Catching up

It has been so long since I have posted and we have been so busy. Life just seems to keep going before we have a chance to catch a breath. So here is a run down of us.


We welcomed two new members to our family. Yes we are know the lucky owners of hamsters. Meg named hers Fred and he is brown and white while Luke named his Egon (from Ghostbusters) and his is all white.

We are enjoying all that they do. We got little balls for them to run around in the kids really like this. We have also learned that they are climbers. Nick and Meg even saw Fred hanging from his paws on the top of the cage.

Meg was a graduate of the DARE program. I got to go over and see her get a certificate. They also sang a really fun song about staying away from drugs. They have a officer who the call the Dare Dude come in and spend time each week with them. He explains all the pitfalls of drugs. What a great lesson for them.

Meg was also Student of the Month for January. The theme was Caring. Meg definitly has that in spades. She is a wonderful daughter and sister and we are not suprised that she got it for this month. I got to go and have lunch with her at the school and see her get her mug and color changing pencil.

The kids have been taking piano lessons from Michelle. Jessica said what is the point if we aren't going to have a recitial. Here the kids are each did a wonderful job. It was nice to show the Grandparents what they have learned.

Christmas came along with Santa. I got the Ski and Snowboard for the WII. Here Nick is giving it a try. It is pretty fun.

Meg was pretty excited. It looks like she was a good girl this year. (Like always) Grandma Kajma made her the PJ's for Christmas. I know she is so cute.

No Christmas would be complete with a Indiana Jones Lego set. Lucas couldn't wait until it was time to open presents. He is our little Indiana Jones.

December also brought a great blessing to our family. Lucas was Baptized. What a great gift for him. He was very lucky to be able to be Baptized by his Grandfather. This was a very special day. One he had been looking forward to for a long time.

Our holiday season started out with Gingerbread Houses. This is one family tradition the kids love. Lucky for us we have the ultimate erector in the family. Our house was very awsome.

Egypt

We went to Egypt. It was amazing. We saw sites of many temples and churches. It is amazing this stuff is still around after 5000 years. Some of the many things were the Great Pyramids of Giza, The Sphinx, Edfu Temple, The Step Pyramid(the first one ever built), Kind Tuts gold in the Egyptian Museum, Karnak Temple, Queen Hatshepsut Temple, Luxor Temple, Coptic Cairo, The Valley of the kings, Kom Ombo Temple, Citadel of Qaitbay, the Library in Alexandria and the Nile.

Egypt is not what you imagine. Cairo is very busy. It has 25 million people living there. The roads are crazy and the taxi drivers most talented. After being in a car here I would say New York is tame. People are walking everywhere, even the highways. If they are not driving or walking they are riding a donkey. Thats right I did say donkey. They would load carts with stuff so high you can't even imagine it how it stays on. They then pull this cart with one little donkey. The ladies carry everything on their heads. We even saw a guy on a bike balancing a large tray of pitas on his head. The kajma curse would insist that I fall over if I tried to do this.

The Pyramids are amazing. They let you climb right on them. They are so huge and you can see how they have lasted as long as they have. We also rode a camel here. It was a bit scary and they are very tall!!!!! We then went to the Sphinx which at that point the Kajma curse kicked in and I did fall off a wall. Luckily only my pride was hurt and thanks to my sweet kids they never let it go. We saw the step Pyramid which was the first pyramid ever built.

We went to so many temples but Edfu was my favorite. This one we stopped at on our cruise down the Nile. It is the most preserved. Most of the structure is still there and the carvings and painting are amazing. We went into many tombs. Because these are underground the paint has not faded. You could easily think they were painted only yesterday.

Another thing we did was Coptic Cairo. We visited a few of the historic churches in the area. Including one where Christ, Mary and Joseph hid while he was young from Herod. The church is still in use and it was just an experiance sitting there and knowing that this was a haven for Christ.

