JACOB TURNS 8!



Jake turned 8 last Friday. He celebrated at school by bringing treats to his classmates (cookies). He got to choose where we ate that evening and he chose Tokyo, the Japanese steak house where they cook your meal in front of you. He loves their noodles & steak. After dinner we came home & Jake opened up a few gifts from us.


On Saturday, Mandy, Ben, Maddie, Kim & Michael came up to go to Jake's party with his friends at the Rec Center. The boys played "silly sports" and had a great time. The biggest kid of them all, Michael had so much fun he was sore that evening!!

On Sunday, we had Jake's family party and he enjoyed himself. We were all exhausted by Sunday night!


This week has brought dance class, running some errands to spend Jake's gift cards, religion tonight, Daisy's tomorrow night, basketball on Saturday and a b-day party for Allie on Saturday. Sunday appears to be free!! Jake & I are hoping for a snow day tomorrow (4-8 inches is in the forecast). Oh, and Jake lost another tooth this morning. Scott yanked it out for him.

Jake handing out in bed one morning with his football helmet & mouth guard on! Just in case a line backer attacked him??
Allie insisted on dressing like me one day for school. I'm just glad she still likes me!
Jake's friends at the Rec Center: Mason, Ben G, Ben P, Carter, Jake, Nick C, Paul & Nick B
Jake is ready to blow out his candles at his family party.

NEW YEAR

We rang in 2008 with our friends. We shared a sitter and went to dinner & out for drinks. We had a nice time. The kids stayed up past 1:30 & we beat on NY Day & the following day!

We are all back to work/school & still adapting to our schedule. 12 days is a long time to be off. This week brings dance, a PTA meeting, a book party, Jake's 8th b-day and 2 parties for him. Allie in her Hannah Montana wig from Aunt Kim & Uncle Michael. She is sporting her HM tee shirt & guitar as well.
Me & my friend Kristin on NY Eve at the martini bar. Scott took the picture & zoomed in on the naked lady painting behind us.
Allie & Scott.

FISCHER CHRISTMAS

Went went to my brother & his wife's house on Saturday night to spend the night since my parent's bathroom was torn up & there was no shower! When we got to Michael & Kim's house, Scott & Jake were pleased to find the end of the Patriot's game on TV & a fight ordered on pay per view. Michael also had some munchies ready for them. We had a nice evening with them just hanging out.

We headed to Mom & Dad's house for brunch on Sunday. After brunch we opened gifts & laughed & laughed at the kid's reactions & stories that we told. We had a wonderful time!! Allie got a Hannah Montana wig, a HM magic 8 ball, a HM diary, 2 HM Barbies, a Webkinz pink pony, a Webkinz bracelet & charm, 8 Junie B Jones books, 2 Xmas ornaments & money for her college account. Jake got a baseball bat, wide receiver gloves, football cards, a PS 2 NBA game, a Webkinz monkey, a Magic 8 ball, 2 ornaments, 6 Harry Potter books and money for his college account. Scott & I were blessed with very nice gifts as well. We headed back home around 3:00 & came home absolutely exhausted. Today I am unpacking slowly & gearing up for a fun NY Eve!!

My family: front row Jake & Allie, middle row Kim & Baby Fischer in her belly, Dad, Mom, Mandy, Maddie, Me back row Mike, Will, Scott, Michael & Ben

The Grinstead family
Allie & her new wig
Jake & his wide receiver gloves (which he hasn't taken off)

Maddie & Uncle Scott...she still absolutely loves him...he loves that it makes me mad!
Michael & Maddie at brunch...that child will eat anything!
Allie & Uncle Will
My family with my Grandma Marge included.
Ben & his dad wait to open their gifts.
Kim...it doesn't look like she has a belly, but she does. This was her first day in maternity clothes b/c her real clothes don't fit.

CHRISTMAS

We have had a wonderful Christmas week! The kids are at the perfect age, still believing 100% in Santa, his reindeer and of course the elves.

We spent Christmas Eve at home. I made tons of appetizers to munch on & of course baked lots of cookies. The kids helped me get ready for our feast while Scott was working. Once he arrived home, we had dinner & sat around the table talking away. The kids were SO excited! After dinner, I let the kids open up one present each from us (a new pair of PJ's...a tradition here). They also opened a new Christmas movie to watch that night (Elf) & decided to exchange gifts from each other. Allie gave Jake a football/water bottle set & Jake gave Allie 2 HS Musical Barbie dolls. We watched our movie, which was really funny. After the movie, we got cookies/milk out for Santa, wrote Santa some letters & read "Twas the Night Before Christmas". Then it was off to bed. The kids both fell asleep rather quickly, so Scott & I started our "Santa jobs" and began putting out gifts & filling stockings.

We told the kids on Christmas Eve that they couldn't wake us up before 6:00. We awoke on Christmas morning to "MOM, DAD it is 6:02". Needless to say, they were really excited to see what Santa left for them. They were pleased with what Santa brought and it was so fun watching their reactions to their gifts. We then opened gifts from each other & had brunch. Mandy & her kids came around 2:00 (Mike had to work) and they spent the evening with us. We had steaks for dinner & a wild game of Clue after dinner (Santa left the kids the game).

