Happy Hemingways: January 2010

Updates...

It's been over a month since my last update, so LOTS going on.. including christmas... be sure to scroll ALL THE WAY down to get the whole story.

Oh my! I got a call at home around 6:30pm last night that Sofia had injured herself while skiing with Tadj at Pine Knob. They went, just the 2 of them, for a fun day all to themselves. Tadj decided Sofia was ready to leave the rope tows and wonder carpets and took her on a green run on the other side of the hill. She did well the first time down. On the second time, she lost control and ran straight - face first- into the chairlift line barriers. She was wearing a helmet, but no goggles and the gate was right at eye level. A ski patrol toboggan took Sofia back to the ski patrol shack where they decided she needed to go to urgent care. Clarkston urgent care decided she needed to go to St. Joseph Pontiac for a CT scan and stitches. Sofia was an absolute trooper. Tadj was happy to report almost no whining and crying. She took everything in stride. It was a very late night when the arrived home at almost 2am. She needed 8 stitches around her Left eye and nose. She's been very brave and has even enjoyed all the attention. She was excited to go to church today and show off her battle scars. And she won't even hear of missing school tomorrow... though she'll probably go a little late since she needs to see her regular pediatrician.

... only a boy would think this is COOL!

Grayson chipped his tooth. It was SUCH a tiny chip, we didn't even notice it until it starting turning gray. The dentist did a root canal and filled it in hopes that he could keep it for a few years before it fell out for good. It was a frustrating and expensive process. He needed a sedative the morning of, no breakfast, novacaine, and laughing gas once he was there. He said he only cried a little. I wasn't allowed to witness the procedure... another rant for another time... we need a new dentist. These are the after pictures here. It still doesn't look great, but better than before (scroll down).

Sofia is 6!

Sofia turned 6 on January 12, 2010. We took her with her brother, sister, Tricia, and 12 little girls to Bounce House to celebrate. She couldn't have been happier! She had a blast on the inflatables and with the video games (which are all free!!). I got worn out on DDR and Sofia loved the Simpsons bowling game. Everyone had a great time. Afterwards, we went home and had ANOTHER party with the grandparents and even more friends. We are so lucky to have this sweet, adorable, bubbly, smart, dear girl in our lives.

The inflatable throne for the birthday girl.

Playing Ms. Packman with Elise.. the table version.. HA!

Sofia going headfirst down the giant slide... no joke, it was HUGE. Even I was scared at first.

Blowing out the candle on her cupcake.

Party #2 at home

Tadj and Natalie Celebrate 10 Years!

Yeah, so these pictures, well... suck. No matter how we adjusted the camera, we just could not get a good picture. We've decided that we'll buy a new camera soon. So anyway, these are supposed to be pictures of Niagara Falls (and they are the ONLY pictures we took because we were.. ahem... busy). Tadj and I went for our 10th anniversary on New Years Day and stayed for 2 nights. It was WONDERFUL!! Mom and Dad watched the kids while we relaxed, toured, and went to the spa. On Friday afternoon we checked in to the Fallsview Marriott with a BEAUTIFUL view of the falls from our room AND a jacuzzi tub (which we immediately made good use of). We then went straight down (through the snow) to the falls. It was FREEZING... but magnificent. We picked up some souvenirs for the kids and headed to dinner. Since we stayed in Canada everything was SUPER expensive (we won't go back... Canada did NOT leave a good impression on us) and the exchange rate almost everywhere was "at par" (yah... right). That night we watched fireworks over the falls from our room. On Saturday we got the cheapest (late, to avoid paying for lunch) breakfast we could find where they charged $5 for a glass of juice with no refills and NO tap water. Then we grumpily made our way to a currency exchange rip-off store where Tadj got in a big fight with the attendant who tried to steal our money. We got the money back, but not our faith in Canadian customer service. We then headed back to the hotel for a while and decided to get the car out of valet (which took 40 minutes!!) to drive around, get some famous Canadian chocolate, and play with the GPS system I got for Christmas. After we got back to the hotel we got changed and went down for our spa appointments. We each got a massage and I got a pedicure. Pure Heaven! Afterwards, we headed to a nice Italian Restaurant that our Concierge at the hotel recommended and made a reservation for our Anniversary dinner. The dinner was GREAT and the waitress surprised us with a free dessert that read "happy anniversary" in drizzled chocolate. It was the highlight of the evening. YUM! On Sunday we drove home through 2 snow storms (it snowed the entire time we were there), one of which closed the freeway 40 miles West of Sarnia. What an adventure. We had a wonderful time and can't wait to get away again!

Christmas 2009

LOTS of pictures here (I should probably figure out the whole slide show thing). We spent Christmas eve relaxing on our own at home after a yummy Chinese dinner out at Golden Chopsticks with Chris, Rachel, Amandine and Thierry. Tadj decided that with working 70 hour weeks 7 days a week leading up to Christmas he wanted to spend his time alone with me and the kids.
Christmas day we had the usual present opening, playtime, and naptime before we went to the Hemingways where we hung out with Grandma Gay, Grandpa George, Uncle Gus and Jess and the Mercados. We had a great time! So much fun in fact that although we packed both the video camera and regular camera we didn't use them AT ALL. I'm a bit upset about that now... oh well.
Here a pictures of Sofia opening up her treasure hunt gift. Her new skis were too large to wrap, so we hid them in the bathtub and sent her around the house looking for clues. She thought it was great.

Sofia got the ultimate Costco set of littlest Pet Shops, Grayson got the the monster Costco set of Thomas trains and buildings, and Scarlett the super-fab Costco baby set. THEY LOVED IT!

Grandma and Grandpa Hardie were in Hawaii for Christmas (lucky dogs!) so we celebrated Christmas a week later on New Year's Eve. The kids got to spend the night and Mom and Dad went home!! Here are the girls snuggling under Amandine's "Snuggie" she got from Grandma.