Chopping Carrots

Allie loves to help me cook dinner. Tonight I had her chop carrots with a chopper. She had been doing it for a couple of minutes when something caught my attention. She would take a carrot out of the bag.....

Bite it



Set it on the chopper



And chop it!!!

Getting Bigger

Jacob - "I'm getting a hole in my pants"

Me - "ah-oh, we better get some new ones"

Jacob - "bigger ones like daddy's?"

Me - "bigger, but not quite as big as daddy's"

Jacob - "am I as big as daddy now that I'm 4?"

Me - "no, you aren't as big as daddy yet."

Jacob - "when I am as big as daddy, can I sleep in your bed?"

Me - "when you are as big as daddy, it will be really crowded with you and me and daddy in my bed"

Jacob - "daddy can sleep on the floor"

Princess Allie

The Princess in the dirt. Allie wanted to dress-up in her princess clothes, and play outside. So I snapped a picture and made her go change before playing! I know, I am so mean!

Happy Birthday Jacob!

January 21, 2006

9 months

1 year

2 years

3 years

4 years

Oral Language Regionals

Last week Emma went to the regional oral language competition and came back with a 2nd place win! She worked very hard and did a great job!

Little Miss Attitude

Does this picture just scream attitude or what!?!

You'll Shoot Your Eye Out

An official Red Ryder BB gun


Emma hit the bullseye twice on her first time out!


I had nothing to do with this gift, it was ALL Michael!

Happy New Year

3 Blue, 1 Brown

Beautiful Eyes

Silly Girl

We put Allie down for a nap a couple of days ago, but she never went to sleep. I went to check on her and this is how we found her! She had all of her animals and her blanket that she sleeps with in there with her.



Her cute little feet



This box is for all of the dress-up clothes,
which you can see scattered in the background


She decides she's ready to be finished with naptime!

Christmas 2009

We had such a nice Christmas this year! It was just our little family, but we had a great day! The kids got some great gifts and are mostly happy about what they got. It was fun to watch the kids exchange their gifts with each other. They were all really excited to give presents this year!

Little Boys and Secrets

Christmas Eve I get home from the store.

The kids, "Mom, we wrapped your presents!"

Me, "Wow, you mean I get presents!"

Jacob, "Yes Mom, we got you a pencil and a big glass plate!"

Classic!

Hollywood

We saw the famous Hollywood sign from the mall we were at

Our Anniversary

The Grove

For our anniversary, Michael and I went down the hill to do some shopping. We went to this place called The Grove. It is right next door to this huge farmer's market and is totally decked out for Christmas. It is a huge outdoor mall. There are lights everywhere and a really cool fountain in front of the huge tree.

Taken from under a tree looking up

Over 100ft tall
15,000 lights
10,000 ornaments

Self-portrait

You can visit Santa here too! Click on The Grove under the first picture and it will show a video of the tree being put up and decorated. (If it doesn't work at first it is buffering, at the bottom of the video screen there is a red bar that will let you move to the begining of the video after it has buffered. You have to click the little play triangle by the red bar. Oh yeah the bar isn't there unless your cursor is over it! It's a cool video, I don't know how long it will be there though! It's totally worth checking out!)

12 Years Together

December 19, 1997

I would just like to tell everyone how grateful I am to be married to Michael! He really is the best thing that has ever happened to me and I love him so much! I put together this little song to share with you some of our life for the past 12 years.

(Think 12 Days of Christmas)

In our 12 years of marriage my true love's shared with me:

12 thousand diapers
11 major purchases (over $300)
10 years of renting
9 million blessings
8 big moves
7 different jobs
6 home computers (at the same time)
5 years of schooling
4 amazing kids
3 operations
2 paid off cars
and a loving happy family!


December 19, 2009
Happy Anniversary Michael
I Love You!

Jacob Rides Alone

Today Jacob decided he was ready to try riding his bike without the training wheels. I told him that he would have to remember to put his feet down when he stopped so that he didn't tip over. I held on to the back of his bike for 2 seconds and let go. HE TOOK OFF! I chased after him to catch him when he crashed, but he never did! He figured out the brakes on his bike and putting his feet down! He even got to the point that he would ride down our steep driveway and over the bump and didn't have any problems. He can also ride back up the driveway! I was amazed! I have never seen a bike that small without training wheels before! Three years old! He is amazing! Way to go Jacob! We are so proud of you!

Michael's Work Christmas Party

On Saturday we went to a Christmas party for Michael's work. They do it every year. They have donuts and juice. They have a bunch of different crafts or activities for the kids to do. They have a clown that makes balloon animals and paints faces. There is also a woman who does ballet from The Nutcracker. Of course Santa is always there too! It was pretty fun. We all came home covered in glitter, but the kids loved it!

The Recycled Christmas

Gracie was Old Mother Hubbard in the play, 'The Recycled Christmas'. She had fun doing the play and did a fantastic job!

Gracie and Nikki (Simple Simon)

Gracie's favorite part of her costume was the glasses!

Gracie does well talking in front of a crowd even though she claims to be shy!

The Bathroom - Before & After

After two coats of primer
And three coats of white paint
And three weeks of painting stripes in 6 colors with a 3/4 inch brush
And three more days of touch-ups with a 1/4 inch brush
And two days of painting and assembling towel hooks

The bathroom is FINALLY finished! It took me a month to
get it done, but I am very happy with the results!

Before - BORING

After - FUN

Before - DARK

After - BRIGHT

Before - MONOCHROMATIC

After - COLORFUL

I didn't realize how plain the bathroom was before! It was also darker. Now it is very bright and colorful for the kids! I was afraid the stripes would make the bathroom seem closed in, but it actually makes the ceiling seem higher than before. I know that it's different, but we love it!

I made individual towel hooks instead of a bar. Each kid has a different color of towel, and now they have a place for their towel, other than the floor!

A close-up of the names

Happy Birthday Chris!

Yesterday Michael's brother Chris came to our house so we could celebrate his birthday with him. We had fun visiting and the kids love to smother him!


A muscle man cake just for Chris, the muscle man of the family!



Happy Birthday Chris! We had fun with you here!

Medical Mistakes

Yesterday when Allie got staples, the area was swollen. It looked to me like the staples were in the right spot. This morning however, with the swelling down, you can tell that the doctor totally missed the cut! You can tell a little bit in the first picture I posted. This new picture shows the holes from the staples after they were removed, totally under where the cut is!


We saw our regular doctor today, he was irritated! He said the cut wasn't even big enough to need staples. The first doctor said in her notes that the cut was almost 3 times longer than it really was. He also confirmed that the staples were in the wrong place. He said the other doctor totally missed the mark! How am I supposed to know if she needs something done or not? That's why we trust doctors to tell us what is needed! I understand that not all doctors will make the same diagnosis, but if you decide to use staples, they should be in the right spot! The doctor today gave me my co-pay back and told me I should call and tell them I want my co-pay from yesterday back as well - because the visit was a waste!

SO, my sweet baby girl got stapled in the head for nothing!!! AAAAAHHHH!!!!!!

Oral Language

Yesterday was Emma's Oral Language Competition. Her poem this year is 'Twas the Night Before Christmas' She performed it perfectly! The judges thought so too because she won 1st place! So next week she competes at the regional competition, we'll keep you posted!

Staples

Look at that sweet face! You would never guess that she got two staples in the top of her head today! This lovely floral arrangement jumped off the top of my TV stand and landed right on her head!


She didn't like getting the staples in (because they don't numb it!) but it was really fast and then she was fine. I didn't realize when they said staples, they really meant staples! So in 10 days we get to go back and get them taken out, never a dull moment here!