S'more Christmas pics

We spent Christmas Eve at the Lion's Den.  Do we look as stuffed as we were in this pic??  

No more dressing up in princess clothes..Geesh!

Allie was SOOO excited to give Mary a Christmas present.  She'd won $15 in October in an art contest.  For 2 months, she tried to decide what to buy.  When we went on our date in December, she said, "Mamma, we are going to the toy store!  I know exactly what Mary wants for Christmas."  Love it!

Cinnamon rolls!  

The kids and I headed back to Arkansas to see my crazy family.  Here are the 9..and Chubby makes 10!

 Can't go to Nana's and not make smores!  Guess we were still working on the Halloween marshmellows.

My twin bro and his wife.  Happy Bday Amber!

Two of the "triplets."  Garrett has two cousins born in the two months after he was born.  He and Abigail look so big!

You can imagine that football season gets a little "heated" in this family.

Mary and Anna Kate

Adam and Abbott...look alike? Much in this pic:)

We've had a wonderful couple of weeks FILLED to the top with family and friends.  That's one of my favorite things about Christmas for sure.  Can't believe the new year is about to arrive.  Our BIG new year awaits us!

Strong and Courageous

A friend  from Rochester lived out Deuteronomy 31:6, one of my favorite verses.

Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the LORD your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you."

2 1/2 years ago, Laura was diagnosed with stage 4 stomach cancer.  She walked this journey with incredible faith and courage.  Following her journal posts the last 2 years has increased my faith and the faith of so  many others.  Laura passed away last week leaving a husband of 16 years and 3 beautiful children.  My heart aches for this family.  Laura is fully whole and restored, and through Christ her family will be carried, but please lift them up in the days and months to come.  





Laura Rider from Craig Peterson on Vimeo.

Merry Christmas

We had a blast celebrating Christmas with the cousins last week!  It gets wilder every year.  I love it!  

Here are a few more pics that I didn't want to leave out!  

Those two are two peas in a pod.

Loot at the girls holding hands:)

Happy Birthday Jesus!

Had a great visit with my Sarah!

Christmas 2011

Christmas 2010 

They've changed a little!

Merry Christmas!

"Polar" Opposites

The hubs and I see eye to eye on the important stuff, but when it comes to being on time.....well, let's just say we handle it differently.


I can't help it.  I was wired this way.  As a kid, I remember pacing in front of the house waiting on the mom down the street to pick me up for school.  Every day, I thought I'd be late, even though every day we were there on time.  So now you know my history.

The day school ended for Christmas break, the kids opened their Christmas pjs realizing we were headed to the Polar Express!

We met up with our two other enthusiastic families.  Now we've had a close call before, almost missing the train.  This was not going to be our fate today.  We left with PLENTY of time.  My heart rate steady, I sat back in my seat while the hubs led the way in the car ahead.  

Within five minutes, my heart rate was already up.  For some reason, he decided to try a different way.  The GPS did recommend this new route, but it was not a route we'd ever taken.  It was actually a route I'd been warned against by a friend the day before.  I expressed my angst, but the hubs was so accustomed to my worrying about things like this, that he really didn't listen!  We ended up stuck in traffic.  My friends saw a new side of me.  To put it mildly, a frustrated side!  It took us about 2 hours to get there.  12 of us ran toward the train, screaming at children, forgetting cameras, looking for will call, and hanging up the chance at a potty stop.

You know why they are soooo happy?  Because we made it, we made it!

Little lion and Allie...love it that they still get so excited.

Garrett's first ride!  He loved loved loved it!

The night was of course a huge success.  Hubs always pulls it off! ALWAYS!  I'm thankful, but it was a long trip down!  When the train ride ended, there were dozens of families waiting to board the train after us.  Little lion exclaimed, "Mom, we are so LUCKY we got here so early!"  All he knew was that we didn't have to wait a bit, and all these people did!  So LUCKY:)

I love those two girls!  Mamma lion and family are reporting that they are moving to another town, but I am in denial.  It's a good place to be!  The three of us have met in MOPS years ago, and we've managed to keep a good thing going. I truly am "so lucky:)"

For Grandparents only

This post is exclusively for grandparents because no one else could possibly be interested in watching ONE MORE program! ha.  Just like everyone else, our last few weeks have been FILLED with programs and parties.  Here are a few clips from different ones the kids were in.  

Garrett's school program.  He is in top right corner.

Allie had a short speaking park in their school program.

Mary's kindergarten class came to our house for their party, and they sang Christmas songs for the parents.

and finally, here is a snippet of Mary at her little dance Christmas program.  I didn't even film the choir program at church.  Just got tired of filming!

Little man has loved the sugar over load!

Mary's gift exchange for kindergarten.  Crazy fun.

Allie's class made these silly glasses...had a little lesson on keeping the right "focus" at Christmas.  

Yahoo...school is OUT!!! Now the fun begins!  We went to the Polar Express last night, and that is definitely a post all to itself thanks to the hubs.  CRAZY night!  So excited for Christmas break:)

From the back seat

When I dropped the girls off at school yesterday, G said, "My sisters are my best friends."  Maybe the terrible 3's have peaked!

A good laugh

I'm sure this is one of those "You just had to be there" moments, but I have to blog it because I don't want to forget it.

My friend, Amy, and I meet at Chick fil a every Monday.  It's one of Garrett's favorite things all week.  He was playing in the play room, and we were chatting, and he decided to go potty, but didn't come get me.  My other kids would never think to go to the bathroom alone, and it's a little embarrassing that I didn't see him leave the play room!

So, in mid-sentence, I see a green  flash in the corner of my eye, and I hear people laughing.  Garrett is running across the restaurant with his jeans around his ankles (thankfully he had pulled his whitey tighties up).  He was screaming, "I need you to help me pull my pants up" and laughing because everyone else was laughing.  By the time he made it to me, Amy and I were laughing so hard that we were crying, and I couldn't even get upset with him for running off.  We were all just laughing!!! 

The day started with a flat tire, and I really did need a good laugh.  I can always count on my little man to make it happen:)

Simple things

I'm behind about 10 blog posts, and I was about to blog about my most wonderfulest weekend in Georgia, and then I realized, I need to go to bed.  So, I'm going to keep it simple tonight.


I found this note on the table last night....

Ummm.....If I need her, wake her up for help? :)  Wow, that is not the way it's been for the last almost 9 years.  Love it.

It looks like the coast is clear...

Allie and Mary will never know I took their candy..

...almost there...

Ahhh....candy accomplished.

Think anyone will notice????