Our Christmas Memories

Shaelyn in front of the tree at Church.

Our "Storybook" children's Christmas program at church.

Rob drew all the characters for me!!

Aiden in front of the Wisemen at the program.

On Christmas Eve Aiden got to meet his cousins Daniel

and Travis for the first time! We enjoyed having them

visit from Ohio.

Shae on Christmas morning.

Things have been a bit hectic around our house but
we have paused long enough during this Christmas

season to make some really nice memories. It started

on Christmas Eve when we make cut out cookies and

let the kiddos decorate them. Boy was that a mess!

We then lit the luminaries outside on our sidewalk and

enjoyed the company of my brother and his family from

Ohio. Christmas morning dawned bright and early with

Shaelyn being the first one up. "Santa" had left new boots

for the kids and a stocking full of goodies. The stockings

were torn into first then the presents from Mommy and

Daddy! After presents were opened, we headed to

my Niece's house for Christmas dinner with everyone.

We ate until we were stuffed then opened more presents.

Saturday morning we had Christmas program practice

at church along with a little party for the kiddos.

Saturday evening my Dad took the whole family out to

eat and we got to enjoy each other all over again:) Then

this morning (Sunday) we had the Children's program.

It was a bit crazy but ended up being okay after all.

Wheeee, I am tired but HAPPY! Thankful for the reason

we celebrate Christmas and for the gift of a Baby in the

Manger. I'm also thankful for my little family and for

the joy, laughter (and yes, sibling fussing and fighting)

that so brightens our lives especially on Christmas

morning! We are BLESSED!

Our Christmas Eve

Stockings are stuffed and "Santa" is bringing new boots to the kiddos:)

Decorating Christmas cookies.

The kids had fun baking and decorating cookies this evening. We

had a few moments of chaos, but for the most part, it was a fun

time. Then we lit luminaries out on the sidewalk and enjoyed

fun and fellowship with my Brother and his family from Ohio.

The kids are now in bed, stockings are stuffed and "Santa" has

arrived. I am feeling incredibly blessed this evening! God is so

good to us! Merry Christmas to all!

Let it Snow!

I can not rememer a time that we have had snow

to compliment our Christmas decorations. Needless

to say, we are thrilled!!!! The kids have enjoyed it

and I love to look at it! Sure makes for some

wonderful Christmas memories!!!

Christmas Card Photo Session

Finally - camera was a bit blurry, but this is the one we finally used!
Wheee! Glad that's done!

(attempt #2) - This one took 2nd place but again Aiden
shut his eyes.

(attempt #3) - Shae and Sophie did well, Aiden got distracted.

Shae thought we should just use this picture,

but of course it was missing someone :)

(attempt #4) - Aiden's eyes completely shut and horrible camera quality!

(attempt #5) - cute kiddos, horrible camera quality!

To say that I had a hard time getting a good Christmas Card

photo for our cards this year, would be an understatement!

My camera was acting up, and the kids would not cooperate!

Here are our attemps.....

Happy Thanksgiving!

Aiden is "thankful" for our dog Sophie. They are pals!

We are thankful for Mimi (my Mom). She loves Shaelyn and Aiden

and they love her too. This picture was taken after Thanksgiving

dinner today.

We are so very thankful this Thanksgiving for the

many blessings God has blessed us with this

year!! There are so many things that come to mind

that I would have difficulty listing them all! One

special thing I am thankful for this year is time

spent with family. Yesterday we took the kids

to the parade and happened upon my sister and

her kids so we joined them and had a great time.

Today we had my Mom and Dad and my Sister and

her family over for Thanksgiving dinner.

(17 people in our little house) It was nice to spend

time with everyone. We sure did miss my brother

and his family and Rob's sister and her family in Ohio.

We also missed Rob's Mom and Dad and Sister's family

in New York. Wow we would have a huge crowd if

everyone could come. We cherish our family and thank

God for them. Hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving Day!

First Night in Toddler Bed

Much to my surprise, Aiden fell asleep in his toddler

bed tonight! I could hardly believe it! Rob's co-worker

gave us a nice TV/VCR and we put it in Aiden's room.

He can not see it well from his crib and until tonight, was

unable to see if well from his toddler bed. Well, I got

a bright idea to move his toddler bed to be positioned

in front of the TV just to see if he would sit on the bed

to watch his favorite Blue's Clues videos. Sure enough

he sat on it without any problems. Then he little by

little became more comfortable on it as the evening

progressed. Soon he was fast asleep on it! Yay!! Now

I am soooo excited:)

Dirty Boy!

Aiden is 100% boy! He loves anything to do with rocks,

sticks and dirt. Today I planted some pansies in the pots

on our front porch. It didn't take him long to discover

the freshly cultivated dirt. When I turned my back for

just a minute he had both hands in the pot digging for

all he was worth. This is the scene I turned around to.

