Snow

A few weeks ago, my parents got the first bit of snow of the season. Well, they literally got dumped on-and then when you go just 10 min out of the area, there was no snow! Crazy weather. But anyway, I was in town to clean out my totaled car (I'll get to that in another post) and buy a new one, and left Aiden to play in the snow with Auntie 'Niener'. I didn't have time to buy him proper snow attire before this, so he is in a ghetto fabulous outfit consisting of: socks for mittens, tube socks over his shoes and pants and then plastic bags duck taped to his legs. And he has one of our really old hats on (it's a little girl's hat) under his hood. It was hilarious, but a little sad :) So the next day I was sure to go and buy him some appropriate snow clothes for next time. Here they are building their snowman.

it was pretty fluffy snow, so they couldn't really roll in into balls

so cute :)

With all the running around I was having to do, I didn't get a picture of the finished product until a few days later...and this was what was left. It's kinda sad looking...but I'm sure they did their best :)

Then it snowed here over this past weekend, and it was the perfect snowman building snow, so Micah took Aiden out and our neighbor Cole joined them in building our first ever snowman at this house!

Micah got carried away making the body balls, and I kept telling him they were too big. I ended up having to help him get the middle one up, and he leaned over it to help stabalize it on the bottom one...and well you can see what happened next...so we had to do that one over again. And again he made it to big even after my warnings, and we had to chip some away before attempting again.

Go Bears!

Touchdown!

Well, I wasn't about to leave my Bears things outside to get taken away, so I changed Mr. Snowman up a little, and this is what he looks like now :)
Although he is still looking great even though most of the snow is melted, his face has become non existant. We ended up using spray food coloring because the rocks we had wouldn't stay...now it's melted away a little and he just has a nose-but it's still cool to have a snowman out front!

Just when you thought it was over...

So, I thought that since I was done reading the Twilight series I would be able to get some work done around the house...then my good friend Laura brought it to my attention that Stephanie Meyers was working on a 5th book, retelling the first one only from Edward's perspective. However when she sent her rough drafts to someone for opinions, they in turn posted them online. She has since decided that she would not be able to finish the book because it is now tainted with bad feelings. To stop her fans from looking for the unfinished draft illegally she decided to post it on her website, and be done with it. It's a fascinating read and I'm frustrated that she will not be finishing it. I seriously hope she was able to take legal action against the person who violated her rights in that way.
But anyway, like I said, you can read what she had started on her website. So that's what I've been doing again these past few days, reading while I have had the chance. Maybe now I can have my life back :) Not that I'm disappointed, because again...one can always fantasize :)
And Lauren....your Edward is out there! ;)

update

I just wanted to update that I finally finished Breaking Dawn! I am sad that I'm done reading, and my Twilight obsession will now start to fade, but grateful that I can finally give my full attention to everything thing else now. I have much to post about to cover these past few weeks...including totaling my car, Devin's first Thanksgiving, more babies (not mine!) parties and more. It's been a crazy busy past few weeks, and with the holidays now in full swing, it doesn't seem like anything is going to slow down. I know I'm probably preaching to the choir right now as this is a busy time for everyone too. I just hope that we all can sit back and enjoy what this season is all about, enjoy the time spent with our loved ones, and have safe travels as we venture to our various celebrations.

Right now my attention is getting my house back in order and decorated for the holidays. Our goal is to get the decorations up and boxes back in the attic so we can park our cars in the garage as the weather gets nasty :(
I'll end this post with a shot out to those men in our lives who are loving and faithful. There are too many guys in this world who are careless with their actions and affections, and end up hurting those we love. Those guys are not men, and do not belong in the same category. Those guys give our men a bad name, as many just throw the lot all together in a generalization. There are men out there who are good hearted, faithful, and eager to love a woman unconditionally. I pray every day that those are matched up with someone who will truly appreciate them and love them faithfully in return. To those scumbags out there, I hope that someday you will get what you truly deserve. And that you will leave the people you have hurt and broken alone, giving them the space to pick up the pieces and move on to bigger and Better things. You've done enough damage...do not stick around. If there is any hope for you to become a fraction of a man, then you will leave those hurt alone, allowing them to get over you-because they WILL get over you.
That's all.

