Ella at Cole's Program

Cole & his buddy, Ryan

Cole w/ Ms. Audrey

Mommy w/ Cole & Ella before Cole's Christmas Program

Daddy & Ella before Cole's Christmas Program

Cole & Ella dancing to Jingle Bell Rock!

We've certainly been enjoying the Christmas season around here. Cole & Ella love playing all the musical things we have out. I love the picture of them dancing to Jingle Bell Rock! When Cole is in the right mood, he LOVES playing with Ella. He just really doesn't like it when she knocks his towers down. :-) We were so proud of him in the Christmas Program. I think he was one of the loudest ones singing up there. His favorite song was I'm a Little Santa short and fat. He goes around singing it all the time and I love it! We can't wait for Santa to come. We've been enjoying our elves, Adam & Annie. They leave little treats every night and sleep in some of the craziest places. This morning, Cole found them upside down in their glasses. They drank all their water and fell asleep upside down. Those silly elves! If Christmas doesn't get here soon, Ella is going to have all the presents unwrapped. Cole showed her one of hers, so she promptly unwrapped it. Cole shouted, "Oh, no Ellie! You're supposed to wait until December 25th!" I cracked up. She just looked at him like, "What? You gave it to me." Never a dull moment.

Nikki runs the full!

Just wanted to post a couple of pics of some of my best friends from high school, Nikki, Sarah & Liz. We all got together when Nikki came to town to run the St. Jude Marathon a few weeks ago. It's always nice to get together with them. We can always pick up where we left off and have a great time together. Nikki ran the full marathon in under 4 hours so we are all proud of her. However, we're hoping she's retired from marathon running now!

Happy Thanksgiving & Merry Christmas!

We had a Thanksgiving of mixed emotions. It was great to be in Dyersburg and see extended family and friends that I don't get to see often. However, a close family friend of about 20 years passed away on November 30th. She had a stroke a few days before Thanksgiving and finally went home to be with the Lord a week later. She had a terrific life and lived for 90 years! Wednesday we will lay Mrs. Mae to rest. Please pray for my dad at this time. She was like a second mother to him and he is really grieving right now.

On another note, the kids are fired up and ready for Christmas. The tree is up and all the decorations are out. They have been playing every musical thing in the house...seriously how many times can they enjoy listening to Jingle Bell Rock? I genuinely love watching their little faces and them dance around the room. I even joined in yesterday and danced with them for awhile. I think I'm getting too old though. I got my Christmas cards ordered and can't wait to get them mailed off! They are too cute!!! Tomorrow is the last day for the homeschool classes I teach until Jan 13. I'm sad. It may sound crazy, but I love getting to go there once a week and teach them! I bought them some cookies to have a little Christmas party. Cole's Christmas Program is next week so look for pictures of that soon. I hope everyone is getting in the Christmas spirit! I still have a TON of shopping to do for people!

AND THE BEST NEWS OF ALL.........LANCE & CATHERINE ARE EXPECTING A BABY IN LATE JULY. I ABSOLUTELY CANNOT WAIT TO SPOIL THIS LITTLE BABY ROTTEN...THEN PASS IT TO UNCLE LANCE WHEN IT POOPS. :-)

Well, Cole is finally starting to get used to, and actually liking, Ella being around...it has only taken 16 months! He wants her to play with him on his terms. She doesn't always like his terms though. The biggest problem seems to be with building towers with the blocks. He builds them, she destroys them. He doesn't really care for that too much. He has started holding her hand to get her to go where he wants her to go. It's really cute. I think she likes the attention from him. She really loves her big brother! She is on the brink of the terrible twos. I have never heard such a high pitched scream when she doesn't get her way - she must get that from daddy. :-)

Well, today I got them both dressed in their Christmas clothes (yes, it's a little early for that) and we went to the mall to meet Miss Allison, Robert & Natalie to get our pics made with Santa. Cole was very clear that he wanted Wii games, a bowling ball and pins and an air hockey table. He even told Santa that Ella wanted a play kitchen and some baby dolls. As you can see from the pic, sweet Ella didn't care for Santa too much. She cried as soon as I put her in his lap. I don't just mean a little cry. She did the high pitched screaming wail. I like the picture though. I think I'll put this one out every year!

