Joey's (Early) Birthday + Early Christmas = Lots of Presents!

Since Joey's birthday was just a week away, we had decided that we should take advantage of the fact that all the Shibata's were together and have an early birthday party for him the day after Thanksgiving. He didn't seem to mind too much and I'm sure he won't mind having another celebration next week. I'm guessing that the whole birthday concept will be confusing to him, since he was continually asked on Friday, "Whose birthday is it?" and the answer considered to be correct was "Joey's!" even though his actual birthday is still a week away. He is catching on to the fact that he is supposed to say, "Two" when asked how old he will be, even though he routinely says "Three" or "Five".

All of the kids (and some parents) patiently waited until after lunch to enjoy Joey's birthday cake, an M&M Dairy Queen cake with a toy Lightning McQueen on it. What could be better?!? It took a few tries, but Joey did successfully blow out his own candles.


Then it was on to the presents, which he had been talking about since arriving at Grandma and Grandpa's two days earlier. He had lots of help and he was definitely not the only one very excited about what was being unwrapped. Needless to say, there was plenty to entertain the kids later that afternoon.



Since most of the Shibata's will not be together on Christmas this year, it had also been decided that Thanksgiving would be a good weekend to bring and exchange Christmas presents for the kids. Since we were on a present roll (and quite frankly the presents pack and travel better unwrapped), it was determined that we should go ahead and let the kids unwrap their Christmas presents as well. So, after naps and supper, it was on to more destruction of festive paper and bows. It was a flurry, as I'm sure you can imagine, of kids opening, seeing what they and their cousins got, and parents trying to keep track of what was received and from whom while wondering "How in the world are we going to get all this stuff home?"





And so, there was even more to entertain the kids for the rest of the weekend. And, I think I only heard once or twice a question about there being more presents. [Sigh]

Happy Thanksgiving!

We had a wonderfully enjoyable Thanksgiving celebration this year, as we hope you all did as well. We arrived at Grandma and Grandpa Shibata's house on Wednesday night just in time to go out to dinner with them, Uncle Joel, Aunt Jenn, and TJ and Great-Grandma and Grandpa Speckhard. The kids must have been hungry. Marie ate her entire meal and Joey…well, he ate all his french fries at least.

On Thursday morning, Uncle James, Aunt Jacyln, JJ, and Gracie along with Aunt Jess drove from Pittsburgh over to Aurora. They arrived mid-morning, so we had a yummy Thanksgiving brunch. The rest of the day was spent visiting, playing hide-and-seek among other things, heading outside for some fresh (though slightly damp) air, and enjoying the company. We even got a semi-decent shot of Great-Grandma and Grandpa with all the great-grandkids. Well, except for the one I've been carrying around. :)

JJ, Joey, and Marie all hiding from Aunt Jess while playing hide-and-seek.

Left to Right: TJ, Great-Grandpa, Joey, Great-Grandma, JJ, Marie, and Gracie

Marie faithfully helped Grandma Shibata in any way she could, "painting" the turkey, stuffing the turkey (or at least getting it close to where it was supposed to go), and making the rolls. She loves to help in the kitchen and is really getting to the point where she can be a big help! After mentioning things that particularly make us thankful this year and saying grace, we feasted on the traditional Thanksgiving fare, turkey, stuffing, potatoes, rolls, green beans, cranberries, and pie. We of course ate too much and all went to bed with full tummies.

We are so incredibly thankful for all of our family and friends, near and far, for our health and provision, for our country and our homes. It is humbling to think of how undeserving we are of all the many blessings that have been bestowed on us. God is truly great!

Kids' First Visit to Happy Valley

I've been meaning to write about our most recent weekend trip for some time now, and am, well…finally getting to it! Two weekends ago, we made a quick trip to Joe-Pa land. We had been talking about doing it for quite a while and even a few days beforehand, we weren't sure if we would make it, but it ended up working out beautifully.

As many of you know, since Jon purchased his (used) Camaro, he has been working on fixing up his old Chevy Blazer and making it drivable. His goal as always been to get it running so that we could give it to Uncle Joel. Originally we thought this might happen this summer, perfect timing for going to see our newest nephew and checking out Uncle Joel and Aunt Jenn's new house. But, as perhaps we should have expected, many unforeseen necessary repairs, trips to the auto parts store, and late nights along with our busy schedules significantly delayed our plans.

As Jon neared completion of the Blazer, he had his eye on the weekend of Nov 13th as a good weekend to head to State College. It was preferable not only because there was NOT a home football game (and the accompanying 100,000 fans filling up the campus) but also because the observation of Veteran's Day (a.k.a. the first day of hunting season in MI) allowed him to have a day off of work on the following Monday. We set some tentative plans and low and behold by Wednesday night, we were pretty sure the Blazer would be done and would actually make it to PA. We allowed the kids to start getting excited for their first trip to Penn State!

