2007: Our Year in Review

January: Playing together

February: Peek A Boo!

March: What's Cookin'?

April: Lookin' good in our shades

May: St. Louis trip

June: Father's Day

July: July 4th

August: Love Sandwiches

September: Playing at the park

October: Happy Halloween!

November: Smokey Mountains

December: Christmas Eve

2007 was a good year for us. It saw so much change in the kids. It was a big year for Noah - yes, he finally came out of his shell. January saw Noah lose his tonsils and with that the gain of more personality and sense of humor. Our quiet, easy going little boy has grown into a happy go lucky, excitable little dude who loves to sing and hum (almost always tunes to Star Wars). 2007 saw him grow from his longtime love of trains and Thomas and slowly encompass all things Star Wars. He played in his first organized sports - T-ball and Soccer. We love to watch him play and run with the other little boys at his preschool when we go to pick him up. 2007 saw Rachel bloom from baby into a very curious and busy little girl. She is beginning to chatter on like her Mama and loves to 'mother' her baby dolls. She loves all things girly like painted toenails, pretty bows in her hair, playing dress up and dollies, cooking in her kitchen (she loves to serve the coffee and crack eggs into her pan) but she also isn't afraid to put on her brother's football uniform and hike the ball a few times. We have enjoyed watching her personality grow and see her father's likeness in her more and more. We went on our first family vacation - and had a ball. We know now that we hope to continue to plan a yearly vacation to escape and enjoy time together - away from the job, the house and the duties that involve taking care of everyone and the things that have to get done in our day to day life. Time to play. In looking forward, I hope to play more and worry less. I hope to contine to help our children grow and to be healthy and happy. Doug and I saw our 11th year of marriage in the past year and February will see us together for 13 years. That is amazing to sit and think about. It's been a wonderful ride. I can't wait to see what 2008 brings to us and those we love. We wish you all happiness and good health as you begin 2008. Happy New Year!!!

Happy New Year!!!

We are enjoying the new year with Chris and Christina and their family. I promise pictures to come soon! Happy day! ;)

11 Years

11 years married. Love you, love you, love you Doug. =)

Merry, Merry!

The kids were so excited Christmas morning. Doug had to work a mid on Christmas Eve, which means he works from 11pm -7am. He was able to get off an hour early and head home at 6 to find the kids and I all piled up in our bed. Noah didn't realize right away that it was Christmas morning and I had to ask him if he remembered what day it was. He was like "Did Santa come?!?!" So we went to see! Grammy and Papa were waiting on us to get up and come see what was under the tree. Noah was so excited to find that Santa had brought him the Battle of Endor Star Wars battle pack, Darth Vader's ship and also Anakin Skywalker's ship. He said as he sat to check everything out "This is just what I asked for!!" Rachel found that Santa had brought her a new baby, a changing table and a dog with kennel and vet supplies. She was very excited to start playing and changing diapers. We had a great day and the kids played with their new toys all day. Thank you to those of you who sent gifts - the kids loved everything and send their love and thanks along with ours. Noah had a 'Star Wars' Christmas, you could say. Most of what he got pertained to Star Wars and he wouldn't have had it any other way. All day if you asked him what his favorite was he'd say what ever happened to be in his hands at the moment. He especially seems to love his new Millennium Falcon, X-Wing Fighter, his action figures and his Star Wars pop-up book. Rachel loves her changing table, high chair and crib that she can play with her baby dolls with. We spent the day watching the kids play, watching Star Wars (ofcourse) and eating... lots of eating. I hope you all had a great day with your family and friends. We missed everyone who wasn't with us - but know that you were all here in our hearts. We love you!

Merry Christmas!!!

Hope you all had a great day spent with people you love. ;) Lots of pictures up soon.

T'was the Night Before Christmas...

... and all through the house... the kids danced like monkeys with cookies in their mouths! ;) Tradition - the kids get a plateful of 'Santa' cookies on Christmas Eve at our house. There are lots of traditions we like to take part in at Christmas time and we have done this one every year since Noah's very first Christmas. Had to stick a couple of photos of Phoebe in there to... she's such a sweetie. The kids also tracked Santa with Doug earlier this evening on NORAD and when we checked, he was in Italy. Tonight we snuggled in for Dr. Suess's "How the Grinch Stole Christmas", read The Christmas Story and a few other Christmas books and got the kiddies tucked into bed. Looking forward to seeing the kids reaction in the morning... Merry Christmas!

Christmas Eve

Just a couple of quick photos of the kiddos. They are sooooo excited about Santa Claus coming tonight. It's all Noah can talk about and it's cute to see. For those of you celebrating tonight, I hope you all have a wonderful holiday with your family and for those of you celebrating tomorrow I hope you have a Merry Christmas as well! We will be opening presents tomorrow morning and sharing our day with Doug's parents. We can't wait to see you guys!

More Cookies.... Christmas Cookies!

So... it was a busy day. ;) Besides all the 'regular' stuff we usually do on Saturdays we also made Christmas Cookies (You know, the ones of the sugar variety with the gobs of icing... that the kids love to smear all over them). Noah has decided he prefers gingerbread to sugar cookies (yes, we made a new batch of those yesterday) but he likes making the sugar cookies more. He must have gotten some serious kind of sugar high off of the cookie dough he ate too, because as the cookies were baking the kid was going crazy and dancing with the shakers of sugar. Rachel tends to eat way more of the decorations than actually doing any decorating... Love that "Oooops, you caught me stealing a taste" look on her face. Also had to include a few photos from a light saber battle with my boy and Rachel checking out some new books Janet sent to her and Noah. They loved looking at each and every book tonight. Thanks Janet! =)