My sweet big brother...

Scott

May 2, 1959-December 23, 2007

He's holding Sam in this picture. He came to the Hospital to visit me on a lonely Sunday afternoon and held Sam so I could take a nap. He was the first at the Hospital to meet Lizzie, just minutes after she was born.

One of my favorite pics with him.

Scott was one of my most favorite people in the world, and I hurt more than I ever have before. Thankfully I have a wonderful family and a lot of fun memories to hold on to. I love you Scott!!

Begging and pleading...

Today I BEGGED my boys to pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeease sing Christmas songs the right way for the next 4 days (several new songs have been added to their repertoire)....any guesses as to whether or not it will happen????

My man...

Heads up people...you may want to schedule an appointment with your dentist ASAP because this one could give you a cavity...I was tagged by my friend Jennie to share 5 things I love about my husband...piece of cake.

1. If I need help with ANYTHING he is always first in line to offer assistance.
2. He will wrestle with any one of our kids at any given time..even if he's just walked in the door from work!
3. He can fix just about anything.
4. He empties the dishwasher every morning and gets breakfast going for the kids.
5. He makes me laugh...I would rather spend time with J-dub than anyone else. We have fun whether we are doing something or nothing!
XOXOXOXOXO!!!

My Mom is AMAZING....

Here's a sample of one of her MANY talents...these ornaments were hand painted...

These "Wizard of OZ" ornaments have hung on our tree for as long as I can remember, and now I am the proud owner (the Lion was eaten by my stupid childhood dog). Again, these were hand-made.

This is one of the ornaments she made for my kids a few years ago...

A couple of months ago Sam placed an order with Grandma Barb for some little animals...a couple of weeks later he got these in the mail. It was hard to get them away from him to take a picture!

And last week Lizzie got this in the mail...check out the detail!!!!

THANKS MOM!!!! I love you!!

Popular Christmas songs at our house...

"We wish you were a Merry Christmas..."

"Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer, had a very shiny nose. And if you ever touch it, you will really start to glow..."

"He's checking a list, and checking it twice...checking if you've been naughty or nice."

Sam's not much of a singer, so these are things I have happened to overhear..and I LOVE it!!

and the ever popular... (this one is sung by the older brothers)

"Jingle bells, batman smells..."(there are also several other renditions of this tune that I'll spare, mostly because I am soooo sick of hearing them!)

AHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!

I just returned from taking my kids to have a "portrait" (blah!) taken..it's the ONLY thing my mother-in-law requested for Christmas...you know, the kind where everyone does a fake smile looking right at the camera (again, blah!)

This pretty much sums it up....I think each of the boys has a bruise on their upper arm from being grabbed/pinched by me in order to get their attention; Lizzie found the light switch in the portrait studio..enough said; there may be more pics of the ugly white bear that Sam kept throwing in front of the camera than of the kids fake smiles; Lizzie kept doing her ultra high-pitched scream while I was attempting to pick out which pics I was going to purchase; It was the last day to have portraits taken in order to get them by Christmas...IT WAS A ZOO!!!

I need a nap...

Cookie Exchange...

This is for you Lindz!
So, my neighborhood had a cookie exchange this week and this was my donation. I spent two days, yes, two days making these bad boys and just before the big event I got sick and had to stay home. So, I sent my tainted "sick" cookies with my friend (thanks Jennie :)!) and got TWO plates of very YUMMY cookies in exchange! The cookie party is a great idea, I have always wanted to host one...maybe next year. For you serious cookie baking addicts you can log on to http://myrecipes.com and you will find a new cookie recipe for every day of the Holidays! I've seen some pretty good recipes on there. If you try any, feel free to drop by with a plate of cookies...you may even get some in return ;)!! (not tainted, "sick" ones!)