Happy New Year!!!

So this year, one of my resolutions is to quit using our slow-as-pond-water dial-up internet as an excuse to not update this blog, and just keep up with it! We'll see how it goes. Since the last update, my Allison turned 3 years old!!! It doesn't seem possible that she is 3 already, but she certainly thinks she is big. She has finally made it over 30 pounds. I thought she was going to stay 28 pounds forever, but at her yearly check up, she was a whopping 30 1/2 pounds and 37 inches tall. By that standard, she should be around 5'4" as an adult, which kind of suits my Tiny. I wasn't sure when we were going to be able to celebrate her birthday, because the night before, she was up throwing up with diarrhea and was completely not feeling good. Thankfully she recovered quickly and was able to celebrate her birthday on the actually day! For her birthday dinner, she asked to have hot dogs, ketchup, mustard, chips, and beans and cake, but no ice cream. Goofy kid, but that's what she wanted. We had a small crew come over to help celebrate the day with us, and she had all kinds of fun!

It had been a while since I took a picture with the 3 girls, so I had them all lay down together on the couch...I love this picture of my girls!!!

Bear was going out hunting one day and Caitlyn really wanted to go along, so she got suited up in blaze orange with some binoculars, and was ready to go. She had all kinds of fun out with all the guys in the cold until she needed to go potty and was nearly refusing to potty out in the woods and freeze her little tush. Of course, she went, and was fine, but she was not happy about it!

I finally captured a picture of all the varieties of our chickens we have. We get brown and white eggs from them, and have been lucky enough to not have to buy eggs since the day we got them! They are so fun to watch wandering around the yard and pasture. Unfortunately, Maggie has already eaten one of them, but she is learning the hard way that our chickens are not her dinner!

Allison's job every day is to give the chickens their food and water, and open their door, so they can come out if they want to. She loves to take care of her animals. She seems so big sometimes going out to do chores, but also so little, as Elmo frequently has to help her do chores (or one of her blankies).

We got a few inches of snow, and the kids got sent home early from school. The good thing about Bear's job is that when the post closes due to inclement weather, he gets a paid day off too! So, he got home a little after Caitlyn did. He borrowed his dad's truck and took all the kids up to Sweeny's hill and we went sledding for a while. Allison enjoyed herself much more this time, but still prefers to have a big person go down with her. Caitlyn on the other hand was doing just fine by herself. Bear was even having fun going down the really steep side, until he went through the brush a few times and decided he had better quit before he went head first into a tree. Anybody know anyone who would do something like that? I don't remember...I gave Elijah's snowboard a try and didn't get too far because my boots were too big to fit in the straps, and it was rather difficult to control one-footed. We had a blast anyways!

Lauren is still my chunkabuns! She is much more mobile now though. She can go from sitting on her own to playing on her belly, and rolling around. She gets up on her hands and knees and makes like she is going to crawl, but usually ends up going backwards. I'm sure she is going to take off one of these days! She has 2 teeth already, and 2 more are pushing their way up. She hasn't been too terribly cranky, and only spiked a fever once.

We got a little bit of an ice storm, but nothing like what it was last year, thank God!!! It was still pretty though. I managed to fall down our back steps and bruise/scrape up my legs, but nothing real serious.

I have been terrible about not having my camera with me when I really needed it. Not that I would have taken pictures from the front of the church, but I could have passed the camera to someone else to take pics for me. For the Christmas Eve service at the Coal Creek United Methodist Church, my whole family was involved! Since we have the youngest baby at church, even though she is a girl, she got to be baby Jesus in the nativity scene. That also meant that Bear was Joseph, and I was Mary. Caitlyn and Allison were both angels. But, Allison totally stole the show. She had to bring one of her stuffed bears with her, which she was pretending to give a piggy back ride to, and was pretty much petting the 2 year old boy's hair that was standing next to her, on top of constantly adjusting her halo to make sure it was perfect. Too funny! Through it all, Lauren just laid in the manger trying to chew on the hay. We had such a wonderful Christmas with the extra company of my parents for about a week. Despite a few obstacles while traveling, they made it safely here and back home again! New exhaust anyone?!?!

Our family is going to be growing again...but not because of me this time. Maggie is pregnant! She should have her pups towards the end of February. Hopefully she will be a really good mom! I plan on taking her to the vet in a couple weeks to see if we can have an ultrasound to find out how many puppies to expect. That will be an awesome picture to post if I can get one!

Caitlyn had her first holiday concert, and I forgot my camera then too. I don't know what I was thinking to not bring it. It was so cute and she did such a wonderful job! She stood up there and sang her little heart out without waving to everyone she knew, despite the efforts of her silly, arms flailing all over trying to embarrass his granddaughter, papaw. It was funny to watch anyways. We should have some more toothless pictures coming soon as Caitlyn has 4 loose teeth right now.

We were truly blessed with a wonderful year in 2008 and are looking forward to what the Lord has in store for us in the new year. May all of you be blessed in the year to come...our Saviour reigns!