Randomness of Life

I can't believe January is almost over! We have been busy and the month has just flown by!

We are anxiously awaiting the arrival of Matt's brother, sister-in-law and their little girl ,who currently live in China, in a few weeks. They are going to be home for a few months as they are expecting their 2nd little girl in May. We are looking forward to spending some time with them.

Taylor is busy selling Girl Scout Cookies and getting ready for a camping trip with her troop in May.

Caleb is working on badges for Boy Scouts. He is constantly making us laugh.

Madison is enjoying school. They are making lots of cute artwork. We have made the decision to keep her out of Kindergarten this next year and are placing her in the pre-K program at her preschool. She is so excited to be in Mrs Carol and Mrs Carol's class (yes, both the teachers are named Carol). She is constantly saying things that make us laugh also and I am busy trying to write them down b/c I know I will forget them.

The kids have been busy mastering the Wii. Taylor is especially good at some of the games.

Madison loves these fuzzy boots she got for Christmas and wants to wear them all the time. We think she looks like she should be sitting at a ski resort when she wears them.


Matt even got his mom Wii boxing. She did really good for her first time....she knocked him down a few times :)


Madison and her polar bear (ignore the horrible hair day she is having)

Quality Time With "the cousins"

The first weekend in January we traveled to Nashville to spend the weekend with Matt's brother, sister-in-law and their 5 kids. We always enjoy spending time with them as all the kids get along so well. Plus we enjoy the same kinds of things....movies, staying up playing games and just talking! The kids couldn't wait to get there and they immediately began playing like they saw each other all the time. We also celebrated with them our last Christmas. My kids were so thrilled with their gifts! Taylor got a lava lamp, Caleb got Hulk and Captain America costumes and Madison got Supergirl and Dorthy costumes.

Let the opening begin!


Taylor and her groovy lava lamp!


Madison as Supergirl!


Caleb as the Hulk!


Three sweet little girls ready for bed :)


Caleb and Riley ready for bed


This picture is a little fuzzy but I love the look on Madison's face.

Snow Day!

I was so excited...I really thought we were going to be a big snow but unfortunately we got mostly ice :( The kids didn't care though...they were just glad to be out of school! Taylor had gone home with a friend from school and we had to go pick her up. We ended up bringing her friend, Clara, home with us to spend the night since they didn't have school. Friday morning the girls were ready to head out to play. After bundling up since it was like 4 degrees with the wind chill they enjoyed sledding down the hills and making snow angels. Caleb and Madison joined them but not for long as they got cold. I only snapped a few pictures and got none of Caleb :(

Madison went down the hill in her cozy coupe car!


Pushing the car back up the hill to do it again


Clara and Taylor sledding



Madison making a snow angel


Taylor making a snow angel

Christmas Day

Christmas Day the kids woke up to find that Santa had not only left a Wii but also had left a bell from his sleigh for each child. They have watched The Polar Express so many times that they were very excited about their bells. The Wii was a huge hit. Matt got it hooked up as soon as we were done opening gifts and the kids have enjoyed playing it numerous times throughout each day. Taylor is really getting good and has moved to "pro" level on quite a few games. They especially love the bowling and carnival games. Taylor and Caleb also received their own electric throws! These were a huge hit too as they are always wanting to use mine. They also each got a new Christmas themed singing animal to add to our collection.

Looking at their bells. Santa even left red pouches to keep the bells in. Each bell has "Believe" painted on it.


Checking out the Wii and the extra game Santa left.


Taylor with her sledding polar bear


Madison got some domino's.


Caleb got walkie-talkies. He was so excited and he and Taylor have used them daily.


Caleb got a snowman that sings "Let It Snow" and hardly put it down all day :)


Madison got a new soft blanket and was thrilled that it was "pokey nots"!

Christmas Stockings

After we opened the big presents and ate we got back to the serious work of more opening. Each person ends up with 8 "stocking stuffers" to open so it takes a little time. Some of us are more refined in our opening (Taylor and Madison) while some (Caleb) just like to rip the packages open as quickly as possible and see what is inside. Madison also has to inspect each gift carefully and thank the giver of the gift :)

A few of Madison's gifts...play money, her favorite candy and some body wash.






Caleb's gifts included a root beer mug of his own and a new t-shirt.




Funky knee-socks, digital camera and new purse were some of Taylor's stocking gifts.






Chris's stocking consisted of gifts cards and socks :)




NaNa got quite a few snowman accessories....she loves snowmen. Caleb picked out this ornament for her all by himself, he was so proud.


Sadly, there were no pictures taken of me, Matt, Hope or Pops opening our stockings...I believe the photographer took a break.

Christmas Eve Celebrations Part 1

We celebrated Christmas with my family on Christmas Eve at Hope and Chris's house. We decided to do a low key meal this year. Everyone contributed a couple of appetizers to the meal...it was a huge hit and a new tradition. We enjoyed red-neck salsa (sometimes called red-neck caviar), bacon wrapped scallops, potato skins, a parmesan and ranch cheese ball, crab dip with french bread, mini ham and swiss cheese sandwiches, sausage balls and for dessert strawberries, pineapple, bananas and marshmallows with chocolate fondue :) It was all so yummy and we were stuffed when it was all over and the best part was that nobody had to slave away in the kitchen for hours! We started the evening with present opening then moved on to eating before opening our stockings. We ended the evening with yummy desserts.

The tree with all presents!


The kids before the chaos of opening presents began!


Caleb wanted to use this plastic knife to assist him in opening presents..silly boy!


Caleb got a remote controlled helicopter and he was thrilled!


Madison had been asking for this baby since we went to Disney in October so she was thrilled.


Taylor got a huge art kit with all kinds of materials to work with..she was so excited!


Caleb loved this orange puffy vest!


Madison loved her furry boots they are just like Taylor's :)


Matt got a Cool Water gift set!


Nana got a beautiful blue sweater.


Hope got the cutest chip and dip set...I will be borrowing this in the future.


Pops got a blue sweater...him and Nana can match according to Madison!


After we ate we opened all of our stockings. We have a tradition in our family that we all buy a gift for everyone's stocking. The gift must be no more than $10. It is a nice to have 8 small gifts to open. I get more excited about buying for the stockings than anything...I sometimes purchase these gifts months and months in advance.

Mommy/Daughter Date

Yesterday I took Madison to see The Princess and the Frog. She has been asking to go and see it and while we were at Disney in October we were given a free child's pass. It expired on December 31st so I knew we needed to go. Taylor wasn't interested in seeing and neither was Caleb. Taylor was going to Aunt Hope's to spend the night so we thought it would be a good opportunity. Matt decided to take Caleb to see Astro Boy.

Madison loved getting some mommy time (she can't get enough mommy time). She loved having the popcorn and coke all to herself....well except for sharing with mommy :)

The movie was good for the most part. There were a couple of scary parts where Madison climbed into my lap and covered her eyes. It was a typical Disney princess movie, there is always a scary part..Snow White/wicked stepmother, Cinderella/wicked stepmother, Belle/Beast, Ariel/Ursula. There were definitely some cute parts....when she is a frog and the prince is a frog there are some funny scenes :) I would recommend it but would warn that there are few parts which might scare younger children.

Look at that bag of popcorn :)




She had to get her picture made with Alvin and The Chipmunks :)