Guess what we did on New Year's Eve???

New Year's Eve is a weird time for us. It is the anniversary of the day we got married in the church but it is also the day I was induced into labor to have Madison. This year I wanted to do something different. So, we went and got tattoos. John got my name tattooed on his left upper arm. I wrote it out and the tattoo guy made a stencil of it and used that. I guess John is stuck with me forever...or his NEXT wife will have to have my name too!!

I wanted to get a tattoo in memory of Madison. So, I came up with the idea to have an "M" with angel wings. It hurt like a #$%#$&^$ but now that it is done and not hurting anymore I love it. It is on my lower back so no one will really see it for the most part. I will not be getting another one though...too much pain.

Christmas Day ~ 2008

Jilliann ... she is a ham!! She got a box of dress up clothes and decided she had to put ALL of them on. She wanted to pose in front of the tree. I took 20 pictures of her. She had fun.

And then she changed into the outfit Andrew and Adrienne bought her. Very cute.

She loves her dolly that goes pee pee on the potty. It even signs a song about it. Since she is now potty trained she finds this very fun. At least it only makes the sound of going potty. I don't have to clean up after it!!

The boys got so much stuff. They had a lot of fun. Cars that go on the wall, games, video games, socks and underwear!! We had a fabulous Christmas. Not a day goes by that I don't remember how blessed we are to have a great life....and great friends and family like you.

Christmas Eve Already???

Austin was happy to get Newton's Cradle. He learned all about Newton's 3 laws of gravity this year in science and was very excited to tell us about it. The down side to this is he also saved up $200 because he wants to get a merman tail to swim in our pool with. He is currently obsessed with becoming a merman. 2 steps forward...one step back!!
















Jilliann was in a "fabulous" mood when she awoke from her power nap during church. We had promised her presents for being good in church and she was none too happy when we told her she had to eat dinner first. I think she looks an awful lot like her cousin Laci in this picture. She eventually was happy....when she got a new baby doll.











Here we all are at Grammies house waiting to eat. Johnny came and blends in well with out black and grey theme. I wonder when the kids are going to absolutely refuse to dress in coordinating outfits. It makes me happy though!!

This and That

Here are some odds and ends from November and December 2008....


Jilliann and I went to a real English Tea Party with Grammie. We had so much fun. Jilliann loved trying the teas and wearing all the different hats that were there. We even started a new tradition of getting her English Tea Cups for a collection.

















Justin was on the swim team this year and did a really good job. He even enjoyed the practices 3 days a week! It was a lot of work and we are very proud of him.

Here is a picture of my 2 beautiful "nieces" (the are really 2nd cousins but I call them my nieces). They are both seniors this year and have grown into beautiful women. I heart them both very much.

Thanksgiving 2008

(left) Everyone at Thanksgiving...


(below) all the Great Grand Kids

Wow, it is hard to believe the time has come for Thanksgiving again. There is so much to be thankful for. We had to go to "Plan B" this year as the weather was not its usual perfect self so we gathered at my house. It was a lovely time. We are so lucky to have our grandparents with us for another year.

We did something right...

A few days after Andrew and Adrienne got here we had a surprise visitor at our house. It was Doug one of the pastors at our church. I wasn't sure what he was doing here. We were then treated to a surprise every parent hopes for...Andrew arranged to be baptised at our house. He knew we wanted to be there when he did it so he called our church before he left Alaska and planned it all out. We were shocked and so happy. What a blessing to see his life come full circle. We are so thrilled he has given his heart to the Lord. Poor Doug had to get in our freezing cold pool to do it but he was more then happy to.

Disneyland part 2

After 2 days at the parks we were exhausted. We stayed for the fireworks at Disneyland and they were fabulous. We rode every ride at both parks and spent more money then we should have! Jilliann had a blast riding lots of rides...she was even tall enough for the Matterhorn though the snowman scared her. A lot!!

My feet are sore, my wallet is empty and my back hurts...time to go home!!

Disneyland

First, let me say that it is amazing what a woman can make a man do!! Look at Andrew...walking around Disneyland with Mickey ears on. Only love can make you do things like that!!

We had a great time. It was fun to take Adrienne on all the rides and see her reaction since she has never been there. We had dinner with the princesses one night and tried to make it around to see as many characters as we could.

Andrew and Adrienne Visit

Andrew and Adrienne came to visit! We did lots of shopping and I took Adrienne to David's Bridal to try on her dress for me so I could see it. We bought Jilliann the matching one and she loved trying it on and standing on the pedestal to see herself in the mirrors. They looked so cute together. The wedding is going to be beautiful. We ran around and bought all kinds of things for the wedding and had a lot of fun.

Halloween 2008

This Halloween was much less scary then last year. Austin decided he was too old to dress up so he and Johnny handed out candy then watched scary movies in the dark. Jilliann went as Fiona from Shrek but in the end most people just assumed she was a princess...and she is! Christian went as Indiana Jones and really looked the part. John thinks he is going to put the whip to good use the rest of the year. Yeah right! And just went as a Clone Trooper from Star Wars. We went with our neighbor and their 2 boys and they all had a blast. Jilliann got the hang of it after about 3 houses and loved getting candy. She was very cute saying "twick o tweet". I am sure I am gaining an extra 10 pounds. Darn those chocolates!

Beach Dayz

We spent Sunday running around the beach. The kids actually went in the water (and by kids I mean John)! It took Jilliann an hour to get up enough courage to even go near the water and then John swept her up and out into the waves. She got slammed in the face by the first wave but she seemed to enjoy it and then didn't want to get out. I must admit though, I think Kodiak had the best time. He loved running and swimming and playing catch. My arm is still sore from throwing the ball so much. Austin is in to "Merman's" right now. He tends to get OCD about weird things and right now it is turning into a merman. So, he was thrilled to get a "tail" made so he could be one. That boy!!

More Pumpkins

California Pumpkins

We drove to MeMe and PaPa's house over the 3 day weekend. The weather was perfect and a nice break from the 100 degrees we are still in. We went to the pumpkin patch and the kids had fun running around. The big boys went through a hay maze and they went on a hay ride. It was lots of fun.

3 AM

Here is what happens at noon if you wake up at 3 AM. Yeah, at least SHE got to nap!!!

The dog, a cat and a drawer...

2 weeks ago my brilliant daughter was screaming her head off in the little boys room. The cat was also in there screaming his head off. I went in to see Jilliann sitting on the floor holding her arm and the cat half stuck in a drawer flailing around. It was actually quite funny. I assumed Jilliann must have tried to stick him in the drawer and he bit her. I got the cat unstuck and picked up Jilly. She laid her head down on me and cried for a while. When I pulled her back to see what happened to her we were both covered in blood. I eventually realized her finger as barely hanging on and off to the ER we went. She broke the tip of her finger bone and almost severed her finger. The nail has since fallen off and we are keeping it bandaged as much as possible. I took her last week to a hand specialist and he thinks it will heal fine though I cannot imagine how because it looks so mangled and nasty. She loves to show everyone her "owie" but it hasn't stopped her one bit from being a little daredevil. She was on the trampoline within a few hours of being home from the ER and is her usual crazy self. Just one day of peace and quiet is all I really want.....