Christmas Vacation

We traveled to Albuquerque, New Mexico this Christmas vacation to visit the Sadowski side of the family. One of the exciting things that I got to experience was seeing my brother Paul sing at mass. He was fantastic! My kids eyes lighted up watching him. 

On Monday we tried to go skiing in Santa Fe, but the roads there were too bad and we ended up skiing the mountain Sandia right beside Albuquerque. The kids loved it! They did pretty well, as did I. (We put Victoria, Bella, and me in ski classes.) Victoria even asked if she could go again the next day. However, trying to leave Sandia mountain was almost impossible. The 6 mile road up the mountain was shut down for hours due to snow, ice, and accidents. But we said our prayers, ventured down after a long wait, and made it back to my parents house alive.

 Jer took both girls individually up the bunny slope with him. Victoria and Jer came down after 20 minutes. I kept waiting for Bella and Jer to come down- finally, after some time, I see Jer skiing with Bella on his hip.

We celebrated the Sadowski family Christmas on Tuesday. Paul played photographer and did an amazing job.

Paul and Lauren made out like bandits- 3 gift cards to eat out- mainly Chipolte- Lauren's favorite restaurant :)

just enjoying life

We traveled from Albuquerque to Monument, Colorado on Wednesday to see Jer's side of the family. We made it just in the nick of time, a big snow storm began blowing as we were a half an hour away. They received about a foot of snow. The next day, the Lunn's celebrated Christmas together. Santa brought the kids a toy that they had asked for- Bella wanted a baby Bella doll, Victoria wanted a doll horse, Caleb, Chloe, and Keira each received a pillow pet.

Josh and Caleb read the true Christmas story to the kids before they opened their presents. each kid got to help push a button to create a certain sound to enhance the story- Joseph knocking, a creaky stable door...  (Victoria snuggled up to her cousin Keira.)

During one of our breaks to open presents, the kids were playing with their presents in Renae's kitchen.

goofing off

One of the toys that Victoria really wanted was a Monster High doll that sleeps in her own water chamber.

Bella got her wheelchair (dolly wheelchair) that she asked Santa for :)

Jeremy got a Marsh mellow Shooter from Bella and Victoria. Carol trusted him to shoot one in her mouth. If you look close, it hit her square in the eyes.

After presents we went sledding with all that snow. We had fun, but Victoria was the first to say that she had had enough with the cold and wanted to go home.

Chloe on a snowboard.

A couple of days later we went ice skating. Keira wanted nothing to do with it, but decided to cuddle with Grandma instead.

Both girls did very well.

At the ice skating place they had buckets for beginner ice skaters that you would turn up side down and push for balance. Bella got super fast on her bucket.

a near miss... (no one got hurt)

Lunn family Christmas photo

Caleb and Chloe read at Christmas mass the story of Jesus birth. Bella was allowed to go up and sing "Away in a Manger" with the other children. Victoria wanted to stay with the adults.

After mass, we went to a Mexican food restaurant and celebrated.

We took off the next morning for our trip back to Dallas. I drove, and it was decent weather until we came 30 minutes from Amarillo. Another blizzard decided it wanted to play chicken with me-it won. So I let Jer drive for an hour until we passed the front. All in all, it was a wonderful vacation! But I am happy to be home and have some sleep-in-and-wear-PJ-days ahead of me.

Christmas Lights

We went to go look at Christmas lights with our good friends Jay, Julie, and Braelyn. It has become our yearly tradition to have supper together, put the kids' jammies on, give them hot chocolate in a sippy cup and go for a drive to look at Christmas lights. By the way, if any one is looking for a good show, try downtown Frisco- you turn your radio to a station and thousands of colorful lights dance to the music.

Our Elves

This year Santa sent two elves to come visit us during the holidays. Victoria named her elf Shirley and Bella named her elf Curly. They keep watch for Santa and let him know if the kids are on the Naughty or Nice lists. They have magical powers and at night come alive and play. We wake up in the morning and go look for them to see what they were doing the night before. We've found them everywhere-

hanging from the chandelier

toilet papering our small Christmas tree

shoe racing down the stairs

hanging out in our Christmas tree playing the game "Find the Pickle"

(a game Dave gave and taught us where one person hides a pickle ornament in the Christmas tree and the other person tries to find it, if you do then you have good luck for the rest of the day and you rehide the ornament) 

playing beauty shop with the girls' bows and brush

We'll miss you Shirley and Curly when Santa calls for you to go back to the North Pole and help him. Hopefully you can come back next year and visit. We have very much enjoyed you!

