The Best Part of Being a Mom

Sweet, happy babies

and sweet, snuggly babies!

Twilight Party

Can I get a "woo! woo!" ?

Amy has been playing around with the idea of having a "Twilight" party for quite a while, and it finally happened! And, if you are a "Twilight" dork (like we are) it was great...

this is the cake I made... yummy (of course)

We watched the movie and then played the "Twilight" Scene-It game. I realized quickly that I did not know as much about "Twilight", especially the movie, as I thought. I had nothing on the other ladies that were there!

Amy's mom found this movie poster for her. We were tempted to cut out Bella'a face so we could all pose with Edward... that would have gone a little too far, right?!

Amy posing the book cover

Me with our wonderful hostess

my cake, again

Amy even made us goody bags with a "Twilight" bookmark, button, a notepad and candy.

Thanks, Amy for a fun, girls only, day!!!

Florida... Finally

How I do apoligize for the delay... some minor (which could have been major) computer problems delayed his post, but here it is; with several others to follow shortly...

And another little tid-bit of information... this is my 300th post!!!! Yay!!! How appropriate that it involves one of my favorite places and some of my most favorite people to visit!

Just after Christmas we headed to Florida where we got to see not only my Dad and Dianne, but Papa and Grandma, and Kelly and Dave and Ava, Luke and Logan. We spent most of our time just hanging out and having fun at Dad and Dianne's house, where they had a wonderful fenced in backyard and a neighborhood playground.

For those of you faint at heart, plaese do not look at the next pictures. My Caroline girl can never get enough to drink, and when there are dog bowls around, it makes for easy access to water...

We did decide one day to all go to Gator Land. I haven't been since I was little kid and Papa and Grandma said the kids would love it... which was true!

What a loser am I? This is the only picture I have the twins. I was going to make a special point of getting more, since Kelly is so good at showing them off on her blog... :). Luke is above, and Logan below, and what sweet, sweet babies they are!!!

Jackson and Ava got along beautifuly for the most part and loved being at Gatorland together. They walked around chasing each other and holding hands. Its hard to beoieve how big they are getting.

The big, fake Alligator

They have a small petting zoo area where you can feed the animals, and I must say that this was the favorite!!!

Wait, let me scratch that... it was the favorite until we saw the water area. We did not know there as a place for the kids to play in the water. We did not go prepared with swim suits, so the kids got stripped down to the undies and had a blast!

(yes, she's drinking more water)

(sharing Granddad's protein shake)

How could I forget... Caroline's favorite person in Florida, is not a person at all...

Caroline and her Ry Ry!!! She lovs him!!!

I feel so blessed to have such a wonderful, generous family that can make trips like this possible for us! Thank you Dad and Dianne for eveything, and Papa and Grandma, too! e love you all so much and can't wait to see you again!

Some December Fun!

I just wanted to post pictures of some of the other fun things we did during December. It was full month, and we had alot of fun!

After we had our snow, it warmed up just enough for the snow to melt a little bit and re-freeze. Just perfect for "skating" according to Jackson.

She has to do everything her big brother does!

We celebrated Christmas with the Howard's mid-December. It's always so fun to get all the kids togehther. They all love each other so much and love to play with each other. (They're wearing the same shirts as in the video because it is the same day... although they did wear those shirts alot, but I liked them)

Greema and PaPa with all their grand-babies. I love how Dylan and Caroline are the same size!

Me and my Woos! I love my naughty girl!!!


Amy and I also celebrated Christmas together. We just got together at her house and had dinner and a movie. We also played the Twilight "Scene-it" game. We're such dorks, but it was fun!

One of Amy's favorite things is the chocolate lasagna that they used to have at the Olive Garden, and you all know how we feel about the Olive Garden. I decided to make Amy a chocolate lasagna for Christmas, and not to pat my own back, but I have to say, it was DELICIOUS!

Yummy!

Our friend, Kasey, also came for another visit, and Jackson was beyond excited to see his new favorite friend, Jake. It was great for all us girls to get together again!

I love this picture... and I love that Jackson and Jake love each other so much

I'm so lucky to have such good friends!

Jackson got this hat made out of glow sticks and he thought it was the coolest thing!

Then, after Christmas we jumped on the plane and headed for Florida...

Do I look excited?!

Christmas Day

Wow... I can't believe it has taken me so long to blog about Christmas Day!

Anyway... here goes

Christmas was so much fun this year. I think the kids were at really good ages for all the fun that Christmas brings along with it, and I think I will always have fond memories of this Christmas...

We woke up Christmas morning, and guess who had come to our house?

Santa Claus... and the kids were ready. They couldn't open their presents fast enough.

This is a felt Mr. Potato Head that I actually made (I even used a sewing machine...shocking, I know) for the kids to play with at church. I was proud of myself!

After we opened presents, we got ready and headed over to David and Leda's house. Now, I know this may come as a shock to everyone, but I tend to let let things really stress me out and worry alot about things I have no control over.

With that said, let me explain to you the kind of day Christmas was... it was cold and pouring down rain. Just getting everyone in the car and to their house was a miracle. Unfortunately, I did not plan well for the surroundings we were going to be in... a very beautiful and very un-childproof house... I did not bring toys, or a pack-and-play for Caroline to sleep in. There was a real Christmas tree for them to play with, and steep wooden stairs for them to climb up, which Jackson did fall down. Despite all that, we had a great day... and a perfect meal... warm potato soup and rolls on a cold, wet day.

I think our days of posed pictures might be over for a while

They were fascinated by all the things on the tree

We also exchanged gifts with each other...

David was funny and got mom and me some Twilight sweet heart candy. Mom got Edward and I got Jacob, because mom is as white as a vampire and apparently I'm as tan as an Indian warewolf. Let me just say that I only look this tan next to my white mother. She often says that we don't even look like we're related.

They got Cameron coal, ha!

I love this picture... Woos loving on her Uncle Dabid!

We hope you all had as merry a Christmas as we did!!!