HO HO HO

Guess which scenario happened at our house on Christmas morning?

A. The kids snuck downstairs and saw all their presents early.
B. The kids waited patiently until Mom and Dad got 8 hours of sleep before
waking them up to see what Santa brought.
C. The kids woke Mom and Dad up at 2:30 a.m. to see if Santa came and stayed up until 5am without going back to sleep.

Answer: C

Can you believe that? Whew! Care actually went back to sleep for a couple of hours but Judson stayed up reading until the minimum wake up time of 5am was reached.

Presents from Santa:
Judson - crossbow (yes, that is legal) and an iPod shuffle
Caroline - Nellie, an American Girl doll, a keyboard, and an iPod shuffle

From Mom and Dad:
Judson - all the crossbow "stuff"
Caroline - 3 mini American girl dolls and their book sets
Lots of stocking stuffers!

Here are some pics from the event.

Christmas Eve is one day away!

This has sort of been an odd Christmas for our family because I had an ACL repair surgery done on December 19th. Ever since then I have been hooked up to a recirculating ice machine, continuous passive motion machine, and worn an immobilizer when moving (mostly to the bathroom). It looks more painful than it is but it definitely is keeping me in one place. I have cleaned up my email and sent ecards out this holiday season in lieu of snail mail cards. Friends have been wonderful to take the kids, bring food in and check on me regularly. Caroline has surprised me the most by taking great care of me through the night the first three nights I was home. She said, "Mom, I may be asleep but my ears are on!" Sure enough, she would pop up in the middle of the night when I called out to her and without complaining, get my crutches and walk patiently with me to the bathroom, get me water, etc. What a blessing! Brant has been cleaning up constantly to keep me happy. He had a closing today (first one in a few months) and has a planning commission meeting tonight. Tomorrow, Judson and Caroline are in a Christmas play at church. For the first time, Caroline will sing a solo and Judson is being the narrator. I am so excited that Brant's parents will be attending. I suppose I will hobble in and take a seat in the front....

Our 19th Anniversary

Make a Smilebox greeting

The Holidays are here!

The holidays are here! They seem to come around faster every year...just like birthdays! After a few days of sickness with a stomach virus (always something), we are adventuring out today to see Katie McKinstry (our friend and future star) in a play at the Suwanee Arts Center in which she is the lead. If we can handle it, we are going to the annual tree lighting at Northside Forsyth Hospital which has become a tradition for us. Caroline even wants to see Santa! I am trying to still see the magic of the holidays through the eyes of my kids. Once they found out about "Santa", it spoiled it a bit for me. Two years ago, Caroline snuck downstairs and saw us setting everything up. We did not see her though and she did not tell us until the next year. Judson was smart enough to never say a thing! He just grins really big whenever Santa is mentioned. They know they have to "pretend" to believe for Santa to show up with the goods! The real meaning of Christmas becomes apparent tomorrow when Judson goes with the Trailblazers (4th and 5th graders from our church) to carol at a nearby nursing home. We are also sponsoring several kids from needy families through our homeschool group and of course our kids in Africa, Kubra and Azani. If money were flowing better this year, we would have sent them a goat or a cow! (maybe next year)

Mom and Dad's 50th slideshow

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Care's very first smilebox

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Mom and Dad's 50th anniversary

Cannot believe that both my parents and Brant's parents made it to 50 years of marriage. It is truly a blessing. We just celebrated their 50th by going to Gulf Shores the week before Thanksgiving with the whole family. The beach was gorgeous and the views were so beautiful. I was sick however and coughed and sneezed nearly the whole time. I hope that I did not make anyone else sick! It was great to be in a relaxed setting with everyone with no schedules or time constraints. I wish that we had more time to spend together and more often. Happy Anniversary Mom and Dad! I am so proud of you and blessed to be a part of your family.

Judson as John McCain.... He wrote his speech and loved shaking hands with everyone. He was making everyone laugh. It was great! Judson has definitely inherited some of the "politician" characteristics in both the Meadows and the Dunlap families!

