Happy New Year!!

The first night out with adults and no kids in a very long time! I spent it with these pretty cool peeps.

The kids spent the night with Grandma and Grandpa. Grandma had a banana split party so the kids were super happy.

It was a great start to a new year! No resolutions. Just trusting the Lord to lead us.

Merry Christmas!

We were fairly busy between Thanksgiving and Christmas. Eric was finishing up his job in Kansas and i was busy trying to get in a routine and finish all my Christmas shopping. Eric made it home, we had a beautiful tree, the kids got a trampoline that fits nicely in our fenced yard,

and it snowed. My parents

and Wes were able to come and spend the day which was nice. A Nook

and a GREAT new lens for my camera so i can get back to taking pictures for you guys were just a few of my awesome gifts.

You can tell by the looks of my livingroom the we all had a great Christmas.

The next morning we packed up and headed to Dothan. More Christmas and more family time. I think the kids thought Eric got the best gift of all, a can of Flart. You can imagine what it did.

A little playtime with Papa,

and a visit with Mawmaw and Robbie Dear (Mawmaw wouldn't let me take a picture) then we headed back home.

We were excited to get back and find Melissa waiting for us. They all went straight to the trampoline!

No wonder they think she is so cool. Ha. It was a great first Christmas season in our new home.

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving was spent at my Grandparents. It usually is but that is a whole other story. I was very glad to be close by this year so we could go and spend the holiday with the rest of the family. I enjoyed spending Thanksgiving at home with Eric and the kids but it was not the same. Like every year at Thanksgiving i am thankful for my family. We have all made it to another year and all are in good health. Our house, the fact that Eric has a good job, nice cars, good clothes, most everything we want, well, that is just blessings gravy.

What is Thanksgiving with out a little family football?

When the day is done, everyone needs a back massage.

Long time....

I, like most of my blogger buddies, took the holidays off. Okay, so "buddies" might be a stretch but i know one or two that didn't blog. "Holidays" at my house means from November until February. The actually holidays and time before to prepare and time after to recuperate. Ha. I have been so busy here. Life is already wild and with Eric gone i have almost no time to do the things i love the most. When he is home i take in a good book, sleep, soak in my fabulous jacuzzi (my first and i am in love.....), work on getting the house organized or just enjoy my time with him and the kids. Blogging just has to wait.

I do want to get caught up and back on our regular schedule. So here goes. My last post was when we bought our house. A very exciting time for us. As a housewarming gift to Eric i rallied my fam and we moved all our furniture from storage and into the house so when Eric arrived from Kansas we could enjoy. Yes, i am awesome (and so is my family). I think Eric's parents helped the most, they took all four kids for the weekend. My parents painted a few of the ugly walls as a housewarming gift and so when Eric arrived to painting and an unpacked house he was seriously relieved.

Ella started her new school. It was her third first grade class. She was a trooper. She has a great teacher and is doing fabulous. She reads on a second grade level, i wish she was doing as well in math. :)

Uncle Wes came and broke in the back yard with his dirt bike. Now i know why my kids think he is so cool.

We had our first visitors from Canada and Ella make quick friends with her cousin Savannah.

We made friends with our neighbors. The kids have playmates and are nearly inseparable. It is amazing the ideas that they come up with. Yes, that is John in my bathrobe. :)

And lastly, we added two more to our family. Yes, i am crazy but how could i say no to these two faces. Aubie (big orange) had to find a new home because his owner was moving. He had pretty much had a house to himself with no other indoor animals so coming to our house with two dogs, a kitten, and four small kids was a pretty big shock. The first few days were hard but he adjusted and now is the sweetest thing. He still gets a little skiddish but we can live with that. I hate that his purrer is broken. You have to put your ear to his chest to hear him purr. On the other hand, Alley, the little one my Mom brought me from an alley in Clanton, she purrs and sounds like a chainsaw. She likes to sleep under the covers at night and starts purring before she even gets on the bed. We do love them and they are a great addition to our family.