And so it begins....

I hate to say that I hate anything, but every year I am reminded about why I hate Christmas shopping. I swear I would doing all of my shopping online if I could! Unfortunately, I never seem to be able to find exactly what I am looking for online. Rick, the kids and I went out yesterday on Black Friday for just a little while. Once we realized how long the lines were, we decided it definitely was not worth it. The line in Kohl's was almost 2 hours long. Yes, that's right, 2 hours! How crazy is that!!! So we decided to go home and then I ran out to the exchange and there was probably 1 other person in the store. I was able to buy the last few things for the kids for Christmas! At least I feel like we accomplished something. I still cannot get over how busy all of the stores are now! And so begins the long lines, the crowded parking lots and the rude people!!

On a happy note, we did put up our Christmas tree yesterday. It looks absolutely amazing! Every year, it seems like we find a little different way of putting on the ornaments and the bows. AJ and Ashleigh love to pick out their favorite ornaments and find just the right place for them on the tree. Of course, we all know that Diamond cannot leave the ornaments alone. Twice now, we have caught her with an ornament. It's like she just cannot help herself. I swear she is Chloe Jr!! (Sorry, Nicki, but we all know how much trouble Chloe was as a puppy).

Here are a few pictures from the last couple of days of the kids. Believe it or not, I was actually able to get a few pictures of Rick and I also.







Hope everyone had a great weekend!

Only one word.......

D E L I C I O U S!!!

That is the only way to describe our wonderful Thanksgiving dinner. Rick's turkey was amazing! He started brining the turkey yesterday. For those that don't know what brining is, it is soaking the turkey in a salt/sugar water bath for 24 hours.

This was the first year we have done that and it was truly delicious! Along with the turkey, we had mashed potatoes (which AJ peeled and cut himself), stuffing, sweet potatoe casserole, biscuits and fresh cranberies. I still can't believe it took us 5 hours to prepare everything and only about 30 minutes to eat until we were ready to explode.

Before Dinner

After Dinner

Last year, we let AJ and Ashleigh eat on glass plates for Thanksgiving and also drink out of a glass cup and of course, AJ (who does not forget anything) asked if they were going to be allowed to do that again this year. I can't believe he remembers that stuff. We also bought sparkling grape cider for everyone to drink. AJ at first thought it was wine and he told us he was not allowed to drink "that stuff" because he was "only in 2nd grade!" He is too funny sometimes. Ashleigh eat a ton of cranberries and we were teasing her that she was going to turn into a big cranberry. She did not think it was too fun. When there are cranberries around, she could eat the entire bowl. AJ, on the other hand, does not like cranberries at all. We still have dessert (apple pie) to eat, but none of us can even think about that right now.

Yummy!

Here are some pictures of AJ and Ashleigh today!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving to all of our family and friends! We wish we were there spending Thanksgiving with our families. During the holiday season, we realize how much we miss being able to spend time with everyone. Not that we don't miss everyone during other times of the year, but the holidays are definitely the worst! Rick and I will be busy cooking dinner tomorrow. We always make way too much food, but who doesn't enjoy Thanksgiving leftovers??? Don't worry Dad, we will be making plenty of mashed potatoes just so we can have leftovers.

We are also going to try and put up the Christmas tree this weekend. I am not sure if Diamond will end up leaving it alone or not, but I guess we will see. I always enjoy looking at the tree once it is all decorated, but I definitely do not like the process of putting it up. This year, we are going to let the kids help decorate it. Hopefully, there will be no fighting over where the ornaments go. We will take some pictures and post them once the tree is up.

Rick and I are both off on Friday and we are debating about there are not we want to brave the stores on Black Friday. I think it is doing to be one of those spur of the moment decisions if we decide to go or not. We were hoping to find some good deals for presents for the families. I hate the thought of going out on Black Friday, but some of the deals are too good to pass up!

So, before, I sign off for the night, just a few thoughts on things we are thankful for this year:

1. Rick being home and not deployed for the first time in a long time

2. AJ and Ashleigh (for the most part) being healthy this year

3. Family and friends -- even if they are far away and we don't get to visit often (just remember you are always just a phone call away)

We hope everyone has a Happy Thanksgiving! We wish we were able to be there with everyone tomorrow! We love and miss everyone!

We did it!

