Christmas & New Years!

I have received several emails from people wondering if we are ok since I have not been blogging. We are in fact fine and just spent the last couple of weeks enjoying our family time. We have just been busy, I know.....surprising isn't it! I hope to keep up with the blogging now. Christmas and New Years are behind us and now here are atleast 2 big things coming up in the near future. The first happens in 10 days, and that is my 30th birthday! Honestly, I'm not sure how I feel. I am kinda sad that I am going to be 30. I don't feel any different, and I have accomplished quit a few things, but I keep thinking in 30 years did I accomplish everything I wanted too? My goal in life was always to be a wife and mother. I would consider those accomplished! My hubby and I will be celebrating 10 years this June, and I of course have 4 wonderful children! Four children in 6 years seems like a over achievement to me! It helps when they come in two though! I guess for the next few years, I hope to accomplish some things for myself. Losing weight is one of them, and just being happy. I am easily stressed and worry constantly (doesn't help with the weight issue I know). I have started at the gym almost 2 months ago now and we are actually quit faithful. I haven't seen a ton of results, but alot of that is eating right. As many with big families know, we cannot afford to eat right. We always have food on the table, but it's normally not the "right" food. I do feel alot better now that i am going to the gym and I can do things now that I never thought I would be able to do. An example, when we first started at the gym, I could only do 2-3 min. on the elliptical machine. Now, I can do 30 min.! This is a huge accomplishment to me! I know exercise alone will not get me to where I want to be, but atleast I am trying. Enough about that :) The second big event is the girls 3rd birthday! My babies will be 3! When I first had the girls, I never thought I would make it through the first year, never mind 3. It was harder than I let most people see. I was so busy that sadly I do not remember the first year at all. That is something I wish I could go back to and ask for help so I could have honestly enjoyed and cherished it more. Two is sooo much harder than one! I hope if there are any others reading this that either have newborn twins/multiples or are pregnant with twins/multiples, please ask for help. I honestly was able to handle it by myself, but like I said, I cannot remember that first year at all. Anyway, enough about that as well. On to our late news from the past 2 weeks!

I can't recall too much excitement from the past two weeks, so this shouldn't be too lengthy :). As you can tell (by my lack of blogging), everyone made it home safely. Sarah and John got most of their belongings into storage and they are all staying at my moms for now. They are making it work in a very minimal amount of space. It amazes me how much things have changed and how much closer our family has become. I think everyone has done alot of growing up. I say that because 2 years ago they never would have been able to live together. I think Grayson brings our family closer together. He is such a sweet baby. He's very happy and always has a smile for everyone. He very seldom cries, but he sure can yell when he needs something or when you forget to feed him (I found that out yesterday). It's so fun watching him grow up (I know it's only been 2 weeks), and even though he is the best baby, I honestly have no desire to go back and do it again. Did I mention that I do not get to hold him very often because Latoya wants to hold him every second that he is around. She never gets sick of holding him and I think she would take him home and keep him if she could. So, on the home front, thing are going well. Sarah and John's house finally closed yesterday. A couple of prayer requests, pray for John to find work and my sister Jessica as well.

On to other news, the weekend before Christmas all of our church buses were vandalized as well as one of the classrooms in the church. The vandals did quit a bit of damage. Of course most of us believe it to be local teens since it was school vacation. I have heard that they have a lead, but we all know that if it is teenagers then the church will get nothing for restitution. Here is a local news story and a picture in the paper on the vandalism http://www.wcsh6.com/video/news/player.aspx?sid=77203&aid=30058 . Most people do not realise that the church does this as a ministry for children and adults alike that have no other way to church. They do not charge the people to ride the bus even though they travel 20-30 min. each way to pick people up. It's just sad to have people disrespect the church like that. For some kids, going to church is the only bright thing in their week. Now we have gone 3 weeks without being able to bring them to church. So, please pray that the buses are up and running soon.


Christmas was very quiet and relaxed this year. Doug had to work, so we went to my moms around 11 so they did not have to stare at their Christmas presents all morning without being able to open them. The children were very blessed this year. We had a local business that donated lots of Christmas gifts to our children. They received more than they needed that's for sure. We spent the day at my parents, the kids opened their gifts there, then we hung out and waited for daddy to get done working. It was so great to be able to watch Grayson on his first Christmas! Had they not moved home, we would have missed that. He really liked the wrapping paper and loved opening his presents. We got him a bumbo seat that he seemed to enjoy. Doug got home at around 4:30 then came to grammy's where we enjoyed a Christmas dinner. After we ate, we finally headed home so the kids could open their presents. Because it was so late (6:30 pm.), we just let them open them one right after the other instead of stopping and actually opening each gift. Auntie Sarah and Uncle John came over after we were done and helped the kids get their things out of the boxes. Here are some pictures and a slide show (very long). You will notice that in most of the pictures that Latoya has a black eye. Before Christmas, she hit her eye on the corner of her bureau. It is just now going away now.

Here is a picture of Jordan's bed tent that he got. It looks just like Thomas the train and slides right over his bed. We couldn't afford to get him a real Thomas bed, and we were able to get this on clearance for $15. He really likes it and I would recommend it to any Thomas fans! It fits right over a standard twin size bed.


This is a picture of Latoya's new bed set. It is silky and has the princesses in the middle of the comforter. She loves it!


Yesterday for New years Eve, we had everyone over here for supper and games. Before supper, Daddy, Sarah, John, Jess, and all our 4 kids went sledding at our church. We have a huge hill that alot of people use to sled down. This was the twins first real sledding experience. I hate the cold, so I did not go, plus someone had to stay and watch Grayson (I hate that I did not get any pictures of their first real sledding experience though). I was more than happy to do so, because it meant that I got my first real alone time with him. Like I said earlier, whenever I am able to see him, I have to fight with Latoya and everyone else to actually hold him and play with him. I think the rest of them were sledding for about an hour. Grayson was very well behaved and loved talking to his auntie. I fed him some food, but am a little out of practice and forgot to feed him his bottle. He kept saying "mama, mama". Thankfully they were already on their way to our house and he was fed as soon as they got here. Poor baby. We then ate supper. We had turkey, potato's, stuffing, and beans. After supper, we played some games. Our new favorite is "spoons". If you've never played it, I highly recommend it. Grammy and Grandpa had to go home early as Grandpa has not been feeling well. The rest of us only stayed up till 10. I have no desire to actually "see" the new year come in. So, that is the end of my post. I will end by asking for one more prayer request. Grandpa has not been feeling well for quit a while. If he eats, he eats very little. We're not sure what is going on, but if you could put him on your prayer lists, that would be great. I think it is going on about 1 1/2 weeks now. He just thinks he is overtired, but that usually doesn't keep you from eating. Anyway, that is it for now. I hope to update more frequently now that the holidays are over. I hope everyone had a great Christmas and a Happy New Year!