CHRISTMAS 2008!

Merry Christmas! What a fun filled day it was for us! We started pretty early, 5:45 am! James had to work Christmas Day, but not until about 9:30, so we had to get to opening presents ASAP! Santa was good to us this year, bringing the whole family new bicycles! Even Hailey got a Dora tricycle AND a seat to ride on my bike with me! We finally got through all the presents by about 7:30 and then I made a big french toast breakfast and James was off to work. We met up with him again around 5:00 for a yummy prime rib dinner at the firestation! Of course we also said happy birthday to Jesus, since it his day and all! What a wonderful day!! Hope yours was just as wonderful! See ya next year!!! Ryan's favorite thing was a couple of Mario Bro's action figures!

Hailey sitting amongst all her loot!

Jackson loved his new bike from Santa!

The kids were so excited to see all the presents under the tree Christmas morning!

Party time!

That's right, party time! Both the boys had winter break parties at their schools last week and I got to go to both of them! It's was fun to see all the kids and parents in a little less formal atmosphere and of course enjoy all the yummy cookies and candy! So, that means that the kids are all out of school now and we are all ready for Christmas and can't wait for Santa to come and deliver some presents. We pray that you have a very merry Christmas and that the Lord blesses you in the New Year. Merry Christmas!!

8And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. 9An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. 10But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. 11Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord." Luke 2:8-11

The Bald Brutha's!

Yep, they're bald! James came home Monday morning and told me about how he was playing a dice game at work with the guys. Well, the loser of said game had to shave his head, and guess what? Yeah, James lost!!!! Now this is where I started to cry, because we were scheduled to have our family christmas picture the next night!!! So, what does my brilliant husband do? Well of course the only smart thing to do, shave the boys heads, too! So, that is how they became the Bald Brutha's, which both Jackson and Ryan LOVE to say. I think that's the only reason I'm not mad or sad anymore, becasue both the boys are so happy about it and love being like thier Dad! Oh, and yes we did go ahead and get the family pictures done anyway. I figured it would take to long to wait for it to grow back a little and at least they all match! Them's my crazy, bald boys!

The Superstar returns!

That's right, superstar Ry-guy is back with a new little ditty for all to enjoy! This time he's singing Down By the Bay in the bathtub! I'll try to translate the words, in case you don't know the song. But first, take a little listen! Oh, and just scroll down to the playlist on the right side and you can pause the Christmas music, so you can hear Ry-guy singing!

Pretty cute, huh! Okay, so the words, I think, are as follows: "Down by the bay, where the watermelons grow, back to my home, I dare not go. (F)or if I do, my mom would say, have you ever seen a bear, combing his hair, down by the bay." Then the first part repeats, and the next few verses are: "have you ever seen a moose kissing a goose", "...seen a whale have a polka dot tale", "...seen a mouse painting a house", "...seen a llama putting on pajamas" of course how Ryan says it is much cuter! As for the lack of hair on Ryan's head, I'll explain that later! :-) Hope you enjoyed another addition of Superstar Ry-guy!

Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree...

How lovely are your branches! We went up to the mountains to go cut ourselves a Christmas Tree! We've been going to the same place for the past few years and we just love it. My Dad was able to join us this year which made it extra special! We bundled up and headed up the hill only to find ourselves sweating once we got there! It was actually warmer at the tree farm then at our house! Go figure! Anyway, we set out to find the perfect tree and about 10 minutes into our search Ryan had to go potty! So I ran him back to the bathroom and then we went back to where we left the others only to find them gone. After about 30 minutes of searching, with Ryan riding on my back half the time, we finally gave up and went to the car to find them all waiting for us, with the tree! Ryan and I missed it, the whole thing. The finding it, deciding it was the one, the cutting down and dragging it to the service road where the nice people pick it up for you and bring it up to the parking lot! I was so bummed, but I don't think Ryan cared one bit. He had fun looking at rocks and pine cones and getting to ride on my back. So, what's the moral of my sad tale? Well, that I didn't miss out on spending time with my Ry-guy! We had fun searching for Dad, Jackson, Hailey, Grampa and Rocky. It didn't matter that we weren't there to cut the tree down, we still get to decorate it and enjoy it. We got to sing songs and be silly together, and I wouldn't trade that for anything! Thanks, Ry-guy, for showing me what's really important, even if you didn't know you did! Oh, and by the way,the tree is beautiful!! Check out the pic's below!

Gingerbread House!

Yes, I gave in and bought the kids a gingerbread house! It was the day after Thanksgiving sale and I just wanted to get out of the store, so I agreed to buy them the kit. Well, it turned out to be alot of fun! Last year it wasn't so fun, maybe because the boys were just a little too young, but we really enjoyed ourselves this year! Hailey did miss out because it was nap time for her, but she got to partake in the eating of the extra candy and frosting! The boys each decorated a side of the house, as seen in the pictures, and yours truly did the front! Can you see how proud they are of their creations!?! Good job boys!

Holidays!

Impromptu photo shoot 11/08!

Hailey taking a break from our holiday photo shoot!

