Andy’s Birthday

Today Andy turned 17 and I snapped a really good pic of him to mark the grand occasion and just had to share it!

Maybe it was the rum cake??? LOL

Family Flashback- Andy Turns 5!

We celebrated Andy’s birthday yesterday with a trip to Portland. We went to two music stores (we love going to music stores), wandered the mall, had supper at Red Robin and dessert at Krispy Kreme!!! Yummy!!!

After we got home, the boys all piled back in the van and went to stay with friends on their last night before school starts again on Wednesday. So, while I was enjoying the quiet I got to thinking about other fun years we celebrated Andy’s birthday. The year that he turned 5 came to mind…

When Andy turned 5, clear back in 2000, we lived in one of my favorite houses down in Rockwood. We had a family party on his actual birthday that year.

The highlight was getting his bike…

I love the look of surprise on his face!

And this unknown gift was apparently something he really wanted, too! I just wish I could remember or figure out what it was???

Look how excited Andy and Zack are!

That year for Christmas, the boys all got life-sized stuffed dogs. So Andy got some “supplies” for their new puppies. Their favorite was the box of Milk Bones that was filled up with candy! As you can see, Will enjoyed them a LOT!!! LOL

It was such a fun birthday party that Andy didn’t even mind getting clothes…

Clothes are fun as long as they are Buzz Lightyear clothes!

We also had a snowman themed party for his friends that year. I bought all kinds of snowman stuff on clearance after Christmas!

We even had snowman pb&j sandwiches!

But to make his snowman birthday even more special, God gave us snow when we woke up that morning!!! Now that was a terrific birthday present!

We had lots of fun with all his friends!

Happy Birthday, Andy!!! We love you and are so proud of you and hope you have a super wonderful year!!!

Family Flashback–New Year’s 1998

This year was Zack and Andy’s very first official New Year’s party. We celebrated by having Grandparents and Aunt Theresa and Uncle Frank over to our apartment to play games and ring in the new year together.

Unfortunately, the boys had so much fun playing games and eating snacks that they didn’t make it to see in 1998…

This picture makes me kind of sad because my grandpa died just a couple of weeks after this picture was taken… Yup, I still miss him! So thankful for pictures and great memories!!!

Christmas Day

Sundays make for a chaotic Christmas morning at our house! But it is nice to worship our newborn King on the day we celebrate His birth!

We got up a bit late, opened our stockings, and headed to church. Andy even played “I Celebrate the Day” for us. He did a beautiful job!

Unlike most Sunday mornings, no one was really hungry when we got home, so we went right into opening presents…

new ear buds for Andy

Will got the last of what he needed to buy his new camera. Yeah, he was pretty happy about it!

Andy also got a new drum

Zack is now sporting a new .30-06

The most exciting gift of the day was the new PS3 from Santa! He got a really great deal on it by trading in all the Will stuff at Game Stop. Santa is really proud of doing it all without the boys suspecting a thing!!!

So the rest of the day we played Uncharted until we left for Portland to have Christmas dinner with the family.

It was another very merry Christmas for the Leingangs!

Christmas Eve

This year we celebrated Christmas Eve like our friends across the pond. We had tons of fun food from the UK! Wassail, egg nog, stuffed tomatoes & mushrooms, scones with lemon curd, cheesy pudding, goose, bread sauce, bangers & mash, cottage pie, turkish delight, tarts, brandy snaps, and flaming figgy pudding. By the end of the night we were stuffed!!! Oooo, we even had Christmas crackers for everyone…

Amy and Maggie open their cracker

Elsie looked the cutest in her paper crown!

In between cooking and eating, we played games and opened gifts. It’s just as much fun seeing what everyone else got as it is getting things yourself!

playing the Logo game

Ada felt pretty grown up using Aunt Theresa’s camera!

Maggie got Alice in Wonderland

Charlie got Bullseye!

Theresa made Elsie an adorable fox jumper

Stella liked the scarf I made her, she just didn’t like posing for a picture. ;o)

Just before heading to church we lit the figgy pudding! It was beautiful!

Our candlelight service went really well and we even had visitors! And this year, we arrived before most of the congregation! LOL

We came home tired and watched a movie before sending everyone off to bed early so Santa could get a good night’s sleep!

It was a smashing good Christmas eve!!!

Family Flashback- Seattle Family Christmas

Here’s a family Christmas in Seattle way back in 1999…

We spent the night at Aunt Margaret’s and then went to Grandma & Grandpa’s for Christmas.

At Aunt Margaret’s

Playing Legos with Uncle Tom

The grandmas

All ready for presents!!!

Seattle Family Christmas

On Wednesday, we drove up to Kirkland and had family Christmas up at Chris’ Aunt Margaret’s house. Christmas with family is always fun and special and this was no exception! And this year, Mark was able to join us, too!

We had a wonderful time getting to visit with everyone, eating good food, opening presents and playing our new Logo board game from Tom. What a hoot that was! We laughed and laughed and had great fun!

Wearing the blinking Santa hat means you’re Santa, Tom! ;o)

But Donita made a very cute Santa’s helper!

That’s the fun new board game…

Aunt Margaret

Andy got a Kindle from Mark!!!

Donny

Zack’s chocolate gun

William got Photoshop from Mark!!!

Opening more gifts!

Thanks for the very fun evening, everyone!!!

Christmas Lights & Krispy Kreme

Every year we mix up a thermos of hot cocoa and grab a box of Christmas cookies, hop in the van and take a driving tour of the Christmas lights around town. This year’s tour was a bit further away but something new to us. My sister was able to secure some VIP vehicle passes to the Winter Wonderland at Portland International Raceway (her office makes all of their cd’s)!

It was fun to see all new lights for a change of pace! We saw the North Pole, a ski resort, the 12 Days of Christmas, Baby Jesus, dinosaurs, the ocean, Santa and a whole lot more!!!

On the way south, Chris mentioned that he had a hankering for hot Krispy Kremes… Who am I to deny him that??? So we called my mom, got the address of the nearest Krispy Kreme, programmed the GPS and found the glowing red “hot donuts” sign on!

They even had snowman donuts just coming off the line. I liked them so much I had my picture taken with them! After all, I am getting a bit old for Santa…