Breakfast with Santa

It was a whirlwind weekend that started Saturday morning being the first ones to arrive at breakfast with Santa.  Gavin and Jason had to leave for basketball, but not before Gavin had a chance to tell Santa his wish list.  Lola was not a Santa fan at all, maybe next year.  She did love the horses on the sleigh ride though.

Happy Thanksgiving

We had a wonderful time celebrating the time for thanks together as a family.  It was even kind of nice outside so we were able to play a little bit.

Halloween 2013

We barely pulled off another family themed Halloween.  (Barb was sewing up until 5:30 pm to get these done!)  However, we only have 2 family photos of the evening.  Jason was busy pulling the wagon and Barb had a Genie in a lamp to take care of so our hands were full and not thinking too much about the camera.

We had fun, and now we have too much candy in the house!  We've already starting thinking about next years costumes…and will definitely start them a lot earlier.

Gavin = Aladdin

Barb = Jasmine

Jason = Jafar

Liam = Abu (and sounded so cute when he said it)

Lola = Genie

Easter Eve

Nothing like saving the dying of eggs until the night before Easter.  We don't have a lot of hard boiled egg eaters in the house so we took our chances and dyed raw eggs.  We think they turned out pretty darn good.  Maybe next year we'll do them a little ahead of time.

On Easter morning Gavin was very concerned that we were going to use the eggs to cook with.  He has a special appreciation for eggs; we're not quite sure where it came from.  He definitely does not eat them.

After we went to bed the Easter Bunny came in our house and left some treats for the boys.

Easter Bunny Hunt

That's right, we didn't type it wrong.  This was not an Easter EGG hunt...so we hunted for the bunny, found him, and never left his side.  The neighborhood egg hunt was scheduled for Saturday March 23rd; temperatures were in the 20's and we were expecting 10"+ of snow that night.  What a perfect day for an egg hunt.  We bundled up in our winter digs and went anyway.  When we arrived they had decided to have the hunt inside...not a good idea.  I appreciate their efforts for trying to please the families, but they should have had some better planning.  They had 0-8 year olds in one room (the gym), and 8+ year olds upstairs and some outside.  Liam didn't have a change.  The poor kid didn't get one single egg.  Gavin on the other hand went outside with the big kids and had a great old time in the cold!!  Thank goodness for all the other parents, Barb was solo and running in 2 directions wasn't happening.  Gavin was good and followed the crowd, then found us later.

 Woody was Gavin's prize.  The funniest part of the day is the baskets.  Check out Gavin's tiny basket compared to Liam's.  I think we sized them up wrong when we bought them last year.

 Nothing but love for this fuzzy white ball of fur.  Liam chased him all over the place and hugged him every time he saw him.  Bunny Love!

Never easy to get 1 kid to look at the camera, let alone 2.  At least no one was screaming.

Thanks to Cedar Creek for the pancakes, sausage, and orange juice!  Despite the crazy hunt, we had a good time.  We're going to have our own egg hunt on Easter!  Cross your fingers for some sun!!

Our Christmas Season

Our Christmas cheer in the month of December!  Hope you had a wonderful holiday and Happy New Year.  love, The Hendricks

Trimming Time

We got it up before Christmas!  It was really fun this year with Gavin helping.  He was very interested in an elf/camera ornament...kept pretending to take pictures.  Liam was just happy to be part of the trimming.

What its all about

We did something new this year to give back to our community.  More than likely this will be a tradition for years to come.  Homemade spaghetti sauce, meatballs, and pasta.  We made 3 large batches to give to the fire station around the corner from our house (3 shifts of guys).  It was a win, win for everyone - the firemen were so grateful and they let Gavin play in the firetrucks for at least 1/2 hour.  They said to come by anytime and we didn't always have to bring food.

  

How have you given this season?  Share your ideas!!

You better watch you, you better not cry...

Santa Clause Is Coming To Town!!

in the meantime we went to visit him at Bass Pro Shops.

Yes, it is random, but we got the tip from our fabulous friend and neighbor Renee.  Guaranteed the smoothest Santa visit we've ever participated in!  The store opens at 9:00 am and Santa arrives at 10:00 am.  We goT there at 9:30 and were the 3rd people in line.  Having a few adults (Grandma Beth, Jason, and Barb) to hold the place in line was perfect.  Once Santa arrived we were in and out in less than 5 minutes.

