Friday Morning

It's 9:49 am. And I really have nothing I have to do. Ok, sure, there are plenty of things I COULD do. Clean up the breakfast dishes. Throw in a load of laundry. Make my bed. Those kinds of things. But really I just. don't. want. to.

I feel a cold working its way into my system. Hubby's been all nasty & congested for over a week now. Bubba's had a runny nose for a few days. Guess as much as I tried to wash my hands a hundred times a day and stay away from the yucky germs, they still found me.

And so I sit here, catching up on a few blogs, the little 2 nicely playing and looking at books next to me. And I am grateful that today, right now, there is nothing that I just HAVE to do. No errands to run. No child to get ready for preschool or dance. No one expected over that I need to clean up for. No appointments to keep.

And so, for the first day this week, I am going to sit and enjoy being lazy, enjoy doing whatever I want, with no demands on my time.

I think I'll start reading to the Princess from the giant book of bugs & insects that she is looking at (yuck!) And maybe later I'll feel up to it and tackle that load of laundry. And maybe even pick up a few things. Maybe.

Christmas 2010

We had a good Christmas at home. We like staying home for Christmas - no worrying about travelling in bad weather, just nice and relaxed, making memories with the kids. And though we never go all out for Christmas like many people do, the kids thoroughly enjoyed it and were still spoiled! Rick's parents did come up and have Christmas dinner with us, which I took the easy route this year and we had Papa Murphy's Pizza, which we all thoroughly enjoyed - and I LOVED the easy clean up! (I'm not always that lazy! This was a first for me, it somehow felt wrong!! But I had just prepared a big turkey dinner for Thanksgiving!)

Here's Jackson, digging into his Santa Pancake -

our traditional Christmas Eve dinner.

He already ate the chocolate, M&M eyes!

Gabriella with all her gifts

My William Bug

the Princess Tabitha

Bubba with his favorite presents - Balls!

Just after we had finished opening all the presents, and were headed to the kitchen for breakfast, the doorbell rang. Opening it, we found a bag full of presents from Santa - one for each of the kids - guess they must have gotten lost in the sleigh so he dropped them off on his way back to the North Pole! Here's Gabriella with her bathtub Barbie.

Halloween 2010

Just for fun - here's pictures of the kids in their costumes!

My little witch

A VERY Scary Vampire

Dead Vampire Bride

(what happened to being a princess or fairy or SOMETHING sweet & cute?!)

The Little Green Froggy wasn't feeling too well that night

Quite the scary bunch!

My little Dancers

In December the girls had a mini dance recital at their studio to show off what they've been learning.

Gabriella started taking dance a few weeks before she turned 3, but then when she was 6 she took a year off. When she found out I was signing Tabitha up for a class last fall, she decided she was ready to dance again - Here is she after her performance!

Tabitha kinda got jipped a little bit. I wanted to get her started in dance when she turned 3 and she REALLY wanted to start dance class, but with our circumstances as they were (hubby out of a job) things like dance were not very feasible. So she was thrilled when I told her she could start taking dance when we moved. She has always been our little dancer, our fancy dresser. Here she is at home after her performance (I kinda forgot the camera on her recital nite!)

This outfit had been one of Gabriella's from dance a few years ago - it is one of Tabitha's FAVORITES to wear at home or at dance! (In fact, she's wearing it right now!)

My 2 little dancers

The Princess turned 5

Yep, that's right. My little miss Tabitha, my baby girl, is now 5 years old.

Why is it that 5 seems to be such a defining age? Maybe because the next step for most 5 year olds is going off to Kindergarten? And why is it that I had a harder time with her turning 5 than either of her older siblings? Perhaps, as I said, it is because she IS my "baby" girl. She loves to play that she is a baby, and talk like a baby. And then the next minute she is taking care of her babies, or her baby brother (who really is NOT a baby anymore!)

She had a great birthday - a birthday week, really. First a little party at Nana & Papa's house a couple days early. Then our little family party at home on the actual day. And then a few days later a party with a few friends.

Happy Birthday, Princess!

My little Troublemaker!

As Rick was uploading some pictures tonite, we came across these that I had totally forgotten about:

(Yes, his head is stuck! and it was stuck GOOD! Just after we moved into our new house!)

And then there were these, that I SO remember:

My little Troublemaker started off Young!

But oh how I do LOVE him to pieces!!

How could I resist this sweet little face?!

(you can't see it, but his t-shirt says "Why I'm in Trouble" - it fits him SO well!)

My Hubby's Projects

Since moving last August, Rick has been a busy man! He likes having fun projects to work on and I sure like coming up with them! (not that all of mine are that fun, but a woman has needs!)

First off - here is a picture of our new home!

Notice the little workshop in the back?

PERFECT spot for Rick - his own little man cave!

Here is the Princess Castle Bunk Bed that he made for the girls -

this is a project we had wanted to do for a LONG time!

And here is the finished project after I painted it!

Not to toot our own horns or anything, but we think

it turned out pretty good and are proud of ourselves!

A simple little project - shelves in the basement storage room -

HOW can people not have any shelves in their storage room?!

I had to have a place for all my food storage and our camping gear.

And his latest finished project - he built these small bookshelves

for each of the kids rooms to organize all their books & special things.

Next on the list, and already in progress, are 2 tall bookcases for the family room. We have a TON of books. Love Love LOVE books! And for years I have wanted some nice bookcases to put them all in (rather than piled up on my closet shelf where mine are or in the hall closet!) After looking at several not long ago, Rick decided it would be cheaper to build some and then we would have them just the way we wanted them, too! I am super excited (and a little impatient!) for them to be done!

I seriously don't know what I would do without a handyman husband!!