Something strange is happening....

Something is occuring tonight that rarely happens in my world...I am HOME ALONE!!!!! Hubby is off at work, Mo is at the beach (lucky duck), and Dabba-Do is spending some quality "only baby" time with her Nana and Paw Paw. So for tonight it is just me, myself, and I. What to do...What to do... I think I will start by taking a nice long, hot bath (BY MYSELF!!!). Tomorrow morning Hubby will be home and we will be off on our overnight adventure together. A weekend away is along time past due and we hope to make the most of our few hours. Girls are being spoiled rotten, and I am sitting in silence. I think it's safe to say everyone is happy tonight...except for maybe hubby.

I finally got some free time

I have been wanting to update my blog for quite a while. We have been doing lots of things. I think if you scroll on down you will be pleasantly surprised at all of my updating that I managed to get done today in between loads of laundry! Enjoy!

A Brother's Christmas

Last night we had Christmas with Hubby's mom, step-dad and brothers families. We had a wonderful time. Thanks to Aunt KiKi and Uncle Matt for hosting all of us. When we all get together there is quite a crowd. There are eight kids alone (and number nine soon on the way...but not too soon we hope!). The night was filled with love and laughter and few tears...too be expected with that many kids playing and sharing. It was wonderful to sit back and watch the kids open their presents. I even got an unexpected gift...a homemade pillow case made just for me by my nephew B-10. I hope you enjoy the pictures. We attemped to get pictures of all the kids which you would have thought would have been more difficult than a picture of the four brothers together. I think you will see it was easier to get the kids! Merry Christmas!

Number 1 was in the paper!

Last Friday Hubby and I joined Mo and the rest of the pre-K class to make gingerbread houses. A man was there from the local paper taking pictures of the kids. He sat down right across from Mo and took like 5-6 pictures. We figured she would be in the paper and she was! Enjoy. If you want to see the actual acticle you can go to
http://news.mywebpal.com/partners/680/public/news941031.html

Christmas program

It was to be a fun-filled evening. Unfortunatly it didn't quite get to turn out that way...but Mo was cute none the less. She took part in the school's big Christmas Extravaganza and it was that and so much more. I shouldn't dwell on negatives so I won't say much more. The pre-k class was very cute all dressed up as angels (we know the truth!). They sang two songs. I have it on video, although you can't really hear them singing due to the great amount of noise taking place all around us :( There are lots of pictures of the girls that I took before we left...but they were so cute all dressed up in their Christmas dresses that I couldn't resist and they too some cute pictures so I have decided to include them all. I figure if you are looking at my blog you are here to see pictures of them anyways, so enjoy! Mom made Dabba Do's dress (and yes, Mo has one too but she had to wear white). Mo's dress was hand painted by a friend of mine's mother. Didn't she do a great job (Dabba Do has a matching one).

The start to the festivities

The first weekend in December brought our first family Christmas get-together. This one was new this year and came as a result of our families growing, changing, and moving around. We had a wonderful time with being together with the Halls, Browns and Garretts. The girls both got a finger puppet fish, and a coloring book with crayons which they loved. Number 1 got paper dolls which she immediatley started playing with and Dabba Do got a magnetic paper doll set which she asks to play with most every morning. Most importantly we got to visit with family and enjoy being together. I love Christmas time!

Christmas Parade

Our town's Christmas parade is the equivalent to the Queen coming to town. Everyone is either watching the parade or in the parade. People come from miles around. It is quite funny actually. Nonetheless it is always FREEZING and this year was no exception. It started out okay but once the sun went down and took its heat with it it got pretty chilly. The theme this year was a "Family Christmas." We took that as our church family. We wanted to incorporate some of the Lutheran Christmas traditions on to the float. Martin Luther was the first person to put candels on a tree so we have our candles. Also, according to German tradition rather than Santa bringing the presents on Christmas morning it was Jesus and the angels. Thus, the angels hanging from the float. The girls had a great time.

What we've been up to

I actually have several pictures that I need to upload of the recent events. We've already started our holiday season with a get together with part of the family. The girls loved their gifts and haven't stopped playing with them. Unfortunatly the Dabba Do has been a little under the weather as have I. Dabba Do has decided for three days to run a fever over 101 or higher. I am managing to get over my cold nicely and am hoping to get some new posts up soon with pics. I helped throw a babyshower for my sister-in-law and you can check out either one of their blogs to see how that went. Hope to provide you all with wonderful pictures soon...oh and I mustn't forget Christmas parade pictures. It was cold...oh so very cold.

Decorating our tree

Tonight we decided to go ahead and decorate our Christmas tree. The girls are really into decorating this year and had a great time. We really enjoyed our time together as a family decorating, dancing to Christmas songs, and then making funny faces for the camera. Piper even joined in the fun and sat back with a watchful eye. The Christmas tree is beautiful and I can't wait for new decorations to be added this year.

Happy Thanksgiving

I hope that everyone is having a wonderful Thanksgiving. I know that I certainly have a lot to be thankful for. Today we are heading to my parents house to eat some delicious turkey good. Saturday we will have Thanksgiving with most of the rest of my Dad's family. Hubby has to work so he won't be able to join us. He will enjoy time with his family on Sunday though when we head to the big city to enjoy time with them. I hope everyone has a wonderful day!

