a better Santa...

The daycare I work at was open Christmas Eve until NOON and lucky me had to work! I got there around 8:30 AM with the boys and to my surprise, there were only 10 kids in the whole center so I got to leave! Tyler wanted to play for a little bit so I hung around then we headed off to the mall to see Santa and get another picture taken...and boy was it better!

Merry Christmas

Caiden (4 months) and Tyler (4 years)

Wonderful Wieblers!

Howard and Robin Wiebler came over Sunday night to visit and took us out for a yummy dinner!! It was so nice to see them (as always!). They got Tyler a 487 piece Spiderman Lego set and Caiden, Eric and me a new outfit!! They are such wonderful people...like second parents to us. Thanks you! We love you guys XOXO

Brotherly love

Fence'm in... Part 2

Eric and our good friend John took off work Friday to finish digging the holes for the fence and WOW did they finish it all in no time! It turned out that they needed a different size (longer) drill bit. They were able to dig about 20 holes in 4 hours as opposed to 4 holes in nine hours! Great job you guys! By the end of the day Eric had only 2 more to go, but he needed a one man auger since the holes were so close to the house. He got up early Saturday morning to finish those and once the holes were all dug, he started with the fence. It's gonna look so good! I'm so proud of my hubby; he sure is amazing!

Check out this fence in the making...

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So I decided to take the boys to Petsmart to get their picture taken with Buck and Santa Clause. It seamed like a good idea at the time, I even figured I'd be fine without Eric... BOY was I WRONG! Picture this:

• Me in high heel boots
• Caiden in his infant seat on my right arm
• Buck pulling on his leash in my left hand
• Tyler wondering next to me
• Rain
• cold
• Slippery tile floor
• Animals everywhere.....

Do you see where I'm getting?? I was definitely an experience I'll never forget! As we were entering Petsmart with Caiden on one arm, Tyler in front of me and Buck in my left from the rain in black heels, a lady was leaving and wanted to "share" the doorway... she said excuse me, but I really couldn't move... I tried but when I did I slipped and fell INTO the doorway as I told the lady "sorry but I can't excuse me!" Oh how embarrassing!! Luckily the door caught me and she was able to help me back to my feet and nobody was hurt. Now that I think about it I'm wondering if that's how I got this bruise on my left forearm? Hmmm...

After that we made our way back to see Santa and I was a little disappointed in his little helper.. Santa was a girl! LOL The picture turned out cute though.. Caiden looks surprised! (haha)

Fence'm in...

We have our new dog, a dog house, now we just need a fenced in yard! Eric picked up all the wood and supplies on Friday to begin building the fence. On Saturday morning before the rain came he marked the perimeter of our yard and measured where all the post holes will go. He also started working on the gates. Early Sunday morning Eric and our friend John rented a power auger from Home Depot, but the first one they rented was broken, so they had to take it back. When they finally started (around noon) they thought they were going to finish in a couple hours, when at the end of the day, they only got 4... They both said it was hard work and very frustrating but they stuck through it and hopefully they can finish soon! My baby deserves a foot rub for all his hard work... and high fives for John because he missed the Panther's game to stay and help!









This is our fully loaded truck! Eric said it was driving really low to the ground...








Tyler and Daddy working in the rain (under a tarp)

Picture time!!

Eric and Tyler throwing "leaf balls" at a park in Cincinatti

Family photo inside a treehouse

Caiden sitting outside in his "chair"

"Santa baby"

Tyler and Buck sitting in front of the tree..

Brotherly love...

Charlie Brown Christmas Tree?

Okay, we're just not having any luck (again) getting the "perfect" Christmas tree. It's the second year in a row we've brought home a Charlie Brown tree. When we're there picking one out we think it's great, then we bring it home and set it up and think "wow" that tree is small! We were going to go to the Mountains to chop down our own tree to start a family tradition, but we didn't get the chance so we'll have to start it next year. Plus, with the drought going on, there's not the best selection... at least that's what I'm telling myself now because I really wanted to go to the mountains....

We decorated our tree last night and although it's small, it's still very pretty. We also added a Nativity Scene that was passed down from Eric's dad who got it from his dad! It's old, but really neat!

Our 2006 Charlie Brown Tree

Our 2007 Charlie Brown Tree!

...and Buck makes 5!

We finally found our new dog and he was definitely worth the wait. Eric found a listing on Craigslist for a black lab and we went to visit him this Saturday morning. By the afternoon we had him back at our house for a "trial run". After spending just a couple hours with him, we knew he was the right dog. The family we got him from did a great job training him and had several kids (13, 5 and 2) so he is great with the little ones. He is a 1 year old pure bred black lab so he still has plenty of energy, but is really well behaved. His name is Buckeye and we call him Buck. He loves to catch frisbee and play fetch (definitely prefers the frisbee though) and of course loves to play in the water. When he is ready to come inside he lays down and loves to get attention. We are all so excited to have him around it is great for the boys to have a dog to grow up with. We are definitely lucky to have him. Of course, he is a boy so the Mick family boy to girl ratio is now 4 to 1. Yowza!

Giggle giggle

Caiden is 3.5 months old and is laughing, smiling and cooing all the time. Eric is with him on the changing table getting Caiden to laugh... so precious... my favorite sound

Where's Tyler?

Over Thanksgiving in Cincinatti we went to this awesome park that had trails, a playground, and a tree house. We found this beautiful tree whose leaves had fallen off. Tyler layed in them and threw the leaves like it was snow... it was lots of fun!