Also during his vacation, Phil surprised the girls with tickets to Disney on Ice’s Dare to Dream show.  That’s a mouthful, so we just called it “princesses on ice” around here since that’s really what it was.  But shockingly, daddy wasn’t so much interested in seeing the show himself, so he declared it a girls’ day out.  And designated me to be the driver. So we (they) got all princessed up. And found that daddy had hooked us up with some pretty sweet seats right on the ice. So we settled in to thoroughly enjoy the show. After Cinderella and Princess on the Frog came Lauren’s favorite story. Loved it.…

Phil had the first week of January off so we got to enjoy lots of family time with little day trips and special surprises.  First up was a visit to the aquarium. It’s been a long time since we’ve been here, but the older two remember it like it was yesterday.  That was a giant stingray. At first, they were content to just look at the sharks and other assorted sea animals swimming by. But not for long. Then it became a quest to touch as many sharks as they could. There wasn’t a timid one in the bunch. Big sister showing him how it’s done. His sweatshirt was completely…

The small boy in this house with the runny nose and cranky ‘tude since Thanksgiving is seriously cramping my style.  So where was I?  Ah yes, fishing with Grandpa… Mikey became fishing’s number one fan and would’ve stuck with it all day if he could. I love this kid. So while our fisher boy insisted on staying by the pond… the rest of us had to find other amusements to pass the time.  Like admiring the sunset.  A game of tag (while simultaneously trying not to poke anyone’s eye out). We finally got the boy to rejoin us with the promise of coming back the next day. Making memories with…

Phil was scheduled to work a bunch of hours in the week between Christmas and New Year’s Day, so I took the opportunity to take the kids for a nice long visit with the grandparents.  It was really cold and rainy so we spent most of our time indoors, but there were a few opportunities for some outdoorsy fun with Grandpa. Mostly it involved fishing.  And that was because Mikey fell in love with fishing in a major way.  Every waking moment he’d ask Grandpa if they could go fishing. And because Grandpa is the grandpa he is, they went fishing every day. And sometimes some of us joined them.…

finally, christmas day was upon us.  phil came home post-call and had me go get some sleep while he took over breakfast duties and holding down the fort for a couple hours. which just might have been the sweetest present i’ve ever received. and then these guys could wait no longer. like i said before, jonah’s become quite the pro at this present opening business. and the baby never has long to wait when some assistance is required.  this year, we had each of the kiddos draw names to buy a present for each other.  mikey drew allie’s name and picked out a kit where dresses (that fit barbies) can…