A Christmas summary:

Rip,rip....tear, tear

thank you... thank you

Please be sure to share.

Lots of food... lots of snow

Stuck in a large snow drift.

Hurry ,pull us out. We must go.

Don't slam that door.

Stop yelling baby boy.

Don't tackle him and push his face in the snow any more.

Lots of fun.

Four different gatherings in three days.

Good to see you... Now we must run.

It all goes by so fast.

Give hugs...say goodbye.

Once again, another Christmas time is past.

We have had a few days lately, where the weather was pretty chilly. Those days are always fun to watch and see what the children come up with to do. Here are a few ideas the little boys had.

I guess there are many uses for my bowls.

You Gotta Love Florida!!

My oldest daughter(Baylie) and I recently got home from a short trip to St. Petersburg Beach, Florida. If the place has "beach" in the name,then that's a place for me. Florida has beautiful white sandy beaches, warm weather,

and palm trees. Aahhh, nice change from 30's-40's and snow flurries. One day was 75 degrees and sunny, the other 2 were in the 60's and rain. That's o.k. It didn't stop us from swimming,

snorkeling, playing on the beach, or sight seeing. We were just a bit soggy doing it. Not a problem.

Baylie and I had great one on one time together. She couldn't

get over the fact, that such little food would feed 2 people, since we usually shop for 9.

Our main purpose for going down was to go over the "Passport to Purity" information--a weekend get away for the parent and same sex child to discuss many issues the child will be

facing in the teenage years. Great info. I wish my mom would have done a weekend like this with me growing up.

Baylie got to experience several firsts: airplane ride, airport shuttle, supershuttle van ride, seeing the beach--that she will remember anyway, trip with only mom, and eating at a Japanese steakhouse. So glad we were able to make such great memories together in a fun place.

.

Some may be wondering how those ...left behind... did. This was the first time for me to be away from Dan, Daniella, and Charlie; since they joined our family. Daddy and the other 6 children had a nice time together. Matt took off work to take over the "mom" duties. He said he has no plans of becoming Mr. Mom anytime soon. hahah I received a text message on day 2 stating......hurry home, please!!! Too funny. In my most compassionate tone, I simply wrote back...no dirty diapers to change here, off to the beach. :) Dan, Daniella, and Charlie each had one episode of crying and asking for momma; but overall they all did well. We were excitedly greeted at the airport home by 7 family members with "Welcome Home" signs. How sweet. Upon approaching the family, Charlie stepped out and began running to mama. It's always nice to be loved!! Dan grabbed onto my hand to walk to the van. Daniella was happy to closely walk on my other side. We are glad to all be together again.