Christmas 2008

Christmas 2008, here and gone, all we have now are the memories to share.

Garrett and Conner get the cookies and milk ready for Santa. They both had on their Magic Pajamas so that Santa knew when they were asleep.

Santa came and went, look at all the loot he left behind. It won't take long for the kids to rip into this. Dan and I were actually up before any of them, although Garrett tells us that he was up at 6:00, he decided to let us sleep until 7:00.

They all know that there are no presents opened until Mom takes the Christmas Day picure. I think that Elizabeth is still asleep, she didn't look to excited about the picture. I think I will have her sit in the picture even when she is 45.


Garrett scores, the leather coat that he has been asking for for the last two months.

Conner and Elizabeth, who finally looks awake, are the last to complete the opening of the presents.

We had a great day, my dad came home from the hospital at 8:30 Christmas morning, so we went to see him in the afternoon. Dan had to go to work at 2:00, Conner went to visit his dad, and then we all went to Nanny Brenda's. On the way home from Nanny's the kids wanted to stop at the McCaffrey's to see their Christmas gifts, and Garrett wanted to check out the new version of Guitar Hero that Brandon got.

I hope everyone had just as much fun as we did!

Santa's Lap

This is absolutely the best part of having small children around at Christmas time!

Conner was so excited to see Santa. He smiled and smiled while we took 50 pictures. The McCaffrey's were generous and gave us their free portrait package with Santa again this year complements of Chris's work. ( Thanks Chris!)

So.... Santa has the list... we have the picture, all we have to do is wait for the day at arrive.


Merry Christmas to All!

Finally Snow for Sledding

Garrett and Emily had great fun sledding on Sunday. I was absolutely amused watching them going down the sand mound. They would crash and roll around, I personally was outside for about 7 minutes to take pictures and was freezing, but the cold did not seem to bother them!

They would go together and then alone, and then just roll down the hill without sleds at all!

A good time was had by all. Hopefully they will get to do this again before the snow season ends.

More Christmas Party Fun.

This past weekend was our special education department party at my house. I have to tell you that I work with an awesome bunch of individuals. We ate, and then ate some more, and then some people had to leave, and then we broke out the guitar hero! I have only ever seen Dan and Garrett play this game, so playing it with adults was a real treat!

Everyone needed to relax after all the food!


Gwen and Laura really got into playing against each other!

Sue Kindt even gave guitar hero a try. Perhaps will give her something to do now that she is retired. ( That is on days when she is not subbing in Millville.)

Carrie looks very tall!

Donna & Sam conversing with Sue.

Diann and Roy broke out the matching outfits. You have to know that I find this amusing because at my house when we get ready to go somewhere, Dan and I usually end up dressed alike!

Well I had a good time and I hope that everyone else did also. I can't wait to see who is hosting the Jan/Feb party at their house. Hopefuly they will pick the date soon.

Handstand Fun!

These were additional pictures from the night the boys wanted to keep posing. I can not believe that Conner can do this. He is a natural acrobat. I think he should take gymnastic lessons.

He just kept saying, look at me do it this way!

Garrett decided he would give it a try, but his legs are long and he can not quite get them up as high as Conner can. And boy did he make a thump when he hit the ground!

Holiday Fun!

The Elementary Christmas Party was this past Saturday, I believe we all had a great time! It is fun to get dressed up, have an adult dinner, and then dance way past bedtime. It makes me remember when I was much younger. We got home from the party about 11:30 and were exhausted, I remember when the party was just starting at 11:30, and who would have ever admitted to being tired that early!

Take My Picture

Well the boys were on a kick the other night about my taking their picture. I think they were attempting to avoid going to bed! If they had clean shirts on I could have used these for our Chirstmas card pictures. Oh, who am I kidding, I still might be using one of these as the picture!

Time Flies

Well I find it hard to believe that I have not updated this blog since October. The entire month of November has passed and for those of you who know me, you will understand when I say, I am glad it is over.

Christmas is almost here, everything seems calm for the moment, and I am extremely thankful for all that I have!

Camper Closing

This was the final weekend at the camper. They had a Halloween weekend. The kids got to carve pumpkins, trick-or-treat, and dance at the Halloween Party. It was a little chilly, but we all had a great time.

Both of the boys cleaned out the inside of their own pumpkins, with a little help from Dad/Poppy. I was surprised I thought that Conner would not like the slime, but he was fine!

