Adriana's Christmas Program

Every year Adriana's school puts on a Christmas program. Last year was her first year to be in it and it was so cute. I LOVE watching little kids get up there and see what they do. Adriana is normally pretty timid when it comes to getting in front of people or being in a new situation, not at this program though. She was as close to the microphone as she could get, belting it out. I was surprised. She of course wanted to wear her Christmas Dress and get her hair done. She did so good. Here's a picture of her before the program.

These next couple of shots are of them singing their songs and doing sign language to go with it. They sang "We Three Kings" and "Come Let Us Adore Him".

There was actually a little tiff on stage between Adriana and her friend. They both wanted the microphone, but my daughter, being the little diva, wouldn't share it so this made her friend start crying. Adriana didn't know what to think of her crying.

But the show went on for Adriana anyway.

All in all, it was a great show. We took video of it, but unfortunately the little girl standing to the left of Adriana blocked Ryan's view on the camera. We can't see her AT ALL! I was sitting right in front of her on the very first row, and I couldn't get good shots of her then either. We are bummed that we can't see her, but you can hear her singing.

Christmas Card Photo Shoot

Every year since we have been married, we have always done self portraits of us for Christmas Cards. They are normally very spur of the moment. I know I always want to do one, but like this year, time just keep getting away from me and I thought that if I wanted to get them out in the mail before Christmas, we need to take them! So we rush around get dressed (granted dinner was going to be ready in about 20 minutes). I get out our camera, get everyone in the shot and set the timer and hope for the best. Wasn't sure how it was going to work this year with Paxton not really understanding what was going on, but it went okay. I told Ryan, next year we should set up our video camera and record us taking pictures. Its quite the show. Between me setting the button, playing with a doll around the camera so the kids will look that way, running across the room, smiling and posing all in 10 seconds, its a hoot! Here are our shots we got...

The last picture was the winning shot. Don't worry, all the laundry on the couch was cropped out. We hope you and your family had a WONDERFUL Christmas holiday and here's to a Blessed New Year!

Fall Vacation: Days 5-8

I'm glad to say, this is my last entry for our trip that we took OVER a month ago! Man, alive! We had a BLAST on a vacation but blogging about it has been a nightmare and chore, if I'm telling the truth. Mainly due to my computer acting up while downloading these pictures, but I'm glad this is the last of it so we can move on to newer things, since Christmas 3 days away!
Day 5 of our trip wasn't too eventful. We mainly traveled down to Florida to stay with Ryan's grandma, a.k.a. Mamarine. It was so good to see her again! It has been almost 2 years since we saw her last time, so Adriana was a lot bigger and she finally got to meet Paxton. We enjoyed our evening of just hanging out at her house, eating dinner and enjoying each others company.
Mamarine has a dog, named Ginger. Ginger is the sweetest dog in the world. Adriana LOVES dogs and took up with Ginger instantly. Every moment she could, she was with that dog. They were so sweet together.


Day 6, THANKSGIVING! Now, I know here in Missouri, it was snowing/freezing rain on Thanksgiving day, this is what we got to enjoy instead.....

What a glorious day! I love spending Thanksgiving day with Ryan's family. They all go over to his aunt and uncle, Toni and Micheal's house for a big Thanksgiving feast. Of course, it was all so yummy! Thanksgiving in the south is a GOOOOOD thing! The tradition I love the best, though, is after our big meal, we all load up and head down to Ft. Walton Beach and spend some time on the beach. We normally dip our feet in the ocean, play in the sand and take lots of pictures, it was, of course, a great time.

This was Paxton's first time to the beach, he didn't know what to think of the sand.

His little chubby feet and hands were covered in sand...


He had a great time, but was over dressed. It actually was quite warm in the sun, so we ended up striping him down to his diaper later on.

Adriana says she remembers the beach, although it had been a year and a half since she had been. She enjoyed playing with the water as it washed up on the shore and playing in the sand.

Precious little foot prints.

Only foot missing was Paxton's.

The kids had a blast and going to the beach was so much fun for them, and us.

While we were there, we had a little volleyball game. Let me just say, it has been many a year since this ol' body has played v-ball, I was about 50lbs lighter and I wasn't even that good. Fast forward 10+ years and this is what you get....

Is it the best shot of me? No. I just wanted to show you guys that I can move faster then a turtle, not often, but sometimes. This is my "action shot". Savor it, for I do not move that fast too often and when I do, I normally need a paper bag to breathe into and some water.

Like I said, this is the time they get a lot of family photos taken. The whole family is there and its a great time to get them. I have a TON of pictures from this, but these are some of my favorite...

Mamarine and all her babies.
(Left to Rt: Toni, Sandy, Mamarine, Metz, KK and Misty)

Us with Mamarine.

