It's 35 degrees outside...

...so why not dress like it???

"Look, I'm stylin'" her words.

I think I'm starting to lose a bit of control in the clothing department.

Fabulous.

Christmas...

I could go for one (or two) of these right about now.

...stinkin' resolutions.

Christmas Eve day

One of my most favorite pictures of all time.

The anticipation was almost more than he could handle.

He came!!

The stockings were hung ...and filled!

(and yes, we're promoting rivalry in our home.)

Matt is taking after John with an early love for photography. Hopefully my camera will be off limits now.

The happiest (skater) boy!

The funnest age at Christmas!
Everything was his most favorite thing EVER!
She was totally into it and keeps telling me that it's almost time for Santa to come again.
...don't think so.
I guess I better get busy.

Why does it always come and go soooo fast???

Merry Christmas!...and someone pulled a fast one...

"Hey," I said,

"While everyone is dressed nicely for church let's take a family picture."

Tripod is set.

My kids usually do much better for pics like this than the ones where mom or dad are on the other side of the lens.

Smile!

Everyone, for the most part, was looking good, except the little turkey in the front...

"Okay, now let's make funny faces for this one!"

In Sam language, that means "smile nicely."

"Okay, everyone smile!"

...you get where I'm going with this...

Stinker.

He is pretty proud of himself in this one.

We had no idea until we were finished and looked through them.

John toyed with the idea of switching a funny face for a smiley face.

Not a chance...

..."these are the days of our (my) lives."

Have a wonderful Christmas from our family to yours!

gingerbread hood...

We had our cute friends, the Woolley's over to decorate gingerbread houses...

8 kids=8 houses!

(the parents just chatted and ate house decor. That's the way it's supposed to go, right?)

The happy decorators...

Taking a break to be a princess. A must during any activity.
The completed projects.

I think they did a fabulous job!!

I will mention that Zach spent most of his decorating time building a skateboard ramp out of marshmallows and NOT decorating the house...and Matt decorated one side of his roof. That's it.

Gheesh...no appreciation.

My favorite is looking over at the table and seeing someone's mouth chowing on a house. Pretty funny!

They (we all) had a great time.

Next year, guys??

Thanksgiving was just yesterday...right?

Yea...it's been a while. Anyone still there???

Nothing says Thanksgiving like a little P90x workout before the big meal...

I did not participate in the morning workout (I have done it several times this past week though and...ouch!). However, thanks to my new BFF (seriously), I learned that being on your feet cooking for two days straight burns more than 40 min on the treadmill and even more than back to back toning/aerobics classes.

Go figure. I got a great workout doing what I love to do best...cooking!!

Score!

Matt and Zach participated in the Science Fair (somehow I did not get a pic of Zach with his masterpiece). They both did great and it is over.

Score!

I've been doing a little of this...

The decor is up,

the shopping is done,

the kids are getting excited,
the mom is exhausted,
bring on Christmas!

oh boy...

...if your boxers are on your head, then what's on your behind?

I didn't want to know the answer, either.

I'm a little late...

HALLOWEEN 2009

M & M Matt

Z-Man

(I don't know what he was, either. This was one he came up with himself. I didn't object.)

Storm Trooper Sam

Little Red Lizzie


...and this is what I found the next morning.
Fruit Loops laced with green Apple Heads & a sucker.
Awesome.