Friends from KC

Courtney and Olivia came to visit us for a fun filled weekend. Ellie and Olivia hit it off and played outside for hours. Both girls had their own camera and spent much of their time taking pictures.

Lions, Tigers, and Bears Oh My!

Georgianna was my date to see "The Wizard of Oz" at the Walton Arts Center. It was her first play to see from the Broadway series.

Juliette Strikes Out!

We had a family outing to the bowling alley before school started back. The girls and David had a wonderful time beating me at bowling for the afternoon.

Happy New Year at Big Cedar!

To ring in the new year, we went to Big Cedar with The Shelhamers - Kevin, Kebra, Kylee, Baker and Kylee's friend, Abbie. For New Year's Eve, we grilled steaks and hung out waiting for the fireworks at midnight. Ellie was able to stay up for the festivities; but Georgianna and Baker crashed long before midnight.

G and Baker bathing after a day of playing

Kylee, Abbie and Ellie

Christmas Morning

Christmas morning is very relaxed at our house; we wake up between 7:30 and 8:00am and open presents and eat breakfast. We spend the rest of the day in our PJ's watching Christmas movies and playing with our new goodies.

Note: my Christmas and New Year's pictures were taken in a raw format with my digital camera so I have not been able to edit or enlarge the data.

Merry Christmas

As our tradition on Christmas Eve continues, we attended church for the candlelight service and then had our annual Christmas Eve dinner at our house with our family and the Farrahs. We had a delicious dinner of beef tenderloin and many side dishes. Before dinner, David read the Christmas story from the Bible and then we had a birthday cake for Jesus. The children left reindeer food on the lawn for Santa, Rudolph + others. It was a very enjoyable evening and we look forward to hosting it every year- Next year I need to get a group picture of all who attended!

Santa Claus is coming to town!

I took the girls to visit Santa at the mall as in years past. This was the first year that Georgianna was not scared of Santa and she was so happy to see him. Ellie took Harriett our Elf on the visit.

Christmas Sing-A-Long

Ellie's school had its annual Christmas brunch and musical. Each grade sings a few Christmas songs for the parents and siblings. Along with the breakfast; the school has a book fair. This year Clifford, the big red dog, was present.

Friends ... Emma Kate, Ellie and Gabrielle
3rd grade singing (E is in middle row)
Ellie & Georgianna with Clifford at the school book fair

Disney Dreams

For Thanksgiving this year, we went to Walt Disney World in Orlando with my family. The trip included my parents, my siblings and their spouses and children. The trip had been planned for over a year to work with everyone's schedule. I think we all had a fabulous time and enjoyed our time together.

Porter and Georgianna

Ellie with Mac

Ellie with "Thing 1 and Thing 2" (Dr. Suess character shirts)

Breakfast with Mickey Mouse

G and Buzz Lightyear (Porter)

Ellie, Snow White and G

Things I am thankful for ... my family

After a week of Disney, I am still thankful for all 15 1/2 members of my family!
The MacKenzies, Montagues, Tays and Toothakers.

Thanksgiving Song

Georgianna's class had a Thanksgiving party and they tried to sing an Indian song. G did not sing very much!

Twilight Moms

Juliette, Ramona, Cara and Traci

Ok... I admit it... I am addicted to the Twilight books. This afternoon I went with some friends of mine to see the new sold out Twilight movie. After waiting in line for 30 minutes, we were able to get in the theatre and finally see the movie. It was so fun to experience the crazy fans and the yelling and clapping in the theatre. The movie was good, but cheezy. I think we all enjoyed it and can not wait for the next movie in the series.