The Henry Ford Museum with friends - Feb 2013

 On February 11th we went to The Henry Ford Museum with my friend, Sarah Metcalf, and her three kids. Ben was at school, but the 6 remaining kids match in age and our 5 year old daughters are both named Eliza! :)
We had a fun time in the human hotdog...

 playing with legos...

 watching the barnstormers airshow videos on the fairground stands...
(see Sammy pointing, "There's a person on top of that airplane!")

 and experiencing what it would have been like to sit in one of the first commercial airplanes...

Sam liked that seat and was not happy to have to move out of the way for Eliza to get her picture taken in it. That was his I'm-too-tired-to-cope breakdown and he didn't ever fully recover, so we made a prompt exit and headed for home. :) We had a very fun time there!

January 2013 random pics. :)

These two kiddos absolutely love playing with each other. They get along super well. They went through a phase where they would dress up like spies and then go around the house with their weapons. Their favorite costume essentials are Ben's soccer shin guards. Their pants are covering them up in the above picture, but they are there! Hilarious! I hope I always remember Sam's voice announcing to me, "We are SPIES!"

 

Cute little Charlotte all bundled up while we were outside as a family one day. 

 

 Ben still thinks I need to take a picture of him every time he makes a pattern from Mosaic Mysteries. Now that I have a digital camera (for the past 10 years, that is) I have a compulsive habit of taking three shots of every picture, since I have the luxury of deleting any that don't work out. What can I say, it increases my odds at getting a good photo, and since most of my pictures are of children, Hey! I'll take the better chances! Anyway, in this case, my odds were getting lower and lower with every flash of the camera.
A happy smile, a patient smile, a pained smile, and finally a "I can't pose for any more pictures - my jaw is hurting!!" smile.  So FUNNY!

Poor Sam had a run-in with the bricks on the back step. Remember the bouncy castle we got for Christmas? Well, he came tumbling out of it and cracked his head on the bricks lining the outside of the 3-season room. I called Jed who was finishing up a string of moonlighting shifts at an Urgent Care a few hours away. I told him I was taking Sam to the ER, but Jed said, "Nah, just put some numbing ointment on it, keep it moist, and I'll be home in four hours with some staples." Sam was a trooper! He hardly cried at all when it happened, or when Jed got him out of bed to put a couple staples in his scalp. It was his claim to fame to tell his nursery teachers, "I have staples in my head!!!"  A hardy boy like that deserves to watch a show, don't you think? Who can remember a gash in your head if Blues Clues is on??

 
 Lastly, here is cutie Charlotte sitting up on her very own! It is a very closeup shot because I had to keep ready to catch her in case she tipped back. And she did tip backwards on the next try, and I missed catching her, and there were some tears... oops. Sorry sweetie!

Auto Show 2013

On January 26, 2013, Jed and I took the kids to the North American International Auto Show at the Cobo Center in Detroit. It was a fun outing to see all the cool cars. We took lots of pictures! :) That blue car above was a Bentley. I insisted that we had to visit the most expensive car in the show. One of the Bentleys was $258,000. Wow. I can just imagine it: "Jump in, kids! We're heading to the park!"

 
We take the 'hands-on' exhibits literally. :) 

 Yep, it's a perfect fit! We'll take it!

 Ben is really into silly faces lately!

Sweet ride, boys!

I'm not sure what Eliza was pouting about, but hey- that's a mini cooper driving up the wall!

This was our stroller train chugging through the crowds. Eliza hitched a ride after awhile because those little legs were just way too tired to walk.  (Ben, that weirdo face of yours is a doozy!)

Ah, that's the smile we all know and love! Well kind of... it's a half smile probably because he just finished making a silly face and then I snapped another picture quick. :)

Playing some games at the Toyota racecar exhibit.

Check it - Ben and my faces on the side of that car! That's the future, folks!