Mandy & I took all 4 kids out bargain shopping on Wednesday. The kids were great, but the crowds were awful. I got what I went for...lots of wrapping paper for next year & some other small things. Mandy & the kids left Wednesday afternoon & I started putting away all of the gifts we received, cleaning up the kitchen & of course laundry!

Yesterday, I was in the mood to get all of my Christmas decorations put away (they'd been up since Thanksgiving). I got all of the knick knack type things taken down & decided to take a break. I took the kids to lunch at Carlo's and we went to see the movie "Enchanted" (it was great). Once we returned home, I took down all of the Christmas trees. Today I will dust, vac, & clean the house top to bottom. A good day to do it since we are getting snow.

We are celebrating Christmas with my family on Sunday. The kids can hardly wait. We weren't able to get together with Scott's family due to snow & bad roads last weekend. We are pretty sure that we finally found a sitter for NY Eve. We'll go to dinner & out for drinks with our neighbors. No plans for NY Day, which is fine. Then back to school/work on the 3rd.

Jake works on decorating some cookies for Santa on Christmas Eve.
Allie gets her cookies decorated.
Jake opens a gift from Allie on Christmas Eve. It was the football that he really wanted.
Allie opens a gift on Christmas Eve.

The kids pose by the tree on Christmas Eve.
Jake leaves a note for Santa.
Allie leaves a note too.
Jake leaves Santa some fudge, which is Jake's favorite Christmas treat that I make.
Allie chooses a newly frosted cookie for Santa.
Here are the gifts that Santa left for Jake. A couple of movies, a football book, a CD player, Spiderman action figures, a new CF Tigers blanket, a skateboard, a CD, a Hawk's basketball jersey, slippers, a football tee, a Super Soaker squirt gun & a stocking full of stuff.

Santa stuffed our stockings. Note the pink football in Allie's stocking...she really wanted that!
Here is Allie's stuff from Santa. A Hannah Montana guitar, a HM camera, a HM art set, a HM mirror, a HM backstage closet (do you see a theme), slippers, a couple of Barbie things, a robe, some movies, Bath & Body Works stuff and more!
Here are the kids running downstairs checking out what Santa left them.
Not a great picture, but I love it...Jake with the new snowboard that Santa left for the kids to share.
Allie posing with her new Hannah Montana guitar.
Did a tornado go through our living room? No, it is Christmas morning!
Allie with her gifts from Dad & Mom.
Jake with his gifts from Dad & Mom.
Allie taking a picture of me taking a picture of her!
Cousins! They look like a rough crowd on the morning after Christmas.

WHAT'S NEW???

We've been keeping busy here & we are ready for Christmas. Hopefully I can start staying current on my blog once the holidays are over! Here are some pictures taken over the past week.

Here is Jake's class hanging out on the playground.
This is the Christmas tree in our living room.
Here is a little tree in our living room. It has all of my "Mom" & "Sister" ornaments on it.
Here is a little tree in our entry way. It has my Hallmark Wizard of Oz decorations on it.

Here is another tree in the entry way. It has lots of different Hallmark ornaments on it. Allie & her friend Madison making Xmas ornaments at their Daisy meeting.
Allie frosting cookies at the Daisy meeting.
Allie trying to get the candy cane into the glass jar without using her hands. We played that game at the Daisy meeting.
Allie eating a snack at her class party.
Allie's class at the party.
Jake ready to "slap" his ruler down while playing a game where the kids had to listen to a couple of lines from a Christmas carol & then finish the line. Jake got "We Wish you a Merry Christmas" and sang it well!
Jake & his friends dancing at their party.
Jake's class at the party.
Jake & his friends (Ben in blue & Caleb in red). Caleb's last day was Friday. His dad passed away at the beginning of November & he is moving to Idaho to be closer to his extended family. We will miss Caleb & his sister Catelyn (Allie's friend) a lot.

OUT OF TOUCH

OK...I realize that it has been a long time since I posted anything. Why, you ask? Honestly, I don't know, we've been really busy doing nothing here! We've done our usual weekly commitments (dance, religion etc.) but we've also been on the go with appointments, parties, shopping for Xmas etc. We've been dealing with ice and snow as well. So, I guess that I really haven't had anything worthy of posting until today...

KIM & MICHAEL ARE EXPECTING!!! That is my big, big news worthy of posting :) Here are some details. They are due on June 23rd. Kim is feeling pretty yucky, but thankful that she has stayed pregnant. She was able to hear & record the baby's heartbeat and it sounded wonderful. Jake & Allie were really excited to hear their new cousin's heart beating...a bit confused though on how that all works!! I've been dying to post this news for about a month, but I promised Kim that I would let her share her news with everyone first...it was tough for me!

I think that we are ready for Christmas. I wrapped my last gifts last night, my cards were mailed earlier in the week, my baking is done & in the freezer, I have started a "menu" for our Christmas Eve/Christmas Day food..yep, I think that is it...for now! I am enjoying being at a school during this holiday season...the kids are SO ready for Christmas and SO excited. It is fun to see the holiday joy through the eyes of lots of different kids.