Merry Christmas from the Dombek Bunch.  

This year I didn't get around to typing out a letter to send with our cards.  Maybe after Christmas time, I will write on here what we were up to this year.

Always busy, busy

We are always just busy busy around here.  I dont feel like we do THAT much, but even doing a little with 4 kids, can sure keep you busy.  Some of the things we have been up to:

 Music Concerts (Brylie)

 Getting ready for Christmas

(I took a friends family pictures by this huge tree at zona rosa, and a few of the kids too!)

Decorating the house for Christmas

(Our tree and outside lights are up and ready for our non traditional christmas this year!)

Attending Pirate Birthday Parties:

(You can never have enough fun birthday parties to go to)

Christmas shopping

(She will forget what she's getting....right?)

 Playing

 Potty Training

(our first attempt didn't go so well)

Attending Church and working on our callings

(The girls like to try and match the color of our outfits for church, today cousin Kari was going to church with us, so we got to get a picture!)

It seems like there is always something to do.  Besides, the laundry, dishes, grocery shopping and trying to keep a house clean in case someone calls and wants to see it (Yes, our house is for sale!) There is always homework, school activities, play dates and church meetings to keep us busy!  But we wouldn't have it any other way.  After the holidays we will be adding gymnastics back in and piano lessons!

Happy Veterans Day to my 4 favorite vets this weekend!  I am so proud of my strong, brave family members who put everything they had on the line for me and my freedoms!  I could never do what these men have done, so I THANK YOU and I thank all the men and women who serve or have served our country!

Field Trip

Today we took all the kids on a fabulously fun outing (thanks to Groupon).  They got to pretend to be doctors and vets, work on a farm, paint and make art creations, play in a water table, go under the sea in a submarine, build with legos, and much more.  This was a great place, the kids had a blast and Greg and I got to just sit back and watch their creativity!

October

October was a busy month around here.  Here are a few other things we did this month:

We PLAYED: Ellie had a friend over and this is what the play room looked like after 2 hours.  They had a blast, and its easy to clean up...so its worth it!

 We ATE: I am into couponing and price matching.  We scout out the good deals!  This day we got ALL this food at Taco Bell for FREE!!  I even tried to buy some drinks and the guy gave them to us for FREE too! The kids loved the fun outing.

 We DATED: There is this really hot guy that Im dating that brought me these flowers before our last date.  I really am a lucky girl!

Halloween

Flo (the Progressive Insurance Girl), My scary Vampire and Little Elmo had a great Halloween!

We made warm Italian soup and Mummy Hot Dogs for dinner.  We got all dressed up and went trick or treating in our neighborhood.  My girls, their two dads and Cousin Kari went with us!  We saw lots of friends while our trick or treating.  We thought Ellie might get bored and have to go home early, but she never let up.  After every house she would say, "More Caneee, More Caneee"  She would dig through her candy bag between each house.  She couldn't concentrate on walking.  We brought the wagon, but daddy ended up carrying her most of the time! It ended up being a pretty warm night, the kids never even asked for their jackets.  We were done at about 8:00.  We got to bed later then normal, but slept in this morning and got driven to school (on time of course).  It is fun to have kids that get so excited about trick or treating.  It reminds me of my younger days and loving Halloween just like they do.

Halloween was a success!

Out with the OLD and in with the NEW

This picture reminds me of my life right now, haha.  The kitty on the left was Kaden's FAVORTIE toy as a little kid.  She had to take it everywhere with her. Although it was washed regularly, this is as clean as it gets.  It was well LOVED but its no longer needed.  Our family has been trying to get rid of the things that we have held on to that we no longer need as well.
Ellie found this kitty and fell in love with it too!  She wanted to take it everywhere.  After a trip to walmart when I gave in and let her bring it in, I new she needed a new toy that wasn't so gross.  I found this new one online and Ellie now has her own kitty.  We are always in search for new in our life.  Sometimes the new is better then the old, and you wonder why it took you so long to change!  You can always look at the old and know that it was loved, but be glad you have moved on.

Fall Activities

Fall is upon us.  We have been busy with cheerleading and now soccer games.  We went to the pumpkin patch with a group of friends from church.  

What a difference one year makes!

My 3 girls with the pumpkins

Ellie wouldnt hold still!

There were tons of baby kittens walking around, the kids LOVED bugging them. 

 Ellie loves cats and dogs!

Playing in the Hay Maze

Kaden was in the Homecoming Parade! She is on the far left.

                                      

 It was freezing outside, here we are watching.

Cheerleading

I got some pics of Kaden cheering at her second game this 

season!  She had fun and the Pirates WON!!  Yay!

We ate...

The kids and I made worms out of Jello.  They looked so real but actually tasted good!

And Cheerleading season has begun!  

GO KADEN and the PCC PIRATES!

Summer Vacation #2

In July we took a trip up to MN to hang out with Greg's family.

We took a day trip to Duluth, MN 

and toured an old ship:

And went on a train ride:

Then the next day we went to Lutsen, MN and rode on a Gondola and the ALPINE SLIDE!!

This was everyones favorite part of the trip!

 Alpine Slide:

 And we also hung out with Greg's parents and sister.  We went to the lake, toured Greg's old stomping grounds, rode on the 4 wheeler, went and learned how they mine, played by the train tracks... 

And picked "weeds" that look like Flowers :)

Summer vacation #1

Due to some major family DRAMA this summer, we skipped our annual trip to San Clemente, CA and went to Myrtle Beach, SC instead!
Yes, we drove all 4 kids all 20+ hours.  We expected the worst but it turned out to be awesome!  On the way there Ellie didn't cry once in her car seat, we stopped for ONE lunch/potty break and had no accidents!  It was pretty much a miracle how good it went!  The ride back was just as easy.  Our kids are car riding champs!
Anyways, we stayed at 2 different places in Myrtle Beach.  The first 3 nights we stayed at a hotel suite with a bedroom and living room, kitchen, balcony with beach view, ect.  It was right on the beach!  They also had a lazy river, indoor pool, outdoor pool, kiddie pool and spas.  We spent most of the time right on the beach in the water and then we would swim at the end of the day to clean off all the sand of course.  The kids ALL loved the water.  The big girls almost never came out of the water.  The water was so warm, it was wonderful (much better than the freezing water in CA).
This hotel also gave us unlimited access to a water park(which we spent one day at) and mini golf (which we only did once).
Then we had an awesome Groupon deal to stay in a two bedroom villa....it was like having our own apartment.  They also had a kids splash park and lazy river that we hung out at.
Here are a few pictures:

When we first arrived

In the kiddie pool

She is a BEACH BABY all the way

The girls LOVED the water

Hi Daddy!

Sunset at the Pier

Summer Fun

We have been playing in the sprinkler in the backyard since we don't have our pool out yet.  Ellie LOVES water so this has provided hours of entertainment already.

 Ellie likes to splash in the water....but then she always has to "taste" it too!

 I LOVE this action shot so I had to share it too!

Field Trip Day

The girls and I have decided to take a field trip at least once a week to different museums and places around kansas city this summer.  Today we went to the federal reserve with some friends and learned about money!  We got to watch a video, make our own money and watch people and robots working with the money.  It was a great break out of our regular boring days at home.  Here were are out front:

 We even each got to take a bag of shredded money home with us!

Here is some of the money we made: