snow much fun

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snow family

here's the daddy complete with a carolina hat and the mommy with her apron and headband.

a little snowman enjoying the teeter totter.

two more snow children ~ one on the glider and one heading down the slide.

a close up of the sliding snowgirl... with a camo hat and pink scarf.

J**O**Y

created by jenn for me. unexpected, very appreciated. opened at the end of a very hard mommy day.

little man's birthday

we did something different this year... we usually limit the number of children to five and have small birthday parties. after talking with little man about some different ideas, we decided that this might be a good year for a larger party. instead of children bringing gifts for little man, he asked that the children bring an unwrapped gift that we could give away to a needy child for christmas. we are thankful for that unselfish (most of the time) heart. below are some of the children holding the gifts that they brought. 

we also had mad science come in for a special presentation! the children had a blast ~ literally!

john david made for a great assistant... ummm, didn't realize my light fixture was prominent in the picture.

(i cropped out the cobweb)  the birthday boy also enjoyed helping out with the experiments.

making goo!

the race car cake that little man requested.

in case you were wondering, yes, he did open gifts from family members! a backyard soccer goal, some legos, a construction crane, some bendaroo animals made by cousins, and eight dollars for eight years. his biggest gift (from mommy and daddy) was a new bike.

the children's tree

last saturday the children and i (john david was in richmond testing ~ more on that later) pulled out the trees. little man was a huge help going down the stairs. we started with re-stringing some burned-out strands on the children's tree and then put on the colorful chain we made several years ago.

i am happy to say that our angel decorations have improved drastically ~ amazing the difference several years makes with art projects! the stained glass look of the nativity and angels just melts my heart. i love old churches with stained glass windows. m1's simple nativity with popsicle sticks, foam shapes and a tissue paper baby jesus is sweet!

the following picture was taken by m1...

the final product.

two more trees to go... although i might decide that ONE more is enough!

just call me lazy...

i might just link to each december post from last year out of sheer laziness. our "pretty" tree looks much the same... little man now has eight fire engines, m1 has six fairies and m2 has three snow buddy ornaments. here is the link... click here! actually here is the real story... jd was taking his cfp exam out of town. i wanted the house decorated for Christmas when everyone came for thanksgiving. we had a 9:00 soccer game that morning, little man helped me drag two trees down from the third floor, and m2 was in need of a nap. i did not take a single picture! over the next week i will be making a race car cake, a round many layered cake, and two stand up lamb cakes... for a picture of those from last year click here! i can look forward to being covered in about 16 cups of confectionery sugar dust from home-made icing. and once again will ask this question. this picture will always be my Christmas favorite. and i will never have another Christmas day without remembering the commitment that pops made last Christmas one week before his death. so there you have it... i might not post again until january. well, little man's birthday is saturday and he is doing a great little project that i can't wait to talk about!

it's not rocket science...

that's a lot of money!

over the summer little man saw a lego set ($49.99) he wanted to buy. correction, he wanted ME to buy. i mentioned that he had a birthday and christmas in december and we could put it on his list, OR he could do chores and earn the money for it. since he wanted it before christmas he opted for the chores. there are things our children do around the house because they are part of the family ~ make up beds, clean their rooms, put away laundry. they can earn money for things over and above that. he worked hard for six months... even doing chores for my parents while at the lake this summer. he earned a total of $45. john david and i had told him that we would gift him the remaining $5 if he earned the rest. here he is with his creation...

the best part was while walking to the cash register, jd reminded little man of a $20 gift card from his previous birthday that he could use towards the purchase. he was excited to be able to keep some of his money.

24 hours

after dinner and soccer practice last wednesday we headed out to coldstone creamery; it was a reward for going three days without sugar. we have a shop less than ten minutes away but opted for one farther away for a later-to-be-disclosed surprise.

after enjoying a delicious treat we headed to the oceanfront for a walk on the beach ~ it was 8:00 p.m., dark, windy and c-c-c-cold. while walking we discovered a play set right on the beach; it had two slides, monkey bars and a small rock wall. m2 was a little frightened by the loud volume of waves crashing on the shore, along with the fact that it was very dark. m1 scooted across the monkey bars without hesitation and little man was crawling on the roof above the slide. at least if he fell the landing would be soft.

when we returned to the car instead of climbing in, jd opened the back and the children discovered their suitcases. "are we staying in a hotel room tonight?" it clicked with little man first and then m1 started jumping up and down with delight. not to be left out m2 joined in the jumping and "yeah-ing". we headed inside, checked in, unpacked and got ready to hit the pool. as soon as i took out my camera it fogged up, so i only have one picture of the girls in the pool. jd and i took turns with pool responsibility and soaking in the hot tub. by 10:00 we were ready to head up for bed ~ these guys are normally in bed by 7:30 on school nights! of course, they were on sugar highs!

the view the following morning was grand. (no school due to veteran's day) looking to the right of the sun you can see the play set on the beach. breakfast of make-your-own waffles, fruit, yogurt and scrambled eggs, fueled us up for walking along the boardwalk and playing on the play set. it was fun how the slides dumped you right into the sand.

we snacked back in the room while i was packing up and then headed off for another surprise... 36 holes of putt putt at what should be m2's nap time. we had the whole course to ourselves. it was water filled with lots of rocks, caves, waterfalls and bridges. little man, our natural athlete, had several hole in one putts. some were on those trick holes where it drops in a series of drain pipes and you are never sure where it actually ends up until the ball pops out.

m1 was a good sport and added some comedy to our day.

everyone cheered on m2's one correct putt. she had the lowest score of the day since she placed her ball no more than 2 inches from each cup and putted in.

john david kept wondering how little man was getting all the breaks!

yes, it was nap time and other than this one small meltdown m2 did great!

oh, and i was there also!

by the time we were done, we were ready for some good eats. john david had scored a $25 off to max and erma's so we headed there for an early dinner. our final surprise of the day! we got home almost 24 hours after leaving for ice cream. a great family day was had by all!