See you 2012...Hello 2013!!!!!

I have come to the conclusion that we really do have the best friends any couple could ask for...how many children/adults can you shove into a duplex on New Year's Eve and still have the best time ever???

The answer is A LOT...I think we had 15 adults and 8 kiddos there at one point during the evening!  It was a fun night filled with WAY too much food and drink, lots of games and laughs and some sore throats due to a mean game of PIT!  Thanks guys for the fun night :) 

Christmas #2

The weekend after Christmas, we drove up to Powers Lake to have Christmas with Josh's mom RuthAnn and step Dad Leon.  His brother and their family also came up that weekend so the kiddos all had a blast together and with a trip over to Grandma Ruth's house to see her and the rest of the cousins who were there that weekend, we had a blast!!!!

It's amazing to see this family when they are together--in Josh's generation there are 13 cousins and in our kids generation I think they are close to 28 now!!!  It is awesome!!!

The cousins showing the little ones how sledding is done!

It was a great weekend!!!

New Traditions!

Playing a little catch up this morning...

This Christmas we decided to try something new...staying home for Christmas!!  Over the years we haven't minded traveling to be with all of our familes on the west side of the state, but this is 'hopefully' our last year at the west turnpike address so we decided to STAY PUT the weekend of Christmas and it was GREAT :)


Kiddos making sure the tree looks perfect!  This is my favorite part of Christmas every year--when they dig out all their orniments and talk about where they got each one from :)


The weekend or so before Christmas we got together with my folks and did some holiday baking--we did tons and tons of cookies and had a lot of laughs with Christmas music playing in the background, it was a great afternoon :)

This year we also had our First Annual Craft Club Cookie Exchange or (FACCE) ;)  We have had so much fun with the un-craftiest club ever this year and I think our first cookie exchange was a huge success!!

One of our other new traditions we adopted this year was Alfred the Elf!!!  He brought us so many laughs--he was kind of a naughty little guy, but he came with a great story and fun lesson--if you haven't heard or read the Elf of the Shelf story, you should definately check it out!!  Here are a couple of our fave Alfred memories....




Alfred told us this is how Elf's take baths at the North Pole...in marshmallows!!!



And one morning he left the kids a little note in toothpaste :)

Christmas Eve we looked for a candlelight service here in town, we ended up going to Good Shephard and it was a beautiful service!  Mom and Dad, Paul and Julie, Brooke, Todd, Casey, and JayLee were all there as well---it was nice to all be together :)  After the service we headed over to Mom and Dads appartment for supper and gifts!

Kiddos all ready to go to church!



Candle light service

For supper we had lasnagna, garlic bread, and a few salads--after supper the kiddos were great to want to hurry and get the dishes done and unto gifts we went!!! 



Josh got us matching Browns shirts :)

Christmas Day we woke up at home!  It was wonderful!!!  The kids ripped open their gifts and dumped out some very full stockings!!!  They must have been good all year as Santa brought some very nice things :)  Our other favorite thing we did that morning was make Santa Clause pancakes---we had a lot of fun!!!

We were so thankful for a wonderful Christmas :)  Some of the Kriege family were under the weather on Chrismtas Day so we had a smaller gathering for lunch and then Gma Alyce and Josh took the kids sledding for a little bit in the afternoon! 

Thankful.

We had the pleasure of hosting Thanksgiving this year, 13 of the Kriege/Jeffers clan came together in our duplex!  We tried out some new recipes this year....some were better then others ;) but oddly enough we had sooo much food that in the middle of the meal we noticed that we didn't have Julie's 3 salads she brought!?!  Here's our sign--so much food you don't know when you are missing some!?!  WOW!

Every Thanksgiving in the afternoon, we bust out National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation--this year marked the 11th year of this ongoing tradition!  I love the laughs and the reciting of everyone's favorite parts :) 


This year Josh drew a  family tree and each of us put our thumb print on it, a neat visual of our family tree--we gave it to Mom as a keepsake of this day!

