Our Family Christmas

Well, in addition to celebrating 13 years of wedded bliss today, we also celebrated our own family Christmas a little early.  After church we had a delicious dinner made by Casey... roast, potatoes, rolls, beans, Grandma's applesauce... yum!  Then we opened gifts.  The kids opened their gifts from us, I got a cool Calvin hoodie from Casey and the kids, and Casey and I got gifts from both Esther and Peter that they made in school.  Esther made an awesome calendar which has a special picture that she drew for each month with her beautiful artistic skills.  Peter gave us a cookbook which included a recipe from each child in the class, written exactly as he/she dictated it to the teacher.  It was adorable!  Peter's recipe is for a Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwich, with an alternate recipe for a Sun butter and Jelly Sandwich (since the school is nut-free). 

Here is his recipe:
Ingredients:
Peanut Butter--as big as the bread is
Strawberry Jelly--also as big as the bread is
1 piece of bread
Directions:
Put the peanut butter and jelly on the bread, then fold it over.  Put it on a plate and eat it.

The rest of the day was spent playing with new toys, playing a little Wii and just hanging out.  We ended the night by having popcorn and watching a new Berenstain Bears video which was given to the kids by their (former) favorite babysitters, Jeff and Allie (who grew up and moved away for grad school and a teaching job).  It was a fun family day!

Peter thought he'd try on the stockings...

So of course Miriam had to follow suit...

New watches for everyone!

Reading pillow for the loft bed!

Books, crafts, and a school shirt

Knuffle Bunny... completes the set

Baby Snap 'n Style Doll Set

School hat, John Deere tractor, and Geo Trax train

Movie Time!  The end of a great family day!

13 Years of Wedded Bliss

I was looking at this picture from 13 years ago and was trying to remember what we may have been thinking at the time. Laura was probably still trying to get over the fact that our photographer showed up 45 minutes late, and I was thinking "boy, there are a lot of candles behind us, sure hope no one knocks them over on the poinsettias." I'm pretty sure I was also mentally placing bets on whether my sister really had car troubles or if she had just simply run the car out of gas. (Later investigation proved the latter.)

Today, I was also trying to think of how our first anniversary was different from today's.....but we were too busy chasing kids, opening early Christmas presents, putting said presents together, playing Wii Sports Resort (I won every time), and watching the Berenstain Bears that I couldn't really think of much. I'm sure it was similar to this year's though, right?

I do know that since that picture was taken the following changes have occurred:

1. I have less hair, smaller glasses, and a larger belt.

2. Laura has smaller bangs, still no glasses, and of course wears the same size belt or smaller.

3. My career has spanned 7 different industries and 8 job changes.

4. Laura's career continues in the same industry and 3 job changes.

5. On Friday nights we used to go to bed at midnight and wake up around 9 with maybe a leisurely breakfast and watch some TV and read the paper.

6. Now on Friday nights, we tend to be in bed around 10:00, wake up at 7 after being awakened by the alarm clocks with legs, watch PBS kids over a bowl of cereal and sometimes remember to get the paper before the end of the day.

7. On our wedding day my Mom thanked Laura for taking me off their hands.

8. 13 years later they still continue to thank her.

9. When we got our dog 6 years prior to having kids, I thought it would be good practice for taking care of kids.

10. I now realize that taking care of a dog was in no way similar to taking care of kids (though sometimes they do both pee and poop on the carpet).

All in all, it's been a wonderful 13 years!

Kuperus Christmas

Today we celebrated Christmas with Casey's side of the family.  We got together for the afternoon/early evening at Casey's parents' house and had a great time opening gifts, eating, playing Wii and other games, taking our annual family photo (always an adventure), and just relaxing and hanging out together.  It was a wonderful day!

Hanging out with Grandpa

Fun cousin time with Tyler

Miriam's new shirt and Esther's new sweater 

NASCAR Cheerios Car!

Miriam got her very own suitcase, and a puzzle

Craft stuff for the craft-loving girl!

Legos!

Cassie and Casey

Miriam and Grandpa both love puzzles

Peter and Casey both love Legos!

Ta-da!  All put together!

This provided some good entertainment...

Grandma is such a good sport!



6, 5, 4, 3, 2

We had a realization last year with our friends Jeff and Erin that every year for a two-week time span between Miriam and Peter's birthdays, our 5 kids would have chronological ages.  It is the only 2 weeks of the year that none of them are the same age.  We thought it would be fun to take a picture of the crew every year during that time, but never got around to it last year.  Today we made it happen!  Elizabeth didn't quite get the whole holding the "2" sign, but we'll take it.  Hopefully we'll remember to do this every year, as it will be fun to compare the pictures from year to year!

Gingerbread Castle!

This weekend was the 5th annual building of the gingerbread creation by Casey and the kids.  This year Esther got to pick, and she chose a castle!  The kids each decorated a side and even let mom help this year.  The perfect finishing touch is the jello moat, complete with drawbridge, sharks and fish!

Past years' creations:
2009 Fire Station
2008 Farm
2007 Church
2006 House

Party, Party, Party!

Today we celebrated Tyler, Miriam and Peter's birthdays all together with Casey's family.  It was fun watching all 3 kids open gifts, singing Happy Birthday 3 times, and having 3 of Grandma's awesome cakes!

Miriam got another outfit (purple) for Ella the bunny, a pink remote controlled car, and a Leapfrog Tag Junior.  Peter was very excited to get a Hess truck which Jeff and Renee picked up in New Jersey.  He also got another outfit for his Build-a-Bear animal, Thomas the Tiger, as well as a hot wheels set, a Geo Trax Tow Mater, and a little Lego car set.

Happy birthday to 2 great three-year-olds and an awesome five-year-old!

Happy 3rd Birthday Miriam!

Our beautiful, sweet, funny little girl turned 3 today!  She had a super fun day and thoroughly enjoyed being the birthday girl.  I had to work this morning, so she went with Casey to take the kids to school, and then Casey's mom picked her up at his office.  They stopped at Marge's Donut Den to pick up donuts and then spent the morning together.  I met them at Build-a-Bear right after lunch and Miriam adopted her new friend Ella the bunny!  For those who know that Miriam has been frequently calling herself Ella for the past few months, we think this has ended that stage.  She kept saying, "This is my bunny Ella, so I'm not Ella anymore, I'm just Miriam."  You'll also be shocked to see that she picked out a "purple-just-like-my-bedroom" colored dress for Ella.

After a carousel ride and some ice cream, Miriam, Ella and I went to pick up the kids from school.  When Casey got home we had dinner (she requested chicken cordon bleu and broccoli), she opened her gifts, and we had cake and ice cream.  She also got a card in the mail from Grandpa and Grandma W. and a couple phone calls which made her day extra-special.

Things we love about Miriam:
* She can name most of the songs on WCSG, almost as quickly as Peter
* She loves to sing
* She loves to do whatever Peter and Esther are doing and truly adores them
* She's a great snuggler and is very into saying that she loves various people that she knows
* She has a great laugh and giggle
* She has one knock-knock joke in her repertoire
* She likes to ask "why?" (ok maybe we don't always love this one...)
* She wants to do everything by herself because she's big now

 Here are some pictures from her big day of celebrating!

The stuffing process

Checking for softness--approved!

Kissing the heart before it is sewn into the bunny

Fluffing the fur

Grandma, Miriam and Ella the Bunny

Esther and Peter each picked out

their own gifts to give to Miriam

Gifts from Mom and Dad: 

pajamas for Ella, a game, and a "fur real" dog set