A Merry Little Christmas!

Christmas truly is the most wonderful time of the year! There is nothing better than experiencing the magic of the holidays through the eyes of a child! We are truly blessed to be able to enjoy the joy of our three little ones! They really got into it this year, buying gifts, and making treats, decorating the house, wrapping presents and singing songs.

our Christmas gingerbread house

Santa's little helper trimming the tree

We enjoyed a Christmas Eve dinner at our house with Britt's family. There was good food, fun presents, holiday music and fun all around! Later in the evening we headed over to Grandma Diane's to celebrate with Robert's family where we enjoyed more food and fun!

Christmas cousins!

holiday hugs!

Isaac loves Grandpa George!

The kids were anxious to get home and go to bed (yeah....it happens once a year!) so Santa would make his way down the chimney. After opening Christmas pajamas, hanging our new ornaments and laying out our "Christmas circles" the kids opened the doors to the fireplace to welcome Santa in to our living room and they made sure they left out milk and cookies for the big guy too!

Pajamas, ornaments, happy kids

hurry Santa!

"Christmas circles"

Christmas morning came early and the kids were thrilled with their gifts! Santa was good to us this year! Our house was filled with Barbies and dollies and cars and trucks and super heroes and wrapping paper and ribbons! After the mixture of chaos and joy that we call Christmas we left our disaster of a living room and made the rounds to the grandparent's houses where the gift giving extravaganza continued! As much as we enjoyed the Christmas snow it bordered on ridiculous by mid afternoon but we braved the snow and made it back home where we enjoyed a wonderful Christmas nap! As much as I love Christmas I always breathe a sigh of relief Christmas evening and pat myself on the back for making it through another year! All in all we had a very happy holiday!

Christmas morning

sleepy excitement!

Hulk hands!

Easy Bake Oven=one very happy Daisey!

Go fish!

Daisey Elaine meets Kit Kitridge

Snuggly Wuggly!
We are indeed grateful for the season's greatest gifts: the warmth of family and friends, the blessings of health and happiness, and the love of Christ that lives within our hearts throughout the year.

Wishing you all happy holidays! May your home be warm with Christmas cheer and peace abide throughout the year.

Much love, us

One little boy, 2 little parties!

As you know, Isaac's birthday was last Saturday and since it's only 3 days after his Grandma's birthday we decided to do a combined birthday/dinner party There was cake, there were presents, there was family and fun!

Birthday Buddies!

Cousins!

Hungry,Hungry Hippo fun!

The Cake!

We tried our best to convince Isaac to have a little boy party with friends. But, he wanted to go to Chuck E. Cheese with the Sydney and Alexis like Daisey did! And so we found ourselves once again surrounded by pizza and singing and children on a quest for tokens and tickets! It was also Jess's birthday but as much as we tried to talk him in to dancing with Chuck E. he wasn't too keen on the idea! We had a lot of fun!

Happy Birthday from Chuck E.!

The Birthday Boys!

Look Mom! I won!

Sydney and Daisey

Maggie and LexiMaggie: a little girl who enjoys her ice cream!

Christmas Tag!

I've been tagged by the one they call Melanie! And this looks like a fun one! Here it goes:

1. Egg Nog or Hot Chocolate? Egg Nog! No, Hot Chocolate! No, Egg Nog! Oh I don't know!

2. Does Santa wrap presents or just sit them under the tree?A little bit of both. But, Santa puts the presents in "Santa circles" made out of the clothes we were wearing on Christmas Eve. I know, kind of weird but it's a tradition through my mom's family.
3. Colored lights on tree/house or white? We have white lights on our tree but I love both!

4. Do you hang mistletoe? No, but we should!
5. When do you put up your decorations?Isaac wouldn't let us put up the presents until his birthday on the thirteenth!

6. What is your favorite holiday dish?Cookies, cake and candy!

7. Favorite Holiday memory as a child?My mom always made the holidays so much fun! It's hard for me to pick one favorite. One year she made gingerbread houses and some family friends came over to decorate them. She sang all sorts of Christmas songs with us. We'd act out the Nativity, I loved being Mary. We read the "Polar Express" on Christmas Eve. Lots of happy memories!

