Precious

When Zoe was a baby, my favorite pictures of her were those of her sleeping....today, she had another one of those precious moments :)



Then, later in the evening, I caught this really cute picture of Ryan and Buckeye.

More Christmas...

We spent Christmas Eve at Vertie's house. Zoe got a lot of cool gifts, but I'm not really sure who bought what: she had a huge pile of gifts that she just tore into and through and I didn't get to see who bought what. Anyway, we had a great time, with great food and great family!





When we got home on Christmas Eve, we put out cookies, milk, and lettuce (carrotts were gone) and read the Night Before Christmas....and then the struggle began! Zoe did not want to go to sleep. It was almost midnight when she finally fell asleep. We later decided that she was afraid of yhe thought of Santa being in her house. When we got up Christmas morning, the treats were all gone and she was so excited. She really liked opening her presents and inspecting them. We had to encourage her to open the next one - mommy had to get busy cooking you know! :)
Here are a few of the morning pictures:







Later in the afternoon, my side of the family came over. We had a great time opening presents, eating, and playing games!
Just a couple more pictures :)




**Just a side note, I'm hoping all of this posts in order because I still can't see the pictures when I'm creating the post....Jen, Sara....HELP!"**

Christmas #1 and #2

I'm not sure what's going on with the website, but I'm unable to tell what order the pictures are in until I post them....so I can't write about each picture. We had Christmas with my dad's family at dad's house on Saturday. It was very nice. Dad's house looked great and Jessie made each of us some yummy baked goodies. Zoe loves the house and castle that papaw Dave and Aunt Jessie got her.
On Sunday, we had Christmas with Ryan's mom's family. We all had a great time eating lots of yummy food and playing games. Keyairra and Zoe loved playing dress up with the clothes we got Keyairra.
For all of you who say that Zoe looks like me...try again....Keyairra is her twin - just a few years apart! :)

Our Little Chef...

As promised, more pictures of Zoe cooking :)

Santa Baby...

Well, we pumped Zoe up for about 3 weeks to get her ready to sit on Santa's lap....and she seemed excited and ready. She knew exactly what she wanted to tell him that she wanted, "bwocks and a puter"! We went to see Santa in the park in Xenia. While we were waiting in line she seemed to be getting nervous and wouldn't let me put her down. As we walked into the house where Santa was sitting, she got a death grip around my neck and when it was her turn.....no way! She didn't want anything to do with him, or Mrs. Clause for that matter. Mrs. Clause was nice enough to wipe her tears for her though. Afterwards, we went on a wagon ride through the park to see the lights and she obviously liked that a little more.

Happy Holidays from us to you :)

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It's the Holiday Season

It's this time of year that I become extremely thankful for who and what I have in my life. I am very much a gift giver and really enjoy buying for others at Christmas. I like the challenge of buying a thoughtful gift for everyone we buy for. Although I enjoy this time, I much more enjoy buying for those that are less fortunate. This year we adopted a family from work along with buying toys for kids at one of the mobile home parks.

We don't get to see the kids open their presents, but I just enjoy imagining seeing their faces light up when they see their gifts under the tree on Christmas morning. Zoe helped me to wrap all of the presents for the family from work and we had quite the conversation about who the toys were for and why we were giving them. Of course she didn't understand, but it's never too early to start :)

Last night she helped me to wrap presents for our family. As we were wrapping, she wanted to know what each present was and who it was for....which means she can't see or talk to these people until we see them or she will tell! HA!

I am so excited to see her face Christmas morning. All she has been talking about is wanting blocks and a "puter" from Santa....I can't wait for her to open them! On the flip side, this will be my first Christmas without Grandma Judy and Grandma Dorothy. Both of them loved to give gifts in their own special way. It's going to be a little rough for all of us, I'm sure.

Anyhow, here is a flashback picture from Zoe playing last year at this time :) Thankfully, this December has been a little healthier for us (knock on wood - esp. considering that Zoe and mommy both have nasty head colds right now!)

Cookie Season is here!

