quickly spin around to find the dog in your face, and not walk away with some battle wounds!  He's been much better about approaching the cat lately and has even been able to pet both the cat and dog and the same time.

 After the kids go to bed Lili likes cuddles in her/Justin's chair.

 Caroline has also prepared a power point presentation about cat behavior for her brothers, researched toys, and designed a kitty condo for Lili.  So she and Justin reviewed her design and built it yesterday.  They had some help!

Caroline got to use some power tools too.

And ta-da!!  The finished product!  Lili has already scratched the rope and seems to love it.

 Silly Lili, as her nickname suggests, is quite full of herself and loves to be very curious.  She makes us laugh for sure.  The other day she was not phased at all by me putting clothes in the dryer.

 She stretched out on her perch and stayed wrapped over my shoulder for quite some time.

 Last night she was trying to help Michigan beat FSU by batting at the players.  She even tried to take out the ref!  So far football is the only thing she's interested in.  She fits into this family just fine!

Welcome to the family Lili!!
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Christmas Morning

Christmas morning started off a little earlier than we thought it would with Will clomping around at 4am!!  Justin caught him and turned him around to get him in bed.  He may have been sleep walking but I'm glad that wasn't the time the day started!  6:30 was early enough.

Will with his stocking stuffers.

 Caroline testing out her new sleeping bag.

 Will already has his arrow target set up in the basement.

 This wasn't on Christmas but too funny not to include!  Miles watching Grandpa nap!

 Excited and not excited to get started.

 I got a HUGE stack of books!  I've been keeping a list of book on my phone for years.  And Justin got most of them!  One is already finished.  Love good books!

 Ninja swords and 2 on his back.

 Santa brought Will the Worlds Largest Gummy Worm.  Oh Lordy!

 BB8  big Star Wars fans in this house!

 Goggles for our upcoming ski trip.

The day was fantastic and thank you for all the gifts and love!!  We also enjoyed face timing with family.
Merry Christmas!!

Grandma and Grandpa's visit

Grandma and Grandpa got into town on the evening of the 20th.  We had a week full of fun adventures, laughs, and Christmas memories!

One afternoon we went downtown to the WW1 museum.  They had done a great job and even had a great book for the kids to complete.  It had fill in the blanks, word searches, timeline stuff, and finding items around the museum.  So while the adults did the guided tour the kids worked on filling out the books!   The place wasn't so large that we didn't feel comfortable letting the kids roam a little bit. 

 The museum is under ground and is circular to fit around the landmark.  You can go up but we had run out of time and didn't get to go to the top.  Next time!

 Kansas City skyline

 Grandma and Grandpa also got to go to karate class and see Will and Caroline get their yellow belts.

 We also went to a KU women's basketball game.  We did get to walk through the museum areas and the interactive areas before the game started.
Caroline is the same height as Baby Jay!

 The boys practicing.  Eric had more baskets than Will did in 30 secs.  He didn't rub that in AT ALL!!

 Measuring wing span.  There was one that had an almost 7' wing span!  Holy moly!

 There was also a place where you could measure your hand against others and they have some big hands!

 Not a big crowd at all.  But we sat right up close!  The adults didn't have tickets and we were planning on buying them at the ticket counter.  But as I was walking up a lady approached me and asked if I needed tickets.  I said I did, and then she handed me 2 tickets for free!  Reminded me of Wake days when the kids were sent out to get tickets!!  Made me laugh!

 The pep band is a good one and plays a wide variety of music.  We had fun dancing and jamming along.  It was also nice to be able to talk about the game more with the kids and explain more about what was going on.  There's so much noise during the men's game that it's too difficult to have a conversation.  

 Eric practicing breaking a board.

 Will practicing.

Big Boy Club

Last Sunday Eric wasn't feeling so great.  He had a fever and was wanting to sit and cuddle with me for most of the day.  So Monday morning I called and got him an appointment.  His appointment was in the afternoon so with Justin off work that morning we went to the movies!  Eric and I saw Moana and the big kids and Justin saw Rogue One.  You can see in the picture that he doesn't look that sick but he didn't have a fever that morning and said he was feeling ok.  So to the movies we went!

Justin took him to his appointment.  Turns out he had the end of an ear infection and strep (got the call later that afternoon that it was positive)!!  He walked in the house with a bag full of all kinds of medicines.  All pills!  Eric can't swallow pills!  But when the dr and Justin asked him if he could Eric said yes.  So Justin thought that at some point he had to be responsible for the things he says he can do and they got pills, big ones!  Even the pharmacist asked if he could swallow pills!  I would have gotten liquid, but I wasn't there.

That night when it was time to take his amoxicillin there were tears.  From Eric, not me!  And it may have taken almost an hour.  A chair from the dining room was brought into the kitchen and Eric was left to figure it out.  And he did!!  I cut the horse pill in half to help.

Now it only takes one sip of water and he can get it down!!  Welcome to the big boy club Eric!!

And thanks to Justin for getting him to that point.

More with Grandaddy and Mimi

Friday Caroline wanted to go to school so she could participate in the school sing along with the choir.  The boys didn't want to go to school and with it being a half day there really wasn't a reason to go.  Dad and Marie walked to school to see Caroline sing.  Then when they got back Dad played army guys with the boys. 

 Mimi and Eric made some origami animals.

 And dad and Will had a blast and lots of laughs in the kitchen making Chex mix and muddy buddies.  It was fun to watch and listen to them working in the kitchen!

 Friday night we braved the freezing rain, slick driveway, and cold to go to Eric's belt promotion.

 He did a great job and got his yellow belt!

Then we went to the Thai restaurant in town.  So good!

Saturday Caroline and Mimi made a tree topper for the little tree at the top of the stairs.  It turned out perfectly and they both really enjoyed making it.

One of the funniest and fun books to read is a Skippy John Jones book.  The kids and dad just love them and laugh and laugh!  

 Saturday mid-morning it started snowing on top of the layer of ice we had Friday.  But the kids and Mimi had fun decorating a gingerbread house.  It was the best one they have ever done!  Being older helps with those things for sure.  It had been a few years since making one.  The weather in Hawaii isn't conducive to icing and lots of candy sitting out.

 Caroline at school.

 Caroline is the back center singing away!

 The cooks!

 We also exchanged gifts and then had fun playing with them.

 Caroline got a 3-d puzzle of Diagon Alley (Harry Potter) and we were able to get it all put together that afternoon.

 More from Eric's promotion.

 The snow continued all day on Saturday and all told we ended up with about 3 inches.  Enough to cover the grass and make for some good sledding, especially with the slick ice layer on the bottom!

The kids loved playing in it!

 That's the tree topper they made!  I love it!

 The finished house!

 Mimi and Eric with the frogs they folded.

 Getting ready to shake the sugar on the muddy buddies.

Dad and Marie had quite the adventure trying to leave KS due to the snow Saturday night.  We were so glad to have them come for a visit and for some reason they always have some sort of travel related incident!
Thanks again for coming for a visit!  We so enjoyed having you!!