Merry Christmas!

December is always a busy month.  This year was no different.  It was wonderful, though! 

Nathaniel had his piano recital

 

Jonathan won a big cookie in a drawing at Publix

 

I was able to go to Andrew's field trip, Daniel's Kindergarten Christmas party, and Emily's Chorus concert at the mall and her class Christmas party.

 

The kids had school on Friday, Dec. 21, so it has been a short break.  My goal was to plan ahead this year, and I was able to do that for the most part so I wasn't so stressed on Christmas Eve.  It was totally worth it!  See below. :-)



Emily wanted a guitar, so Santa brought her one

Daniel finally got the Luke train that he has been asking for

Now they can have Nerf wars.  Outside, of course.

Michael and I celebrated our anniversary on the 27th.  We went to Les Miserables and out to dinner.  17 years, baby!

Last night, we went to the zoo lights.  The trick is to go after Christmas to avoid the huge lines for the train ride.  We had a blast!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Family Portraits 2012

We had these done back in October.  The Mays were visiting, so they were able to have their picture taken with us as well.  :-)

Merry Christmas!!!

 

Birthday Fun

It was my birthday this past Wednesday.  It was Mom's Morning Out, so from 9:30am-1:30pm Jonathan was at "baby school" and I had some free time. I ran some errands, met Emily on her field trip at the Archives, and met Michael for lunch.  Then, after the kids got home from school and we finished homework, we went to the church where the children sang Christmas songs at the Nativity exhibit.  Then we went to dinner at Baumhower's, which was a huge hit with the kids.

Here are Emily and Andrew at the Nativity exhibit

Facepainting at Baumhower's
Daniel got a snowman

 

Andrew has somehow become an Alabama fan.  We're not sure why.

Daniel and Mommy

When the balloon man asked Jonny what he wanted, he shouted, "Mickey!"  It took him a while, but he did a good job.

Emily got a candy cane, Nathaniel got Spiderman, Daniel got an Alabama elephant (again, we're not sure why), and Andrew got a bazooka.

 

It was a great birthday!

Thanksgiving Weekend

We had another visit from Papa this weekend.  Yay!  It's my birthday next week, so he met me during my Black Friday shopping and helped me pick out some clothes for my birthday gift.  He stood there patiently waiting while I tried on a bunch of different tops at Ross.  That was a pretty good gift in itself, am I right?  Anyway, we also went to lunch and then he went to our house to surprise the kids.  I ran a couple more errands and came home soon afterwards.  I was grateful that I got almost every deal I wanted on Black Friday.  On Friday afternoon, we decorated Christmas cookies and then went to dinner.  On Saturday, Dad and Michael worked on our clogged toilet.  Gross.  You don't want to know.  Anyway, after they got that done, we ran a couple of errands, went to lunch, went to Bass Pro Shops, and then went to the zoo and rode the Skylift and train.  It was a wonderful weekend!

 

Papa with our new baby, Maggie

 

Decorating Christmas cookies!

When Emily and Andrew saw that I had baked the Christmas cookies, they figured out that Papa must be coming, because we always decorate cookies with Papa

 

A visit with Santa

Nathaniel is just too cool for this anymore

 Fun and games at Bass Pro Shops

Happy Thanksgiving!

Maggie

We did it.  We got a puppy.  Our sweet dog Pupper died four years ago, and the kids (and their Daddy!) have been asking for a dog ever since.  Well, I am finally ready.  Michael and I were on a date Saturday, and we went to the Humane Society's location at the mall.  Michael picked up Maggie and didn't want to put her down.  We took turns holding her and she melted our hearts.  We had planned to get the kids a dog for Christmas, but we decided to go ahead and adopt her now.  The kids were soooo happy and surprised when they met her!  She is getting a lot of attention, to say the least.  She is a German shepard/labrador retriever mix.  

Welcome to the family, Maggie!

Our Fun Week

Andrew woke us up on Saturday morning and told us to come to the kitchen because he had made breakfast.  I thought he meant for the whole family.  Nope.  Just for his Mommy and Daddy.  We had waffles, buttered bread, and a cookie.  Looks like a great breakfast to me!  We even had table decorations.  I love you, Andrew!  Thank you!

 

On Wednesday, I got to see Emily perform with her school chorus at a retirement home.  They did a wonderful job!  Emily loves to sing.

 

Here is Jonny with his speech teacher, Ms. Kelly.  He is doing really well, and she is so patient with him.  Can you tell he likes her?  When we get there we sit in the waiting room for a few minutes until she comes to get him.  When he sees her, he walks right up and holds her hand and looks up at her and smiles.  It is so adorable!

Visit with Grandpa and Grandma



We had a wonderful visit with Jim and Carol recently.  They flew in on Friday, Oct. 26 and left on Tuesday the 30th.  On Saturday, we went to get our portraits done, had a late lunch, and came home to watch the football game.  Sunday was relaxing and the kids had fun playing games with Grandma. On Monday evening, we carved our pumpkin.  Well, Michael carved it and the rest of us cheered him on. :-) We're so glad they got to visit!

 

Emily and Grandpa

Grandpa figured out how to get the recliner to work--with pliers!  We haven't used it in years, and Michael and I were laughing at ourselves because we wish we had thought of that.

Emily, Grandpa, and Jonny

 Nathaniel and Grandma

Daniel, Grandpa, and Jonny

Grandma and Jonny

Grandma and Andrew

Grandma and Emily

 

 

Halloween 2012



Here is the pumpkin Michael and the kids carved.  Well, Michael did the carving and the kids cheered him on. :-)  Spooky!

 

This was taken at our ward's Fall Festival.  There was a chili/soup cookoff.  I won for best unusual chili--unusual in the sense that mine was the only soup and all the others were chili.  After the meal, the kids trick-or-treated around the hallway to the different rooms, where families had decorated.  This picture is Jonathan with his "best friend" Annie Mae.  She was a cat, and he was Mickey Mouse!

Nathaniel was too cool for an actual costume, and everyone thought this was pretty clever.

Ready for some trick-or-treating!  Daniel was Thomas again, Andrew was a pirate, and Emily was a sorceress.  I took the kids this time, while Michael stayed home to hand out candy.  He even had some Halloween music playing for the trick-or-treaters.

Here is a good picture of Jonathan in his costume.  He didn't want to wear the ears, but I finally convinced him.  It would have been even cuter with white gloves, but I didn't even bother because I knew he wouldn't wear them.  I tried putting black makeup on his nose for a Mickey nose, but he hated it.  He cried until I wiped it off, and he then proceeded to scold me for a few minutes about how he never wanted me to do that again.  Sheesh!  Another cute thing Jonathan kept doing--if he didn't like the candy, he handed it back to the person at the door.  It was so embarrassing and so cute at the same time.  It was like he was saying, "Um, I don't like these.  What else ya got?"

Emily as a sorceress.  She had wanted to be a zombie, but we talked her out of it.

The LOOT! (this is from the Fall Festival, trick-or-treating for Andrew and Daniel at their school, and trick-or-treating in our neighborhood)

Happy Halloween!