Construction Begins!

Holy Cow! So we are officially under construction. My dad, Ryan, Blake and a few other guys showed up today to demolish the basement. I had no idea that we were going to be doing so much today and I was totally unprepared. My whole basement still had to be cleaned out so it was a very stressful and busy morning. My stuff is now spread from hell to nowhere and will be that way for at least 6 weeks or more. Horray for me :-)!f course, I am very sad to part with all the beautiful original decor such as the red velvet wallpaper, the one of a kind duck mural, the orange and yellow metallic wallpaper and the psychedelic painted doors and light fixtures, but I look forward to a new basement and most of all BIG closets!!!I will keep you posted of our progress!!!

Christmas 2008

We had an awesome Christmas this year. Last night we went over to Grandma and Grandpa Reed's for our Christmas Eve party. We had great food and lots of fun. Corbie wasn't as interested in opening his gifts as he was climbing on everything possible and trying to mimic everything that Brycen was doing. Everyone was there including Arnauld's brother Kevin and Matt so we had a great time hanging out together. Corb's spent quite a long time just hangin out on Grandpa's lap. He sure loves his grandpa!

This morning we had everyone on my side of the family over to our house for a Christmas breakfast and gift exchange. We have had quite a few inches of snow fall over the course of the last 24 hrs, but despite it all everyone was able to make it safely. Thanks to Grandma Bateman's cooking expertise we had our traditional Ebelskievers along with a baked ham and Monkey bread. We all took turns opening gifts and I think everyone had a great time and I am grateful that everyone came. It really made Christmas special for us.

Corbs and Cierra were spoiled to death by everyone. Corbin got a cool train table and a Shake and Go track, among many other things, that entertained even the bigger boys for hours. Cierra got a little purse with a dog that she was carrying around on her arm like a little princess. It was so cute. I'm not quite sure what we are going to do with all of this stuff, but Corbs sure loves it. Layne and I got each other new IPhones and we are both acting like a bunch of little kids with our new toys. It is totally amazing the things that these little devices will do and we don't even know the half of it yet.

This evening we visited Grandma Bateman and the rest of the clan at her house for yummy homemade ice cream and candies. We were able to talk with Brian while we were there which was lots of fun. He was sunbathing on the top of his apartment in Florida today for his Christmas celebration (wouldn't that be rough?).

Afterwords, we visited Grandma and Grandpa Green. Grandpa was been sick today so they weren't able to come for breakfast this morning so we stopped by late to wish them a Merry Christmas. The snow was really coming down, but the beamer was a champ and just moved right along and we were able to get there with no problem.

Thank you to all that made this Christmas so wonderful for me and my family. It truely was one of the best Christmas's that I can remember. Merry Christmas to you all. We love you!!!

Visit with Santa

Tonight we took Corbin to see Santa. We had to stand in line for a while and Scooter watched intently as all the other kids sat on his lap. It was a whole different story, however, when it came to be his turn. He didn't cry....but he certainly wasn't going to stick around for any kind of picture taking. Santa had given him a candy cane, which he initially accepted, but when Santa wouldn't let him down he gave it back to him...I think in trade for letting him go. So this is the picture that we got in the split second that he was with Santa. Oh well....we tried!

Granny's Annual Family Christmas Party

Tonight we went to Grandma B's for our annual family Christmas Party. We had our traditional soup bar that grandma works so hard to prepare for us. We are so grateful for all her efforts.

After dinner we all opened our gifts from Grandma. Traditionally Santa has been kind enough to drop in to deliver the gifts, but since most of the kids have gotten older he hasn't come the last few years....a big sigh from the adults!

Corb's got a Thomas the Train that he enjoyed, but he was more interested in Cierra's princess phone. Good thing Cierra is so patient with him!
The kids also enjooyed pounding on Grandma's piano. I think we have a couple of Liberace's on our hands!































We had lots of fun....THANKS GRANDMA!

Scooter's First Experience Walking in Snow

I decided today that Scooter and I needed to get some outside time so I put on his snow boots (...that he HATED at first) and took him outside to play in the snow. It was so much fun. I put him down on the ground and at first he really didn't know what to do so he started out taking tiny tiny steps to try and feel it out. This went on for several minutes until he decided that this boot/snow thing really wasn't all that bad. Once he was confident that everything was going to be okay he couldn't get enough of it. As you can see....I could hardly keep up with him. I tried hard to get some video of it cuz it was so stinking adorable, but as luck would have it my videocamera battery was low and I couldn't get it to focus. Oh well...I've still got these adorable pics. I love to see him learn and explore. My baby is definately growing up fast. I swear it doesn't get better than this!

Propulsion Pilates

So I finally went to this pilates class that I have been wanting to go to for weeks. I was a little nervous cuz I am so out of shape and I have never really done any pilates or yoga before. It was a very small and private class which was good and boy did it rock my world. It has only been hours I am already feeling the effects, but fortunately in all the right places. I was impressed with the class and recommend it to anyone!

Snowman Shuffle

I decided to run in this very small 5K today that I had run in last year. I haven't hardly run at all so I was a little nervous that I would get half way and die. It was MUCH warmer this year than it was last year and they started the race a little later so it made for very good running conditions. I really couldn't have run it any slower than I did if I tried, but it was a lot of fun and I'm glad that Carol and Shelly talked me into it. Hopefully this will help me to get my crap together and get out there and start running. I definately could use it!

