Annual Christmas Lights Trip

We went for our annual trip to Welton Park last night.
The lights were as always very pretty. It was extra cold this year.

(If you look really close at Joshua's hands, you can see a new trend..........a sock on one hand and a glove on the other. One glove got lost on the way there, be we found it in the driveway when we returned.)

Christmas Play

Saturday night and Sunday morning, we had our Christmas play at church. It was wonderful once again. Everyone did a really good job.....as for our family......Matt was awesome on the drums and John did a wonderful job on his solo. There were a couple of technical problems but it worked out just fine.
Here is a photo of all the kids singing at the beginning of the play. Joseph is on the first row on the left(third person) and John is on the third row on the right side(fifth person from the right).


Here is a picture of John in the small singing group. They sang Tell Me the Story. Doesn't he look so handsome and grown up in his shirt and tie?

Christmas Cookies

The boys had fun decorating cookies today. They turned out really good.
Joseph really likes to put on the gum drops...........I mean he REALLY likes to put them on. His one cookie had 6 gum drops on it's face. You can see it in the bottom left corner.


Mommy had fun too........

Family Photo

It's always a challenge for us to get a good family photo. There is always someone who is not looking at the camera or in my case making a really crazy face. This year was not different. Here are a couple of takes.


SURPRISE!!



Joshua getting away.



Matt after several takes.



The finished product.

Christmas Time is Here

Christmas is going to be here before you know it. The boys decorated the tree last night....well at least John and Joseph...........Joshua was the undecorator....you can see him reaching for the snowman.

We were enjoying the new CD Matt's mom got us, while we were decorating.........

John's favorite

Christmas Give Aways

5minutesformoms.com is having a big Christmas Give. Check it out.

2008 Hunting Camp

Hunting camp was very fun this year! We got to hunt in real snow, and to top it off, Dad and I both got bucks. He got his Tuesday morning, then I went and set in his spot Wednesday morning and killed mine about 50 feet from where his was standing.



Like I said, there was some snow...............about 10 inches on the picnic table when we arrived on Sunday, and we got about 4 more inches while we were there. Tuesday evening and night, the wind gusts were between 40 and 50 mph. By Wednesday, there were some serious drifts.

Jonathan's big buck

John's 9th Birthday

John was really scared that his friends were not going to come over, because this is what we woke up too. But it worked out.........all the snow was gone by the time they came.



We can't believe our baby has grown so much. He's quite the little man.

John (2 months)


He had a great birthday. His highlight was spending time with his friends. It was really nice. I am thankful for the great friends God has given to him.

Joshua's "New Groove"

Joshua was born with a groove in his step. He loves music and loves to dance.

Bird Watching

We are studying birds in Science this year. We have been making bird feeders, putting out seed and watching to see what birds come by. John and Joseph are enjoying it very much. They like to look at things up close and personal.

New Hair Do

Yesterday, I decide to try a new hair style. I cut it myself, if you didn't guess. When I came out of the bathroom John said "did you cut your hair?". It is at least 4 inches shorter in the back but the front is the same. Joseph didn't even notice.

Matt's Manly Ride

As most of you know, Matt hit a deer a couple of Saturdays ago with his truck. Because the truck was not worth much and our insurance didn't cover any of the damages, we have decided to go ahead and get Matt a different more Manly truck. It's definitely not new but it looks new for a 1999 and has pretty low miles. I'm sure when you see Matt driving he will have a Really Big Smile on his face!

First Snow

It's snowing here this morning. I can't believe it. It will be Christmas before long. Hope everyone is enjoying the changing of the seasons. It didn't stay fall very long though.....that's a bummer.



Photo taken by charlesimages on Lithuanian.wunderground.com

Canaan Valley Vacation

We spent the last few days in Canaan Valley with Matt's family. It was a very nice trip just hanging out and enjoying the fall color.



Dolly Sods Overlook

Happy Fall

Treasure Mountain Festival

We went up to the Treasure Mountain Festival in Franklin on Saturday.  Watched the Parade, then went in to mingle among the crowds.  Food smelled good, but we opted not to eat the high calorie high fat foods like battered, deep fried twinkies, rolled in lard and butter then glazed and sprinkled with powered sugar, ................OK, it wasn't that bad, but almost.

History

In history today, we were studying about Egypt and mummies.  The activity was to make a mummy...................well here is our mummy.

Have you ever seen a smiling mummy?

Montpelier Field Trip

We had a great time yesterday at the Montpelier Restoration Celebration.  Montpelier was the home of James Madison our 4th President and is located in Orange, VA.  The boys got to be part of the 2,600 students that made up the human flag.  We also got to hear speechs from Chief Justice John Roberts and the Governor of Virginia.  The 2,650 acre grounds are quite beautiful.  

Enoy the photos.

Home school group

Boys holding their placards

Helicopter with the camera man

(AP Photo/ P. Kevin Morley/Richmond Times-Dispatch)

Chief Justice John Roberts

New Camera

I (Rose) have been wanting a new camera for quite some time now.  I wanted to get a SRL but they were just too expensive.  I have been saving some money from my bonus from Matt.  And saw that Costco had a really good deal on Kodak Z1012 IS with a 4 GB card.  

It has a great zoom (12X) with picture mode.  I am going to have to really study up on all the features.  

I can't wait to get out and take some good photos.  

Here are couple of photos from yesterday.