Christmas Cantata

Maddie and Daddy both had a part in this year's Christmas Cantata at church. Maddie performed in the Children's Choir and Troy was in the Adult Choir and had a solo. It was very nice!

Our Family Christmas

Family Christmas 2008

Reading the Christmas Story on 'Christmas Eve'

(Sam was a little too excited to sit still and was doing somersaults off the couch)

New Christmas Pajamas!
(Although this looks like a head lock it is actually a hug!)

Daddy getting everything setup under the tree. Sam got a train set and Maddie got a 'treasure box' full of dress up clothes.

Up at 6 am!!

Maddie was very excited with all her dress up clothes!
Sam with his train set. The kids have played with it everyday so far!

(Check out Sam's new slippers from Maddie.)

Maddie got Daddy a new picture frame and Sam got him this John Deere shirt of course! Those kids have such great taste!

Maddie got a Cowgirl outfit so now both of the kids can hunt down some Indians. Now Maddie wants a gun!

Troy got me a beautiful mothers ring with he kids names engraved! It wasn't ready until later this day so we didn't get any pictures!

Getting ready.....

We are getting ready for Christmas!

Daddy, Papa, and Uncle Joshua put these cool lights on our house. The deer on the left are new and were a gift to the kids from our neighbor. Sam loves them and tries to 'take care' of them. Last night he ran over to them when we were plugging everything in and said "I got to feed 'em Mom." Maddie is very 'into' lights this year and everytime we come home at night she says "Oh our house is beautiful."
We had our annual cookie bake last Thursday and the kids made these cute reindeer cookies. Sam ate more M&M and chocolate chips than he put on the cookies, but he had a good time.

Cookie bake night is one of the nights we really look forward to during the Christmas season. Troy helps with the cookies and always makes his special oatmeal chocolate chip cookies!

Maddie did a great job this year on these reindeer cookies. You can tell by her face that she was very serious and careful when she used the 'glue' to put the face together. What great helpers I have!



p.s. Maddies hair is wet because when we sent the kids to the bathroom to wash their hands before cooking she got a little carried away and started to wash her hair in the sink. I guess she thought you had to be 'really' clean to cook!

I'm the winner!!

Many of Sam and Madaline's conversations lately have included the phrase 'I'm the winner' Poor Sam is usually not the winner of whatever they are arguing about, but finally he did win an argument!

On the way to Church.....
Maddie: Where are we going Mommy?
Mommy: To Church.
Maddie : Our Church or my Mimi's Church?
Mommy: Our Church
Maddie: It's my church...
Sam: (louder): It's my church....
Maddie (even louder): It's my church!
Sam: (Very loud especially when we are all in the car!) It's God's Church!!!!

And that settled it!

Brown Hair

Both uncle Josh's- White hair and brown hair respectively!

Madaline's new thing is brown hair. She wants a baby doll with brown hair for Christmas, and she is constantly asking me if older people used to have brown hair or if their hair has always been white. During Church last night she was pointing out every member of the choir who has brown hair. Last night my brother Josh called to check on us and this can get confusing because my sister Melinda is also married to a Josh. (which we call Uncle Josh Philip's dad to keep them straight.) Anyway this is the back ground for the following conversation.

Maddie: Who was on the phone?

Me: Uncle Josh.

Maddie: Can I see him?

Me: We are going to get to see him when we go to Mimi's for Christmas.

Maddie: Oh! It's my Uncle Josh that has Brown hair!

Me: Yeah, Not Philip's Dad. Are you excited to see him?

Maddie: Philip's Dad's hair is white.

Me: Right. Do you want to see Uncle Josh?

Maddie: Well, will I get to see his hair?

Trimming the Tree

We finally got the tree up, but it took a couple of attempts and lots of helpers!!
Maddie in front of the tree when it was finished. (Sam wouldn't cooperate for a picture!)

Our good friend Jonathon helping out.

Sam had a little accident with a glass ornament so his tree trimming had to be supervised.

Maddie and Sam getting their new Hallmark ornaments.

Mimi and Papa helped us get some of the tree decorated while they were here.

Not sure why.....

Many people have commented that there were no pictures of me in the ones I sent out for Thanksgiving and I'm not sure why....I thought I had sent this one. I was pretty excited about this crazy cute Thanksgiving apron so I thought I would post it on here.

(Please do not think my kitchen is always this messy....there were 21 people in my house! Also check out the curtains I made...I was pretty excited about them too!)

Thanksgiving

We were very grateful this year to have a house full of our family for Thanksgiving! We had a lot of fun just spending time together. God has really blessed our family.

Little Pilgrim and Special Tractor

Maddie and her Wednesday night class wore these Pilgrim outfits last Wednesday to help learn about Thanksgiving. They were very cute (there are only girls in her class) and she wanted to post this picture on the blog so everyone could see it. I love this picture because it is a genuine Maddie smile!Sam wanted to get in on the action and ran to get his favorite tractor to put on the blog as well. He is really cute (even though I am his mother) and so I agreed to put it on for you. I'm sure you can tell by the way he is looking at it how special this tractor is! He is also wearing his tractor shirt (under the jacket) which we try to keep clean at all times because he is often (or always) in the mood to wear it.

Snow??

This is a Florida snowball fight. The kids entertained themselves yesterday with a little Styrofoam while I put together a new cabinet for our bathroom. I thought this would be easy to clean up but let me just tell you it wasn't! I had to use a vacuum to clean the little Styrofoam balls off the kids! They thought this was hilarious. I needed to clean the house anyway so it all worked out OK I guess. But in the future we will wait until we are a little further North to enjoy the snow!

Welcome Home Elizabeth!!

We were very excited to get to Welcome Elizabeth home from Afghanistan. We are grateful for her service to our country and grateful that the Lord kept her safe for these past 6 months.

Baking

Philip came to visit this week and the kids all had lots of fun! Mommy and Aunt Melinda took a break from working around the house to let them bake this fall cake with leaf sprinkles. The kids had a lot of fun and the cake was good too!

All the kids hanging out in their pj's! We can't wait until Thanksgiving when even more of our cousins are coming!

Bonfire

Maddie and Sam attended their first wiener roast this weekend! It was a lot of fun making s'mores and spending time with friends. It almost seemed like an Indiana fall night!

It was a little dark so the kids ate inside. (Sam, Aaron and Ryan are more interested in the food than having their picture taken!)

Maddie and her friend Kymberly checking out the fire.

Maddie and Sam's first putt putt

We met our church for putt putt on Halloween night. We almost lost Maddie and Sam in the water hazard but otherwise had a good time. We are pretty sure a 2 & 3 year old should not be given a stick and a ball and then told they have to 'wait' to use them.
Daddy doing a trick shot

It was fun spending time together!

We went with our Friends the Braces- they got a sitter for their 3 kids or it would have truly been a wild time! p.s. Happy Birthday Chris!

Halloween Fun

We went trick or treating at our new mall on the beach this year! It was a lot of fun for the kids.
They went as a fairy princess and a cowboy

Sam was quite contrary- until he saw the candy!

Maddie was more than happy to pose for the camera!

(She was a little confused by her outfit since she had been asking for months to be Super Girl, but hey, when mom waits until the day of to purchase outfits we are just happy with what we get. She kept telling Troy 'I think I'm a blueberry!' We finally said 'This is like what Tinkerbell wears sometimes when her green outfit is dirty' That worked, but it may not next year...these kids are getting smart!)