We finally did it! The Christmas lights are up on the house. And if I most say, they look awesome! Rick and I both worked on them this afternoon while the kids were napping. Although I still cannot figure out how when we put the lights away last year all of the lights worked and when we out them out this year, we had 3 sets of lights that only half of them worked! How does that happen?? So, Rick decided this year that we would BOTH put the lights up on the house! So, we both were on the roof hanging the lights up. Needless to say, you can only imagine what a sight we were on the roof fighting (not really) over how to hang the lights. The end result turned great! What a team we were! AJ and Ashleigh are very excited about the lights! Here are some pictures!
Rick and I were talking about what Diamond would think of the big blow up Santa in the front yard. We soon found out! When Rick let Diamond out to go to the bathroom, she was so scared of the Santa but at the same time very much intrigued. Rick made the Santa move and we thought Diamond was going to jump out of her skin. She is such a scaredy cat!


Here are some pictures of AJ and Ashleigh today as well!
Hope everyone has a great week and a nice Thanksgiving!

Here comes winter and a new car

Not too much is going on around here lately. The kids are starting to get excited because winter is coming and that means that snow is right around the corner. I, myself, am not looking forward to the snow. I think the first snowfall is beautiful, but after that I am ready for summer again! AJ and Ashleigh are already talking about building snowmen and making snow angels! All I know is that it's terribly cold and windy here. AJ and Ashleigh are also getting excited because Rick and I have been talking about putting our lights up on the house this coming weekend. I know you guys probably think we are crazy, but we have to think about the weather here when we are putting up lights. We, obviously, cannot put lights up with snow and ice on the roof. There are a couple of houses in the neighborhood that are already decorated and AJ and Ashleigh talk about how our house will look so nice with the lights and the other decorations. We will definitely take some pictures once we get the lights up.

Here are some recent pictures of the kids!

Rare pictures of AJ not hiding from the camera!

Ashleigh is always smiling for the camera!

AJ and Ashleigh loving on Diamond!

Rick and I have been talking for a while about trading in our 4Runner for something a little more economical and gas friendly! We found that we really did not need four wheel drive up here in the winter time and also found that we really were not driving it as much because of how much gas cost to fill it! So, we went this past weekend to look at the Toyota dealership in town for some different options for us. Originally, we said we were just going to look, but that never seems to happen with us. So we ended up buying a Toyota Scion XB! After doing some research and looking at a couple of different vehicles, we found that the Scion would be the best option. Rick and I were actually very surprised at how roomy it was and how nice it was to drive. The kids love it! Here are some pictures!

Hope everyone has a good weekend! We will post the pictures of the decorations once they go up!

Homework and a Dilemna

Seems like all we do is homework, homework and more homework. I swear AJ ends up having at least 4 to 5 sheets of homework every evening plus 30 minutes of reading and also reviewing spelling words. It normal takes AJ at least an hour, most of the time more, to complete everything. The bad thing is he tries to rush through to get his homework completed, so he can play with his legos (I remember rushing through my homework when I was younger also), but he just ends having to do the same homework sheets over again. He ends up getting so frustrated because of having to do things over again. I hope he learns quickly that he just ends up making more work for himself! Somehow, I don't think it will happen anytime soon!

Ashleigh has been doing well in school. She is currently learning how to write her letters and also recognize written numbers. She seems really enjoy it and is a quick learner. Her teachers say is doing great expect she just has to learn that she can't be the boss of everyone (sounds like someone else I know :)! Apparently, she likes to be the leader of the group and ends up bossing everyone else around. Not our Ashleigh! :)

Rick and I have run into a dilemna here recently and wanted to see if you guys have any suggestions for us! Seems that we have a little trouble with the kids telling the truth. Let me explain, one of them will tattle on the other about something (most of the time it's nothing really big) and the other telling us that it's not true. We are having a hard time telling which one is actually telling the truth. A couple of times, we could clearly tell who was telling the truth and who was not, but lately, we cannot tell. On a couple of occasions we have punished both of them and on other occasions we simply have tried to talk with them and explain why it's not good to not tell the truth. We have even tried telling them the "Peter and the Wolf" story. But we are still having this issue. Anyone have any suggestions to help us?

Botanical Gardens

This past Saturday, Rick took AJ and Ashleigh to the Botanical Gardens while I worked. I was disappointed I missed going with them, but they had a wonderful time! They have not stopped talking about the Gardens since then! Rick said the place is so big and has some many different types of Gardens that they did not get to see everything all in one visit. We are talking about going back there next weekend. The Gardens are open year around and have different events for all of the different holidays. We are going to buy tickets for their winter wonderland. It is a train ride through the Gardens while they are decorated. AJ and Ashleigh are very excited about it! Here are some pictures from the Gardens!

This is definitely a must see when you come to visit! I don't think they will ever get tired of going!

Hope everyone had a nice weekend and a good week to come!