Christmas Vacation, Buffalo New York & Niagara falls

For the past Three Years we haven taken a vacation around Christmas time as a gift to the kids. Its a way to make memories, see new places, bond with each other, and have fun. We thought this was good idea because the kids get so many presents at Christmas with all the family and parties we go to that we wanted to create a special family tradition that hopefully they would remember, instead of more things they do not really need and they will out grow or forget about. Our first Christmas we went to Palmyra and Rochester New york. We took in some Church history sites and went to the Rochester Children's Museum. We always book a hotel with a pool to add to the fun. Last year we went to Pittsburgh PA. While there we visited the Pittsburgh Children's Museum and the Pittsburgh conservatory, we also rode the incline train and went to the museum. Again loads of fun and only 2 hours away. There are drawbacks to travel in the winter, like last year on the way home from Pitts we were hit by a major snowstorm we were only 45 min from home but the roads were so bad we had to pull off the road and get a hotel. Its also really cold so anything outside is definitely rough. all that being said I love it just the same We get to enjoy Christmas in some may different ways and see lights and enjoy lots of fun cozy time indoors. We now look forward to this vacation every year. This Christmas the kids kept asking " so where are we going this year" I told them we were not going on a vacation this year so I could surprise them Christmas morning. On Christmas Morning we do give them a few gifts and then surprised them with the big vacation. This year it was Buffalo New York. We picked somewhere kinda close because the babies are not good travelers. They get really antsy.The following pics show our good time in Buffalo and Niagara falls which is only 20min away from buffalo.

The first two days in New york were dedicated to shopping, lots and lots of it. The kids had lots of money to spend so off we went. We went the huge fashion outlets in the falls. The to the galleria in Buffalo. The galleria is really huge. Three floors of the girls fav store "Forever 21"That is where they did most of their shopping. The outlets had tons of cool stores like Esprit, Juicy Couture and their Ralph Lauren store was The whole side of their indoor mall. I could not believe how big it was. Anyway again lots of walking and shopping. The babies and Liam hung in there. Liam spent most of money on a PSP so he was just interested in games and stuff, definitely not clothes.

The Marriott Hotel Where there is a book of Mormon in every drawer. The kids thought that was so neat.

We stayed at the beautiful Marriott hotel and after all that shopping it was fun to come back to the hotel and swim. This is a picture of the hot tub, it was so big all of us could get in and splash and have fun. This was really a nice hotel and everyone there was so nice and helpful they were ready to give us anything we needed.

Lots of pics of us just hanging out in the hotel late at night after busy days

On our last day there we went to Niagara Falls. I thought we would be the only crazy people there since it was so cold. However we were not the only ones. I could not believe how many people were out in the cold with us. I will say it was so cool to see the falls in the winter. Despite the cold we were able to view and enjoy a large part of the falls. We all got out to see the American falls and to go out on the bridge over them. We bundled the babies all up. They enjoyed it. When we went out on the island to see the Horse shoe falls and the bridal falls. We took turns getting out of the car and viewing so the babies could stay warm.

This is a pic of the whirlpool It is hard to tell due to icy waters but its pretty cool to view.

Well our trip was fun and tiring but worth it. We underestimated how expensive it would be there to eat. Its just like new york city prices. No dollar menus at the fast food stops, no 5 dollar foot longs, we really appreciate the prices here more. I am looking forward to next years vacation. as soon as I recover from this one...Ha ha.

Belated Christmas party

Me and Chad's self portraits, we are getting pretty good at holding out the camera and taking pictues of ourselves. My baby, my best friend, my sweet hubby.

January is here but Christmas is still going strong. We still had a couple more get togethers to go to. Because of every ones busy Christmas schedules we finally got together at my moms house. She cooked her traditional Chili and we opened presents and watched lots of funny old home movies. It was a great time overall and we laughed and had a great time.



Mom with Mya and Harmony holding up some of her gifts.




Me and my sister Chrissy and my niece Lia and nephew Alex.

Forrest giving alex some big boy lessons, and Chad some how slept with all this loudness.


Me and My brother John.

John, Mya, Chrissy, Harmony, and Me with the I love you sign

The boys were busy playing my moms Atari system. My mom has a little game room set up with the complete Atari system including all the original games. I played a little Frogger, yes I am still the champ. The boys thought it was so fun. Well if were up to me Christmas would last all year, without all the stress of course.

Christmas 08

We are so blessed to have a Great Big extended family.
The kids received hundreds in gift card monies to spend.
Most of it was from daddy and they also were blessed by
grandparents, and step-grandparents. I really do hope
they count their blessings. Our Christmas morning was very
traditional, we woke up and opened presents and ate french
toast. I love spending Christmas morning just relaxing and
enjoying eachother and the true felling of the Christmas
spirit.



Forrest Loved opening his new clothes he is all about
his fashion these days. He pays close attention to detail
and everything must coordinate with his shoes. He is so
stylish. We just moved his bedroom down stairs.
Before that he was sharing with Liam and he really out
grew it. Now he has his own space and he is loving it. I
received more than one kiss on the cheek for metting him
have his own room. Hey to me that was a great payoff
Forrest really is a great kid. He is maturing so nicely. I tell
him all the time how much I am glad he helps me so much.




Mya is all in to zebra everything. She wants her
room done in zebra print and hot pink. I bought
her the Zebra she wanted at build-a-bear. He is
unstuffed so she will get to go back and stuff it.
She named hi Zemily after her best friend Emily.
Emily is getting on too and naming it after Mya.
I love that Mya still embraces her little girl side.
I will always buy her stuffed animals as long as she
wants them, one day she may grow up too much.
Hopefully she will stay silly and girly. I love that.




