Merry Christmas

The kids and mom singing at the live nativity at the zoo. It was fun and we even got free hot chocolate and donuts afterwards.

The kids in their new Pj's.

Kjirsten with doll in matching Pj's that Mom made. She loved it.

PJ Wishes

The piano concert

Piano Concert Continued

Locked Out

A couple of Sunday's before Christmas we were all headed to church. I took the kids out to the car and so Jonathan thought I had the keys. When he got to the car we discovered that he had locked to door to the house with the cars keys inside. So we had a little unexpected family bonding while we waited for a locksmith. It was a little cold. These pictures are of our true family together time. Huddling to keep warm in the van.

You Better Watch Out!

They had a little Christmas carnival at the kid's elementary school. There were crafts, treats, a performance by the school choir, and even Santa. My kids each took turns telling Santa what they wanted. Samuel wished for a Fire Truck. Kjirsten wished for a barbie house and a snow globe. Joshua was acting too grown up to tell Santa what he wanted but finally caved and asked for a nerf gun. A few minutes later he realized that "Santa" was one of his friends dads. That gave us both a pretty good laugh. He is sometimes 9 going on 15. It was a fun way to get in a festive spirit.

Our holiday festivities are just getting started. Over the next two weeks we are looking forward to the kids performance in the ward nativity pageant and singing at the zoo. Not to mention Christmas break, baking goodies, and anniversaries.

I'm a Little Indian

Samuel has been having a lot of fun at preschool. The week of Thanksgiving they had a little concert and lunch with the parents. It was too cute! They sang "I'm a Little Indian" to the tune of "I'm a Little Teapot." I think the turkey hats were the best! It is pretty amazing to see him growing up so fast.

Trunk or Treat

Joshua as Captain Rex.

Kjirsten the Butterfly.

With Halloween on Sunday this year all of our celebrating took place early. The kids started early in the week, painting their pumpkins. They love to paint their pumpkins and Jonathan loves not having to carve. I love scrubbing them down after Halloween, roasting them and having fresh pumpkin to use. Delicious!

The best part of Halloween this year was our great ward party. They had tons of food. Tractor pulls for the kids and a really good turn out for trunk or treat. We all had a great time. I wish Halloween was this easy every year.

Sam and Kjirsten paint their masterpieces.

All ready to head out to the party.

Out with the Old & In with the New

I am not sure that I would of believed someone if they would of told me in August how many things would change by Oct. It seems like we have been almost overwhelmingly busy. It is amazing to me how things can change for the better almost overnight. This also helps increase my faith that the Lord knows what he is doing better than I do. This week Jonathan begins his new job and it couldn't of come at a better time. We are really excited for the good things this means for our family. He also started a new calling. Life has been a little hectic as he served in the bishopric at church and he is now an assistant stake executive secretary. I am not sure if it will be any less busy, but it is different and we are always open to change. It seems the more willing you are to change and grow the better life gets. We are truly blessed.

One of the most simple changes in light of everything else is that we got a new couch. I have been struggling with replacing my old one for a couple of years. It is funny how memories and 10 years of decorating around a single piece of furniture have made me somewhat nostalgic over something that was destined for the city dump. However, after the new couch arrived I certainly am not missing the old one. It is so much more comfortable, you don't sink in the middle, there are no holes, and it is much more fashionably current. Yeah for change!



The old couch- Bye! Bye!



Hello new & blue.

Last Project

Our downstairs bathroom is my last official project. It was the last room to be painted and the last to look like I want. I know what they say about painting your last room and moving but I hope to not have to do anything for quite a while. We still need to replace some carpet but I am letting someone else do that. Anyway, here are the before and afters of the bathroom. It is a tiny little room so it is hard to really appreciate the change but you get the idea.

