A swinging good time..

Shelby & Savannah really enjoyed the tire swing at

the park today. Savannah has really enjoyed having

a little girl around to play with this week. Don't they

look like they are having fun?

Fish

Aunt Dorothy & Uncle Russell bought this cool fish tank for

Christmas. We went to the pet store yesterday and bought

five little fish for the tank. It's cool we haven't had any fish in

quite awhile. Thanks guys!!

Trevor's favorite gift

Trevor's favorite Christmas gift thus far is this snap circuit set from
Grandpa John and Grandma Shelley. He loves building things and
seeing how things work. He spent today doing at least 7 different
projects. Thanks so much!!

A night at the movies

Last night we took the kids to see the movie Bedtime Stories.
It was really cute and the kids enjoyed it. Notice the little
blond girl sitting with my kids, that's my niece Shelby we
are watching her this week while her parents enjoy a little
getaway to NYC (I am totally jealous, I haven't been there in
almost 11 years). The kids are enjoying having Shelby
around to play with.

Merry Christmas 2008

We had a wonderful Christmas! The kids, Patrick and myself got
lots of really nice presents. Thanks you to everyone for the
wonderful gifts. We really appreciate it. We hope you all had
a great Christmas as well.

Our Christmas Eve

Playing Trains

In anticipation of Christmas the kids brought down the Polar Express train set that Trevor got for his Grandparents last year. They spent the day setting it up, building tunnels and taking turns operating the remote control.

Goodbye Friends

Our friends the Perry's are moving to Oregon the day
after Christmas. We had them over to play today one
last time. This family was the first family that we
met when we moved here. We wish them luck with their
move. Goodbye friends we'll miss you!

Making gingerbread houses

On Wednesday Griffin's class decorated gingerbread houses. The kids had lots of different candies to choose from. The kids each had their own frosting bag to pipe their "glue" onto the houses. It was an enjoyable morning helping the kids while listening to Christmas music.

Savannah got to tag along as well. She also really enjoyed decorating a house.

Snow fun!!

Oh Christmas tree, Oh Christmas tree

Spoiled

I had a dentist appointment this morning and brought
Savannah along. While I was getting my teeth cleaned
she was getting spoiled! The staff there loves her, and
love giving her stuff. This girl (who wasn't even the patient)
walked out out there with a giant balloon, several rings,
tons of Hannah Montana stickers and coupons for free
fries & cones from McDonald's. She loved all of the attention.
Oh, the boys are feeling better & are back at school.

Sick Kids & the First Snow of the Season

Yesterday when Trevor came home from school he was not feeling good. He came home and started crying (not like Trevor at all). He said his cough was really bothering him. I gave him some cough syrup & Tylenol and he went to bed to take a nap. He fell right asleep and slept till dinner.

Around 11:00pm Griffin woke up with a tummy ache. He started throwing up & did so ALL night long! He ended up sleeping in the bathroom because he couldn't make it to the bathroom quick enough otherwise. This morning the last time he threw up was around 9:00 so I'm hoping it is passing soon. He has spent the morning sleeping on the couch. Needless to say both boys are home sick. We've all actually been sick with really bad coughs lately. It's the most wonderful time of the year,or so they say. On a side note we had our first snow of the season this morning. It snowed for a couple of hours before it turned into rain. Nobody feels like playing in snow anyways maybe we'll get some more before Christmas. Hopefully everyone will be back to feeling good soon.

Luminaria Tour

Here are the kids tonight at the luminaria tour. We enjoyed walking the paths lit by thousands of luminaries. The kids also enjoyed a free craft & a candy cane.

Winterfeast parade

Waiting for the parade to start. The chairs didn't last long.
Once the parade started they were on the street. People
from the floats threw candy, pencils and glow sticks & bracelets
to all the kids. They LOVED it!


A cool old fire truck it was lit up ,but you can't see the lights
in the picture very well.

A really cool float with hot air balloon baskets minus the balloon

shooting flames into the air. It warmed us up & was neat to see.

A trip to the Dentist

The boys had their check-up yesterday. As we walked back the hygienist asked the boys if they were excited and Griffin said "I'm not cause I'm not a very good tooth brusher." Both boys did great still no cavities. They were happy with their bag of goodies. Our Dentist is great she & the whole staff know our whole family and remember every ones names. Our dentist brought out a princess tooth brush for Savannah because she likes to give stuff to her even though she has not been seen in their office yet. She keeps her small dogs in her office, and brings them out to play with the kids if they want to. So the boys played with the dogs when they were done and took turns holding them. It was a good visit. We'll bring Savannah in next time we go in June.

Christmas Countdown

I've been wanting to do a different kind of a Christmas countdown.

I found this idea on some website awhile back & loved it.

You simply take triangular shaped coffee filters and paint them

using red & green food coloring. The kids just squeezed out a few

drops of color onto each one. After they dried we numbered them

1-24 and put some small treats in each one. I found cute mini

clothespins with a Christmas theme. I used those to string them

all up onto a red ribbon. We hung it on our staircase. We enjoyed

our first one last night. Only 23 days till Christmas.

The finished product. We think it turned out pretty cute.

River Of Lights

Last night we decided to take the kids to the River Of Lights at the Botanical Gardens. It was a perfect night to go. It was in the mid 40's so it wasn't to cold. If we wait another two weeks it would most likely be in the 20's way to cold for Savannah to have fun. The kids loved looking at the lights, and enjoyed Hot Cocoa. The Christmas Season has officially begun.