Sweet Dreams...

So, Chris and I have been staying up a little later than usual as it is winter break. After we put the girls to bed, we play some games or watch a movie, and just enjoy spending time together. (Something we don't get much of.) A few nights ago, we put the girls to bed in their beds, and proceeded to play some games. A couple hours later we went up to bed, and this is how we found the girls:

Morgan sleeping on her pillow in the hallway just outside her room.

Rachael, sleeping on her pillow with her bear in the hallway just outside her room. I would bet money that this was her idea.

Hair Cuts

We thought that we would ring in the new year with a few hair cuts. Just trims this time as the girls have decided that they would like to keep their hair long.

Morgan in the 'Hair Chair', which happens to be our piano bench.

Cheeeeeeeeeeeeeese! Rachael's turn in the 'Hair Chair'.

Merry Christmas!

We had a wonderful, quiet Christmas. The Lueken and Runyan grandparents traveled from Indiana to spend the holiday with us. Here are some fun shots from our holiday weekend:

Here is Chris making cookies on Christmas Eve. He was pretty insistent that Santa needed fresh cookies to be left out that night... He made two different types of cookies, and they were both delicious.

Rachael woke up Christmas morning with a slight cold. She was pretty tired that afternoon after all of the excitement of presents and what not. She fell asleep sitting-up on the couch with Chief on her lap.

The Master Chef! My mom (Sandy) is quite a whiz in the kitchen. She made a feast for our Christmas dinner. We had prime rib with horseradish whipped cream, green beans with red peppers, Yukon gold mashed potatoes, roasted carrots, a spinach salad, and pumpkin and raspberry pie for dessert. It was amazing.

This was our beautiful dinning room table for the feast. (Thanks to the Moms for the linens and the napkin rings.)

American Girl Doll Christmas! The grandmothers got together for this one...Morgan and Rachael decided that they wanted American Girl Dolls this year. Rachael asked for 'Felicity', while Morgan requested 'Elizabeth'. That is all they really wanted, so it was fun to see how excited they were when they opened them up. Chris's mom (Pam) made the girls nightgowns, with matching gowns for their dolls. They girls were in heaven. Don't they look like little ladies all ready for bed?...
Okay, spunky little ladies. Lately, for every cute picture that we take, Rachael insists that we take a silly one as well. She must get that from the Runyan side...

Yes, the dog sleeps with people. Spoiled, yes. However, I do not know who enjoys it more, the dog or the girls. They take turns with him each night, and it was Rachael's turn Christmas night. Usually, he sleeps down under the covers. This evening he chose to share her pillow...

Pittsburgh

Chris had an interview this weekend in Pittsburgh for a spot in their Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery program. Since we have friends there, and it is only a 5 hour drive, the girls and I decided to accompany him. It was great to see the Robisons again. Aliess took great care of us and showed us all around Pittsburgh. We had a wonderful time.

Here we are in front of a Stegosaurus at the Carnegie Museum. We only scratched the surface of the museum that day, but were really impressed with what we saw.

The kids in front of some T-Rexes. From left to right: Kurt, Elizabeth, Rachael, Morgan, Lexi and Reid. (They're all getting so big!)

While we were in Pittsburgh, we attended the Robison's ward Christmas party. For the service portion of the party, we assembled hygiene kits. The girls had a nice time. (Rachael especially got into the project.) Morgan and Rachael are pictured here with Elizabeth and Lexi. During the party, the kids also had a visit from Santa.

For Christmas, I would like...an American Girl Doll!

Hmmmmm, what do I want?

This was just a fun pic of Morgan and Lexi. The girls had a great time together.

Thanksgiving Weekend

We spent Thanksgiving in Indianapolis with the extended Runyan family. My parents, Gary and Sandy Lueken, came to enjoy the festivities, as well some friends of Emily and Jaron. The girls were thrilled to spend time with their cousins, aunts and uncles, and BOTH sets of grandparents. Highlights of the weekend included paintball, eating, early morning shopping, eating, jumping on the trampoline, eating, watching movies, and eating. We had a wonderful time!

