Brylie's 7th Birthday

Brylie had a great birthday.  She got to have muffins for breakfast.  Me and Ellie brought her class doughnuts for her party at school.  And then for lunch we came back and brought her a happy meal and ate lunch with her. For dinner Brylie got to pick her favorite meal.  She choose Stuffed Shells, curly fries and string green beans with lots of butter.  For her cake this year she wanted a cheesecake.  Since we were having everyone over, we made two.  We had a regular one that could have strawberry or blueberry topping or a pumpkin cheesecake.  

 All of the family came for her party.  She had a great time and got lots of awesome presents!

I can't believe she is 7 now!!!!!!

Greg's Bday

Greg turned the big 3-5 this month!  I had a great bday date planned for us!  I planned for us to go to dinner and a hockey game. It was a surprise to Greg.  Then on the night before, our home teacher came over and said, so I hear you are going to a hockey game tomorrow!  So, then the secret was just who was playing and who we were going with.  I had asked Greg if he could eat anywhere for his bday where would it be.  He said UNOs Pizza.  We had been to one in liberty before, so I googled the address to put in the GPS.

So, we headed out to eat with Nic & Chris.  We went to the address of UNOs and it is now a steakhouse!! So, his dinner choice was ruined too!  We ate at a BBQ place instead.  Then to the hockey game I made Greg wear a KU shirt.  The game was KU vs. MU.  MU beat KU by like 12 goals!  So, we were totally dressed in the wrong team apparel.  But the game was actually really fun and exciting.  There were 9 different player ejected during the game for fighting!  And tons of penalties.  The teams must hate each other big time!

So even though the evening didn't go as planned, it was still fun and great to be out on a fun date!  Happy Birthday Greg!

Ellie Update

Ellie has officially been walking since the beginning of this year.  She is my earliest walker so far.  She still has 6 teeth, but we think she is working on more currently.  She loves staying home and playing all day with mommy!

 Her new favorite thing to do is ride Jaren's motorized 4 wheeler.  She pushes the button and drives until she crashes into something!  She also likes riding it standing up and sitting on it backwards.  Daddy is excited that he has a future riding partner :)

Ellie and Kale are the perfect puzzle partners.  Kale puts the pieces in the puzzle.  Ellie picks the pieces out of the puzzle. Kale takes the pieces from Ellie's hand and put them in the puzzle.  Its a great cycle.  No one gets mad, they like playing this game!

Happy New Year!

We let the big girls stay up until midnight (in NY anyways).  We had Nic and her family over to eat treats with us.  The girls all had a good time!

 Ellie went to bed at her normal time

This is the girls jumping at midnight after the ball dropped!

We adopted....

We would like to introduce...

Charlotte Brown Dombek

known as Charlie

She is our guinea pig that we just adopted.  She is supposed to be a very child friendly pet.  We have decided to practice with her to see if we are ready for a dog yet or not.  The kids have to help take care of her if they want a dog.

So far she is pretty scared of us!  Whenever Ellie screams, which is like every 5 minutes, she goes and hides in her tunnel.

Our Christmas Letter

Well to make a long story short, I ordered our Christmas cards at the beginning of the month and the store cancelled my order and emailed me at a wrong address to tell me.  That is why we are going "electronic" this year.

2011 ...

was a year that changed our family FOREVER.  Im sure we will all remember this year.

The year started out great when we welcomed our newest child to the mix.

Ellie Dombek 

(She won't have a middle name until she gets married and her 

maiden name will become her middle name)

Born February 3rd at 10:44am

She was a perfect 7lbs 13 oz and 20 1/2 inches long

     Everyone was so excited to meet her.  She brings us together as a family, because every member of this family is blood related to her!  I have been blessed to stay at home with her and be there to take care of her and watch her grow.  She started out with some sensitive tummy issues and was a cranky baby, but after getting her on soy formula she has been great.  She is almost 11 months old now.  She has 6 teeth and LOVES to EAT!  She is a smiley happy baby.  She gets sooo excited when her big sisters or daddy come home....she starts clapping and squealing with delight.  We are so blessed to have her in our family.
   
     When Ellie was 6 weeks old we went on her first trip.  We went to Washington to visit Greg's Sister and her family.  It was great to get to meet them and hang out.  We had a great time and I am sure they liked meeting Ellie

(Greg and Ellie on a ferry ride)

     This summer the girls and I took our annual trip to the beach in San Clemente, CA with our whole extended family.  We DROVE (along with my sister and some of her kids)!  Yes, it was a long 20+ hours, but it was very fun.  Ellie got to meet her great grandparents, and tons of aunts, uncles and cousins!  Kaden and Brylie had a great time playing in the sand and hot tub with their cousins.

(Some of the kids cousins and Great Gpa Holman)

   This year Kaden turned 8. (Now she is almost 9)  She was baptized by her Grandpa Holman at church.  She is in the 3rd grade.  She was sad that none of her friends from last year were in her class.  She has made new friends and her favorite subjects are math and art.  She is still taking gymnastics classes and enjoys doing gymnastics and dances during recess time.  She is a great 2nd Mother to Ellie (and to anyone else who she can boss around).  She really has a sweet and caring heart.  She always thinks about others feelings.  We are so blessed to have her in our family.

(First day of School)

    Brylie (almost 7) is in the 1st grade.  She is doing excellent at school and getting the best grades possible.  She says her favorite subject is math.  She is one of the best readers in her class and enjoys reading chapter books already!  This fall she decided to play soccer.  It was her first season.  She started out a little timid but scored her first goal in her last game.  Once she got down the rules and got aggressive, she did so good!

Brylie is a smart, funny girl who likes to keep us all laughing.  We are so blessed to have her in our family!

(Brylie is in the Orange-about to kick the ball)

    Jaren (almost 3) is an energetic, loving boy.  He has the BEST time when he gets to come hang out with his three sisters.  He cries and won't let go of his daddy when he has to leave.  We were worried that he might be jealous of the new baby, but he is very protective of her.  He is gentle and sweet with her!  He is definitely a daddy's boy though!  He loves having his daddy throw him around and play with him.  He is very talkative and happy.  We are so blessed to have him in our family.

(Jaren loves doing "boy things" with daddy!)

    Greg continues working at BE Aerospace.  He loves his job and is doing great at it.  There was nothing but praises said about him at his work Christmas party.  But even more, he loves being a Daddy.  He tucks Ellie in to sleep every night so mommy can have some time off :)  

    We hope this letter finds all of our family and friends having a great holiday season.  We love keeping in touch with you all and feel free to stop by if you are ever in Missouri.....we would love to have you.

                                                                              Love, 

                                                                          The Dombek Bunch:

                                                                         Greg, Heather, Kaden, Brylie, Jaren and Ellie

Our beautiful children!