We had a great Christmas!

I hope everyone had a great Christmas! We had a house full(my parents, Jodi and Jay)and enjoyed every minute of it! Ashley was the first up at 4:30am. She went back and forth between our room and Mema and Papa's. She fell asleep off and on until 6:30am when the rest of us got up. The excitement in her was priceless.

We enjoyed a few days of all of us being together. We basically hung out around the house catching up with each other, watching movies, glued to our electronic devices, and eating. We did manage to all get dressed and go to Nicole's soccer game on Sunday. She was so excited to have everyone there!

Below are a few of my favorite pics from the weekend.

It's begining to look a lot like Christmas

The girls are in their magical place with Christmas around the corner. We are busy preparing for Jesus's birthday. My parents and sister will visiting from Florida and will be spending Christmas with us this year. We are all so excited that they are coming!

Chad has been hunting off and on when he can. This weekend we will do some baking and watch Christmas movies. We will begin to celebrate with family next weekend as we head to Frankenmuth to be with Chad's family. We plan to stop and visit Santa at Bronner's. I have two weeks off work after next week and am very excited! I will be busy with finishing up my shopping and preparing for visitors but plan on enjoying every minute of this Holiday season. I figure as long as I keep in mind all the blessings around me the crowds will not bother me.

Happy Holiday season to all!

Thanksgiving weekend

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving. Chad and I have a lot to be thankful for this year. We have wonderful family and friends and two very special girls that light up our lives daily.


We celebrated Thanksgiving with Chad's family the weekend prior. Rob and Maisie were here from Texas. Having all three brothers together made the weekend very special. We spent Thanksgiving Day with my brother at our house. We enjoyed spending time with everyone! It is nice to take a break from daily routine and spend time with family.

Ashley's teacher discussed "black Friday" with the class so of course Ashley came home asking to go shopping. The three of us left the house at 8:30am and made it to a few stores before heading home. It started to snow as we left the house which made the experience even more special for the girls. We had a great time!

We went to see the USA and Italy soccer teams battle it out in Chicago to see who gets to play in the 2011 World Cup in Germany. USA won the game 1-0. The goal that was scored was directly in front of us.

Today we will put up Christmas decorations and go to Nicole's indoor soccer game. Ashley starts basketball practice this Monday and couldn't be more excited.

Last days of October

I hope everyone had a Happy Halloween! We had an interesting weekend. Ashley, Chad, and I had the flu. Even though we were sick we managed to pull Halloween off. The kids looked great and had a great time trick or treating!





Ashley's scary witch face.



I want to suck your blood!



Vampires have patience.

This was too cute not to share

When asked, "Where did you get your curly hair?", Ashley's reply, "from God"..

My favorite time of the year

Most of you already know but I love Fall! I love everything about it...leaves changing color, cooler temps, back to school, soccer, and don't forget Gull Meadow Farms(an apple orchard near our home). I can smell the fresh donuts they make when I run by. Nothing like a little motivation to keep you going.

Miley turned two this month and Great Grandpa Porter, Papa Nollie and Uncle Rob are a year older. Happy Birthday to all! The girls have a day off from school this Friday and they can't wait to watch TV. Don't let them fool you they squeeze in some time to watch TV. We all watch "Survivor" every Friday night. That has been a lot of fun. We are all so tired by Friday and watching a show together gives us all time to unwind from the week and gets us to bed early so we can start the weekend fresh!

Nicole had a few of her friends spend the night last weekend. We made soccer blankets. I will have to take a picture for Grandma Shirley. She will be proud even if no sewing was involved!!

Ashley playing soccer

Pics of girls

SOCCER, SOCCER and more SOCCER

We have been enjoying soccer the past few weeks. This past weekend we were in Gaylord for a tournament with Nicole's team. The kids and the adults had a great time! Nicole's team played their hearts out! The talent on that team is amazing! The girls placed 2nd at the tournament. See below for pics. Weather permitting, I will get some pics of Ashley at Saturday's game.