Happy 9th Anniversary to my dear Husband!

Although it feels like a lot longer,and sometimes much less time.
Nine years ago today when the world was going to stop We gathered with our closest family and friends and I married the man I love. My best friend. The one who knows me better than anyone ever has (even myself sometimes) and I am thankful for that everyday.
Happy Anniversary Bill!!

December 31, 1999

Here's to many more years of wedded bliss...........................

Christmas Day

What a crazy Christmas day we had! Woke up bright and early. Well actually I didn't sleep much it was so windy I was just waiting for one of the kids to wake up and come in our room. Then Ethan and Elena both woke up around 5 AM to go to the bathroom and then I had to get them back to sleep. Natalie woke up crying around 6 AM and finally we had to wake up dad and Jason around 6:30 AM because I couldn't take it anymore. Mom and Dad went downstairs turned some lights on, got the coffee going and then started playing the Christmas music so the kids could come down. This pic did not come out clear, too many lights.They read the letter that Santa left them. Ethan got a new snow shovel so he can help dad with one his size when it snows and Elena got a new sled. Before we opened presents we lit a candle and sang "Happy Birthday to Jesus" and then they started tearing open the gifts! They all got so many nice things. They shouldn't need to complain of boredom the rest of vacation! Ethan has been busy playing his new star wars game and building all kinds of things with his K'nex. Elena and Natalie have been playing with their new computers and princesses. Of course Madison our cat got some treats as well. He always has to lay right on top of the wrapped gifts. Crazy cat!Natalie's favorite gift of Christmas is her new black puppy she named Sparkle. She has said at least 100 times "That was nice of Santa to give me this black puppy" and Sparkle hasn't left her side.
I was cracking up to see miss Elena as a blonde! She got a Hannah montana dance mat complete with the wig and so she tried it on briefly. It was soo funny! We ended the day with a yummy chicken dinner and my Dad and Pam came over to hang out with us.

Christmas Eve 2008

This Christmas was a nice one, Christmas day a whole other story. I will post only about Christmas Eve now. The kids woke up so excited! We usually have my nephew over and exchange gifts with him, but his little sister was sick. So we spent the day getting things ready with friends stopping by dropping off gifts and just a lot of excitement.

We had a sit down Christmas dinner this year which is something we haven't done for at least 10 years. When the family started growing, we changed it to an appetizer buffet, which has always been great- chock full of yummy food. This year everything was great and it was nice to just sit down together and be thankful for one another.
The kids got everything they wanted, so they were all wound up and goofing around with their cousins. Aunt Sandy got the grasshoppers going and we all got silly! The silly gift exchange wasn't as crazy as in years past. Everyone kind of picked a gift suited for them. It was weird..
While we did our gift exchange Jen had put together gingerbread houses for the kids to decorate. They broke into two teams and had fun. Of course 10 minutes after they built them, they asked if they could destroy them. Only our kids......

Round 2 was desserts and coffee and don't forget the plum pudding!
After our fun filled evening, we came home with a bunch of sleepy heads and read the night before Christmas and Shreks version as well. Hee, hee. and off to dreamland we went!

Christmas at Grandpa & Grandma Witts

We celebrated Christmas with my side of the family over the weekend. It was nice to see everyone and get together with them. The kids didn't even realize it was a Christmas party until we were getting ready to go. Then the excitement began!! Ethan liked getting to see cousin Joseph.
Elena was soo happy that she got her Barbie Computer.My sister Kristi, Just got her drivers license! SCARY!My little girls...What handsome guys. Looking so festivis-ish

I will add more when I get them. Grandpa took the group shots, I don't have them. So that's all for now. Merry Christmas!

Miss Natalie and Miss Alex

Aren't they cute as can be? Miss Natalie and her best friend had a chance to hang out recently. It's been awhile since they have been able to play together and they had a BLAST! They had to hold hands to go get Ethan and Elena from school :)

Soo, soo cute. That's all I can say.

