Quilts from Great-Grandma Atwood

My grandma has made a quilt for each one of my kids. They love these quilts because of all of the different fabrics she uses. They call them their "picture blankets." This year, Samantha got hers for Christmas. It is so soft and colorful - she loves it, and it has been keeping her warm every night! We treasure our quilts. Thanks, Grandma!

Christmas 2009

I think this was our best Christmas ever! We were able to add a couple traditions, including an advent calendar with a Christmas activity each day, and a visit to the nursing home on Christmas day. It was so nice to have Jerry home all month and to not have as much shopping to do!!! It starting snowing on Christmas Eve morning and snowed all day, so we had a white Christmas - that is pretty much a miracle here in Texas! Our back yard was solid ice and the kids had fun ice skating.

Here are some of my favorite pictures:

Christmas Break at Sea World

We got season passes to Sea World this summer and decided to go one more time before they expired. We were excited to run into the Sheppards while we were there. The weather was beautiful, and the park was almost empty! Darren and I sat on the Steel Eel roller coaster and rode it over and over until we were sick. We also loved hearing the Christmas music and seeing all of the decorations. Our favorite show was the Polar Express in 3-D. Everyone's favorite thing, though, was spraying the people riding the river raft as they went by! You had to time it just right!

The kids also got to build their own toy in "Santa's Workshop"

Sammi at 6 months

We love our Sammi-Boo! Isn't she adorable?!

Soccer 2009

Here is a picture of cute Darren with the all-important trophy at the end of soccer season. He did great this year!

Ocotber

The month of October started out with a field trip to the pumpkin patch with Claire's preschool. We were so glad that Jerry and Miles could come, too. Halloween was so fun this year!!! The weather was perfect and Miles was old enough to really get into it. Each time we left a house, Miles would call "Bye! Thanks!" in his version of a grown-up voice. People loved the sweet little cowboy. He got to wear his favorite boots and shirt. Darren was Harry Potter. He liked wearing Jerry's old glasses so much that he wore them to church the next day (without the lenses,) and asked us several times if we thought he looked smart. Claire was a "wedding girl." Halloween is one of our top-favorite holidays because we LOVE candy!!! The benefit of having lots of kids is getting lots of candy. Sadly, it didn't last long!

According to Darren

Me: Darren, what are you writing?
Darren: Oh, just a list of all my girlfriends . . . I have so many I can't even remember all their names!

Me: Wow! Well, how can they be your girlfriend if you don't even know their name?
Darren: Well, that just means I like them!