Just cute kids!

I am still amazed that I finally got my "girly" girl! She got toy necklaces and a little purse for Christmas and with her first actual nightgown (vs. foot jammies) she just looked like a little girl, not the little baby she was almost two years ago! Maggie loves to just plant big juicy wet kisses on anyone - mostly Mitchell! I came into the kitchen from the dining room where the adults were having dessert on Christmas day only to find Maguire had taken over an abandoned piece of pumpkin pie...what a cutie!!! A few days before Christmas I was elated to be able to french braid Maggie's hair. It's getting long and it's always in her face and she's a little magician with hair bands and barrettes. She didn't even complain too much about having to sit on the stool for so long...she'd better get used to it - I am looking forward to having cute girly hair to do for many years! This is Maguire's classic facial expression (or lack thereof). He's our little couch potato - we have to curtail his tv watching because if a kid show is on, he's parked in front of the tv until it's over. I have lots more "cute kid" photos but they are on Mike's computer and he's in New Jersey tonight. As long as the weather cooperates he'll be home tomorrow night. Until then, good night : )

HELP!

Okay, I finally posted...but it didn't turn out like it looked when I previewed it while I was putting it together. I need a lesson in blogging...anyone willing to help so my text isn't all over the place and the photos aren't so spread out all over? HELP!!!

Christmas Photos

Maggie and Maguire were so fun this year since they really "got" the opening presents part. They would have been happy with one toy - we had a hard time keeping them in the living room to open any more after the first one! Mason loves loves loves basketball! My mom sent me some fabulous lotions from Elizabeth Arden. All the boys opening our new Wii. Hard to believe our oldest, Mitchell, has outgrown getting toys for Christmas. His favorite gifts were a stereo and mp3 player. What a handsome guy! Christmas eve we open one present - always jammies from mom. I didn't make them for the twins this year but I made a total of five pairs of pants in 2 1/2 hours on the eve of Christmas eve. Mike offered moral support by playing playstation while I was sewing : ) Mason's jammies match his "bear blanket" that goes everywhere with him. Mitchell with Maggie, Matthew, Mason, Maguire. What cute kids! We had a great Christmas at our home in Illinois. (Hopefully we'll be celebrating Christmas in Georgia by next year!) We had a great day celebrating the birth of our Savior. The boys spent the day playing with presents with minimal fighting amongst siblings. Mike spent almost the entire day just helping the kids put their toys together or make room for them in their rooms. After presents we ate a yummy breakfast cake then I worked in the kitchen until dinner at 5:00. We had two other families join us for dinner so we could have a big feast without having to make it all ourselves--plus the fun of having the company of good friends since all of our family is so far away. We miss everyone who lives away from us...it was especially nice to start Christmas Day with a phone call from Koryn Knudsen--her family got up much earlier than we did but it was great to catch up and share our excitement with our new treasures. Love you Koryn! Here's some photos...Mike's best gift to me was a new memory card for our camera so I can take more than 50 photos before having to download them! I have some more fun photos of the kids so I'll post again when I get a few spare minutes! We hope you all had a memorable day. Love you!

Time sure flies!

I know, I know...I need a new post. I put together this huge post of my New York trip back in October and it got corrupted and won't post so I lost my enthusiasm about blogging...help me get it back! What can I do to make it easier and faster to post? HELP!

Crusin' to Cozumel

My awesome husband took me on a cruise earlier this month....we were only able to go because my wonderful mother-in-law, Janice, came from California to care for our kids. Mike's brother, Pete, and his wife, Lisa, also came in from Atlanta to help out and see Chicago before we head down to their part of the country. (as soon as our house sells)

We had such a great time on our second cruise that we hope to go on another one next summer!

