Misc. Pictures from Winter

New Years Eve

Wii Boxing

snow fun

Santa gifts

sister gifts

snow fun

Playing in the snow and putting out reindeer food.

Kayti and Sam

Dennis, Kayti, Karla and Sam

All of my favorites.

Sam and the girls

Kayti and the girls

cookies

Ashley not to angelic during her program. She was having a rough time. She couldn't see since she was the shortest one in the back row.

You can see in Abbey's eyes how sick she was feeling.

Ashley

Abbey

The note that was hidden in the Christmas tree.

Easy Bake Oven bakers

I still can't figure out what Abbey was doing but they were playing that they were cooking in these pictures.

The girls received a Easy Bake oven for Christmas from Auntie Tania and Uncle BJ. They love it! We didn't get the cupcake decorator done this day but they enjoyed their first baking experience. We had two brownies and two cakes.

Abbey's First Lost Tooth

This was a three week process but it finally came out. Abbey had her pediatrician ask twice, her ENT once, mommy more times than she could count to pull her tooth out and it finally happened. She pulled her own tooth out and we were so proud of her. The tooth fairy came and left her $5.00 for the special first tooth. She was so excited.

Dryer

So last Friday I decided to play "Mrs. Fix it" and wanted to clean our dryer. It hadn't had a good cleaning since we moved in which has been over 5 years now. Well, it started to unscrew something and then heard something that didn't sound right so I stopped, panicked and shut off all power and then called Shannon begging for forgiveness.

The project turned into a big headache since the exhaust vent tubing broke and the electric cord was very short. We had to have Ashley go back and plug it in since she was the smallest one that could fit in there. Anyways he fixed it all!

January

So far it has been an eventful month for us. Ashley had surgery on Wednesday. She had her tubes put back into her ears. She will be looking at a cat scan in her future as well as possibly more surgery. She may need a skin graft to help support her ear canal.
Abbey pulled her first tooth out. It was a three week process but she did it all on her own. We are so proud of her. She was so excited when the tooth fairy came and left her a special present.
Girl Scouts have been keeping the girls busy and cookie sales start this weekend. The girls can't wait to sell...
Shannon and I joined Snap Fitness and have been working out and feeling the benefits of the work out.
The girls were healthy over Christmas break now Abbey has a cold. She got it the first week after school resumed. What a bummer.
Keeping the people of Haiti in our prayers, couldn't imagine what it would be like to be in that situation.

Decade

The end of the decade is here and as I sit here remembering all that has happened, it had brought back many memories. Some of those memories are great and then some not so great. I thought I would share some of those memories.
Good Memories of the last decade:
1. Ashley and Abbey being born. By far, the best thing to ever happen to us. I am so thankful that they are healthy, happy girls. Yes, we have had a few bumps in the road with recent illnesses, but it could be worse. They are such delights. I would even go through all of the trials and tribulations just to have them again.
2. Celebrating our 10 year anniversary this year. It doesn't feel like we have been married for that long and we love each other more now than when we got married. We have been through a lot in those 10 years and it has made our marriage stronger.
3. Becoming a stay-at-home mom. Yes, that has been such a plus. Yes, we have struggled at times financially however it has worth it. I will never regret it that I was able to be home and take care of our girls. I believe that they have become such nice, well behaved little girls because I was their to help guide them into that.
4. Health of our extended family. We are very grateful that Shannon's parents, his sister and my sister (and family) have remained healthy this last decade. Again, minor things have come up but we all can live with that.
5. That God is still a part of our lives and that we continue to see His goodness in our everyday.
Here are some of the things that weren't so good in the last decade.
1. The loss of my mom and dad. This was the hardest thing I have ever endured. I still wish that I could just call them up and talk to them. I wish that they were here to see my girls. I really miss hearing their voices and sharing the simple things in life with them.
2. Sept. 11, 2001. What else is there to say. It was the scariest day that I can ever remember. When we went to bed that morning, I wasn't sure what it was going to be like the next morning. Would there be more attacks while we were asleep? We sat and watched most of the day unfold on tv and cried at the loss of life and what has now happened to our country.
3. The murder of Dan O'Connell. How anyone could hurt this person or this family is beyond me. Dan was a rock when we needed him to be helping our family through my dad's funeral. It still saddens me that someone could do this.
4. The loss of friends and friendships. Life changes people, circumstances changes people. In the last ten years, we have not only lost friends because of death and illnesses but friendships as well. We mourn all of those losses from this last decade.

On to the next decade. It will be exciting to see how it all goes and what will happen. We continue to ask God to bless our friends and family. We continue to all grow and to learn new and exciting things about each other and we can't wait to find out about any new (no-not from me) family members that may come into our lives.

Happy New Year!!!! Love to all.