8. When and how did you learn the truth about Santa? In second grade.

9. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve? We open two. Each of the kids get a new pair of pajamas and a new ornament every year.

10. How do you decorate your Christmas Tree? Usually Robert assembles it, then he curses the lights, then the kids hang all of the ornaments and the star goes on last.

12. Can you ice skate? Not well!

13. Do you remember your favorite gift? When I was a little girl I got this cute little Barbie family. I loved it! When we were dating Robert gave me a promise ring. The first year we were married he gave me a diamond necklace. Last year he gave me a diamond and amethyst necklace. He's given me some beautiful gifts through the years. A couple years ago the kids gave me a Raggedy Ann doll just like I had when I was little.
14. What's the most important thing about the Holidays for you?The magic of the season, experiencing Christmas through my children's eyes.

15. What is your favorite Holiday Dessert? Diane's Christmas pies!

16. What is your favorite holiday tradition?Making gingerbread houses, pajamas on Christmas Eve, cinnamon rolls on Christmas morning.

17. What tops your tree? a star of course!

18. Which do you prefer giving or receiving? Giving, especially seeing the joy in my children's faces when they open their presents!

19. What is your favorite Christmas Song? The Sleigh Ride song. It's so fun! And What Child is This. I love most Christmas songs, except Grandma got Ran Over by a Reindeer, that one makes me want to throw things!

20. Do you feel Christmas is too commercialized? Oh yeah. Every time you turn around there is something screaming at you to buy this and get that! We try to do something every year to make the kids remember what Christmas is all about.

This year we went to Shop Ko and picked out three children off the Sub for Santa "Angel Tree". A 8 year old girl, a 7 year old boy and a 2 year old girl. My manager at Ross (my new work) told all the employees that we could get an additional 50% off anything we bought for the "Angel Tree".

Because of her generosity we were able to buy these kids lots of nice things including coats, hats, gloves and toys. It was a really great experience for us. I'd expected my kids to start with the "I want this! Gimme that!" routine. I was shocked when instead they started asking "Can we get this for them too?"

We took the gifts in to Sub for Santa. The kids wanted to put the bags in the box themselves. The lady volunteering there told my kids that they had helped Santa do his job and that those kids would be so happy on Christmas morning bc of them. Daisey looked at me and said,"That makes my heart feel so happy." Seeing the looks of pride on my children's faces seriously pulled on my heart strings.

It was such a good experience for my kids, especially in this season of wanting material things. I hope that it's something that we can continue to do every year.

I tag....Clarissa, Brynn, Kate and Augest! Have fun!

Happy Birthday to SIX YEAR OLD Isaac!

Happy Birthday Isaac! Our little man is growing up! And I am so proud of the little man that you've become! You haven't changed much through the years, you're still my happy, mellow little boy, just like you were when you were a baby. But, now you tell jokes and make me laugh, you go to kindergarten,you give great hugs, you tease your sisters, you build great buildings with blocks and then knock them down with super hero's or dinosaurs! You bring such joy to my life! Happy birthday buddy! Love, Mom and Dad

Baby Isaac

Six Year Old Isaac!

Britt has done most of the posts but I thought I would make one today to let everyone know that I am alive. Also with the Christmas season upon us I wanted to take a moment to let everyone know how thankful I am. From the relationships that we all share, to the freedoms that we all enjoy, to the guidance of God in our lives, we truly live a blessed life. It is a good thing that we have this time of year to help us remember to reflect on these things.

Every year Britt and I send out Christmas cards, like a lot of people do. It is something that has given us a lot of joy. We appreciate seeing them at our friends and families homes, and even better we enjoy receiving cards from those who see fit to send them.

This year we had a hard time picking what pictures to send in the card so I thought I would post a few of the pictures that my sister took of us.

Merry Christmas and God Bless.

Thankful

I know, I'm a little late, but technically Thanksgiving weekend isn't over! I didn't want this time of thankfulness to pass by without me acknowledging the many blessings I have in my life.

