Christmas Break Fun!

The kids got out of school on Friday, December 19th - both having their Winter parties. Fun was had by all kids involved. I'm the Room Mom for Brandon's class this year - and as a craft, we all made winter scarves. I purchased fleece material and cut it into strips. I had 4 different patterns to choose from - 2 for the girls, and 2 for the boys. We had to establish the "You get what you get & you don't throw a fit" rule since I called out names randomly! Once the kids got their strip of fabric, they cut "tassles' on the ends, making it into a scarf. They all had a blast! And, Brandon's class was having "Polar Express Day", meaning they could wear their pj's to school, watch the movie & drink hot chocolate. Man, could his day have been any better?! ;o)

I was able to pop down to Ryan's class for a few minutes. I wasn't able to get any good pictures because they were all watching a movie. Bummer!

2 whole weeks to do NOTHING!! Well, the nothing part only lasts about a day, and then the kids are B-O-R-E-D. What to do?!

My friend Gwen, her daughter Eliot & the boys & I decided to take a ROADTRIP up to Chicago and take the kids to the Museum of Science & Industry. Could we have picked a colder time to do it? I don't think so. We left on Sunday afternoon, and the weather was moving in. We had lots of wind - it was all I could do to keep the 4-wheel drive sleigh ON the road! Thanks to Gwen, she kept me calm, and we talked & talked & talked... the kids were completely oblivious! On the way up there, the temperature on my Suburban's thermometer was reading -3 degrees F. Can you say BRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR??!!! At that point, we were starting to wonder if we had made the right decision. Regardless, we kept driving. We spent the night at Gwen's parents' house in Highland, IN (they were out of town). The kids had fun just hanging out. We got up & decided to brave the weather (the wind had died down, by the way!), and take the South Shore train into the city. My boys loved this, but it was nothing new to Eliot as she had done it before. I have to admit, it was so much easier to do that than to drive into the city, worry about parking, etc... As luck would have it, there was a train stop about 2 blocks from the museum. Did I mention that it was still -3 degrees outside? We braved the cold and made it... somewhat frozen, but excited to see everything!!

The R2D2 mailbox - outside the entrance to the Museum.

The museum was all decked out for Christmas, and had trees decorated for all the countries of the world. It was really interesting to see how trees look in different countries. I have to say, the kids were ALL troopers. We all wanted to see the Coal Mine, but each time we went, the line was too long & we knew that the kids wouldn't make it!! ;o) We wandered around & enjoyed the museum all day. We even took in a movie at the Imax theater there, seeing "Wild Ocean". Unfortunately, the visual effects were too good... all 3 kids got somewhat motion-sick. I can't say that I was feeling stellar afterwards either. So, we sat & had a snack... all was better. Around 4pm, we decided to call it a day, so we caught the train back to Highland, packed up our stuff, and headed home. It was a big & full day, but SO much fun! The boys want to go back, and I'm so glad. The Museum of Science & Industry has always been one of my favorites, and I want to take them to the Shedd Aquarium as well in Chicago. However, the boys & I decided that we'll wait until it's a little warmer up there before we go back... ;o)

A couple of days ago, we decided to have a family night out. We went to Pizza Hut & ate ourselves silly at the buffet... why do they make their pizza so addictive? And the cinnamon/sugar pizza?! Mmmmm. Oh, sorry... food is always a distraction to me! After dinner, we took the kids bowling. We had a lot of fun!! We've decided that Brandon definitely has his own skills... He essentially drops the ball at the start of the lane, and prays that it makes it to the end - but somehow, it always does... and I think the pins feel sorry for the slow ball & they all FALL OVER. Brandon had 3 spares during the course of his game! By some unknown twist of fate, I ended up winning. Let me just preface this with the fact that I have never won a game of bowling in my life, so either everyone else really stunk it up that night, or I've miraculously improved. Who knows!