We then went around the table at lunch time and all said what we were thankful for--it's neat to hear the little ones say what they give thanks for :)

Black Friday is also one of our yearly traditions---we have so many fun memories of this day!  From the time in Grand Forks we thought we were going to get beat up as the crowd behind us was pushing us into the crowd waiting up front....to getting matching socks for our shopping extravaganza!  The hustle and bustle and waiting in suuuuupppper long lines is a fun tradition for us girls!!  It's always fun to get home and see all of the neat steal of deals you got for your family that morning...or night ;)

When we were done shopping Thursday night/Friday morning--Zachary got to go in for some allergy testing!  He has had allergy testing done before back in 2009 and it came up that he was allergic to quite a few foods including peanuts, cashews, eggs, and some fish, we were just curious to see if his allergies had gotten any worse or if any have gone away!

So they poked him 38 times with various allergens--they did cats, trees, molds, trees, grass, and foods.

You can see the ones starting to swell, I think the big ones on this side were the grass and trees mix.

And this was the aftermath--eggs, peanuts, cashews, mold, trees, cat, and grass mix.....the doc laughed and said, well winter is going to be about his best season!  He was such a trooper though and we are just thankful we have an understanding and have it under control!

This year we have so much to be thankful for...family, friends, and our health!  We are so looking forward to this Christmas season as well...this year will be the first year that all of our kids will wake up in their own beds to their own Christmas tree on Christmas morning!!  I've pinned about 20 things on pinterest that I can't wait to do with our little family, more to come on that in a later blog :)  Happy Holidays from our house to yours!!

Time to play a little catch up.....

So again it has been almost 2 months since my last post...lame sauce!  Where oh where does the time go!?! 



 Anna Marie had a big day that I missed blogging about, so without further or do....Happy 11th Birthday Miss Anna Banana....here is your story :)

Josh and I were youngins(19) when we found out we were expecting our peanut!  She was born on a freezing cold October 8th day in Grand Forks....we found out she was a girl at our 20 week ultra sound and she had a dresser full of pink dresses, pink blankets, and pink outfits the very next week!  Good thing you didn't surprise us by being a boy Anna, cause you would have been a very oddly dressed one ;)  My blood pressure was high with this pregnancy as well--but our delivery was perfect!  We had company the night before--Kristy and Tyson had been up to our (tiny GF) place to watch the NDSU and UND football game, so we were up later then normal....and by normal I mean I was up past 9pm :) Josh and I climbed into bed and I was just about asleep at midnight when my water broke!!  So up and off to the hospital we went!  Josh called everyone in his phone and ran around our tiny appartment in classic nervous Dad form....we got to the hospital and our friend Danny from Fargo nearly beat us there :)  It was so neat to have our two very close friends there for this special event---especially since our family lived so very far away!  Some pain and pushes later and Anna Marie made her big debute at 5:27am.  She was 7lbs 8oz and 20 in long--perfect :)
We love watching the video of Anna coming home as by this time most of our family was there and we looked like quite the caravan of people leaving hospital, for those of you who know how tiny our first appartment was on campus---it was a cozy homecoming!

Anna was a great baby--she did have a lot of ear infections and was the only kiddo of ours that ended up getting tubes at 18 months.  She was walking by her first birthday and her first word was Hello!  I was lucky enough to be able to spend Anna's first full year at home with her before I gave UND a go and when we did finally send her to daycare, we found the most wonderful home daycare in the world, a Mom and Daughter team up in GF who I still keep in contact with to this day! 

Anna LOVED and still to this day LOVES animals!  We ask her what she would like to be when she grows up and it's a Vet...or a singer...she does have a beautiful voice :)

Anna is our classic first born, she is smart and sensitive---she is a people pleaser and tends to wear her giant heart on her sleave!  She is thoughtful and loves school.  Her smile is contagious and the world is a better place because she is in it!  We love you so much Anna Banana!  Happy Happy 11th year of life!!

Addy's Big DAY!

So the day has finally arrived---PRESCHOOL!  Addy has been waiting for this moment from the time she understood that Anna and Zach got to go to school and she didn't....

Anna 4th grade, Zach 2nd grade...Addy sad as heck that she isn't going!

So we got up this morning :)

Brushed our teeth....

Picked out our new outfit in honor of Bonzo the CO cat....and had Sara do one big braid in her hair!

