2008

Happy New Year!!!

Tamales and Black Eyed Peas, that's what we have in our house on New Years. Starting the year off with a bowl of Black Eyed Peas is supposed to bring you good luck for the new year, not sure that it works, but wouldn't want to chance it.

Oh, and cinnamon rolls for dessert. No tradition, we just like them.

Christmas 2007

What a crazy month, but a Wonderful Christmas. We were blessed to have Travis' parents and grandma come for a week to spoil our kids and pump them up with sugar, after all, that's what grandparents are for.

Christmas morning was fun and not too dreadfully early. I guess it was around 7:30 when Molly pulled us out of bed. We made it down stairs, took a moment to recall the birth of Christ through scripture, and then the unveiling of the gifts began. First, stockings...

I love stockings. It was always my favorite growing up and now I get to see my kids enjoy it just as much as I did. Santa always put a can of olives in our stockings and we were quick to open them and put them on all our fingers eating them off one by one, is that weird? My kids love them too.

Grammy and Poppy,
the kids LOVED the gifts. Molly has already produced some beautiful art, Dillon has spent a lot of time pushing his vintage ferry boat around and collecting the passengers, and Charlee carries around her doll like a baby. It's fortunate, however, it's not a real baby since she's frequently dropping it on it's head and then tripping over it.
You guys always know just the right things to get them, thank you so much.



So the day came and went. Our family was able to stay for a while, but had to fly out this morning and we were all sad to see them go. We leave for Texas on Thursday and I am thoroughly looking forward to some warmer weather. I hope you all enjoyed your Christmas and have a Happy New Year.

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas
As we celebrate this day, this Christmas spirit, may we all feel the love of our Lord and remember the miracle that was the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ. We love you all and wish you all peace and happiness on this joyous day.

Just An Update For The Family

Our Stormy Sunday

Our Little Snow Bunny


A Fun Family Activity

Child Abuse?

Dillon recently got into this whole spitting thing. We call them raspberries, you know when they stick there tongue out and spit all over everything. Anyhow, this was going on for a couple of days and nothing we did seemed to get him to stop until Travis came up with this...

We told him that every time he did a raspberry he would get a drop of tabasco sauce on his tongue. After the first couple drops the raspberries stopped, what a breakthrough. The problem with this, however, is that now I find myself using the threat of tabasco for everything. If you hurt one of your sisters, tabasco, if you use potty talk, tabasco, if you look at me the wrong way, tabasco. I think I am a little out of control and probably just need to throw away the Tabasco.

Great Women

I have been very blessed to serve with such great women. I work with Sara, Kendra, and Jen in my church calling and they have each had an impact on my life in different ways. Sara had us all over for dinner tonight and while the food was great, the company was even better. Thanks to all of you for all that you are.

I haven't had much time to blog, I haven't had a computer, but I had to take a minute to blog about this . . .

I HAVE A BRAND NEW NIECE!!! Beautiful little Danielle (Dani) Marie Bills. My brother and sister in-law just had there first baby. She is beautiful, healthy, and 5lbs and 5oz; this is great considering she was 5 weeks early.

Transformation Wednesday?

I know I missed the transformation Tuesday. I don't have a computer during the day and Travis is in finals mode, this means he is attached to the computer into the night at most times. I somehow managed to get it tonight based on the meltdown of his brain, every cloud has a silver lining.

Anyhow, I haven't been up to much transforming other than getting all the Christmas stuff out, so that's what your going to see . . .
Travis got this Nativity Scene for me for my birthday the year we got married . . .

Travis's grandma gave us this village We set it up on top of our TV armoire, the kids love it.

The little red trees on the left side of the mantle are some Travis and I made When Molly was a baby. Once the children roll in the time consuming crafts are out.

Country Lights

Another Christmas tradition we have had since moving to Cleveland is "Country Lights", a wagon ride at Lake Farm Parks. You take a horse drawn wagon through a trail of lights.....

visit Santa (Charlee wasn't big on this one), ......

and Visit Santa's workshop (the kids favorite). At Santa's workshop you get to pick out, assemble (with the help of your very own elf), and decorate a solid wood toy.