What's next for family fun? We're having some friends over for New Year's Eve, and we're looking forward to that. Lots of fun to be had! We are also planning to take the kids to see "Bedtime Stories", and we will also head over to Ohio on Friday to visit with Mike's oldest & next-oldest brothers & their families.

The kids start back to school on Jan. 5th. I have mixed feelings about it. On one hand, I'll miss them being around with me. On the other hand, I'll have my "quiet time" back, and be able to run errands sans kids... it's a toss-up.

Happy New Year everyone!!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

O, Holy Night... (that's my favorite carol, by the way).

What a busy day/night it was! Since we still weren't finished with our shopping, all 4 of us headed out do that that last-minute gift buying. I took Ryan, while Mike took Brandon. The boys had to get each other something; then we all met up for lunch at our favorite sandwich shop, Jimmy John's. Mmmmmmmmm!

We came home, wrapped a few gifts, then got ready for the children's service at church - at 5pm. It was short & sweet - which worked out well b/c the kids' attention spans were even shorter than normal, seeing as how they could barely contain themselves seeing that CHRISTMAS was just hours away!!

While we were at church, my cousin Ashley, her husband Jared, and their 2 kids...Bryce & Sadie, were there too. We sat with them. How special it is to have family that attends the same church -- so great in fact, that when we joined, they were in our new members class! The kids all enjoyed seeing each other, and it's always good to be with family. We were actually able to get our first family picture together (thank you Ashley & Jared for snapping the shots!) in front of one of the trees at church.

After attending church, we were on our way to my Aunt Alice's house. She hosts an annual Christmas Eve dinner; the food is always wonderful, as is the company. However, we had to make our annual stop at Reynolds Farm Equipment in Fishers, IN on the way to her house.

They have a drive-through light display that has become a family tradition of ours on Christmas Eve!Okay, back to Aunt Alice's... in attendance were my Uncle Joe, Aunt Teresa; cousin Libby, her husband Larry, and their 2 kids - Hannah & Jacob; My Aunt Alice, her daughter Ellen; my sister Mary, her husband Brent & their daughter Katie; and Mike & the boys & myself were all there. We didn't get home until almost 10pm, and the boys HAD to open one gift...it was KILLING them that they'd have to wait until morning to open everything!! Luckily, Grandma & Grandpa Hoke had sent their gifts early! Ryan opened a Red Ryder BB gun ("You'll shoot your eye out, kid!" -- one of our favorite lines from the movie "A Christmas Story"!), while Brandon opened a Nerf basketball hoop set! Off to bed they went, and they crashed HARD!! Mike & I finished wrapping up more gifts, and off to bed we went... wait, did we sleep? It certainly didn't feel like it! We had told the kids they couldn't come into our room any earlier than 7:30 a.m., and it was exactly 7:30 a.m. when they peeled open our eyelids! Aaah, the joys of being young.

WAIT! I almost forgot! At lunch on Christmas Eve day (at Jimmy John's...Brandon wanted me to remind you all!), Brandon lost one of his front teeth!! So, he could literally say, "All I want for Christmas is my left front tooth..."! ;o)

So, on Christmas morning, the boys came downstairs to find HEAPS of toys under the tree. They also found a note from Santa Claus. He said that he actually SAW the Tooth Fairy as he was coming into the house. WOW!! How often does it happen that Santa AND the Tooth Fairy visit in one night? I'm thinking the chances of that happening again are pretty slim!

The boys piled up their presents in front of them & the opening frenzy began. I've never seen so much wrapping paper in my life! On top of all the gifts under the tree, in Santa's note, he told the boys that he had left a gift down in the basement for them. This gift was a 16-in-1 game table! Santa said that daddy would probably need to assemble it. Thank goodness for daddy being so handy!

Ryan got: a guitar, a telescope, a digital camera, a board game, a Nerf gun, a Nintendo DS game, a drawing book, a crafts kit, and of course, a stocking with fun stuff & CANDY!

