Jimmys birthday was on Thursday.

He can never be serious for a moment... wonder where he got that from?

We are celebrating tonight, actually we celebrated his and Ambers birthday at Triple Play a couple of weeks ago (and did I have my camera with me? NOOOOOO! Duh, that was my peroxide poisoning setting in that day). But tonight we are doing our little family cake and presents for my little 10 year old.

Amber helped make his cake...

Ohmigosh, where has the time gone? It just seems like yesterday that he was being born, and so cute, crying for almost 2 years straight.

He always was most peaceful while he was sleeping...

Do I miss those baby days? I would do it again in a heartbeat. We are so blessed to have such wonderful kids, who, by the way, love each other more than anything in the world. Sometimes it is not as evident as others, but we all know they do.

Here is Doodlebug with the growing pup, can you tell he looks so excited...

Here is Jim watching a movie with the kiddos while I cleaned the kitchen after Christmas dinner,

HE IS SUCH A SUPER DADDY!!!

I LOVE MY FAMILY!!!!!

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL!!!

Once again another great Christmas. Amber got to read us all the Christmas story this year, it was so special. And then she insisted that we all sing "Silent Night" (or as Angel used to call it, 'Heavenly Peas'). You can imagine how wonderful we all sounded at 6:00 in the morning.

Here is Amber with her little friends from school on the night of her school concert. Gee, I wonder where she gets her height from????

It was very hard this year cause we didn't have a huge family shin-dig, or even have any Christmas parties to go to. My sister, her friend Derek and her dog Ivy came over to help us celebrate! By the way, Jim let her borrow his coat and I think she got lost in it.....

I guess, now that I think of it, it was very relaxing and not a lot of pressure. We sure do miss ALL of our family though. The kids are (once again) very blessed by all the family we do have. Even though they weren't here to be with us, they still managed to lavish wonderful gifts and lots of love on the kids, even from hundreds to thousands of miles away. Thanks to all for making it a great Christmas!

Happy Birthday Angel!!!

Today is Angels 16th Birthday. We haven't seen her since the summer in 2005 and we miss her tons. But I just wanted to take a moment to say how much we love her and miss her!

Well, we did it.... we broke down and got a new pup.


His name is Lucky, he is 11 weeks old and he is a Lab-Retriever. That is what Buddy is too, but of course they are not the same color. Anyways, this little pup is so good so far. He already lets us know when he needs to go outside and "clean out", most people call it potty. At first Buddy wasnt so sure about him. Now they are best buds. Good, cause that is why we got him. To keep him company. Buddy has been so lonely which is probably why he tried to escape a few weeks ago, but I think that this is a really good little team we have here. By the way, the cat still isn't sure about him.
Here is Jimmy playing with him the day we got him...

Buddy was not so thrilled to be taking his picture with the new "attention stealer"... its not so bad anymore.... cause the new 'baby' steals his attention too....

Every year we try to get out and go to the old property across the street from where I grew up. My parents still own the 5 acres there, so we go out there and pick our Christmas tree. Here is the annual family tree gathering. We had a great time. We got a really good one this year. Thanks mom.

Here Buddy jumped up onto the bed of the truck right when the camera was taking the picture. Silly Pup.....

Here is daddy helping Amber put the Angel on the top of the tree.

Jimmy always wants to be the one to put the "HUGE ring" on the tree. Those of you who were at our wedding may remember the story behind the huge ring. Anyways, we still have it, and when Jimmy moves out, he will have to come to mama and daddys house if he wants to still hang the huge ring.

I tried to post this 2 weeks ago, but the pictures wouldnt download so lets just pretend that these are from Dec 5, 2007.....

It has been quite a hectic couple of weeks. Last weekend we had a birthday party for Amber doodle. Her birthday was Dec. 3rd. So we had a little "family get together". It was pretty fun. She is so blessed to have such great people in her life to care so much about her. She got a ton of great gifts.

Two days ago, Buddy, our pup ran away. He was gone for the whole night and the kids were just hysterical. Then right as I was leaving for work yesterday morning, I heard a little whine and lo and behold there was lil bud as if nothing had ever happened. The silly dog learned how to open the gate to get out of backyard. So this morning I put a lock on both sides so that he can't get out. Ah ha, lets see houdini escape now!!!

Tomorrow we are going to get our Christmas tree and decorate for Christmas. Yeah, can't wait.

We will keep you posted on the family tree gathering.

So far this holiday season has been a very busy one. We went to Anacortes, WA to visit my family for Thanksgiving. We had a great time.

On the Friday after we got there, Jim and I went to Friday Harbor on a real date. This was the first actual get away, overnight date that we have been on since before we had our kids. It was so beautiful.

Then we went to visit some of Jim's family in Sequim, WA which was about 3 hours away from Anacortes. It was great to see his grandma, aunts and uncle. They were very nice and hospitable to take us in on last minutes notice.

We only stayed for the day though. Then come to find out that the ferry we took home that night was the last ferry leaving due to maintenance issues on the ferry. Good thing we left when we did. We were bummed that we didn't get to see his cousins and their kiddos though. Maybe next time.

Then after we drove home from Anacortes, on 11/23 (our 11 year anniversary), my dad and Sandra were here visiting from Colorado. It was so great to have them for a few days. Can't wait til they move here next spring (we hope).

We went and saw my sister, Ashley and her friend Krista perform at a local resturant that night. She is really good. That was the first time I have seen her sing in public. She sang the song that I sung to Jim at our wedding and of course she rocked it. I don't think she even knew it was our anniversary. That made it even more special.

Dad sang a few songs that night too, then at the very end, the crowd wanted the three of us to sing together, so dad, Ash and I all sang Amazing Grace. We didn't sound too bad for being put on the spot and harmonizing for the first time in public together. Not to shabby.

We miss all of our family already. It was so great to see you all. Love you tons!!!