Grandpa Reed Back in the Hospital

We got a call in the middle of the night last night that they took Grandpa Reed back to the hospital. He hasn't been feeling good for a few days and they thought that he had a sinus infection, but last night he just wasn't acting right so they decided to take him in to get looked at. They initially thought that he was having another head bleed, but when they did another CT scan today with contrast they found just what none of us expected.....a tumor. It has been very devastating news to all of us and we are just waiting and praying for some good news. They are doing some further scans of his body to see if there are any other tumors and we are just waiting the result of that to determine what the next step will be. The doctor said that if everything else comes back clear they will plan to do surgery to remove the tumor in his brain on Monday. It has been a very emotional day for everyone, but Grandpa is really keeping a good attitude about the whole thing. He has really been giving the doctors and nurses something to smile about. Pray for Grandpa Jerry and for good news!

Thanksgiving

I had to work today so some of our day was spent apart. Layne and Corbin went to Grandma and Grandpa Reed's for a while to visit. Fortunately for me, Layne was kind enough to bring Scooter to the hospital to eat a turkey lunch with me. It was was lots of fun and I am very grateful that they came. Once I got off work we went to Grandma Bateman's for dinner. She worked very hard and made a fantastic Thanksgiving meal as always. It was kind of a smaller group than we normally have a Grandma's, but we still had a good time. Of course it wouldn't be Thanksgiving without some of Grandma's amazing homemade ice cream. Afterwards, we drove to Grandma and Grandpa Green's house for a visit. It was really nice to see everyone and appreciate all the great food. Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Corbie Snoozin' at the Table

Today I walked into the other room and left Scooter in his chair eating for a honestly a matter of minutes. I thought it sounded oddly quiet and thought that he may be getting into mischief so I returned to check on him and this is what I found. I think that he was a little tired....what do you think?

Halloween

It's Halloween....one of my favorite holidays. I know this may come as a surprise to many of you haha, but today we decided to go back to my favorite era....the '70's (....I mean really where would we be without the Bee Gee's?).This morning we took Scooter over to the hospital for the annual Halloween daycare parade. There were tons of kid and lots of admirer's at the parade and everyone just loved Corbie's costume. Layne and I were absolutely amazed that he kept his wig and glasses on the entire time without a fight. He got lots of candy and I think that he had a good time.

Once I got off work, Layne and I decided to join in on the fun and like a big bunch of dorks dressed up as well.

We spent the night trick or treating at all our friend and families houses. Along the way we met up with Ironman (Brycen) and the most adorable little stinker....Cierra! I'm not sure any of them really knew what was going on or why their crazy parents had them dressed in these funny outfits but they were really good sports about it. Happy Halloween everyone!!!!

Scooter at the Movie

Tonight we took Corbie to see Madagascar II. We had taken him to see National Treasure II when he was a small baby, but that time our intention was for him to sleep through the movie.....which he did. So this was really his "first" movie going experience and he did great. He absolutely loved the movie. He sat on either me or Layne's lap the entire time and watched very intently (until the little girl in front of us got up and started flirting with him towards the end of the show and of course....suddenly we weren't good enough for him). We had a great time and he did very good for his first motion picture outing. We haven't stopped singing.....I like to Move It Move It....since!

Pumpkin Patch

Tonight we took Corbin to Cochran's Produce to pick out some pumpkins for Halloween. He didn't really get the jist of what was going on and the pumpkins certainly weren't all that interesting to him, but in his mind there sure was a lot of space to run around. We actually had to either put him in the big metal wagon or trap him down in a middle of a big stack of pumpkins to get him to cooperate with any picture taking.The Hassell family had the same idea in mind and they met up with us there which was a lot of fun. Corb's had fun with the kids and enjoyed climbing up the haystacks. We all had a really good time and I don't think we could have planned it any better if we had tried.
Afterwards, we had a nice dinner at a new restaraunt in town called Zucca's. The waiter was very nice and really had a good time with Corbin. It was a really nice family night out.

Annual Halloween Party

Layne and I got invited again to the Cook's annual Halloween Party. It's just a big excuse for a bunch of grown adults to get together, look and act like idiots, and have a great time.

This year the theme was the '60's. They did a murder mystery again (...luckily I wasn't the murderer this time). I was supposed to be "Aurora Astral," a hippie who believes strongly in the psychic auras and energy of all living things. I apparently practice astrology, tarot and I Ching divination and I seek to cleanse my body of negative karma and impurities. Layne was "Juan Valdez," the Columbian coffee enthusiast who manufactures and sells organic coffee beans.

We had a great time and as you can imagine the costumes were hilarious!!! Everyone really puts a lot of time and energy into making this a very fun party each year. Thanks for keeping the invitations coming....we had a GREAT time and look forward to more Halloween fun in the future.










After the party, we stopped by Shanna and Mark's Halloween bash to get in on a little of their fun as well. Unfortunately, we missed most of the party but we were able to check out their awesome haunted house. It was truly unbelievable!!! There certainly wasn't anything spared in making their party a hit. There really are no words to describe how well there party was done. The decorations were amazing!!! Shanna worked her tail off for several weeks to make it happen and I think she did a fantastic job. Thanks for inviting us as well....Sorry that we were late.