Winter fun!

An actual picture of Matt and I together!

Megan wanted so badly to go out with the kids. I bundled her up in what I had (obviously the coat and also the boots are too big) this picture was taken right before she tripped over her boots and scraped her lips up on the driveway ;( we came right back in to watch from the window.

My little snow angel

bundled up and snuggly warm

candy stripes.

The Christmas letter

Matt and I alway joke about how cheesy the Christmas card letters can be. Then we saw this on the Jay Leno show and just cracked up! Enjoy
http://www.thejaylenoshow.com/video/clips/holiday-card-year-end-letter/1185266

"mother nature, you so crazy" Hahaha!

Christmas Carols

The kids love listening to the Christmas CD's we've collected along the way. I love hearing the kids singing, trying to remember the lyrics to the songs.

Brianna's favorite..."Good tigers we bring, to you and your kid. So bring us some piggy pudding and bring it right here!"

Jack's favorite... "All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth" (and a few other teeth, very current) and "Rudolf the red-nosed reindeer"

Megan's Favorite... "Deck the halls" she only knows the "Fa la la la la, la la, la la"

The "Elf in Home" project

A week or so ago, a visitor appeared on a shelf in our home. He had a little note with him that said this.....

Hello,
My name is Elfis. I have been sent to your home on special assignment from Santa himsELF.
My job is a simple, but important one.
I am to observe these children, take notes, and report directly to Santa every night.
Santa keeps a detailed list of who is being nice, and who is being naughty.
Theses last few days before Christmas are very important.
There are two rules to the "Elf in home" project, and they are
1) I, Elfis, am not to move at all while anyone is awake, and
2) No child is to touch me.
Please help me remain one of Santa’s helpers.
If either of these rules are broken, I will lose my magic and will remain a decoration forever.
But, if I can report something wonderful about each child, each night, I will make sure you each receive something special in your stocking on Christmas Eve.
I will also be awarded a ride back to the North Pole in Santa’s Sleigh!
I look forward to spending time with your family this Christmas Season!
-Elfis

We have had so much fun with this little friend. He shows up in a different (and sometimes crazy ) place every morning, and the kids have even sent letters with him back to the north pole. I sense a new tradition forming here....

An apple a day....

Brianna LOVES apples, therefore, Megan LOVES apples. Everytime I get one out, I have to get two out. "There so sweet and Juicy!" More apples please!

Less is more, honey!

Brianna got into her play make-up. After entertaining herself in the bathroom for a while, she unveiled her work of art! So pretty!

Traditions carry on!

Here's our catch!

check out megan playing peek-a-boo with the camera!

Here's a great shot! I think that this is the first picture ever of Brianna happily sitting on Santa's lap. Megan was thrilled with him! She just kept staring at his beard in amazement.

almost ready for the hayride. It was a gorgeous day...69 degrees, can you believe it, usually it's frigid here at the tree farm.

Our family looks forward to this tradition every year. Back in 2003, when Jack was just a couple of weeks old, we found this great little family tree farm about 20min from our house. We loved it so much, we've been back ever since. We get to pick out and cut down our own tree, go for a hayride behind a tractor, sit on santa's lap, drink some hot chocolate and pick out a new ornament. Every year so far, Brianna has been TERRIFIED of any santa who crosses her path. Last year she hid behind a ornament stand and peeked around saying "Jack, tell Santa I want a princess doll". This year, as we talked about going and cutting down our tree and visiting with santa Brianna declared that she wouldn't be afraid of Santa this year. Sure enough, santa complimented her reindeer antlers and she decided he wasn't too bad.

I was actually pleasantly surprised, Santa had a nice talk with my kids about the real meaning of Christmas, and why he takes toys to all the children!

funny story...

Brianna has a friend in her sunbeam class named Kaylee. Kaylee's birthday is Dec 25 and Brianna knows that as Christmas gets closer, so does Kaylee's birthday. When Santa asked the children whose birthday we celebrate on Christmas Jack started to say "Baby Jesus" when Brianna stepped up, so proud that she knows the answer, and declared "Kaylee's"!!

There are NO teeth in Tickling

Enough Said!

oh, and yes megan is in "time-out" too. She just likes do what the big kids are doing.

Just a little more birthday!

Well, around here, birthdays just keep on going and going. here are a few more birthday pictures, from when the McLaws' came up. Jack got a big box of Lego's and a few smaller sets. At first we were going to keep the little sets seperate, but we decided that we could imagine up more cool things if we combined all the fancy little pieces with the standard blocks. Last night we made a racecar/tow truck/ airplace that can also be a helicopter. Then after the kids went to bed, mom kept playing and made another... moon rover with satellite? Lego's are SO COOL!

A sea of LEAVES

A sweet couple from church invited us and our cousins over to play while "raking" the leaves.

The kids had a blast piling them up and then hiding in and jumping in the leaves.

Jack was so funny, while all the kids were playing, he kept on working. He was determined to get the job done. Nevermind you that we got there about half an hour before dark, and they had 6 acres of leaves. He just knew that if he kept working hard he could make a difference.

At one point, the pile they were working on was at least as tall as megan standing up... Don't get lost baby!

Once it got dark enough, they lit a campfire and we cooked hot dogs and roasted marshmallows.

Happy Birthday Jack- party pictures

It's party time!

Jack wanted a "race car" themed birthday party.  I had a lot of fun putting this together for him. Here are some of the highlights!!

Here's the "figure 8" race track cake I made for Jack

We played "pit stop", and these guys were my "pit crew".  They had to change the tires on my race car, and do it while blindfolded and after being spun around. Whew, we had tires everywhere!  ( note the traffic cone party hats!)

We made race cardboard box race cars and had a relay race.  We were going to spray paint a track around the backyard but it's been raining non-stop and the "swamp-like" conditions forced a change of venue to the basement.  Check out the goggles and helmets too! They were so cute, and Matt even got in and raced a round against the kids!  We also played "car bingo" and red-light, green-light. It was a really fun time for everyone!

Thanks to all our friends for the totally awesome presents Jack got.

Here's megan, thoroughly enjoying pizza, cake and ice cream.  You think she's a mess here, she was being so quiet, we let her sit there and enjoy herself while the party continued on.  By the time we took her out of her seat, this mess was EVERYWHERE!!!

Jack got some cowboy boots! and oh how he loves them....

It's kind of tricky getting the pants over them though...

Okay, now he's ready for his "tough guy" pose...  don't mess with him, you might get hurt!

Six years of Jack!

Here's our Jack over the past six years!

2003

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2004

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2005

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2006

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2007

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2008

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2009

We love you Jack. You are our sweet and cuddly, serious and crazy, thoughtful and helpful, smart and totally awesome super six year old!

Here's a bunch of Halloween Pictures

Trunk or treating at the Ward Building
As you can see, This year for halloween, Jack was Batman (after changing his mind 300 times between batman, transformer, army man, and vampire)  Brianna dressed up as cindrella, and megan who originally was going to be a ladybug (hello... BUG!) but I decided that the little princess fairy dress up clothes were just too cute to ignore.  We had a very busy but very fun Halloween night.

fun and games at the skate barn

A Hayride at the Shaws

Candy is GOOD!!!

Ohh yeah!



We told the kids that they had one week to eat as much candy as they could, but whatever wasn't gone by Sunday night, we would either throw away or give away.  They decided that they wanted to send the leftovers to Uncle Clint.  So that next Monday I stuffed a gallon size bag of candy into a box and sent it down to Fort Campbell KY for Uncle Clint to share with all his army buddies.