Brandon got: a D-Rex (remote controlled T-rex), a pack of misc. dinosaurs, a dinosaur book, 3 dinosaurs, (do you see a trend here?), puzzles, a board game, a Nerf gun, a Nintendo DS game, a stocking with fun stuff & CANDY! It was a total dinosaur Christmas for him!

It was a big morning; but our day wasn't finished yet! We got cleaned up & headed over to my sister Mary's for her fantastic (huge) lunch! She always makes a huge meal (think Thanksgiving), and we all tend to pass out on her couch afterwards... We had fun, as always, and then headed home around dinner time.

The boys played more with their toys while Mike & I vegged out on the couch!

We hope you all had a wonderful Christmas!!

Love, Jenni

It's a Grizwold, er I mean, Beyers Family Christmas!

(cue the music) - "It's the most wonderful time of the year"... Well, almost. I'm having extreme technical difficulties lately. My desktop computer crashed, and that has left me in quite a bind. I was actually ahead of the game and had my Christmas newsletter all ready to go, but when the computer crashed, I didn't get a good copy printed...AND, all of my Christmas card addresses were on the hard drive! AGHHHHHHHHH! So, I think we'll be doing a "New Years" card this year!

December 13th was our family Christmas with my side, the Beyers Family, here at my house. I was SO excited because EVERYONE was here... mom & dad; Mary, Brent & Katie; Pat, Lisa, Elizabeth, Caroline, Rebecca & Samuel; Mike, myself, Ryan and Brandon. Festivities started at noon, and consisted of LOTS of eating (that's pretty much an all-day sport); a White Elephant drawing;Pat's "White Elephant" gift - it was very Grizwold-esque. He made his own wrapping paper - the infamous scene where "cousin Eddie" is emptying his RV's waste saying "Merry Christmas...the shitter was full". He even went as far as to glue cat food onto the wrapping paper (hence, my cat trying to eat it), and made it complete with a bow made of duct tape. He REALLY got into the gift exchange! By far, his was the most fun!

Mom opening Pat's White Elephant gift...

and our gift exchange...

Above... Katie

Below... Rebecca
Caroline's new shoes...Elizabeth is jealous...

Dad opening his new Nintendo DS...
Mom opening her new digital camera...

We all had a great time seeing what each other got. The boys immediately disappeared to the basement to play with all of their new toys. We had to have our annual viewing of "Christmas Vacation"; and several of us also played "Cranium", which proved to be VERY entertaining!

Katie trying to get Caroline to guess "Mt. Everest"...

Me trying to get Rebecca to guess "Babe Ruth"...

Elizabeth trying to get Lisa to guess the song "Sweet Caroline"...which is ironic because this is the song they used to announce Caroline's birth & it's one of Lisa's favorite songs!

Pat, Caroline, Rebecca & Samuel ended up spending the night...along with my parents, who stayed with us while they visited Indiana...which we thoroughly enjoyed!

We had a great time, and as always, I was sad to see everyone go home. I'm going to make a New Year's resolution to see my family more. However, with all of us having children, it proves nearly impossible at times to coordinate a time to get together that works for everyone!

I hope everyone has a wonderful holiday season!

Love, Jenni

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone!

I'm so thankful for family, friends and FOOD!!

I hosted my annual Thanksgiving feast again. We had a house full! We had my Aunt Alice & her daughter Ellen; my sister Mary & her daughter Katie (her husband Brent woke up sick that morning!); Mike's brother Steve, his wife Melissa & their 2 kids...Andrew & Megan; and then of course, Mike, the boys & myself.

The menu consisted of: turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, sweet potato casserole, green bean casserole, noodles, apple-sausage-cornbread stuffing, rolls, and salad. Dessert was pumpkin pie, peach pie, and birthday cake. Melissa's birthday happened to fall on Thanksgiving this year, so we had even more to celebrate!

