Christmas highlights

Christmas 2009

The boys are lucky enough to have three sets of grandparents as well as many aunts, uncles and cousins to share in celebrating the birth of our savior. Here are some of my favorite pictures from Christmas 2009.

Christmas morning at home

One of the best gifts ever!

Casey was happy to see a train chugging around the tree that morning.

The Reed and Buntrock kids (except for Lucy...she was napping)

Here they are later in the day...not as cooperative.
Noah is even picking a little gift for grandpa Lew!

Casey and cousin Dylan playing hot wheels together.

The boys with grandpa and grandma Buntrock

White Christmas

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas....

Have a very Merry Christmas!

Jingle Bus

On Saturday night we met my mom, sister and her kids at the Grand Avenue Mall downtown Milwaukee to take the kids on the Jingle bus tour. It costs $1 per person and they take you on a 35-40 minute bus tour of downtown. They give you a bit of history about some of the major buildings downtown while playing festive music. There are some nice light displays around town as well. Casey enjoyed riding on the back of the jingle bus and Caleb enjoyed the lights and being entertained by his cousin Hailey. After the bus ride we watched the holiday bears perform in the mall and walked around a bit. Above you can see a picture of the kids in front of one of the Christmas trees at the mall. No Santa...Casey was bummed (just kidding, he doesn't really like Santa).

Below are just some fun pictures of us from Sunday. We were trying to get daddy in the Christmas mood. He has been working so hard lately that he hasn't been able to enjoy the season much. Cheer up daddy...it's a 3 day work week!!!

Holiday fun

This weekend we began to celebrate the true reason for the season...Our Savior, Jesus' birthday!

On Friday morning I put on a birthday party for Jesus for the 2, 3 and 4 year old Moppets children at church. There were about 18 kids there excited and ready to celebrate. My friend Amy started us off with the story of Jesus' birth and then I took over with some games, a craft and of course cupcakes!

Here they are between the parade through the Pastor's office area and cupcake time.

Here's Casey with the ornament that he made. It is hanging front and center on our tree!

Friday night we were invited over to my mom's place for dinner. It was nice to not have to cook or clean up:) For those of you who know my Casey, he is a picky eater. Grandma told him if he ate his dinner he would get to have some chocolate pudding. Before long he was commenting on how his dinner was "actually yummy" and he cleaned his plate.

Grandma with her favorite boys (sorry Andy, you take a backseat to grandkids!)

After I finished my crazy shift at the mall on Saturday I was able to attend my Uncle Scott's wedding. My uncle is a chaplain at the VA hospital in Milwaukee so that is where the service was held. Afterward we were all invited to a Thai restaurant for dinner. The whole event was quite an experience. Welcome to the family Aunt Sung!

All of the family that were lucky to be there.

My goofy brother Andy and Uncle Scott

The newlyweds!

On Sunday evening Matt and I were blessed to join some of our very best friends for our Sunday school class Christmas party. It was such a fun night filled with food, laughter, and conversation because we all left the kids at home! We are truly blessed to have such a wonderful network of friends to do life with. We love you guys!

Another fun weekend

What a fun weekend we had!

Friday morning was spent enjoying fun and fellowship with my MOPS (Mother's of Preschoolers) group at our mentor mom's home in Colgate. She is the mother of 5 beautiful children and she still has the time to mentor us! Anyways, the kids played while we talked and ate some delicious food.
Friday night I participated in a Zumbathon at the YMCA to help raise money for their Strongkids campaign. Zumba is the big dance/aerobic craze going on right now. It is a great workout and a ton of fun. I shared some laughs with the girls who joined me that night.

Saturday morning Matt and Caleb and I went Christmas shopping while Casey joined his cousins for a party at their church to celebrate Jesus' birthday. We figured that he wouldn't tell Casey what we picked out for him!

Sunday was the children's Christmas program at church. Casey had a solo! Ok, it was more like a melt down. We learned that he has stage fright. We have it on video but I can't get it to upload.

Sunday evening my mom watched the boys and Matt and I joined my siblings for dinner and a show. My brother Andy, got us tickets to the Chris Tomlin Christmas concert. It was amazing! A great way to get you into the true spirit of Christmas. His guest speaker was a man named Louie Giglio who is an incredibly gifted communicator. One of the best parts of his message was when he spoke of the 12 words of Christmas, "a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord" Luke 2:11. We all know that Christmas is Jesus' birthday. But a lot of us forget that it was the day our SAVIOR was born...the best day in history. So this year as we are all shopping and baking cookies, let's take a moment to reflect on what Christmas is all about. Not just celebrating that Jesus was born, but that he was born to save you and me.

Casey classics

Yesterday Casey was full of what Matt and I like to call "Casey Classics"

The first one was while we were playing in the front room. Caleb is our curious little boy and he gets into EVERYTHING. So naturally the Christmas tree has been a new "wonderland" for him. As he was attempting to take an ornament off the tree Casey says, "no, no, no Caleb Matthew". I was surprised because he knew his middle name! Matt and I haven't gotten to that point with Caleb where we have had to use his middle name (if you know what I mean parents).

The second one happened at Awanas at church last night. Teacher Becky was talking about a Bible character and she asked the kids why it was not good to say no to God. My smart little boy raised his hand and had an awesome answer..."because you get soap in your mouth when you say no". Well...when you say no to your mom and dad you do!

I love how Casey has the ability to make my laugh and smile. He is such a sweet, loving little boy. Lately he has been a mamas boy and I am enjoying it while it lasts. Before long he will be towering over me and thinking I am crazy (I am...I know it).

