Christmas 2009

Christmas was so much fun for our family this year. Jon has been working so much that we were so excited that he would get to spend the entire day with us. The kids are at a perfect age to be so completely giddy and excited about Christmas. Of course, they were delighted that the cookies they set out had been eaten!
I made them sit at the top of the stairs so I could get pictures of them together...
But once I said they could go....boy, did they go!
Digging in the stocking...
Caught her rubbing her eyes...they didn't wake up early (8:30ish) but she was still a little sleepy.
Santa Daddy handing out the goods.
Each kid with a pile of gifts. We have been so blessed.
Crazy wrapping paper mess...and of course Daddy putting something together.
LaLa got Lawson a guitar!! He was so excited!
Jordan was so excited about all of her Dora toys for her Dora castle.
Hungry, Hungry Hippos and Tired, Tired Daddy
We spent the day playing and laughing and snacking...
and snacking...
and snacking... (doesn't it look like this cookie is a winking smiley face? We didn't even mean to do this--just noticed it while walking through the kitchen!)
and snacking...
We finished the day with by eating the first ham I ever baked (it was SO good!) and some delicious vegetables. Oh, and watching our new Curious George movie.

Like I said....Christmas this year was full of memories for me. I am so thankful for the family and the blessings that have been bestowed upon me.

Christmas Eve 2009

Christmas Eve was full of time spent together for our family! Of course, we had to make cookies for someone...
And watch The Polar Express....
And choose which shape we would cut out for our special visitor...
with a little help from Daddy...
and be sure to put everything where he could find it...
and finish up with "The Night Before Christmas."

It was grand.

From our family to yours

There are so many things to say, but tonight this will do...

Merry Christmas to you and yours.

Part of Christmas came early this year!

Because Nana and Papa came early this year! Jon's parent's were here for Lawson's birthday, so we just did our Christmas with them before they went home. They always take such good care of us, and we love it whenever anyone comes to visit us.

I requested the toy storage pieces, to use in the kids' rooms. Nana then decided to find several items to put in the bins for them to unwrap. They kids loved opening all of their gifts!
I love this picture of the kids with listening to a story...

The Great Valley

I was so sick the week before Lawson's birthday, and one of the things I was going to be most disappointed about was that I didn't think I would be able to make a cake for Lawson's birthday. It's always so much fun for me to think up a cake that I think my kids will be excited about--I love making a cake for their birthday that they will remember. Actually, I'm not sure they would even notice if I couldn't make it, but it matters to me!

I had planned on making a cake that looked like The Great Valley from The Land Before Time. Lawson has LOVED dinosaurs this year, and chose dinosaur invitations to send out for his party. I thought it would be fun to put some dinosaurs on a cake I decorated.... So here it is...

I used 2 chocolate cake mixes and 2 yellow cake mixes. I made all the icing from scratch.
Getting there...

And the cake as it was at the party:

The cake was a hit at the party! First, all the kids wanted some of the water...until I cut the volcano. Then--everyone wanted a piece of the volcano!! It was pretty fun!

Now, for a break on the cakes until August...

Party Time

I had been trying to figure out what we were going to do for Lawson's 5th birthday party--it's hard with his birthday being in the winter because we can never do a party at a park or pool, and there's only so many indoor venues. I had heard about a new place in town called KidVenture, so we went to check it out and from the very beginning my kids loved it. Jon's parents helped us out and we booked a party for Lawson's actual birthday. I was tired because I had made Lawson's cake that day, so Jon was our official photographer at the party...

I think everyone had a fun time--I know Lawson had a blast at his party! We're thankful for the family and friends who help make our special days so special.

Lawson at 5

It's hard to believe my little boy is five. He really is such a good, kind-hearted, sweet boy. He's a great brother to Jordan, and they play together so well. Lawson loves to play outside--jumping on the trampoline, riding his bike, swinging and climbing. This past summer he finally learned how to get himself going on a swing, so now he loves being able to go outside and swing himself whenever he wants. He rode training wheels all last summer, and he is dying to try to ride without them, like a big boy, this spring.