This is the before. I know it doesn't look that bad in the picture but it was very outdated and very smushy. The floor finish on the old vinyl was completely worn off.
This is the under construction picture. We tore out the vanity. To replace it with a pedestal sink.
Finally done. The finished product. Has faux finished walls. A new pedestal sink. New mirror repurposed from another room in the house and a new light fixture that I scored for a great deal on clearance from Lowe's. We really like it. I just wish the pictures did it justice.

Better pic. of the new flooring. We also replaced the baseboards.

New Job

Just for those of you who may be wondering where our life is leading us. Jonathan accepted a job with Sun Trust this morning and will be leaving State employ in 2 weeks. I am super excited for him and we feel really good about the changes. I am also relieved that we will be staying in Richmond with this job. I should graduate in 2 more years !

Family Pictures

After realizing that all of our family pictures were at least two years old and the last picture I had of Sam was when he was still a baby we decided to have new family pictures taken. I thought they all turned out great. Hope you enjoy. Hard copies will come out to family in the mail soon.

Adventure

It has been amazing to me how you can be going along and think that life is just going to stay the same for awhile and then - wham! everything changes. There has been a lot of changes going on in my family recently. Fortunately, I think that they are all for the best. My parents decided, after a long deliberation to put in their mission papers. Last week their call finally came. They will be going to Manila, Philippines to serve as temple missionaries. We really couldn't be more thrilled for them. They leave on Dec. 6th. That means they have a lot to do and fast.

Our other new adventure started with some thoughts between my husband I as to whether or not he wanted to pursue other jobs. After a very busy month at work and some eye opening experiences in regards to his potential for moving up, he was contacted by a friend and former co-worker who asked if he could share his resume with a couple of recruiters. To make a long story short this lead to submitting some job applications both here and with the federal government in D.C. Jonathan has two very good interviews last week and we are for sure getting a job offer on one next week. Only a month ago I felt like we were probably settled here for several more years at least. It is funny how quickly life can change on you. Whether we stay here or move I am ready for what life brings at us.

In part because of these pending changes we took the opportunity to drive to Charlottesville last weekend. We did our usual apple picking and then enjoyed a nostalgic drive around town. It was crazy to think that it could be a long time before we got back there. We had so many good memories of living in Charlottesville.

Even though it is fun to reminisce it can be scary to contemplate change. I have been surprisingly calm about the whole thing and have faith that whatever is meant to be will all work out for the best. Wish us luck with whatever may be in store in the near future.

The kids at Carter's Mountain Sept. 2010

Up on Daddy's shoulders.

First Day of School

The first day of school is finally here and the kids were definitely ready. The became more excited after meeting their teachers last week. Here they are all ready to head out to the bus.

Someone is 3

I almost can't believe how fast my baby boy is growing up. He has been so grown up lately. He has been shooing me out of bathroom when he needs to go and telling me he can do lots of things all by himself. It's funny because I think he is more ready to grow up than I am ready to let him. He likes to ask what words say and has been busy learning to count. He loves figuring things out even if that only involves taking them apart and challenging Mom to put them back together. I can't believe he just turned 3! Time really goes fast. We love him tons and glad he is such a sweet boy and a part of our family. At the end of his little birthday party he said "thank you for the presents" in the sweetest little voice my heart just melts.

Happy Birthday to a darling little boy- don't grow up too fast.

He loved all his presents and even came down this morning carrying his new books. - Thanks Grandma's and Grandpa's.

After talking for months about wanting a firetruck cake for his birthday, we went to make his cake and he insisted on a race car, so that is what he got. I had a lot of fun making this cake and the best part was his delighted giggle of excitement when it was all done.
Blowing out candles.
The Happy Birthday boy.
Playing with his new building set.

Life's A Beach

We went to VA beach for our annual trip on Saturday. We had a great time as always minus some sunburn. Joshua enjoyed building this big castle with his Dad.
Samuel played hard. He loves sun, sand, and water. Here he is dumping water on his Dad's head.

Kjirsten has been determined to get better at swimming, or at least less afraid. She has been practicing putting her face in the water and wore her Dad out trying to float in the ocean.