Celebrating Christmas with the Extended Family! 12/23

This Christmas we stopped to visit my Aunt Lorene. She had a stroke a year or two ago, which paralyzed one side of her body. She is doing tremendously well. She looked great! She enjoyed visiting with our family and we loved seeing her (and Uncle Don). When we stopped in to visit my Uncle Kenneth and Aunt Wilma were there too. Of course, I forgot to get out my camera while they were still there. My Aunt Gail hosts a Christmas party every December 23rd. This is an opportunity to see a lot of my mom's side of the family. My mom is one of six kids. There are 16 grandchildren and too many great grandkids for me to easily count. (My mom told me that the family was at 72.) Until December 2004, I had spent every Christmas eve and day at my grandparents house. It was sad for me to let that go! While I enjoy the newer tradition of being closer to home, I miss those days.


Unfortunately, we only took a few pictures at the party. Faith and Luke were both tired and a little needer than usual.

Aunt Ronda and Luke
Aunt Kat and Faith

Aunt Kat and Luke Faith sporting a big smile

My cousin Jeni holding Luke. Notice her adorable baby in the background.
Papa making Faith laugh
Cousins - Faith, Lei Lei, Luke and Wyatt

Samantha and Noah doing something they saw on Mythbusters.

Hannukah Lights!

Celebrating Hanukkah with Evan's family is another great holiday traditions. The kids get an opportunity to light the candles on the menorah, which they absolutely love. We also get to have Matzo Ball Soup and potato pancakes (prepared by Evan's mom). Yummy!

Pop Pop and the kids

Christmas Parade Highlights

Watching the Christmas parade has become a tradition. With chairs in hand, we took the 1 block walk to claim our space along the parade route. Samantha and Noah were both in the parade. Samantha marched with the band and Noah rode his bike with his Cub Scout Pack. Faith and Luke enjoyed the parade.

Luke Gets Tooth!

Luke's first tooth popped out on 12/12. Well, at least that is when I noticed it. He tends to stick out his tongue quite a bit, which makes it difficult to see. The tooth is just barely above the gums and is impossible to capture in a picture, but I just wanted to acknowledge the milestone.

Santa Claus

We went to see Santa Claus at the mall. We go see Santa with the cousins and grandparents every year. It so much fun to share these special moments.

Riding Bike's with the Cub Scouts

Wanting to spend some quality time with the kids, I (along with the rest of the Masyr 6 minus Luke) decided to join Noah's Cub Scout Den for a little leisurely bike ride. Did I mention the bike ride was about 12 miles? I was thankful that the trail was pretty mild and completely isolated from traffic. I am totally out of shape, but really wanted to hang with Noah, his friends and the rest of the family. It was so worth it!! We all had a great time! I felt very proud of myself for keeping up and truly enjoyed every minute of it.

The only bummer of the trip was that we couldn't bring Luke. It is not recommended for kids under 1 to ride in a bike trailer or wear a bike helmet. I missed him terribly, but was glad that Grammy and Grandpa were taking care of him.

Some of my favorite moments -

• Evan and I both looked back at Faith and realized that she had started eating the hot dog buns. We never said she couldn't! She was too cute and very self sufficient.
• Samantha gained an admirer. One of the Boy Scouts showed quite a bit of interest Sam. It was cute to watch her tow the line of being nice and trying to distance herself. For once, she was happy to hang close to mom.
• Noah took so much pleasure in opening the packages of hot dogs, just because he could use a pocket knife.

Concert at Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf

Doesn't Sam look cute in her Santa hat?Aunt Mimi and Wyatt had a good time too.

Samantha and Bryce ~ Friends since Kindergarten

They love their Milk!

Uncle Terry is so cool!
It was fun to listen to Samantha (and the rest of the band). The concerts are so much better now! It's hard to believe that Sam has been playing the flute for 4 years. Faith and Lorelei had lots of fun dancing, playing and drinking "special milk".