Christmas 2009

We spent Christmas Eve together as a family in our home! We enjoyed our BIG Christmas dinner of Ham & Cheese Potatoes along with homemade rolls. Matthew made a 3 layer Jell-o salad. For dessert we had homemade Pumpkin Pie! Umm, it was all super yummy!

During the evening we decorated a gingerbread house, read the Nativity from the scriptures and just enjoyed some quiet family time together.

The boys kept watching out the window for Santa's elves. They wanted to catch them in the act of dropping off their jammies. Much to the boy's dismay they didn't catch any elves this year!

Right before bed, we sprinkled reindeer food in our front yard. Brr, it was cold!

And right before we climb into bed, the boys put out some homemade sugar cookies and milk for Santa.

Why the empty glass picture? Well, if you look close enough you will see a line made out of tape. The boys are getting smarter and smarter every year. They quietly put the tape on with out Ryan and I knowing. They wanted to see if Santa really drank the milk. You can see that Santa drank the whole glass of milk! Well, those boys are smarty pants and I guess knowing how much Santa drank really wasn't their point in putting the tape on the glass. However, I didn't know their real intentions until later on Christmas day. After breakfast the boys were eager to help load the dishwasher which really isn't a surprise since we usually all help load the dishwasher after our meals. What was unusual was I didn't have to keep reminding them to help. I didn't think anything of it, except what helpful boys they were being on such a special day. Well, as soon as the dishwasher beeped it was done, the boys ran to the dishwasher and pulled out the glass. They quickly pulled off the tape and low and behold they discovered a finger print and not just any finger print, but it was SANTA's fingerprint. They were very pleased with themselves, when they discovered the finger print since that is what they had wanted to do all along.

Pump it Up Birthday Party

Christopher had a birthday party at Pump it Up. We were a little insane and invited 25 of his friends. I know BIG number, I can't say will do it again. As we sat down to talk about who we should invite, Christopher kept giving name after name. Christopher loves his school buddies. He is usually the one in the center rallying them all together for a game of football during recess or to wear a certain football jersey to school on a certain day. He has made some great friends this year at school along with a few others from previous years. Of course he also wanted to invite all of his church friends. Not to mention the neighbor friends. Thankfully Pump it Up has a 25 minuimn attendees for birthday parties. So if I was going to have to pay for 25 we might as well have 25 children there, right. I also let Matthew and Joshua invite one friend each.

Christopher was in his glory for 2 1/2 hours as he ran around with 25 of his favorite friends. All of which were boys except for one. I did make him invite one little neighbor girl who is actually Joshua's age, our two families play all the time together.

The boys played in the two different rooms with the inflatable slides. Afterwards, we went into the party room sang Happy Birthday to Christopher and had cake.

Afterwards, we had a little time left, so Christopher opened up his birthday presents.

Happy 3rd Birthday Thomas

Thomas turned three years old on Friday, November 27th. When he woke up he requested Crepes for breakfast. Ryan made them for him and the other boys since I was out shopping. Ryan put a movie on in the basement for the boys, so he could come out to the garage and see this truck I had bought. I was hoping to have gotten Thomas a one seater motorized jeep, but ended up with this huge black two seater motorized monster truck. Ryan and I laughed and giggled at the size of the F150 truck. We decided there was no way we could hide this big box until Christmas, so we wrapped it up and gave it to him for his birthday. Thomas' eyes were so big as he unwrapped this big present.

He was even more excited to find out that it was a motorized truck aka Monster Truck. He was a big helper and helped Ryan put it all together.

He sat in it with Joshua and they pretended to be driving it. The battery would take 36 hours to charge, so he would not be able to drive it until Saturday morning. He didn't seem the least bit disappointed, he had fun just sitting in it.

For dinner we went to Red Robin. We had them sing to him. He smiled and liked it, then started to get a little shy.

I can't believe my baby is three, where does the time go. He is such a sweet, happy, social little boy. I am so grateful to have this little guy a part of our family.

Black Friday Shopping

I awoke early this morning to go shopping with Emily and Penny in hopes of catching some great black Friday deals. We mapped out all the places we wanted to go the day before and met at 3:30 am.

Our first stop was Kohl's. We stood in the freezing cold line outside for about 25mins. Once the doors were opened, we made our mad dash into the store and went our separate ways to get the items we were hoping for. It was a success! We were out of there in about 20 minutes.