Because I got too caught up in all the "hustle & bustle", I completely forgot to take a picture of whole group!! Oh well...


We went out shopping for a bit on "Black Friday" and took advantage of some great deals!!


We have done a whole lot of NOTHING this weekend, and I have to say, it has felt pretty darn good! I was so worn out from getting everything ready for Thanksgiving... resting is just what I needed.


We are planning on getting out our Christmas decorations today, and we woke up to SNOW this morning... just what we needed to get into the Christmas spirit!!

Brandon needed to do a "good turn" in order to get his Bobcat badge for Cub Scouts... and the snow proved to be the perfect thing he needed! We have an elderly woman that lives next door, so he went over and shoveled her sidewalk & driveway (with a little help from daddy, too). He was so proud of himself...and, we were pretty proud, too! Florence, our neighbor, was very pleased as well. She gave Brandon $3 for his good deed... and he nearly did a backflip! He brought his much-prized money inside & told me everything in detail!!

Ryan shoveling OUR driveway!

We hope you all had a wonderful holiday!! We have so much to be thankful for!

Love, Jenni

Catching Up!

Okay, I know it's been a LOOOOONG time since I blogged last -- sorry! Things have been a little nutty since August! I'll try to break things down by month...

On August 1st, we moved into the new house. The entire process was more than overwhelming! Trying to pack up & fix up one house; trying to think of how things would be arranged into another... all I wanted to do was run out of my front door & not come back for a while!

The movers certainly earned their money on August 1st. Not only did they take everything out of our old house, but also out of 2 storage facilities -- necessitating 2 moving trucks and 4 or 5 men... I can't remember! It was an all-day event, and all parties involved were EXHAUSTED!

The new house is wonderful, and we are thoroughly enjoying it! The basement has been named "The Man Cave" by the boys! They are loving it. Funny story about the basement actually... I had bought a new couch to go in our loft area, and our old couch & love seat were going to go in the basement. Much to the movers' dismay, NONE of our couches would fit down the doorway to the basement!!!! Ugh!! Due to the way our house was designed & where the doorway is located, our only option for seating in our basement is a sectional sofa. We did purchase a new leather sectional for the house, but we opted NOT to hand it over to the kids... it stayed in the TV room upstairs! So for now, our lonely recliner is in the basement along with the thought of a few beanbag chairs for the boys! Craziness.

The boys started school in August, and are really doing well. Ryan started 4th grade, and Brandon started 1st grade. They are getting so big, it's unreal. I am just a head taller than Ryan... how is that possible?!! They are both really enjoying their teachers & their overall school experience. But as always, lunch & recess are amongst their faves... ;o)

I am somewhat retired from the PTO. I had stepped down to let someone else take the reigns, but am doing a lot of consulting this year - which is fine. I took the first fundraiser of the year, and enjoyed myself. It was our annual Walk-a-Thon. It's a day of total goofiness for the kids, and well, I love it too! The kids go to 7 stations, and get lots of exercise, but don't realize it because they are having so much fun! I hold down the "Silly Station", where I proceed to do the "Chicken Dance" with all 540 students + staff + misc. parents & siblings. Don't be fooled, the Chicken Dance works muscles that you never knew you had... ;o) I was so sore the next day! Since the Walk-a-Thon is over, I can now take a bigger step back from PTO. As sick as this sounds, I do miss it -- I know, I'm weird!

Mike continues to really stay busy. He is now the Den Leader for Brandon's Tiger Den! They look so cute in their uniforms! ;o) He continues to fly and still enjoys it for the most part. The base is gearing up for an activation, but we've gotten word that Mike will remain back here (whew!), but will be pretty much holding down the fort while everyone else is gone. It's flattering for him that he was chosen -- however, we won't be seeing a lot of him. I'm not complaining though... it's much easier to hop in the car & drive an hour to see him instead of not being able to hop a plane to wherever in the world he is & not see him for months... we're just counting our blessings.

