Catching up... starting with Ellie's birthday

I find that once I get away from blogging, it is so hard to get back into a routine. The same with everything in life, I suppose. So, I'll go in order, starting in January...

Firstly, I can't believe our girl is FOUR! Time flies and I think our busy year made it fly even faster. Here is a picture from LAST year...



Ellie's 4th Birthday brought on a big weekend of fun! We started off with taking her to Disney (thank you, Jen) the day before her birthday. We decided to make it a Daddy, Mommy, and Ellie day! Grammie watched Ava and Claire, so that we could spend some special time with Ellie. We didn't tell her where we were going, so it was a huge surprise for her. We had a great day! We went to Animal KIngdom and Magic Kingdom. The highlight for Ellie was getting to meet the princesses. Here is a conversation with Cinderella "herself".





On Saturday (her birthday), we had a family grill out at the park. She enjoyed celebrating with Papaw, Grammie, Poppa, Nana, Uncle Brett, Aunt Jenny, Aaron, and AJ. Here are a couple of pictures....

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Here is a video of her remembering to change her age to 4...



Ellie had ballet the Monday after her birthday. They do a little birthday song for the each girls' birthday. She was so excited for her turn! I forgot the camera, but I had the flip with me :-) That will have to wait for another day, I can't get it to come up.... I know, so sad :-)

Pray for Veiyah

I came across the Karg family blog through another blog I have been following. This family has already lost one baby, (Veiyah's twin) before she was born. Their little girl, Veiyah, was born with heart complications and other problems. She is in very critical condition. You can check out her momma's blog through the link below.




I'll be back to blogging soon. I just wanted to get this request for prayer out!

Our Christmas Review...

It's the most wonderful time of the year...

We started the season off with the traditional Winter Park Parade. We had a fun time with Nana (Papa had a golf game scheduled :-) ), Brett, Jenny, and the boys. It was rainy and cold when we arrived, but it stopped in time for the start of the parade.





It's beginning to look (not so much) like Christmas...

Because of our plans to go to Pa for Christmas, we celebrated with Brett and Jenny a week early. We had a very yummy meal that my parents prepared, opened presents, and had a fun time watching the cousins play. Then, it was time to go home for Cory's surprise to Ellie. She had been asking for months to go camping, so Cory had prepared to set our tent up in the playroom for an indoor camp out (in). All was good, until Cory wakes up at 2 am, with a flu that would last up until a couple days before we left on our trip. With a bottle of Lysol, a ton of bleach, much prayer, and the Lord's goodness, no one else caught it.



Cory recovered and we quickly caught up on getting the van ready, packing for 5, getting Christmas presents ready, etc. We had a nice pre Christmas dinner with mom and dad Anderson. I forgot my camera so all of those pictures are on their camera. By the way, they are in Kentucky as I write, awaiting the arrival of their 10th grandchild. Jason and Casey (Cory's sister) are expecting their first baby. They were expecting him by Christmas, still no baby. Cory claims he is going to be their anniversary present, which would be tomorrow. Please be praying for them as they prepare to meet their little boy. This was a busy year of babies... the twins, Jonas (Cory's brother) and Brandy welcomed Kayleigh on Dec. 18th, and now we look forward to the birth of Lincoln Neil.


Let it snow, Let it snow, Let it snow...


Ok, off to Pa we go.... We traveled to go see my grandma this year. She is 85 years old and is now having dialysis treatment 3 days a week. She was very thankful for the visit and we were so thankful to have the time with her. Ellie told us, a couple of times, that her favorite part of the trip was seeing Grandma Great.

It didn't snow much, but Ellie was quite content with the little snow that did fall. She made her, much anticipated, snow angel as soon as we went outside. We took her snow tubing at a resort in my grandma's town. We had so much fun! I was wondering if she would be scared, because the tubes were going down so fast and the slope is much steeper than it appears in the picture. Nope, she laughed the whole way down and when we reached the bottom she said, "That was fun, can we go again." The girl has no fear when it comes to adventure.







Deck the Halls...

Ellie and I decorated a gingerbread house for our table centerpiece...





Merry Christmas!

We enjoyed Christmas Eve service at my grandma's church. Then, we woke up Christmas morning, read the Christmas story, enjoyed opening presents and spending time with all the relatives.









We're back and I'm excited about getting back in the routine. We are going out tonight as a family for New Year's Eve. I will post pictures soon.... Happy New Year everyone!

Better late than never?

This is a very late response to my friend Brittani's tag... these are quite random, as to try not to repeat from answers that at least 10 other friends have filled out.

15 things I'm not afraid to admit (15 things you may not know about me)....

1. My most favorite thing to do is spend time with Cory. I throw a little fit when he leaves for work :-) and I can't wait for him to come back home.

2. I absolutely love "staying home" with my 3 girls!

3. I love rocking chairs! I always want to "steal" the chair that rocks when I am at my home... or anywhere really :-) It is for this reason that I have been afraid of rocking my babies... too much.

4 I am really working on finding sales or just not making purchases that aren't necessary. This is something I haven't always been consistent at doing.

5. I have a hard time falling asleep without Cory. Ha! I guess that would be good thing. This is fresh on my mind since he is away for the weekend.

6. I get frustrated between the hours of 6-7:30ish p.m. (waiting for Cory to get home, babies are fussy, trying to cook, Ellie starting to get tired, etc.)

7. I still love to sleep in, but it very rarely happens.

8. I drive a mini van- and I love it!

9. I almost always change into PJ's when I get home. I have a hard time being comfortable otherwise.

10. I usually stay up way too late at night. This is the only time that I have to read, spend time with Cory (alone), "me" stuff, think, breathe...

11. I am not a pet person-I never really have been. I agree with Amber, " I am Dump truck, I'm disgusting" Our poor kids, no pets.

12. If I don't write it down on a "To Do" list, it is most likely forgotten.

13. If it weren't so expensive and probably unstable, I would travel all the time (with my family of course).

14. I get really annoyed with the, "Mom, find me" game. Especially when it involves destroying my bed after it has already been made. Yes, this just happened.

15. I think this is the first time I have fully completed one of these surveys.

Happy Friday everyone!! Before you go... check out the poll to the left!!

Celebrations and Picnics!

Happy Anniversary, Mom and Dad!




My parents celebrated their 42nd Anniversary on November 12th. They celebrated together earlier in the week. Then, my dad (all on his own :-)) planned a family night on their anniversary, as a surprise to my mom. We had such a sweet time with them. These two have been such a great example to Cory and I in our own marriage. We love you Mom and Dad!

Fast forward to today...

Ellie's preschool had a Thanksgiving picnic. They moved it inside because of the cold weather. Ok... I hear you northerners laughing :-) Ellie was so excited to have me at her school to have lunch. She also thought it was so fun to have lunch with her friends. Here are a few pictures (including one with Miss Sarah).




Oh when, oh when... will I ever get a good picture? When we arrived home (after the picnic), I tried to take pictures of the girls. We have one of Ellie smiling and one of Ava and Claire smiling... and a bunch that well... Argh! Now.... for fun, let's play a game, which one is Ava and which one is Claire? No cheating, Cory!





Ava and Claire are 6 months old now. I suppose I will do a separate post on them soon!

Take a few minutes to watch this short movie...

A reminder for me to pray daily for our nation and our leaders...

Album of Casey's shower



Make a Smilebox photobook