Emanuel's Birthday and random holiday thoughts....

Our second oldest baby turned 13 yesterday! I can't believe he is a teenager, or that we are the parents of two teenagers. It seems crazy.

Emanuel is a great kid. He is helpful, affectionate, trustworthy, hardworking, and dependable. He has an excellent sense of humor (he makes me laugh all the time). He loves his family and is a really happy kid.

We spent the day with him yesterday, and went out to lunch at Buffalo Wild Wings. It was a great lunch. We had a fantastic server, everyone behaved themselves, no one cried at the table or got into trouble, everyone ate their food and Alexandria only had to go potty once during the whole meal!!! Then we came home and did cake and presents. Manny didn't want a party this year- just family (two of our kiddos are like that- they like to keep things just within the family...Brandon is the other one....he even goes so far as to rarely want to invite anyone over!)



The past few days have been awesome in the "family time" department. On Christmas night, Albert and I assembled Brice's train table, after trying unsuccessfully to sway him into waiting until the next day. While we worked on the table, the boys tried out their new Band Hero and DJ Hero. I don't think either Albert or I have ever laughed so hard in our entire life! I was laughing so hard, tears were streaming down my cheeks. The boys were totally rocking out on the microphone- taking turns being the lead singer, the guitar player and the drummer on Band Hero. In fact, even Albert and I got a turn being the lead singer. Emanuel was usually the stage manager (since he could link his DS up to the game) but he did take a couple of turns singing. Albert and Emanuel picked out the play list and Brandon had veto power if everyone else hated the song. It was really a fun night. For the last three nights, we've all gone to bed wayyyyy too late and morning comes early here because of the babies- but its been well worth it.

This morning, we woke up to snow that has slowly but surely begun to stick and coat the road and grass. The boys were totally thrilled and the babies were mesmerized. They pushed chairs against the kitchen door and peered outside for the longest time while I made their breakfast.
I know I've blogged about this before- but I really love Christmas break. Totally for the family time. Good quality down time is scarce for us between the sports, homework and getting ready for work/school and boy are we soaking it in now. Albert skipped the gym again today to stay home and take a nap with me. We didn't really nap....just hid out in our room and giggled and talked by ourselves while the babies slept and the big boys played with their new toys. Now some of us are in the living room playing with Brandon's hunting video game and some are in the office playing Playstation football. Did I mention that I love this day....