December 28, 2006 - A Trip to the Grand Rapids Children's Museum

We were looking for something to do with the kids over Christmas vacation, other than work around the house (which isn't very fun for them). We decided to go out to dinner with Grandma and Grandpa on Thursday night and then spend some time at the Children's Museum downtown. Thursday night is family night from 5:00-8:00 so it's only $1 admission for each person over 2. Considerably cheaper than the regular price so that's when we like to go even though it can be quite busy. We took over 100 pictures that night of the kids having a blast in every area, here are just a few of the pictures to show what kind of fun we had.

Playing in the balls at the bottom of the penguin slide. Going down the penguin slide
"Feeding" the penguins
Going down the slide together
"Hello Mr. Penguin, you're taller than I am"
Racing cars down the track
Doing some shopping.

This cart is pretty cool and I can actually reach

all the fun stuff and no one is telling me "no-no".

Blowing bubbles with Grandma

A giant bubble that we can fit inside.

Driving thru the drive-thru at the "bank"

We can work at the bank too...Nicholas tries to close an important business deal,

and Gabrielle is ready to complete the transaction.

Dealing with some serious cash

Making a bird feeder with a pine cone, shortening

and bird seed in the craft area. They each got to make one to take home.

Stacking some rings with Grandma

December 27, 2006 - Kids Rooms

During my time off over the holidays we tackled the project of getting Nicholas' room ready for the new baby. We did not have a dresser for the baby, and since boys don't have as many clothes as girls typically do we decided to do some closet organizers and drawer units in the closet and getting rid of dressers altogether. Nicholas helped Papa with the closets as much as he could and got to try out his new tool belt, etc that he got from Grandma and Grandpa for christmas.

As long as I was up there with the camera, I was reminded that I never posted any pictures of the girls room after we re-decorated it last spring. So, I took some pictures of both rooms for all to see.

December 25, 2006 - Get Together at Grandma's House

We knew that we were going to get to Grandma and Grandpa's house before most of the other people that were expected to come over. So I suggested to mom that she save a couple of the kids presents (games for example) for them to open on Christmas Day instead of opening all of their presents on the 23rd with everyone else. I'm glad we did, it gave the kids something exciting to do when we first got there and kept them occupied through most of the afternoon.

Trying to get a picture in their Christmas dresses before we head to Grandma and Grandpa's

A bag of goodies for new baby doll

New Dora Dominoes

New video

Playing with the new paddle ball game with Grandma and Grandpa

December 25, 2006 - Christmas Morning at Home
The kids got to open the rest of their presents from us before we got ready to go to Grandma's house for the afternoon. Here is a brief summary of our morning.
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tpvan-December 24, 2006- Christmas Eve

December 24, 2006 - Christmas Eve After our evening Saturday night at mom and dad's we quickly realized that the kids like to open the present and play with or put together their present right away. Instead of having to push them off from discovering their new toys we have adopted the policy of only putting one present for each child under the tree at a time. Once they have had a chance to open the present and play with it for a while we bring out another present for each. We always open stockings on Christmas Eve, but we decided to start some of the other gifts also, in order for things to be less rushed on Christmas morning. Watch the video

December 23, 2006 - Hager Family Christmas

December 23, 2006 - Hager Family Christmas We celebrated the Hager Christmas on the 23rd. What a great, yet hectic night. We started off with a nice dinner which included the Hager Family Tradition of the necessary: Ham, pretzel dessert, and of course, Christmas Bread. We barely fit around the table this year, well actually, mom and dad had to lay a great big conference table on top of the regular table in order to accomodate all of us. Next year, will probably have to include a kid's table. Then we proceeded to open gifts. This was the hectic part. Of course, the older kids just always wanted to know when they were getting another present. Joshua and Allison were often too busy playing with someone else's gift to care about their own, let alone opening another one. There were presents everywhere, and poor Uncle Shawn was trying to keep straight who's turn it was and which one Grandma wanted handed out next. Overall, it was a great night and everyone had a great time. Here are a few clips of our evening.... Watch the video

December 20, 2006 - First nap in my new bed!