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

Sunday afternoon the boys helped us decorate the Christmas tree. Casey really got into putting the ornaments on the tree. Caleb enjoyed throwing them...he broke 4. It was a lot of fun. I love seeing their eyes light up with excitement about Christmas.

Thanksgiving week

Matt had some vacation days to use up so he took the entire week of Thanksgiving off. We decided it would be fun to spend some time at my dad's house in Spring Green so Matt could do some deer hunting and then we would take the boys to the Wisconsin Dells for a couple of days. To make the trip even more fun we brought Casey's favorite person, cousin Hannah.

Matt and my dad got the opportunity to hunt both Sunday and Monday morning. Although they didn't shoot one, they had a good time. Matt came awful close to shooting a 10 pointer!

While they were out hunting Sheryl and I had a chance to play with the kids. My parents have so many toys! Sheryl is a bargain hunter and finds a lot at second hand shops and rummage sales. Here is Caleb playing with one of the favorites...a bus.


By Monday morning the kids were getting a bit stir crazy so we decided to get them out of the house and head to the park. It was a beautiful day and the kids enjoyed the fun new equipment. While we were at the park we could hear gun shots in the distance...that is as close to the hunting fun as I need to be!


On Tuesday we packed up the kids and headed to Wisconsin Dells for a couple of days. We got a great deal on a room at the Polynesian Resort which is one of the oldest water parks. Nobody else must have thought it was a great deal though because we were the only ones at the resort! We had the pools to ourselves which was great. The kids enjoyed going between the small pool, the big pool and the hot pool. The hot tub being the favorite.




Our favorite part of the trip (our meaning Matt and Joy) was our adventure at Knuckleheads. It is an arcade similar to Chuck E Cheeses. Matt and I had as much fun as the kids playing the games. At the end the kids got to cash in their tickets for prizes and then we enjoyed a yummy pizza buffet. That afternoon the boys slept awesome and Hannah and I went to the Outlet Mall to do some shopping. That was fun too. She got to pick out her birthday present (princess pajamas). It's hard to believe she'll be 5 at the end of December!

Here you can see Hannah and Caleb playing ski ball.Wednesday we headed back to my dad's house to help them prepare for our big Thanksgiving feast. This year there were 15 adults and 7 little ones. What a group! We all had such a fun time of fellowship and food. My dad and Sheryl really know how to put on a feast!

The kids had their feast a bit early.
Casey is thankful for his brother...awe.


I am thankful for my amazing man!

Long time, no blog!

I have not been able to blog for awhile now because we have been so busy having fun!

The week before Thanksgiving my sister had a birthday so the boys and I went over for a pizza party. When it was time to eat the 4 big kids walked over to their normal spots at the kid table. Caleb just followed right along and decided that it was time he sat with them. Hailey and Riley fought over who was going to sit by him so we stuck him in the middle. It worked out well because he couldn't get up! Lucy didn't eat with us, she just joined the fun for a quick picture. Aren't they a cute bunch? That week we also had family night at Stonefire Pizza. Casey had filled his chart with stickers so we owed him a trip (he regressed with his potty training, but we are back on track). This was the first visit there with a walking Caleb. He loved it just as much as his big brother. Casey's favorite was the train room and Caleb enjoyed the slide and the water table. Mom and dad enjoyed the buffet!

We let Casey decorate Caleb's face in the face painting room. Poor Caleb!

30 THINGS TO DO IN OUR 30’S

When Matt turned 30 last March we decided it would be fun to come up with a list of 30 things we want to do in our 30's.

Here are the things we have done off the list so far:

• Matt ran and I walked a 1/2 marathon
• Matt has begun the tradition of a father/son yearly camping trip
• Camp at Kohler Andre (Matt and Casey went in September)
• Climb Turtle Peak at Redrock National Park in Las Vegas

These are the things we hope to accomplish in 2010:

• Take a vacation to Mexico (Nikki will be getting married there in February)
• Camp at Peninsula State Park (July)
• Take the boys to Little Amerika amusement park (no I didn't spell it wrong:)
• Visit Shedd Aquarium with the boys (again)
• Visit Washington Island

Then at some point in the next 8.5 years we need to do the following:

• Bath in hot springs
• Go parasailing
• Go camping in the boundary waters
• Take the family to Disney
• Go to a Packer game
• Go on a Canoeing/tubing trip
• Take a trip to New York
• Go on a short missions trip
• Serve in soup kitchen
• Take a Cruise
• Swim with dolphins
• Go Paint balling
• Go to the Fireside Christmas Show
• Eat in the Hyatt
• Take the boys to Great America
• Joy will get Lasik Eye Surgery
• Family to the Badger Game
• Family will go to a Christian family camp
• Date night at a Broadway show
• Family to Sea world
• Matt has always wanted a Real shave

Trainfest

Last year Matt took Casey to Train fest at the state fair grounds and raved about how awesome it was. So this year we decided to go as a family. We also invited our friends who have a son named Luke who is also a fan of trains.

Here are Luke and Casey watching Casey's favorite set up this year, the floor train.

Here is the group hanging out. Notice, Luke and Casey's eyes are glued to the the trains.

Here is Caleb standing on his stool watching the trains go around the tracks

Caleb appears to be more interested in flirting with Eva than watching the trains!

Here are the big boys hanging out with their dads. I think Casey spent 90% of his day on Matt's shoulders. He had an awesome view from up there!