Alyssa and Vincent brought their super fancy camera and took family pictures of all of us. Here is a big group shot, Chief included.

PAINTBALL! This was the first time in 8 Thanksgivings that Chris did not participate in the Turkey Bowl in Cincinnati. To make up for it, we had a paintball party. This is a before shot. Pictured are those of us man enough to brave the cold and shoot at each other: Cameron, Gary, Dee, Chris, Jaron, Alyssa and Vincent. Mike is taking the picture. He was man enough too.

I included this action shot of me and my dad that Chris is particularly fond of. I would like to send out props to my dad who was awesome at paintball, even though this was his FIRST time ever. At one point, he even captured the flag and ran it back to the base for us. Yeah Dad!

With the leftover paintballs, the Dads supervised paintball for kids. They LOVED it. Here are Spencer and Morgan with their masks on.

Here are Rachael (mask) and Mikey.

Chris and Dee in the kitchen after they cleaned up from paintball, but before the feast.

Vincent and Alyssa making Cranberry Chutney. It was soooo yummy.

It finally happened. Morgan out-grew the Runyans kiddie picnic table. She is pictured here at the 'grown-ups' table.

The wee-ones at the kiddie picnic table. Pictured are Mikey, Joshua (?), Spencer and Rachael.

Just chillaxin'...

Dee and Rachael and Chief. He is such a lap dog.

Morgan is getting quite good at her violin. Her teacher gives her more and more to learn, and she can't seem to get enough. In fact, she tends to master what her teacher gives her in a day or two, and then sounds things out on her own...Perhaps she has a little of Nana's ear for music. She brought her violin this weekend so that she could play with Spencer. He has been learning how to play the piano, and is doing quite well.

VIO-lin, lin, lin, VIO-lin, lin, lin, VIO-lin, lin, lin, ahhhhhhhhh. (That comes from a They Might Be Giants song that Morgan and Chris find especially funny.)

A.O.A

Alpha Omega Alpha. A really fancy way of saying 'Medical School Honor Society'. As many of you know, Chris is a very busy man. This is because he works VERY hard, and may or may not be a bit of an over-achiever. Anyway, he was honored along with several other students this week, as they were inducted into A.O.A. (It is difficult to receive this honor, as it requires good grades your first two years, along with good grades and great evaluations your third and fourth years. In addition to this, you need hours of community service...Thank heavens for callings!) There was a special dinner, and all the inductees received a certificate. At the dinner, we ran into Dr. Froehlich, who was also there to receive an award. He was the doctor who delivered Rachael, and about 80% of the babies born in our ward over the last 7 years. It was fun to run into him after all this time.

Halloween

Trick-or-Treat! Chris was post call on Halloween this year, which meant that he was able to go trick-or-treating with us. Hooray! (He missed out on last year's festivities.) The weather was beautiful that day, and we had a great time. Our neighbor, Campbell, joined us for the candy gathering. Rachael wanted to be a cheetah again, while both Morgan and Campbell wanted to be something evil. (Great.) Campbell was an evil fairy, and Morgan was an evil snow queen'. When asked why she wanted to be an evil snow queen instead of a good snow queen, Morgan replied, "Because I want to carry a wand, and only an evil snow queen would carry a wand." Okay. Notice the wand in her hands. It lights up and makes a pretty cool swishing noise. When seen in that light, who wouldn't want to carry a wand and be an evil snow queen?

Rachael with her spoils of the evening. She even counted it! (She counted 168 pieces. Now that's a lot of candy!)

Ouch! At one point during the evening, Morgan tripped over her long dress. (It was pretty sad.) This happened in an unknown neighbor's walk-way. The owners of the home were kind enough to clean her up, apply Neosporin, and give her a band aid. Morgan was pretty sad for about three houses after that, and then perked right up for more trick-or-treating. Nothing like candy to cheer up an owie...