Sarah FINALLY Got Her Wish!

Sarah has been begging me almost daily for months to cut her hair shorter. The begging occurs every morning as we set about the task of yanking a brush through her tangled hair. So when we finally had a slow Saturday this weekend, she seized her moment and vamped up her begging. We hopped in the car and headed toward a cheap haircut shop. After watching her brothers' monthly wrestling matches/haircuts I guess she expected it to hurt because she kept saying, "This doesn't hurt at all!" Yeah, her brothers are just wimps. She's completely thrilled with her new do and loves to ask any and everyone if they like it too! You look pretty cute, Sarah, not that you ever couldn't look cute!

Christmas 2010

We had a wonderful Christmas this year in our new home. We feel so blessed! Here are some highlights:Brandon surprised me with tickets to see John Schmidt! I had no idea he was such a fabulous entertainer! We thoroughly enjoyed the concert and will definitely be back for more! Thanks, Honey!!!

Jacob's 1st grade class put together a Christmas program. I have to say that I'm completely impressed that his teacher would take this on by herself! It was a darling program which Jacob had several parts in. He sang right our, knew all the words, and was a delight to watch!We did our annual family nativity complete with all the craziness that 17 grandchildren bring! What a good looking group! Jonah was up for Joseph this year, but I decided that it might be in the best interest of Mary and the baby Jesus to wait until next year.We made our annual trip to Bowman's to see the Santa that knows us, but we don't know him. He's from around here and knows our Nanny & Papa. Jonah wasn't too excited about sitting on Santa's lap, but knew that if at least got close enough he'd get the candy Santa was handing out.Every year I swear I'm going to MAKE Christmas Eve dinner, but the last 3 years we've ended up at Benihana with Nanny & Papa. It's a fun tradition and the kids truly enjoy watching their food being prepared. Lucky for us, Nanny has an IN with the best chef there and he gives the kids a great show!After dinner we drove by some lights and came home to open Christmas pajamas! The boys got matching football jammies with football slippers. So cute! Nathan's pj's even had little cleat feet!Since Sarah doesn't have any sisters to match with, she got jammies that have matching doll pj's! She was delighted and loves getting her doll dressed every night after she puts on her own pj's. After opening pj's, we put the 2 little one's to bed and read Christmas stories & played games. About 1 a.m. Sarah woke up to go potty and was literally shaking with excitement! It was a little tricky to get her back to bed. While Brandon was tucking her in she said, "Daddy, I think I have sugar plums dancing in my head!" We had just read "Twas the Night Before Christmas" and I think she was taking it to heart!Here are some pictures of our Christmas spoils! We try to keep it simple and the kids really enjoy their couple of toys. Jacob got a sled, new scooter (his got lost during our move), a Nerf gun, electronic Battleship game, and some Mercy Watson books. Oh, and of course, Santa remembered to get him a new deer calendar! Sarah finally got her doll with hair (She desperately wanted an American Girl doll, but I thought we'd hold off a little longer. She calls this Target special an American Girl doll anyway!), scooter, doll swing, the Loving Family nursery for her doll house, a tutu, and a Dick & Jane book.Jonah got a sled, sit 'n spin, laptop computer, basketball for the bathtub, and a truck book.

What do you get your 3rd boy who doesn't even know better yet? Not much, that's for sure! Luckily, Grandma got him a fun race car toy (which Jonah's quite enjoying) to add to his teething ring and rice cereal! Nanny got him a fun board book!
Here's my whole Christmas: a new entryway rug! Yahoo! Thanks, Mom & Dad! We were thrilled to have Nanny & Papa join us for another Christmas. They spent the night so they could see the kids in all their excitement Christmas morning. It's always more fun to have Nanny & Papa around! We had a yummy Christmas morning breakfast of eggs, sausage, oranges and cinnamon rolls. This year I finally attempted my mom's famous cinnamon rolls. She used to make them for all our neighbors as neighbor gifts when I was a little girl. It was a lot of work. That was the one thing I remember when we decided to move from Georgia that the neighbors mentioned, "No more Christmas cinnamon rolls!" I have to say, I did a pretty good job! They were actually fun to make. I'll definitely make these every year now that I've figured it out. Thanks, Mom, for keeping your phone handy while I was making these. I must have called her 8 times that day! Justin & Amy came over to spend Christmas afternoon with us! They helped Jacob figure out his Battleship game and were great to be a good audience as the kids paraded their gifts around to show off!

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

I SHOULD be writing about Christmas, but I'm running a little behind. So here's our Thanksgiving day festivities first. We celebrated with Brandon's family this year, and hosted dinner in our new home for all 29 of us! We feel so blessed to have a home with a large gathering area for so much family. We had a great day of food, games, movies and visiting.

Every Thanksgiving we spend with Brandon's family, they sing their traditional Thanksgiving song. I don't think I'll ever learn the words to that song as we only sing it once every 2 years! Oh, well! We have our own song in my family!

Sarah & Jacob ready to feast!

Jonah, Eli, Samuel, & Naomi eating at the kids' table.

Brandon with Nathan & Brett with William. We FINALLY got coordinating genders with these last babies!

Nathan enjoying a little snuggle time with Uncle Justin. Gear up, Justin, there's lots of this coming your way because . . .

"My Aunt Amy is having a baby! I CAN NOT BELIEVE IT!!!" is the sign Jacob posted after Justin and Amy told us their wonderful news!

Nathan & Papa

Papa was enjoying a little snuggle time with Nathan. I hope Nathan comes to realize how blessed he is to have the influence of such a wonderful grandfather in his life. After all, Nathan was named after this sweet man.

Visiting Santa

We made our annual trip to sit on Santa's lap and take a picture recently. Mommy made it into the picture because Jonah was a little too nervous to approach Santa on his own. Jonah asked Santa for toys -- very appropriate. Sarah asked for an American Girl Doll -- hopefully a generic brand will suffice. Jacob asked for roller blades, a scooter, and a Nerf gun. "I know we only get 1 gift from Santa, so I thought I'd just tell Santa everything I wanted and then he could choose." Ahh, very wise. Mommy was blindsided when Santa asked her what SHE wanted! I just stared at him thinking, "I don't know what I want! I have everything I've ever needed!" How blessed we have been this year!

Christmas Clothes from Grandma!

I love getting that hoped for call from Grandma, "I'm at Gymboree. What sizes are your kids in now?" Whenever that call comes, we know the kids will look their best for the holidays! Grandma didn't buy Brandon Christmas clothes, of course, but he matched and somebody needed to hold Nathan. So, Grandma, here's 4 cute kids thanks to you!

Girls' Day at The Nutcracker

I called my friends, Angela and Betsy, to join me with their 5 year old girls at The Nutcracker this year. The girls were fascinated with the ballet, although it got a little long for them. Sarah was very concerned about the dancers' modesty, commenting that the girls weren't dressed very modestly since we could see their shoulders. "But at least their chests are covered up!" she decided. Whew! That IS a good thing. It was a fun day with the girls, followed by a lunch at Jason's Deli! Yum!

Sarah, Addy & Abby at the ballet

Sarah and Mommy at the ballet