Joyful Day!

I set the alarm clock in Bry's room and told him and Erin that they were not to get up before 6:00!! Little did I know that Alannah would be awake and in bed with us around 3:00 am. By 5:30, we were beyond ready to get up and be relieved of face kicking! We opened stockings and by 6:00 we were preparing french toast and calling Grampa and Gramma Kelly.

Bry found the pickle ornament this year so he received the extra "pickle gift" from Santa. He spent several hours putting together his shark attack lego set. Alannah played most of the day with her two new balls while Erin sorted and examined two new American Girls and and their wardrobe full of outfits. I took pics with my new camera! :) Daddy finally has new books to read.

We had a relaxing day with family and fun. We hope the same for all of our loved ones!

"Twas the Night Before Christmas...

We went to Grandma and Grandpa Resinger's for Christmas Eve. Grandma had to work, so we couldn't wait for her to get home! There she is!!

Belly Full!

We ate dinner and then opened our presents.

Then we had to get home, spread Reindeer food, lay out Santa's cookies and get my babies on their way to dancing sugar plums!

'Twas two weeks before Christmas...

The Stockings Were Hung By The Chimney With Care...

One tree for outside...

One tree for inside...

One "Big Girl Bed" so that everyone can run downstairs to greet Santa!

Kelly Family, "What is your favorite part of preparing for Christmas?"

Bryan - decorating the tree

Erin - getting Christmas cards

Daddy - helping the kids make Mommy's present

Mommy - looking at all the ornaments, remembering years past

Alannah- have the "pretty tree" in the house

Happy UnThanksgiving!

For the first time in many years we didn't raise a turkey for Thanksgiving. But never fear, we had our own family fun!

'Lannah's first sledding trip and lots of book reading.

Everyone took a turn somersaulting down! WooHoo Momentum!

Later, after hot chocolate, Erin was inspired to make her own Eye Spy/Zoo Tycoon.

Can you find the dog?

All our love to our family and friends!

Happy Thanksgiving to All!!

SNOW DAY!!!

What??? School's Canceled???

Can we go outside???
Absolutely!
Can we go right now?!!
Yes! By all means go now!

These were taken at 6:45 - yes - AM!

It was still dark and snowing so hard I had to stand right next to them to get the pictures.

The poor dog is not so pleased about snow days! She, especially, is thankful for the snowblower. Rick is still at it - it is 20 after 7 and he still can't get the vans out to go to work.... that's serious dedication!

Halloween!

"Tikteet" "Tanoo" (trick or treat, thank you)

Alannah's first real trick or treat night! After the first house or two she was trying to take more than one piece!

Little Old Lady complete with powdered hair- even though she accidently left her dress at school. (Little old ladies are always forgetting things)

Ninja Turtle - after nearly having to hide the costume last month so that Bry couldn't sleep in it!

THE AFTERMATH:

the sorting:

telling Papa about the great event:

getting ready for my bath:

My Baby's Birthday!

2005 Halloween

2006 September

2007 Erin and Sky Eye

2008 Kit and Elizabeth

Spirit Day was Erin's birthday this year

Its your birthday - wear a dress!

Its your birthday - make a mess!

That's currently our favorite chant for birthdays. - Right after "Its my birthday- Its my birthday - Have a partae!"

My baby is 8 today! Never have 8 years gone so fast.

From my baby who was afraid to climb on the jungle gym until her brother went first - to my confident school girl who begged to learn cursive - to my worried daughter who missed one spelling word on her challenge test and rewrote it 15 times instead of the 5 required!

How is it possible to love someone so much?

More Fall Fun

What a busy weekend we had! I had class Friday night, all day Saturday and Sunday. When I got home on Saturday we got ready to go to the annual Sperry Chicken Party. The Sperry Farm is a huge local chicken and egg processing farm. Rick knows one of the owners through the school board and we are always invited. They usually have a giant pile of shelled corn for kids to play in, live Bluegrass music, and tons of good chicken to eat of course!!

On Sunday, when I left for class, we had a hard frost. I always think of James Taylor's song "frost is on the pumpkins..." Apparently Daddy was reminded of it too and decided to carve one of the pumpkins with the guys. The big pumpkin chosen turned out to be Alannah's. They roasted and snacked on the seeds for the rest of the day. An overall excellent fall weekend.

Prepare for Fall

Chill mornings, hot afternoons

Burnished leaves

Hollaring at tiny helmeted men on Sundays

Roaring old truck

Pumpkin smells wafting out of the oven

Evening fires and glowing embers

It must be fall.

The kids grew a pumpkin patch this year and scratched their names in the "best" ones. They spent some time cleaning and arranging pumpkins on the patio this morning.