Hot MamaJama

A Happy Ella getting to hold her little sister Gwen by herself for the first time! Gwen has alot of adorable outfits, outrageous accessories and fun doodads!  But here is the much more realistic picture of Gwen. Don't be fooled by all the other photos! hee hee. Dawson meeting Gwen. Gwen sleeping in her crib with her own pillow and loads of blankets! Hunter meeting Gwen...he's such an awesome big brother! Savannah holding Gwen...the first of many times! Savannah got a molar pulled that same morning, so she doesn't look quite as perky as she might have otherwise.   A few from Gwen's first photo shoot!  I could look at these pictures all day!

 We got all dressed up and went to the Christmas Eve Service. We were all Christmas colors, except Ella. She just went pink. She had new sparkly shoes and purse!  Gwen got to wear her My 1st Christmas outfit that I bought at Goodwill for $1.50 and was quite happy about it! Gwen just had the perfect outfit to go with the red polka-dot headband, so I had to get a picture of them together. We made Christmas goodies. Mostly just chocolate-dipped things, like pretzels and cereal. We also made some gingerbread houses and train, which helped decorate our big shelf area. We bought gifts for others and really enjoyed watching Briana open this one that we got her. A game she'd been wanting for quite some time! Looks like we surprised her, huh. We spent some time with Family. I love family. All those memories being made with Grandma's and Grandpa's, Aunt, Uncles & cousins. Oh & sisters and brothers! We didn't even plan how we were...

A brief history of Gwen's entry into the world (for record-keeping purposes). :-) Gwen was due Nov. 8th. I was done being pregnant about October 8th, thanks to the many Braxton-Hicks contractions! Anyway, Sunday November 4th in the afternoon around 5pm, I had a major contraction that I was worried was the beginning of the real labor. But alas, it was not, so I went to church with the 4 kids (since Tim wasn't feeling well all day) and I took my shift in nursery. After service, my parents came over and we talked for awhile while my Dad massaged my feet and legs. That night (Monday morning actually) I woke up at 1:31am suddenly and in a lot of pain with a contraction. So I said "Tim, I think this might be the real thing". Well he never moved, just continued to snore. So I laid there watching the clock. Sure enough, 9 minutes later I have another huge contraction. So during it I'm trying to tell Tim, who's not wanting to wake up. Finally I like yell at him ...

I love having my birthday. Really, I try to be mature about it, but I just love it & look forward to it. I want to tell everyone I see or talk to that day that it's my birthday. I know that's what 8 year olds do, but still! So today I had breakfast brought to me in bed. Then my 3 older kids brought their breakfast in my bed too & we all hung out & ate & talked. Then we had mostly a normal day with a few breaks. We took a break to play some musical chairs blindfolded. I'm mature enough to know I'd get hurt doing that, so I was in charge of the music. But then it was just plain musical chairs & I joined in. Later in the day we all played some Wii together. Then we went to church & I got sang to and saw my wonderful friends. We went shopping and bought me a new kitchen faucet (a fancy one!). When we finally got home after 9pm, we ate the delicious dump cake that my daughter had made me and I blew out my candle after my wonderful family sang to me. T...

After a fantastic and amazingly blessed Christmas break, we start school up again today. I also am starting on my kitchen renovation. I'm so excited about the fresher looking kitchen I hope to have in a week. As for the school, not so excited, but it's something that needs done and is good to get back into a routine. That means I had to make a menu again. I made a menu for 2 weeks and now have my grocery list made (already bought the chicken & beef on sale at Safeway last night though). Don't really enjoy grocery shopping, let alone with 4 kids, but it's just part of life. :-) I thought I'd post my menus just for fun... Monday - Breakfast: banana muffins & protein bar Lunch: Fish sticks, carrots & chips Dinner: meatloaf, broccoli & bread. Tuesday Breakfast: granola bars Lunch: sandwiches Di...

Reid Park Zoo...bright & early this morning! Grandma & Grandpa joined us! And Tim got to go...that's always better on field trips! (I just love my parents in the background of this picture holding hands...too cute) Animals were seen, played in & fed! A picnic at the park and a stroll through the rose garden and we were headed back to CG!

Saturday the 5th we had a big get together at my parents house...on our way there we stopped at a yard sale in my parents neighborhood. We ended up buying a very cool porch swing. We all got to enjoy it Saturday, but we haven't gotten it from parents backyard to our porch yet...someday we will I guess. So Sunday we made it to Vegas. There's so much to see and everything is larger than life. So big and bright and so much going on all the time! Wow. We had a blast...we always go around acting silly when we're without the kids & don't have to be the responsible ones. :-) In M&M World I posed with the yellow M&M which we all know is a peanut M&M, which we also all know are the best kind! We watched a 3D M&M movie...we acted shocked for some reason with the 3-D glasses on. Then we headed over to Coke World and ordered "Cokes Around the World". Which is 16 various Coca-Cola products from lots of different countries. We all sat around sharing them...