Daddy/Daughter Dance

Colin and Abby went to the Daddy/Daughter Dance sponsored by the city last night. It was their first time going and I'm thinking it will be a tradition now. Abby was so cute getting all dressed up (choosing her dress weeks ago) and was kind of embarrassed about the whole thing. She loved that her daddy get dressed up, but wasn't so sure about all the kisses. :) They had a wonderful time and dang they looked good!

Baking with Grandma

Johanna gets the pleasure of spending every Tuesday and Friday with Grandma Rita. She LOVES spending those days with her and loves her special time with Grandma. My mom is great about doing activities with her (library, play area at their church, baking, etc.) and this past Friday they made this awesome heart cookie. Jos was SO proud of the awesome HUGE cookie and was most excited about all of the M&Ms she got to put on top. What fun!

Frostbite Marathon

On Sunday, January 29, Colin ran as part of a relay team in the Frostbite Marathon. It was a blizzard on Sunday. Like ZERO visibility at times blizzard. And my dear husband loved it. After all, what would the Frostbite Marathon be if it were 50 degrees with no snow (like today). The kids and I bundled up and headed out to watch him. It's so fun to go to his races and I realized how many we go to when the kids asked on the way there, "Is it a long race or short one? Will we see him once or at different places? Is he running, swimming, biking or all of them?" So cute. Colin ran the second leg of the race which was six miles (did I mention this was in a blizzard?). His team wasn't there to take over so he ended up running eight miles. He then chose to run with a teammate for the last six miles as well. Yup, 14 miles...in a blizzard. :) He did awesome and actually was running super fast! The kids and I drove around and saw him at a couple different places. He ended up at the Curragh where he enjoyed Chili and beer and I took the kids home for hot chocolate. Way to go, Colin!


Henry DID have mittens and a hat! The car was SO hot because it would fog up if I didn't have the heat on. He was so hot and wanted to go outside with the hat and mittens to give Colin five.




Henry got the umbrella out of the car which was a GREAT idea. This snow was SO wet that we were getting drenched. The umbrella helped a ton!

Great Wolf Lodge

My parents gave us a trip to Great Wolf Lodge again for Christmas this year. We had SO much fun! All of the grandkids loved the waterslides, hot tub, nighttime story time and just playing all day. We all had a great time being together for a few days as family. It really is the best Christmas gift! Thanks, Mom and Dad!

Christmas 2011 - Vander Vliet

Christmas afternoon/evening was spent at the Vander Vliet house. The kids did great and had such a wonderful time with their cousins!