Christmas 2009 has been so much fun so far. Every weekend we have had one party after another. Of course the holidays have there down side too. Like that fact that I have been asking my husband what he wants for Christmas for two months now and he still has no clue! ( hint hint)... He is the only one left to shop for! I thought I would share a few of our current Christmas photo's. This is the fourth photo we had to take so we could get a semi happy one. Mady didn't care for visiting any Santa's this year.

This next one is of Emmett and his friend Aspen at the ward Christmas party. How cute is that!

Here are some photos from our October fun.

While away!

Hey honey this video is to help you appreciate your time away from the kids. I bet it will also make you a little less home sick.

Nauvoo

Curt's family can into town two weeks ago as a surprise for his birthday. We had a wonderful time. One of the things we ended up doing was going to Nauvoo to see all the plays and pageants. We had lots of fun. One of my favorite moments was Mady dressing up and playing house. She will make such a good mommy one day!

Curt turned 30.

Sorry this is a few days late. But I wanted Curt to know what he had to look forward to in the up coming years... I love you Curt, thanks for being the perfect husband!

Peek a Boo

Summer fun

This summer we went ahead and bought a swim pass so far we have been about 7 times since May 29th. I has been so fun and it gives us all something to do instead of sitting around the house watching t.v. ( which I am proud to say we have only watched for about 2 hours a week for about three weeks). Mady has been much happier without tv and she loves meeting new friends at the pool. Monday we start her first swim lessons, it should be a little scary because she doesn't like the deep water, but thankfully she will have a friend also going at the same time. They can be scared together.

In July Curt will be heading back to England. Then again in November and December. It should be fun.

I am almost done with my class. So far I have done great. It is just Communications but the teacher is super and I have found the lessons and my time in that class to be very enjoyable.

Also I keep forgetting to sign Mady up for school so when you read this give me a call and tell/ remind me that I need to do it immediately...I have lost all memory keeping functions.

Thanks , Jenn

back to...

Well I start school again Wednesday after 9 mths off. It is at night so it really is just something to drive me to my crazy grave a little faster.

Our weekend trip to Cape Girardeau

Two weeks ago we took the family out of town on a short break.

We got up Friday morning then talked over where we

wanted to go. About noon we were all pack and loading

up.....then discovered the flat tire. So for the next little bit my hero

(curt) does a wonderful job of changing the tire to our spare.

Since we are going away we new we would need a tire that could handle over 50 so we went to Costco to get two new front tires. The man at Costco looks at the tires then comes back and tells us we need four new ones because the back one has uneven wear and a nail in it. Since the back were under warranty we headed to walmart and

after 2 more hours we are done...

We finally left town about 4pm and got to

Lambert's restaurant at 6:30. Lambert's is fun because

they throw the rolls across the room for you to catch.

After dinner we went and checked in at the holiday inn suites.

Then got the kids dressed and took them swimming.

It was Emmett's first time in the pool.

He was not at all happy

at first but after a while he got to

sleepy to care and just laid

on our shoulders as we

played in the pool.

The next day we went to an old wheat mill and one
of four covered bridges in Missouri. It was nice

to get to spend that time with my family.

Since you truly only have one half birthday we thought we would have a little fun. So I made Emmett half a birthday cake... that was half way tasty, and half way good looking. We also thought well he can't cut the cake yet so we just let him go at it with his little hands. He got a pretty big chunk , then proceeded to smash and rub it every where on his tray and body. He loved it. I think he is turning into such a stud, but I wish he could stay my little man forever, it

is amazing how time has just flown by.

March and April Pic's

The first few are some of the pictures we took at Emmett's first Easter egg hunt. The other two are just silly things the kids are doing. Mady took all her animals out and tucked them in under this blanket.

Cutest Thank You Card Ever!

Well Patti since you are one of the few loyal readers of this blog...I wanted to tell you what a wonderful person you are. I know you are nervous about having Jane so I need to tell you, you'll be great! Jane's friends would kill to have you as their mom. You will be amazing! I can't wait to see her. Send lots of photo's. And Patti we all love you and wish you the quickest and easiest of deliveries.

Since I wouldn't want to leave any of the family out I just wanted to tell you all how much I love being part of your family and how much the kids and I love spending time with you all!

SLEEP!

Emmetts Blessing

Here are a few photo's of Emmett in his Blessing outfit. He is so cute!

My Mummy part 1, 2 is below

Sorry must have lost part one. Oh well here is the short version.
London is amazing I had so much fun touring around. A few of my favorite spots were the Tower of London and the British museum. It was so cool to learn about the old kings and queens of England and to see where the lived ( and were they died). It was fun to know that 100's of years ago they were standing right where you are now. I loved the British museum, they had a huge mummy exhibit and it was amazing to see them all in one room together. I believe they had a dozen in just one of the rooms we saw and tons more throughout the rest of the Egyptian exhibit. It was so cool. Oh well I will write more later. But for now Cheerio.

My Mummy in London part 2

Plans

So far we have our plane tickets, train tickets, hotels in London and Lincoln, but we still need to plan two weekend trips. We were thinking one in Scotland and the other one maybe York. Has anyone been to Scotland if so what part and did you like it. Also what are some of your favorite things to do, see, and eat in London?

The cool thing in Scotland is that you can stay in castles. One of which my ancestor lived in. It is the Culzean castle. But it was a little out of my price range so I am up for anything.
Our place in Lincoln is called the castle cottage I think it looks amazing. I posted a link for all. http://www.lincolntownhouses.co.uk/castle-cottage.html
I am so excited. But I am still waiting for something to go wrong...A little pessimistic I know. I also found out that while in Lincoln Curt will be working 10-12 hour days. We wont have a car so I will get plenty of exercise going up and down steep hill. I am hoping that British TV isn't as bad as people say. Well if anyone wants to come visit we will have another room that you can use.

Just Pic's of the kids.

Vacation Home???

This year Curt got a new job at work that will include 3 week trips to Lincoln England 3-4 times this year. It seems that everything that has us running around the world like weddings, Mady seeing her dad, work, and Christmas break...has made my sweet little house in St Louis more like a vacation home.

I only buy food enough for the short times I am home, and never worry about unpacking, because I will be repacking again very soon. Since being home I have been going gung ho on planning my next vacation (and decorating my bedroom). So far we found a cute little "self catering house" in Lincoln right next to the awesome castle, and the cathedral pictured above. I can't wait. Mainly I just want to get out of limbo and feel like I am doing something. I guess I could plan Valentines day...but I don't really want to maybe someone could causally tell my husband that it is up to him this year and then give him a few ideas of what to plan.

Also I want to get the girl together and go see Confessions of a Shopaholic, anyone up for it?

Ohh well Mady is being a drama queen again and playing like the world has ended. I think she is so funny some times. I am going to join in on the fun.