Well, as you know we are soon going to be needing Allison's bed for our new addition. Even though the baby will be in a bassinet in our room downstairs for the first few months, I like to have the crib sit empty and waiting for the new baby for at least a month before it's arrival to make for an easier transition for the older child. This meant that Allison needed to give up the crib and adjust to a new bed soon. This will allow her time to see the crib as NOT hers for a while before we put someone else in it. I got 2 toddler beds from a friend of mine before Gabrielle was born. One was being used here, and we kept the other one at my mom's house. Thanksgiving weekend we brought the second one home and set it up in the girls room. Allison loved it right away, but only if she could get in, stand up and jump. If you tried to get her to lay down for a nap or anything like that she didn't want anything to do with it. We let her just get used to the bed being there for a while and then a couple of weeks ago we started trying the new bed at nap time. We would keep putting her back for 20-30 minutes and then finally give up and put her back in the crib. On Dec. 20 she finally gave up the ghost and fell asleep for her first nap in her new bed. The first of many..... ( as you can see her "friends" take up more room than her, she always comes up with something new that has to be in bed with her).

December 18, 2006 - Preschool Party

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December 8, 2006 - Coopersville Santa Parade!
Good idea, gone Bad!

Apparently, every year they have a santa parade the first friday in December. This year it got postponed a week due to inclement weather. I really didn't really think it sounded like a whole lot of fun to go stand in the cold for a parade, but then I heard that they have FREE train rides from the school to downtown for the parade. Well, anybody who knows Nicholas would know mama would be crazy to pass up a free train ride. So....we bundled up and headed to Coopersville. We waited for the train and climbed on board for our short commute to downtown. We found a great spot right up front and then we waited. However, the wind was quite a bit colder than either Paul or I anticipated and after about 5 minutes, Paul had to move to the doorway of a nearby shop to try to keep Allison out of the cold. She didn't last in the stroller and he had her bundled up with several blankets, but she was getting fussy and Paul was getting tired because she is getting heavy. Before the parade even began, Nicholas and Gabrielle were so cold that they were asking to go home. Nicholas' hands were freezing even though he had his warm gloves on. Well, of course we were on the wrong side of the street to go back and wait on board the train, because we couldn't get past the parade. So... Paul carried Allison, Gabrielle went into the stroller and Nicholas was a true trooper as we trudged uphill about 3 or 4 blocks back to the school where the van was waiting. It was really hard for Nicholas to keep up with Papa, especially with boots on, so Paul went ahead to get Allison out of the cold and I kept going with Nicholas until we got there. Needless to say the kids were frozen and very eager to get home for hot chocolate. Good Idea----but colder than we thought. Maybe we can try again in a few years!

December 6, 2006 - Playgroup Christmas Party!

Every year the last playgroup before Christmas we have a Christmas Party at Miss Shannon's. We get dressed up and head across the street for our party. This year we had to have it the first week of December because some of our friends were moving to Kalamazoo a couple of days later. It was a fun afternoon. They made ornaments for the tree out of fun foam, decorated cookies with frosting, m&m's and sprinkles. Then they exchanged gifts. Since most of the kids get plenty of toys from parents and relatives for Christmas gifts, each child picked out a $5 or less book for a friend and then they played a game to see who got what. A couple of them did end up trading when all was done, but then everybody was happy. Nicholas traded with a friend who wanted his book and ended up getting the tractor book that his best friend Carson has picked out. Carson's sister ended up with Nicholas' car book, but Carson didn't like the pony book that he got, so he traded with his sister. Nicholas and Carson were thrilled to have gotten each other's books. Nicholas will really miss Carson as he was one of the friends that moved. They love to play together building Geo Trax and other things. What a fun Christmas they had together as friends.

December 3, 2006 - Family Picture, Yeah Right! ?!?

Here is just a small glimpse of what we ended up with when trying to get a picture for the Christmas card. Too bad I though of doing this post too late, I actually deleted at least as many pictures as I saved because one kid or another was not cooperating. First, I put two different size stools down and covered them up with a nice red blanket in case it shows through. Well, the kids started fighting over the stools, I had every intention of Nicholas and Gabrielle being in the back----well Allison wouldn't have anything to do with being the only one on the floor. Then I finally got Nicholas and Allison to sit by each other and Gabrielle wouldn't have anything to do with pictures at all. When it came time to get pictures of the kids by themselves, that's all Allison did was climb all over the stools and try to play with the Christmas ornaments. Oh well, we ended up with quite a few good ones and some good outakes to go along with it.