 They have SO many things for kids to do other than stand in line; excellent idea!!  The boys played with race cars for the first 20 minutes and had a great time (not sure who enjoyed it more Jason or Gavin).

 In preparation for our  move to colder weather, Gavin got in the spirit.  We weren't really sure what the deal was with the fake snow, but he LOVED it.  He turned and said "Mommy, can I lay in it?"

 Whatever makes you happy Gavin!  I mean really, doesn't he look thrilled to be laying in fake snow?  Goofball.

 He also asked if he could give Santa a kiss - so sweet!  Jason said that was a little weird, but Barb thought it was adorable.  Much better than the crying 2 year old deathly afraid of Santa that we could have had on our hands.

 In addition to a letter writing station to Santa, race cars, a snowball throwing cage, a shooting range, a train track...they also had a Merry-go-round.  Every time we came around he said "Daddy look at me!"

And then the perfect pose!  What a great kid and what a great picture.

Now if you're not a fisherman, hunter, or outdoorsman of any type - don't count out Bass Pro Shops.  All of this wonderful Santa's Workshop magic was 100% FREE.  What a nice treat compared to the typical mall.  Thank you Bass Pro Shops for making our Santa experience OUTSTANDING!!

Here We Come A Wassailing

Do you know what wassailing is?  Wassailing refers to signing carols door to door wishing good health.  Can you think of a better way to spread Christmas cheer?

It all started last year when the Hendricks showed up on the doorstep of the Links and sang a Christmas Carol.  Samara loved how it made her feel and said we should do it for real next year.  A plan was made.

We sent an e-vite with hopes to get a crowd big enough to not notice the poor singers in the group; our RSVP list was slowly dwindling.  We did however have one taker (YEAH)!  The Fehling family joined our group and it was simply perfect!  

 We started at 4:30 with homemade individual pizzas.  Fun and yum!

 The plan was a PJ Caroling party.  Gavin sporting his new PJ's made with love by Grandma.

 It was so great to have a playmate for Gavin; the boys played while we ate and practiced Christmas carols.

 And we headed out!  Kids in the wagon, caroling music in hand, candy canes to hand out for a little extra treat.  

 We quickly found that choosing the right day and right time can make or break your caroling experience. We thought a Sunday evening would be perfect, but we found more houses empty than full.  The houses that did have people at it loved the caroling and you could tell we really did spread Christmas cheer; it made us feel good as well as the recipients of the carols.

 The Fehlings

 The Hendricks

The girls (who carried the boys with our signing skills!) 

Should you decide to make this a tradition at your house here are a couple of tips we think are great: 

• Start with snacks or dinner to get everyone together and practice a few songs
• Provide the lyrics (thanks Sam!) - you think you know the words, but when you are standing in front of a strangers door it's amazing how quickly you forget.
• Sing 1 carol followed by the chorus of We Wish You A Merry Christmas-it's a great way to leave the family you just caroled to.  Decide before you get to the door how much of the 1 carol you are going to sing - some are very long.
• If possible, plan a neighborhood that seems to already have a lot of cheer.  Our plan next year is to hit a street and/or neighborhood where all of the neighbors decorate - and decorate a lot!  You are guaranteed a happy audience with all that Christmas spirit!
• Follow the evening up with dessert and hot cocoa at someone's house.

We all had a great time!  We are for sure going to keep this a family tradition and will learn new tricks and tips each year to make it even more fun.  Hope we've inspired you to do some wassailing of your own!!

Vertuccio Farms

Fall Festival at Vertuccio Farms proved to be everything we hoped it would be.  Although it was a little warm for a fall day; Gavin had fun just the same.  We went mid-October, but the temperatures were still in the 90's.  We also did not expect it to be so buys - tons of families out enjoying fall festivities.  We actually went back recently to pick up some things from the farmer's market.  The weather was much cooler and the crowds smaller - next year we'll remember November vs. October.

 "Bounce, Bounce, Bounce"

 No intimidation whatsoever when it comes to a crowded bounce house; fall down and get right back up again.

 Jason and Gavin show their strength at some typical carnival games.

 A grown-up size bounce pad, it was huge and they both loved  it.

 Slides...

 Swings...

 Pumpkins...

A corn maze...

What more could you ask for.  Thank you Vertuccio - we'll be back!!