Andrew's hockey practice!

 Andrew is still loving hockey and is in his third session of hockey for St. Peters Spirit at the Rec Plex.  He has improved so much and puts so much effort into each practice he goes to.

Here is a few pictures from his last practice of this session.

 Then santa came onto the ice and made a surprise visit!  Andrew said he was so excited he almost screamed!  All the kids were so excited and shocked seeing santa on the ice with them!  What a fun way to end the season!

 After practice santa sat with all the kids and asked each one what they wanted for Christmas.  He also gave each one a special sucker that was decorated like a gingerbread house.

 Andrew's team!

 They also allowed all the siblings out onto the ice to meet with santa.  Joey had to show santa his "daddy bear" which he insists on taking everywhere with him.

The kids all had a great time and thought this was the best day ever!

New bears!

 A couple of weeks ago I let each of the kids pick out a favorite shirt of daddy's so we could take them to get made into bears.  This is about as much as we have done with going through daddy's things, but we will get there slowly but shirly.

The kids were very excited about this and we took them over to Baue's to get them dropped off.  Well a couple of days ago they finally called and said they had the bears done.  Joey and I went to pick up the bears before picking Adriana and Andrew up from school.  On the way, Joey began yelling "look mommy its Baue's!"  He was probably the first child so excited to see a funeral home.  He still yells out Baues everytime we drive by there :)

Well the kids LOVED their new bears and it couldn't come at a better time!  The holidays are coming up and the kids have been having a very rough time with them.  Actually the night before we picked the bears up, Andrew had been crying again about missing daddy.

Here is the bears.  The red one is Joey's, the dark blue is Andrew's, and the light blue is Adriana's.  Chris does own shirts that are not stripes, but apparently the kids didn't like them :)

Joey snuggling with his new bear!

Chris' grave!

The cemetary doesn't allow us to put much down on the gravesites during the year, but Christmas is one exception for them.  So I ordered Chris a graveblanket and some flowers to put on his grave.  Chris' mom ordered a Christmas tree to put out there too.  I also have three little angels for each of the kids, that sits out there all the time along with another angel statue.  We also have a temporary grave marker for Chris since the permanent one won't be able to be placed until around February.  But it does make look a little better and a bit happier.  And its a way to wish Chris a very merry Christmas!

Orthodontist!

Yes, that is correct!  Adriana is already going to see a orthodontist.  We went a couple of months ago because she keeps using her tongue to push her front teeth out.  The dentist gave her some exercises to help her and although it did help it from getting worse, it wasn't enough to make it better.  If she continues then her teeth will be so far out that she will no longer be able to eat correctly.  So we had two options.  The first is to get a tongue crib which will prevent her tongue from pushing forward anymore.  The second option would be to wait and see how it does and maybe have to get a first round of braces.  The first option is only costing me $400, however, the second option would cost me in the thousands if she needed braces.  She will already have to have braces when she is older so I decided to do the tongue crib so we won't have to do two phases of braces. 

Anyway, here she is getting pictures done and getting ready to start the process....

As painful as it looks, she was actually trying to laugh in the picture.  She was a trooper and the ortho office was great and had someone sit down and explain everything to Adriana about what was going to happen.  The next part won't be until the end of January so I will update with new pictures when we get it done.

Special helper day at preschool!

 On Tuesday I was able to come to Joey's preschool to be the parent helper.  This was a special day for Joey because it was his birthday special helper day!
Here he is happy and ready to start his day!

As special helper you get to hold the American Flag!

 Joey playing with some friends!

 Joey showing me his artwork he worked hard on!

 Joey and Audrey being silly together!

 Joey playing with Sam!

 Joey preparing his game board for a game of Christmas bingo!

 Ending the day with some good ole dancing!  Man these kids have some awesome moves!

 And finally as special helper you get to work on the calendar with the teacher!

Joey had such a fun day and it was great to spend the day with Joey at school!

Ice skating with friends!

For Joey's birthday we decided to do something fun and head down to the zoo for the Christmas lights.  Well we were heartbroken when we learned that they are only open in the evenings on weekends.  So luckily we decided to head to Steinberg's ice rink instead.  This ended up being a great idea and the kids had a blast.  We also met up with my friend Debbie and her kids.

Here is the kids tearing up the ice rink!

Andrew and one of his best buds, Chase!  It's hard to believe Chase is two years older than Andrew!

Birthday boy and Chase!

My crazy, silly little girl!

My silly little birthday boy!!!

Four of the kids and two of them don't look very excited to be having their picture taken!

The boys!

The girls!

Adriana decided that she was going to become a professional skater over night so she insisted I take lots of pictures of her so we can show to the Olympic committee.....hehehe!

This was such a fun night and I'm so glad we decided to go!

Joey's birthday party!

 For his birthday, Joey chose to have his birthday party at Chuck E Cheese again this year.  He has been so excited and has been talking about his birthday party for about a month now........no kidding!  He had a great turnout and had a great time!

My big birthday boy!

Big brother enjoying a little Chuck E Cheese too!

 Joey watching Chuck E Cheese come out!

 Giving Chuck E Cheese a high five!

 Getting his crown put on by Chuck E Cheese!

 And getting a birthday metal put on, I think Chuck E Cheese's fingers were too big for this one :)

 This is one excited little boy!

 Joey getting his picture taken with Chuck E Cheese!

 Getting ready to go in the ticket blaster.

 I think he is a ready boy!  He was so funny in there and I don't think he caught one single ticket.  Instead he was smiling and waving at all of us standing around watching him.  How can't you love this little guy!

 Birthday boy and Uncle Adam!

 Joey and his balloon of Chuck E Cheese.  He was so funny with this balloon and was carrying it everywhere with him talking to him like he was a real person :)

 Joey's spiderman cake!

He had a great time and had a perma smile on his face the entire time!  It makes me so happy to see my kids so happy!

End of the year sports wrap up!

 After 10am Mass on Sunday, the school had its end of the year sports wrap up.  They announce each of the teams and the coach gets a Borromeo jacket for volunteering their time.  During the ceremony, Adriana's team was also awarded medals for winning City Cup earlier in the year.  The girls were very excited!

Adriana's Borromeo soccer team!

Visit with santa at the clubhouse!

Every year our neighborhood does an annual santa visit at the clubhouse.  My kids look so forward to this every year.  Not just because they get to see santa (which, by the way, is always an awesome santa!) but because they also get a new toy from santa AND cookies and milk.  And all this is always free (or at least my yearly fee at work).  Oh and we also get a free picture printed out for us before we leave for the night.  What a fun night for the kids!

The newest member of our family!

Adriana's birthday gift this year was a puppy.  I thought it would be something great to help heal her broken heart after loosing her daddy.  Well she has always wanted a "weiner dog" so I got her a chiweinie which is a mix of a Chihuahua and the Dachshund.  Adriana really liked the dog, but little dogs and my kids do not get along.  The dog was becoming mean and biting the kids so my parents agreed to take the puppy.  Well this really upset the kids, but luckily a breeder of golden doodles was generous and wanted to donate a puppy to my kids!  This made for the three most excited kids and I think this puppy will be a much better fit with the family. 

We were able to pick the puppy up yesterday and she really is the sweetest puppy I have ever met!  She loves the kids and loves playing with them but defintely knows how to be gentle with them.

So here is the newest member of our house....."Snickers".  Although this picture was taken right after her bath, I still thought it was a cute picture!  We love her so much!!!