So, as many of you know I make too many dozens of cookies to even count to pass out to all of our tenants and businesses that we deal with. I decided to get busy with this a little earlier than last year and started this week.
My hubby finally bought me a kitchen-aid mixer - maybe because I threatened to go on strike without it...so Zoe and I tried it out this week. First thing we made was some cookies to take to Donna's and today we made some Buckeyes. Look for many many more cookie cooking pictures to come :)

Helping mix the "dry" ingredients.

Very proud of her first cookies!

She tried to take them apart to get the chocolate chips out when they were done :)

Making Buckeyes - Zoe cooking with nothing but her apron on! It was her first taste of peanut butter and she loved it!

She's so sugar sweet....look at that face :)

Coloring Queen

Zoe loves to color and write. I caught her sitting at her desk last night :)

Happy Thanksgiving

Today I am more thankful than ever for everyone and everything in my life. Grandma passed away early this morning and I am so thankful for every day that I got to spend with her. I'm also thankful for her sense off humor and dislike of turkey to that I could actually chuckle that she waited for thanksgiving. In celebration of her, we will be eating ham today ;) This is also our first thanksgiving without grandma Judy - I will forever be thankful for her not being here to make deviled eggs ;)
I am extremely thankful to have such a wonderful husband that was there for me this morning and every other day. He is a great husband and an awesome daddy. I'm thankful for my doodle bug who keeps me smiling and grounded every day. She makes me really appreciate the little things. I'm thankful for all of my family and the bond that we all have. I'm thankful for my friends and all the support they give me. I'm thankful for my home, my car, and my house cleaner..... I'm thankful that my master's classes are over in June! I'm thankful for Black Friday sales and to have friends who understand my love of the madness! I am thankful for a classroom full of 25 little people excited to learn every day. I'm thankful for everyone that I work with - they make the day a little more intersting. I am thankful for my new kitchen-aid that made an awesome cake and icing this morning. I'm thankful for my faith in Christ because with him, I can do anything. I am thankful for Ohio State football and the enjoyment it brings to our entire family. I'm also thankful for the stinky brownies and yes, even for the bengals - just because of the converstions that we have with Zoe. I am thankful for puzzles because they provide some excellent family time with Punky. I am thankful for having shelter over my head, electricity, running water, and food to eat and the ability to provide this to many other people. Actually, I really just think that I am thankful for everything!
Love you all and happy turkey day.
Rest in peace grandma Dorothy and grandma Judy.....you are forever missed!

This is a video that Kathy took of Zoe dancing at her birthday party. I think it is so cute how she keeps trying to get Natalie to dance :) She's a little dancing machine and definitely gets her rhythm from her daddy!

-Hopefully this video works, this is the first time I've tried uploading one!

For those of you who didn't know, Ryan bought a new (to us) dump truck and of course the new truck couldn't live outside, and it won't fit into the existing garage, so we had to add on. If you know Ryan, when he puts his mind to something.....he really does it... So, here are pictures of the framing of the garage addition. Zoe says that daddy's building a garage for her to park her car in (her Barbi car that is).

Prayer Requests!

I have a few prayer requests as we go through this week....

1. Please continue to pray for Chris Clark's family. Chris was our heating and air contractor. He passed away last week after a hard fought battle with cancer. Chris and his girlfriend had been together since they were 12 (he was 34) and they have a 14 year old daughter.

2. Ken (Ryan's dad) is having surgery on Friday. It is a blessing that he has qualified for a cochlear implant! We have a few trying months ahead of us because he and Ryan talk several times a day. Over the next few months, he will not be able to hear. This will be difficult on all of us, not only in a business manner, but in all ways! In the end though, Zoe will be able to talk to her papaw and he will be able to hear her (fingers crossed)!

3. My grandma Dorothy has been battling cancer and emphysema for a few years now. The past few months have been really rough for her, but especially the past few days. We know that she has begun the stages of dying. Please pray that she is able to pass peacefully and painlessly. Although we have all known this was coming, it doesn't make it any easier for us!

We were really excited to take Zoe trick-or-treating, but weren't really sure how she was going to act. Once she got the first piece of candy in her bucket, she was ready to go! She wouldn't say trick-or-treat, but she said thank you to every person who gave her candy! She refused to let us help her carry her bucket, so after about 15 houses, she was dragging her bucket and ready to go home. What a cute little bug she made!