Tobogganing Day!

Today was the most perfect day to go out and slide down a hill!  I took the kids in the morning across town to a wonderful hill!  I was able to play them out, take them for lunch, then to bed for an afternoon nap!  I love that these kids not only play hard but they sleep hard too!  What a perfect Sunday!

Say Cheese!

We made it! 

I have been so ready for Christmas for so long this year (gift wise) that time seems to be slipping by!  Mardi thankfully had a dentist appointment yesterday so we decided to throw in a picture with the Ol' Guy too!  This is the first year that Jack was totally ok to go and sit on Santa's lap!  No parent in the photo this year!  I am so proud of them both...they played with the elves while I stood in line for the hour and they never once even looked for me!  They are at such a good age now, I had to call them to get their attention when I had made it to the front of  the line.  Even after their picture was taken Jack wanted to go play again!  Those Elves at Chinook ROCK!!!

Merry Christmas to you all!  Only 3 more sleeps...4 more for this household!!!  hehehe!

Thank Goodness for the Tree!

Oh Christmas Tree!

Other than this brightening up the downstairs there are no signs of Christmas around here!  Our house is starting to look like it is inhabited by our jehovah neighbors!

We are so looking forward to Wednesday when the weather is supposed to warm up and we are able to climb a ladder and hang hundreds of christmas lights, hunker down a sparkling snowman in the front yard and set up a bunch of old cedar post nailed together with some old barbed wire and leather reins wrapped in lights that cost me entirely too much money!

Thankfully we did spend a evening letting the kids decorate the tree!

I loved Jack's branches full of tinsel and christmas balls!

And I love how these two could not stop from goofing around long enough to get one good picture!  How good would it have been anyways ~ with Jack missing his pants and Mardi's self-hairdo!

Crazy kids...remind me of their FATHER!

80 Years Young!

Today is a milestone of a day for my Papa!  Today he turns 80!  Here he is holding my inconsolable son when he was a baby!

When I think back at all the fun we have had over the years I realize just how lucky I am to have him as a grandfather.  He was just 47 when he became a grandfather to me ~ pretty young still!  Not only am I lucky to have him in my life this long but my children are so lucky to have him in their lives too! 

This man has 5 children, 10 grandchildren, and 8 great-grandchildren, all who adore him!  We are so blessed ~ here's to 20 more years Papa!

Love you!

Halloween Birthday

Finally this year we decided to have a Halloween birthday party.  Mardi's birthday is on the 28th so for us to wait until her 6th birthday to have this themed party is kind of amazing!  We figured it would be a great idea seeing how Halloween fell on a Saturday this year and the kids would just be hanging around all day waiting for it to be late enough to go trick-or-treating.  So the party began at 1 and lasted until 4pm ~ it gave the kids an excuse to wear their costumes all day, and fill up on sugar before the evening commenced!

So Mardi was "Hannah Montana" for the day!  She loved the wig and the makeup!

Here were some of the kids...there was a smaller table beside this one for 4 more halloween-ers!  My these parties are getting bigger!  Everyone likes to reproduce apparently!

And here was my "curling rock" cake... or my attempt at a pumpkin!  Either way it was delicious...if I do say so myself!  So glad the 6 candles didn't ignite Hannah's wig!!!

Then it was time to hit the streets!  Jack finally put on his ghost costume!  However I didn't make the eye holes big enough and he got to experience the roll of a blindman on our trek around the block!

Hannah even made an appearance on our street!

New Countdown Has Begun!!

7 more sleeps! 

I am so excited to go scrapbooking next weekend that I can hardly contain myself!  It has been a whole year since I have taken a weekend away from the norm ~

and I am READY!!!

Dropped a few bucks at my dear friend Haley's store today

(so glad that she has lost that feeling of throwing up her baby!),

organized pictures to paper tonight

(23 bags ready to be made into lovely pages!)

and tomorrow I will chose layouts for those 23 bags. 

The ONLY way I can possibly get that much accomplished is to be super organized...

game on!!!

Can't wait to scrap with all you wonderful ladies this weekend  -

KIM - remember you must get over the scurvy you are carrying

or Haley will kick you out into the hallway to sleep

(and I will not be stopping her)! 

We will miss you Kacey and Kaly -

but when those babies are old enough to leave

I am sure you will once again join in the fun!!!

Blairmore here we come!!!!

The Countdown is ON!

So JD and I had a great thought on Friday that we should step up to the plate and host Thanksgiving for his family this year.  It has been over a year since his Gramma passed away and that was also the last time we all got together.  So Friday evening we started calling everyone, and as of 4pm today we received the last confirmation - everyone is able to come!  It is not a whole wack of people - 15 adults and 6 kids.  Still too many to sit at one table, too many to use my dishes, too many to use my silverware too!  But none the less we are all gathering here to do a little catching up!

JD's cousin and his wife had a baby oh - 10 months ago and the baby gift is still on the shelf downstairs where is was 10 months ago!  Thankfully it is already wrapped and only had to get a quick dusting and carried upstairs!  So that is one member of the family we are looking forward to meeting on Sunday!!

I just finalized the menu as well - phoned my MIL to book her extra costco table, folding chairs, set of dishes and extra silverware!  I can only imagine Jack's wife calling me one day asking me to come for dinner - and "oh can you bring an extra table, chairs, plates and silverware?"!!!  Good thing she already knows I am nuts - that saved a long conversation tonight!  Obvioulsy I should have asked for more stuff on my bridal registry....8 years ago!!!

Anyways we are really looking forward to Sunday!

Now just to get the groceries tomorrow and finish cleaning the house....gotta run! 

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!