Before she was off to preschool though, she got to go visit the dentist for the very first time!!  She did great and came running in the house(with all the loot she made) and said, smell my teeth--don't they smell great!!!

No cavities!



We had a great lunch outside with the daycare friends and before we knew it, it was time to go!!  Addy and one of her daycare buddies will be going to preschool M,W,TH from 12:30-3:30!!  She was so excited--we got there and she found her name tag, hung up her back pack, gave me a quick kiss and said bye Mom!! 

Addy and her two teachers :)

Before she left, I did do a small survey(thanks Pinterest)...here are a few of Addy's favorites right now!

TV Show: Peppa Pig

Movie: Toy Story 3

Song: Starships

Food: Mac and Cheese

Color: Golden Pink

Candy: Choc. bars

Activity: Riding my bike

Jeffers' Family Vacation

So as most of you have heard, we went and enjoyed a weekend with the kiddos in Castle Rock CO.  Dusti, Eric, and their kids have lived there since we all lived in GF together and we try to get down to the 'big city' at least every other year!  Well it had been a two year gap this time and Addyson had never been there with us---well once she did but she was still in my tummy :) the 2nd time we went she was just a little under a year old and was not at her prime car riding age ;)  So to say she was excited is an under statement! 
We left here Thursday night after the kids were done with school and drove and drove and drove!!  The kids were troopers---we stopped in Belfield and had supper at DQ and then we didn't stop again until Buffalo SD, Josh took over the driving then and we made it to Sundance WY before needing to stop again for gas and a potty break!  We arrived at their doorstep at 2:15am (their time).

Friday the kids were up early and off to the mall we went!  We took some of the kids with for haircuts and shoe shopping, then we dropped them back off at home and hit the outlets!!  Josh had an test for work that afternoon(THAT HE PASSED!!!) and I was able to experience IKEA ...and car sickness :P  we picked up some amazing sushi for supper that night and just hung out in their beautiful backyard, listening to our kids enjoy themselves and each other!!  After the kids were in bed, the adults played darts in the garage just like back in the day in GF...it was a great night!

Dart Glasses are Fun!

Saturday was a busy day---we got up a little later and had lunch at a neat burger place called CRAVE--they had some interesting burgers--one is even served on a crispy cream donut!  Along with adult milkshakes ;)  Then we headed to downtown Denver--the kids thought the HUGE buildings were neat and we stopped in to my cousin Jymi's tattoo shop where Eric was able to get his first tattoo!  It was a fun experince!!  After that we were off to the Rockies game!!  What a great time that was!!!!  We even got to witness a grand slam---well some of us...Josh and Zach were in the gift shop getting matching hats when it happened :)  After the game we headed back to the house and enjoyed some more outside CO time!!

Thanks Jymi!!

Sunday-we were treated to a nice breakfast by the Mogrens--pancakes, sausage, and eggs!  We then loaded everyone up and headed to the Cheyenne Mt. Zoo!!  We had to wait in line awhile to get in, but it was definately worth the wait!  We walk in and the first thing you see are the giraffes--right there, close enough to touch, pet, and FEED!  The zoo sells crackers and you actually get to feed these guys!  Feeding it from your hand is cool, but of course Dusti had to push the envelope and stick the cracker in her mouth for the giraffe to get---it was hilarious!  Their tounges are so long and slimy---GROSS!!  But the kids LOVED it!!  Our other couple of highlights from the zoo included the enclosed bird house where you could hold and feed the birds & the 2-3 week old gorilla baby--it was amazing to see how the Mom just sat there and held him like we do!  Very very neat!!!  After the zoo the boys had a football draft and so us girls sat at the house with the kiddos and talked--it was so nice to catch up and just relax after the couple of fun, busy days we had!!

Monday we got up...later then we wanted, but we headed home and got back to good ol ND about 10:45 that night!  It was a wonderful trip with a million great memories and we can't wait to go back again :)  Addy made a life long friend while we were there who she will not stop talking about---Bonzo the cat!  That cat had more patience then I've ever seen any animal have---Addy would pick him up, lug him around, and pull on his poor leash---she really had a good time...probably much more so then Bonzo :)

**Tomorrow marks another big day---Miss Addyson starts preschool!!!  She can hardly wait!

Go Rockies!!!