catch up

i am terrible about keeping up to date on the blog. it was meant to be a scrap book of sorts, since we all know i am not crafty enough to do that.
so, i was uploading pics off of my camera this morning and realized i am even terrible about this kind of scrap book.

a few things i have left out.

molly had her 11th birthday. last year. we had a giant amount of girls over for a dance party, and took her to the american girl doll store. it was actually super fun, and i do not love birthday parties. i think that the girls are older, most of her friends are so sweet and easy to get along with, it was just fun for all of us. not a dramatic moment to be had!



christmas. it was at our house this year. it was perfect. our family got together on christmas eve morning, we had a fire, music, tons of food and the cousins exchanged books and played their hearts out. that evening we went to candlelight service, opened our new pjs and got ready for santa. we woke up to cinnamon rolls, presents, and hung out in our jammies most of the day. we ended the day with a huge feast of home made bread and stuffed cheese pasta. perfection.



work update. i started working in the skills lab at the college. this has been very good for teaching me patience, which is one of my major short comings. watching students hang blood, draw labs, do assessments, things like that over and over all while smiling and being supportive teaches me a great deal of patience.
we are still trying to figure out the direction of our future careers and lives over here, but we are taking it one day at a time. right now it is working pretty lovely with me just working weekends and a day at the lab. jeff is still in limbo with his job until we figure out how to fit it into the lives of our little ones.

carson and ashton both tested into the gifted program this year. we are so proud of them and grateful for the bright little minds we are able to raise. ashton is the youngest of the kids to make it in thus far.

annie turned 7 months today. we were out on a walk with her and the dog yesterday and she was smiling up at us from her stroller. jeff said - aren't you so glad we have her? i replied yes. he said, could you imagine how quiet our house would be without her? can you imagine how sad it would be next year when maggie heads to kindergarten and we would have no little one around? i just laughed, i mean, that is us in a nutshell. so happy with the chaos. so happy to have baby stuff all over our house, the sleepless nights, the tiny sleepers. we love it all and this time around truly appreciate it. we have loved them all, but i guess because we are a little older and know this is the end of this stage of our lives, we really get down on our knees and thank god daily for the gifts he has given us. we are abundantly blessed with a crazy busy messy house filled with children. i look around right this minute and see boots, slippers, tennis shoes, back packs, sweat shirts and hear dora in the background. i should probably get off of the computer and straighten up all this evidence of love.