more pics and the tree

we did a whole family pic today (and yes, they all hate me more now). ah, fortunately that doesn't stop me! :) i also had to show the tree. i love our wooden ornaments! allen made them all on his scroll saw. :)

new christmas pictures

sadly, thanksgiving is over (and boy was it yum and fun!) but today we had fun with uncle ryan and put up the tree! now that the tree's up, that means christmas pictures. :) and the kids were angels, perfectly happy to smile all day. nah, i bribed them with daddy's homemade egg nog!
you can also see them up close on my flickr page.

project kid room is finally complete!

the kids finally have a playroom! we've wanted to convert our unused attic into a kid room since we first saw the cute little kid door in the boy's bedroom. it was begging to be a kids play area, since it's only 6' tall at the peak and slants down to 1'! it was SO hard for allen and i to work in there hunched over! but so worth it now that the kids have a place for all their toys. they love it and want to camp out in there tonight.
the room's 8x30 with a boy side and a girl side (and threats from each camp to the other to leave their side alone!) we're not painting, but just letting the kids color on the drywall if they wish. lizzy drew a butterfly already and matt drew daddy in his tool belt. :)
allen built a bench over the air ducts so they'd be safe (smart man) and that makes a great shelf for the toys. so now all the toys are in the kid room and their rooms are empty. maybe now they can keep them clean! (oh, one can dream!) :)

first snow!

it wasn't much, but we had our first real snow for the year already. ugh, only november 15th! i'm not ready for a snovember! :) the kids loved it though. they tried awfully hard to sled on what little snow they could find. they even threw snowballs, which were more like mushy piles of wetness. but they were happy! (click to see the photos up close. squint to see the actual snow!)

Thanks to my veterans!!

On Veterans Day, I want to say THANK YOU to my two favorite veterans, my dad and my husband. Dad served in the Navy during the Vietnam War and Allen served in the Army during Desert Storm. Take time to thank a veteran!

November is National Adoption Month.

You don't have to be perfect to be a perfect parent. There are thousands of kids in foster care who would love to put up with you.
Ours are managing just fine! :)

National Adoption Month link with more info.

Introducing Bethany and Eric Weeks

my little cousin bethany got married today! of course she's not the little girl i used to babysit, but a gorgeous bride. this was the first wedding the kids have gone to and they enjoyed it. lizzy much more than the boys, she was in a beautiful ceremony induced trance! it was fun to see our family again. we all realized that allen and my wedding was the last one in the family, and that was 11 years ago! ryan and joey need to get on the ball! the kids had a great time with their cousins and they even gained three new ones at the wedding!