I got the message, mom!

OK here it is-
Who you need to buy for
Marie Joel
William Jon
Joel William
Amy Marie
Ben Amy
Debbie Erin
Jon Debbie
Erin Ben

Please post a list of items that could be purchased within our price range. ($20) Mom and dad need to post a wish list too. My job is done!

Christmas List

We drew names today at Marie and Will's. She has the list and promised to post it. Will also need a wish list from everyone.

What can you do...

With oh say 100 lbs of apples in 2 days? Well, I canned 19 jars of apple sauce, Jon & Dad made 6.5 gallons of fresh pressed apples cider, one apple crisp (with homemade vanilla ice cream) and we made lots of apple chips and fruit leather. I'm hoping to try some apple butter too. Needless to say, it smells like apples around here. Did I mention that we picked them all ourselves too? We still have a box left just to eat. Noah really enjoyed helping Grandma clean out the jugs. He thought it was great to have all those toys in the tub. (sorry the pictures aren't that great).

On Wednesday Noah turned 1 1/2 so we had a half birthday celebration. (We've always done that in my family). He had spaghetti, peas and a little ice cream cookie thing. He got a shape sorter from my parents. Gifts aren't normal just so you all know. What a big boy!! He's climbing all over everything and jumping every chance he gets. We sure are having fun with him and we're making sloooow progress when it comes to sleeping. We're hoping it's better by Dec.

The weather has been awesome here and they say the next few days will be even better. It's been nice to get outside. Noah helped me rake leaves yesterday and then kick them around so we could rake them up again. You get the point. I kept telling him there would be more in a few days but I guess he wanted to play with the ones we had as long as possible.

I guess I should go. I hear Seinfeld's theme going and apple crisp and ice cream calling my name.

Just the three of us :)

Here ya go debbie, don't know if this is what you are looking for. Now that you mention it we don't have a lo

t
of pictures of all of us :)

hey...

Jon and Erin will you post a picture of all three of you together?? Mom and dad do you have any recent together pictures??? I'm redoing my picture frames and I think you all are the only ones I didn't find pics of together online. Thanks:)

Christmas Gifts- Important Stuff!

Hey- I'm sorry I missed all the talk about what we should wear for the picture. I thought I would get a jump start on the gifts. What did we decide for the amount on the gift exchange? It would help if we could each post ideas that would be in that price range. It would be nice to spend money on something we know the other would like. Guessing gets interesting!

Katelyn's team placed 2nd when they finished the season. Their team played in the championships but lost the second game. She almost made 2 goals in the last game. This is the first time I have seen her get so excited about playing. She is begging to play next season. The boys were crying because they lost the game. Not Katelyn- she was all smiles and excited because she had fun. She's such a girl!

our door

We had an interesting day.... I decided to finally paint our front door. The boys and I scrubbed it down after lunch and Ryan helped me prime it when Matthew was napping. It turned out pretty good:) While I was letting the 1st coat dry our cat snickers decided to check out the paint tray.... just like in the cartoons we had red little kitty paw prints all the way through our house and under our bed. SNICKERS!!!! Miraculously it came up pretty good from the carpet and the kitty feet. burgess is in the kitty hospital getting fixed and getting declawed. I can't imagine what mess he would have made! I guess red paint looks pink at first??? Well, I was freaking out and even called my neighbor over to see if she thought it looked pink. It dried and it is very red:) Sorry the picture isn't better. We'll get a better one in the sunlight tomorrow:)

In today's Aiken Standard!

Marie Hughes and daughters Katelyn and Morgan visited Katelyn's fourth-grade classroom during the dedication of the new building at Millbrook Elementary School Tuesday.Hughes brings the perspective of a parent and a teacher. She used to teach in a mobile unit, but now has a second-grade classroom in the main facility. All but three of the portable classrooms have bene moved from the campus.The new building houses fourth- and fifth-graders and a new cafeteria and kitchen."It's exciting for everybody," said Hughes. "We've got a nice lunchroom and it's nice not seeing all those mobiles."A few minutes later, Katelyn's teacher, Leah Lewis, stopped by her classroom and was greeted with hugs from Katelyn and Morgan, a second-grader.

Great picture girls!!!

It's official...

Our photographer friends (Gene & Rainy Takalo) called last night after "blog stalking" and said that we should all wear jeans rolled up, bare feet (if possible) and white shirts. They said it's too hard to get matching shades in colors. Well, I guess that's it huh?

Such a cutie!

Can't you see some of Noah in this picture?

Will it work?

I just had to report it a tiny success. Noah slept in his own bed all night and not in the pack-n-play. I still had to get up with him 2-3 times. I'm trying it now for nap-time but I don't think it's working. I guess we'll just keep trying.
On another note...are we trading names for Christmas and Jon says we'll be taking a family picture. Are we going to coordinate colors or just go hodge-podge?

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JOEL!

I looked for an hour tonight for the birthday picture of you with the lobster hat Joel. Could not find it. The baby one you were probably close to the age of Eli. Wow, where has time gone? Hope you have an extra special day. It's been a great 32 years and know God has alot more in store for the next 32 !We love you and are looking forward to seeing you soon!

PALIN ROCKS PENSACOLA!!!!!!

We just saw Sarah Palin IN PERSON!!!!! We stood in the blowing cold rain for 1 1/2hrs with the boys to show our support to the grand ole Republican party!!! The boys were thrilled to cheer and be loud even though we were all soaked and freezing in the air conditioning:) WOW I've never been so impressed with anyone holding public office. Much less, anyone running for the white house. Oh, and I officially put my request in for my Christmas trip....no one else has put in, so a. that is very good and I have first dibs or b. it is very bad and everyone else knows better than to try to go out of town during the holidays.... we'll see:)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY RYAN!

Sorry this is late but hope you had a great birthday yesterday. 4 years old! Wow - that's getting close to Morgan's age. We love you Ryan!

From last weekend.

Hey guys, I love seeing the pictures and so I thought I should return the favor and share some from last weekend. Erin's grandparents are in town from New York so the family has been touring a bit with them. We all went to the coast last sunday and had a great time playnig in the sand and running in the COLD water. The weather was amazing, sunny and 70. The rain is comming though and this weekend the high on Sat. is in the 50's. Fall is here! Hope everyone is doing well. Marie and Will, do you guys have any gas left there? Heard on the news you were still running short there. Oh, Mom... Erin is eating a cookie tonight from the batch you made us when you where here. I think we have two bags left. It's the gift that keeps on giving. Thank you.

Family Photos

We got some new family photos taken on Monday. We'll be having new prayer cards made soon and it was just fun to get some new family pictures. Here's a few...a few, okay A LOT that we like:

And here's a link if you want to see more!