Merry Christmas to all!!

I know I am a few days late, but.....

This Christmas had to be one of the funnest I have had. My mother in law and sister in law are night nurses at University of Maryland. It was their holiday to work, so we decided that we would have Christmas on Wednesday.

For a suprise, we decided that we would take the kids to Great Wolf Lodge in Williamsburg, VA. ( We had gone there a month before Jake was born and the kids really liked it. ) We slipped a few times, but the kids didn't catch on. We were even lucky enough to have Mom Mom invite the girls over for a sleepover on Saturday night, so I could pack so the girls wouldn't realize what was up. When we got to GWL we turned in and said Merry Christmas. It took the girls 30 seconds, then Madi let out a scream then Rachel followed. The girls both kept saying "thank you for the Christmas Present!"

Madison was able to go on the body slides by herself this time. She LOVED it! Both the girls had fun going on the family raft slide. Scott had fun going on the Tornado ride. It was really fun! Jake loved going on the baby slide by HIMSELF....

When he wasn't on the slide, he kept saying B Ball B Ball B Ball. He loves basketball!



Overall it was fun. During the evening storytime, they had a part where it "snowed" in the lobby of the lodge. I feel silly, but for a second, I found myself tearing up! It was really neat to see all the kids (and adults) getting excited to see these bubbly foam coming from the rafters!

Then today, we got to have Christmas with the family! I always enjoy family time. I am so greatful that I married such a great family. Since I cannot be around my own family, its great that I have such caring and fun inlaws! We even had a twister tournament! Such a fun day!

The only thing that I am not looking forward to is the clean up! My in laws were very generous to the kids... and us too! I am not looking forward to putting everything away....oh well, whats a few more days!

Merry Christmas to all...I hope you had a great Christmas!

Hey, Do you like Flock of Seagulls?

No, but I can tell you do!


Jake wakes up with some pretty interesting hair do's, but this one takes the cake!

Madison had her Christmas party at preschool today. They brought the parents in and sang some Christmas songs to them. I was sad, because when Rachel was in preschool, Santa came and all the little kids got to sit on his lap when the parents were there. This year, Santa came before the parents came back. Oh well. Madison was excited, she said, "Mom, I wasn't afraid this year. She is the one in the middle, wearing the pants. All the other little girls were wearing their cute dresses, but Madison had to wear jeans. She's crazy, but I love her!

Haircuts...check em out!

Today was a half day for Rachel, so we thought we would go get the kids hair cut. There is a Madison Institute that Madison wanted to go to. Since the haircuts were only 5 bucks for a shampoo, cut, and blow dry, we couldn't pass it up. Jake had a tough time. He didn't want to sit still. I think I went through a half a pack of orange tic tacs trying to keep him quiet!

After getting her hair shampooed, Madison walked on about 6 feet of air back to her chair. She thought she was hot stuff! What can I say...if you look at her hair cut I think you might agree with her. :-)

Rachel was kind of slouched in her chair, so when the instructor came to check her hair out, she noticed the girl had cut her hair a little shorter on one side. After evening it up, I think she looked good too!

18 months already?!

Jake turned 18 months last Monday, so today he was able to go to Nursery at church. He went in without looking back. Scott said he was playing with toys when he left. But... about 20 minutes later the Nursery leader brought him to us in tears. He must have realized Scott had left. Anyway... maybe we'll get 25 next week. He's so big. I don't know were the last year and a half went!

Merry Christmas to me...a little early!

My sister in law, Stacey, bought me this beautiful mixer for Christmas...and she gave it to me early! I know it will help with all those Christmas cookies I **should** make.

I made my first batch of cookies with the mixer today... Guess who I caught sneaking again! I think that this wasn't the only one he snuck, because right before dinner he got a sore tummy and threw up...lots of cookies! I think the mixer made the cookies taste better!

Its a win!

Rachel played her first indoor soccer game today. She had a lot of fun. She is just getting over being sick, but she played her heart out. The team is a U8 girls team. All the little girls had red cheeks from playing so hard. As you can see from the picture, they won 4 - 1. Rachel is the little blue blip in the middle.

Rachel, before her first practice, said that she liked indoor soccer better than outside soccer. Scott questioned why she liked it better because she hadn't ever played indoor soccer. She said she liked indoor soccer better because it didn't get cancelled for rain or bad weather. Funny at their reasoning!