A Polish Octapus

At Bella's school we were asked to bring in a snack that incorporated part of our heritage or culture, so Bella and I made a Polish dish of sauerkraut, hot dogs, and dumplings. I turned it into a "Polish Octopus", just to get the kids to try it- trying to be clever. My grandfather (on my Dad's side) came over from Poland when he was a little boy. Cabbage is used in a lot of Polish dishes. I sweetened the sauerkraut some by adding a hint of brown sugar to it, so that the kids might like it more- bad chef- but hey, out of 8 kids that tried it, 5 of them gave it a thumbs up and 3 kids gave it a thumbs down- not bad. Unfortunately, Bella was one of the three- we'll have to work on her some more- maybe sneak it into something :) In my Sadowski family, we always eat this dish on New Years- I guess to provide good luck for the rest of the year. It's one of my favorite dishes.

Recipe:
Take 1 jar of sauerkraut and dump it into a big and deep sauce pan. Add one jar of water (equal parts sauerkraut and water). Salt and pepper to taste- I like lots of pepper. I added 2 tablespoons of brown sugar to make it sweeter and not so bitter. Add a pack of hot dogs. (I cut my hot dogs into 4 lengthwise strips to make the tentacles of the octopus.) Heat to boil, then reduce to simmer. Mix one package of Bisquick with water indicated on the package to make biscuits. Drop the dough into small balls using a spoon onto the hot dog/sauerkraut mixture. Cook for  10 minutes on simmer without a lid. Then for 10 more minutes on simmer with a lid. Done. Enjoy!

Celebrations

Denise and Dave came over last weekend and we celebrated her birthday and Christmas together. Victoria and Bella made Denise some chocolate covered strawberries for her birthday. We had a great time catching up.

What I Like About Being Sick

I caught my first cold of the season... if you consider that it's December and I have two kids that have already been sick, then that's not too bad. Jer watched the kids yesterday while I napped for the entire night- 5'oclock on- nice. I woke up this morning to a clean house- nice. Bella kept talking about freezing Chewbacca like in Star Wars; I had no idea what she was talking about until she pointed to outside. Oh, how I love my husband. (For anyone who can't figure out this picture- that it a plastic lego Chewbacca in a bowl of water set outside. I don't think it froze last night, but it sure was cold.)

A New Smile

I picked up Victoria from school on Tuesday and was greeted by a different face. Her tooth had been wiggling for a couple of days. She told me she was getting irritated with eating that way and had had enough, so she decided to pull it herself. She said there was some blood, but it didn't hurt and the nurse gave her a neat tooth necklace to keep her treasure safe. The next morning the Tooth Fairy left her a teeny tiny note in an envelope, a dollar bill, and Fancy Nancy doll (since it was her first tooth- as per the note the Tooth Fairy left.)

Thanksgiving Break

Although we only had 9 days off (as Victoria kept reminding me) we packed them full with holiday fun. The first Sunday we went to the musical Pinkalicious with our good friends Braelyn and Julie. The girls loved it and enjoyed dressing up in pink and going out for ice cream afterwards.

Josh, Renae, Caleb, Chloe, and Keira came down from Colorado for Thanksgiving. We spent a lot of time up at Carol and Dick's house playing with cousins and hanging out. Renae brought the girls' Razors (sort of like scooters but faster) and they took turns going up and down the street.

Thanksgiving photos:

Jer showed the kids how to clean and stuff a turkey.

Grandma Carol and Grandpa Dick gave the girls an early Christmas present. It was well loved.

The Thanksgiving toast!

The girls took turns singing tunes while dressing up and putting on make up.

Our Lunn family picture.

The cousins (minus Caleb, who unfortunately was feeling a little sick, but is now fine) spent the night on Thanksgiving. They didn't get to bed until after 10:30 and woke up around 7- there was a couple of break downs the next day, but it was all good:) The next morning I asked the girls who wanted waffles?

On Saturday we went to the Allen Outlet mall to get our pictures taken with Santa. It was a good year for the picture. Victoria told Santa that she wanted a doll sized horse and Bella told Santa she wanted a Baby Bella Doll and a wheelchair for her to sit in.

We ate lunch at Freebirds and took a couple of pictures.

On Sunday I took the girls to Tea with the Nutcracker Ballet. It was a fabulous tea party with lots of sweats to eat. The cast members come around and talk to the children as they eat.

We also went with our friends Kate, Sarah, and Janie. The girls enjoyed their hot chocolate.

After the characters chat with the kids. The story of the Nutcracker was read and then they put on about 6 or 7 dances from the Nutcracker Ballet. Victoria was mesmerized by the dancers. She asked if she could take ballet. Afterwards the girls were encouraged to go up on stage and actually dance with the performers. It was so much fun!