A Special Christmas Visitor

Last night, we went to Jason's cousin's house for a Christmas get-together. Stacy's house is beautifully decorated for the holidays. As a matter of fact, I'm sure it's beautiful even when it's not the holiday season!

Anyways, she did a great job of putting together a yummy spread of cookies, appetizers, and food for everyone to enjoy. I'm sure everyone got their fill of tasty Christmas treats.

Then the kids gathered and sang some Christmas carols for all the grown-ups. Surprisingly, Dillon knew almost as many songs as Kennedy! I think there are 14 kids in all. I would list everyone's names, but I'm sure I'd be forgetting someone!

Just as we started singing "Santa Claus is coming to Town", the Big Guy himself showed up, along with Mrs. Claus! What a site it was to see all the kids' faces light up, and hear their squeals of delight when he came in.

Santa and Mrs. Claus

He led everyone in a round of Jingle Bells, and then called each child up onto his lap for a little chat. He asked each kid what they wanted for Christmas. And of course, if they had been good all year. Then he gave each of them their "first gift of Christmas." What a nice treat for the kids (and parents!)

Kennedy wants a Baby Alive and some Barbie dolls

Dillon asked for GeoTrax, Thomas the Train, and Lightning McQueen toys

Sydney just asked to Get Down!!

As close as I could get to a group picture of all the kids with Santa

Stacy also made some little gift boxes for the kids to mix up some Reindeer food. They combined glitter and oatmeal, so the reindeers would have something to see and smell to lead them to our house.

We left Stacy's house with three new Christmas ornaments, candy canes and some boxed reindeer food, and came home to find Santa had also visited our house "while he was in town"...he left some new games for the kids to enjoy while they are off school. There may have been a little "shock and awe" going on at our house last night because they simply couldn't believe that not only did they get to see Santa, but that he thought enough of their good behavior to leave some special gifts at our house. It was certainly a special night for everyone!

Merry Christmas to All, and to all a GOOD NIGHT!!

ps. more pictures available at flickr.com/norchfamily for your viewing pleasure. Take a peek at the rest of our charming family!!

Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree

Just so our homepage norch.com doesn't feel left out of the Christmas festivities...


More Christmas Decorating pictures...


Kennedy


Dillon


Sydney




The Ohio State Buckeyes Train under the tree




The Train Conductor




The Finished Product- Our Christmas Tree 2008


And if you aren't completely sick and tired of my Christmas decorating pictures, you can find more at our Flickr site.


Happy Holidays, everyone!

Love,

Congratulations Jay and Dana!!

Well, we mustered up the courage to travel to Cincinnati with our many small children for Jay and Dana's wedding.

Jason and Jay are buddies from college. I think they were friends in high school too, but I don't know exactly how their friendship evolved. I know they became close while playing computer games in Jay's basement bedroom, realizing their full pathetic-ishness when the two (totally date-worthy, at least in my opinion) young guys were sitting around playing computer games while the 50-something year old momma was sneaking out for a little late-night gotta-getcha-some hook-up.

At any rate, we've known Jay for many years. He did us the honor of serving as best man in our wedding, and thankfully lived up to his duties by having Jason there in the front of the church that hot July day six years ago. Now it was our turn to return the favor.

I should have known this weekend was going to be an adventure when we walked into the hotel room and both older kids simultaneously exclaimed, "Wow! Our very own TV! And it has a remote! And look! A bathroom, with a shower and bathtub! Oh my gosh!!" Mind you, they both have stayed in a hotel before, so I don't know where all this enthusiasm was coming from, but they were uber-excited, and getting geared up for a great time.

The rehearsal dinner was Friday evening. We went to "wedding practice" at the church, where Dillon performed his duties gratuitously. He was excited to walk down the aisle with "the girl with the flowers" and even impressed the pastor with his willingness to cooperate.

We all went to dinner at a nice restaurant called DeSha's. Everyone was on pretty good behavior, and my kids stayed true to form- Kennedy eating steak, Dillon eating salad, and Sydney eating anything off anyone else's plate that wasn't hers.

Jason and Dillon were both in Jay and Dana's wedding party. I was quite excited to see my little guy all "tux-ed"up and looking dashing for the wedding on Saturday. He had already stolen my heart, but this weekend just melted me.

Yeah, I know. Well, apparently, I'm not the only one. He had ALL the girls at the reception absolutely eating out of his hand. He would have pulled an "Uncle Eric" and went home will all their phone numbers, if he would have been a little older. Yes, my little guy was the life of the party, hamming it up in the middle of the circle, slow dancing with the entire bridal party, and just being his absolutely entertaining self.

