Goodbye 2007

***What 2007 has meant to us:

Firsts:

Family...Camping trip, Labor Day family reunion, annual Brody Turkey Bowl!

Ryan...volunteering as Mark's camp counselor, attending NFL football game, receiving Playstation 3, dancing like crazy at a wedding...lol, watched his Colts win the Superbowl.

Karis...new smokin' abs (never mind!), 10yr high school reunion, finding lots of long lost pals, riding the coasters @ Universal Studios, Fla.

Mark...snow-mobiling, Cubby game, Bulls game, summer camp, club wrestling, supporting role in school play, found out about food allergies, got addicted to role-playing video games, Medieval Times.

Reese...put on his own shoes, big boy underwear, first school holiday concert, rode a bike w/ training wheels, found out about food allergies.

Marina...met Mickey Mouse, said goodbye to crib and hello to big girl bed, discovered Cinderella movie, horseback riding at the Dells, too many more firsts to count for this little girl!


Repeats:

Family...vacation to Orlando to visit Disney World and Universal Studios, weeknights out on Mark's football field, participating in a family member's wedding...

Ryan...competitive volleyball team, XM radio, could out-quote anyone when it comes to movies, made his wife very happy!

Karis...watched Emma full-time, started work-out routine, purchased season passes to waterpark, beat the neighborhood kids in 4-square, cheered my heart out at Mark's games, hosted family holidays.

Mark...played as a starter on football team, straight A's in school, video game nut, horseback riding at the Dells, 1st place ribbon @ speech meet, etc.

Reese...continued to excel in Early Education program, rode the bus home like a big boy, came home from school with new hilarious songs, loved swimming like a fish at the pool, favorite video games=nfl street and atv offroad fury.

Marina...cute as a button! Totally daddy's girl, favorite is Lambie and Kitty, loved to play at the park, colored on the walls, screamed bloody murder when I would brush her hair.


Other Random Memories:

Over the summer, Mark realized that Santa is not real. He came to us one night, and said "Mom and Dad, tell me the truth! Is Santa real??" and we squirmed a bit till I said, "What makes you ask that?" He responded, "Because the kids at school laugh at me for believing in Santa. Tell me the truth!"
So, after some thought, I asked him, "Mark, if you really think about the facts...a man travels around the whole entire world in one night and brings toys down chimneys, etc...do you think it's real??" After he pondered that a bit, he said no. Ryan and I nodded our heads. Then, the light went on in his head. "What!?!" He looked at us like he's been had all these years! Then he said, "You mean all this time, it was YOU giving me those presents??" Ah, yes! The words EVERY parent longs to hear someday. Appreciation for all the sacrifice you make for your blissfully ignorant kids. We talked some more about how HE can help us now, to make it special for his little brother and sister. And he was pretty excited about that. Then he got up and literally said, "Okay, I'm going to go put my tooth under my pillow for the tooth fairy...HEY! Wait a minute!"


Reese tickled us to death one night when he prayed in his own precious way. He said, "Jesus...thank you for this day...and we don't eat our boogers, and we don't say 'butt'...and we wake up and eat cereal....and then, and then...and then we play playstation games. AMEN!" Ahh!! Too funny!!


Other favorite sayings from Reese are from his interpretation of many songs, such as;

"Come...they told me, a rump-butt-butt-butt"

"...then one froggy Christmas Eve, Santa came to share..."


And then there's the embarrassing ones, like when we would meet someone for the first time, and he would say "Hi, butt!" (He loves that word for some reason...because he knows it's off-limits). Or, when we are hanging out with a group of people, and he'll march in and announce real loud, "I have to go PEE-PEE!"


Marina has had her share of funny phrases as well...

If we say "Hi, Princess" or "Good morning, honey" she'll always answer with "NO, my name is Rina!"

And she likes to tell everyone she meets that Reese is 5 and she is 2! She's suddenly aware of age and birthdays or something.


So, that's the year 2007 in a nutshell.
xoxo