Happy New Year

2009 has brought many ups and downs in our home.  We feel very blessed for all that we have and for the wonderful family support we have during tough times.  We have three beautiful children who are all (at the moment) healthy.  We have a home to live in, a car to drive, and food to eat.  We have what we need and feel very blessed that we are also employed.  We are very thankful for all the love and support we receive from family and friends and pray that things will get better in 2010.

Christmas Pictures

The loot before the mass invasion of overly excited children!

Isn't it a rule that everyone has to take a stairs picture on Christmas??

Josh LOVES shoes and had to wear around his new church shoes with his pajamas.  He even took them on a test walk after we put them on by walking from the living room to the kitchen and back.

Grandma and Grandpa opening one of many gifts made for them by Sammy, Andrea, and me!!

Can you sense the excitement?

Josh looked very grown up wearing jeans and a sweatshirt.  Can you spot what is wrong with his sweatshirt??  It took me until today to notice!!

I really stole this picture off my sister's blog because I didn't get any pictures with my bike.  My dad surprised all of the girls in the family with this new bike!  It is REALLY nice!!  I love it.  It is a cycle cross bike and is by far the nicest bike I have ever owned.  I wish it was a little warmer out so that I don't freeze everytime I go on a ride.

Until Next Year

Christmas has come and gone again!  Andrea was already telling me tonight what she wants for Christmas next year.  She wants walkie talkies and a Snow White bike that is like Sammy's bike (two wheeler with training wheels).  We spent time riding today and Andrea wanted to ride her own bike.  She was very sad that she couldn't ride her trike with me in the street.  I wonder if she thinks that when she gets a bigger bike that she will be able to ride on long bike rides like mom and dad.  The reason that we went on a bike ride....my dad surprised me (and my two sisters) with bikes this year!!!  They are cross train bikes so they are like a road bike but the tires are slightly different.  I LOVE IT!!!!!!!  It is so quiet and rides really smooth.  I wanted to tell my brother about it (because he is into bikes) but I was sworn to secrecy until he gets off his mission in June.  I now need to get Sammy riding her bike with more confidence so that I can take the kids on bike rides during the day.  I have a bike trailer I can put Josh and Andrea in so I just need something for Sammy. 

Our Christmas was really good.  We got to have my parents here with us which was lots of fun.  The kids loved it even though they mostly got clothes,  socks, and underwear.  They were equally excited about all of their presents.  I got a surprised by a box of clothes from some people.  Whoever you are, THANK YOU!!!  I have needed new long sleeve shirts for quite some time but didn't have the money to buy them.  I am pretty sure I know who all the people are that contributed to my clothing present but I just wanted to say thanks...it was very appreciated and needed!!

I will post more about Christmas later along with some pictures but for now I am going to bed!!

Merry Christmas

Pictures

I am working on a few projects for Christmas for my mom and dad so I had to take some pictures today...this is what I was able to get!

If you know my Grandma at all...Sammy takes after her when it comes to having her picture taken--She LOVES to pose!!!!!!

In case you are wondering--YES, my backyard is really that small!!

My Cute Kids...

We are lucky enough to have my  mom and dad come to our house for Christmas this year.  I was trying to think of different gifts we could make them so they could have a few extra things on Christmas.  We have no money so they had to be things that would be basically free to do.  My mom and dad like to read so I had Sammy and Andrea make them bookmarks.  Andrea just scribbled on hers really fast to be done but Sammy put a lot of thought into her bookmarks.  This is what she came up with:

Here is a close up of the three that I thought were the most creative.  She did a bike one and a helmet one for my dad.  The bottom one is a swimming pool then a runner with two paths to follow to a bike and then a path to bike on.  My mom and dad are really big into triathlons!  I think these bookmarks are the perfect gift for them!!!

Inspiration

The last couple months, I have been following the blog of one of my friends from high school.  I learned about his blog through facebook.  My friend has a 7-year-old son who got a rare tumor called a chordoma tumor.  I have read about their family's struggles and sacrifices during this difficult time.  I have been strengthened by their testimony of Eternal Families and our Heavenly Father's love for each of us.  If any of you are feeling a little down with how things are going in your life I strongly recommend that you read the testimony of the Vance family on Jared's blog.

I was deeply saddened this week to find out that Jared returned to his Heavenly Father on Monday.  It broke my heart as I thought of my own children and the day to day struggles we have.  I hope and pray that I can learn to enjoy every moment I have with my own kids.  I also have learned to appreciate the blessings that come from a temple marriage even more than I already did. 

Soccer

These are pictures from Sammy's last soccer game!!!  I was glad when soccer was over...Sammy didn't love it so it was hard to go every week.  She thought she got to throw her shin guards away after the last game!!!  I thought that was pretty funny...it shows you how much she loved soccer.

