Happy New Year!

I know, pretty incredible to have two posts from me two days in a row! We had a good New Year even if Daddy could not be with us (the job thing).Food food and good friends make it perfect. We followed up with a New Years Day filled with NOTHING! I never did get out of my jammies. We did however manage to get the snow pants on to do a littl sledding in the backyard follwed by a nice dinner.




Mikey makes the money sweep in one try!

Still working on resolutions...

A Fantastic Christmas

Check ~ another good one! This year was a bit different from the past in that we spent Christmas Eve with just the five of us. We had friends over for dinner, went to a great church service and then returned to the house in order to change to jammies and make hot chocolate for our city light tour. It was great! The only missing piece was that my mom was lonely at home awaiting our arrival. This is the last time that she will not be with us on the Eve.







After a great morning of spoiling, we headed up to MP to my mom's where we were joined by the rest of the family. We ate, drank and finished opening gifts at about 10pm. The late hour was not because of former but instead because of the five kids 4 and under. Craziness, but a blast! The best gift of the season was the computer that we (all kids and spouses) got mom. She was shocked and even a bit tearful. She really wanted a navigation system or clothes but we thought otherwise. She can often be found after hours or on the weekend at the office checking e-mail or facebook. Not anymore Barb!

The kiddos were fantastic and we had a blast with all the cousins. Cheers to family!

Daddy's Boy!

So this is how a 4 year old sleeps? Does he think someone is going to come and take it?

Hhmmm...a little busy?

So I know I have not been a good blogger but sometimes life gets in the way! Christmas shopping and working seem to be more of a priority right now...

I am happy to report that life is good at the Mitchell household. I won't say outloud that everyone has been pretty healthy! We have not had any of the seaonal shots yet but at least the boys are on the waiting list because they are high risk with asthma and prematurity. Hopefully soon!

Two weeks ago we participated in the annual NICU Fashion Show. It was a success as always and the kids made me very proud. The money we raise helps support programs for current families in the NICU. Although I feel my journey as a volunteer in the NICU is near its end, I have made incredible friendships and the rewards have been priceless.







I'm proud to say that the kids all had inredible parent teacher conferences. Janie continues to be an excellent student with things coming very easy to her. The boys love school and are doing well. Kyle is the social butterfly and Owen a bit concerned with what others are doing instead of his school work, but overall great! Sorry, had to brag a minute.

We are looking forward to Thanksgiving with my mom's side of the family in Saline. We will eat and play a lot and of course shop on Friday!

More soon, I hope!

Happy Fall!

So it's been a month since a post...busy, busy, busy! We have officially entered the state of working too much, running kids and no time for anything else. Family dinner now happens once a week (on good weeks) and time alone for Mike and me is absolutely non-existant. With that being said, I am okay with it. I never have company so who cares what my house looks like right?

School has started off great. Janie loves her teacher and we couldn't be happier with the boys school. All is well on the academic front!

Janie has a new injury, achelles tendinitous (sp?). She has been hurting for a while now and finally said last we that she needed to go to the Dr. As of today, she is officially in a walking cast (again) and will begin PT next week. This means that she offically played 2 of 12 fall softball games this fall and is doing a restricted gymnastics workout. Seriously, maybe we need to introduce piano and can all sports! Not likely:)

Despite our crazy schedule, Janie and were flown down for a quick weekend to visit some cousins in Texas a few weeks ago. It was a great time and so fun to see Janie connect so well with my cousins' daughter who is her same age.

Work has been super duper crazy for both Mike and me. I am not sure what they are talking about when they say pour economy because people sure are doing events! Mike has had one day off this month and I am not far behind! We are actually considering putting our house up for sale and moving a bit closer to work. We both drive 40-50 minutes each way, every day and actually only work 5 miles apart. If we make this move, we want to do it before Janie heads off to middle school. We'll see.

Fortunately, we were able to sneak off last weekend (okay really we were just meeting my mom to pick up the boys since she took them for the night) to the apple orchard. It was a great family day!




More soon, I hope!

1st day of school

Wow, another year! Janie is in 4th grade and my babies are begindegarteners. Don't you love it! I love walking into school and seeing the boys sitting at their desks. Janie loves her teacher. So far, so good!

Higgins Lake 2009

So we've been back for 2 weeks now and I thought I would finally post some pictures. As always, the family had a great time on our 9th annual trip up north. Each year is a bit different. I remember our first years up there when Janie was just a little tyke and my sibling weren't even thinking about children. I was dealing with naps and bottles and bedtime. Now things have changed. My kids are good for an entire day on the boat fishing and tubing but it is my siblings who now have the little ones.

Good quality family time and busy, busy!




With cousin Abby




The first fish. Look at that water!


Janie learning to ski

The Allisons