We've been INVADED

Well, not really...but it could seem that way I suppose. On Tuesday sister-in-law came up with our four nieces. We needed to get together to shop for our other sister-in-law's baby shower that is coming up next week. The girls had a great time playing together and as you can see we got some great pictures. We also even managed to fit in a "field trip" to the fire station and got our own personal tour! (It pays to know a guy) Hopefully this weekend we will get to add in the only two boys that we have (poor guys) and make it a true Carpenter cousins picture. This time next year we will have another little girl in the mix. Our cousin pictures get prettier and prettier each year!

A Thanksgiving Program

Number 1 had a pre-k Thanksgiving program at school this past week. I took video as well and hope to be able to post that soon. For now, enjoy these pictures of her. She had several people come support her and cheer her own including 2 out of 3 sets of grandparents and even a few cousins. Each kid got to make a turkey after the students were done singing. After the program we went out to dinner and had a great time.

Our "Friendly" Thanksgiving

For the past couple of years we have gotten together with some close friends to celebrate Thanksgiving. We all bring something and we get to pretend like we are grown ups cooking for Thanksgiving since most of us don't get to bring a "main course" to our family Thanksgivings. We did it at Emily and Colin's house this year and it was great. As you can see we had a good time.

MAJOR PICTURE UDPATE

Make sure you look all the way down today...I have added THREE (yes, you read that right) picture slide shows. There are Halloween, family reunion, and CAMPING pictures.

Halloween Costumes

I know it isn't officially Halloween but we had a fall festival at church last weekend and got to have a dress rehersal for the big day. The girl's costumes are absolutly beautiful this year (thanks Mom!). Enjoy Snow White and the Pink Fairy Princess. More pics after Halloween.

Family reunion

We had a family reunion a couple of weeks ago. My mom's family has gotten together once a year for as long as I can remember. It seems as though the family gets bigger every year. I won't bore you with lots of pictures of people that most of you won't know but here are a few pictures of the kids at the reunion and a few other people you might know.

THEY'RE HERE

Over fall break we went camping at a nearby state park. We had a wonderful time...even if it did rain one entire day and night. Enjoy a few picks.

Picture slideshow

I am horrible about updating the pictures on my blog so I created a slide show (WITH SOUND EVEN) to show you a little of what we have been up to lately. I know that I don't have camping pictures yet, SORRY, but I haven't taken them off the computer. I will add a slide show of those later. Hope you guys enjoy.

Yes, I am still alive

To the three or four loyal followers of this blog I know that I haven't posted in almost a month. Life has been crazy and by the time I get to the computer to actually post something or put up some pictures I am ready to go to bed. Number 1 is busy with gymnastics and school. In fact we just completed a homework assignment. She is getting way too big too fast. She used big girls scissors (a.k.a. Mom's) to cut apart her apples and than glued the correct number to the different trees. She did it perfectly without any help. Number 2 is really starting to become a little communicator...at least to those that she will talk to. She is still quite shy until she opens up. Once she has decided you are okay and she likes you, you had better watch out. Hubby is keeping busy with his motorcycle and work. This is not to mention the second full time job that he has of taking care of number 2 most days. I have crazily decided to go back to school in January to work on my specialist degree. Hubby and I figured I should do it while the girls are still young enough not to be scarred by Mommy's absence once or twice a week. It will take me about two years to complete the degree and then I will have a specialist degree in Curriculum and Instruction. I plan to go back to the same college that I got my undergraduate degree from. There is a lot to be said about going to a college where there isn't commute that lasts between twenty minutes and two hours. Also, it pays that I already know the faculty and Dean really well. So, while there are no pictures today there is an update. Some time I hope to upload pictures of our great camping trip that we took a few weeks ago. I also have some family reunion and cook out pictures to add. And yes, there are even a few of number 1 in the "leotards" that have been discussed previously. Oh, and Halloween costumes. They are perfectly gorgous and the girls look beautiful in them. They are growing up so fast. It seems like I open my eyes each morning to different kids.

My husband the Harley Man

This past weekend Hubby and several of his "Iron Prostate Motorcycle Gang" friends (a.k.a. other fire fighters) went to the Harley Davidson Drag Races in Bowling Green, Kentucky. Hubby rode his 1977 Harley all the way to Kentucky. He lost a few parts along the way and managed to ruin a brand new pair of pants with battery acid, but none the less he won a bet and made it there with the motorcycle still running. Hubby said it was unlike anything he had ever been to but he had a good time and made it home in one piece. Here are some pics that one of the other guy's wife took before they left.

On his bike ready to go

All of the guys on their bikes

Happy Birthday to me...and anniversary...and Christmas

Yeah me! We finally broke down and spent the money and got me a new digital SLR camera. I absolutely love it. I haven't gotten to play with it much, but the few pictures I have taken have been great. It makes me happy, what can I say.

What I got: Sony α (alpha) DSLR-A300X + Two Zoom Lenses

Here are a couple of quick pics that I took tonight.