Happy New Year!

Grandma brought little personalized picture books for everyone. They love looking at pictures of themselves!


We were thrilled to have Jed's mom and brother Ryan come out to spend New Years with us. The kids had been asking why Grandma wasn't coming for Christmas and were so thrilled to learn that she would be here the very next week. The boys were just sure that Ryan would be AWESOME at building legos and they were right. Kate also loved that he would sit and eat dinner with her at her pink table. Ryan, thank you for being a good example of kindness to our boys who sometimes brush their little sis aside. Other highlights included drawing pictures, playing in the sink full of water, reading "The Magic Tree house" and other books, Grandma feeding Gracie her first oatmeal and Jed and I even got a chance to go out on a date (we went to dinner and saw "The Blind Side"--I loved it!). We all can't wait for them to come again...based on their driving experience I think it will be in warm weather!

Christmas '09

January is almost over and I am really feeling the pressure to post something about our Christmas. First off...thank you to all of you who thought of us with your cards and gifts...we are so blessed. I decided this year to embrace our family theme and really SIMPLIFY the holiday. Thus, no cards or letters were sent from our home. Now you can breath a sigh of relief...you are not off our mailing list. :)

So here you have our Christmas highlights in a nutshell:

Owen: LOVED his lego set from Santa! He spent most of the afternoon working on it. He could barely sleep the night before because he was so excited. He also thoroughly loved Mr Bean's Christmas special...I think he nearly wet his pants he was laughing so hard.

Davis: Also LOVED his lego set from Santa. He was thrilled that we spent Christmas Eve with his buddy Aiden and wasn't so excited to watch Mr Kruger's Christmas that night. He impatiently requested that we switch to a "paintball show" that Daddy and Mr Shae introduced him too. Now there's the Christmas Spirit in action.

Kate: Nearly hyperventilated opening her Sleeping Beauty doll and horse. It was adorable. She really got into this whole gift thing and LOVED what she bought for Gracie.

Gracie: Enjoyed playing in the wrapping paper and watching all of the action. It is always fun to watch a baby on their first Christmas. Like the others in years past, she really had no idea what was going on, but was a sweet reminder to us of the reason for the season.

Jed and I: We enjoyed having a day with no where to go. We didn't force the kids to eat anything that they didn't want to and let them stay in their pjs all day...that was my favorite part. We both commented on how magical it is to watch the kids on Christmas. They made our day.

Again, thank you to all of you who added to our Christmas 2009!

Filling in the gaps...Our girls are getting so big!

Now that it is the New Year, I am really feeling the pressure to get caught up on my blog. In an attempt to do so, I have posted several things out of order in an attempt to "Fill in the gaps".

With this post I really just wanted to document how big my girls are getting.Doesn't Kate look so old in these pictures?
It took 3+ months, but we finally got Gracie to successfully take a pacifier and now she loves it...thank you to the inventor of the pacifier!

Filling in the gaps...Thanksgiving

Things I loved about this Thanksgiving...

!. Visiting Ezra and Lisa and their FABULOUS kids for the holiday. We always come home with great ideas after being with their family.
2. Watching the kids giggle and squeal as Ezra puts on a "magic show" much to their delight.
3. Our first trip to a Children's Museum. It was so much fun.


I remember LOVING pretend grocery shopping as a little girl...so why do I dread it now?4. Jed's traditional family pies....YUM! I love that he and his brothers are all baking the same thing on the same day...sort of bonding.
5. I mean really, does it get cuter than this little pilgrim?

Filling in the gaps....Davis and Aiden turn Four!

As I said before, despite my requests for Davis to remain 3...he turned 4 in November and boy did we celebrate! It just so happens that one of his FAVORITE friends, Aiden, has a birthday around the same time. We were at a fundraiser auction with Aiden's parents (Beth and Shae) and decided to buy a joint birthday party at the fire station...It was the best party EVER...at least the boys thought so.


That is one hot fireman!

The firefighters even provided this cake and gifts....Let's hear it for Public Safety!

And thus it continues...

Here's the latest on the light war...after the Pages tried to burn our sign and posted the "No Lakers" we posted this sign on their front door....
I fully recognize that this does NOT compare to the lighted signs, but Owen and I had fun taping it to their front door in our "spy clothes". We also left little bags of coal around their house...one on the front doorstep...one on the back...one on the cat food...one in the mailbox...one on the truck...On one bag we posted the note "To the Grinch who TRIED to burn our sign". We thought it was funny. Then the next day this appeared on our fence...I am sorry that the picture doesn't do the sign justice...it reads "Todd Margo live here". If you have seen "Christmas Vacation" you get this and are surely laughing right now. We are having too much fun...I'm sure this is teaching our kids something good, right?

Okay? Okay? Okay, bye!

Last night the kids were saying their prayers and this is what Kate says, "Heavenly Father. Thank you my friends, my family....okay? Okay? Okay, bye." It was SO funny. Like she forgot that she was praying and started mimicking me on the telephone...or maybe she was really communicating with "The Man Upstairs".