How we put Caleb to bed :)

One night Matt was playing around and wrapped Caleb up like a taco at bedtime. Caleb loved it! He now asked to be wrapped like this every night. He doesn't stay wrapped up all night however it works just like swaddling a baby does...he is asleep within minutes with no talking or playing. It is great :)

Our new pet!

We got a pet....


Yup, that's a Venus Fly Trap! The kids love! I take that back, Taylor and Caleb love it...Madison is scared of it :) She won't go in the kitchen when they have it out feeding it :) It is a really neat plant and the kids have enjoyed feeding "it" these tiny crickets (which you can get at your local pet supply store). I know y'all are all dying to go out and pick your family up one :)

Here is Taylor feeding it!


Caleb getting ready to get a cricket and feed it..he never would take the cricket!

Random Happenings!

We have not had a whole lot going on lately but here is what we have been doing

this....






and this...




Sleeping in weird places and playing barbies, yep that is about all!

In case you are wondering, yes that is a child on the tv tray and that child is wrapped in a women's scarf and since you can't see this child's face I will tell you it is our 2nd child who is pictured in this hiliarous photo!

Snow Day Part 2

After warming up inside for awhile w/ some lunch and hot chocolate we went back out to enjoy the new snow that had fallen. There was quite a bit more (probably close to an inch) and it wasn't as wet as the first snow. This one was much better for sledding on and making snowmen :) The kids had so much fun and we thoroughly enjoyed our snow day....just wish it could have lasted a little longer :)

Our backyard after more snow had fallen and is was still snowing!


Funny boy!


Little snow bunny!


My big girl!


Snowball fight




Caleb was so sweet and pulled Madison around the yard on the sled :)


Madison with her snowman "Frosty"


Madison "tasting" her snowman :)


Taylor with her snowman


This is the pond at the bottom of our hill....it froze (though I am sure not all the way through) and then was covered in snow. It was so pretty!

Snow, snow and more snow!

Yesterday the kids were out of school for MLK day and got a surprise by waking up to beautiful snow falling! They couldn't wait to get out in it and play. After bundling up really good we went out. This was Madison's first snow to every play in and she really enjoyed it. She would roll up a tiny ball, chase you around and throw it at you all while giggling :) The older 2 also enjoyed the snow. We played for about an hour before going in to enjoy some hot chocolate and lunch. The snowfall continued and we went out and enjoyed it again later (that will be in another post though).

Our backyard


They were going to attempt to sled


Snowfall fight :)

1st week back at school

Well we have survived the first week back at school. I was so ready for the kids to go back on Tuesday, don't get me wrong I love my kids and having them home (and especially not having to get up at 6 AM) but with all the rain we had been having they were getting a little stir crazy and needing to be away from each other. All 3 of them started back on Tuesday and they were ready to go!

The kids were looking forward to report cards coming home b/c we reward them for having good grades. Taylor is graded on the A/B/C/D/E scale and Caleb is graded w/ a S/N/U. Taylor had all A's and one B this time. Caleb had all S's and had a wonderful comment from his teacher praising his improvement! We made sure to stress how proud we were of him for the improvement he had made. He had a hard time adjusting to getting up so early, having school everyday, the routine of school and the rules so his first report card showed room for improvement. They both enjoyed a nice monetary award this time :)

Wednesday I got a call from Taylor's teacher saying that they were having an Awards Ceremony the next day and Taylor had received the Admiral's Spirit Award for her class for the 1st semester! The thing was Taylor didn't know. We were invited to come and see her receive it. When we got to school Thursday morning we could see her talking to her friends but she didn't see us for about 15 minutes. When she finally saw us she had this surprised look on her face like "what are y'all doing here?". It was great. She never knew what was going on until she heard her name called later when they were announcing names.

And here she is getting her award.


Showing off her award.


I am so proud of her.

Almost done!

Here it is the 7th day of January 2009 and I still have pictures to post of 2008. This will be the last one (well except for a New Year's Eve post). The last Sunday of 2008 was spent in Cookeville celebrating Matt and Daniel's 32nd birthdays together. They hadn't celebrated their birthday together in years so we thought they should since they are "womb mates"...hehehe! With them having been in China for the last 5 yrs it has posed a problem for celebrating together as you can imagine (thank goodness for Skype where we can at least see them).

Daniel, Rachel and Hannah were scheduled to leave on Tuesday for China so it was also a last visit w/ them until spring 2011 :(

We drove down Sunday morning and spent the entire day w/ them just talking, laughing, eating, playing some Wii, and also some crying.

The kids have played the Wii but this was a first for Matt, NaNa, Peepaw and myself! We had so much fun and have got to get one of those (but not right now).

Daniel playing the Wii


Taylor had a blast!


NaNa getting in on the action


Caleb loves playing the Wii and is really good at bowling :)


Caleb, Hannah and Madison watching a Praise Baby dvd


Caleb was talking to Hannah here and it was super sweet!

Things I've Done & Things I Want to Do

I took this from a friends blog.

Bold=I've done it. Italics=I want to do it.