This is our "thankful tree". We wrote down the things that we're thankful for in our lives on colored paper leaves and hung them on the tree. It was fun to see what the kids had to say and I think it's important for them to think about the blessings that they have in their lives especially right now during the holiday season when all that they see on tv is how important materialistic things are.

Ok, moving on and stepping off my soap box....

Daisey is thankful for:

~Mom

~Dad

~Isaac

~Maggie

~friends

~cousins

~grandparents

~school

~clothes

~shoes

~movies

~books

~home

Isaac is thankful for:

~Mom and Dad

~Grandma

~Grandpa

~school

~USA

~that he is healthy

~food

~toys

Maggie is thankful for:

~Mommy and Daddy

~socks and shoes

~toys

~food

~chocolate

~milk

~bed

~Elmo

I am thankful for 3 happy, healthy children.
I am thankful for a loving, hard working husband who also happens to be my best friend.
I am thankful for for our extended families that give us love and support.
I am thankful Diet Coke, chocolate and french fries!
I am thankful for a warm house to live in, a soft bed to sleep in, food in my kitchen, gas in my car.

I am thankful for wonderful friends and the good times we share!

I am thankful for music!

I am thankful for the knowledge that there is a God in Heaven who loves me and has a plan for me.
I am thankful to live in the land of the free and I am thankful for the brave men and women that fight to keep our country that way.
I am thankful that both my husband and I have jobs during this difficult time.
I am thankful for chick flicks and mystery novels!
I am thankful for my piano!
I am thankful my education!
I am thankful for bubble baths!
I am thankful for the beautiful fall leaves!
I am thankful for craft stores!
I am thankful for my health and the health of my family.

We spent Thanks-giving with Robert's family. There was lots of food, family and fun.

Tonight we had a second dinner here at our house with my side of the family.

We got to enjoy food, family and fun twice in one week!

And tomorrow is the beginning of the whirlwind that is December! Our kids can't wait to put the Christmas tree up and we're listening to our Christmas music!

It's the most wonderful time of the year! :)

Shutterfly

I won a free Shutterfly photo book and decided to make a cheesy story book for my kids for Christmas! It was so much fun to make! I have a newfound love for Shutterfly! Check it out! :)http://share.shutterfly.com/share/received/welcome.sfly?fid=05c6fa7600f3784fc9f3edf1ebadc1fb&sid=0AZtmrFu2aM2Tqw

Hi Ho, Hi Ho! It's off to work I go!

That's right, I had an interview yesterday and I started my new job today. I am Ross's newest "stock room diva"! It's not as glamorous as one might think but I think it will be a good part time job for me.
I spent my 4 hours opening boxes full of shoes,tagging them and putting them away out on the floor.
I'm super slow or shall we say "retail challenged" but I'm sure speed will come with experience!
I'm just going to have to make a constant effort not to blow my entire pay check at my workplace every other Friday! hehe

This is why I love Fall!

We are blessed with a yard full of trees. We have 13 big black garbage bags full of leaves out on the curb in front of our house and we're only halfway done. We rake and a day later it looks like we did nothing! But, this is the part about the leaves that makes me smile!

A Tragic Day (aka the dead guinea pig)

Our faithful friend Lenny passed away this weekend due to what we can only assume was cardiac arrest because frankly, he was the fattest guinea pig we've ever seen.

Lenny will be greatly missed. He was a good guinea pig, a happy guinea pig, a faithful furry guinea pig. He enjoyed eating, squeaking, and hiding in his igloo.

He will be greatly missed. (however we will not miss cleaning his cage!) Rest in peace Lennny.

Happy Halloween!

I've always loved Halloween! And it's even more fun with kids, especially when they're as cute as this awesome Red Power Ranger, Po the cute Teletubbie and our little she devil!
I tried to get into the Halloween spirit with my pink hair (Daisey's boa) and Robert went as himself, scary I know!
I also wanted to share our fun Halloween crafts! Daisey and Isaac were out of school Wed-Fri for Parent/Teacher conferences so they felt it was Mommy's job to entertain them! We had a lot of fun!

Handprint bats:

Salt Dough ghosts:

Yarn laced pumpkins: Handprint trees they made at Grandma Marilyn's house!