Chicago 2012

In March, we went to Chicago for my parents 40th wedding anniversary!  We drove - the kids were great....well it is a 21 hour drive!  While we were there my mother introduced us to "Sky Lanterns" like in the movie Tangled (Rapuzel)!

A Wedding

Bill's brother Doyle got married March 3, 2012.  Emma & Maya were invited to be flower girls.  They were so excited!  Raye's colors were hot pink, black & silver.

A Picture Collage

Here's what the Hicken's have been up to lately! Enjoy!!!

Captions!  (left to right)
1. Maya is shopping, 2. Emma has her hair curled, 3. My kids on a day off, 4. bowling, 5. Maya waiting for Santa, 6 & 7. Chuck E Cheese, 8. Emma is loading her cart, 9. Maya is loading her cart, 10. Maya's tired, 11. Emma is picking out her own clothes, 12 & 13. My girls just being silly, 14. Emma is relaxing with cucumbers, 15. Maya & her devilish grin, 16. New paint in the kitchen, 17. Gage at the dentist, 18. Gage & a visitor, 19. Em & M, 20 & 21. Emma being an acrobat, 22. Maya trying to be, 23 & 24. Gage/guns, 25. Bill & Beth go to the theatre, 26. Maya/ "NoIdoit", 27. We have a streaker, 28. Gage is 80lbs of white hot furry (he really did say this), 29. Bill & Beth enjoy a murder mystery, 30. A duplicate of Maya's shopping excursion!

Its been a while

Christmas was lovely!  Here are some pics

We blocked the entrance to the living room with wrapping paper (an idea I heard about at Time Out For Women).

I had to include this shot of Maya!  She is hugging her "doh- wa" (Dora) through the package!  I love the way she is hugging it so tightly that it shows up in her face.  Maya does this a lot.  "Doh-wa" has become one of her most favorite toys this year!

We got a very grand gift from Aunt Kelly this year!  Its a ride on camaro.  It is battery operated and it also can be run by remote which will be excellent for Maya!  The kids have already gotten very good use of this toy!  Thanks again, Aunt Kelly!!!

"Goodbye you Gage!"

Tonight at dinner Maya bit her thumb while eating a biscuit.

It was kind of cute & sort of sad & a whole lot of funny all rolled into one.  Gage was laughing so hard & it made her angry; so she stormed away from the table hurling jibberish insults to all of us - but mostly Gage.  Then she said the funniest thing in language we actually understood -

"Goodbye. You. Gage!"

Indeed.

This video was taken immediately following but as you can see; all was forgiven & she was back to her normal old self!

Don't be alarmed.....

We have a witch living in our house.  I know its closer to Christmas than Halloween but some things are just harder to let go of.....in Maya's case, its being a witch!

A Christmas Tradition

We usually do a gingerbread house every year.  We didn't get to it last year because we were moving.   I still had the house I bought from last year & it was still in the box & in great condition!  So tonight we the kids harassed us decided it was time!

and because I know you are dying to see what Christmas looks like in a house as crazy as mine......