Chore Charts

Kayla and Melissa are REALLY, REALLY good at making messes throughout the day and need a little help in the clean-up department, so, we made new chore charts. Every so often I have to change things up a bit and this is what we came up with this time. They LOVE them! They willingly do their chores now without needing a "reward" just so they can move their magnets onto their charts. My mom even asked them what they get when they finish their chores and Melissa said, "What do you mean?" It never occurred to her that she needed anything other than the satisfaction of moving her magnet. Life is good!

Melissa can read!

Two days ago I sat down with Melissa with the intention of beginning to show her how to read. I was going to explain that all of the letters that she knows so well "mush" together to make words. We sat down to read, "Hog and Dog" by Diane Wright Landolf and she completely blew me away by jumping right in and reading 6 ENTIRE pages all by herself! She even figured out the word "splash!" I was FLOORED! She is only 4 and can read! (the worst part is, I didn't realize she COULD read until that very moment!)

Mommy's Potty Mouth

I REALLY need to watch what I say. A few days ago Kayla very excitedly stated, "My new favorite word is CRAP!" She was SO pleased with herself for saying this and surprised me because she has NEVER told anyone that she even has favorite words! I told her that "crap" isn't an appropriate word for a 2 year old to use and that mommy shouldn't use such potty mouth. I apologized and said I would watch my language. She thought about this for a few seconds and said, "My new favorite word is CRAP-OLA!" I am in trouble! (I guess it all depends on how you feel about the word "crap"... a friend of mine refers to the use of the word as a family "legacy" :) she uses it, her mom and grandma used it! Too funny! I think it is too 'strong' of a word for a 2 year old!)

Cell phone vacation...

Cell phone usage is becoming a "problem" with some of the youth in our ward and desperate for a solution I turned to the Internet in search of the answer. I came across this CUTE idea. We are going to be sending the cell phones on little vacations each week. The girls can choose to send their phones to one of 4 "places"... the Spa, camping, somewhere tropical, or a ski/mountain retreat. While my mom was here I utilized her sewing talents and she made the sleeping bags and robes. She is, once again, a lifesaver! I am introducing the concept tonight... Pray for me!

A scarf for the ski/mountain retreat... A "grass" skirt for the tropical getaway...

A sleeping bag for the camping trip...

A Robe for the Spa treatment.

Christmas 2008

The following is a LONG video of our Christmas in the woods. Instead of posting and writing about each thing that we did, I decided to cut my time and make a video. Don't feel that you have to watch it... it really is super long. My girls will enjoy watching it! We had so much fun! Merry Christmas!

Make an on-line slideshow at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Making Christmas cookies with Grandma

Grandma made Christmas cookies with the grandbabies one morning. They had SO much fun!

what a face! such concentration!

Evan got in on the action too!

The cabin in the woods

This year for Christmas my siblings and Ray and I took my mom and dad away on a surprise Christmas trip to a little "cabin in the woods." It was so beautiful and relaxing and we really needed it. We went to the SMALL town of Roxboro, NC and lived for a week on 11 SECLUDED acres of lake-front beauty. It was so peaceful and quiet... well, it was quiet in the middle of the night! There were 14 of us and well, none of us are quiet people! The following are pictures of a couple of the rooms. I need to figure out how to download pictures from our video recorder so that I can post some pictures of the outside too!

Melissa's "favorite thing"... the hutch! :)

Our room... there was a second bed in here too that we moved so that Josh would have a bed!

One of the upstairs rooms...

Kayla's "favorite thing"... the sofa! Kids are SO funny!

Grandma and Poppa's room... very pretty!

The Night Before Christmas Eve

The Santa family LOVES our family! Each year on the night before Christmas Eve Mrs. Claus flies over the world to check Santa's path and make sure all of the children are being good. While flying she USUALLY drops presents off of the back of the sleigh into the chimneys of all of the good little children. On Christmas Eve morning all of the children open their presents and are so happy to find that Mrs. Claus made them new pajamas to wear that night! We are SO blessed! (the pictures downloaded backwards, but you will get the point!)

Christmas morning wearing the pj's that Mrs. Claus brought the kids! Evan looking Oh-So-Happy about his new pj's!

Kayla LOVES her Cinderella pj's that Mrs. Claus made for her!

Melissa LOVES her Aurora pj's that Mrs. Clause made for her!

The presents that Mrs. Claus dropped for the kids.

Palace Point

While vacationing we found a fun place called Palace Point that held most of the recreation for the small little town that we were staying in. We had fun bowling and going to the movies. They also had an arcade, a diner and a party place. The inside looked like a small, old-time town. It was so cute.

Bowling at Palace Pointe

While vacationing during Christmas break our whole family went bowling at a cool place called Palace Point. This place had everything from bowling to an arcade to a movie theatre. There was even a little diner. We had SO much fun! The following are a few pictures from our fun!