The people in Cairo were very nice. Especially because they all thought we were Canadian. I guess if you tell them your American they require more security. They don't want to have an international incident on their hands. They definitely don't want to deal with the American Government if something was to happen to one of their citizens. At no time were we or did we feel like things were unsafe. Unless you consider we will all probably go through nicotine withdrawls since every man there smokes like a chain smoker. Another thing is that the city is very dirty. I don't think anyone knows how to use a trash can and if they do no one must pick them up. The sad thing is you go out to these amazing sites and garbage is just thrown in the corners because even the tourist can't appreciate what they are seeing.

Of course our trip would not be complete if someone didn't get sick and Lucas filled the portion for us. We went to Alexandria and one of the stops was the big library. They don't allow kids in there and our guide had to get the ok from someone higher up. Of course while in there Lucas throw up all over the beautiful floor. It was so bad, but what can you do. They will probably never make that exception again. lol

We had the most amazing experiance and wouldn't trade if for the world. This was something definitely worth doing and would do it all over again.

Halloween

We had a very successful Halloween. We had Harry Potter, Indiana Jones and two Hermione's. Lori got to spend the night answering the door while I visited with her.(I did have to get up once.) It was Nick and Mikes turn to take the kids out. They took them to a lot more houses then we did last year. Mike brought Natalie back and bicked up a extra bucket for Luke because he started to use his hat because his satchel was full. Can you say sugar rush!!!!

Pumpkin Carving

We did our annual pumpkin carving. The kids went a little more daring this year and Luke did a pirate and Meg did Trick or Treat. I think they turned out pretty good if I say so myself.

My little boy turnes 8!

I know it is hard to believe that my baby boy has turned 8 Years old. It is always amazing to see how the time flies. I let him stay home from school to celebrate. We went and saw Cloudy with a chance of Meatballs. Try to avoid this show if you can. He liked it I slept through it. We went to lunch with his friend Braeden. I let him chose and out of all of the places he picked Arby's. Why? When Nick got home we met mom, Linda, Sammy, and Jonah for dinner at Chili's. This was again Lukes choice. Our server made a big deal about it birthday. It was really great. We then came home and had an ice cream birthday cake. Luke's favorite gift he got from mom. She gave him his scout shirt and book. He was so excited. He can't wait for scouts. We also had a Costume party for his birthday. We had all kinds of characters. We had Indiana Jones of course, The fire guy from Ben Ten, 4 armed man, Luke Skywalker Jedi Knight, Harry Potter, a snipper, skelaton, army man, and other I can't remember. We also had a wonderful Halloween cake from my sister Linda. I am so glad she has moved back from Mexico. I just can't compete with the cakes she makes. I must say that Luke's birthday was a

smash and he seemed to have wonderful time with all his friends and family. Besides all the great costumes we played ghost darts with velcro balls and throw the ring on the spider. All the boys seemed to have a good time and believe me. A room full of boys is a party.

Meg's Slumber Party

Meg was begging for a slumber party for her birthday. It was crazy. We made a game board on the driveway using the girls as pawns. Unfortunatly it rained 10 minutes before the party and wash it away. So we opted for Apples to Apples, Spin the finger nail polish (if it lands on you then you have to paint one of your nails. You then get to chose a new color to spin) We had fondue, played Dance Dance Revoulution, had a pillow fight. Watched Bedtime stories and Shrek, told ghost stories and made it to bed at 3:00 am.
I think it was a hit!


Here the girls are pillow fighting.

A little Dance Dance Revolution

Spin the fingernail polish

Apples to Apples.

Dad and Meg's Birthday

We really celebrated Meg and Dads birthday this year. Meg got us up early to open her gifts. She was afraid Nick would leave for work and she would have to wait all day to open them. We then went to breakfast with my dad. They sang to them and gave each of them a little ice cream sundae. We then went to Harry Potter The Half Blood Prince. Later the family came out and we went to Training Table for dinner. I let Meg pick out a ice cream cake for their birthday. She went all pink and daisies. Sorry Dad!
Happy Birthday you two!!!!!!