Twilight

I'm not going to lie...I've become newly 'obsessed' with Twilight in these past few weeks! I will say that we have been doing a ton of traveling-and there seems to be no end in sight at the moment. A lot has happened since we got back from Florida, which I promise to blog about soon. But right now my time home has been cleaning, taking care of sick kids, :( cooking for various Thanksgiving celebrations, and reading the Twilight series! I'm about a third of the way through Breaking Dawn...so it will be a few more days before I can catch up on my posting (finding the time to read isn't always easy with 2 kiddos and a house full of chores) haha! But being the dork that I am, I did get to see the movie on opening night with my sisters and Daryl. Micah was there in body, but not it mind as he fell asleep due to some long call nights catching up to him. Hopefully we can go see it again soon where he can enjoy it with me, and see what I've been so obsessed over for the past few weeks. And yes...I bought the soundtrack...hehe. Call me what you will, but I need a little enjoyment right now, and romantic vampire fairytales seem to be doing the trick!
To all of you out there not in on the action...I highly recommend the books! The movie is actually quite good I thought. There was a lot that they tried to keep true to the book, a lot they had to leave out (that's to be expected) and a few things they decided to add-some I thought were unnecessary...but all in all it was great, and I hope to see it again if given the opportunity.
Happy reading to you, and I'll be posting again soon!

cute cousins

As I mentioned in the Wedding post, we traveled with Aunt Cindy, Melinda, and little Macee. It was awesome because we had joining rooms and the kids were able to be with each other most of the time. By the end of the trip I think Aiden and Macee were best friends :) Here they are the first night in Florida playing with Devin.

tickle tickle :)

Isn't she just so dang cute??

Say Cheese! She wanted to take pictures of me because I was taking them of her...not sure those pictures turned out so well for her ;)

The wedding took place at these gardens, so between the ceremony and reception, the kids went back to play by the fountain-it was really pretty.

This video is so cute of the two of them dancing!

Wedding

As we are a family always on the move, we just got back from Florida :) Micah's cousin Miranda was getting married, and Sandy really wanted the family to go. Unfortunately Micah had a national test on Saturday, and was on call Sunday so he couldn't go. But the boys and I, Sandy, Dan, Sandy's sister Cindy, and her daughter and granddaughter Melinda and Macee all went together. Here are some pictures from the wedding:

Aunt Tracey did everything for the wedding, including the flowers, food, decor, hand writing on all the cake napkins, etc. You think of it, she did it! It was incredible, and I give her a lot of credit for taking that all on! It was beautiful, and I think her daughter Miranda really enjoyed it all :)

The three sisters :) Aunt Cindy, Aunt Tracey, and Sandy

Miranda walking down with her father Bruce

The ceremony was short and sweet

Miranda and Ryan exchanging vows

Enjoying the ceremony

Getting ready to live happily ever after

awwwww

Here are those napkins I mentioned earlier...talk about patience!

Miranda and Dan

Here is Miranda's sister Arlee and her daughter Lexi. This was the only clear picture I had of her, but I think all the kids had fun together

This was so cute: Dan was using Devin's foot to 'kick' Aiden, and Aiden would 'fall' foward. Both boys thought it was the funniest thing :) watch the video below, sorry it is sideways-I wasn't thinking when I shot it that I wouldn't be able to edit it later.

Kiki and Devin

Even though it was the running joke that I was the only one who could really quiet Devin down on the trip, the only picture I have with him is of him screaming his head off...go figure ;)

Melinda and Macee :) With baby in the tummy too!

No wedding is complete without dancing!

or flying through the air :)

or eating cake :)

I think everyone had a pretty good time!

leaves!

Since we live in a fairly new subdivision, we don't have many trees-and therefore don't have many leaves to rake up. Both a plus and a minus ;) I was afraid that the kids would not have the opportunity to be in leaves this year, but Grammy and Papa kidnapped the kids for a few days and they have plenty of leaves! So here are some pictures that Papa took of the kiddos in the leaves :)

Grammy, Aiden, Lauren, and her new dog Spanky

burn baby burn! I actually love the smell of burning leaves...I can almost smell it!

Aiden's thinking "I want to roast a marsh mellow!"

Devin's turn!

Look at my baby doll! He's probably thinking: "What the heck are they doing to me? And where is my Mommy??" :) At least I hope he's wondering where I am :)

I'm Drowning!