Their finished projects were great! Conner with the traditional face, and Garrett's was Dracula, when there is a candle in it, it looks really cool.

Next it was off for trick or treating!

Don't they both look cute. Mr. Skeleton and Mr. Gorilla!

After all of this and then a Halloween Party, the kids were pretty tired. The McCaffrey's arrived around 9:30 and the kids went in the camper, while the adults spent a few hours by the campfire! I must say, we had a really good time. It isn't often that Dan and Chris are off on the same weekends, so these times are few and far between, before we knew it it was almost 12:30.

When Karen and I went to check on the kids this is what we found. All three of the big kids asleep, and the little one in the back bedroom. It isn't often that we outlast them.

I would say we had a great weekend, chilly but great! The camper is all closed up now until next year, only five months until we can go back!

Final Fall Fun

Well last Friday night it was still nice enough to have a cook out. Elizabeth and Mike were picking up Conner for the weekend, so we had a little picnic on the deck. We put the deck on in May and this is absolutely the first time we have sat outside and ate on it.

For those of you who know my family this was a litte odd to me. An entire dinner that was functional. No one was fighting with anyone else. Conner, Garrett, Dan and Mike played ball in the yard. Elizabeth and I were in the house. Conner and Garrett rode on the motorcycle for a little bit. No yelling, no screaming, no fighting with anyone. YIPPIE! perhaps this is progress in my family.

I will go so far as to say that this is the most functional family function we have had in the last year!

Elizabeth's 20th Birthday

Well it is finally here, Elizabeth's 20th birthday, no longer a teenager! I think I am the one that took this pretty hard, I can't believe she is 20 years old, I can still remember dressing her all in pink for her 2nd birthday party and how cute she looked. Well 18 years later she is a beautiful young lady!



She loves to get presents, I don't think she will ever be to old for that!



Garrett and Conner were carrying on in the chair making Nanny Brenda crazy!



Elizabeth and Conner can never keep their fingers out of a cake before it is cut.

Garrett boughther a special candle that plays Happy Birthday for us all to sing with. He says we will be using it at all birthday parties in the future. It really is obnoxious!

Bloomsburg Fair

Well the fair was last week, and although we only went once, everyone had a great time, as you will see in the pictures.



The boys loved the carousel!





Dan and Garrett ride the Himalya.




Elizabeth and Mike at Bingo! Love the hat!




This was the last ride Dan rode, to much going in a circle, I am afraid his age is showing.



We found Nikki and she took Conner on the rides after Dan gave it up!



Garrett's favorite ride! He said he felt like he was flying!



Garrett and Nikki give it a shot together.



Dan decided to give the bull a shot, he didn't do that bad.



Conner was happy to find Nikki.




These little picture ops were all over the kiddie ride area, so you have to know that Karen and I put the kids in everyone of them and took pictures. We probally have 20 pictures of the kids in the cut outs. The surprising thing is that the kids wanted to get in all of them and did not fuss.

We had a great time at the fair! Just think only 51 weeks until it comes again.

Pumpkin Pickin'

Our neighbor across the street planted an entire section of his yard with pumpkins. He called over the weekend and told us we could come over and pick what we would like. So we took advantage of the GREAT weather and went over last night. Garrett and Conner had a ball!

There were pumpkins of all shapes and sizes. They were excited and yelling each time they moved a plant and found a new one.

Conner spent a lot of time singing the Barney Pumpkin Patch song!

Ready for the wagon ride home with their treasures!

Thank you to Ed and Twila for the family fun, now all we have to do is carve them in time for Halloween!

Conner's 3rd Birthday!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CONNER!

Elizabeth had Conner's birthday party in the park this afternoon, and by luck the rain held off until it was over. Conner has decided he loves Mickey Mouse, and as you can see that was the theme of the party complete with pinata!

It only took the kids a few wacks to get all of the candy!

Conner opened all of his presents, and of course couldn't wait to play with the balls that he got. There were Thomas decorations for his bedroom, lots of trucks and cars, and a new scooter so he can be just like Uncle Garrett.

When we got home, he was extremely excited to play with his "guitar hero." I don't know why I didn't think to buy him a little guitar earlier so he won't fuss when everyone else is playing it on the Wii.

Well this was the first party that Elizabeth has thrown by herself, she did a great job. Decorations, food and cake all coordinated!

Thank you to everyone who attended and made the afternoon a success, we love you all!