Imagination Station with friends - Jan 2013

 On January 18th, 2013, we went to The Imagination Station with some friends - Melody Aanderud (we've been friends for 8 years, since med school), Jen Johnson, Jenn Cranney, and Ashley Pace (another med school friend who lives in Ann Arbor for residency). It's such a shame I didn't get a picture with them. :( Anyway, it was a fun outing. We love that place, and we had great company!

Charlotte is 8 months old.

Sammy loves the water seats. I have to strip him down for it. :)

Eliza on the human hamster wheel. :)

Eliza's 5th Birthday! January 2013

 Eliza turned 5 years old in January of this year!  Yes, I've unintentionally had a bit of a hiatus from my blog, so that's quite a while ago to remember the details, but luckily I recorded the following in her journal, dated Jan 19th:
"Eliza had a fun 5th birthday. We had a special breakfast and in the afternoon 7 little girls her age (from her Sunbeams class at church - the entire class is girls!) came over for a tea party birthday party. First we blew up balloons and I drew a portrait of each girl on her balloon. Then we beaded bracelets with pony beads. We read Tea with Ruby and then sat down at the table for our tea party - apple juice, fishy crackers, & teddy grahams - all served on plastic play tea party plates, cups, and teapots. It was fun! We then read a wiggle book and jumped around on the blowup bouncy castle. We had cake and icecream and opened presents, then said goodbye. It was a fun time! I made 2 daisy flower cakes for her birthday. She is a big 5 year old now!"

 (Above: Clockwise after Sam on the left, Kaija Stevens, Jacy Johnson, Liesel Balmforth, Myli Hamblin, Eliza birthday girl, Olivia Smith, Eliza Metcalf, and Peterson.)

Eliza wasted no time in breaking out her new paints as soon as the party was over. 

Aunt Melanie Gunnell sent her some fun books for her birthday. It was exciting to have a package delivered just for her on her birthday!

We opened family gifts when Daddy came home that evening.

Post-Christmas Break

What's Christmas break without a day in the snow?  We were so happy to get some snow this time. Jed and I always shovel the driveway together and then Jed drags the kids around on the sled for a while. They love it!

 Sammy lasted this long and was still smiling at this point, but he soon wanted to go in. :)  I've taken him out in the snow a few times since, and he isn't super fond of it. I think it's because he doesn't like to wear mittens, but then his hands get cold. :) 

Jed made a jump with the kids and they took turns getting pulled over it. Jed is their work horse! :)

 

Over the break, our good friend Jamie came to visit from Kentucky. A couple of us were able to get together to hang out one afternoon.

 (Erin, Anona, Jamie, Jenny)

All month leading up to Christmas, Eliza kept planning a live nativity. She kept reminding us that she would be Mary, Ben would be Joseph, Charlotte would be the baby Jesus, etc. Somehow Christmas came and went and we never did it! So one Saturday we squeezed it in between coming home from a baptism and leaving to go to the movie theater together. :)  Charlotte was sleeping, so Eliza decided the Teddy Bear would stand in for the baby Jesus. Here are the wisemen, Jed and Sam, bearing gifts.

And Mary holding the baby Jesus. :)  She is so cute to have planned this for so long. She is a sweetheart.

We headed to the theater to watch Wreck It Ralph with the kids. It was a fun outing together.

This was Sam's first movie going experience (I think).  He never got scared, but Eliza sat in my lap and was scared a bunch. It made her really anxious when they were breaking things and going against the rules and stuff. She is so much like me! I was just like that as a kid. I remember feeling so stressed in Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory when Charlie broke the rules.  So funny to think about that now!

 Later that week, we took the kids to see Monsters Inc, 3D at another movie theater. We had two free tickets that Eliza and Ben won at school. Lucky kids to get to go to the theater two times over the break! :) It was a lot of fun even though no one is smiling with me. :) Just take my word for it. :)
(Sam was tired by then. He still takes long naps every afternoon, and he was fading.)