We then headed for Walmart. The store was already open, but the door busters were not for sale until 5:00am. This store was actually high on my priority list as I was hoping to get a motorized jeep for Thomas for Christmas. Once we were in the store I waited until 5am in the jeep line at which time they were going to hand out tickets. I was #8 in line and they had 16 jeeps to sale. I waited patiently in line chatting with the other customers while we waited. Everyone was extra friendly. At 5am I got my ticket, grab a few other items and went to the cashier to check out. While I was paying for my items, I was told that I would need to drive back behind the store to pick up my item. I asked if I needed to do that now or if I could come back later today. The lady told me that since I had already paid, there should be no problem coming back later and picking up the jeep. As I left Walmart I asked the person checking my receipt at the door again if it would be okay to come back later and pick my jeep up. Once again, I was told that should be fine. I had paid for the item, so Walmart would have to hold on to the item for me. So we loaded up the suburban with our goods and headed to the next store.

It seemed we were having perfect luck as all of us where able to get the door busters we were hoping for. A few hours later after shopping at several other stores, we decided to go back and pick up my jeep from Walmart.

Once, we pulled up we were told that they had over sold the jeep and did not have a jeep for me to pick up. I was told that I would need to speak to Gary the manager and he would take my name and phone number. They were hoping they would get more in, but could not guarantee it. I then switched stories and told Gary that I was hoping to give this to my son today for his birthday and was disappointed that they had over sold the item. The manager was very apologetic and said he would make it up to me. He ended up giving me my pick of all the motorized vehicles on the shelve. I ended up picking out an F150 Ford Truck aka a MONSTER TRUCK! The price on the shelve was $360.00, I paid only $88. I scored big time! Later while Gary was helping me load it into the back of my suburban, he told me I had scored big time today. I agreed with him thinking in my mind about the truck verses the jeep while he continued to speak about scoring big today because of the free twine they were giving me to try down my back window. I chuckled because he wasn't meaning the truck which is exactly what I was thinking. This by far was my best deal of the day.

Us girls had a fun morning. You should of seen the back of my suburban. The third row seat was folded down and we filled the back with all of our purchases. When I pulled up to have the Ford F150 loaded in the back. I told the gentlemen that I would need to do a quick rearranging. When I opened up the back they couldn't believe their eyes. I told them that is what you get when three women go shopping on black Friday morning. They chuckled and helped me move the sacks up front. I wasn't sure where we were going to put everything but in the end we did manage to fit everything in.

Thanksgiving 2009

We enjoyed our annual Thanksgiving feast at our house with our friends who have become our family.

We had thirteen adults, fourteen kids and three babies over. We enjoyed good company as we ate yummy food.

Thanksgiving was a very relaxing day. Ryan took Matthew, Christopher and Joshua to play Turkey ball in the morning while I prepared the turkey and other food. Our friends joined us at 1:00 and we began our feast. After our meal we sat around the dinner table for hours talking about the answers from questions each couple had been asked prior to Thanksgiving. Cheryl had made cute place mats with everyone answers. The kids played happily outside and downstairs.

Later we enjoyed 8 different pies for dessert.

Then the women went through the Black Friday ads and mapped out our shopping plans for in the morning. The guys sat around talking and watching a football game. It was a very enjoyable day one of my favorite! We have so much be thankful for. I am grateful for this day of thanks!

Claude Moore Birthday Party

We had a little birthday party for Thomas. He invited three of his friends. Since Tommy loves water, I thought it would be fun to do the party at the Claude Moore swimming pool. They have a little toddler section with slides and fountains along with a big pool with a lazy river and a whirlpool. Thomas had fun playing in the water with his friends. He loved showing off how he can swim all by himself.

We had fun eating cupcakes and opening his presents.

His favorite toy was a Thomas the Tank car carrier that he got from Easton.

Joshua looses his 1st tooth!

Joshua came home from school today and said his loose tooth bothered him during snack time. (I didn't even know he had a loose tooth. Last time I had checked it was hardly wiggly.) For snack today he had a green granny smith apple. I knew immediately that most likely the tooth would be loose enough to pull out. I asked him if I could wiggly it. He eagerly replied, "YES!" After wiggling it one time, I asked him to get me a piece of toilet paper and I would pull it out. He wasn't so sure it would come out but he hesitantly got me a piece of toilet paper. Once I had the toilet paper in my hand and his mouth open, his tooth was out. (Thanks to my mom who taught me the trick to pulling teeth out. She was always a pro.) Joshua was in SHOCK! He couldn't believe his tooth was out. Immediately he said in a shaky voice, "I get money?" His next thing to utter was, "I call Peter? My cousin Peter!" It was the cutest thing! I just love this boy!

