Come on baby let it snow!

Pre-Christmas we got a lot of snow, and more snow, and more snow, snow that is still covering our backyard snow. Jocelyn at first was all about playing in the snow and now in January that interest has gone dormant. Anyway, looking back...

Look her eyes are crazy with excitement!

Oh, now she is gitty!

Jocelyn made long distance friends with the kids across the street! She said they were making The Tick (one of her favorite cartoon hero's inherited from her dad) and they inspired her to make her own.

Pretty impressive don't you think!

Jocelyn and Bella working on their snow masterpiece. The snow was perfect for making a snowman and snowballs!

Our very own Frosty the Snow Man! By the time we got him done it was snowing like crazy and freezing, but it sure was fun! Marc was sad that he had missed out on the fun. That darn work!

While Jo played outside in the snow Bella liked to go inside and get warm, maybe eat an orange, and of course put the peel in her pocket! Isn't that where you put your orange peels?A few days later Jocelyn decided that Frosty needed to go to snowy heaven, and she had a great time tearing him apart!

Happy Birthday Jocelyn!

My baby turned 5...in December! I learned a lot about what not to do and therefore what to do to make a happy birthday girl and mommy! Because if the birthday girl ain't happy ain't nobody happy! We had decided to celebrate Jo's birthday after daddy got home and that's when she would open all of her gifts from us and her grandparents. Well, let me just say it was a miserable day! Poor Jocelyn was so anxious to open her presents, so all day we had lots of crying and asking if daddy was home yet. So from now on presents will be done Santa style...as soon as she wakes up! Of course I am sure there will be issues going that route too but we will have to live with those! I just felt so bad because of course she was excited and I was so frustrated with her little cute self. The important thing is that the day ended on a happier note!

The sweet little birthday girl anxiously watching out the window for her daddy to get home. I don't know how long she sat there but if she would have waited the whole time she would have been there for at least a couple hours. I tried to tell her that it was going to be a long time but watching for daddy made her feel better...temporarily at least.

After a lot of drama and crying I had had enough and it was time for her to go somewhere else before I lost my mind. I talked her into laying down and resting which luckily she did.

THE BIRTHDAY PARTY

Jocelyn loves Batman so naturally she requested a Batman party. I have to say it was fun to plan a party that had nothing to do with princesses or fairies! Because super heros are just no good with out a costume everyone got a cape (just fabric cut and tied) and masks.

Marc helped the girls turn the paper they decorated into a paper airplane for one of the games.

This was the target that everyone was aiming for. Great bat sign Marc!

There were other games and activities but I didn't get any good pictures of those. But we did get some of the "eating of the cake and ice cream".

Here we have all of Jocelyn's friends. Terra, Landon, Savana Jo, Corrine, and Maggie. The sad thing is that most of these kids will move before her next birthday. Jocelyn keeps talking about her next birthday and who she is going to invite so I told her she will have to make some more friends in Kindegarten.

Thanksgiving 2008

I am still playing catch up but I guess it doesn't matter when it gets done, it only matters that it does! We haven't been home for 4 years or so for Thanksgiving so I was so happy to have my sister and her family come and join us at our house for Thanksgiving! They came out in 2005 and my sweet sister pretty much made the whole dinner as I laid on the couch and intermittently ran to the bathroom to throw up...I was pregnant with Bella at the time. Needless to say it was a wonderful Thanksgiving without any throwing up and lots of family time! My sister and I made the dinner together and it was yummy! I can't believe after all of that work that we didn't think to take a picture. The only thing I did take pictures of apparently are the kids.


As we were preparing for our Thanksgiving dinner Marc tried to help keep the girls entertained. So, the girls made turkey's using their hand prints which all turned out very cute! Here Bailey, Jocelyn, and Paige are crafting!

Bella's finished turkey...gobble, gobble!

Bailey with her Turkey...Gobble!

Paige showing her version of the handprint Turkey.

After we ate our dinner we took the kids to see a movie. We planned on seeing Madagascar 2 but they were sold out. We saw Bolt instead which I thought was cute but Marc didn't like it as much. The critics that matter loved it however!

After Thanksgiving was over we took everyone to Kangaroo Zoo to let the girls get some energy out. We love this place or anyplace like it!

Unfortunately, this is the only clear picture that I had of Paige. She was upset but not for long!

All in all we had a fantastic Thanksgiving and thank you Jackie and Clint for making the drive out here to spend it with us! We sure love you guys!

From The Mouths of Babes!

Kids come up with the funniest and smartest comments/ questions that can leave you either laughing or stuck with your jaw dropped wondering how to respond. Here are a few samplings.

1. This is a conversation I had with Bella as I was changing her diaper before picking up Jocelyn from Preschool.

Mom: Hey Bella do you want to go pick up Jocelyn from preschool pretty soon?

Bella: No

Mom: What do you mean? Don't you want to pick up Jocelyn from Preschool?

Bella: No, Jo is heavy!


2. This is a conversation I had will Jocelyn while she was looking at a book she insisted on checking out from the library about Dogs (owners manual type). There was a picture of a dog who is pregnant and there is a drawing of the puppies in her tummy.

Jocelyn: How did the puppies get in the dogs tummy?

Mom: uhm...well how do you think they got in her tummy?

Jocelyn: I don't know how did they get in there?

Mom: How do you think they got in there?

Jocelyn: Did she go to the puppy temple?

Mom: No, there isn't a puppy temple and you don't get babies in your tummy from going to the temple. You get married in the temple and after your married you have babies. She moved on from that and luckily I didn't have to say much more just yet.

3. Jocelyn, Bella, and I went on a field trip to Macey's grocery store with Jocelyn's preschool. When they were leaving all of the kids received a balloon. Well, Bella let go of hers and off it went. She was pretty upset. Jocelyn tries to comfort her sister and then says "It's OK Bella Jesus will catch it."

Congressional Raise

For those of you that are friends with me (this is Marc by the way) on facebook you have probably already received an invitation from me for the group I created but I felt this was important enough to mention it on our blog. Every year the United States Congress gets the chance to vote on their own pay raise. First of all, this seems completely wrong to me. There are very few positions where you get to decide on your own pay raise but that is the way it is and changing this is a topic for another day. For 2009 congress has decided 2.8% pay raise is appropriate. That is on average $4,700 per congressman. Now I don't know about you but in our current economic situation where money is tight and every industry seems to be asking for a bailout it seems odd that our senators should receive a pay raise. Especially such a substantial pay raise.

I encourage you to write your representatives and ask them to stop the madness. Not all representatives support the pay raise. If you would like to sign a petition you can go to http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/stop-congressional-pay-raise-for-2009.html.

I am now officially done with my rant.