I quickly got the camera and captured these pictures. If

it is dirty....he loves it!

Trick-or-Treat

Shaelyn and Aiden with Papaw.

The back of Aiden's costume was sooo cute!!

Our little "mouse" ready to trick-or treat!

We took the kids to the Mall and to a few houses

this evening to trick-or-treat! We stopped by

Mimi and Papaw's house before we went so they

could see the kids in their costumes. Papaw was

dressed like a farmer and was all ready to had

out candy at his house. Shaelyn looked beautiful

in her 50's attire and Aiden was adorable as a

little fat mouse. He did not want to keep the hood of

the costume up however, so it was hard to tell what

he was suppose to be. We enjoyed seeing all the

different costumes at the mall and enjoyed

just being together as a family. We were thankful

Rob was off tonight! It was a fun night!

Jack-O-Lanterns

We did not get to take the kids to the pumpkin patch

this year due to some rainy weather. Instead we opted

to just buy the kids a pumpkin at the store. They were

still very excited about picking out their pumpkins.

We almost waited too late and had a hard time finding

nice pumpkins! We finally found some and then were

back home to carve them. The dining room table became the

carving station and needless to say was cleaned very

well after the event:) Rob was off tonight so he helped

Aiden with his and I helped Shae with hers. We had a

fun time! We already had a fake jack-o-lantern on

display on the front porch so we just added our two real
pumpkins for a nice trio of Halloween fun. Another fun

tradition at our house is sealed in our memories! We are

blessed!

Fall Leaves

Aiden just "chillin" in the leaves.

Shaelyn and Sophie in the leaves. Sophie is not too sure she

is in love with this idea.

Shae and Aiden keeping Mr and Mrs Scarecrow company.

Aiden in the pile of leaves. This is only a small portion of

the leaves we have:)

Aiden is "free" to enjoy the nice sunny weather!

Aiden apparently thought his clothes were too restricting!

I found them in the yard! I'm actually surprised he kept

his diaper on.

Shaelyn riding her bike through the customary "leaf road".

It was not a journey of love however. Shaelyn thinks she

is far to old and mature for this tradition.

Every autumn we are blessed with tons of leaves!

It has become somewhat of a tradition to make a day of

raking and playing in the leaves. This year was no

exception. Shaelyn pretty much thought she was too old

now for the tradition and would have much rather been in the

house on the computer. Aiden sure enjoyed himself though!

He had a blast playing in all those leaves. He must have

gotten overheated because I turned around from blowing

some leaves and discovered that he had shed his

clothes and was parading around in nothing but his

diaper. It was so funny! It was a warm day today

(almost 70 degrees) so I just let him run around

the yard without his clothes. He was nothing but smiles!

We will probably have one or two more leaf raking

days before our trees are all bear. I love the leaves

but quite honestly wish we didn't have so many:)

His Eye Is On The Sparrow!

This past week has been especially stressful, and to be honest

there were times I felt like the wind had been knocked

out of me! I am ashamed to say that I have indulged myself

in a few self pity-parties. I had one of those weeks that I

felt like God was a million miles away and really could care

less about me and my problems! Well, it took a little bird

to shake me back to reality. As we were leaving for church

this morning, Rob discovered a little sparrow that was "dying"

on our front porch. He was on his back and was jerking and

gasping for air. I swooped up this little bird and held him in

my hand. Nothing seemed broken and he wasn't bleeding so

I begin to think he had flown into our glass storm door and

had knocked the wind out of himself. I carefully placed him

on the bench in our flowerbed, rubbed his little head and told

him it would be okay. We left for church and I wondered if

he would be dead when we got back. Well, when we arrived

back home we checked on the status of the little sparrow and

he had flown away! God used that little bird to let me know

that everything would be okay. His eye is on the sparrow

and I know he watches me!

Pumpkin Painting

We took the kids to the Autumn Jubilee today

at Dan Nicholas Park. They had fun painting a

pumpkin! Thankfully the paint is washable!

We ALL got paint on us:)

Worth It All!

This time last year we were adjusting to a new little

member of the family. We had been home with Aiden

for about 10 days and oh were we adjusting!!! I

remember many times I felt like I was going to

pull my hair out! Shaelyn and Sophie (the dog) were

insanely jealous of Aiden. Shaelyn wasn't too sure

she wanted to share her turf with a brother after all!

I began to wonder when and if our house would ever

me "normal" again:) Well, I am happy to report that

a year later we are FINE! Shaelyn has finally adjusted

to having a brother and Sophie is now Aiden's best buddy!

Shaelyn adores her little brother and is thankful for him.

They have their moments, but most of the time they are

enjoying each other as I so hoped they would! What a

difference a year makes!