army training

Jacob has been out in the field for the past couple of weeks doing pre-deployment training. We stayed busy while he was gone and from what I've heard, he was pretty busy too!!

Jacob

and his gunner.

snow day and bath fun

On Saturday morning we woke up to snow.

And then the snow turned to ice.

Our backyard was a sheet of ice and Ava slid all over.

She was very confused with the snow/ice combination but enjoyed playing in it!

Baby butts :)

Carefully censored bath photo.

Playing with the bath paints from Auntie Janne and Uncle Adam.

Daddy, I don't think that's where the paint goes!!

Little Miss Coy

Creative hairstyling compliments of Daddy!

She's the only one of the bunch that loves it when you throw water on her.

I love bathtime!!

honeycutt park

While Jacob was in the field a couple of weeks ago, the kids and I met some friends after school for a fun afternoon at the park. After the crazy January weather we've had here in NC (freezing and windy) it was a welcome change to have a nice warm day!

Nicholas

Christopher "driving" the playground!

Little Miss Lexie can now hold her own on the playground and keep up with the boys!

Ben tried to use this ladder and got stuck about 3/4 of the way up.

Nick likes the tunnel slides!!

And so does Christopher!!

Look at me! I'm so big!!

Lexie and Ben sliding together.

monkey joe's

A few weekends ago we went to Monkey Joe's with some of our friends. It's a fun place to go with wall-to-wall inflatable slides and jumps. There's even an area for the littler kids.

Lexie

Ben thought the turtle was the coolest thing EVER!

Nick loved the slides- the bigger the better!

Christopher

I was amazed that Ben was able to climb to the top all by himself.

And he loved sliding down!

Jacob went a few times so that Lexie could go- she wasn't able to climb up the ladders.

But she was able to slide down by herself.

And LOVED it!!

Adrian and Liam had fun going down the slides too!!

After our fun at Monkey Joe's we all headed over to Buffalo Wild Wings for a going away party for a couple of the sergeants in Jacob's company. Great fun, great food, and great friends!! Unfortunately, we didn't get any pictures.

fascinate-u

While my parents were in town we went to the Fascinate-U Children's Museum in downtown Fayetteville. The kids had a blast running around and discovering new things at the museum. Unlike other children's museums that I've been to, this one allows kids to fully explore all the aspects of daily life and traditional careers.

Christopher exercised his right to vote.

Lexie and a future career?

Lexie enjoyed going grocery shopping.

And paid for her cart full of groceries.

Christopher pretended to have a broken leg- which was quickly fixed up by Grandma.

Lexie and Ben drive the fire truck.

Christopher's ready to put out a fire!

Hi Mom!!

Lexie thought the fire pole was pretty cool.

And so did Ben- he did it over, and over, and over.

Mirror, mirror, on the wall, who is the fairest of them all?

Look, I'm on TV!!

Nicholas wants to be a police officer when he gets bigger.

Lexie the weather girl.

After our fun at the museum, we stopped at the Cupcake Gallery for a snack. :)

downtown fayetteville

We took a nice walk through downtown Fayetteville while my parents were in town. Unfortunately, we did it on a Sunday when most things were closed. It was a beautiful day though and the walk was thoroughly enjoyed!

The kids had fun playing on the benches in the Market House. It is built on the site of the original State House which burned in the fire of 1831. It was in the State House that North Carolina ratified the Constitution of the United States in 1789.

We continued down Hay Street to the fountain that sits at the entrance of downtown. The kids all made a wish a threw a penny in and then had fun running in circles around the fountain.

playing catch-up

So, it's been awhile since I've done any updates. A month to be exact. Today I'm working on getting current on what's been going on in the Albaeck house in the last month. Check back soon for updates!

post-christmas fun

Our package from Great Grandma and Great Grandpa (in California) came on December 26. It worked out great because we were able to extend our Christmas celebration an extra day!!

Lexie and her first CD player!

Ben waiting patiently for his turn to open a present.

Look, I got a new truck!!!

Christopher playing with his new remote control car!!

Ben thought it was fun to take his truck out front and pretend it worked with a remote control too.

I can jump like my truck!!

Such a silly girl!!

merry christmas (in pictures)

Look, Santa came!!

Ready to come downstairs for presents.

Can I open this one?

Lexie LOVED her new car!

And Ben did too- although he did seem a bit jealous since the pink one wasn't his.

Grandpa and Daddy going through their stockings.

Lexie got a new kitchen and dollhouse bookcase this year. She and Ben played with the kitchen all day!

Nick's Bumblebee Transformer flew off the stairs and hit Ben in the head. We got it cleaned up pretty quickly and then he held an ice pack on it for a few minutes.

Nick's favorite present- his new globe!

Christopher was so excited to get his Didj!!

And Lexie loved her Bitty Baby.

Lexie made hot "kashi" in her kitchen all afternoon.

Lexie and Grandma sharing a cup of coffee.

christmas eve

Christmas Eve was a pretty relaxing day. We only made one trip out- for bread and batteries- definitely Christmas necessities! We had Costco pizza for dinner and then finished up the books from our advent calendar.

Ben and Christopher

Nicholas

After our books (I think we had to read 5!), we put out Cranberry Bliss bars and milk for Santa. We left 10 carrots out for the reindeer- Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donner, Blitzen, Rudolph, and Pablo- just in case he came in from Mexico. Then it was time for everyone to go to bed!

Merry Christmas!