THE FIRE TRUCK

John purchased a Fire Truck off of ebay, ( he say's it is for marketing :)), The kids love it, ( big and small),. He now has it all lettered up with RestorAmerica, and 1800BoardUp, It is a pretty cool idea, or a pretty cool toy for a big kid?!?!?!?

He has used it for marketing and the agent's love it, but most of them are male, so I am thinking that they like it for two reasons, 1. because it is a neat idea for marketing, no one else has a fire truck to market with (besides the fire department, and really they don't want to have to push their services ) and 2. because how cool is it to have a fire truck to ride in:)

Jacob got a new razor and shaving cream, he loves to shave his face!!

Ryder had a fun Christmas playing with everyone's gifts, he especially loved the boxes :).

Meagan got her guitar, she was so excited, can't wait to start lessons, and start writing her own songs.

Things to look forward to in 2008

1. Disney Cruise ( whoo hoo, can't wait until December!!!)
2. Ryder will turn 1!!!
3. Jacob will be 5!!!
4. Meagan will be 7!!!
5. Family camping trips
6. Our Anniversary 9 years WOW time has flown!!
7. John will be 32!!
8.New BIBLE study on Thursdays
9. organizing my closets ( I am excited to get started, this is one of my new years resolutions)
10. Finishing the upstairs ( FINALLY)
11. Doing a 5K ( I have to start small, My ultimate goal is to run a marathon)
12. I will be 31 ( can you believe it)
13. Simlifying my life... (part of my new years resolution as well)
14. John and I are starting a hobby together, still deciding what we want to try, ( we are thinking skeet shooting, I did it once and loved it, and he really enjoys it as well)
playing games, doing puzzles, and crafts, watching baseball and softball games, listening to meagan play guitar and sing, watching all of Ryder's firsts, tattooing Jacob, etc... all the FUN I get to have enjoying our children.
MY LIST COULD GO ON AND ON, HAPPY NEW YEAR

ATTACK OF THE SNOT MONSTER!!!!!!

I have never been so covered in snot as I have this last week. Ryder has a nasty cold and is sharing his mucus with my shirt and arms and anything else that is near when he sneezes. And this is the really gross thing, when he sneezes the snot is also coming out his eyes, seriously gross, poor guy when he wakes up ( every hour, all night long) I have to clean the goop from his eyes and open up his nostrils again( they are caked with buggers!!!). He is miserable, and his eyes must itch from the snot because he has rubbed them so much he has a busted blood vessel in each eye, he looks so sad. So needless to say, my house is a wreck because I am rocking my baby !!! :) On a positive note today seems to be a good day as far as snot goes, not as much caked to the nose and none coming out of the eyes today :). I think I need to get some snot colored t-shirts so it doesn't stand out so much whenever I am in public and forget to check my shirt before I leave.

Family photo session

http://www.aliciahendersonphotography.com/Haustien%20album/index_html.html Check out our family photos

The BURNING of the Grass?!?

Every year John decides to work on the yard. This year was a special treat with the burning of the yard. I think this is some sort of stress releaver??? Not sure but John loves to tear up the yard ( this is my term), so I grit my teeth, take pictures, and try and keep my mouth shut, and let him "FIX the yard". ACTUALLY , I need to take a picture of our yard now, It looks really good, Kudos to John....... Maybe he does know what he's doing?!!!!:)

MERRY CHRISTMAS 2007

I cannot believe it is that time of year again.!!! I remember as a kid time seemed to move so slowly. Now I feel like I wake up and turn around and I am tucking the kids back in bed. Right now my goal is to enjoy the moments, to sit and cuddle, to tickle, to wrestle, to crawl on the ground, play on the swing, find leaves, and dinosaur bones, paint nails, color,play games, my list can go on and on and I am very thankful it can. One thing I am realizing with having my third child is that they grow too fast!!!! No, Ryder does not sleep through the night, he wakes up one time, that is one extra cuddle I get in and some days I feel tired but, those moments at night when I can sit and rock and nurse him are so irreplaceable and worth every second. So enjoy the moments, and the holiday hustle and bustle, I hear it is lonely and too slow without the kids to keep you excited about Christmas, although hearing " When is it going to be Christmas" 10 times everyday can get a little annoying, I am positive I will remember it for years to come, and look back with longing for those little voices to "annoy me again".
Merry Christmas

