My Little Snuggle Bugs

I hadn't been feeling very well a few weeks ago - finally caught something from the kids at school - and my babies came and snuggled up with me on the couch.

I sure love those babies of mine! They always know just how to make their mommy feel better.

Tristan came out of his room one morning looking like this:

He told David, "I'm gonna go jump out of an airplane."

Decorating for Christmas

It has taken us forever to get all of our decorations up this year! We started a day or two after Thanksgiving and still have our totes strewn about the house. Hopefully we'll get that taken care of today...

We (David) decided to go a little bit redneck this year - those are shotgun shell lights on his horns
Unpacking the ornaments

Our stockings, which my mom graciously made for us. I've had mine since I was a little girl, and I started Grace's prior to her 1st birthday, but never managed to get it completed, so once again my mom came to the rescue and finished it for me. Then last year she did Tristan's (I knew not even to start one this time!), and surprised David with one for him too. She said that it just wouldn't have been fair for everyone but David to have a handmade stocking...

Our tree - partially done

Tristan got tired of decorating and decided to start shooting us instead

It was fun to have the kids help out a lot more this year. I even let go of my OCD tendencies and let them decorate their own trees!

Merry Thanksgiving

No, I've not lost my mind saying Merry Thanksgiving... we just celebrated two holidays in one while our family was here. So, I'll start with Thanksgiving:

The boys started the day by playing a rather rambunctious game of Hungry, Hungry Hippos,
while the princesses opted for a quieter, more intellectual and mind stimulating game of Mancala.

It was an absolutely gorgeous day so there was a lot of playing outside as well. All of this while Joanie and I were slaving away in the kitchen...

An informal tea party

The boys fried the turkey this year - much to my dismay, but I roasted the turkey the last two years, so it was time to give in. David did a fabulous job and it was delicious!! In the past one thing or another has gone wrong and I've never really cared for a fried turkey, but I think I'll let him try it again after this go around.

Some quality snuggle time with Uncle Dana.

A couple of tuckered out dudes!

The next morning Joanie and I got up really early and hit Target and did some bargain shopping - along with half of the town! I did get a great deal on my Christmas present though: a Dyson absolute animal vacuum!!! I was so excited to get one and opened it as soon as we got home - which really upset everyone since I got to open my gift and play with it before anyone else did.

But we did eventually get to everyone else's gifts...

Tristan was so excited about his pistols he got!

Our little princess just loves unicorns

Emmy got some Ariel stuff and her own Lego's to play with

Did I mention he liked his pistols?

Chad was pretty thrilled with his Duck Hunter game too

We were so happy to have them come visit, it was hard to see them go, especially since we know we won't have any more holidays together for at least 2 years while we're in Korea.

Coronado Monument

Dana, Joanie and their brood of kids braved the long drive to Arizona to be with us for Thanksgiving. We know how long of a trip that is, and we're sure glad they came!! While they were here, David took them up to the Coronado Monument so they could see some of the beautiful vistas up there.

The cousins at the beginning of the trail
My favorite sign! (You should be able to read it if you click on the picture)

Grace, the fearless leader

Just one of the beautiful views

The cousins at the top of the trail

It seems everyone enjoyed their little hike - until the way down... apparently Dana was afraid Erik was going to pull his arm out of socket as he was dragging his father down the trail!

Fire Station

The kindergarten classes went on a field trip to one of the fire stations in town to learn all about what firefighters do. They all had a great time, and really enjoyed getting to see and try on their equipment.


Believe it or not, Grace was clinging to my side just moments before these pictures were taken.

The kindergarten classes of First Baptist Christian Academy (Grace's teacher is the one on the right). Just after this picture was taken they got a call out and had to leave...

...to our school! For some reason the NURSE wasn't in her office! She had taken her daughter on a field trip... the nerve of her! While we were at the fire station, a little boy fell and incurred a really bad broken arm - in my defense, I did go up to the hospital to check on him after we returned, and just about had to ride up to Tucson in the ambulance with him. He is doing very well now, but I think the school is a little hesitant to let me go on too many field trips...

Mrs. Ellis' kindergarten class

SCUBA Steve er, Tristan

Looks like this guy will be ready for SCUBA lessons as soon as he is old enough!

He loves snorkeling in the bathtub, and spends a good bit of time underwater searching for "treasure" and singing through his snorkel!

Long Time, No Blog

Some of you have mentioned that I haven't posted anything in a while (a LONG while I'll add). And to those of you who follow our blog, I apologize. My lack of posting is most definitely not because we have had nothing going on... quite the contrary - we've been up to our ears in things to do! I will try to catch everything up over the next few days and then maybe I can keep up during our Christmas break (but don't hold your breath!).

So, in the last month or so, we've had tons going on! We finished up our soccer season,

Grace and Kennedi and had our pizza and awards party. I should've gotten a better picture of her trophy - it's a bobble head little girl with a soccer ball, really kinda cute.

And just when I breathed a sigh of relief that we'd have 2-3 days a week more time at home, ballet rehersals and Christmas activities kicked into full swing... Will post some pictures of her dress rehersal, and maybe a video too in a few posts.