Merry Christmas!

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Our 9th Anniversary!

Wow! It is hard to believe that nine years ago today at 2:00 o'clock in the afternoon that Steve and I married! It was a beautiful wedding day with our friends and family! We were so happy to be together and finally living in the same state! Just the day before I was finishing up student teaching and moving out of my college apartment at Gardner-Webb and Steve was in Georgia in training. Jim married us and made the ceremony so meaningful and personal! Steve and I had dinner that night at a Japanese restaurant and ended up in Japan eleven months later for almost five years! We have a six year old daughter and a three year old son! Where does the time go?
We have truly been blessed!

9 loaves of banana bread

Tonight Steve and I made nine loaves of banana bread to celebrate nine years of marriage! Just kidding. We made all of this for Ryan and Caroline's teachers, our neighbors, etc. The house smells soooo good. I should have made one loaf for us to enjoy in the morning.

Thankful!

Caroline with Daddy

Caroline and Steve decided this morning to go to Calvary Road Baptist and see the Christmas Program. We knew Ryan would not sit through the program and because it is not our regular church we knew he would have a hard time in the nursery. Steve had been wanting to go and see his friend from work in the program. Caroline was in her Christmas dress and looked beautiful! She was looking forward to going with only Steve. I know they will have a good time and hopefully Caroline will remember what the true meaning of Christmas is.

Christmas Card photo take 2

We took another round of Christmas Card pictures tonight. Both Caroline and Ryan were not feeling the Christmas spirit. Tonight was much harder than last Sunday night, but I feel we were able to salvage at least three photos for our card this year! I will order them tonight and hope to pick them up some time this week and mail them out this weekend! I love our Christmas card each year, but it is hard work to get the perfect picture. Hopefully each year it will get a little easier. I have a new respect for photographers!

A Little Snow

We had a dusting of snow this evening!

The snow dusted the grass, our cars, and the deck. Steve was on the deck teaching Caroline and Ryan how to make snowballs. Caroline made one and then threw it at ME! She hit me square in the arm! We stayed outside only a few minutes and then ran back into the warm house!

The Flower

This is Caroline's latest painting from art class! She shares that it is a picture of a flower. She painted the picture with four different colors, then used a straw to create a flower in the middle. Caroline has learned so much in art class and loves to bring home her new art each week!

Say Cheese!

I love sending out our Christmas card every year!

Both Caroline and Ryan always look angelic on the card!

However, I thought it would be great for us to show how many pictures are taken to get just one great shot! I promised Caroline and Ryan Hot Cocoa if they would take pictures on Sunday. They were patient and tried so hard. Caroline would have a great picture and Ryan's eyes would be closed or the opposite would happen. I would tell Ryan to hug his sister and he would tackle her to the ground. I told Caroline to think about Rudolph and instead of a pretty smile she would jump up and down like Rudolph had just flown in from the North Pole. I took about 75 pictures of Caroline and Ryan on Sunday and there is one picture that may work. We are going to try again tomorrow night, when the Christmas PJ's are clean again! This is a collage of all the photos that were taken on Sunday! By the way Caroline and Ryan did earn their Hot Cocoa!

The Farmhouse Getaway

This is the farmhouse we stayed in for Thanksgiving.

It is located in Stanley, VA. In the Shenandoah Valley.

The house had three bedrooms, one bathroom, lots of space to roam outside, a hot tub, and a fire pit for making lots of smores. We had a great time and enjoyed the view of the mountains the entire time we were there!

Our last morning Caroline and Ryan were very hard to wake! They had been outside the entire Thanksgiving weekend! They were still asleep at 9:15 AM, our children usually wake up early! The trip was a huge success! We enjoyed spending time and playing with each other!

Riding around

We took the kids' Power Wheels to the farmhouse for them to ride. They had so much fun that the batteries were dead after just one day. They would go far out into the field. Yoshi would chase after them. Caroline and Ryan liked to ride together too!

Hot Tub Fun

What can I say, we all loved the hot tub!

Caroline loved it the most! She was in the hot tub one day for 2 hours in the morning and 2 hours in the evening. We loved to watch hundreds of birds go over the house migrating for the winter and to see all the stars at night. Yoshi even hopped in once, to clean up from the mud he rolled around in. Caroline and Ryan were in the hot tub one morning and Steve had a fire going in the fire pit and would serve them roasted marshmallows while they soaked in the tub!

What a life!

One Dirty Dog

Yoshi enjoyed the farm! He loved being able to run and play in the field. He chased a cat up a post and rolled around in the mud. Yoshi slept good every night we were there!

This is the field Yoshi would run around in!

Happy Belated Thanksgiving!

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving this year! We did miss spending time with our families and we are looking forward to Christmas with them.

This Thanksgiving we went to a farm for Thanksgiving. All our food was heat and serve, even the turkey. I did make a carrot cake and cranberry chutney, that was it! We set the table as we would have at home. This was a stress free Thanksgiving, after eating we all relaxed outside.

A Honey Baked Ham Turkey. Heat for 2 hours and serve. It was yummy!

As you can tell, both kiddos were not into taking pictures, they were ready to eat!

Caroline is reading!

Tonight Caroline wanted to read a book to me, The Very Busy Spider. She really is catching on to words and sounding out letters and putting them together! She is even using her finger and pointing to each word to make sure she reads it. This is so exciting to me! I hope I never forget her excitement for reading and I hope she enjoys reading her entire life! This was a great way to end our day together!

Happy Birthday Steve!

Happy Birthday Steve!

We love you so much and hope your day was very special!

A Crying Dog

This is Caroline's painting from art class.

It is a picture of a crying dog. Caroline shares that the dog is crying because his friends would not play with him. The dogs were having a play date and they forgot to invite him. The dog was not happy.

Eskimo Kisses

It was a very cold day today! When taking the children to the buses after school we saw snow flurries! It only lasted a few minutes, but everyone was happy to see the white stuff! We all came home and wanted warm soup for dinner!

Ryan has been giving Eskimo kisses to Steve and I all the time and Caroline is his new victim! He loves to give Eskimo kisses, but is not gentle.

Enjoy watching our children love on one another!

Stay warm!

Ready to serve!

Dear Mr. President-elect,
I heard you were looking for a hypo-allergenic dog to take to the White House with you in January. I would like to offer my services to you. I love my family dearly, but have always wanted to serve my country. I believe the White House would be perfect for me. I am an immigrant from Japan, but unlike you I am not a mutt. I am a lovable dog, love to take walks, play with children, and I will keep the floors clean by eating food dropped on the floor. Please consider me for this position. I would like to visit my family on weekends and holidays.
Thank you,
Yoshi

Candy Party!

Yes, we had a candy party!

Steve and I are so tired of the candy from Halloween.

Our two children ask for it from the time they wake up until the time they go to bed. They have even taken several pieces without asking. So we decided to have a candy party tonight that lasted 30 minutes!

The party rules were: sort the candy, eat as much as you want, and when 30 minutes is up we throw the rest of the candy away. It worked like a charm! Caroline got her share of candy, she wasted little time, and even told with her entire class about our candy party today at school. After a few minutes Ryan was tired of eating candy and ready to play trains on the computer. The candy has now been taken away and we can start tomorrow without the sugar! Yeah! Candy is so so yummy, but it makes for grumpy, cranky, and whiny children. I think this will begin a tradition we have every Halloween night! Eat what you can during the party and the rest is history.

Try having a candy party of your very own today!

He He