Merry Christmas!

We had a wonderful Christmas and everyone was very good, so we had lots of fun opening everything from Santa and family. Grace woke up at 5, but we told he she had to go back to bed, so we slept until about 6:30. Olivia slept longer, but there was no holding the others back, so we went ahead without her. Jed and his soccer goal. It yells "GOAL" for him when he gets it into the net. He loves it. He told Chris when he gets it in the net it is a goal, and when he doesn't it is a "not goal". Funny kid.

Grace opening the first present of the morning. We were all blessed with wonderful things and we are thankful for all our loved ones and blessings in this life.

As a side note, we were having pizza for dinner tonight, and Grace did not want to eat the sausage. Chris was trying to tell her how good it was. Chris said it was just like a hot dog, but Grace replies, totally serious, "Except for the ketchup". No arguing with that logic!!

Meeting Santa

We went to our ward Christmas party and the kids had a chance to sit on Santa's lap before dinner. Grace had been excited all week and drew him a couple of pictures before we went. This is a shot of her giving them to him. She asked for a baby doll, which had never been on the list until that moment. I hope she won't be upset if it's not delivered! Here is Jed asking for a train set, good thing we knew about that wish. He has told everyone we've seen since then that he will get a train set and that Santa has lots of them in his bag.

I think Olivia's feeling are obvious in this picture. Needless to say, she didn't ask for anything.

Ladders?

So, this is Olivia sitting on Grace's bed and being very happy about it. The only problem is Grace's bed is the top bunk, and Olivia climbed the ladder to get up there by herself!

I was in the bathroom helping Jed and I could hear her squawking and making noise, so when he was done I went to find her, and I didn't see her anywhere, until I looked up. How is it my baby is a rotten dog now?

Excited!

In two weeks, our family gets to go to New Orleans,To watch the Utes
Play in this Game!

Not only do we get to have a great experience, we also get to see some family that we haven't seen in 2 years! Way too much time. I think Chris and I might be more excited for this trip than Christmas, well at least as excited!

GO UTES!!!

Fort

Today I was pretty desperate for the kids to do something on their own, so I made them a fort, and Jed in particular was stoked. We had made them before, but I guess he didn't remember the fun of them. He started to drag every toy from his room into it, until there was no room to sit. After Grace helped me straighten that situation out, they played in it for a good while. They had snack and "naps" and even played with stickers under there. Of course Olivia wanted in on the action, and she felt this was the easiest way to get in!

I made Grace and Olivia Christmas dresses(match at Grace's request) and tried to get a cute picture with the 2 of them, but this was the best I got. Olivia was not having a thing to do with sitting still for me.

Drawings by Grace

The other day I was picking up around the crayon/coloring disaster in my house, and I found this piece of artwork by Grace. Now, the first thing I noticed, as I am sure same goes for you, was the shark. But then I noticed all the other wonderful parts of this picture. Look at the mermaid in the bottom left. If you look close you will see her shells, belly button and pretty red Ariel hair. Also included in this masterpiece is a puffer fish and a crab on the bottom, as well as a ship, and if you look really close at the ship, you will see a person on it. I had the kids drawing Christmas related items last night, and this is what Grace gave to me. Notice the reindeer has a red nose, and Santa's huge bag of toys. The reindeer each have cute tails. and even have bells on their harness. The bright rainbow like thing is his "thing that makes them go"

I am always amazed at the detail she puts in her pictures, as well as how she can sit and color for hours. She is so sweet and makes drawings for everyone and usually writes "I love you" on them all.

Thankful

This is the day to reflect on all things we are thankful for. As I was thinking of all the things I have in my life, family, friends, food, a roof over my head and all the comforts I could ask for, I realized I am most thankful for a turkey, a ham and a cheese ball! My cheese ball
my turkey

my ham

Happy Thanksgiving to all, I hope you remember all the wonderful things you have in your life to be thankful for!

Random Happenings

We are here and settled in Dothan, and are trying to figure life out here. It is great, and besides cramped quarters, I can't complain. It has been a while, so I am just posting a few random pictures of the fun we have found here so far. Olivia with her hair done pretty before she pulls it out, every morning!

Grace and Jed fishing in their boats

The kids with big sticks trying to knock down pine cones from the trees behind our apartment. Not in the picture is a couch we have sitting on the lawn. We have been meaning to get rid of it, but it has proved useful in sitting outside and watching the kids. I have now come to decided, When in Rome...

Racing cars in the hall. It is about 8 feet long and not too thrilling, but we have spent some quality time there. Even Olivia gets in the action.

Moving Day

The day has finally come where we will live together once again. We had the trailer delivered today and are packing away everything. Tomorrow we have some free helpers and are loading up and heading to our new tiny apartment!!! Hopefully before too long we will be in a new house. Why does it always look worse before it gets better?
Our trailer! It makes it all seem so much more real.

When I picked up Jed from his last day of school, his teacher had made him a very cool pirate cake and had brought in pirate hats for all the kids to wear in honor of Jed.
When we picked up Grace, her teachers had given her some presents and then told us that Grace had requested their email addresses. I laugh every time I think about it, how does a 4 year old mind work?

Could they be any cuter?

Thanks to Heidi for a wonderful job on the pictures!!

