Snowball Fight

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I'm Back!

Okay, I know I'm in trouble for not blogging for awhile. So this will be the longest blog in the history of blogs. Where do I start? Well first of all Zippie is back home safe and sound, thank God! He had been missing for five days and I was a wreck! That dog can get on my nerves, but I realized just how much I do love him. He went missing on a Tuesday afternoon and we got a call on Sunday from a local shelter saying that someone had just brought him in. We don't know if he had been outside that whole time(it snowed a lot one night and Prestin cried himself to sleep) or if someone had taken him in for a few days. He looked great and wasn't hurt at all. He was happy to see us too! So through all this chaos we also decided to adopt a cat for Tatum(her cat Princess Sarah Sweetie Pie had run away a couple of days before we left Arizona). Her name is Pepper and is the sweetest cat, just a perfect addition to our family.Zippie and Pepper are not friends yet so Pepper lives upstairs for now. He'll come around. We have been painting the girls' rooms so that's another reason for not blogging. I'll post before and after pics when we're done. Thanksgiving was great, nice and relaxing. I started cooking about ten o'clock and was done by two. It was delicious and we had tons of leftovers.
It has snowed a couple of times. This picture is what we woke up to one morning, it melted a couple hours later. And then all of a sudden it started snowing really hard. Here's a pic of the snowman Ash and the kids made. We got about three to four inches that actually stuck. It stayed until ten o'clock that night and was gone by morning(that's the night Zippie was gone). It snowed like that once more and melted again and it's just been cold ever since. It's in the thirties here and surprisingly I'm loving it. I have found that I love to wear jackets and scarves and seeing the kids all bundled up. It's very Christmasy(I know that's not a real word).We went to Ashley's Christmas party last Saturday and had a really nice time, I also went to a Women's Christmas Brunch at my church, that was a lot of fun as well. The tree is up and the lights are hung outside, it's been really magical for the kids. They're so excited! We miss everyone very much, but are also excited to start some new traditions this year. We can't wait to see what the new year will bring! So anyways I'll leave you with some cute pictures of the kids. We love you!

Zippie come home!

Today Zippie got out of the backyard and we haven't been able to find him. He didn't have his collar on either because he had recently had a bath and we hadn't put it back on yet. Please pray that he will return safely, the kids are really bummed.

Yuck!

Ainsley's first feeding with rice cereal. I'm sure you can guess how she felt about it.

"Look mom, I'm a bridge!"

Domestic Diva

This is my first loaf of bread! I wish I could take all the credit but I had help from my bread maker. I'm so proud, it's like I'm a new parent to baby bread.

Can't get this girl down

This little girl is such a happy thing, I swear she doesn't get upset. This is her after her four month check up. She ended up getting four shots, two in each leg. Ouch!

Trick or Treat!

Here's a pic of the kids on Halloween. Prestin was Batman, Avery was a princess, and Tatum was Belle. All the costumes were dress up clothes that the kids had, so we didn't spend a dime which was awesome. We went to about eight houses which was just enough for the kids. Plus, it was kind of cool outside and the girls didn't want to wear sweaters because it would hide their costumes. So they shivered from house to house. I was so proud of them, usually I have to go up to the door with them because their too shy. But this year they went right up to the door and would say trick or treat without being prompted. It was actually fun this year and didn't take a whole lot of work on my part. As they grow older things seem to get easier in some ways, but it makes me sad because they are growing up at warp speed. Tatum is going to be five in a little over three months, it seems like she was just a toddler the other day. And now she looks so grown up and she acts so grown up as well. She is definitely mommy's little helper. And she is becoming such a clean freak, which I don't mind one bit. Her room is always clean now and she made her bed about two weeks ago all by herself and she refuses to sleep under the covers so it won't get messed up. So she has an extra blanket she uses to cover up with. She's a funny girl!

A Great Lady

When I was a little girl my Grandma Caggiano had this ability to make words on paper come to life, to really make your imagination run wild. I know that's why I love to read and write, hopefully I'll be able to follow in her footsteps someday and write a book, possibly children's books. It's something that I've always wanted to do, and I have her to thank for that. She was a wonderful lady, grandmother, author, poet, and servant of God. I'm thankful that I knew her and for all that I learned from her and I'm thankful for the peace I have knowing that she is in heaven, because she gave her heart to Jesus so long ago. She will be greatly missed. I was glad for this trip to Arizona, because I was able to say goodbye to this great lady. I will always remember that moment as she was lying there so peaceful and I was telling her how beautiful it was up here with the leaves turning colors, she squeezed my hand and I knew that she heard me. I'm sad that my kids won't ever get to know her like I did, but they'll know who she was through me. I love you Grandma, Bye oh bye, Oh bye oh baby.

Pics from our trip

Memories, from the corners of my mind, misty water colored memories..... Do you all remember that song. That's what is going through my head as I write this post, I know I'm a nerd. So anyways these are some pics from our trip I wish I had taken more, we miss you all. Play that song in your head as you scroll through the pics, come on sing it out loud I know you want to. And thanks again Grandma and Grandpa Cookie for letting us stay with you during our visit. We love you guys!

Family Reunion Pics

Okay, so I just now have the energy to write. Wow, what a trip! Can I just say that I am still so exhausted from it that we have decided that the next time we consider taking that trip again will be like five years from now, because we will just then have regained our energy. It was seriously 26 hours each way and with time constraints we drove straight through both ways. The way up there was fine because we were rested and excited to see everyone, but coming back was a bear. Ash drove most of the way(poor guy)and I drove maybe six hours, if that. I kept having hallucinations that deer were jumping out in front of me or lying dead in the road, and I would slam on the breaks so that I wouldn't hit them. It definitely made for a fun ride home(hee hee). But I definitely had my reasons for being cautious because the proof was everywhere, it was disgusting. We had to pull over a couple of times to sleep in parking lots for half hour stretches, it was miserable. Ash has let go of his bitterness with all the potty breaks we had to make along the way, even though he caught up to all the cars he had passed, it's a haunting thought to think how much further he could have been. But it was all worth it in the end to see all of you, we wish we could have seen everybody or spent more time with the ones we did see. We really miss everyone, but not the heat! It was great to get together with everyone at the family reunion, it was a fun day, windy, but fun. These are just a few pics from the family reunion, we loved hanging out with everybody and seeing the kids play together, big and little. Our door is open to anyone who wants to come up. I'll post more pics of our trip in the next post.

It's Fall!

This is what we came home to. Isn't it beautiful?

Bumbo

Sorry I've been such a bad blogger it's been a crazy week. I had my jewelry party last Friday and it went really well, but it was a lot of work. But it paid off with $400.00 in sales, five parties, and a catalog show, so business is booming! Ainsley got a gift certificate for Baby's R Us (thank you Aunt Yvonne) so we went and got her this little chair called a Bumbo chair. It's the cutest thing! She found her feet this week and so she sits in the chair and tries so hard to get them. She's an angel, I can't wait for you all to meet her, you're going to love her. She's so smiley.