A LONG month of fun!

My baby being cute and silly on my new bed!
(bed spread anyways ;))

We had some snow stick to the ground! It didn't last very long so we had to enjoy it while we could. Tray of course wanted to play ball...

Then he decided that throwing the very wet snow could be fun too,...

Tyler on the other hand just wanted to shoot his bow and arrow in the snow,
(a toy that was left in the back yard by the previous owners, and he LOVES it!)

I think this shot captures my boys pretty well.

David's birthday was this last month as well, he got cool new tools, ...
(I also got the cool organizing shelves you see behind him ;))

But the most prized gift of all was...

This cool new gun with extra ammo, everyone needed to try it out!
(and still does on an almost daily basis)

We got rid of our old love seat that was falling apart and replaced it with these...

The kids love them! They are wrestling mats, mountains, dragon caves, you name it!

Even with these new seats that all the kids love to play on, Sammi still likes to find "different" seats around the house, this was one of her favorites for awhile.
(I love how you can see her foot coming out of the elevator!)

Hopefully you aren't getting too sick of my pictures, because I have a few more coming.
The kids have really gotten into playing dress-ups. The boys love the Spiderman, Jango Fet, cowboy, and Buzz Lightyear costumes we got after Halloween. Sammi though has eyes for nothing but her pink and her orange wings, she likes to wear them everywhere!

It's so sad, and yet I love to see how these kids are growing and changing!
It will be fun to see what this next month has in store for us!

January - A month of Firsts

This month we had a lot of "Firsts" happen.
Here is a quick look at most of them:
Tyler's first gymnastics class...

Sammi's first swim class...

Tyler's first "big kid" car seat...

Sammi's first "big girl" car seat...

After years of searching...
We got a piano!...
(The kids love it!)

Tyler lost FOUR teeth!
(Actually he had to have them yanked out, poor kid.)

First tooth fairy visit...

First steps...

Now she is walking all over the place!

New Years Resolutions

Normally I do not do the whole "New Years Resolutions" thing. Now, that may be because I am too lazy, see them as kind of silly, see everyone else failing at them so why try myself (pessimistic I know), or I could just be perfect already. (HeHe)

But no matter what the reason I seem to be changing my ways this year.
There seems to be a endless list of things that I want to do better this year. Now I won't bore you with my giant list (which I am trying to keep simple and doable) but one of my new goals is to be better with my blogging. The fact that we don't live near any family and have a lot of friends that live far away as well makes me lonely at times; and in an attempt to stay in better contact means that I am going to try to blog at least once a month. (That should be doable right!) (And by all means, you can help remind me for this goal if I seem to forget.) ;)

Wish me luck!

Christmas/New Years Break

Before Christmas could come I had a lot of unfinished projects that I wanted to finish. The main one being making stockings for Tray and Sammi. My poor children have not had stockings even though Tray has now celebrated three Christmas's and and Sammi is on her second. But.......
I DID IT!
All five of us know have stockings!
(Goal next year - have names on them ;))

We have a family tradition of getting new pj's the night before Christmas.
This year (for the boys at least) we also got new slippers.
(Aren't they cute! I was just surprised we got Sammi to
stand there that long for us to take pictures!)

Not too many of our "Before Christmas Morning" pictures turned out;
here are a few that made it out clear at least.

These were some of the best gifts (given to the kids by there Willis Grandparents), they love to sit in their chairs! I think during the Christmas break they have become mostly "movie" chairs though. Sammi can even get in and out all on her own!

I'm not completely sure that Sammi got the idea of opening her present,
but she seemed to love them just the same.

The boys got TOO MANY gifts, but they love them all. This year seemed to be mostly a dragon/dinosaur, lego, and little people (mostly for Sammi) themed Christmas.
They did also get a lot of games, puzzles, and drawing things as well though.
(Not to mention the "guns" from their cousins (Thanks Sally!))

David was of course his lively/thrilling self.
(I think the pictures say it all)

The kids (mostly T) gave David a "Family Sized" box of brownies for Christmas
that they made up later that day.
I think we know who enjoyed them the most though!

Here are just a few pictures of the kids enjoying Sammi's new toys.
(I love it when they play nicely!)

Star Wars

Tyler has an amazing memory when it comes to movies. He will sit and be mesmerized the whole move, and want to watch it over and over until he has every part memorized. Star Wars has been one of Tyler's Favorite movies for awhile now, but his newest thing that he has started to say (mostly when playing with, or just knocking his brother over) is "I used my Force" or "I am using my force on you".