It's been a while ...

Time does fly -- when you have EVERYONE at home -- The older 2 got out of school on December 18th and it just seems like there was something going on every other day around here!! :) The month of December was busy at church -- with things going on it seems like every Sunday evening -- the only one we did not go to was the live nativity -- we decided to take the kids to the Magical Nights of Lights instead ... although it took us forever to get through it -- and it was COLD! The place was packed with people (I guess because it was the Sunday before Christmas) ...

Tuesday of that week, we took the kids to Bryson City, NC to do The Polar Express - unknown to them of what we were doing -- even though they were in their PJs and we ended up at a train depot! LOL ... we finally had to basically spell it out for them ... it was pretty funny. We had so much fun (pics are on facebook) ... I think it was a great experience for the whole family.

Wednesday was of course Christmas Eve and had a 6pm service at the church. That lasted about an hour -- then it was home for snack foods, the Christmas story and gifts! :)

I got a new camera from Jason and it will take me forever to learn it! LOL It's a Canon Rebel XS ... thankfully we can share accessories -- so I can use all the lens' he already has -- and his flash! :) I've been playing some with it ... although it is big and I'm used to carrying my little point-n-shoot ..I think I might get the hang of things :) I've joined two message boards that Jason was already on -- for photography -- and I've enjoyed it so far.

Christmas day we went to Jason'a parents house, like we usually do. We had ham for lunch along with some sides ... it was a nice slow day. During this time, Jason only worked one day -- and he was able to come home at 2pm that day -- so that was nice! He then had off until the 31st (he had to go in to work that day and worked all day) ... that evening we had some friends over to ring in the New Year! We ended up letting the kids play Wii for a while and then the adults played -- and then we watched the peach drop in ATL ... and Jason did some fireworks (the ones that are just on the ground -- not shot in the air) .. Samuel HATED them and Stephanie took him inside for that ...

New Years Day 2009 -- we again took the kids to IHOP for brunch. We've been doing this for at least 3 years now! :) They really seem to enjoy it ... after that we just go for a ride -- not always sure where we are going to end up ... last year we drove into ATL .. this year we headed up to the mountains -- we decided to go check out Tallulah Gorge and falls. It was a bit chilly so we did not hike to the falls -- and Jenna was coughing a lot in the cool air ...

January 2nd - Jason's birthday ... the older 2 kids ended up going to stay with the grandparents for the night -- so we had a sitter come (friend from church) and we went out for supper at The Melting Pot -- YUMMY! It was so nice .... how great is it when you go to a restaurant and they say "Hey, we haven't seen you in a while, where've you been?" ... LOL ... (Rachael -- we still need to go again sometime soon!!! I miss you) .. Our waiter was slow -- but that is ok -- it seems like everyone around us was new to the restaurant -- so we took it easy on him and we enjoyed the time together. We stopped in at Starship on the way home (heehee) ...

Tuesday, January 6th saw the kids go back to school and Jason go back to work -- it was nice to have him around ... but it's nice to have the quietness of just the 3 of us at home -- right now the little ones are still sleeping ...YAY ... we had a rough time when Jason left for work yesterday as they were awake and did not want him to leave.

WOW! I see some blueness in the sky! Still cloudy though -- but not as bad as it has been! I know that we need the rain ... but at the same time, does not make for great days when it's dreary outside! It's some windy out there though! Mid 50s is our highs for today ... not too bad for January! :)

I guess that will be all for now. I think I've updated up until this point. Joseph's birthday is on Friday but we'll be celebrating on Sunday with a few friends. I need to get a few things for that .. and I need to call and move his cake to the picked up on Sunday and not Saturday (long story) ...

Be blessed!!!!