Merry Christmas!! The kiddos celebrated Christmas 6 times this year (they might be a little spoiled). We opened gifts at our house the Saturday before Christmas. Friday night, Maia helped me bake cookies for Santa. We spent the weekend relaxing and playing with our new toys before the big trip around Missouri. We left Wednesday morning for St. Louis, where we celebrated Christmas with Grandma, Grandpa, Aunt Laura, Uncle Matt, and Shannon. Then, we went to Aunt Linda's house to celebrate Christmas Eve with the Kohne Family, where Santa gave presents to all the kiddos. The Bucks came over to Mom and Dad's on Christmas Day. Friday night, we celebrated the Bieg Family Christmas, and saw Santa again! Saturday morning, we left for Mountain Grove, battling 70-80 mph winds and rain, to celebrate Christmas with the Gaddis Family. And, finally, we arrived in Morrisville to celebrate our final Christmas with Bart's parents Saturday night. It was such a busy week, and it was so good to see everyone! Unfortunately, I don't know that everyone was happy to see us, as we left unpleasant surprises everywhere we went. Poor little Chase wasn't feeling well all day on Christmas, it hit Grandpa Buck and Bart on Saturday, Grandma Buck and Laura on Sunday, Maia in the car (yes, in the car) on Sunday, and Grandma and Grandpa Gaddis on Monday. Somehow, Uncle Matt and I avoided the rath of the little "germ bugs," as Maia calls them. We are so sorry to all of you that received our Christmas present this year! Glad to hear you are all feeling much better. We will be spending the rest of the week disinfecting!Christmas at the Buck's

Santa visits the Kohne Family every year on Christmas Eve, and each family has their turn for pictures. Maia stood up in front of everyone this year and made one final plea to Santa for a cow...for those of you who didn't know, that's all she wanted for Christmas. Chase still doesn't like the man.My Mom and Dad hosted Christmas Day at their house. The food was delicious, and the decorations were beautiful :) Maia and her first cousin-once removed, Micheala, had a good time eating dinner at their princess table, and playing dress-up.

Chase walks across the room!

Kodi likes ChaseChristmas with the Gaddis family Saturday. Grandpa Gaddis and Maia leaving to pick out her cow.

She picked one of the red ones, and named it "Horsie"

SANTA!On St. Nick's Day, we took the kiddos to visit Santa. We were very interested to see how they would react. (Maia still wasn't too fond of the jolly ole man last year, and this was Chase's first time meeting Santa.) At first, they were a little confused. Then, Maia decided she REALLY liked the man who told her that he was going to bring presents to her house, and who gave her a candy cane. Chase wasn't a big fan of the big white beard!

Chase has been really trying to walk lately! He takes 4-5 steps pretty regularly, now. We caught some of them on video. (You'll have to ignore the outfits...or lack thereof. We were somewhere between bathtime and princess dress-up time.)

Chase walking

After family pictures last Sunday, we spent some time at Chuck E Cheese's. The kids LOVED it! Maia went down the slide about 30 times. Chase had fun on the Marry-Go-Round, and enjoyed watching all the kids.

"Happy to you, Mommy!"

Here are some random pictures of Maia and her best friend, Carson. Our friends, Jen, Ryan & Carson arrived in France today, where they will be living for the next year!

Jen, Ryan & Carson, we'll miss you!!

Ooey Goey Night & Chase's new trick

Kearney's Parents as Teachers put on an Ooey Goey Night for the kids last night. It is meant for the kids to explore different textures. Maia had a blast! She loved playing in the flour and shaving cream the best. I didn't let her play in the plastic swimming pool of cooked spaghetti...GROSS!! Maia took a nice, long bath when we got home.Easing her way into ita mess

Chase has a new stunt...he's quite the little dare-devil these days. He climbs up onto the arm of their recliner to look out the window. "Look what I'm doing, Mom!""Oooooo"

VACATION!

The weather forecast for today is saying temperatures in the 40s...that's just a little change from the weather we were enjoying last week in the Caribbean! Bart and I went on a cruise for our 5th wedding anniversary. First, we drove from Kansas City to St. Louis, where Maia and Chase spent their vacation with Grandma, Grandpa, Uncle Matt and Aunt Laura. They were busy almost everyday, going to the Zoo, Chuck E Cheese, the Pumpkin Patch, and Halloween parties. Grandma gave us a journal from their vacation telling us what the kiddos did each day of their vacation, and gave us a huge stack of pictures! From St. Louis, Bart and I flew to Orlando, Florida. We spent one night there, then we were off to Port Canaveral. Our first stop was Coco Cay, Bahamas, then St. Thomas, and finally St. Maarten (where Bart proposed 6 years ago!) We had such an amazing time! We took about 500 pictures while we were there...Here are a few of the highlights.

The Bahamas Parasailing in the Bahamas Our HUGE ship, Mariner of the SeasAfter one of the formal dinners on the shipOne section of the upper deck of the ship, looking towards the 2 pool bars, and stage The Royal Promenade, in the middle of the ship

Laying out on the upper deck with nothing but ocean for over one hundred miles in all directions.

Before dinner, outside of our dining room

Sunset in St. Thomas

We went snorkeling in St. Thomas, where we saw a ship wreck (a little spooky), jelly fish (really spooky), sea turtles, and tons of beautiful fish.

When we were in St. Maarten, we visited the same jeweler that sold us our engagement ring, and bought a new wedding set! Bart and a beer after buying the rings!

We arrived back to Florida at 6:30am Sunday morning, and our flight wasn't until 5:30pm. Needless to say, we had a little time to spare. So, we went to The Kennedy Space Center. This is one of the 3 remaining Saturn V Rockets in the world. Orlando International Airport, waiting for our flight to go home and see the kids.