Ho Ho Holy Crap, What a Christmas!

Wow. They should name a hurricane "Christmas" one of these years because as you may be able to tell from the pictures (although they in no way encompass the entire thing) we had quite the storm pass through our house Christmas morning. And yes, it does appear to have gone right through Paityn's hair. Her hair is always totally out of control until I get it wetted down and put in a ponytail. That's okay, it reflects her personality perfectly, i.e. the picture at the top.

Mandi and Will spent Christmas at our house this year. It was so great to have them here! Oh, and Mandi got a new teddy bear! Just kidding, she got that for Paityn.

Jace is really in to trains right now, so Santa brought him a table to build his tracks on and some more tracks, along with his train whistle and engineer hat.

Paityn got a baby stroller, a shopping cart, a new car and some dress up shoes.

Someone needs to tell this child when she's had enough and take her keys away. :)

Sorry Ladies...

I just found this picture of Tim while I was at my dad's house this weekend and I think it is my favorite picture of him. I know, I know, I'm a lucky lady.

Family Pictures 2008

Tim's sister Kristin flew in this weekend and did some pictures for us since we haven't had any done since Thanksgiving of last year. She did a great job. These are some of my favorites.

More Family Pictures

An interesting conversation with a 4-year old.

Okay, so last night after Jace had already been in bed for about half an hour I could hear him banging against his headboard, so I went in to tell him to hold still and go to sleep. He asked me to lay by him for a minute so I got in his bed. We layed there for a couple of minutes and I could hear him very, very quietly talking to himself (this kid's mind goes 300 mph ALL THE TIME). I asked him to be quiet and this is when our hilarious (at least to me) conversation began. He said "Mom, when I get big I'm going to make a pie big enough to fit a dinosaur bone in it". (?????) So I asked him what gave him that idea and he said "You did. You have recipes to make anything". Laughing to myself, I said "Do you like the food that mommy cooks?'' (most of you know that cooking is not my greatest skill). He said "yes". I then said, "Is there anything that you don't like?" wondering if there was something I made that he didn't like. He promptly responded, "I don't like going to bed". That is a 4 year-old mind for you. So I said, "No, I mean is there some food that mommy makes that you don't like". He said, "I don't like stuffing". Just a little insight to add to the story - On Thanksgiving Day he was so excited all day long to have stuffing at dinner (I don't think he had had it before), but at dinner he took one bite and spit it out. Anyway, he said, "The next time we have Thanksgiving, REMIND ME I DON'T LIKE STUFFING!". I said okay and went to bed laughing to myself for several minutes. I can't believe the things that must go on in his head to come up with some of the things he does.

And yes, his shirt says "MY MOM RULES!". That's because I have recipes to make ANYTHING. Maybe for Christmas dinner I'll try Dinasaur Pie!

Our Tree

I love decorating our tree every year because every ornament on it was either a gift or has been inherited from someone special. I know it's hard to see from the picture, but this is a 9-foot tree and is completely filled from front to back with anything imaginable. Tim has an ornament from every year since he was little and my grandma Carol gave me an ornament for several years before she passed away. I was lucky enough to get some of her ornaments, so I have those too. Plus, I have the ones that I made in grade school (Tim makes fun of my 80's hair every single year). For the past 5 years or so my sister and I have been exchanging ornaments every year, and my kids are both getting new ones every year too. It is so fun to look at each one as we put them on and remember where they came from. I can't even imagine what our tree will look like in several years, we'll have to get a 12-foot tree just to hold them all!

Outnumbered

Those of you who are familiar with our family at all already know that my husband is a pretty big Colts fan. He's had Jace brainwashed from about 12 months old and now Paityn (whose name came from Peyton Manning) is the most avid fan of them all. I tried my hardest to get her to say "GO Patriots!" but "Go Colts" was easier and the rest is history. Every time Tim and Jace put their Colts' jerseys on Paityn pats her belly and says "my colts?", so I had to find her something. I got her this cheerleader outfit for $1.04 on ebay, brand new! I love ebay. Needless to say, she loves it and tries to pull it out of her closet every day.

Yes, I realize Paityn looks evil in this picture. What most of you don't know is that she is evil.

Touchdown Colts!

Happy Halloween - ARRRR!

Jace has been obsessed with pirates for the last few months, so for his birthday Mandi got him a pirate costume for both dress-up and Halloween. I was a little nervous about the Halloween part because he would only play with the accessories (hat, sword, hook, eye patch, etc.) and would not put on the costume itself. Luckily, the night before Halloween he decided he would put it on because he had a pre-school Halloween party the next day. He thought he was the coolest thing ever! Thanks Aunt Mandi!

Paityn just likes to do whatever her brother does and wear pretty dresses, so getting her to wear her costume was a cinch. She strutted around thinking she was something really special. She kept patting herself and saying "pretty, pretty".

They had a great time trick-or-treating and Tim and I were pumped because two kids means twice as much candy for us! Jace had a really hard time not eating the candy that was given to him at one house on the way to the next house.

Jace's First Field Trip

Jace had his first field trip and they went to a pumpkin patch in Bruneau. Tim lucked out and got to go with him because I had to work (bummer!). They had a lot of fun and Jace even found a pumpkin for his sister

Jace's Pictures

Jace's first school picture. Can you believe he just turned 4? I swear he looks 10.

Jace played soccer this fall. We'll just say it didn't go so well (there was a lot of crying), oh well, at least I got a cute picture!

Breast Cancer Awareness Month

As some of you might know, October is Breast Cancer Awareness month. I would like to take this chance to remember my Grandma Carol who passed away in December 1996. I wish I had a picture of her to post, she was a beautiful woman and had a great smile. She was an amazing lady and is the person I most aspire to be like. She was a very important part of my childhood and I will never forget all of the things she taught me, especially about how to treat people. She was the kindest person there could ever be. She would do anything for anyone. I miss her every day and I want everyone to tell the women that are important in their lives to take care of themselves and have their annual checkups and mammograms. Breast cancer is a horrible thing and one out of four women will get it. The best way to beat it is to find it early, that's why checkups are so important. Ladies, please take care of yourselves.

I miss you grandma.