Halloween Playgroup

To start off,I just want to inform all that Olivia will soon be a terror on two feet. She is walking more every day, and while she isn't quite the master of it yet, I am afraid of the very near future. This was taken as she was walking after the ball hitting it with the stick. We are involved with a playgroup here and today was our Halloween Party. All the kids wore their costumes(so we got our moneys worth!) and we had pizza, a few games and played outside. It was very fun and the kids loved it. Here is Jed as a bat and his best friend Tate(Red Power Ranger) By the way, another child told Jed there was a cow on his head,

I guess it must be the nose?
Olivia, in what I have decided must be a bear. I wasn't sure if it was a bear or dog, but I do know she is the cutest baby no matter what animal it is. She isn't a big fan of the hat, but was okay long enough for a picture.

More to come of our fun filled Halloween week. I believe the kids go trick or treating 3 or 4 times. Mama wants chocolate!!

Fall!

Well, barely fall. This week has been the first cool week yet, and the trees are just starting to change. Last night the kids and I went out to play for a bit before dinner. I started raking what little leaves we have how and the kids wanted to help. While one was raking, the other one and I were playing T-ball. After a bit, they wanted to jump in the meager pile of leaves, and Jed was especially good. He would get a running start down a hill, and dive into them. After a while he started to do tricks and "fancy moves." The shadows were covering us so the pictures are not great, but good enough to show our fun.


By the way, Olivia was just watching and screeching.

"Bat"man

We went looking for Halloween costumes today, and Jed found one of a bat. He wanted it, so we brought it home and he put it on and went to look in the mirror. He came back and told me I was silly because he had a cow on his head, not a bat. So once we figured that out, he went to show Grace and she said "Jed, you are awesome!" and Jed said "Yes, I am." He then realized he could be batman and fly. He had a great time with it for about an hour. By the way, the costume is made of fleece, and it was 86 today. He finally gave up when he was too hot!

Sassy Girl

I am finally posting pictures of Olivia on her birthday. We had the Richmonds over and had brownies and ice cream. Not only was she not interested in either of them, she would just throw them on the ground, so I didn't even bother with pictures of her eating!
The kids and I were in Dothan again this weekend, and we are getting to feel like it is home. I think we will be living with Chris in the next few weeks. While there, we took the kids mini golfing and they did awesome. If Jed slowed down and took his time he was REALLY good. So good that he scored 2 hole in ones! It was a decently hard course too. He is so very proud and tells everyone he can.

Olivia's "Party"

Since it is Olivia's birthday tomorrow, I wanted to do something fun, but a party wasn't really what I wanted, so we decided to go to a farm with our good friends the Richmonds and play there as a "party." It was great, and they had tons of stuff for the kids and adults to do. This was a duck race, and the kids had to pump the water for the ducks to race to the other end. They all loved it.
Here is the corn shooter(not you dad). It would shoot dried ears of corn. It was pretty loud, so Tim had to cover the kids ears while they shot it. Jed talked about it the whole way home.
The pumpkin launcher. There was a target in the lake through the trees. It was fun, probably more so for the adults that the kids!
Our birthday girl going down the slide. She has been into them, and only likes to go down head first on her belly. She is a cute bug though.
I will post more pictures of our birthday girl tomorrow!

Good and Bad

Well, we found out the people chose the other house, but oh well, I guess it couldn't be that easy! That is the bad. The good is that we had the kids pictures taken again, and they are sure to be wonderful. I don't have the proofs yet, but am very excited for them. An old friend of ours from Gainesville took them, and she does fabulous work. Go to the John and Heidi link from my page and you will see a couple of Grace and their cute boy John. I can't wait for the rest! That is the REALLY good.

Counters!!!!

They are here!!! My counters were installed yesterday, so I have now had a full day with a real kitchen. I am very excited, and I think they look fantastic. This is kind of a close up so you can see what they look like, mainly just me being overly excited!
On a side note, someone came to look at the house yesterday and were here forever, I mean, over an hour! They told the agent it was between ours and another house, so we are just waiting. I think they are going to bring their parents back to take a look too, so lets hope it works out, and I can finally be with my hubby!

Dothan

The kids and I went to Dothan this weekend to visit Chris and look around. They have a fantastic recreation facility there, and we stopped to play at the park a few times. Grace learned how to do a penny flip and was soooo proud. Is there anything more girl than flips on a bar? Jed was king of the slide, which was the slide of terror. Think of the metal slides that are REALLY steep and burn you butt on the way down, this was the same, but in plastic. He wanted to give 5 on the way down each time. Olivia was her normal self. She just crawls around, thinking she is queen bee and can do whatever she wants.

House, anyone?

Well, it is now official We are on the market and hoping to sell fast. I am only hoping and praying, but that is all you can do right? Things are otherwise going well. We are getting into a routine with Chris gone, and this weekend we get to go to Alabama for the first time. Hopefully it will be a good experience. This is a picture I snapped while we were on a walk. A nice neighbor was getting us some tomatoes, so I had a chance to take a quick picture. It is the best we get with these 3!
SueAnn, who does this remind you of? This is one of her favorite places to play. And it keeps her busy forever. The spitting image of Grace at that age.