The doctor says he's healthy as a horse. Weighing in at almost 42 pounds (50th %ile), and 44 inches tall (75th %ile), our pediatrician said he's on pace to be right at 6 feet tall. At his 4 year well check, the projection was about 5'10", so I guess he had a growth spurt this year!

This past year he had so much fun playing his second year of t-ball with several of his friends from church. He also played soccer for the first time. I really thought he would love it because he loves to run. He did love the running part...it was just the kicking the ball that he never got the hang of! He said that he doesn't want to play spring soccer, but he does want to do t-ball again.

Lawson still loves church and Bible class. He is doing a great job at Bible Memory Challenge--he memorizes things so well. He gets so excited to tell us what his story was about in class, and as always he loves his teachers! He is still a singer too--he doesn't have any stage fright, and knows the words to more songs than I can count.

We have been doing a little bit of Pre-K work...still not sure what we're going to do come Fall. Lawson is doing great with the things I've given him--he's such a quick learner. He is doing great with learning all the letter sounds and higher numbers. He has just started being able to read (with some help on irregulars) a few Level 1 readers. Everything he sees now he is trying to sound out, or remember how to spell. He loves to practice writing the words he knows how to spell. For me, it is just so refreshing to see how excited he gets when he learns new things. It is also interesting learn how he handles the frustration he sometimes experiences when he gets stumped. I truly feel blessed to have spent his first five years with him--enjoying, loving, nurturing and teaching him.

Lately Lawson has also really been enjoying getting to do some big boy stuff with his Daddy. They have enjoyed shooting BB guns, watching some football and movies, playing guitars, shooting bows and arrows and working out in Jon's shop. I am so thankful for the time that they get to spend together--I know that Lawson will grow up cherishing these memories that Jon is making with him.

My prayer for Lawson continues to be the same--that he will continue to grow in all areas of his life. I pray that he will continue to be a strong healthy boy who loves Jesus. I pray that he will grow into a strong Christian man who makes a difference in the kingdom of God.

Lawson's Family Birthday

Definitely not the most beautiful birthday cupcakes ever, but this is what we had to celebrate Lawson's 5th birthday as a family--the day before his real birthday. Nana and Papa were here, and we enjoyed watching Lawson open gifts from family and then chowed down on cupcakes.

For sure, one of the best things about being the Mom and not the Dad on special events is that Jon is the one who gets to put the million-piece toys together. I was so excited to find this Dinosaur Mountain on Black Friday at a great price, but I had no idea how many pieces were in that box!!!

Blowing out the candles...

I did end up helping, we finally got that sucker put together!! Lawson loves it, as well as playing with all of the dinosaurs and other things he opened that night!!

More to come on Lawson's birthday festivities...

So so so sick...

December is always a busy month. We always are coming back from a fabulous Thanksgiving, decorating for Christmas, getting ready for Lawson's birthday festivities then celebrating Christmas. The last thing I ever need is for someone to get sick. Let alone, if I get sick. The week before Lawson's birthday I was plugging away, getting the plans ready for his party. Tuesday night, the 9th, I went to bed feeling just fine. I had had a cough that had progessively gotten worse for weeks, but didn't feel bad.

I was shocked when I woke up Wednesday and could barely get out of bed. I was sleeping under all of my blankets with my electric blanket on High, and woke up FREEZING. Thought that was weird until I took my temperature and realized I had almost a 103 fever. I stumbled downstairs and barely (somehow) got the kids something to eat then I laid down on the couch and slept. My head was pounding, I was shivering to death, and my whole body hurt. I was in so much pain, just laying there.

The kids were great. They just sat in the living room watching TV. They woke me up when a show ended and I fumbled the remote until I found them another one. I woke up a couple times and heard them upstairs playing together. Finally I realized it was almost noon. I called Jon and asked him if he could come home--I didn't think I could stand up long enough to get the kids lunch. He came right home. He took one look at me and called me in an appointment. Then he fed the kids and he drove me to the Dr.