Joshua's Birthday

Our Little Man Turned 1!!  I can't believe that Josh is already 1.  It seems like the last year has flown by.  He is a happy little guy.  He LOVES his dad during the day and LOVES his mom at night.  I am still trying to figure out how to get him to like his dad at night!!  Josh loves balls and cars.  He is really good at kicking the soccer ball around, teasing his sisters, and giving his mom and dad hugs.  We love this little guy!!

I can finally post!

Our internet has been HORRIBLE lately so I haven't been able to post anything...here goes a month long catch-up!!   By the way...we got high speed internet today!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Halloween Costumes

Here they are...I have a BYU Cougar Cheerleader, Snow White, and Mickey Mouse!!

Josh LOVED his first sucker!!

Pumpkin Carving

Friday night (before Halloween) we did the dreaded Pumpkin Carving.  I hate it because it is messy and slimy.  Thankfully, Jeff has always handled the pumpkin carving with the girls.  Now that we have 3, I had to help out a little.  Josh thought it was great...Andrea loved it too...Sammy didn't want to get yucky (Sammy also refused to touch the pumpkin guts at school when they were trying to count pumpkin seeds)!!

Sammy and Andrea with their finished pumpkins.

Josh thought it was fun to put the pumpkin seeds in his mouth and suck on them...I didn't like it but Jeff didn't see a problem with it!!!  I just think it is all a little disgusting!  Josh must have been the winner because he was wearing a triathlon medal the whole time we were doing pumpkins!!

Here I am helping Sammy clean out her pumpkin.

Josh is LOVING it!!

Josh was very serious while trying to scoop out seeds.

Sammy trying to get a few seeds out.

Andrea is trying to help dad.

Kindergarten Halloween Party

Samantha had her Kindergarten Halloween Party the Thursday before Halloween.  She was VERY excited to have the "celebration."  She was also excited because I was going to be in her class the whole day!  I almost didn't get to go because Josh hasn't been feeling well.  Luckily, Jeff came home and watched Josh and Andrea so I could go help in Sammy's class.

Sammy's Class

They did a costume parade on the playground for the parents.  Here is Sammy walking around on the line!  I remember walking all over the school for our costume parade in Elementary.  The kids today don't get to do anything fun!!

Sammy got LOTS of loot at her party!  She LOVED it!!

A Conversation with Sammy

S: "Mom, what do you do in Relief Society?"
M: "We have a lesson."
S: "Oh........I thought you did jumping jacks!"
M: "I don't know if most of the ladies in Relief Society could do jumping jacks."
S:  "Well, Ethan can do it."

I have no idea where this came from but it was our conversation as we were getting out of the van on Sunday.  Ethan is her friend, he is also 5...I have no idea why he came into the conversation about RS but then again, I have no idea why she would think we do jumping jacks in RS.  I guess, it would be better on our bodies....one hour of jumping jacks would be a good workout!!

Halloween Giveaway

I am going to giveaway one of my Halloween Bows.  Go to my Melissa's Creations blog to enter.

Busy Weekend

This weekend was a little crazy!  The Christmas Boutique was on Friday night.  It was fun to see what everyone had created.  I was able to buy an apron for each of my girls, a necklace for me, and a cleaning/chore organizer.  I am going to use them all as Christmas gifts.  I also was able to sell about 23 bows, a few memory games and Bingo games.  I am excited!  In two weeks I am going to try to have enough bows to sell some in my driveway during our community garage sale.  We'll see how much I can get done in the next week or two.

We also had visitors this weekend.  Jeff's mom and Kevin stayed overnight on Friday night but spent the rest of their time in Las Vegas elsewhere.  The girls were sad because they had been told Kevin would come back and say goodbye...it didn't happen.  Jeff's brother Brett was also here but we didn't ever see them.  The girls had been looking forward to seeing Katie and Amanda but were sad they never came over. 

My mom and dad came on Saturday and left on Sunday.  When my mom and dad came, we went to an Open House for a really good family friend.  It was fun to see the Mills and Sammy loved seeing Anna in her princess dress (wedding dress)!!  They also enjoyed playing with Grandma and Grandpa all night on Saturday.  Grandpa also made pancakes on Sunday morning, they are Andrea's favorites!!  The girls were really sad to see them leave but were excited that they will be back for Christmas! 

And, now I must go so I can finish getting ready for Preschool.

Christmas Boutique

The items are now up for sale on the Christmas Boutique blog.  If you are interested in purchasing anything on the blog, you can post a comment on that blog or post one here and I will get you in contact with the seller. 

Hair

We had a few new looks in our family.  Josh was playing with his blanket today and it made his hair stick to his head.  I must say that I like the crazy afro look better.  Jeff and I both think he looks funny with his hair stuck to his head!!  The second is Sammy.  She decided to give herself a haircut like Susan and Sharon on The Parent Trap.  It doesn't look too bad in this picture but if you look at the right side of the picture.  Those hairs you see sticking out around her eye/nose level... That is what a big chunk of her hair looks like on both sides.  We can hide it but it makes it a little harder to do her hair in the morning!!