CHRISTMAS ALREADY?!

We have a little boy who is just like I was as a kid, when it comes to Christmas (any other time he is just like Joe)! It just never lasts long enough for AJ! He has been asking us, for the past two weeks, if we can put up the Christmas tree and set up the Polar Express train that circles the tree. He, like a lot of us, is a little confused by all of the Christmas stuff that has been set up since Halloween at a few of the stores we have been to! If the stores are decorating already, why can't we? Well, we would have waited until the day after Thanksgiving (like we usually do), but because we are trying to clear out our garage by taking a bunch of stuff to the storage unit, we had do bring in all of the Christmas stuff. So...our tree is up, only one of them though! The kids each have a small tree for their bedrooms, we put one up in the dining room, and then last year Joe started his Texas tree and that one goes in our bedroom.

Here is a picture of the kids on Christmas morning last year.

We all LOVE christmas and are especially excited this year because we get to spend a week in Disneyworld! We haven't been in a couple of years, so the kids couldn't be more thrilled! Who am I kidding, Joe and I are WAY EXCITED too! I am thrilled that we are going to be in Disney while it's decorated for Christmas and the weather is nice.

Even though Disney is going to be a great way to get into the holiday spirit, Christmas will not be the same without James here! We are going to try and send christmas to him in any way that we can! Here is a cute shot that I caught of James playing barbies w/ aleigh last christmas! He was being so funny!

I was telling the kids all about my holiday memories as a kid in Utah. It was always so much fun to have the snow and visit family during Thanksgiving and Christmas! I loved seeing all of my cousins and calling them all on Christmas morning to find out what they got! As a kid, that's what the holidays were all about...lots of family and good food!!! We still have great food, my mom and dad are great cooks! I have hoped, for the last 17 years, that we can go back to Utah for Thanksgiving and maybe it will snow so the kids can enjoy it! It's just not easy to try and purchase plane tickets that close to the holidays. We will make it out there one year! Maybe next year and maybe James could even meet us out there! We sure miss him and wish he could be in a more pleasant place for the holidays this year! He is amazing though, I am sure he will make the best of it!

Ansley's photos

Just wanted to let you know that Ansley's pictures are up on the "Heart Is Found" photo gallery! If you haven't had a chance to check them out go to: www.heartisfound.com , sign in, and the code is: aaa

I have to say, they are pretty cute! Malin did an amazing job, as always!

HALLOWEEN

I hope everyone had a fun Halloween! This year we had a Pink Poodle, Supergirl, and Valdemort (from Harry Potter...and I probably spelled it wrong)!

Ansley and I were very congested so my plan was to keep both her and I inside for the night at my mom and dad's house and let Joe take the kids trick-or-treating w/ some friends of ours. Well, I did leave Ansley in w/ my parents, but decided I wanted to go out! It was a lot of fun, but probably not a good idea since I had the worst sinus pressure ever by the end of the night! My head was aching SO BAD! It was a cold but fun night! We were out until 9 pm this year which is the latest we have ever been out on Halloween. The kids have TONS of candy and aren't even interested in it...crazy! Joe hasn't gone near the candy and believe it or not, I haven't either! If ya want some candy come on over or I'll send it to ya!!!

Ansley wasn't too fond of her pink poodle costume! So Daddy rescued her!

What started out as a night of Trick-or-Treating w/ AJ's friend, Devon turned into a night of lots of friends! We went to a neighborhood w/ a lot of big houses fairly close together. Robin wasn't going to go out for the same reason I wasn't, she was congested too. Like me, she decided she would go out and join us. Then some friends of ours called (The Bannister's) and asked where we were trick-or-treating this year so we met up w/ them and a few other families from Karate. We were all walking in a big group when we ended up at a friends house. They were done for the night so they gave us their limo golf cart to use! It was SO NICE! Only in Peachtree City do you see tons of people trick-or-treating on golf carts! :)

"I'M GONNA LIKE ME!"

Every night, before I kiss the kids "good night," I read them a book. For AJ, we have been reading a chapter book called "Jake Drake Class Clown" and I read one chapter each night. In the book there is a teacher named "Miss Bruce" who is really boring and strict, so I created a really obnoxious voice for her and the kids LOVE it! In fact last weekend I was trying to get Ansley to bed so Joe offered to read to the kids since he was home. While sitting w/ Ansley in her rocker, I overheard Joe starting to read about "Miss Bruce" and the kids stopped him and said he wasn't reading it right! They then imitated the obnoxious voice I have created for her! It was funny, Joe was laughing hysterically! Of course Joe now does her voice better than me!

