Great Wolf Lodge

Coloring while daddy gets the car ready for home.

Howling at story time.



 Getting ready for the story to start, making sure we are not too far away.

 

This past weekend we adventured up to Great Wolf Lodge with Levi and Maci. Luke got to spend some time with Grandpa and Grandma Roedema..probably a bit of a break for him too with some one on one time. We had a great time and the kids loved everything about the trip...except the drive. They had their movies and all their snacks. I made small treasure chests for them with all their goodies for the drive and that was a big hit...and of course stopping at Wendy's for lunch. Levi called our room a cabin and even that to them was a big deal. Checking out the beds, the fireplace and how the room keys worked was so fun for them. It was fun to see this experience through their eyes.We spent time at the waterpark the first afternoon we got there and then for a few hours the day we left. Levi was just big enough to go on the tube slides with dad. Maci liked watching the 'big bucket' dump water on the kids..over 1000 gallons at a time.  We all went on the lazy river and spent time in the smaller kids area. We played the magi quest game and had lunch in the hotel restaurant when we left. The night we were there after the pool we gave the kids baths and new pjs and headed down to the lobby for the story time. Levi loved howling like a wolf and doing 'paw fives'. They were so tired they fell right asleep. The resort was so big that there was alot of other things we would have like to have done with them..but no naps and short on time we will have to save that for another time. What a great way to spend some one on one time with each of the kids too.

Birdfeeder and Books

Bird feeders all ready to go up...Thanks Dad for helping!

Ready for popcorn..with their blankies.

All ready for the day..Maci in her princess outfit and Levi in his fav shirt. He wears all the time!

Warm walk with Mom on a 50 degree day in January!

Maci and Levi love to read books to each other and to be read to.
Luke loves the attention when they "read" to him too.

With Ryan home over Christmas, we were able to do some craft projects. One of them was to make bird feeders. The kids with really excited with this simple idea and when the birds started coming they were jumping up and down saying, "they are eating the food". They now like to watch the birds when they are eating breakfast and are really interested in all the different birds that come to the feeders. We get a lot of them too. Levi asked since there are blue jays, are there red and green jays too? We have not seen any of those birds yet...

Luke 7 Months

Reindeer baby at Christmas..did not like this for long.

Luke has been battling an infection for a long time now. He had a round of 10 day antibiotic and now onto his second round of 10 days of something stronger. He is still a big boy and yesterday at the doctor weighed 19.9 lbs. He plays well with his siblings and loves to have "rides" from his daddy.."demon drop" and blankie rides seem to be his favorite right now. He is going through that stage that if he can't see mom he is a little wimpery...Levi and Maci are good subs at times. He has started eating puffs and gram crackers..those are his favorite. He is a good sleeper and will sleep 12 hours at a time, although this past week he was waking up during the night because of his ear. He babbles alot and Ryan thought he said da da last week..:)

Christmas 2012

Watching a Christmas movie together.

Christmas Morning 2012

Sick Day with her new princess doll from her daycare.

Everyone loved the new train track. Luke could watch it for hours.

Ready for a Ride and then Hot Chocolate and Levi's favorite marshmellows.

Christmas 2012 was an interesting one. Maci had a flu and fever symptoms for 6 days which turned into breathing treatments, little appetite and a little girl who was not herself. Since she was contagious she missed out on all but one Christmas party. Luke also had an ear infection was on antibiotics and started wheezing, he also ended up on breathing treatments every 4 hours. We had to split up who went to each Christmas party with Levi. We had our own Christmas on Christmas morning and the kids were well enough to enjoy that. They were tired that afternoon. Levi asked Christmas night if we had Christmas already..and I said, we did, he said there was not bells or snow so it could not be Christmas. That made me laugh. Maci was such a sweetheart even though she did not feel well..saying thank you for "taking care of me", and "please make me better Mama". She always has quite an upbeat attitude although she has had her long bouts of sickness and that is something that I took away this break..that her smile and attitude was so positive. Something of her personality that Ryan and I both admire even at this young age.  The kids enjoyed all their presents and the excitement of opening gifts. Ryan was bummed that over this Christmas break that there was not a ton of snow. The kids did get a chance to ride the sled behind the 4 wheeler a few times and love doing that. We have a had alot of down time at home with doing puzzles, coloring, reading books, playing with blocks and legos and making crafts. Ryan is sure a loved playmate to all the kids.