USS NELSON PART II

We had another sucessfull visit with the Nelson crew. The kids and Matt and Heather decided to rake our leaves and did an awesome job. We don't have any trees in our yard really, but we get all the neighbors leaves. And it is a big job! We appreciated it. The kids helped in return for a 3 hour trip to the swimming pool at our health club. They were seriously prunes when they got out! And they had a lot of fun with the leaves too! We have loved having family visit us! So come on down to Arkansas ya'll!!!

OH SAVANNA...

Savanna loves her brother, sometimes too much! They go through the day playing like best buddies and then squabbling and hollering at each other. Guess that is not new for any family. All kids do it. She loves to sleep with me when Mark is traveling, and I found her like this one night, with her arm straight up in the air. I thought it was pretty cute.

OUR LITTLE JAKE MAN

We love our little Jake man. He has 3 volumes: Loud Happy, Loud Mad, and Asleep. Seriously that is all. No in between. But he is a lot of fun to be around...when he is happy, or asleep. : ) I am convinced the Lord has given me an extra helping of patience just for our Jakers. And he made him pretty darn cute, nad that helps too. The picture by the washing machine is of Jakob lamenting over me washing his blankie. Blankie is a member of the family, and I usally try to sneak it into the wash when he isn't looking, but he caught me one day and stood for a long time trying to get "him" back out.

My sister made these great beanie hats for me and the girls, and Jake thought he should have one too. Also I am still continuing on with my weight loss goals. My face sure has thinned down a lot. I have about 25 pounds to go till I reach my goal! I think to myself all the time "You Can Do It!!! Don't give up!!! Get your butt to the gym!!!" And other "pushy thoughts" : )

This shows the tiny little bit of snow we got. Savanna got this art easel for Christmas and the kids LOVE it! They each take a side and color and paint just about every day. It works out because Jakob got a little table and chairs from Santa so they have little chairs that are the perfect size. And Jake fell asleep on the couch and I thought he looked so cute. His eyelashes are soooo long! Pretty cute....when he is sleeping. : )

PETER PAN SYNDROME?

I tease Mark about having a Peter Pan Syndrome...you know, "I don't wanna grow up. I just wanna play cops and robbers." But he really does have a sense of civic duty and loves to go out on patrol and protect and serve our community. His dream is to one day run for Sheriff. The picture of him with his hands on his hips is such a classic Mark pose. He does this EVERY time he gets dressed and looks at himself in the mirror. If he ever comes and asks me how he looks, it's with his hands on his hips and his chest puffed out. I giggle... But Jakob got dressed the other day and when I asked him if he was ready, he puffed out his chest and put his hands on his hips and said yah! Like Father Like Son!

2010 OFF TO A GOOD START!

Here are some of the random pics from the last few weeks. I love the sushi rolling pics of Jakob. He was watching me so intently as I rolled sushi for our New Years Eve party and he had to try it out. If you look closely you can see that in each picture he has a little piece of rice stuck to his lip. So cute. (If you double click on the pictures they will fill your screen with a big photo) Also me and the kiddos comfy by the fire on a cold morning. It has been really cold here. Like in the 20's. I hasn't really gotten this cold before. But still no snow to speak of. It snowed one day and we got excited, but just when it started to stick, it stopped and then all melted into ice. Savanna was so disappointed.