Merry Christmas

Another busy holiday weekend - it all started Thursday evening.  Emily and Paul came over for appetizers and dinner.  We all went to 7:00 mass and came home and Santa happened to come while we were at church!  We opened Santa gifts at our house that night.  Friday morning we headed to Versailles for the Bertke family christmas followed by the Selhorst family christmas Friday night.  Saturday afternoon we had the big Selhorst christmas at the nursing home.  Theresa and Joe and Irene's families came over after for a gift exchange.  Sunday we packed up and sent Isabelle off for the Angerman Christmas.  We are still unpacking and putting away.....

Xavier got this shirt at the Bohman christmas last week and won't let anyone take a picture of him in it.  This is the best so far!

Mady hung out with us Thursday morning.  She's trying to be a little mother to Anna.

Anna really enjoyed eating paper.  She was a happy girl Christmas Eve.

Xavier got a couple dart guns - definitely his favorite gifts!!!!

Isabelle's favorite gift was the Wii that Brian opened.  This look is actual shock - not a reenactment!

Just a few more pics...

Christmas Parties

We had a fairly busy weekend this past weekend.  We had 3 christmas parties, although we were only able to make it to 2 of them.  We also had a showing on the house Sunday, so before leaving Saturday, we had to get the house in order.  While we mopped the floors on the main level, the kids had to be locked in our bedroom - the only one that hadn't been vacuumed yet.  Anna got very tired! (photo taken by Isabelle - pretty good I think)

We then headed to the Bertke Christmas party.  Santa and Mrs. Claus showed up and were quite a hit!  Anna still wasn't sure about them, but Xavier warmed upa bit.  He didn't want to sit on Santa's lap, but after a while he decided maybe he could show Santa the cars he was playing with.  That was the trick to get him on Santa's lap - but then he wouldn't get off!!!

On Sunday, the Gehret-Grieshop christmas party fell at the same time as the Bohman christmas party.  This was the first year in a few years that Grandma Bohman was up for having the party at her house, so we decided to join the Bohman's.  We had a great weekend spending time with all of the extended family and as much of a hassle it is to try to make it to all the parties, we feel blessed to actually have all of the parties inthe first place!

Christmas Pictures

We took our christmas pictures this week - that was fun!  Here are some of the outtakes.

Isabelle and Xavier had to wait for Anna to get dressed, so there are a couple of just them.

Then everyone got in on the action:

Breathing Treatments

Since Xavier's asthma diagnosis when he was 6 months old, we've been giving him breathing treatments on and off.  We gave him treatments everyday from 6 months until a year, but he hasn't really needed them too often since then.  He got a cold a couple weeks back, and although it's not their purpose, the treatments really help to clear up the colds.  We discovered he is now able to give himself his treatments and he thinks he's a pretty big boy when he sets it all up himself. 

Girls Weekend in Nashville

Isabelle, Anna, and I flew to Nashville this weekend to visit Jackie, Chris, and Liam.  Liam is 10 days older than Anna and exactly 8 years younger than Isabelle!  We flew out Friday night and headed straight to Liam's daycare to watch their Christmas program.  It was our first time meeting Liam and we were very excited.  He's such a cutie.  Saturday consisted of a lot of shopping and some football.  We helped Jackie and Chris pick out their Christmas tree Sunday.  We have never had a real tree, so it was pretty cool to pick on out and see everything involved.  We flew back Sunday night.  Anna did great.  She even made a friend on the flight down there.  This was Isabelle's 4th time on a plane, but she really doesn't remember the other times too well, so it was pretty exciting for her.  Thanks to Jackie and Chris for having us!!!!

Liam and Mommy

Liam might be older, but Anna's bigger and she didn't want him to forget it!

Anna and Liam's first kiss

Isabelle loved holding Liam, even if he didn't so much (at least in this pic)

A couple more pics

House For Sale

Well, we are officially in contract on a new house!  Now, all we have to do is sell ours.  For some reason, we just can't seem to do things in the right order - oh well.  If anyone knows of someone looking for houses in Columbus (Dublin school district), here is a link to our listing.

http://www.kingthompson.com/Property/propertydetails.aspx?SearchID=4990788&Property=178F01B3-C1CC-4868-B3C7-98075EA4F53E&RowNum=1

Here is a link to pics of our new house!!
http://tours.tourfactory.com/tours/tour.asp?t=559189&slink=0

Best Friends

Anna and Mady dressed like twins today.  Xavier felt left out when I didn't ask him to be in the picture.  They were so cute!!!

Christmas Decorating

Since Isabelle is at the Angerman's for Thanksgiving, we decided to decorate our Christmas tree before Thanksgiving.

Little Buckeyes

Here are some pics of everyone celebrating the Bucks win over Michigan!

Xavier is Funny

We have dance parties nearly everyday and Xavier really loves them. I bought 2 new CD's for us to dance to last week - "Party Animal" and "Tailgate Party." Xavier loves to sing along and I discovered that "Raise a Little Hell" is one of his new favorites. I wasn't able to get him on video singing and dancing to it, but I did "interview" him about his new favorite song and we think he's quite funny.


UPDATE: We decided we would take some video of Xavier actually dancing. He got a little stage fright and it's definitely not as good as unpressured dance parties, but still cute. We also have video of Xavier practicing to be a Versailles Tiger - maybe even a drummer!!!

Emily and Paul's Wedding

We had a very busy weekend with Paul and Emily's wedding, but a great time was had by all.  We are very happy for them and were so excited to help them celebrate.  I posted 280 pics of the "wedding weekend" on Snapfish, so here is a link to those:  http://www2.snapfish.com/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=2575350009/a=53221922_53221922/otsc=SHR/otsi=SALBlink/COBRAND_NAME=snapfish/ .  I have attached my faves below though!

Anna enjoying some cucumbers at the rehearsal dinner:

Isabelle's finished "look":

Rachel, Xavier, and Isabelle

Xavier on stage with the band!

Emily and Paul's first dance:

A little smooch after Paul removed the garter

To see more of the Ben "Air Bass" sequence, PLEASE check out the Snapfish link.  They are not to be missed!!!

To Breastfeed or Not To Breastfeed

For the past month, I have have been slowly weaning myself off of breastfeeding, well pumping.  I have been taking out 1 pump a day every 4 days or so and last Friday was my last pump.  I had reasons for quitting, but they really weren't any good (getting low on freezer bags and Emily's wedding).  So, even though I quit, I really wasn't ready to.  I have kind of been struggling with this since last Wednesday even before I "quit" - who knew it was such a big decision!  Anyway, I started pumping again about an hour ago and got 6 ounces.  I'm sure I'll be ready to quit in about a week, but at least then I'll have quit because I was ready and not because I was low on freezer bags!  So to anyone who is breastfeeding, make sure YOU are ready to quit when you do and not for any other reason.

Update on Anna's divaness - she decided over the weekend that Alex really isn't all that bad and now she likes her - yea!!!  So, no more diva behavior from Anna, well at least not more than usual.  She thinks Alex is pretty cool now and really likes playing with her on her tummy time mat. 

Brian took the kids to check out the new playground equipment at the park on Sunday and they all had a great time. 

Emily and Paul finished moving Sunday and stopped by after for a visit and to bring ice cream for dinner.  Paul is going to be a great dad - so attentive!!!

Isabelle says this is Anna's favorite way to be held - she really does have the best legs ever!