We drove after work on Friday as far as Grandma and Grandpa Shibata's house and spent the night. We went the rest of the 7+ hour drive on Saturday. Since we were driving two cars, we got to use the Walkie-Talkie's, which Marie particularly enjoyed. We arrived in the early afternoon and spent the rest of the day hanging out with Uncle Joel, Aunt Jenn, and TJ. The weather was beautiful so the kids enjoyed heading to a nearby park to run off some energy.

On Sunday, we went to church and then went back to the house for some lunch. After the kids took naps, we headed to campus. It was a little rainy and true to the season, it got dark earlier than we would have liked. But, that didn't slow us down too much. We drove through campus and then parked so that we could take kids to the Lion Shrine for pictures before it got too dark. We then walked to the famous Berkey Creamery for some yummy ice cream, another must-do if you're on campus. We walked though campus more, checking out Old Main and a bit more of Jon's old stomping grounds. We then headed to the Corner Room for supper. (I know…ice cream before supper. What kind of parent am I anyway?) The kids enjoyed playing with the Etch-A-Sketches while waiting for their food. After dinner, we headed back to the house with some very tired kids.









Monday Jon and Joel had a couple of errands to run to officially transfer the title and get the Blazer registered in PA. Then it was another full day of driving. We ended up stopping at Grandma and Grandpa's house again for a short spell to let the kids stretch their legs. Overall, the trip was quick and enjoyable. We're not sure when we'll be back in the Happy Valley neck of the woods again, but Marie and Joey's first visit was quite memorable.


Then this past weekend we began the "holiday" celebrations by attending our first Thanksgiving dinner. Our good friends, the Mitzels, annually host a pre-Thanksgiving dinner the Saturday before. All in all, there was something like 46-ish in attendance, over half of which were 8 years old or younger. Lots of good food, football (not sure if it was good), and good company. 'Tis the season!

Now we are set to enjoy Thanksgiving in Ohio with the whole Shibata clan along with Great-Grandma and Great-Grandpa Speckhard. It is sure to be another wonderful time. We hope that you and all of yours have a great holiday and are able to enjoy giving "Thanks"!

Halloween Fun

The kids were really looking forward to Halloween this year. Last year, Marie started talking about going trick-or-treating with Rosie and Lilly again within a couple of months. Well, the time finally came!

The first activity was to carve their jack-o-lantern out of one of the pumpkins they had chosen during our previous outing with Rosie and Lilly. (Note: The other pumpkin met its demise while being rolled and thrown down the hill behind our house, an activity that was neither dreamed up nor accomplished by the kids alone. I'll refrain from naming the instigators/accomplices.)

Marie and Joey thoroughly enjoyed scooping out the seeds, drawing Jack's face(s), posing with the finished product, and ultimately lighting it (sorry, no pictures of that). The whole family was there for the lighting and Joey was very excited about showing Jon their work. He used one of his more recent favorite phrases, "Look! Look!"

Since visiting Pittsburgh for JJ's birthday, the kids have been interested in Thomas the Train and Lightning McQueen even more than usual. I must have been feeling overwhelmed with my list of things to do when I saw these costumes because I quickly banished any thought of finding creative (i.e. less expensive) options and just got them. I have to admit, the kids loved them.

Our first stop on Halloween night was to Uncle Mark and Aunt Sarah's house. Joey was quite impressed with the whole concept of getting candy and then spent the rest of the time kicking around a stuffed (Illini) basketball. After our short visit, we were off to do more trick-or-treating with our goddaughters Rosie and Lilly.

We went trick-or-treating in Northville, and area very close to where Rosie and Lilly live. It was the same area were we went last year. The streets were crawling with people. Marie was definitely shy at first, but then warmed up to the whole process. She and Rosie (both 4 years old) definitely have different personalities; Marie is more hesitant and cautious while Rosie is a real go-getter. Lilly just turned three and also got into the fun. Joey on the other hand was completely happy being carried around by Jon as he watched everything around him. He especially liked seeing all the people out with their dogs. Another highlight was the girls happening upon a large pile of leaves in front of one house. Before we could even say a word, they had jumped right in. We barely had enough time to snap a picture!

After about 40 minutes, we had our fill of trick-or-treating. True to tradition, we all headed to Aubrey's for some dinner. The kids did very well even though they were pretty tired. Between the cool air and the surrounding commotion, they were beat. By the time we were leaving, Rosie had even fallen asleep.

Needless to say, we parents had our hands full keeping track of the kids in the crowd and we wondered how in the world we would do this next year when we would be outnumbered by two (their family is also expecting a son just a few weeks before us). I guess we'll worry about that when the time comes. :)