September means FOOTBALL! We attended our first Purdue football game this fall. The boys have really gotten into football lately -- we love to cheer on Purdue as well as the Colts! We were able to tailgate with the Hamilton's as well as a slew of Reynolds'!! The boys loved it, and Mike & I enjoyed getting to relive some college memories. Neither of us had been to a P.U. football game since college! Wow!

October brought Halloween and as usual, the Hoke house was decked out! Ryan dressed up as a vampire; Brandon dressed up as a clone trooper (from Star Wars); Mike dressed up as John Travolta (from Saturday Night Fever); and I dressed up like a disco queen! Mike & I saved our outfits for the night AFTER Halloween...in fears that we'd scare small children! ha ha ha ;o)

We also listed our old house in October. With it being on the market only 4 hours, we had a request for a showing! We've had quite a few lookers, but so far, the house hasn't been "the one" for anyone yet. We're still being optimistic. Here is a virtual tour: http://www.TourFactory.com/456717 If you know of ANYONE looking for a home in this area...please send them our way!

November is here, and wow, it's really taken me a long time to compose this! I started this in oh, let's say early October? Ugh. Currently, we are all under the weather. Mid-October, we all got a cough...courtesy of Brandon. Well, the cough is still hanging on - only it's not getting better, but worse! Mike seems to have mostly kicked it. The boys & I have all been to the Dr. I am on my 3rd antibiotic - and let's hope this one works...it's as high as it goes! Both boys came from the pediatrician this afternoon diagnosed with STREP THROAT!! Is there a word to describe us right now? A few come to mind... sneezy, coughy, grumpy & GERMY!!

I am supposed to have 13 people here for Thanksgiving next week... let's all hope that these germs go AWAY before then! I'm behind on getting things ready, but I'll just have to deal with the fact that all of my walls aren't painted, my walls aren't decorated, and my boxes aren't all unpacked... but we'll have family.

So, that's our lives in a nutshell lately. I promise I'll be better at keeping up with this from now on! Oh, and a frog update: we only have ONE left! He seems to be happy... now the kids are asking for turtles. WHY?!!!

Love to all,

Jenni

Paint 'til you puke!

Wait, or was it "Party 'til you puke"? Well, I guess I'm doing it all wrong then! Can I just vent about how much I'm disliking painting now? It's something I used to enjoy. Well, I guess I enjoyed it before because it was something I had chosen to do... now it's something that I have to do -- there's a difference!

No pictures in this post -- just general information because quite honestly, I don't have enough "umph" to download the pictures. Isn't that awful?!!

Let's see, where to start...

The new house is pretty much complete. We had a home inspector come by today. He found several minor things that within a week's time, should be resolved. We do our final walk-through with the builder tomorrow (the 22nd). They will have 1 week to complete everything we think needs to be done (within reason), and then we are set to close on the new house on the 29th! The light at the end of the tunnel is getting brighter!!!

We are having "Two Men & A Truck" move us... only they're not really holding to their name. You see, when they sent back the quote to us, they quoted us as having "Five Men & Two Trucks". Apparently 2 burly men & one truck won't quite 'cut the mustard' with all of our stuff!! ;o) Oh well -- as long as we don't have to haul or lift or move anything really heavy, all the better. We are set to move into the new house on Friday, August 1st! So hey, if you don't have any plans... come on over! hee hee ;o) I'm sure you're all going to be sorting your sock drawers or something on that day though, right? But honestly, if you're good at painting, please call me! I've interviewed a painter that did one of my friends' house. I added two rooms in addition to what she had done, and he tripled the cost. Can you believe it?! He's smoking some serious crack if he thinks I'm paying what he quoted! I digress. I just can't help but feel that nearly 5000 sqft. of house to paint is a little daunting...