There are things I want to do in my life that are not on this list. But since I lifted this from someone else I will go with what they have listed.

1. Started your own blog
2. Slept under the stars
3. Played in a band
4. Visited Hawaii
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than you can afford to charity
7. Been to Disneyworld (looking forard to doing this again this summer)
8. Climbed a mountain
9. Held a praying mantis (this one is gross)
10. Sang a solo
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning (wasn't fun)
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty ( have been there twice but it was closed both times)
18. Grown your own vegetables (will do this again as the kids loved it)
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept on an overnight train
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitch hiked (this is scary)
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping (long, long time ago)
27. Run a Marathon
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
29. Seen a total eclipse
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Hit a home run
32. Been on a cruise (this was to happen this summer but since Hope is having a baby it has been postponed until 2010)
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors
35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught yourself a new language
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Seen Michelangelos David
41. Sung karaoke
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited Africa (if I could only go 1 place this would be it)
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance (don't want to do this either)
47. Had your portrait painted
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in theater
55. Been in a movie
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies
62. Gone whale watching
63. Got flowers for no reason
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma (used to donate plasma all the time but now only blood)
65. Gone sky diving
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a check (unfortunately yes)
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten Caviar
72. Pieced a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square (twice)
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a bone
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle (when I was adventurous)
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Published a book
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had your picture in the newspaper
85. Read the entire Bible
86. Visited the White House (and met President Bush, the 1st one not the current one)
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating (chickens and fish)
88. Had chickenpox (twice)
89. Saved someone’s life
90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous( I met the 1st President Bush
92. Joined a book club
93. Lost a loved one (too many times)
94. Had a baby
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a law suit
98. Owned a cell phone
99. Been stung by a bee
100. Read an entire book in one day

Dollywood...one last time!

The Saturday after Christmas we decided to head to Dollywood for the last time this season (sadly they close from January to April or May, I can't remember right now). We knew it would be packed but the weather was going to be so nice (70 degrees) and we needed to go to Pigeon Forge and visit the Stride Rite outlet for some new shoes (Taylor wanted some new black boots and Caleb and Madison needed new tennis shoes). The outlets weren't too bad and we got some awesome deals (Taylor got black knee high boots for $19.95 and they retailed for $54) and Madison got new tennis shoes for $14.95, sadly Caleb's weren't priced as low as the girl's shoes however they were still cheaper than the Stride Rite store but I digress!

We arrived at Dollywood and immediately went to check out the new Polar Express in 4D however the wait was 3 hours and everyone had to wait in line. None of us thought that standing in line for 3 hours w/ a 8, 5 and 3 year old sounding like fun so we just hit the regular rides and games like normal. A few of our regular rides had way to long of waits so we skipped those but still had plenty of fun!

Some of the Christmas decorations throughout the park


Madison kept calling this elf "Santa"


Caleb with a reindeer


Taylor with a reindeer being silly


All 3 of the kids posing w/ Santa and some of this reindeer


One of the pretty trees throughout the park


Caleb and Matt on the Flying Elephants


Madison and me on the Flying Elephants


Madison riding the Busy Bees


Nana and I rode the Swings w/ Taylor and Caleb


Caleb on the carousel


While Taylor and I rode Thunderhead (a couple of times in a row, boy was I sore afterwards but that ride is so awesome), Matt, NaNa and Nana took Caleb and Madison over to the playground and entertained them.

Nana helping Madison and Caleb on the see-saw

Christmas Part 2

Here it is January 1, 2009 and I am still posting Christmas stuff. I still have 1 more Christmas post to do as well as post about the other things (Dollywood, visiting w/ Daniel, Rachel and Hannah one more time, celebrating Matt's birthday) we have been up to over these holidays.

Christmas morning was slow to get started which was lovely. Madison woke up first about 8:00 but came and crawled into our bed and we were able to snuggle down and enjoy some more sleep, I was thankful for that as we were up pretty late w/ some assembly (Santa didn't bring any thing that needed assembly but the Spiderman track Caleb received from Aunt Hope and Uncle Chris took quite a bit of time to assembly (this thing is huge and loud, it has earned a permanent home in the garage). .

The Spiderman Track



We had discussed w/ the kids that we were scaling back this year for Christmas (not that you could tell by looking at all the presents under the tree) so they had only ask for a few items from Santa. He brought each of them 1 gift plus he stuffed their stockings quite full. About 9:15 the Caleb and Madison both woke up so we roused Taylor and headed into the living room to see what Santa brought.

Madison got a chair w/ Tinkerbell on it!



Caleb got a Nerf gun and real guitar (no picture of the gun though)


All 3 kids got new robes (and I got one too!)



Madison and I showing off our new robes (mine is "pokey knotted" as Madison calls them and Madison's is Tinkerbell)


Taylor got a art easel and tons of art supplies, somehow there are no pictures of this though. I think we got so caught up we forgot to take many pictures Christmas morning. She also got some new education books and a few books from a new girls christian series she is just starting.



Caleb and Curious George