Anyway, tonight I read Aleigh a book called "I'm Gonna Like Me" by Jamie Lee Curtis. It's a great book about how no matter what a person does, however silly or embarrassing, it's important to like yourself first and foremost! After I put the book down and explained to Aleigh that it's always important to be happy with who you are and believe in yourself. I also told her that when you love yourself it helps you to love others even more. Aleigh looked up at me w/ her big dimple filled grin, and said "Mommy, the best thing that ever happened to me is you and daddy! Since you and daddy love each other so much you got married, and if you didn't get married you wouldn't have me and I wouldn't have you and daddy!" My eyes teared up! I am just so proud, not just of the sweet little girl that she is, but of Joe and I for making sure our kids know how important it is to appreciate love and life!

Ansley got to go and play with her friend Hayley for a little while today! They were so cute! We are going to try and make it over to see Tammy and Hayley more! Tammy and I have always had a great friendship and it's going to be so fun to watch Hayley and Ansley grow up together! Tammy took some great pictures of our girls today. I will post them when I get copies.

Oh, I had to post this photo of Ansley completely crashed out in the shopping cart at BJ's! Remember, the shopping carts at BJ's are double seaters, so they are longer and that's how she was able to lay down. Joe fed her a bottle and she was out for almost the entire shopping trip! She was so tired!

Joe is going to be on MTV!

Last Friday night when Joe got home from work he said he wanted to share a voice mail message he received that afternoon. The voice message was from a guy named Ted who is the associate producer of the MTV show "Made." It's a reality show usually involving high school students who want to be "made" into a cheerleader, football star, prom queen..etc. For this particular episode, it's a high school student who wants to be a basketball star. Apparently he was lacking a bit of aggression so they heard about Joe through one of Joe's adult students who was training w/ the kid. Anyway, they were requesting Joe to train this kid in Krav Maga (an Israeli type of martial arts involving a lot of combatives and street fighting).
Anyway...today was filming day! Joe was able to get Bryson, Lisa, Jared and Scott (other instructors) to be a part of the class and build up this kids confidence. Once filming was over Joe called me and was so excited that it had gone so well! He said that they were able to get him (the kid) to break 3 boards! Joe said the look on the kids face was priceless when he was able to break the first one after confessing that he didn't think he could do it! Joe was really proud of him! He said that he kept up and made it through the whole 2 hour class.

The show will air in January! We will keep you posted....Bryson's in it too!

Movies Under The Stars

My mom called this morning and informed us that there was going to be a "Movies Under the Stars" at the Avenues (awesome outdoor shopping complex in Peachtree City). We packed our chairs, blankets, sweatshirts and snacks and joined my parents and The Dimmigs to watch "Horton Hears A Who." It was a lot of fun, even though I paid no attention to the movie! The kids had a blast and the babies were awesome! Ansley was SO mesmerized by the whole idea of being outside and seeing a big movie screen! In the photo below Robin is holding her while she stares at the screen. Tessa fights sleep so well and is such a trooper! She is adorable and we had a blast with her today!

The little ones just love my dad!

Robin held Ansley and started humming to her. She was in total Awe as she listened and was slowly soothed by the sound of Aunt Robin's voice!

Slowly going...

going........

GONE!

still gone and cozy in Aunt Robin's arms! It was absolutely precious!

Special Friends!

Today we had a fun and long overdue visit with Robin, Tessa and Drew! They came over this morning and spent the morning with me and Ansley (AJ was w/ Joe at Karate and Aleigh spent the night with Madrina aka Robin Dumas). We had fun watching Ansley and Tessa play for a good part of the morning, then Ansley was ready for her bottle and nap! I can't believe how grown up Drew is! What a sweet and pleasant 12 year old she is! I can't believe she is already 12! What I love is that she still enjoys spending time with us and being at our house! Hopefully she won't ever grow out of that. Like the rest of my kids, Ansley just adored Drew!

When Joe got home w/ AJ, Drew and AJ played the Wii while we waited for Ansley to wake from her nap so we could go out to lunch. After lunch at Red Robin, we went shopping at Old Navy and found the cutest costumes for Ansley and Tessa! They are different, but both ADORABLE! You have to wait and see when I post pictures for Halloween!