Ethan's Christmas Program

This year Ethan's 2nd grade class had a Christmas program and it was as cute as ever! I had to snap a pic of him and his friends being silly before the program. I absolutely love watching these little kids sing their songs and dance. His music teacher was my music teacher when I was in elementary school :) She does such a good job with all the kids. She was one of my favorite teachers and I am glad that he gets to have her also.Their theme this year was a Holiday parade and they had some cute songs. He practiced them so much miss Elena walks around singing his songs. He had a speaking part again this year, He couldn't wait for that and he did a great job.

Thanksgiving 2008

Before I start overloading with all the Christmas pics and events that are happening already, I wanted to post about Thanksgiving this year. We went to my dad's house for an early dinner and spent time with my dad and grandparents and my brother Jeremy too. It was nice to see him and catch up.
I have always claimed Christmas as my favorite Holiday, but I realized this year that Thanksgiving is. You get together with family just to be together and eat. Think of all the blessings you have and just spend time together. What a wonderful thing.The kids enjoyed themselves, they always love to go to Grandpa's to hang out. Jeremy has tanks of fish and turtles all over the house so the kids were quite entertained with that. We later stopped by Aunt Sandy's and had some dessert and looked through the piles of sale ads for the next day. It was a wonderful Thanksgiving and I am so Thankful for that!!

Jen and Brandon's Wedding

Happy 6th Birthday Elena Catherine!

Our Little girl is turning six years old today. They don't have school today so we get to spend a nice day together, which will include a trip to Toys R' US because she has money burning a hole in her pocket and a gift card to use. Funny the things they remember. So I am taking a stroll down memory lane. She is growing up so quickly. I love reliving what happened on the night she was born and the day she was born we had a big snowstorm and I don't believe it has snowed that much early in November and this year we have had snow already. Takes me back..

Me and Elena

Her 1st Christmas one month old. Look at those cheeks!

Six months old. Such squeezable chubbers! Sweet little girl. Two years old and full of smiles

I'm Three! She let everyone know! These were the HeffaLUMP( gotta make a popping noise when you say the "P" sound) days Four years old, a preschool beauty :)
The big FIVE can't believe that was a year ago already!

Happy Birthday Birdie!

Elena's Birthday Parties

Miss Elena has another whole week until she is officially 6, but don't try to tell her that. We did all the celebrating last weekend, so she is telling everyone she is six now. I thought we would do it early this year since next weekend we have a wedding and wedding stuff all weekend and I hate to push her together Thanksgiving weekend. So now we can just chill out, spend time together and decorate the house! Our birthday girl.We started Saturday by having a friend party for her. She invited some of her friends from school, preschool and church. Luckily it was only a two hour deal because they were a pretty crazy group! She had so much fun playing games and goofing around.

Sunday we got together with family which was nice. We did a potluck lunch and had cake and ice cream. It was nice to see everyone and she loves to spend time with cousins!

My dad's girlfriend Pam was nice enough to make her birthday cake and she loved it!

Miss Natalie had other plans for Sunday, she went to a friends birthday party. She had a royal birthday tea party to attend. She was to come as a princess. She chose Cinderella. Oh come on, smile! What kind of a smile is that? Oh that is miss Natalie's smile :)

It was a busy, but fun filled weekend. I cannot believe our little one is gonna be six!

Aunt Judy's Visit

The circumstances were unfortunate for Aunt Judy's visit with us last month. We lost an important member of our family. Uncle Tom was loved and will be missed by us all. We were very happy that Aunt Judy took us up on our offer to stay with us though. It was nice to catch up and get to know her a little bit better. We also got to meet a sister I didn't even know she had! She came to hang out with us for an afternoon. So we all got together for some group shots. The first one is Aunt Judy (middle) with her sisters and the great nieces and nephews.
The rest of our crew, minus a few of the fellas. I know there is a possibility that she will be coming back for Christmas, I sure hope so and I hope she comes back and stays here with us!