Merry Christmas

I hope everyone had a wonderful blessed Christmas. I certainly did and we remembered to keep Christ in it and celebrate all the bountiful blessings we have. I am beyond humbled by all that we have and know that I am imperfect and undeserving yet He gives it all to me. I am truly happy this holiday season and blessed above words.

Crazy boys

Going on the Santa Hayride on Christmas eve....a tradition since John was born and now all my kids do it too. They dress up like elves also :)

My normally shy girls lovin on Mrs. Santa Claus

Ian got a walking toy from Granny and he has been trekking all over our house now

There's a lotta cheese gonna on in these 2 pictures

Ian LOVES his new car

Ava modeling her new cool boots, I wish I had some like this!

This toy ended up being the biggest hit....only today I woke up to Madeline screaming in the backyard because she went down the slide in the bilibo and hurt her finger. A band aid fixed it fine but good grief that girl is fearless!





Seaworld on Tuesday.....this was how we waited to see Shamu

high tea today

All the girls went to the tea room today and had lunch.....scones, chicken salad crossiants, cucumber sandwiches, brownie bites, quiche, and many more high calorie food not good for me to eat the day before my weekly weigh in! It was nice to be with my Granny and aunt since they live in SC and only came down for the weekend. I am my Granny's favorite (and she will tell you that) and I spent a LOT of time with her growing up while my mom was getting a divorced and then single for awhile. Most of my happy childhood memoires are with my Granny and I so wish she lived closer so she could watch my kids grow up...

4 generations of women


Ian has decided this week to forgo his diet of leaves and eat Christmas wrapping paper and boxes....his diapers should prove interesting... his swollen leg has gone down now too so he should be fine :)

Week before Christmas

Madeline had her ballet Christmas performance on Wednesday. This was the same place that I danced at until I was 16 years old and my social life became more important for me! Anyway, she has decided that she doesn't want to do ballet anymore for now and wants to do gymnastics like Ava. She is so good at ballet so I know she'll do well in gymnastics too. I am a bit sad because I wanted her to at least have a full scale recital at the Arts center but I am not going to push her either.

After her performance we went to Chick fil a to celebrate Johnny going up 3 levels in reading! he has been struggling in class to read and we have been hard at work trying to get him doing better. Now he kicks ass in math and science but reading and writing are just not his cup of tea. But he is doing better and we will succeed at it!

After dinner, we went to Christmas Lane which is a house and front yard that are beautifully decorated for Christmas. The owner has bought old displays from malls when the malls upgrade to new decorations so this whole yard is over the top! He even has a train that the kids could ride and they look so forward to going. After, they always get hot chocolate too (even though it is in the 70s!)

The kids are all home these next 2 weeks from school so we will have a lot of time to fill! Of course this week will be crazy busy....tomorrow the kids will ride the firetruck with Santa then have a little party with him (neighborhood thing). Sunday, the girls and I along with my mom, Granny, and aunt are going to have tea at high noon. It will be Ava's first time! She is super excited! Then I think on Tuesday as long as nothing else comes up we might head over to Sea World for the day since John will be off. I'll be sure to add pictures as soon as time allows.

Ian and Ava both had their doctor check ups yesterday...Ian is almost 23 lbs and my little peanut is 29 lbs! I think he is going to pass her very quickly in weight! Ian had his first 2 shots at 6 months old so we did 2 more of the same shots yesterday, nothing new....and look at what happened to his leg today:

His whole thigh is hot and swollen and splotchy. I am thinking that because they did it in a different leg than last time that that is why there is a reaction? Not sure but we are keeping an eye on it. Otherwise he is acting normal and using his leg as usual. I did give him motrin to help with the swelling and good grief I hope it helps with his sleeping. He has been up a LOT lately and my poor body is feeling the sleep deprivation. 2 weeks ago I had strep and HAD to go on antibiotics. This week, tonsillitis. My diet is stellar and I work my butt of at the gym 5 days a week so I AM taking care of myself except for the sleep department where I have zero control....this too shall pass, this too shall pass and one day soon enough he will sleep.

Back from camping

We had a great time, the weather was perfect although a tad windy because we were on the water at a peak. Luckily, the furnace worked perfectly in the camper and we had lots of blankets and hot cocoa(and marsh mellows!) Madeline asked if we could go back again very soon and stay for 10 weeks instead...the girl loves being out in nature! There were 2 great parks to enjoy plus when we left our site, we went down to the beach and did some fishing from the pier. I had made a huge pot of chili that we ate down at the beach and just completely loved being outside.

Our campsite....right on the water

This was the view that we woke up to....it was beautiful.

They loved collecting shells and making forts/castles

"Can someone tell me why I am wearing a pink helmet?!!"

Ian especially loved the playground because he has a certain desire to eat leaves. There were plenty here for him to taste test...you can see he has one in his palm, of course.

Enjoying the breathtaking sunset

A fabulous tree for climbing....and taking pictures of all my boys

Me and my princesses

Squirrel thief...he took it right off our table with the kids all right there! He ate half of it then stowed away the rest up in the palm tree

Heading out

We are going on our maiden voyage in the morning after church...well maiden because we haven't used this RV before although we have used others and have done the tent camping too. But this is our first trip in this one, so maiden voyage!

Will add our pics when we get back!

Oh, and I have strep throat, and so does Johnny, and Madeline is still on antibiotics from last weekend! I never go to the Dr. and did yesterday, the first time in like 3 years. Luckily, because I never take AB they are working very quickly on me! I already feel a tremendous relief over yesterday and the day before.

So many pictures!

These all uploaded in the reverse order they happened but we are just gonna roll with that....I got no time to fix them!

We went to see Santa at the mall right after school Monday...no lines, no crowds, we were the only ones there and my little angels are cooperated very nicely! here are a few pictures I might use for our Christmas card this year:

Then Thanksgiving day at John's parents house. Great day for family and I did restrain myself from eating too many cookies! I actually ended up losing a pound this week even after losing almost 4 lbs last week! That puts me at 30.2 pounds gone forever!

Ian having some sweet potatoes (no added stuff, don't worry) These classified as his second try at solids. He enjoyed them but was not liking them all over his face. Just so you know, I do delay solids, we just started last week at 8 months even slightly earlier than I wanted, I wanted to wait until 10 but he was ready. I also don't buy jar foods, only make my own, and I am not into spoon feeding at all! I let the baby feed themselves whenever and how much they want (just like breastfeeding ;P)

My 31st Birthday was the day before thanksgiving! Happy day to me! we celebrated with shrimp dinner at my parents, yum!

My beautiful girls

Johnny getting ready for his Turkey dance at school

Ian and his PopPop at work

Hanging out in the backyard at sunset :)

Ian first official taste of something other than breastmilk! Of course, banana (I don't like to count those few pieces of dog food he has tried on a couple of occasions recently)

LOVED it!

Ava still can't keep her hands off of him!

Those eyes make my heart melt

Just look at him....he seeks trouble! J/K, I let him play in the pots and pans