The kids were done with pictures by this point.

Us with Jim and Sandy.

After the beach, we said our goodbyes. We had such a fun time and it was so good to see everyone again. We drove back to Montgomery that evening.

Day 7 was down time and Black Friday. Although we spent a lot of the day relaxing, I couldn't keep myself away from the sales. So by early afternoon, me and Kara went out and hit the sales. We actually found good deals and not a lot of people. I had a great time spending time with her.

Day 8: Drive home! Like I said about 3 weeks ago when I started our "Fall Vacation Series", the kids did really good traveling down there. The way home...a whole different story! They were so tired of being in the car. I drugged them up to help them sleep, but it kind of back fired on me. They were just really drowsy and never went to sleep, which means it left them cranky and tired, not good. It was a LONG day to say the least. Within a week we had spent 30+ hours in the car. We were so tired and homesick, which made it so much worse. We powered through, many stops later and made it home in about 13 hours.

This trip was a great one! We had so much fun! I feel so blessed we were able to stay a week, see extended family, hang out with great friends and be with the ones we love. Thank you Jim and Sandy for all your hospitality. Sandy you worked so hard at making every meal, and I thank you for that. Thank you for doing our laundry and giving up your bedroom for a week. I am blessed by this "in-law" family I have! Truly, something to be thankful for!

Fall Vacation: Day 4

Note: Let me first apologize for taking FOREVER to finish out writing about this trip, this has been one of the busiest weeks of the year for me, or so it seems, so sitting down and waiting for pictures to download, my computer to mess up and delete the uploaded pictures, write and spell check and make sure I didn't leave anything out, well, that just takes time, time I don't seem to have these days. Also, be ready for picture overload. I believe I uploaded about 25+ for this post alone.
Day 4 of our trip landed on a Tuesday. It was a fun day! It was kind of a lazy day, but a good time spend with the family. We really didn't do too much that day, the kids played, we went on a "hike" and we got to see Ryan's best friend and his wife. It was a great day.
The kids ALWAYS have a blast together. Adriana and Riley are like 2 peas in a pod. With them only being about 2.5 months apart, they are very similar and its fun to watch them interacting with each other.

The girls playing in the car.

Jack, who is such a sweet boy and doesn't
know what to do with Adriana and Riley. Poor boy!

They boy cousins bonding. They are so cute
together!

The kids in the hammock, they love this thing!

Me and Adriana were swinging in the hammock for a while. She normally doesn't acknowledge us when she is around her cousins, so for her to want to swing with me, was special. This was our view from the hammock.

We were being silly girls and playing with the camera, we got lots of fun shots, but these were some of my favorites.

Jim was so sweet, and built all the grand kids a bird house to paint. They LOVED this! Me and Kara, took the kids to Walmart to pick out their own paint for their houses. They were so sweet to share with each other and this kept them occupied for a long time.

The kids hard at work painting.

Adriana with her "before" birdhouse.

I never did get an after shot.

As the kids painted their houses, the big boys laid around and enjoyed the warm, mild weather. Talk about 2 peas in a pod!

Ryan thought it would be fun to try to climb a huge tree. Granted, he had shorts, t-shirt and flip flops on, so this was quite a sight. I got called up to the top of the hill to take a picture of him in the tree. This is what I found...

He's way up there and then it dawns on him, how do I get down from here, without getting hurt.

His mom was trying to help and I wish you could see the fear on his face. He wasn't that scared, but he did realize what a drop it was going to be.

Good news, he made it without any injuries!

Next,we all went on a "hike" through their property. It was fun to take the kids back there and to try to find vines to swing on.

Kara and the girls heading towards

the woods.

I like this shot of Paxton and Ryan.

They are all ready to go hiking.

About to enter the unknown! :)

That evening, we had a chance to go over and see Ryan's best friend and his wife, Stephen and Kristal. We got to see their new house for the first time and we got to have a child-free evening, thanks to Jim and Sandy keeping the kids. We had dinner over there, lots of conversation and just a good time of catching up with each other. Kristal was due towards the end of December with their first baby, Caleb, but who would have thought that exactly 3 weeks later, Caleb would be here. We can't wait to meet him.

Stephen, Kristal and at the time, their

only child, Oreo!

Me and Kristal. We have a lot in common and I always

enjoy being around her and getting to know her more.

Then, of course, you have the boys. They were being so silly and cutting up. Stephen is such a good friend to Ryan and has been for MANY years. Here's the boys "photo shoot". We'll call it "Christmas Buddies 2010".

Thanks again Stephen and Kristal for a WONDERFUL night.

Like I said, Jim and Sandy kept the kids that evening. We got home around 11pm and found this...

What a WONDERFUL day!