December 2, 2006 - Decorating the Christmas Tree

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Dec 1-6, 2006 Fun in the Snow

A couple of weeks ago, Paul got the Christmas decorations and the winter sleds down out of the attic. Ever since the kids (and especially Gabrielle) have been asking for snow---they wanted to go sledding. Well, there wish finally came true, we got snow--and quite a bit. So for most of the weekend and into the next week they were able to head outside for some winter fun. Allison, doesn't last as long outdoors because she gets too cold, (so there aren't as many pictures of her) but she got out there to join in some of the time. Paul built a ramp/slide off the railing of the back deck and then built up some snow at the bottom for our very own private sledding hill. Nicholas and Gabrielle are thrilled. After a little bit of prep work to the back yard with a shovel, they have there very own "bobsled/luge" run. One night I even brought Allison out for a while and she had to try the slide too (I don't have any pictures, because I didn't have enough hands to be outside with her and take pictures), but she would lay right down totally flat on her back in the sled and go shooting down the hill, laughing all the way. She went a few times WITH Nicholas, he if finally big enough to be able to trust him to hold on to her around the chest and she didn't go anywhere, she like that too. Paul and I sat down one night after being outside and Paul said to me, "Do you think that I would have sent Nicholas down that slide when he was 16 months old?" How parenting changes as you add more kids, I guess you get more flexible, not so protective and a little more daring. Lucky for Allison I guess...wonder what it will be like when #4 rolls around? Watch the video

November 25, 2006 - Fun outside.

It was one of those nice days that we had been having, so Paul took the kids outside to get some fresh air and he got the sleds and Christmas decorations out of the attic in the garage. Gabrielle decided to ride the santa train, and Nicholas apparently decided the train would pull his sled very well. They had fun with their sleds even though there was no snow (little did we know the snow wasn't far behind). Watching them play in their sleds did, however, make us realize that we needed new sleds for both of them. Allison will get Gabrielle old one and the blue one can go away until next year.

November 20, 2006- Preschool Thanksgiving Program

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November 13, 2006

You've heard of "Monkey See, Monkey Do", well at our house we seem to have "Sister See, Sister Do".

For quite some time, Allison has tried to copy the big kids. She puts her clothes in the hamper, puts her dishes in the dishwasher and stuff like that. Well, recently she has become especially enamored with her big sister. Whatever Gabrielle does, Allison has to do to, as you can see in the previous post with her having to have the hood of her sweatshirt on.

I always do Gabrielle's hair with her sitting on the bathroom counter with her feet in the sink, Allison has now decided that she needs to do the same thing AT THE SAME TIME. If you spray Gabrielle's hair with water, you HAVE to spray Allisons. The same goes for hairspray and everything else. Until the other day, I could get away with pony or pigtails in Gabrielle's hair and just putting a couple of barretts in Allisons. As you can see in the pictures below Allison was absolutely insistant on having ponytails too....she was shoving the hair rubberbands at me until I gave in. I started the task thinking it was useless, but low and behold I managed to get 2 tiny little pigtails in her hair. She is now so proud to be, once again, like her big sister.

November 12, 2006 -
Baking Cookies in our new Sweatshirts

On Saturday, I spent the day with 4 other friends from the neighborhood at the outlet mall in Howell, MI. We had a lot of fun. I got new sweatsuits for the girls and a couple of sweatshirts for Nicholas from the Carter's outlet. I got quite a bit of other things too, but that is besides the point. Anyway, Sunday when the kids found out what I bought they had to wear their new duds of course. We were baking cookies in the afternoon and Gabrielle decided to pull her hood up over her head. The next thing I new Allison did the same thing. It was really cute. Sunday afternoon, the kids and me usually do some type of baking, so I got some pictures of them helping add the ingredients to the mixing bowl.

November 7, 2006 - Gabrielle's Turns 3!

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November 3, 2006 - Mama's Little Helper
Gabrielle has decided that the dust buster type vacuum we got to clean up the wood floors after meals is just her size. Recently, she has decided that she wants to vacuum after dinner.

October 31, 2006 - Halloween Fun

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