Busy, Busy, Busy

We have been so busy! It seems like things never slow down for us. Girl Scouts for Taylor and Madison has picked up b/c we are in the middle of cookie sales! Madison has started tennis up. She is loving it! And I have to admit she looks so cute out on the court :)


We enjoyed spending last weekend at The Glade with all of Matt's family. It is the only time we will be together while Matt's brother and sister-in-law are home from China since Matt will be leaving. We enjoyed just sitting around talking, playing cards and swimming! I didn't get a lot of pictures b/c I was busy enjoying myself! Here is our attempt at a group picture...pretty good considering there was 10 adults and 12 kids ranging from 17 to 21 months!


We have been gearing up for Matt to leave again! He will be gone for 17 weeks this time. Skype will be our best friend! We have been trying to spend as much time as a family as possible but it is really hard with everyone's busy schedules.

Taylor attended her 1st Winterfest in Gatlinburg this weekend...13,000 teens from many Church of Christ all gathered together for a weekend of worship. Taylor said it was wonderful. She came back very tired though. Now she is gearing up for a girls weekend with the youth group in 2 weeks. I love that Taylor is involved in a wonderful youth group. We are really excited that our new youth minister will be here next month.

The kids were out of school today and neither Matt and I had to work. We took the kids to see The Secret World of Arriety. It was really good...the kids loved it. It was their first anime. Then Caleb went over to Will's house to play for awhile. All in all it was a very fun day :)

Madison's Sayings

While cleaning out a few boxes last week I found a list of Madison's sayings that I had written down. She was 2/3 when she said most of these but there are a couple she still says. I wrote them down so I wouldn't forget but thought I should write them here on my blog in case I lose the sheet of paper (which is very probable) LOL

slushie...flushie
binoculars....nokulars
surprise...special
webkinz....wekin
feather...feeder
heater...feeter
sweet dreams...happy dreams
happy birthday...happy cake
polka dots...pokey nots
trampoline...jumpoline
cot...cotton
comfortable...constable
marshmallow...smarshmallow
elevator...alligator
hand sanitizer...hansitizer
cold...chilly
yesterday...last year (this one was one of my favorites)

Christmas Stockings

The stockings are the best part of Christmas I think. Everyone buys everyone else something for their stocking (less than $10) so you have lots of little things to open. The kids really get into this because they get to pick out something for everyone. Since Madison loves penguins we were on the lookout for penguin things, Chris was needing pocket squares for his suits, Nana collects snowmen so she normally gets snowmen ornaments or decorations. It is always lots of fun!

Madison loves Holly Shiftwell (Cars 2) and had been wanting a little one...we finally found one so she was a little excited!


This year we played a joke on Caleb. We had told him since he was having surgery right after Christmas that all he would get in his stocking was gatorade, jello and pudding. He didn't believe us so what did we do...wrapped up 9 things of gatorade, jello and pudding! He thought it was the funniest thing! When he got done opening those we pulled out his real gifts!


He also got some shampoo and bodywash that looked like car oil...he loved it!


Taylor got a new Bible...she had 1 but it is kinda big and she wanted a slim one that would be easier to carry to church.