Hope's Lovey

With my awesome machine, I'm able to do embroidery. I whipped this up in a few minutes just so I could test out the embroidery part of my machine. Joanna said Hope loves it. Yeah!

Curtains for the Boys' Room

I finally did the curtains for the boys' room. Only took me an hour so I don't know why I didn't get them done sooner.

Our First Snow

Well we finally got a few inches. Jacob and Jenna were itching to get out there and play so I let them go out on the deck. I sure do love that deck!

Bear totally loved it! Just loved it!



Cleaning off the table



Mommy's Pretty Snow Bunny



Jacob could not figure out how to get the snow off of his gloves



And I just have to share this picture of Jenna on her laptop.



Isn't that how all the kids use it?

Rest in Peace Sean Taylor!

Article on Washington Redskins site

Showing off our attempts at a nice Christmas picture together...

Do you even know how hard it is to get a nice picture of five children together? You tell the older ones to just keep looking at the camera and smiling. Then you tell the younger ones to look at you. Then the older ones look at them to see what they are doing. Then you remind them to keep looking at you and smiling. Then you try to get the younger ones to stop picking their nose, start smiling and to look at you. Then the older ones aren't smiling. When told to smile, they complain that their face hurts. I think next year they will take individual shots and I will come up with some other creative idea for our card!

Here are a bunch of our attempts...

Oh yeah. Jenna insisted on wearing gloves and her Dora beach hat. I have bigger fish to fry than worrying about that! And yes, the first one is great after everything I took. I should have got out while the getting was good!



So after that, I told them to go nuts!



And it's not a true photo shoot moment if Jasmine doesn't pose for us!





And our finished Christmas card which turned out to be a tribute to Papa and Granny.



Finally, our picture with Santa. Jenna wouldn't go near him, even if Jordan was holding her. I wasn't going to force her so this will just be *The Year Jenna Didn't Want to See Santa*.

Decorating the Christmas tree

I slacked this year and didn't get the tree up on Thanksgiving day for the kids to decorate the next day. We got it up not much longer after and the kids did a great job decorating it. Now that Jordan and James are getting taller, we don't have so many ornaments on the bottom of the tree! I didn't put up the Hallmark ornaments. I wanted to wait and see how Jenna would do with the ornaments. It was obvious after a day or two of her *redecorating* and *rearranging* that it would be best to leave them off of the tree this year.

Watching Daddy Blow Leaves

I don't know how Richard kept up on all the leaves all the time. Jamie had to tackle this and of course the kids thought it would be fun to watch. Jamie finally gave James on of the leaf blowers to help which he actually enjoyed. Now we know the older boys can help Daddy blow all these leaves.

I got a *new* van!

On Monday, I was driving home (after a wasted trip to the dentist) and the van started driving funny. Then it just wouldn't go so I pulled over and got on the cell. Finally I called Jamie's cousin's towing company to come get me. Luckily the older kids were at school and the younger two were with my mom. Jamie was hunting.

We got the van towed to the Ford dealership. Tuesday we get *the call*. It needs a new engine and new front suspension among other things. GREAT! We just paid it off! Jamie and I hopped on our laptops and began the search. After a few phone calls and vehicles *just* being sold, we had one lead. A 2001 Chrysler (I'm so sorry Ford!) Town & Country LX for the right price with low miles. It's in Fairfax and it was getting close to the time the kids get out of school, so we will wait until Wednesday to go.

*Oh, I should add before you even begin.....I wanted used. I don't want brand new for my kiddos to destroy. I don't want brand new. Brand new means monthly payment. We like not having payments.*

We go on Wednesday. We check it out. I test drive it. Jamie checks the CarFax report and other paperwork. I sign the paperwork. Jamie signs the check.

On the way home, turning onto the street before one more to home, it won't go anymore. It was fine. Now it won't move. Jamie is behind me and we switch vehicles. Jamie gets it across the street and to the side of the street. He checks it out and it's the transmission. I killed the transmission already! Oy!

Jamie makes the phone calls and such. It will be towed back and checked out. Thursday rolls around and it's definitely the transmission and will take until Friday to be fixed. Friday rolls around and it's done by 3 or so. Well if you know this area, 3 pm plus Friday equals bad traffic. They let me know that it's ready to pick up and I inform that I'm ready for it to be delivered. The service manager couldn't authorize that *because it's used*. I finally talk to the sales man. He said it will definitely be delivered but because it's getting later on Friday, it might be Saturday. OK, that's fine.

Friday, 7 pm and they call to see if it will be too late to bring the van. Nope. So it got here around 8 or 8:30 Friday night by tow truck. It has a new transmission that was under warranty and now has an even longer warranty on that piece. WOO HOO!

Here is my new van which I totally love, even if it's not a Ford.

Jacob and His Gun

Jamie got Jacob his first real gun. It's a .410. Jacob loves it and can't wait until he can use it on his own. I was surprised at the kick this little thing has. It will be no time before Jacob can handle it on his own and will be dragging a deer down the mountain with his Daddy.

*Sorry the pictures are a tad blurry. Not sure what happened there.*