Hello from Cincinnati!

Hey there Yogi Bear! Howdy from Cinci! I've had a blast here, and have been here all week for work. It's my first ever work trip, and I've never been away from hubby and the kids for this long. (Confession: it was a great working vacation! Seriously....when else have I had a bathroom all to myself for a week?) I have never worked or played so hard in a long time. I'll fill you in more later, but the highlights of the week were getting to go to my company's corporate offices and meeting the "big" people, personal freedom, getting to make new friends from all over the US/Canada, plus from the Phillippines and India. Way cool! Also, I have to confess - we stayed out last night forever - I finally got to my hotel room at 5:30am!!!! (Understanding too that I was with a Director over all of North America and we were in several hotel rooms for a long time talking...) Anyways, I need to finish up some work stuff and catch my flight - I am soooooooo ready to get home and see my husband and my babies!!!

Happy New Year!

Our prayer is that 2008 finds all of our friends and family knowing how high, how long, how wide, and how deep is the love of God. Blessings to you all!

The Polar Express

Grammy and Papa had gotten us all tickets to ride the Polar Express the Thursday after Christmas, to take Santa back to the North Pole. We didn't tell the kids until we got there, otherwise they would have been jumping out of their skins. It was SOOOOOOO COOL!!!! (And I'm not 8 years old, and it was soooo COOOL!!!) I was really impressed, as was everyone else, since the only thing missing from the movie was Tom Hanks himself. We all waited out on the platform for the train, and it pulled up, larger than life, bleching out black smoke and hissing steam just like in the movie. We boarded car 6, and each car had their own hot chocolate chef as well (ours was Dylan.) We all sang Christmas carols to start off, complete with songbooks, and the best part was the chefs dancing to the Twelve Days of Christmas. (If I can figure out how to add video on here I'll post it - Az5 still does the partridge in a pear tree one.) Then Santa came in, and of course had a bell for each kiddo. The trip to the North Pole was a bit shorter than we expected, but it was gorgeous - no lights anywhere, and it had snowed the night before - PERFECT! Plus, Santa had it all lit up with beautiful blue and white lights. He hopped off, and we backed down to the train station, enjoying hot chocolate and the storybook of the Polar Express. The kids really seemed to enjoy it all, and I think all of us adults enjoyed watching them enjoy it as well!

Merry Christmas!

I hope yours was as nice as ours. We started the Saturday before Christmas with my parents, opening gifts from us to them and to the kids. It was lots of fun, and very homey - Mom made her homemade soup, we had way too much to eat with snacks, and the kids had a blast opening presents then. Then on Sunday, we drove the 500 miles to Grammy and Papa's house. Gran and Codfish (Hubby's grandparents) were there as well, and we hadn't seen them since an April family wedding. Christmas Eve, we all sang carols (Grammy played the piano and Codfish played his clarinet), plus we read the Christmas story with a neat twist - we all had a piece of a nativity set, and each put their person in at the appropriate time in the story. It was fun for the kids to see how it all came together. Santa Claus came and brought everyone what they had asked for - a pink digital camera for Az4 and a Nintendo DS game for Az3. Plus Grammy and Papa gave the kids their own bikes, which will be so much fun when it warms up. The big surprise for Christmas was the Wii at Grammy and Papa's house - everyone could play, and it was almost more fun to watch people trying to run/jump than actually playing!