sweet madison…

So I found this list Madison had written in church during her Sunday School lesson, and I had to take a pic of it so we could remember.  I just thought it was so sweet for some reason.  I liked being able to see her thoughts I guess…I mean I do hear a lot of everyone’s thoughts through the day, but this I wanted to remember.

new beginnings…

february 2011

Now that our oldest is twelve, she’s old enough to go to New Beginnings, which is apart of the Young Women program in our church.  They are given a booklet to help them achieve goals and are taught to live by gospel standards.  It’s such a crazy thing to me, that our oldest is twelve…and all the wonderful things that come with that.  Alex is such a beautiful person, inside and out, and has so much to offer as a wonderful daughter of God.  We love you!

christmas morning…

december 25.  2010

The girls waking up with little Tate on Christmas was so exciting, since we felt as though Christmas had begun already!  We kept Christmas simple, Santa brought something nice, and we got the kids something nice.  The girls did a great job asking for something really useful too.
We ALL got Tate!
Alex got a skateboard.
Madison got an electric scooter.

Camden got a sewing machine.
Jarom got a slot car track, and an electric helicopter.
Cynthia got a lot of project/craft items, clothes, and cute boots-yea!

Santa was generous in getting those things, and we got the girls tablets to read on, and do learning games on.  They have been great!
One more thing that made this Christmas awesome…we had an easy-going Christmas playing, staying in our jammies, and eating yummy soup in Panera bread bowls, which were so yummy!  Thank goodness for simplicity.  We played and enjoyed the day so much more without hustle and bustle.

oh, our clever christmas surprise…

december 23.  2010

Pre-note…some of the pic’s are from the iphone, so bare with the quality.

Jarom and I leave at 10:30pm on the 23rd, to head to the airport and pick up our surprise for the girls…oh, it’s a good one too!   The hardest part was keeping this secret for a month…oh how that was very difficult…and worrying about everthing happening at the right time and that our dog wouldn’t get sick…so on and so on, but it worked out!  
We gave little Tate to the girls on Christmas Eve Morning, and it was magical and so much fun!

We decided to finally give in, and get a little puppy.  We found a teacup maltipoo(half maltiese/half poodle), so he loves to be held and very smart, plus no shedding!  We loved the idea of a teacup, and so we did it!  
Little did we know that the breeder we bought him from isn’t an honest guy, and our little pup that was supposed to get to only be 2-3 pounds will probably be 8 pounds fully grown, but we still love our little Tate.  He’s a blast, and the girls have taught him commands and he’s very willing to please…
for a treat of course!

the polar express…

december 22. 2010

Pre-note-all of us on the train are iphone pic’s…yes, battery died as we were stepping on the train…but ends up, didn’t miss too much:)
The Polar Express Train Ride was only 2 1/2 to 3 hours away…but it was worth the experience, right? Bryce City, North Carolina was going to be lovely…even though it was freezing cold…but it was going to be worth the experience…right?
We put on our jammies, even Jarom…he usually never wears his p.j.’s in front of anyone. We froze in the cold evening air. We were excited and anxious for such a fun experience…we even paid to have a nicer train car…as we walk to our car, we notice the one before and after were renovated and beautiful, but our car looked like a piece of cra_….but I mumbled quietly as we walked to our area, and noticed our area was very dim…what did we pay for again? 
So we see a yummy plate of deliciousness on each table near our seats, and immediately we all start sampling our goodies. We even bought another Polar Express book that had Santa’s signature in it, so we could read along with the storyteller. Oh, then our hostess came out, with the thickest backwoods accents, but that’s o.k….we sip our gigantic mugs of delicious hot cocoa, and watch with excitement for Santa’s village…oh, some houses along the path that owners decided to put up lights on…great…no, this is fun…so the train stops and Santa boards the train-OH MY GOSH…He’s jolly and all, but kindly says a quick hello and he’s off…other kids to see of course…the train heads back in the direction we just came from, and I am offered to buy the pictures that were taken of us for $25 a piece…no thanks, even though my camera battery died, my free iphone pic’s will do just fine…we get off the ancient good for nothing car we were on…load in the car…get snacks and head for home watching a jolly Christmas movie to lighten the mood…it was interesting…we did it…and won’t be doin’ it again. We tried something new which was the adventure…

and oh, how we love adventures!