Happy 2014!

To celebrate New Year's Eve we hit the town and went for a very nice dinner.  After dinner we took the kids for a stroll through town, where we found all the decorations.  The kids are standing in front of the town Christmas tree which is done in blue lights and Chinese lanterns were suspended over head leading to town hall.  It was beautiful.

The kids all went to bed so the grown ups could try to party like its 1999 but someone kept sneaking down to join us.  Turned out he made it all the way to midnight and then crashed on the couch.  Connor loved hanging with the adults and loved participating in all our games.

Emily loved celebrating 2014 and brought the New Year in with style.

Happy New Year!  May the successes of 2013 carry over into 2014.  Wishing everyone health and happiness.

The Buneta's have Arrived

Every year the kids can't wait for the Buneta Family arrival to our house.  If a picture could capture the magic of how much fun our kids have together, I think the below sums it up. For five days, the kids ran around, played football, Xbox, baseball, tag, Apples to Apples, HeadBanz and every other game possible. 

In only a few days, we managed to see the movie Frozen, go to Frozen Ropes and go bowling.  On New Years Eve day, we decided to use our golden asset, Aunt Jenn and finally go ice skating.  I have wanted to bring the kids ice skating for years and we did it.  

After gearing up, we hit the ice and I was amazed at how well they all did.  Garrett told me that Aidan told him how to skate.  Don't look at your feet and just walk...off Garrett went.  My favorite quote is that he told me he has to get faster so he can play ice hockey.

Emily did fantastic.  I thought she might be a little young but she held my hand and off we went.  Aunt Jenn did rescue me on our second lap when my back was starting to ache.  Emily didn't want to stop...after a snack, I thought she could have stayed on the ice for hours.

Connor was a natural.  Slow and steady at first and all of a sudden he was in the middle of the ice skating around.  He was fantastic!

What a fun day of ice skating and many thanks to Aunt Jenn who got us motivated.

A Christmas to Remember

There were only three short weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas and we have no idea where the time went.  We did manage to do all our favorite Christmas traditions - including a visit with Santa.  

The weekend before Christmas we had the best time.  Grandpa, Nana, Ellen and Kevin all came to visit and we had an amazing First Christmas.  (I need to ask Grandpa to send me his pictures from the weekend.)  I cooked us up a Turkey dinner and as soon as we were done, the kids couldn't be stopped getting to their presents.  Thank you for all of our fun and exciting presents.  

The night before Christmas we went to Japanese because it is tradition.  When we got home, we got all snugly in our red pajamas and listened to the book "'Twas the Night Before Christmas" - narrated by Grandpa.  There was so much excitement it was hard to contain but the kids did manage to force themselves to sleep.

When we woke up in the morning, it was Christmas magic as always.  

There were presents and toys throughout the house.

We couldn't believe everything that Santa managed to bring us.

These are our happy kids.

What could this be?  We later found out it is an indoor basketball hoop.

A Flutterfly Fairy for Emily who couldn't be stopped ripping through her presents.

Skylanders - Garrett was a little excited.

Non-stop action.

Connor's face was a permanent smile all day long - priceless.

Emily using her new blender to make us all a yogurt smoothie.

Connor's popcorn machine was a huge hit.  After Connor and I put it together, we were ready for the test run.  Connor is now the official popcorn vendor for our house.

Unfortunately some of the Christmas magic wore off, when Daddy and Garrett came down with a very bad stomach virus later in the afternoon.  Thank goodness they were better for the new year.

Second Grade Sing Along

Connor's teacher, Ms. Teng, had the parents stop in to see how the kids were progressing.  It was great to see them in their classroom with all their friends.  They performed several science songs and taught us all a few new things.  Including the fact that there are now 5 oceans because scientists have discovered the Southern Ocean surrounding Antarctica.   Who knew - not me.

 

Connor is very serious at school but I think he loved having us.  Thank you for singing so well.  

3 in 6 Days

Connor set a new Tooth Fairy record today.  Connor lost his third tooth in six days.  I don't know how he is going to chew or keep food in his mouth. 

Hopefully the tooth fairy doesn't think we are playing a trick in her.  

Garrett Lost His First Tooth

Garrett was starting to wonder when he would ever lose his first tooth.  As he was putting the finishing touches on his letter to Santa, he realized he was holding his tooth.  He is so excited. 

congratulations big guy!