Year in Review

I've been working on this all day. Choosing which photos and videos to use, it really made me feel really nostalgic and a tad sad.

As if that were not enough to make me weep, I went back to 2007's year in review (which you can find here) and I could not believe the difference. The kids seem to be growing up before our very eyes. Made me weep all over again. I did not have the heart to go back any further, for fear of becoming a blubbering idiot. Something that is entirely all too possible for me lately. Have a happy new year everyone! And Email people- please visit the blog link to see the video. :)

It came so fast- then left just as quick

Christmas just snuck up on us this year. I can't believe it's over already.

I also can't believe that we forgot our camera on Christmas. I have some flip videos, but we have no still shots of Christmas morning after our annual pose on the stairs. Jim thought I was taking care of it- I thought he had it and in reality no one had it.

We do have some fun pictures we took on Christmas eve before church- so we are not too far out of sorts...

Merry Christmas!

So it's sinking in...

Today I feel like that greatest mom in the whole world.

The televison wars have been ongoing in this house since Abby was a small child. Getting a television installed in the kids bedrooms would be like Christmas for the kids. No fighting over what to watch- Disney channel playing all day every day. They would be in heaven.

However, I'm pretty sure that if we installed TV's in their rooms we would never see them again- especially the boy. They are relentless though. They never stop asking for it or throwing out hints hoping that we will cave.

That's not going to happen. In fact- the opposite has started to happen. As I was home over the summer, I realized that they were watching the same shows over and over- and so I put a ban on it and made them turn off the TV and go out and play. They did not like this at first, but eventually they adjusted and had a wonderful summer with TV time limited to nighttime.

September came and it was back to school time. These adorable creatures really thought that they could go back to watching their normal brainless tv.

Not so. Momma has a new tool now- the DVR. Since it started to get colder outside, I realized that television would be coming back into our lives. So- I got smart. I started going through the History Channel, the science channel, etc... and started taping shows that they might actually learn something from.

To my surprise, they LOVE these shows. We watched a 7 episode series on the American Presidients. History's lost and found has them facinated. They love the naked archiologist watching him find proof of things that happened in the bible.

And- so we recently watched about the Dust bowls that happened in the 30's.

Now, here is why I'm over the moon. Today, Caleb tells me that he is very excited. The boy was talking to his teacher about what happened during the dust bowls and why it was so devestating to the whole country. He knew so much about what happened from watching that one hour History Channel show- that his teacher asked him to talk about it to the class during their environmental studies.

It's moments like this that makes me glad we stuck to our guns and didn't give in.

Some Weird Christmas Cheer- Caleb Style

He thinks he's funny.

I don't know- I see him like this all day every day and it gets old at times.... What do you think?

Email people visit the blog to see.

Some More Christmas Cheer

This is one of Abby's favorite Christmas songs, and she really plays it well.

Visit the blog to see this video for those of you on email . :)

Spreading Some Christmas Cheer...

Lilly was singing this as she was getting dressed today and it made Jim and I laugh- I just had to get it on video. :)

Enjoy!

Email people, click the blog link to see the video

Decking the halls...

For the first time in years, I've got the decorating bug when it comes to Christmas. And being that we really weeded down our Christmas decorations over the past years to get rid of things that were broken, or took up too much space, or just weren't our style- we don't have a whole lot to put up.

What we do have a lot of is homemade and sentimental things. And so I've decided that we're gonna stick with that style of decor.

One trip to a very crowded Michaels, 8 bags of gum drops and about 250 toothpicks laters, this is what is now the center piece of our Dining room table:



Each of the kids made one (except for Lilly- she didn't like the minty scent so abby and I did hers according to her instructions she gave us while pinching her nose)



I'm just sad we can't keep this from year to year. They are so cute and were so much fun to put together. It gave the kids something to do besides beg for computer and gamecube time.


I've got some more ideas. Martha Stewart's show has a ton of hand made decoration ideas and so I'm taping them and hopefully by next year we will have a lot more to put up.

Happy Birthday Lilly!

The Day is here. She's been talking about this day for months. It's Lilly's birthday.

Here she is with her Littlest Pet Shop VIP (kinda like a webkinz. It comes with a code to play with online) It was our black friday deal not on black friday. Abby and Caleb were looking for something for Lilly and the sign said $7. So we got this and it rang up full price of $13. Someone forgot to change the sign so we got it without having to wake up at the butt crack of dawn and fight the crowds.

Anyway, the horses name is Sally and they are inseperable now.

Happy birthday to my baby!

Christmas Villiage Pictures