Happy Halloween 2009

HaPpY HaLLoWeEn!!!

We enjoyed Trunk "R" Treating with our ward family and playing carnival games. By the way Ryan's trunk was the best decorated for trunk "R" treating! He had a wrought iron gates along the back of the Suburban which were covered in spider webs and little and big plastic spiders. Behind the fence were headstones. He had dry ice making fog along with Halloween music playing. It was creepy, but fun! On a side note, I must record Thomas' love of mice. Yes, MICE! He found one at the party city store and it has been in his pocket ever since daddy bought it.

We enjoyed carving pumpkins as a family! Always a favorite at our house!

We ended this Halloween season with a Halloween party at our neighbors. Followed by trick or treating around the neighborhood with the neighborhood gang.

This year we decided to go trick or treating as a family! Usually Ryan stays behind to hand out the candy. But this year Ryan reluctantly left candy on our doorsteps. We went with the neighborhood gang. It was nice to have an extra set of hands, since the older kids went faster than Thomas could go. The children ran from door to door. Thomas insisted on walking and going up to every door. He was very proud of his candy. When we got home the boys loved sorting their candy! Afterwards, we dumped all of the candy the boys had gathered from trick or treating and trunk r treating into 5 gallon buckets, we filled two of them!

George Washington National Forest

Last Friday Ryan got home from work slightly early. We loaded up in the Suburban along with the Jeep and drove about an hour and half away to George Washington National Forest which is in the Appalachian Mountains. We stopped at the local gas station and bought a permit which allowed us to use the off roading trails. We drove a little bit more to the forest and parked the Suburban in the parking lot. We then packed everyone into the jeep to do a little four wheeling.

First, I must say the pictures we took do not even begin to show the steepness or actual grade of the road. At times we had a cliff on my side of the vehicle and tons of rocks/boulders to drive over. The boys and I were a little nervous at times, but loved every moment. We had a BLAST together as our adrenaline level rose. Tommy kept saying, "Jeeping fun, bumpy, Go Daddy!"

Red Skins Football Game

Ryan surprised Christopher and took him to a REDSKINS football game at FEDEX Field in Maryland. Christopher found out the day before the game. He was so EXCITED, he could hardly sleep that night.

Their tickets were in the lower bowl on the eighteen row. The Redskins played the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Thankfully the Redskins won the game! Ryan and Christopher had a BLAST watching the game from so close. One of Christopher's favorite football players is Chris Cooley. Chris Cooley made some great plays in this game. At the end of the game they went down to the railing to have their picture taken and a security guard handed up some endzone grass to Christopher.

The following week at school Christopher rallied his classmates to wear their favorite football jerseys to school. Each day the children would talk and spread the word to wear them again the following day. Christopher ended up wearing his Redskins jersey for four days in a row to school.

Gettysburg, Pennyslvania

Right before I left on my girls trip to Seattle, we found out that Ryan's cousin had passed away from a long battle with cancer. Her family lives in Maryland. Ryan's mom made arrangements to come out for her funeral. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to see Ryan's mom, but she stayed a few days with Ryan and the boys.

Things were a little hectic at home with getting Grandma to and from the funeral, boys to school & sport games, etc. but Ryan and his mom did manage to hold the fork down. They were also able to take a day trip up to Gettysburg, Pa.



The boys had a blast climbing up the towers. Joshua for the next several days kept asking, "When can we do that adventure again?"

Thomas Swimming

Thomas loves the water and has no fear of it. While in Utah this summer, it became very clear to me that I needed to teach him to swim. So this week I taught him how to kick and reach/pull. He picked it up in one afternoon at our pool. He is such a determined little boy. Each time he would swim to me, when I pulled him out of the water he would say, "Again" and twist out of my arms to head back to the stairs. He also replied several times, "I did it, I did it!" He truly thinks he is one of the big boys! I caught him trying to do a 360' jump off the edge of the pool. He was very proud of himself. Everyone at the pool comments on him swimming. You don't expect a two year old to be swimming all on their own. It is the cutest thing to watch!