Harmony is well known for stealing my make up.
Ok, maybe I shouldn't say stealing, I guess she
borrows it and I never get it back. Well I made sure
she was well stocked with her very own. Harmony is
good at putting on make up. Not that she needs it she
is sooo beautiful. I also got her a couple books about
her true love, The Jonas Brothers. Nick in particular,
he is the cutest one I am told. I remember having
crushes on singers when I was her age. Mine was Shawn
Cassidy and Menudo, LOL Ha ha. New day new singers
same little girl crushes. It is so cute. Her room is plastered
with posters. pre-teen is here. Oh and Harmony is also
now officially a Young Woman. She is so happy to be out
of Primary. She successfully completed he Faith in God
book and memorized her Articles of Faith I am so Proud.





Liam's dream was to get a PSP(play station portable)
Well he got to get one. He bought it with his gift money
and even had enough left over for games and other fun
things. I got him clothes which he was not too thrilled to
open. I did get him a turbo sled though so he forgave me
for the clothes. Liam is so non fuss he will wear whatever
I pick out with not much concern. I have to do his clothes
shopping for him because he could care less. He would
rather have games and toys. He is having fun playing with
his PSP and watching movies on it.





This was the first real Christmas for the babies.
They are officially experts at opening presents.
We have to be careful though because no present
is safe if they are around. They WILL open it. Linnea
had fun opening all her new books. She really loves
books and wants to read constantly. they also Love
coloring and drawing. They even draw shapes and name
them it is so cute. I am so amazed at how much they know
(thanks PBS) They are even saying letters and numbers
and identifying them. They talk run and go go go.




Larissa loved her new Elmo video. Along with books
they opened new videos too. They love TV. Their fave
shows are Word World, Curios George, Sesame street,
And Clifford. The only full length movie they will sit
through is The Polar Express. They will say "Mommy
watch train movie". They LOVED Christmas and all the
dressing up. In all they wore their Christmas dress and
got their hair curled up cute, 3 times. We also had A
Christmas party out fit for a more casual affair.




All Pretty and all dressed up. The twins Love dressing up and getting
all "pretty". They also Love looking in the mirror when I am done with
their hair. I will say I am all done and they jump up and run to the
mirror and say "pretty". They are true girly girls. However we see their
ruff side too. This Pretty look does not last long. I litterally have to get
them ready right bfore we leave or they will play aound so rough and be all
messed up before we leave. They are so funny.

Christmas in full swing

Its been a while since I blogged, because Christmas is filling my schedule fast. However, I am NOT complaining this is my favorite time of the year. My December calender is filled now every day with things to do. I will be blogging with pics with some of our fun Christmas events later. Wow I will not complain about being this busy because I know in a month I will be wishing I had a lot more to do. Just from October to New years I have 9 birthdays to celebrate. I plan to include these in one blog in January once I get all the pics together. I plan to get organized before I get overwhelmed...ta ta for now...Julee

Mya was just elected Student Council Vice President. We are proud of her for this accomplishment, mainly because she had to earn a place in student council with good academics and teacher recommendations, then it was up to the students to vote for their council members. Since taking office she has come up with several ideas to raise awareness for anti-drug polices, came up with fun ways to express school spirit and even does the afternoon announcements over the loud speaker for up coming student council events.

Mya is a hard worker in school and she actually really loves it. She hates when she has a day off.
Great Jo Mya!!!We Love you and are so Proud!

Trunk or Treat Costumes

I do not celebrate Halloween as a holiday. I refuse to spend any money on anything related to Halloween. the only event I take them to is Trunk or Treat at the Church. So every year the kids get creative coming up with costumes for the event. Since I do not buy anything, they are very good at coming up with cool stuff and they have fun doing it. They borrow costumes from friends and relatives or come up with an original idea from stuff we have at home. This year they did great and we got a lot of laughs and people were confused on who was who. Can you tell?

TOP DARE STUDENT

Harmony and Dare Teacher, Officer Watson

We are so proud of Harmony. She was awarded Top Dare Student. The Dare program is a class in school that teaches kids about drugs, alcohol, and violence awareness. Harmony has taken this course for two years and she recently attended the graduation. The dare program is a big deal in the school it consists of lots of information regarding peer pressure, drug abuse and how to resist violence and deal appropriately with anger. Harmony had to complete a workbook and take a final exam, plus submit an essay on all she learned and how she plans to apply this to her life. When all the essays are submitted, Officer Watson(the Perry Police Officer in charge of the program) and the Principal read the essays and together to pick a Top Dare Student.

Proud Grand Momma

Officer Watson called me in advance to tell me the news that Harmony was picked. We were so excited but had to keep it a secret until the graduation so they could announce it and surprise her. Harmony wanted this award so bad, she thought there was no way she was getting it considering the number of students. When they called her name she was beaming and happy.

Proud Momma

They Gave her a certificate and a Medal of Honor. She also gets to be in the Pro Football Hall of fame parade and the Richville Parade next summer. They gave her a huge black duffel bag full of goodies like a DARE hat, necklace,t-shirt,and all sorts of other cool stuff. We are so very proud of her she worked so hard and deserved this honor. GREAT GOING HARMONY!!!

A day at the zoo

We spent a warm autumn day at the Akron zoo. We went to the zoo in the summer too but the animals were all sleeping and not very active. My sis Jen told me to go in the fall because the animals are a lot more active since the weather is cooler. She was right it was great, the animals were so active and we had a great time watching them. I posted pictures of our three favorites.

Snow leaoprd

Black swans

Jelly fish

The Akron zoo has beautiful gardens and we took a lot of pictures there. We spent some time just hanging out there and exploring.