Merry Christmas One and All!

Merry Christmas Everyone!
Here are some images of our morning. The excitement was overwhelming as we had to wait for Matthew to wake up. We missed Grandma and Grandpa G. too, they couldn't make it due to the weather.

Miss Madie opening up her Littlest Pet Shop toy...

Matthew with his present that was bigger than him! It is a slide for the basement - he LOVES it!

The kids with some of their presents - Matthew and Emma both got slippers. Madie got a Whoopsie Doo doll - guess what she does???
(Looks like they got the "let's close our eyes for pictures trait" from somewhere???)

Matthew getting ready to slide. I missed the great big smile that was just a second before this look.

Miss Em and I - can you see her dangly earrings and new necklace?

Caged!

We have been busy with Christmas preparations. Emma had her school Christmas Concert last night. She did a fantastic job and looked just gorgeous, of course, I am partial! The music instructor did a fantastic job at keeping the program to exactly 1 hour!

This is how I found Matthew yesterday - CAGED! He climbed into Buddy's kennel - yuck but cute! He did throw a small tantrum when I made him get out. At almost 17 months he is perfecting the art of the foot stomping tantrum. Lovely!

Snow, snow and more snow

Let it Snow! It is looking as though we will have a white Christmas! I am pretty sure we are in the path that got around 14+ inches of snow over the last two days. We enjoyed the chance to just stay home. We had movie night, played games, made homemade caramel corn and just vegged. Brandon is out trying to dig us out as we speak. The favorite place for snow to drift is right in front of our garage. I tried to get a good picture but the contrast of the snow makes it hard to see. When he started the snow was about belly button level on Brandon and as tall as Madelyn.
This will be one of the last times we will be digging out here...we have sold our home and will be moving to an acreage about 15 miles away. It will be wonderful for the kids and closer to work for Brandon. The girls will stay in the same school district but will be in a different elementary. They are excited and nervous all at the same time! It is looking like an end of January - first of February move! What were we thinking you ask??? We were thinking it would take A LOT more than 7 days to sell our house! I guess when things are meant to be they have a way of working out no matter what we believe the time-line should be!

I took this through the screen as it was TOO cold for me! The snow blower is buried in snow!

Brandon and Madie out in the snow. I don't know how well you can see but the top of the drift is elbow level on Brandon.

Last weekend we had the big family Christmas for Great-Grandma R. We had a nice time. It is always fun to see how everyone has grown over the course of a year. I have also realized how old I am getting. The kids that were 7 and 8 when I started coming around 10 years ago are now graduating from high school this year. Yikes! Above we have 3 generations of R. men.

Great Grandma with the kids. Matthew was not happy about having his picture taken. I cannot say enough great things about Great-Grandma. She feels like she has been my Grandma my entire life. She is sweet, grateful, humble and one of the most loving and accepting people I have had the good fortune of knowing. Love you Grandma!

Sleep Habits...

Once again...I have been horrible at posting! For some reason things seem to be a little hectic right now. We had a great Thanksgiving and were able to spend it at Grandpa and Grandma G.'s. Visit BasketGirl's blog to learn more about our Holiday!

For some reason...Madie has been into sleeping on the floor. Every night at some point she makes her way into our room and onto the floor. Not great accommodations if you ask me but she doesn't seem to mind. The other night, Brandon went to turn off their closet light before bed and found Madie in her own room on the floor with all her babies lined up in her bed, neatly tucked in.


I found Matthew sound asleep the other day when I went to get him up for church. He looked so cute, I just had to take a picture. He is doing all sorts of new things. He will tell you what a fish says, a gorilla and a dog. He can get his point across extremely well without ever having to say a thing!