It's official! The Fischer Family has now expanded to a party of 17: Mom, Dad, the 3 daughters, the 3 sons-in-law, and now
9 grandkids!! Amanda and Josh have adopted a little boy and a little girl. AJ is 3 1/2, and Izzy just turned 2. They've had them since August, but the adoption was finalized just a few days before Christmas. We got to meet them on our trip to FL in October, but I couldn't blog about them or post any pictures until everything was official.
The whole family came in from FL and PA this week for a slightly belated Christmas celebration. Jeff, Dad, and I scoped the property the day before for a great photo spot, but Monday's rainfall literally dampened our efforts. Here's a pic of the original Fischer five and the best indoor pic that we could get of the whole crew:
I also snapped a few quick pics in the flurry of present opening.
Here's Micah being...well, Micah.
Mikayla and her new personalized water bottle. She has trouble finding anything with her name spelled correctly. I ordered this for her since I can totally empathize. ; )
The big boys all got swords, and I was under attack!!
To officially welcome AJ and Izzy to the family, I got them blue T-shirts like the rest of the crew and inducted them with a hazing ritual: a Fischer family photo shoot. It went as well as could be expected with 9 kids ages 9 and under. The shirts are numbered in birth order, but interestingly over half of the kids numbers are also their birth year (Nate '02, Ashley '06, Lily '07, AJ '08, and Izzy '09).
It's official! The Fischer Family has now expanded to a party of 17: Mom, Dad, the 3 daughters, the 3 sons-in-law, and now 9 grandkids!! Amanda and Josh have adopted a little boy and a little girl. AJ is 3 1/2, and Izzy just turned 2. They've had them since August, but the adoption was finalized just a few days before Christmas. We got to meet them on our trip to FL in October, but I couldn't blog about them or post any pictures until everything was official.
Santa found his way to our house once again. The kids must have been better this year, because in addition lots of presents, they did not get a warning letter from Santa like they did last year. ; ) 
Snitch, our Elf of the Shelf, came back the day after Thanksgiving this year which was way too early! For future reference, a week or two before Christmas will be about right. Not only does "Snitch" have to remember to move each night, but "he" also has to remember to deliver the daily notes from Ashley to Santa. And as if "he" doesn't have enough to do, "he" heard about someone else's elf leaving paper snowflakes behind, so "he" had to give that a try too! ; ) 
We also emailed our letters to Santa this morning (http://www.emailsanta.com/). He replies right away with a personalized letter. My kids both asked for scooters for Christmas. Santa's letter reminded them to always wear their helmets! Jeff will be so proud. Safety first! 
