Monday, December 31, 2012

New Year's Eve Fondue 2012





Fondue is a family tradition that we all love.  This was the first one in our new house around the kitchen island.  It was amazing. 12.31.12

Winter Silliness

This could only happen with a glass door between them

What would Dominic look like if he had a Panetone head?
12.12

Sunday, December 30, 2012

Buhman Family Christmas

Dominic opening his gift from his God parents.


Great grand kids & Grandma

Thursday, December 27, 2012

Isabella & Rebecca

The boys went to Cabela's and the girls went to the American Girl store.  Isabella looks just like the model on the wall. 12.27.12

Wednesday, December 26, 2012

Paoletti Christmas 2012

Silly photo
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A new train set!

Rebecca

Not only did she get a new doll, Grandma made Isabella a matching outfit.

The gift that the boys got Fernando was delayed in arriving.  They gave him something to open anyway.

Grandpa helping set up the new train.

Family photo in the new house.
12.26.12

Tuesday, December 25, 2012

Christmas Morning 2012

A new radio/CD player. My girl loves her music.

 Mickey Mouse coffee mugs



Love those bright smiles on Christmas morning.

Play Mobil boat
I ended up having a fever and laid on the couch watching the kids enjoy their gifts. It was a relaxing morning. 12.25.12

Monday, December 24, 2012

Christmas Eve 2012

Cooking up Christmas cookies

Grandma & Papa helped us decorated Christmas cookies.

Grandma reading Christmas stories to the kids.


Trying out the cookies to see if they are good enough for Santa.
My parents were able to come down and participate in our Christmas Eve tradition, decorating cookies. It was good they were here, it gave us a chance to wrap up some presents while they read stories.  I ended up coming down with a fever that night so it was good to get them done early. 12.24.12

Sunday, December 23, 2012

Christmas 2012

We didn't get the picture taken in time for the Christmas card but we got it done in a pinch. 12.23.12

Christmas at the Brays 2012

Giving Papa the bird house they painted.

Gifts for Grandma

Grandkid picture

Dominic, Isabella & Ava
Another fun Christmas at Grandma & Papa's. 12.23.12

Saturday, December 22, 2012

Christmas Crafts 2012

Making a Gingerbread house
Painting a bird house for Papa Dave.

Making stained glass ornaments. Dominic is making a penguin.
12.22.12

Friday, December 21, 2012

BW Goodie Gift Exchange 2012

Dominic opening a gift.

James unwrapping many layers of newspaper to find his gift.

The tradition lives on.
Happy to host our gift exchange in the new house. Gifts were opened, gifts were stolen, and treats were eaten.  Fun for all. 12.21.12

Tuesday, December 18, 2012

My little sick boy

Dominic has been very sick.  Poor guy had been throwing up all night.  He asked if he could watch Kipper to make him feel better.  Good news is that our new house has a tv/dvd player still mounted to the wall.  He can watch and be in bed.  Something he has never been able to do.

12.18.12

Monday, December 17, 2012

Merry Christmas 2012

The annual picture in front of the tree. Are they cute or what?

Wishing you all the wonder of the season
This year we were not able to get the full family photo in front of the tree in time for the annual Christmas card.  With the move and unpacking and kids activities we just didn't have time.  I did have time to get the kids dressed up and snap some cute photos. 12.17.12

Friday, December 14, 2012

The New house


So happy to be in the new house for the holidays.  12.14.12

More to come....let me explain

Ok so I realize that I have been a pathetic blogger for well.....a year. But it has been an insane year. We spent every free minute of January, February & March gearing up to put our house on the market. All the while, staying active in kids activities, work and all that goes with life. Having the house on the market brought about a different way of life, always teetering on every call thinking it could be a showing and life would get thrust into hyper gear to get cleaned and get out. We knew that the housing market wasn't good but we hoped that God had a plan us to find a new house.

All summer he taught us patience :) As summer came to an end and we pondered all the vacation time that Michael hadn't used since we were saving it for our "move" that didn't come. Michael's parents suggested that we take a family vacation to Disney since the kids were the perfect ages. We locked in our vacation for the first week of November and hoped for the best. Fall brought loads of school activities and of course school! Lots of work for our now 4th grader and 1st grader. Fall also brought a deluge of house showings. I was starting to think that taking the house off the market would be great for my stress level. I prayed about it and had a clear feeling that we should keep it on the market and we renewed our contract until December 1st. All the while I just kept thinking..."what if we do get an offer?--this is the busiest time of year and we have a vacation planned--it would be chaos!" but I trusted that God had a plan.

My friend had a baby in August and I was dying to meet this sweet little girl. I thought we might have a family trip to Colorado, but it just didn't seem to work out with timing. Over a weekend we made a crazy decision and found cheap flights for the kids and I to fly and spend time with my friend for five days. Just five days after booking the flights we got an offer on our house! It was a low-ball offer but it was the first offer. We weren't sure it would go anywhere but after negotiating back and forth it all came together while I was relaxing in Colorado. Little did I know that it was the last relaxing I would have for weeks.

 We got home from Colorado and went straight into house hunting. We had a time clock ticking in order to get house closings to match up. We had 10 days to find a house before Disney. After a lot of looking and a lot of praying we found a house. Somehow we were able to get it inspected and offers finalized the day before our vacation. Praise God! Vacation was amazing. We all had a great time and came home exhausted from seeing the wonder of Disney over 7 full days. I will post pics promise.

We came home with just over 2 weeks to pack up a house. In those two weeks we also fit in a birthday party for Dominic (because he insisted on having it in the old house)and Thanksgiving. Michael's family was so sweet to come to us and share Thanksgiving and help us pack up. This was the first time since Dominic was born that we haven't been in Springfield for Thanksgiving. It wasn't as festive but at least we were all together.

With the help of friends, my parents and Michael's family (and a moving company) we were able to get everything moved by November 30th. We started off the season of Advent in a new amazing home. I have been battling a bad cough and the overwhelming amount of boxes mixed in with the fun of the holiday season and catching up on school. So in time I DO hope to get back to posting all of the fun that was mixed in with the busy year that we have just been through. We feel so incredibly blessed by God's generosity this past year. I am looking forward to catching my breath and enjoying the Christmas season. Wishing you all the best in the New Year. Merry Christmas

Thursday, December 13, 2012

St Lucia Day 2012

Making Lucia Buns in our new house

My little Lucia & Star boy
One of our favorite Advent traditions is celebrating the Feast of St. Lucia, the kids get more into it every year. They make coffee, eggs and set the breakfast table with yummy Lucia buns. 12.13.12

Thursday, December 6, 2012

Happy St. Nicholas Day

Mickey & Minnie ornaments.

New books: The Christmas Kitten, The Night Before Christmas, The Light of Christmas

Candy Cane pancakes for breakfast.

St. Nicholas visited and left some chocolate gold coins and candy canes in their shoes.  We always give the kids an ornament & a Christmas book on St. Nicholas day.  I had found a few books over the year so they got 3 instead of 1 this year. (I do love Half Priced Books!) First St. Nicholas Day in our new house!! 12.6.12

Sunday, December 2, 2012

Room with a View

In our old house Dominic's window was higher than his head.  But in his new room he has a wonderful view of our beautiful back yard.  I found him today just sitting looking out his window. He reveled in his ability to look out his window. It was a wonderful moment. 12.2.12