1 STEP FOWARD 3 STEPS BACK!!!

This seems to be the way my days are going right now. I feel like I am stuck in slow motion while everything around me is at warp speed. It has taken me 2 weeks to get the clutter off of my counter top ( yes, this is true... I am not the organized person I want to be, in my mind I am though so I should get partial credit for that). So I had the clutter off the counter and then the kids get home.... and it all starts again. I get one room cleaned and stop to admire the sparkle, and then I blink and it's a disaster again. I think I have Meagan's homework mastered :) ( 1st grade is not what it used to be!!! I was trying to help her do her homework, and she was fighting me all the way and she told me, "this makes me think you were never in 1st grade" I let her father help her finish) and she comes home with a whole new set of problems. She has also decided she is ready to be a teenager, and we are not very "cool" a lot of the time, but, then the next moment she is in our laps for a cuddle, ( I cherish those moments, they seem to be getting few and far between,). Jacob has decided to throw me for a loop lately with his temper tantrums ( I thought he outgrew these!!!). We went to the Dentist the other day and he decided this was not where he wanted to be or what he wanted to be doing, he had the biggest tantrum (in public) that he has ever had right there in front of the dentist and staff, I was so embarrassed and very ,very, angry, needless to say he did not get his teeth cleaned but he did get reminded how he is to act and the consequences of that ugly behavior. He can be the sweetest kindness little boy you will ever meet, but he can dig his heels in and be the MOST STUBBORN child I have ever seen, he has been my challenge lately, I pray for patience daily and for guidance on the right way to channel his behavior. Isn't Motherhood wonderful!!! I love being a mother and am very thankful that I am able to be at home with my little blessings, but, some days I wonder how I am going to survive the day:)

GREAT MEMORIES

Back from Disney and still try to catch up on our sleep. We went from sun up to past sun down. There is something to do all day long there. My favorites were the shows (because you can sit and rest in air conditioning, j/k) Finding Nemo the musical was great. We got splashed by the waves in The Little Mermaid, and stung by bees in the bug show, that one really catches you off guard, they have some creative people working on these shows.

This photo was taken our last night at the park, I am surprised our eyes are still open. We really had a good time and hope to go back again someday, maybe when Ryder is a little older and will actually enjoy it.

The TOWER OF TERROR!!!!!

This ride at MGM drops you 7 stories up and down, your stomach goes up to your neck and back down. Our daredevil little girl loved it. Jacob rode it one time with John and when they got off he was very mad at John for the scary ride. I got to ride it one time with Meagan, we had a lot of fun screaming together.

THE POSE

While waiting to be seated for dinner the kids wanted to strike a pose for the camera. They really had a blast at Disney and did very well for as little sleep as they/we all got. We have 450 pictures to browse through and decide which to develop. I am terrible at that I always just keep every picture, I can't stand to delete them if they have family in them even when it's a bad picture.

DISNEY WORLD

We are off on a surprise (for the kids) Disney vacation. John and I are so giddy, you would think we are the kids. We just can't wait to see there faces when we pull up there. My friend who just got back gave us this great idea, to leave tinkerbell treasures every night. So we got the kids each little gifts to leave with a note and pixie dust (of course) on there clothes every night. We plan on updating our blog with pics while we are there.

A Great Fall Treat

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies
1/2cup butter softened
1 egg beaten to blend
2 1/2 Cups Flour
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 can solid pack pumpkin

1tsp each: vanilla, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, grated nutmeg ( I add a pinch extra each of cinnamon and nutmeg)
1/2 tsp salt ( I never add salt)
1-6oz pkg chocolate chips ( I add 3/4 bag of 12oz choc chips, i like the extra)
Preheat oven 350, spray baking sheets with oil.
I mix all the ingredients together in my Kitchenaide, or you can add slowly with mixer.
Bake 13-15 minutes until fluffy and light brown.
THESE ARE SO NUMMY!!!!!!

Camping Trip

We are back from camping. Not sure if we are rested up yet though. It was a beautiful weekend to go. It was low 80's and sunny and cool at night, could not have asked for better weather. Ryder had a cold before we left, I thought he was getting better. Well,,, he screamed the whole first night, and the next morning I could tell he had a fever. The next night was a little better only because John ran into town and got some motrin and Tylenol. Well, anyhow we took him to the Doctor on Monday and his eardrum had ruptured and was oozing out ( very gross) and the other one was close to rupturing the doc said. So he was and has been a miserable baby all week. I think today ( Friday 21st) he is actually feeling a little better.

Besides the sick baby, camping was wonderful, Meagan and Jacob made new friends. The campsite next to us had two kids ages 5 and 3. They had a lot of fun playing together. John and the kids went to a campfire at the campground and the boyscouts put on a show, the kids really enjoyed it, you could hear them singing the songs as they walked back to the campsite.

The picture is from our hike to the overlook. It was so beautiful. Meagan is being the statue of liberty :)

Our Camping Trip

We went camping this past June. This was sort of our Anniversary trip ( with the kids). We had so much fun, in spite of Meagan coming down with strep and an ear infection while we were there, she stayed in good spirits too, what a trooper. We played in the woods, went hiking, had a camp fire, went swimming and went fishing. We were raided by raccoons our first night, and let me tell you they are very smart little creatures. We had the lid on our food crate, they figured out how to open it and how to open the tupperware containers. They ate all our cereal, ate the bannanas and left the peel :) and into the woods was a trail of candy bar wrappers ( there went our smores ). We still had a wonderful time though and can't wait for our upcoming camping trip next weekend.