Last Day of School

The school year comes to a close a little bit earlier than usually this year. Typically we are in school until around the 19th of June. However, this year we pulled the boys out of school a week and a day early so we could leave for our Utah trip. Saying goodbye to Mrs. Oynes, Mrs. P and Mrs. Furtek was sad, however, our EXCITEMENT for our trip out weighed it.

I can't believe another school year has come and gone. The boys loved their fourth and first grade teachers! The boys have grown physically as well as academically. All of the teachers who associated or worked with the boys spoke very highly of them.

Highlights from this year were:

• Christopher enjoyed razzing Mrs. Furtek about different sport teams and games.
• Matthew loved learning all about Virginia's history and his favorite subject continues to be Social Studies/Science.
• Both boys enjoyed getting to school early to participate in the jogging club. They also spent their recess jogging.

This year I enjoyed being Room Mom for Christopher's class. I loved planning the parties and being very involved in the happenings of his classroom. I will particularly miss my kids that I worked with in my reading group from Christopher's class. Every week I was greeted by big hugs and smiles! I especially loved watching these children grow as their reading skills improved over the year. I will miss are principal Mrs. Jackie Brownell, who is moving to another school. She is a FANTASTIC principal! She was so easy to work with as we transitioned to Selden's Elementary last year.

Shenandoah Camping

Memorial Day Weekend Camping 2009

Thursday afternoon we loaded up the Suburban and headed to the Shenandoah Mountains. We decided to be more adventurous this year and left on Thursday.

With it being a Thursday the traffic was a lot lighter and so the drive went by a lot a faster. Once we got to our campground Big Meadows in the Shenandoah National Park we set up camp. The boys were a big help to Ryan in getting everything set up. I wasn't much help since I had had mouth surgery earlier in day.

Friday morning we woke up and had breakfast in the tent trailer. We made yummy crepes! Can't say we've ever had those for breakfast while camping. After breakfast we went on a hike to Dark Hollow falls. It's one of our boys favorite hikes in the park and is a must to do every year.

This year we dared the older boys to get into the water at the bottom of the waterfall. I brought a pair of flip flops for each of the boys to change into. Matthew & Christopher got into the water first. Brr it was super cold. We ended up losing one of Christopher's flip flops over the edge. We ended up finding it down river a bit.

On our hike back out, we stopped in one spot and let the boys slide down the rocks in the river into a pond pool. The boys had fun sliding down. They had to be careful though because getting back up the rocks were slippery and steep. I ended up sliding down one of the rocks getting over to where the boys were sliding. I had our expensive camera in my hand and ended up doing all I could to protect it from getting wet. Thankfully I was successful!

This particular waterfall hike is about a mile and a half round trip. So not to long of a hike for the little ones. However it is all down hill in a rather steep incline until you get down to the waterfall. The boys always hurry down and are good hikers climbing back up. This year we let Tommy walk the whole way. He did rather well getting down and keeping up with his older brothers. However climbing back up was a little different story. He was wanting to be mister independent and do the hike all by himself, with no help. However, he was walking at a rather slow pace. He kept stopping every inch to admire this or that but particularly the bugs. So I decided to work that to my advantage. I would walk ahead and call to Tommy, "Oh, I found another bug, hurry Thomas come see!" He would run as fast as he could, bend down and get a close look at the bug. He had no fear of them and often ended up touching them.

Friday night we enjoyed roasting marshmallows and making smores especially Reese's Peanut Butter smores over the campfire.

Saturday we enjoyed a big breakfast at the campground with a bunch of friends. After breakfast a bunch of us went on hike to a different waterfall.

We have never done this hike before. It was a pretty hike through the trees to the waterfall. It is a much longer hike but a more gradual incline than Dark Hollows. The trail was much further away from the river too which was nice because the kids could run up ahead with their friends.

We enjoyed our evening walks/scooter rides down to the meadow to see the wildlife. Followed by our ice cream popsicles from the camp store.

The kids love to chase the deer in the Big Meadow.

The boys also enjoyed riding their scooters throughout the campground.



It wouldn't be camping without getting dirty and Tommy seem to have no problem with this. He enjoyed playing in the dirt with the big trucks.

Joshua had fun running around with his friend Clara. They were so cute, laughing and giggling together.

We had a great time camping with some of our closest friends here in Virginia.

But most importantly we enjoyed another great year of camping as a family in Shenandoah National Park.

We did end up taking down camp Sunday night, after Christopher burned his hand pretty good with a roasting skewer, he had left in the fire pit. By the time we broke camp, it was pitch black. The boys and I slept all the way home.