Happy New Year with the Roes, Caulfields, McPikes, Ryans, and Parkers

Happy New Year to all of our Family and Friends!!

A^4 made it back home to NY on the afternoon of the 30th JUST in time for Mommy to go back to work on the 31st.

Auntie Julie, Uncle Dan, and cousins Kaela and Curran came over Wednesday night to celebrate the New Year with A^4!
3 of the 4 cousins playing with outfits that came from Auntie Holly and cousin Dane.



LATER in the night, the girls (and boys) did facial masks!!!!  Addie and Kaela were already in bed!




SCARY!!!



Rargh!


Zombies!!!



On New Years Day, Grandma Collene, Ruby, and Grandpa Chuck and Pama came over for the family fun festivities.

Grandma and Addie cuddling :)



The cousins next to the tree!  The kids love to pretend they are cats and dogs...notice their "paws."



Aunties and Uncles (and Kaela)



Opening the presents!



Auntie Julie and Grandpa watching the chaos



Grandma Collene helping peel the apples for Daddy's French themed pork dish with sauteed apples and a yummy ginger cream sauce.



Ayson and Addie playing with the Sponge Bob boxing gloves on Friday (a gift from Grandpa and Pama).  Addie had a low grade fever on Friday so Daddy stayed home with the kiddos while Mommy went to work.



Daddy and Addie (AYSON was taking the picture!).  All Addie wanted to do was cuddle with Daddy.  Nice hair, Dolly!



Ayson photographing his lego ninja spider and men that he built with Daddy's help:)



Ayson writing a note in his pad (looking like "an old man"...in Daddy's words)



Addie eating some lo mien noodles in a fried pork dish that Daddy made...yum!



Ayson at his own school desk.  Great smile, Big Guy!
Ah, the desk!  BK (before kids), Amy bought the kid desk at an auction the church across the park was having.  Adam gave Amy grief for purchasing the desk (just more clutter!  The desk HAD been in the basement for the past 6-7 years until Sunday:)
BUT Mommy used a kid desk that Aunt Shirley and Uncle Al let her borrow when she was a little girl and Mommy loved it! Mommy just wanted the kids to have a desk of their own :)

A Visit with Auntie Holly, Uncle Alek, and Grandma and Grandpa Roe

On the 26th, A^4 piled into Mommy's Subaru and drove to Grosse Pointe Woods, Michigan to spend time with Auntie Holly, Uncle Alek, cousins Dane and Ryleigh, AND Grandma Pat and Grandpa Roger.  We had an uneventful trip and the portable DVD player that Santa got Mommy was a life saver!!!!  Mommy and Daddy watched the movie "8-Mile" (Eminem) in the theater back in Clemson, SC (grad school days), and every time we see the interstate sign for 8-mile (in Detroit), we start singing Eminem's "Loose Yourself/One Shot" song, from the movie:)

http://youtu.be/bmXumtgwtak

Look, if you had one shot, one opportunity
To seize everything you ever wanted, one moment
Would you capture it, or just let it slip? Yo

His palms are sweaty, knees weak, arms are heavy
There's vomit on his sweater already, mom's spaghetti
He's nervous, but on the surface he looks calm and ready
To drop bombs, but he keeps on forgettin'
What he wrote down, the whole crowd goes so loud
He opens his mouth, but the words won't come out
He's chokin' how, everybody's jokin' now
The clock's run out, time's up, over, BLOW!
Snap back to reality, oh, there goes gravity
Oh, there goes Rabbit, he choked, he's so mad
But he won't give up that easy, no, he won't have it
He knows his whole back's to these ropes
It don't matter, he's dope
He knows that, but he's broke, he's so stagnant that he knows
When he goes back to his mobile home, that's when it's
Back to the lab again, yo, this whole rhapsody
He better go capture this moment and hope it don't colapse on him

You better lose yourself in the music, the moment
You own it, you better never let it go
You only get one shot, do not miss your chance to blow
This opportunity comes once in a lifetime...

Dinner time with 3 of the 4 cousins and Grandma and Grandpa on the 26th!



Bathtime for the girls!



A little bit of bed jumping...sigh...it is a vacation, of sorts (so the kids get away with things they normally wouldn't:)



Grandpa giving Addie a "lift"...


Such a happy Baby Doll!



Cuddle time with Grandpa!



Outside with the kiddos!



Grandma and Addie



The kiddos opening their gifts from Grandma and Grandpa
A book of Bible stories and a farm set for Ayson



In addition to her OWN book of Bible stories, Addie also got a princess crown :)



Auntie Holly dressed the kids in white T-shirts and their undies and then covered the kitchen table in garbage bags so that the kids could paint (can you tell that Auntie is an elementary school teacher :)...a neighborhood friend also joined in on the fun!



Ayson, Dane, Ryleigh, and Auntie Holly started painting the tractor that was given to Ayson and Dane as a gift from Mommy and Daddy.



Grandma and Addie cuddling



We all went to the Michigan Science Center, in Detroit, and there was an entire floor devoted to road construction (which is a normal life occurrence in MI :)
Addie playing in the rubber (sand) box (Daddy and Auntie in the background).



The Science Center also had a kid play area that had cushion versions of an old school wooden building set that Mommy and Daddy remember :)





Cheese!



Addie taking a HUGE bite of Fruit Loops.



Watching a video on Autie Holly's tablet.



On Sunday, the Detroit Lions were playing, so the girls took the kids to a bounce house so the guys could watch the game in peace:)
Auntie Holly made scarves out of "Lions" fleece, so all the boys wore their scarves to help the Lions win.
Auntie made the girls PINK leopard spotted fleece scarves. Thanks, Auntie!!!

Daddy sporting a blonde dress up wig AND a turkey drum stick with beer



A wigged Grandpa



The Boys rooting for the Lions (For REFERENCE, when you get more than one man in a room, they become BOYS!)



Auntie Holly and Uncle Alek (with wig, Uncle Alek is in the National Guard...so that's what makes the long hair SO funny :)



Mommy and Daddy



Grandpa Roger and Grandma Pat



Bounce House fun!!



Video games too!



Yee haw!



After the Bounce House, the girls and kids went to Olga's for a bite to eat.



Cheese!



Kinetic sand fun!



Addie in a Cinderella princess dress :)



Ninja Ayson :)



On Monday, Auntie Holly treated Mommy and Grandma Pat to pedicures and a blow out (Mommy had recently gotten a pedi with Robyn at Mirbeau, so Mommy decided to get her hair done instead:) Thanks, Auntie Holly!  Afterwards, we 3 went to lunch...so fun!



Grandma and 2 of her Grands.



Addie's play pen crib was in Dane's room, where Mommy and Daddy slept, and each morning, around 2 am, Addie would wake up, then stand up, and DEMAND to sleep with Mommy and Daddy :) Ayson slept with cousin Dane on an air mattress in Auntie Holly and Uncle Alek's room.

Addie taking up WAY too much space in the bed!