Not to be outdone, I had two little princesses there with me, too.

Kennedy was the Belle of the Ball, aside from Dana, of course. She loved dancing with her Daddy and wearing her pretty silver clothes.

Sydney...well, she's just Sydney. She's at that age where she's very demanding and "all about me", if you know what I mean. The wedding was a little rough on her because it involved sitting still and being quiet. Both of these items are not high on her priority list, despite what I might tell her. She climbed over, under and around me during the wedding, and decided to continue the trend at the reception. I think the night was just stretching on a little too long for her liking, and she was tired by the time dinner was over. I took her back to the hotel room and put her to bed, and she was asleep within 15 minutes.

On Sunday morning, we stopped over at Jay and Dana's for a post-wedding luncheon. They served Cincinnati-style Chili and entertained all their family and friends from out-of-town. We then made the L-O-N-G journey home (three-and-a-half hours of tired kids who refused to sleep) and finally were back to our own house and our own beds.

We're wishing Jay and Dana a wonderfully happy marriage and a lifetime of happiness. We had a great time visiting their town, and hope to entertain the new Mr. and Mrs. G. when they are back in our area!!!

Bountiful Harvest

It's been a great year for tomatoes and peppers at Grandpa Jim's house, and we've been enjoying the fruits of his labor.

This year, he hired a couple of "farm hands" to do his harvesting. He's paying them in fresh veggies. I don't know who is getting the better end of that deal. They're 5 and 3, and like to eat. Boy, do they like to eat. Especially veggies. Crazy, huh?

C'mon, you know you want a taste!

Look what I found!

Vine-rippened cuteness!

The smile tongue says it all!

Thanks, Papa! We'll never get enough of this special late summer snack! Mmmm, Mmmm, good!!

Papa's Birthday

Tonight, we celebrated Papa Jim's birthday with a cook-out and ice cream cake. Yummy! Lots of good food, and fun for everyone.


Although we were celebrating Papa's special day, make no mistake about who stole the show! Five grandkids were hamming it up for everyone, making for an enjoyable evening for all


And what is an evening without a little photography? Some photos of the kids...

more pictures of this little heartbreaker over at Champ's Fight!

Grandma Becky was up past midnight making "Crack" for Kiki and Jennifer. "Crack" is a "Top Secret" recipe that we totally think Becky should patent and sell. It's like buttery, hull-less carmel corn, but better. It's only the best snack food in the world, so we began referring to it as "crack" because it's so addictive. We hope Kennedy doesn't go to school and tell her teachers that Grandma made crack last night, otherwise we're gonna have some explaining to do!

School starts in less than a week, so our summer is quickly coming to a close. I'm sure there will be lots of adventures this school year, so keep visiting!

Happy Anniversary!

Jason and I celebrated our 6-year anniversary on Sunday. Six years of wedded bliss! We got an evening to enjoy dinner at Carrabba's and then did a little shopping together afterwards. It was a nice time, quiet without the kids.

Looking forward to many more years together!

Happy 4th of July

Daddies and Kids

Family

After services for Jason's grandma on Wednesday, we went back to Aunt Jill's house for a little food and family time. Above is a picture of some of the latest generation of Norch/Jones kids. It's not an all-inclusive picture- I think there are 17 great-grandchildren in all. You can see Kennedy is missing, along with her favorite cousin/playmate Carley. There are a few others who either weren't there or who were busy running around. Hey, it was hard enough to get 8 kids looking and kinda smiling!

Anyways, the kids had a great time with their extended family, digging up worms, playing ball, and putting on a "talent show." It's always a good time when everyone gets together!!

Dillon and Carley with a "Squirmy Worm-y"


Kennedy and Carley look for worms


Daddy and Dillon play ball

Hope it's Beautiful...

Jason's Grandma (Jim's Mom) passed away on Friday evening, surrounded by her family. She had been in failing health for the past few months, but she had been declining over the past couple weeks. I'm glad we had a chance to visit with her and take the kids to see her. They colored her some pictures that we hung next to her bed.

Tonight, we saw a beautiful rainbow that seemed to rise and fall right in our backyard. The picture hardly does it justice. It was so vibrant.

I would like to believe the rainbow was a sign from Grandma, sharing a piece of her heaven, telling us that she no longer stuggles or hurts.

These next few days and weeks will be trying for Jim and the entire family. Calling hours will be Tuesday night, and services will be Wednesday. Please pray for peace and comfort during this difficult time.