I love the holidays! I'm especially looking forward to Christmas this year, being in our new house for the first time, and for Hailey to really understand and enjoy opening the presents! We've been having a good time with the boys, who have already written a couple of letters to Santa Claus! Jackson has written about 4 or 5, in which he gives Santa a list of "awesome toys" and "cool toys", and he also has confessed to Santa that he has been bad once or twice and asks that those times be overlooked this year, in order to receive said "awesome toys" and "cool toys"!!! How cute is that! I'm also looking forward to Hailey getting some more "girly" toys, since we just got done play sword fighting and racing cars around the house! Santa, this girl needs some dolls!!! :-)

This time of year also makes me reflect on all that has happened throughout the past year. I have so much to be thankful for, not the least of which is for our Awesome and Mighty Lord who loves us and saves us! I am also grateful to a man named James Dean who, while risking his own life and bodily injury, SAVED MY SISTER-IN-LAW'S LIFE!!!! Many of you read my posts earlier this year about how my sis-in-law, Laurel, was in a horrible car crash and suffered major burns to almost half her body. Well a complete stranger, James Dean, happened to be driving on the same road minutes after Laurel crashed and came to her aide pulling her from her burning car. He suffered second and third degree burns to his hands and arms, but still mangaed to pull her out of the car! Praise the Lord for this heroic man, and thank you God for taking care of Laurel.

Yes, I have a lot to be thankful for this year. I hope you do, too! God bless.

THANKSGIVING!

Happy Thanksgiving! Hope you all have a blessed day with family and friends and also that you remember to be thankful, for all that God has blessed you with. I know I am so thankful, especially for you, my friends and family! Love you!

Cliff Diving at Rick's in Jamaica!

This is James diving into the ocean from a 50 foot cliff in Negril, Jamaica! It was pretty spectacular to watch, hard to capture on camera though. The locals will jump from about 100 feet if you pay them and boy do they put on a show. They climb out on the tree limbs and hang from one arm, sideways, and then do a crazy dive straight down into the sea. It really was fun!

Jamaica Mon!

Yeah mon! James and I got to spend a week in Jamaica to celebrate our 10th wedding anniversary this year! We had a great time soaking up the sun and just being together. A great big thank you to my Mom and Stepdad, Jim, for coming down to watch the kids for us. It was a big job and you guys did so great, thank you from the bottom of our hearts! We stayed in Negril, Jamaica, which is on the western side of the island. We did get hit with a little of Hurricane Paloma, but nothing too scary. You can see some of the aftermath in the pictures below. Mostly lots of rain, wind, and rough surf which made for a messy beach. It only lasted two days and we had great weather the rest of the time. We went on a horseback ride one day where you ride for about an hour on a trail, up and down hills, through rivers and eventually into the ocean! Just the horses heads were above water, it was amazing! We also went to the famous Rick's Cafe, where they have cliff diving into the ocean. You can dive from up to 50 feet, which of course James did and I didn't, and you can pay the locals to dive from about 100 feet! It was awesome to watch, and it also made for a great sunset! We also did some kayaking, snorkeling and of course some laying out and relaxing! What a great vacation, we feel so blessed! Enjoy the pictures.

Most of these shots are from our balcony. Pretty impressive sunset! And yes, those are our feet, just chilln' on the beach, mon!

This is James jumping off the cliffs at Rick's Cafe! Pretty cool picture, huh!?
Below is us on our horseback ride, you can see how deep the horses are in the ocean. We had a great guide who told us about the plants and animals and also took our picture for us, which isn't easy when you are riding on a horse!

These last two pictures show the aftermath of the hurricane. Nothing major, although the waves did come up and wash out one of the beachfront grills! They had to scramble to move everything inside and start making food again!

Halloween!

We had a fun Halloween this year! We invited our good friend, Katie, and her two boys to join us for the trick-or-treating fun! Jackson went as Darth Vader, Ryan was the Red Power Ranger, and Hailey was Little Red Riding Hood! Katie's oldest boy, Tommy was Mickey Mouse, and the baby, Johnny was a pumpkin! They were all so cute and had so much fun. We enjoyed our first Halloween in our new neighborhood! Oh, and check out the pumpkin we carved, the one we got from the pumpkin patch! Pretty cool!

Pumpkin Patch!

Just a couple of days before Halloween we made a trip out to the Pumpkin Patch! It was such a fun day, too! We got to go on a train ride, a hay ride, pick out our very own pumpkin to carve, feed and pet the animals, and to top it off, have an ice cream cone and play on the giant slides! What a day! Hailey really enjoyed petting and feeding the animals, it was really fun to see her get all excited when they ate from her hand. They boys loved the train ride the most, although playing on the slide was pretty close! We will definitely be making this a family tradition!

This is the kids enjoying their ice cream cones! You can see the ice cream all over Hailey's face and how excited she is to get some! She wouldn't hold still to get her picture in the sign, like the boys!

PS. Jackson had crazy hair day at school that day, so both the boys spiked their hair for it. That's why they have crazy hair in these pic's!

Park Day!

I took the kids to the park the other day and we had so much fun! Hailey's finally getting to the age where she can do most things without help and the boys enjoy playing with her. They all took turns on the slide, and of course I was ready with the camera!

Then we played a game of find Luigi (as in Mario and Luigi). I was Rosalina, Ryan was Mario, Hailey was Peach and Jackson was, well, Jackson! We tracked Luigi down to this drain in the grass, he was trapped inside. You can see Hailey and Ryan really looking for him in the picture! Fortunately, Ryan had a special power that brought him out of the drain without us having to go down in the muck and get him, thank goodness! It was such a fun day hanging out and playing with my kiddos!