Some first moments

Zachary's 2nd basketball game and he makes his first basket....he was so excited....I missed all of the high 5's though!

Maddie is finally getting both feet off of the ground....yeah, Maddie.

Kids get haircuts finally!

Ok, it was time to venture out for haircuts. I always love to go because I end up sweating by the time we leave....but this time wasn't too bad...Maddie started off sitting in her car and watching Barney...by the time it was over I had a pink sucker stuck to my chin but her hair was cut! Then it was Zach's turn to climb onto the motorcycle and watch Pokemon while getting his locks cut...tell me what you think??

Before

After

Before Cut (picture taken in Nov -- forgot to get the camera out!)

After

Maddie's letter P!

Holiday Artwork

Maddie's Self Portrait
Zach's festival of lights

Zach's Christmas Tree

Mike's deployment pictures...

Ok, we are one month down...Mike has made it safely to the UAE. These are pictures of him on the day that he had to fly out of the country for a few mere hours to take care of visa issues. Check out the blog that his boss does on a daily basis... http://379aew.dodlive.mil

Snow, Snow, Snow

Ok, so in a matter of 2 days I have shoveled the snow 4 times. I do love to play in the snow but shoveling and playing can be a bit tough, as you can see from me pulling Maddie and shoveling the driveway at the same time. We have had a few sprinkles of snow here and there but last two days we have gotten slammed with the white wintery stuff.

Funny story to share regarding Madison. I put everyone in their winter gear to include me with 3 pairs of pants and two coats plus a sweat shirt (why don't we live in Florida???). We set our sights for the outdoors. So I proceded to set Maddie down in pile of the white stuff and turned around to pick up the shovel...turned back around and she was face first in the snow. Apparently, she purposefully fell over and started to lick it....not realizing how cold it would be...it was hilarious and unfortuantely, I did not have my camera. She kept telling me over and over how cold it was....and I could agree with her more.

Christmas festivities

Today Zachary and I were able to drive to St Rita and watch Maddie's class perform "Jolly Old Saint Nicolas." The kids were great and so colorful. Maddie was able to get the last word in each sentence but the most amazing thing of all is that she sat the entire time and didn't get up....Unfortunatley, I couldn't get any video because I had a awrny 5 year old who refused to stand while I took video but I did get a few pictures of her on stag. Look out Broadway!

Then we ended the evening with opening up presents from Grandmommy and Aunt Christy. The kids throughly enjoyed their new gifts. Thank you Grandmommy and Christy!

First Few Weeks of December

We started December off with a bang with regards to getting ready for the holidays. Zachary was going through friend withdrawal so we invited the little guy's friend over. They helped Maddie and I make a gingerbread house (granted I bought it last year and intended to do it then but as you all know time gets away pretty quickly). Madison I believe had more fun spreading the frosting all over the table, what a mess!

Then the very next day we had our first snow. Didn't last long and I regretted saying the day before "If it is going to be this cold it might as well snow!" Yes, mother nature taught me a lesson.

Zachary made this beautiful advent wreath in his sunday school class.

Woke up in the wee hours of December 10 to high winds and was thankful that we had the trees trimmed prior to Mike's departure. I quickly made room in the garage for his (unsold) car only to find our lamppost out front broken...ugh, another thing to put on the to do list.

Another picture of our dog, Harley...just realized she is graying under the chin. Plus, I couldn't resist taking a picture of the bed aka nest of blankets and toys Zach covered her in.

Ashley finally got me motivated enough to finish the Christmas decorating. We put the finishing touches on the tree, made lots and lots of buckeyes (peanut butter balls covered in chocolate and yes, they are also considered poisiouns nuts) Madison and Zach actually worked together to put the toothpicks in each ball, nice job kiddos! Then we delivered cans to neighbors and the children's teachers....Ashley also talked me into going to Walmart to buy lights to decorate the trees outside (what am I crazy not only is it cold out there but it is really cold)...to digress it was a good thing we went this particular day in question because the big guy was there and the kids were able to get their picture taken with him (able to check antoher thing off of the to do list!) so we bought three LONG strands of lights to find out massive tree in the front required all three...so we just deocrated one and not all three trees. To top it off we pounded into the almost frozen ground the Santa blow up stacks for all to see our merriment. I stood my ground though on getting on the roof to hang lights....told the kids next year in the summer we will put up the hooks and make it easier to hang the lights (now I just have to remember to buy those hooks before the holiday season is up). So that is our first three weeks of December....now I just have to finish wrapping and attend Madison's performance at school. Merry Christmas to you all!