Little Einsteins

We had a busy weekend here at the funny farm. Saturday, we took a trip down to Columbus to visit COSI. It's a science museum that has a lot of hands-on stuff for the kids to do. I have only great things to say about this place. Summer weekends are apparently the time to go, because it wasn't crowded at all, and the kids rarely had to wait to play with any of the exhibits.

We started off the day at the Electrostatic Generator. I had to be one of the demonstrators. When I touched the ball, my hair stood up. (Something to do with positive charges repelling from each other- I know, you're not here for a science lesson, so I digress). Anyways, then we made the charge jump from my hand to the next person, and it made lightning between our almost-touching hands. Then Kennedy lined up with alot of the other kids and they all held hands, and they got shocked when we touched hands again. Daddy was manning the diaper bag and the other kids, so we didn't get any pictures, but Dillon says this was his favorite part of the day.

We then went to see some of the exhibits. There was a space area, where we learned about rockets, shuttles, and the space station. There was an ocean exhibit where we learned about submarines and buoyancy. And there was a Life exhibit where we learned about how the body works. Then we went to the Gadgets exhibit where we played with gears, magnets, and electronics. Lastly, we went to the Kidspace, where there was a great big climber, some pretend houses, a pretend veterinary clinic and ambulance, a supermarket, and lots of ways to use up all the extra energy the kids had before the car ride home. There was also a great big water room that had a big water table to play at, another table with built-in chairs for babies to sit in and splash, and a tank with super squirt guns to shoot at waterwheels and other toys that collect and dump water.

The kids slept most of the way home, and all in all it was a great day. They are having a healthy body exhibit this fall, featuring the Sesame Street gang, so I'm sure we'll be heading back. A great place for kids, alot of fun for parents too. A real hit with our entire family.

Here's a few pictures from our fun trip. More at www.flickr.com/norchfamily

Reading X-rays

"Little Einstein"

Playing with the air tubes and balls

Sydney at the Water table

Kennedy plays on the climber at Kidspace

Add Water and...Splash!!

A GREAT night tonight! We took the kids over to Steve and Jane's house for a little pool action!

Kennedy took swimming lessons about 2 summers ago, but I'm sure very little of that stuck with her. She's generally safe around the pool as far as not jumping in without an adult and staying away from the edge.

Dillon, on the other hand, is like an accident waiting to happen. He spent the first hour and a half of the evening scared to even get slightly wet. He sat on the edge of the pool, insisting that he dangle his feet in the deep end rather than by the steps, and whining every time a droplet of water landed on or near him. "No, not me! Not mine hair! Not get me wet!! No, no, no!!"

Sydney enjoyed the water for about 5 minutes, then she decided that the berries and the grandparents looked alot more exciting. She chose to wrap up in her towel and sit with Grandma and Papa.

After about a half an hour of practice, Kennedy became confident enough to paddle around in a life jacket and innertube.

Kennedy enjoys paddling around

Jason then started to ease Dillon in to the pool a little at a time- first his feet, then up to his knees, back and forth from side to side, getting Dillon to focus more on how fast they were going rather than how deep he was in the water. Eventually, Dillon wanted to put on the life jacket and paddle around with the innertube. Then, he sat in the floating seahorse innertube and paddled himself around. He even splashed his own head!

Dillon in the deep end

Dillon paddles around on his seahorse

The night wouldn't have been complete without friends, so Marcus, Rex and Kylie came over, and Kiki, Olivia, Rocco and Steven stopped by.

Olivia enjoys swimming too!

Everyone had a great time, and we're looking forward to more evenings at the Cates' pool this summer! Thanks, Steve and Jane!!

The Kimble Kids

Missy was home this weekend with Audrey and Mallory. They went to Kennedy's dance recital on Saturday, spent Sunday with Grandma and Papa, and came over to play at our house this morning before heading back to Pemberville.

Pretty Ballerina

At lunch, we took all the kids to "Old McDonald's" for some chicken nuggets and playtime. We managed to get a picture of all the kids together, and believe it or not, they were all mostly looking at the camera. Wouldn't you know, some strange kid wanted to join in, and because I had to snap the picture so quick, the focus is a little off. Anyways, here's about the best I could get, so enjoy some fun pictures from our weekend!

The Gang's All Here!!

Could I just Honk your nose once, Audrey??

Even a place for the babies to play!

Funny Girls!!

Jason and I are taking the kids swimming tonight. And Kennedy and Dillon start Art, Gym and Swim tomorrow at the YMCA, and Vacation Bible School is starting next week, so look for more summer fun photos in the next few days. We're finding lots of ways to keep busy this summer, so visit often for updates!!