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).