Christmas 2009

We had a wonderful Christmas. It started off with Jasmine waking up at 3 am. Yes, you read that right. 3 am. She's such a good girl and doesn't wake us up. Daddy was up at 4 am. Mommy at 5. James at 6. Daddy woke up Jacob and Jenna around 6:30. We figured Jasmine had been a good girl long enough.

The kids got into their stockings and opened a few presents since Jordan was having Christmas morning with his Dad. Not long after, we had a nice surprise visit from Uncle Frank and Aunt Sissy with gifts for the kids and cookies for all. So sweet of them.

A little bit after lunch time, Opa, Oma and Uncle Boo showed up with more gifts and Jordan in tow. More gifts were opened. Then Uncle Carl, Aunt B, Chad and Brandon showed up with more gifts and everyone was ready to eat.

We opened everything and then chowed on ham, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, stuffing and cookies. Everyone had a wonderful time.

Jordan got video games, iPod gift cards, a Broncos jersey (ugh! That's his Dad's influence. Although it could be worse *cough* Cowboys *cough*) and a few other things.

James got an MP3 player, video games, Legos, iPod gift cards, a Redskins jersey and duffle bag (I honestly don't think he needed anything else except that Jersey).

Jasmine got a Cricut (Thanks Oma & Opa!), Cricut cartridges and goodies, a bracelet, a pillow diary, video games and some other odds and ends.

Jacob got pretty much the same goodies as James but instead of Legos, he got Lincoln logs.

Jenna got a Fisher Price princess doll house with all the pieces that go with it, a bracelet, a baby doll, Princess and Tinkerbell stuff and some other fun stuff.

Jaylynn got clothes and toys and a Bumbo seat!

Uncle Boo got them all Wii Sports Resort. Super fun game. If you have a Wii, definitely get this game (and Super Mario Bros too!).

They all ended up with gift cards and cash to various stores as well.

My mommy and daddy got me a CHI!!!! and a Vera Bradley handbag and wallet in the pattern I wanted ~ Daisy Daisy.

It was a great Christmas and it was just nice to be together. Here's some pictures of the madness that always happens with a packed house.

Blizzard 2009

We got hit a big snowstorm this year. I despise snow. Like hate it. It's cold. It's wet. It's claustrophobic, to me at least. But I did like that the kids had a real snow to play in. Jamie's work was even closed down.

It hit at a great time too really. The kids were supposed to go to school Monday through Wednesday and then be on Christmas break. When the storm hit, the kids got out of school Monday through Wednesday. Pretty cool. **Yes, I'm one of those weird parents that actually likes my kids being home and enjoys being around them.**

Here are some of our pictures from digging out and sledding.

Nope. She doesn't look a bit like him.

Yeah right. She is all Combs through and through. Everyone at the kids' elementary schools cracks up when they see them all together and comment how much they all look alike (with Jenna looking a bit more like me but still no denying she's a Combs as well).

And she's a bit of a thumb sucker. Never had one of those before.



And minus the thumb. I know I'm bias, but dang, she's freaking cute.

Jacob's first missing tooth

Is he not the cutest thing ever? So Jacob has had this loose tooth for a few weeks. He couldn't wait for it to finally fall out but it just hasn't been ready. It really was just hanging on by a thread but wouldn't come out. Eating was sort of painful because the tooth flapped around in there. Jacob asked Daddy to tie a string to it so he could rip it out. We just couldn't get the string wrapped around it so Daddy ripped it out. With pliers. Yes, I said pliers. Jacob started to yell at him that it hurt but thought about it a second and realized it wasn't that bad.

Jacob is now down one tooth and $5 richer.

A successful hunt

Finally! Jamie had a great hunting week during Thanksgiving. Two bucks. A spike and a three-point. He was skipping around like a giddy little girl. :-)


And four of the kids with the 3 point.

I'll spare you the pictures of Jamie skinning them. Surprisingly the kids sat and watched with no problems.

We had a nice Thanksgiving minus having to take James to the hospital. He was walking the dog. Bear took off running and James' hand got caught in a fence in between his pinkie and his ring finger. Twelve stitches and an hour later, we headed back so I could finish cooking.

It's already started....

Jaylynn is such a Daddy's girl. She has him soooo wrapped around her finger. She already likes to hang out with him watching TV. *sigh*

Halloween 2009

Halloween is so much fun for the kids. They love dressing up and who doesn't love free candy?!

I wasn't sure if I should get Jaylynn a costume. She hates hats and well pretty much anything that makes her hot makes her mad. I found these little body suits at Wal-Mart that were warm without being hot. Halloween here is actually pretty nice although this year it did rain a little. It's usually cool so I knew she would get hot easily if I got something bigger. Miss Jaylynn as a pink leopard. HOW CUTE!





Look at those eyes!! LOVE!



Jenna is Alice from Alice in Wonderland



Jasmine is the U.S. Diva now with face paint that Daddy did



The whole gang ~ Jordan is a disgruntled teen. Ha ha ha! He said he didn't want to go around and decided to stay home and help hand out candy.

Butler's Orchard 2009

Jacob had his field trip to the pumpkin patch at Butler's Orchard. Jamie said it was a lot of fun and thought it would be a lot of fun to take the other kids. Unfortunately he had to work on Saturday so I took them. I figured since Jordan was here, it wouldn't be too bad if Jenna or Jacob needed help and I was holding Jaylynn. Despite it being chilly and the boys leaving their sweat shirts at home, we had a lot of fun. We'll definitely be going back every year. I really thought it would be packed seeing how we waited until Halloween day. We got there around 10 and were there for 3 or 4 hours. It really wasn't that bad at all. I can see how it could be very chaotic. Maybe the chilly, damp weather kept everyone away.

A ride in the Great Pumpkin



The bounce house



Awww sibling love



The slide (There were multiple slides. One that was small on up to the big one. What did these kids pick? The big one of course.)



Then the girls did the slide together and got spun around when they came out. They were laughing so hard.



MAMA, DID YOU SEE THAT????







The duck races ~ This part was so cool. The kids had to work a real water pump to get the duck to the other end. Jenna got so darn excited when she finally got her duck to the other end.



The John Deere harvester slide ~ I didn't get a picture of the actual harvester but it had a slide in it.



They had different animals to check out. Bunnies (Jenna wanted to get in the cage with them), chickens, goats, sheep, pigs.



Jenna acting like a chicken





Then we had to see how tall everyone was...









Some of the cool pumpkin set-ups they had.



The castle