Too cute!

The girls "tent"

Katelyn and Mikayla asked me one night if they could go camping in their bedroom. I told them it would be fine, then tucked them in bed, like normal, not assuming they'd do anything other than sleep on the bottom bunk, covered with blankets all around to make a 'tent'. When I went back in a few hours later, here is how i found them. They had created a 'tent' on the floor and created seperate rooms for it. It was actually pretty creative how they had it all put together. They had a great time in their 'tent' and actualy slept in it a couple nights.

Jacob & Rosie

Anyone who knows me, knows I'm not a big fan of birds. Jacob, on the other hand, seems to take after Tim and love them! Here he is with Seth's bird, Rosie. Ignore the dirty chocolate face and missing pajama pants.


Rosie, look at the camera!!!

Jacob's Birthday

Yep, I'm bad. It's been a month and I'm just getting around to posting these.

Grandma & Papa got him a new tricycle. He loves it!! Other than that, he got a truck that plays music and races across the floor, a froggy blanket that I had made for him, lots of cars, a stuffed sock monkey that Josette made. It was cute because he loved unwrapping the presents and would race through opening one, make a gasp of excitement, then race to the next one! I can't believe my baby is 2 already!!!

Jacob got tired of me trying to get a picture of him and the sock monkey so decided it was time to 'hide' it.

Pics of the dog

I haven't posted pics of anything in awhile so I'm going to do it tonight...starting with the dog, just because I don't have as many of him as I do everything else. He's getting so big already! He's doing really well with housebreaking, as long as we pay attention to him and watch his body language. He doesn't chew....too much....and is finally starting to learn to listen better. He's been a lot of fun, and is going to be a GREAT dog.

Happy New Years from our family to yours

Our New Years Eve

This year we decided to stay in and have a mini-party with the kids. They all took naps in the afternoon so that they could stay up until midnight for the countdown and Tim and I took down the tree and put away all the decorations while the house was quiet. We had a dinner of leftovers and then I made a bunch of food for later in the night: sweet & sour meatballs (one of the kids favorites), bbq cocktail wieners, chicken fries, breadsticks and puppy chow. We had sparkling cider and sparkling grape juice to drink. Before we ate, we took some pictures of everyone in their PJs before I put Jacob to bed, then we had our snacks. We then played several rounds of Mexican Train Dominos, which was Tim's Christmas gift and a great family game that all the kids can play. Next it was karaoke time. All the kids sang, including Micah, but he was so cute because he sat intently listening to each kid sing and then clapped at the end like they were a professional. I'm not sure if it was more fun watching the kids sing, or watching Micah's reactions to them!

When karaoke was over, it was time to get ready for the countdown. We watched Dick Clark for awhile and the girls were swooning when the Jonas Brothers came on. Mikayla wouldn't let anyone talk during their songs! haha

As the countdown reached about 5 minutes, I got out the bubblewrap I purchased for our bubblewrap stomp. Who doesn't love bubble wrap??? The kids thought this was the greatest thing as it sounded just like firecrackers in their livingroom! I hope everyone had a great New Years Eve and that 2009 is one of health, happiness and blessings.

(To see all our New Years Eve pictures, go to http://s44.photobucket.com/albums/f19/GeorgiaAdventure/New%20Years%20Eve/ )


The kids were introduced to The Honeymooners

Micah and his sparkling juice

Tim singing "I Did it My Way" (how appropriate!)

Dancing to the Beach Boys



The girls singing to Hannah Montana....of course



Seth singing a Carmen song...after a brief standup comedy act

Micah singing a song from Judah, our band back home at RMI

Our bubblewrap stomp!!! This will definitely be a yearly tradition, no matter where we are for a party!

My thoughts on Christmas morning

All the hoopla, craziness and shopping excursions. All the excitement, anticipation and preparation. It's all over. The stockings that were hung by the chimney with care, have been opened. Breaskfast has been eaten and all the beautifully wrapped presents have been torn into and opened. And with that, it's over. Christmas just doesn't have the magic that it did when I was a kid. Our Christmas lasted all day! Here, with my own kids, it's over so quickly. Growing up, we'd be opening presents for hours, then we'd head to my grandma's house that night or the next day. The snow on the ground brought a magin to Christmas morning. Here, there's no snow, no grandparents, no opening presents all day. It's done....and I'm sort of sad.

The kids argued and complained and faught this morning. Who fights and argues on Christmas morning????? Fortunately, now they are all playing with their new toys. Jacob is climbing on the kitchen table taking a bite out of every single gingerbread man. Tim is laying sprawled across the livingroom floor. And I'm reminiscing about days gone by, before I start preparing dinner. I just can't believe it's over so quickly. I had so many ideas. So many things I wanted to do to make this year special. Non of them happened. There is nothing special about this Christmas that the kids will remember and carry with them.


Christmas is done :(

Cheerleading??

So, if this rugby thing doesn't work out for Tim, he's thinking about joinging the cheerleading squad, alongside our friend Marty.

Ok, not seriously, but this is one of the new passtimes in our household. Mikayla loves standing on Tim's shoulders. Maybe SHE will be a cheerleader!!!

Snowmen

Being in Georgia, we didn't get all the snow that the rest of the nation got. It seems like every state seemed to get snow, except Georgia and Florida. So, this year we had to make a different kind of snowmen. They were great the next morning for breakfast too! haha