Our first medal!

Cole got his first medal at the end of his soccer season. He was so proud! He wanted Daddy to wear it too. Of course, Ella couldn't be left out. She walked around with it for awhile as well. I'm sure this is just the first of many medals to be collected over the years!

It's been a year!

Well, we've been in our "new" house for a year now. We've redone some things and still have many, many more to go, but we are very happy here. I loved Arlington and all my friends there, but it really is nice having Jason work so close to the house. He comes by for lunch some days and can be here quickly when needed. I also love being able to run errands in a matter of minutes and not have to drive on I40 to get everywhere! It's so nice and peaceful out here. Cole loves his preschool here and I love my gym (the only gym I have ever been a member of). The elementary school the kids will go to is so nice...no paying for private school! Couldn't be happier!!

It's Fall!

We had a good time this weekend playing in the TONS of leaves we have here...they seriously never end. Ella wasn't so sure about laying in them, but she thought it was funny when Cole tried to pile them all up on top of her! Our funny man, Cole, couldn't help making faces for the camera. Not sure if you can see the bruise on his face, but he slid on the bath mat at 5 am and fell either in or against the bathtub. Jason & I woke up to a loud crash and then screaming...not a good way to wake up. There's never a dull moment around here, but we wouldn't know what to think if it was any other way. :-)

Happy Halloween!

We had so much fun this Halloween! Halloween is always filled with carving pumpkins, festivals, parties at school, etc and Cole has always loved it! We went to the "fairy tale trail" in Germantown with a couple of his friends and had a great time...we figured we should skip the "scary trail". No need to keep kids from sleeping on purpose! This was Ella's first year to really participate in trick or treating and she loved it. She tried to walk in strangers' houses and loved playing with everyone's Halloween decorations. Of course, Halloween is one of Cole's favorite holidays because he gets so much candy! He's funny though...he knows that he can't eat it all at once because "that would be too much junk foody". He learned that from the Disney Channel Carlos commercials. :-) The last picture of Ella in the refrigerator was too cute not to post. This was after a lot of trick or treating. I guess she was thirsty. LOL. We bought their Halloween costumes in New York at Shea Stadium. I figure it will be a rare occasion that I can dress them in anything matching! They looked too cute and Cole was very proud to say Go Mets to anyone that mentioned his jersey. Oh! I can't forget to mention that right before we went out to trick or treat, Ella did a flip off the front steps. It was terrible! So much for mommy trying to get a good picture with the pumpkins. She didn't seem to mind too much though. Now that Halloween is over, I guess it's time to start Christmas shopping!

New pics of the kids!

I just wanted to share a few pictures I've taken of the kids lately. I love the one of Ella in her house. She looks like a little old lady that is saying, "Stay off my porch!!!" She is getting quite the personality. I think she is going to be able to take Cole on before long. :-) Cole is such a joy to be around. He can drive me crazy, but I truly love his energy...and wish I had some of it! He is really learning to like soccer and is ready to play teeball in the spring. Mommy is just as ready as he is! I love just watching them play and it makes me sad to see how fast they are growing up. It seems like just yesterday that I was about to give birth to Ella in the car! Now, she is almost 16 months old. I've had to teach myself to enjoy every minute with them and NEVER take them for granted.

Pump It Up

Well, we got to go to Pump It Up today. Cole loves that place and we never get to go because I teach on Tuesday mornings now. I was on fall break today so we made sure we went! Ella was big enough to play this time. Mommy took her on the big slide and to jump in the moon bounce. She loved running around and trying to be bigger than she is! As her MDO teacher says, she is fearless! She also had a good time having some little boys push her around in the little red car. It was too cute! I wanted to share a few of our pics from today. Allison, Jennie & I took pictures of all the kids together...it took a few times to get them all looking at the camera, but the last one was a success!