He and the kids waited in the car while I went in. I was tested for flu and strep, both of which came back negative. I fell asleep in the office, with my head on the little desk, during the 5 minutes that the nurse stepped out to check my test. When I told the doctor that I had a cough that had been around for a few weeks, he told me that my symptoms sounded like I had pneumonia and also diagnosed me with febrile illness, which is a crazy high spiking fever. He never sent me for an x-ray, but I went home with a handful of prescriptions.

I spent the rest of that night on the couch in and out of sleep, while the kids overdosed on movies. Thank goodness Lawson had learned how to switch them out himself!! Thursday, Friday and Saturday were mostly spent on the couch too--I am so glad Jon's parents had already planned on coming for Lawson's birthday. They got there Thursday night and were so helpful. Thursday, Jon also took both of the kids to the pediatrician and they had sinus infections and went on antibiotics.

By Sunday I was starting to feel better, I was just so tired. Every little thing I did just wore me out. Sunday afternoon I baked some cupcakes for us to celebrate Lawson's birthday that night. It was the longest I had stood up in 5 days, and I was exhausted after that!! I was just hoping I would feel well enough to go to Lawson's birthday party the next night. I also really, really wanted to make him a cake. Thankfully I was able to do both. I was definitely done-for at the end of the night, but I am so grateful that I didn't miss my son's 5th birthday!

"I wanna do a craft...."

One morning Jordan came up to me and said, "Mommy, I wanna do a craft. Can we do a craft?" I had not planned to do any crafts that particular day, but we had plenty of free time so I came up with something really quick...anything that involves scissors and glue is a winner in their book...

We also made Rudolphs with handprint antlers, and we hung all the "crafts" on our patio window. The kids were so proud of the decorations they had made. I was proud of them too, but of course I didn't take a picture of them all hanging up!

Thanksgiving 2009

This year we were so excited to get to spend another Thanksgiving with our dear friends Kenny and Jamey down in Montgomery. Our kids were also super excited that we were going to play with Avery and Braden! It was an exciting weekend of playing, eating, shopping and sleeping. Here's the recap:

Look how big our little girls have gotten! They really had so much fun playing and dressing up together!

Here is the cooking queen!! Jamey always does an amazing job preparing yummy ham, turkey, noodles and gravy! This is her with an action 'stirring-the-gravy' shot!
I took the meat off of the turkey while Jamey made the gravy. I did the best I could, even though I have never done this before and I don't like bones! Jamey turned around and told me I did a good job, and I told her that if Jon came and saw it he would tell me how much good meat I left on there. Well...Jon came in about 10 minutes later and immediately started picking off of the bones and asked me how come I didn't take off all the meat!
Here's the yummy spread of meats, vegetables, macaroni, dressings and desserts. SO YUM!
This was our first year to have an officially 'kid's table'. They are all finally big enough to pretty much eat a meal unassisted by us. That means they can talk about the silliness they want to talk about and we get to have adult conversations again! :)
After the kids finished eating they went in the living room and started throwing their toy snakes up in the air trying to catch them on the fan blades. It was pretty funny watching them try to get them up there...Because I have a piddly little camera, you'll have to believe me that the blurry spot between Jordan and the fan is her snake flopping through the air!
Got it! :)
"Can I have some boots like this?"
Early mornings are definitely worth it on Black Friday...for the deals and the memories!

How many kids does it take to drive a stick pony?
Playing outside on a brisk fall day is a great way to spend the afternoon!

What's a visit with the Simpson's without a visit to Steak and Shake? :)
4 big kids walkingto church on Sunday morning...
I hope our friends will grow up to be friends for life!
It was so great to spend a Thanksgiving holiday with some friends that we are so thankful for. I am thankful for the friendship that has grown over the years, and I pray that it only gets stronger!