Happy New Year!!

We lit sparklers and a couple fireworks off last night. The kids had so much fun! We have never done sparklers before. Sorry the pic is so bad I had to use Danny's fisher price camera as my new camera has to go back to Nikon to be fixed :(

Here is a pic of a dinosaur firework. I didn't think it would do anything much as it was 3 for $1. But they were really cool :)

Ms V took a bit before she would hold a sparkler. But Danny was having so much fun that she finally broke down and held it. Then kept saying more!

The camera batteries died as I was taking Danny's pic :( Besides he was running around so much that it would have been a blur. I had him writing letters in the sky with his sparklers.

Both kids were sound asleep by 8:30 even though we told them they could stay up late. :)

Every day the kids have been asking if today is the day we are getting Gerri:)

So I did what we did before we left for Guatemala. We made a paper chain to count off days.

The kids take turns ripping a chain off each morning. This helps when we explain not today :)

And no we do not know when we will be traveling.

So once we know for sure we will add links, but that is for later and when the kids aren't looking :)

Here are Gerri's gifts waiting for her. The kids talk about her every time they walk by them.

This pic was taken today of the kids playing Trouble. Danny was holding school and Victoria was his not so willing student. While she napped he had her Dora dolls set up in the chairs and having a grand old time, as they don't talk back :)

Hope everyone had a great New Years! School starts back up on Monday - woo hoo!! We can tell Danny is bored. Victoria will have a new teacher so hopefully all goes well.

Holiday Hangover!!

Been quiet since Christmas!

We made the mistake of letting the kiddos sleep in their new blowup beds in the playroom Christmas night.  Needless to say they took a while falling asleep. Saturday morning I woke up at 5:45 to the sounds of giggles and laughter and clanking of play dishes :) There was no going back to sleep for either of them.

By Satruday night they were both wiped!! They were both sound asleep by 8:00 and slept till 7:00 this am!!

Here is a little bit of Mary sunshine!  She is showing off my new earrings :)

Here is Gerri's new comforter! Victoria promptly decided she would need to sleep in it :)

Here is my christmas present all set up!

Princess castle and pirate skull rock :)

There are 4 fish in there, but they are hiding.

Tomorrow Danny will be back at art camp for 2 days. Then we will take a couple of day trips, maybe the beach :) Wanna come???

Danny showing off his big gift!

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Merry Christmas and Happy Birthday!!

Merry

Christmas!!

Colored coded :) Victoria on the left, Gerri in the middle and Danny to the right.

Sorry it is blurry - they were moving fast!

Here Victoria is saying Thank you Santa for my magic wand!

Dan opening up his stocking, full of hand warmers!!

Victoria's big present from Daddy and Mommy:

Danny with his big present from daddy and mommy:

Danny mixing our pumpkin bread for breakfast!

Victoria playing with her Princess nail polish! Thank you auntie!

Stocking left full on the mantle till she comes home :)

Gerri's presents waiting for her to open them :)

Happy Birthday Sweetie!!

Here is another pic we got from a family that saw her. So happy to see her playing while stuck in her cast.

Tonight we will eat her birthday cake and take pictures for her :)
Hopefully we will see you in 1-2 months!!!!!
Happy birthday sweetheart! So wish you were with us, but you will be next year :) :)

Merry Christmas Eve!

We got to go to a birthday party for Danny's BEST friend Kirsten!!

Here is Kirsten and Danny in the front with two kids from school

What an awesome cake!!!

Riding on the bounce house!

The kids had a great time! They ran, bounced and played for 3 hours!!

What a great way to pass the day before Santa!!

Hre they are at dinner opening the last day on their advent calendars!

Beautiful! Arts and crafts

I bought some pink nail polish, so Daddy got the honors :)

I also bought some decals! no surprise - she loves them!

Here are Danny's masterpieces from 2 days at art camp!

A picture frame with the sand dollar story

A twist on the traditional gingerbread house:

An underwater scene:

A handrawn Grinch!!

This is so amazing! He has never been able to do anything this hard before!!! Yah Danny!!

and a trail of glitter everywhere!!

Catch Up!!

Last week the kids were off school Tuesday and Wednesday. Their school program was Tuesday night and I guess they needed another day to recuperate :)

On Wednesday we had a sprinkler guy out to add some more piping and heads in the back 40 as we call it. We had it cleared after we bought the house and grass just does not grow well without being watered :(

The pump guy did the original work on the house too. He also upgraded one of our well pumps so we can have enough pressure to run all these sprinklers. Dan and Danny kept the guy company the whole time! Danny was just fascinated by the whole process. Dan said he was very well behaved :)

Here is how I found Ms V. She told me she was getting herself something to eat :)

Man, 3 is so much harder than 2! I do it myself!!!!

She had NO interest in watching the sprinkler guy.

Thursday was a school day for Danny. They got to play outside all day doing reindeer games.

After lunch 2 other mom's and I had a holiday party.

We read christmas books,

decorated holiday goodie bags,

Decorated a book mark

Then the best part was decorating and eating christmas cookies!

I did a little nesting in preparation for our new little one. While Ms V napped downstairs I rearranged her bedroom to make it the "Girls Room". Both kids were so excited!!

Including Maggie (the dog) :)

Ms Gerri already has her first pillow and blanket.

I found this one night when I went to check on the kids at bedtime:

I guess she decided the bed looked too good to not be slept on :)

When I asked her the next morning why she was sleeping in Gerri's bed she told me that she wanted to!

Nana came over on Sunday for a farewell dinner before she headed up north for christmas.

She likes to do the messy stuff, so the kids made and decorated cookies:

If a little sprinkles go a little way, lots of sprinkles go a LONG way!

So pooped out from my long day I can't even eat my lasagna :)

I got her up after about 30 minutes and we took a tubby and got pj's on.

Then Nana brought out the presents

Then the lovin'

Then the obligatory book reading

The kids keep mentioning how much they miss her :(

I hope she enjoys the COLD :)

The kids are out of school for two weeks so Danny has art camp for two days this week and two days next week. He really enjoys it and they do some really cool stuff.

I will take some pics of his crafts and post them.

Our dossier has arrived overseas and is hopefully being translated!