Happy New Year

Oh, and by the way Happy New Year to everyone!  I can't believe it's already 2013!  Where has the time gone?!!  I am looking forward to a fun year.  We are busy planning our Disney trip for June and I cannot wait to surprise the kids with it!  They are going to be so excited!  Other than that, not too many big plans for us for the new year.  We just plan on having a typical year with everyone in good health and that's perfectly fine with me!!

Christmas

We spent a week in Peru for Christmas this year.  It was a very busy week, but we had a great time spending time with family.  Saturday before Christmas we spent the day with my father in law and step mother in law.  The kids were spoiled and had a great time playing with their new toys, Janet's cat, and uncle Josh!  Sunday, Shana and Jim flew into Indy to spend 5 days in Indiana for Christmas.  It was great seeing them since they hadn't been here for Christmas in years!  Always a fun time when they are here!  Christmas day is our Schrader family Christmas which is always a blast.  Unfortunately there were several sick family members who couldn't make it and we missed having them there!  But, it's always fun catching up with the goings on of all of my cousins and their families.  I love being able to see them all.  It's the best part of the holidays.  Wednesday we got a snow storm....the blizzard of 2012 as they called it.  Peru got maybe 3-4 inches of snow but Indy got around 8 inches.  We weren't sure whether or not Shana and Jim would be able to fly out on Thursday, but their flight was on schedule!  On Saturday, we celebrated my niece, Sydney's, 7th birthday at a pottery place in Peru.  It was lots of fun.  We also got to go watch her and Mason's basketball games that day as well!  They are fun to watch!  Sunday brought the Boettjer family dinner.  There were about 50 people there....all extended family on Parker's dad's side.  It was nice to see so many people that we had not seen in years.  It was a busy, busy week but we had a ton of fun!  I will try and get some pics posted later!

Polar Express

Tomorrow we are taking the kids on the polar express train!  They will be so excited!  It is a surprise and I can't wait to tell them.  They get to listen to a story about the polar express before we leave the Fishers train station.  It travels to the Indiana Transportation Museum (aka North Pole) to see the lights and decorations.  Santa and Mrs. Claus ride the train and visit all the kids.  They also get cookies and hot chocolate on the train.  It will be so much fun!

Blogging

Ok so I really am trying to find the time and creativity to do this whole blogging thing.  It's such a great way for everyone to keep up with the goings on in our family.  I just feel like I have no extra time for it but I am going to try and be a better blogger this coming year!

School's about to begin...

Wow, what a week the past few weeks have been. Getting ready for school to start has been super busy! From shopping for pencils and crayons to pillow cases and new shoes and socks, we have been to just about every store possible!! Mackenzie is so excited to start kindergarten. While, I on the other hand, can't believe my big girl is getting ready to start kindergarten- her school career is about to begin. How can that even be possible? It just seems like yesterday I was cuddling with my first born in the hospital. How could 5, almost 6 years have gone by that quick? I am very excited for her though. She's going to learn so many new and amazing things. I'm excited to see how she progresses as she learns new things this year.

Vaca

Parker and I got to take a trip without the kids to Clearwater/St. Petersburg, FL. to visit Shana and Jim. It was our first trip without the kids in 7 years!! We had a great time. However, by the end of the week we were missing the girls!

Here we are with the Hyatt in the background

The view from our room!

And it wouldn't be complete without an awesome pic of the beach!

New baby

I am so thrilled to say that I am going to have a new niece or nephew. Lauren called yesterday to tell me that she's pregnant with baby #3!! Yay! She is due approx. Dec. 5, 2011. We are praying for a healthy, happy baby! Congrats to the Barnes clan!