Caroline made her debut as an artist at an art show at the True Conference at CCC. She absolutely loves art and wants to paint and create things constantly!

Halloween and Presidential Election...

Wow! Halloween sure is fun.... This year Caroline was a "Disco Dolly" and Judson...well he wanted to be a hippie but ended up being John McCain. After a few months of studying the presidential election process, he gave a speech to the 4H group about what he had learned. He thought it might be boring and decided to dress up as John McCain. It was a great success. Our church had its first annual "Trunk or Treat" and he decided to dress as Senator McCain once again and won the best child costume award. He really loved shaking hands with everyone. I hope it isn't the only "win" that McCain has. Brant did the honors of taking the kids out for traditional trick or treating since I had to work and have torn my ACL doing karate so I cannot walk very well at the moment. The kids are ALREADY talking about what they will "be" next year!

My birthday at the fair...

Another birthday..... They are just not as FUN as they used to be. Maybe it is because I realize that I am getting older with each one??? Actually, it is a day that my family and friends chose to let me know how much I mean to them...with gifts, cards, phone calls, and just being there. I am very blessed to have so many people in my life that really love me and if it takes another birthday to help me realize that...then so be it. We did our annual trip to the Cumming Country Fair and Festival. It was a blast!

Updates, lots of updates....

Wow! I am not doing very well at posting. I have ALOT of catching up to do. Since my last posting, our family has gone camping, on vacation to Florida, celebrated Judson's 10th birthday and black belt, and gone to an AU game. We have been SO busy that I have hardly had a chance to download pictures much less blog. Here is my chance to catch up with just a few of the pics that have made the last month special. We have bonded as a family and also had much fellowship with friends as well. God is blessing us and we thank him. Praise God from whom all blessings flow!

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Olympics Fun

We are having so much fun studying and watching the Olympic games in Beijing. We have done craft projects (made torches), plotted all the countries that are participating on the world map, kept a standing list that we change each day for the total medal counts, and learned more and more about China. Caroline had a sleepover on 8/8/08, the night of the Opening Ceremonies. There are lots of Auburn athletes (especially in swimming) that have competed and done well. This is especially fun to watch...

My first smilebox..press play and slow it down!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Visit to Rebecca's and Silver Comet Bike Trail

Whew! It is SOOOO hot in Georgia in August! Yesterday was our OFFICIAL first day of school for the 2008-2009 school year. We are starting out slow with an Olympics study...we are labelling all the participating countries on our world map and learning all about the origins and traditions associated with the games. The opening ceremonies are Friday! Today we took a field trip to see our cousin, Rebecca Teaff, who lives in Smyrna, Georgia (about 45 minutes away). She lives right next to the Silver Comet Bike Trail and we took the opportunity to go and ride our bikes before our visit. It is such a cool trail which is a total of 63 miles in length. Caroline and I rode six miles...Brant and Judson went on for ten. We loved visiting with Rebecca and seeing her new house...it is beautiful! She has a great job at the American Cancer Society as an editor and she shared some books with us that had been written by children whose mom had battled cancer. They were very special to us because our precious five year old neighbor, Kristen has battled leukemia for the past year. Rebecca sent her one of the books and a pin which she loved! Thanks Rebecca!

July is almost over!

July is almost over...tomorrow is the LAST day! Where did the time go? We have spent most of the summer at our pool at Windermere. We have invited alot of friends over and will continue to do so until the pool closes the second week in September. The slide is a big hit with Judson and Caroline's friends. I remember the kids BEGGING to swim in early spring and now they are actually getting tired of it.

My wonderful family

I am following in the footsteps of my nieces and starting a blog. I can never seem to motivate myself to scrapbook anymore and all my pics are digital SO hopefully I will be able to save some "memories" this way. I love the computer and I am on it alot so I hope to create a habit of virtual scrapbooking. I want my wonderful family to know how much I love them and I want to share small things that happen in their lives...especially my children. I sit here in front of the computer after working at the hospital and the house is VERY quiet. Everyone is asleep except me and the kitties.