Oh, can't forget the FROGS! After losing 3 or 4 (sorry, it was a blur of "swirlies", and I lost count) frogs, I had to do more research. It was determined that our little frogs just really didn't need so much water. So, off to Petsmart we went to build a new habitat for our little green babies. We set out just to get something simple -- ya, right! We ended up with a 20-gallon aquarium, complete with a screen top -- to prevent any escaping, yet provide adequate ventilation. We also had to get amphibian mulch (who knew there were so many varieties?!); moss; a water dish; a log hide-out; a piece of driftwood so they can climb; and of course, a heat lamp. To the tune of an amount I don't care to disclose (but can I mention that I truly hope these frogs pull through because I'll do mouth-to-mouth on them for what I just shelled out!), our little darlings do seem to be thriving. I mean, it's a good thing when you go for a week straight with no casualties!!

I still do not know what our frogs are eating because everything I'm putting out goes untouched by them. However, we have small crickets living in their habitat who are, I must say, really enjoying the food I've put out for the frogs. Some of the crickets are as large as the frogs! The people at Petsmart suggest I feed the frogs wingless fruit flies. However, they never know when they'll be receiving their next shipment... so really, how is that helping ME right now? Again, why can't my kids just enjoy the 2 cats & dog that we have?! At least I know how to feed & take care of them...

The boys have been spending a lot of time with my parents while we're packing, painting, and doing general home improvements. While it has been very helpful to not have them underfoot, I miss my little guys a bunch! They are having lots of fun at Grandma & Grandpa's though. They have a daily routine of going in the "Man Truck" to the Purdue Co-Rec (think the biggest workout center you've ever seen & then triple the size) & playing raquetball, then swimming with Grandpa. They are really becoming great swimmers!! I think they're ALL having fun!

Well, that's about all that's happening here. As always, we'll keep you posted on our happenings!

More house stuff!

Wow, another post about the house - imagine that?!

It is really just about in the final stages!! It's getting very exciting yet overwhelming all at the same time. In just a couple of weeks, we'll actually be LIVING in the house that I've just blogged about for months...

Since my last post, all of the hardwood flooring has been installed! They just have to finish it with the quarterround to make the edges look nice.

July 15th

Light fixtures were installed.

Carpet was put down throughout & was being installed while we were there.

My office

The basement

Kitchen counter tops were installed, as well as the sink!

They installed our mailbox, as well as the street numbers on the front of the house! (yes, it's the little things that excite me!)

From here on out, they'll just be doing small touch-ups here & there... as well as grating the yard & putting in sod in the front and side yards & hydroseeding the back yard. Oh ya, and the deck materials were supposedly being delivered today, so we'll be expecting that in the next day or two. We do our final walk-through on Tuesday! Aghhh!!!

That's the latest edition of Hoke Manor... as always, as more happens, you can bet I'll blog about it!

Happy 1st Birthday, Temperance!

On Sunday, we attended the 1st birthday party of our niece, Temperance, in Xenia, Ohio. Temperance belongs to Mike's brother John, and his wife, Virginia.

Tempe diving into her very first cupcake!

Hey, this cake stuff is pretty good! Mmmmmmmm!

After eating, everyone hit the pool. Well, when I say everyone, what I really mean is all the men & the kids... ;o) The boys got tossed around by daddy & they got to swim with their cousins. I think everyone had lots of fun!

Mike's brother John & Tempe

Temperance is going to be a big sister next month! We'll keep you posted with the new baby.

After the birthday party, we headed over to West Chester, OH, to visit with Mike's oldest brother, Steve, his wife Melissa & their kids - Andrew & Megan (who were also at the birthday party). Andrew & Ryan are the same age, and Brandon & Megan are the same age... built-in playmates! We spent the night, and then all headed to Kings Island on Monday. We did our typical marathon day at the park, spending just about 8 hours there! I'd love to post pictures, but since we hit the water park in addition to the rides, I didn't bring my camera in... darn it! At any rate, we had a fun weekend & a much-needed break from the house stuff!