The de Wolfe Times

Just some random pics from being stuck inside the house in the freezing cold weather...

Addyson turned 9 on January 10th! We had her party here at our house on the 11th. Even my mom, Mimi, came in all the way from Texas from the party! Addy wanted a cooking themed or 'chef' birthday party. We had a grilled cheese sandwich station, hot chocolate station, fruit skewer station, and a chocolate fountain with all the goodies to dip into it! Everything went great! The girls were so sweet and good. The food was delicious. The hot chocolate was yummy. And who wouldn't love all kinds of sweet goodies dipped in warm chocolate? Addyson said it was the "best party EVER" so I think it was a hit! And Addyson was so sweet to include her sister, and sometimes her brother, in her party!

We recently got a family membership to Phipp's Conservatory in Pittsburgh. We have grown to love this place. They have had a light exhibit at night for a while now and we thought we would check it out. Three out of the five of us enjoyed it. However, it was VERY crowded and Nolan and Katelyn were a bit too cold! Needless to say, it was a quick trip through the exhibit and then out to get some dinner. We later decided we should have gone tonight when the Steelers play...it would be empty!!

The outside of our house is a construction zone right now. We are having some hard-scaping done to pretty much the front, back, and side of the house. It is long overdue. We re-did almost all the inside of the house, but we were almost overwhelmed and paralyzed to tackle the outside. It was overgrown and seemed like more work than we could handle thinking about. But we ended up finding a great crew that we have really enjoyed working with. They have done an amazing job. They are no where near finished, but they have made a great start!! I will try and post more as it comes!

Right before Thanksgiving, I got to meet Jason out in Canada. I have never been to Canada at all, so this was quite a treat. My mom was generous enough to offer to come and stay with the kiddos so I could go. Jason was already there for business and just extended his trip a few days. We stayed in Banff, which was absolutely breathtaking!! Everywhere you look there are gorgeous mountain views! We did the 'touristy' things and walked the town each day. It was cold, but no colder than in Pittsburgh which was nice. It was so nice to have some time to reconnect and see such beautiful scenery. We even bought a piece of original artwork that we fell in love with. It is a painting of a trail/area called Healy Pass in Banff National Park. It is so pretty and makes me smile every time I look at it. We hung it in our bedroom. We definitely want to go back again, but this time take the kids along!!

So I know this is out of order on my blog...I am catching up on everything!! And, I did not do a very good job of taking pictures:( This year Thanksgiving was awesome! Doug, Kelli, Audrey, my mom, and my grandmother got to come and visit! It was a full house and so much fun. I think our kids loved having their cousin here. And I think Audrey loved having a bunch of kids to play with! My mom ended up coming five days early so I could sneak off to Canada to meet Jason who was there on business. The rest of the crew arrived on Monday before Thanksgiving. It really was low key time. We did some cooking and baking. Kelli helped me lots in the kitchen. Mom played with the kiddos. Gigi rested and read. And Doug and Jason did chores outside and inside. They hung mirrors, got the gutters cleaned, and fried a turkey! Thanksgiving dinner was great! Our microwave was broken...so heating up leftovers was interesting! We loved hanging out with the Sanders crew. We can't wait for them to come visit again!

Christmas always seems to be such a busy and crazy time of year, and once again flew by! This year Jason's parents were here! We had a bit of a sickly house this year, but we tried to make the most of it. With the kids being so sick, we went to church on Christmas Eve in shifts. Jason and I went first at 3 pm while Jason's parents stayed home with the kids. Then when we got home, his parents went to the 5 pm service. We had a nice lasagna dinner and a birthday cake for Jesus (which Debbie made and it was fabulous)! Christmas morning was great. We told the girls they could not wake us up before 7 am. We said they could come down and peek, but not to get us up (last year they got us up at 3 am)! They stayed true to their word and were hovering over our bed at 7:01 am! The kids were really good this year about not just plowing through present after present. They were calm and appreciative. Christmas was great this year with family time, good food, and remembering the reason for the season. Unfortunately shortly after Christmas, Debbie, Jason's mom, got more sick than she already was. By Saturday she was miserable and ended up at the doctor. She tested positive for the flu. We were all devastated when we discussed it at length and decided it would be best for them to go home. It was very sad that they had to cut their trip so short, but it was the right decision. Debbie was really feeling awful and we didn't want to risk any of the kids getting the flu. Like champs, and like usual, they drove straight home all the way to Texas without stopping to stay the night anywhere! We are looking forward to their next trip here!

Jason's work had an office Christmas party for all the families. It was sooooo nice! I do not know why we have not gone in the past, but I think we will definitely go from now on. They had all kinds of great food and fun activities for the kids. The kids got to get a picture with Santa and they each got a gift! The girls got their faces painted and decorated cookies. Nolan got a train as his gift, so he sat and played with that for the remainder of the party...ha! It was so much fun!

We have had a rough go lately with the kids being sick. We ended up taking all three to the pediatrician two days before Christmas. Addyson had croup, Katelyn had one ear infection, and Nolan had a cold. This was Kate's 3rd ear infection in the last two months and she ended up just going again this week and has another ear infection...uggh! Poor baby looked awful! We are sure hoping the new year brings healthiness to our household!