let it snow!

we were so thrilled that we got to experience snow this year! we headed to gramma and grampi's for the big event and were glad that we did as we got a whole 5 inches of snow. :) brooke and scott are so lucky that gramma and grampi invested in a sled for them a few years ago. it sure did come in handy! the kiddos had a ball sledding with grampi as you can see. we are hoping for another big snow this year....you never know!!!

this is what we have come to...

my house looks like some homeless kids have camped out in my den! those boxes that scott wanted from santa have seemed to multiply and the old ones are refusing to leave in order to make room for the new. as most of you know, i really like to have everything free of clutter and nice and neat. this arrangement is about enough to drive me to insanity. but....seeing my kiddos having fun with their friends amidst the chaos warms my heart. scott refers to his box as "mine old box." he has it decorated with fireantz paraphernalia. as an added bonus (much to the joy of his friends) he sells candy out of his old box for free!!! and brooke...well, she's attached to alex more so than the box. but that's another story. i had no idea that this "boy infatuation" started this early. i didn't want anything to do with boys for a long time. but not so with brooke. and, did i mention that she wants to be homeschooled? HA! the thought of me homeschooling is just downright comical! :) anyway, i just wanted to share the box-filled home that we so love. (jana, i know that you are proud to see my home in this state of disarray!)

fun for all!

brooke insisted that i take a pic of the pose above...she loves pink lemonade!

coming down the slide and taking a sec for a photo for mommy

these two have so much fun together!!!

the kiddos enjoyed coloring on these chalkboards when they needed a break from jumping

the kiddos were out of school today and so we headed to monkey joe's. lucky for us, our neighbors were there! the kiddos entertained each other while jen and i caught up on what was happening in our lives. :) perfect!!!

scott and emma...

these two met each other when they were only a year old. jana (emma's mom) and i have already decided that they will get married one day. don't they make a cute couple! :) here they are playing nintendo ds in scott's clubhouse made from an old box. scott put his gun at the front door of the clubhouse to protect them. what a little man! he's already taking care of his girl. not that emma needs much protecting....she tells scott where to go and how fast to get there and he doesn't hesistate to follow her orders! isn't that the way it should be? haha!

relaxing after the excitement

after opening gifts, we all took some time to relax. brooke put her "fancy" dress on along with her sleep mask (she has wanted one of those for a long time) and curled up with gramma and sasha for some cuddle time. scott and grampi assembled scott's gun and scott had fun shooting various things. scott also got a cool scooter that lights up and he wanted to test it out!

we had a wonderful Christmas.

we wish you all a very happy and blessed 2010!!! :)

more Christmas...

after checking to see what santa brought, we moved onto gifts from family and friends. we got some wonderful things and are so thankful! the time and love that they put into our gifts means so much. as you can see in the pic above, brookie made a cross out of her bendaroo that she got. it is my hope and prayer that the kids will always remember what Christmas is truly about. how blessed are we to be able to celebrate the birth of our Savior!!!

Christmas with Mommy, Gramma and Grampi

so, after spending christmas with daddy, the kiddos came back to mommy's house. santa visited mommy's house since it would be a little difficult for him to put the gifts on a cruise ship. :) scott asked santa for old boxes and an ambulance. brooke....well, she had a more substantial list! she wanted a "light up" polar bear, some clip on diamond earrings, make-up, a dress, and a pink squirmy. it's so funny to see how different brooke and scott are. we have a "girly girl" and a boy who is "all boy."

we were so happy that gramma and grampi were able to celebrate with us! we are so blessed and i am so thankful for everything that God has done for me and my family. He astounds me with His love....everyday.

Christmas with Daddy

it's Christmas!!! and look who made an appearance on the cruise...cheeky the elf!!! :) the kids were so happy that he found them. everyone got all dressed up for Christmas dinner. brooke was excited about her roy rogers coke. and scott was excited about wearing flip-flops with his reindeer outfit. haha! i love it! :)

Christmas Eve

after a day of fun in the sun, almost nothing can compare to a good dinner! here are the kiddos and tyler enjoying a Christmas Eve feast. looks delicious! the kiddos got some new necklaces while in the bahamas and they are wearing them in the pics. they were so excited about showing them off when they got home! :)

nassau

it's Christmas eve in the bahamas!!! tyler said that the atlantis resort was amazing and it looks like it according to the pics. brooke loved the lazy river and scott loved the waterslide. brooke told me that the waterslide gave her two heart attacks because it dropped and then dropped again (as you can see by the pic above). anyway, she obviously recovered from the trauma! :)

key west

as you can see, key west was filled with adventure. the one adventure that i hear about the most is the fact that brookie kissed an alligator! the alligator was two years old and even i have to admit that he is cute in the pics. :) having said that, there is no way i would kiss an alligator. scott is with me on that one....he refused to kiss it as well. :)

evening at sea

all dressed up with somewhere to go!!! here is the crew enjoying dinner...smiles all around. :)

day at sea

looks like a fun day at sea complete with lots of swimming and even some golf! i think the most exciting thing involved the tooth fairy. :) scott lost his first tooth!!! it just doesn't seem possible. he did receive 2 gold coins from the tooth fairy. he is so proud of those coins! :)

christmas cruise with daddy

tyler and the kiddos had a big time on their christmas cruise! he took brooke and scott to key west and nassau on the carnival cruise ship "fascination." brooke has not been on a cruise since she was two and scott has not been on one since he was in utero! :) so, it may as well have been their first cruise. i know that they all made many wonderful memories!!! there are so many photos that i am going to blog this like i did the disney trip. i am going to collage most of the pics. so, click on the collages to enlarge them. more to come....

attempting cousin pics...take 2!

the facial expressions above crack me up! if brooke and scott's expressions don't tell exactly how they are feeling, i don't know what does!!!

see grampi's head in the background? he was trying to help, but no such luck!

that was the best one we got...with all 4 of them smiling. :)

here's a cute one of brooke, scott and lainie

and i love this one of my two...even if santa is having some issues with his beard :)

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

attempting cousin pics...take 1

lainie is not fond of having her picture taken

in fact, she prefers timeout to having her picture taken! seriously! so here are 3 of the 4...

we got lainie back with the promise of a lollipop after pics were taken. emmie, however, perfers instant gratification.

here we go. emmie looks a little skeptical...like she thinks brooke or scott is going to steal her lollipop!

well, at least i got this one of my two...

the elves are here!

cheeky and eli are here...with gifts!!!

scott is so excited and brooke can't believe it...

apparently the excitement is too much for our drama queen...she's "passed out" against the doorframe

lainie and gramma come to see what all of the excitement is about

checking it all out...

cheeky has been visiting our house at christmas for a couple of years and now eli has adopted mere's family as her own. eli showed up for the first time this year to help keep santa informed of lainie and emmie's behavior. the kiddos were so excited to see what the elves had brought for them! i just love christmastime!!! it's so magical! :)

and yes...about brooke's hat. gramma bought that for her. brooke picked it out and refused to take it off. i will keep my opion of that hat to myself. all i can say is brookie has a style that is all her own. haha!