Periodically the elves will jump up on the table and do a dance, following this foam snow falls from the ceiling, the whole experience is pretty magical.

Tickets sell out fast so you have to call early, but for $6.00 an adult and I think $4.00 a child 2 and up, you get to do it all.
For more info. you can call (440) 256- 2158 and ask about "Country Lights".

Tuesday Transformation

I know ideally I would have taken the before picture before I started painting, but I got ahead of myself. So I'm hoping this crooked picture will help give you more of the before feeling.


Who would have thought that nothing but paint would make the smallest bathroom in the world look almost decent.


For all of you in Cleveland with kids that like trains, Mentor Mall has a really cute one up for the holidays. $1.50 to ride and the kids love it.


We should tell daddy that candles, even while unlit, are still not the best thing to let babies play with.

The Tree Farm

Our family tradition is to go out and cut our tree the day after Thanksgiving, and that's just what we did. There is this great tree farm in West Farmington, Amish Country. There are wagon rides out to the tree of your choice and then they bag it and help you get it on your car. After you get your tree you can go to the barn and enjoy yummy hot chocolate and roast hot dogs and marshmallows for s'mores. All this is free except the tree which you can pay anywhere from $5 - $10 a foot depending on the type of tree you want. If your interested in directions, let me know or call them, Whispering Pines (440)693-4354. The drive was so beautiful and we really had a great time, it's time to bust out the Christmas music.

Just an update for the grandmas, sorry it's sideways.

The Big Turkey Day

(we laminated some leafs we collected to make some festive place mats)

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!

My whole body hurts. Who would have thought that cooking a single meal could be as exhausting as..... doing something else really exhausting. When it's all said and done the food was great, and will continue to be great for the next couple of days, and the company was even better. We start the day out with the Thanksgiving Parade, the kid's love watching the floats as they glide through New York City. I let Molly put together the veggie, meat, and cheese tray, a responsibility I was given as a young girl. It was sad not to have my in-laws here with us this time. I especially noticed this when I was cleaning out the turkey, a job my mother-in-law has so graciously done for me in the past. Travis and Dillon had to run to Home Depot this morning to get a part for the toilet that decided to stop working, it was closed, so one toilet down on a day when you're meant to eat a ton. The snow always helps to give you that holiday feeling, and it did snow quite a bit today. We had our neighbor, Judy, over and some friends, Kaleena and Blake with their two beautiful daughters. What a great day, I hope you all had a great one too.

Tuesday Transformation

I am starting this cheesy Tuesday Transformation blog thing. The purpose for this is twofold . . . One, to keep you all on the edge of your seats waiting in anticipation for the next Tuesday to see what I have transformed. Two, ( and this is really the only reason) To motivate myself to start actually doing some of the many projects I have been putting off for the last whatever.

So I have wanted to dress-up this fireplace for the 2 1/2 years that we have lived here and I finally did. All it took was some black spray paint. What a difference!

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is just around the corner and I want to express my gratitude for the oh so many blessings in my life. I am thankful for great parents who brought me up to be independent, confident, and fun loving. I am thankful for my brothers and sister who made growing up so much fun, I love and respect each of them and am thankful for the closeness we share. I am thankful for meeting such a wonderful man who I am eternally sealed to and thankful for the knowledge of the gospel that makes that possible, we have three beautiful children that I truly couldn't imagine life without. These are some of the bigger things, but there are so many more things everyday, every minute, that I can only acknowledge as blessings........ my health, happiness, intellect, imagination, and all the other things that make each day interesting.
So today I am thankful for this holiday that causes me to stop and really think of all the things I have to be thankful for.

Knitting

Today a friend of mine took Molly to a knitting class, this is what she came home with. I'm not to sure what it is, but it sure is cute.

School Pictures and Stuff

Dillon made this turkey at school today. The things kids appreciate.

A couple of nights ago Dillon did something naughty and Travis had to put him in time-out. Dillon got really upset and I think Molly must have felt bad for him because she went into the other room and quickly sketched this up and delivered it to Dad. The little boy crying is Dillon, The bigger boy with the scary mean look on his face is Daddy, and the beautiful butterfly in the middle is, of course, Molly.

Molly's Kindergarten School Picture

Dillon's Pre-School School Picture