I had Lasik on my eyes just a few days before we left and I couldn't get my eyes wet for a WEEK! So we didn't spend any time on deck by the pool until Wednesday afternoon. When we got to Cozumel on Thursday we rented a car and drove to a ranch where we had arranged to go horseback riding. Our guide, Carlos, took us through the jungle and to a small village where there were Mayan ruins. In this photo we are in a cave where the Mayan people used to live - they were only 3-4 feet tall! So I haven't really figured out how to put the photos in the order I want on this blog thing. When I add more photos it puts them above the previous ones so I apologize for jumping all around. On Tuesday night was the first midnight buffet. We didn't stay up to eat but they opened the dining room for photography at 11:30. It was absolutely amazing what they could do with food! It truly looked "too good to eat" but I'm sure it was demolished quickly when the doors opened at the stroke of midnight! Can you believe these are all desserts! True artistry in calories! We sailed on Carnival's M/S Fantasy. It's one of their older ships but we had a great time. This photo is when we were docked at Cozumel. The water there is amazingly clear. It's a breathtaking shade of blue-green but so clean and clear we could see all the way down to the bottom just by the dock. Our new friends whom we met at our assigned dining room table took this photo of us outside the showroom while we were waiting to go in. If we didn't get there a bit early, there weren't any good seats left. More of the midnight buffet--a dragon ice sculpture. We actually watched the artisan carve this eagle out of a 300 pound block of ice right on the stage by the pool earlier in the afternoon. He's an award winning sculptor - it only took him 25 minutes to finish this one! This photo was taken in front of a huge new mural in downtown New Orleans where we stayed on Sunday night to be sure we wouldn't miss our boat on Monday morning. We arrived in New Orleans at 10:30 on Sunday morning and walked all over the city--sometimes in the pouring down rain--but we had a great time! The streets were very uneven and dirty--I can't tell you how many times I tripped. They use tons of different materials on the sidewalks - stone and bricks of all sizes, shapes and colors. This is Jon and Joan from Lafayette, LA who were at our table in the Celebration Dining Room each night. They were great fun! We enjoyed visiting and getting to know them and LAUGHING with them throughout the cruise. Thanks to you guys for helping make it a great week! Since it was only a 5 night cruise there was only one "formal" night. It was fun to have a "grown up" night and get all dressed up but due to the Lasik procedure I had on my eyes the Thursday before we left, I couldn't wear eye make-up for at least a week. I feel like I dressed up but forgot to "put my face on" as I tell my kids when they ask what I'm doing when I'm getting ready to go somewhere.

Cute Kids

This was such a cute wrestling match I wished my camcorder were working right! Maggie is one tough cookie - she was pinning Maguire down. He didn't seem to mind! I've never heard them laugh so hard. This was a really cute "twin" moment. He's definitely a Forsyth! Matthew put both twins on this red blanket and pulled them around on the wood floor. They were having a ball but were moving so fast that we couldn't get a really good photo.

Mike's 34th birthday. Mitchell made him a carrot cake, his favorite. : )

Harvest Time in Chicago

Mason had a field trip to a pumpkin patch in West Chicago with his preschool. Since it was almost an hour away we invited my friend Amy Allred and her daughter, Gracie, to ride with us. Aren't they cute???!!!

Maguire had some kid of leg cramp or charlie horse and screamed for almost an hour on the drive there and didn't stop once we got our of the van so a big "thank you" to Amy and anyone else who helped with Mason and Maggie while I tried to help Maguire calm down in the van.

Shooting Practice

Mike took us shooting before Pete and Lisa went home. It was my first time but Mike and Mitchell have been a few times. Mike even took his guns to California this summer and went out in his parent's back 10 acres for some target practice with his brothers and nephews 11 and over. Pete's a lefty! I took photos of Lisa with her camera but I guess I forgot to with mine! We hope to see them next month for Thanksgiving so I should get some photos then. Mike put two shells in Mitchell's 20 guage to show me and Lisa how to shoot - he shattered the second shot - way to go Mitchell!

It was a great birthday!

Thank you to those who remembered my birthday and helped me celebrate this year. I got to start celebrating on Thursday when 6 girlfriends took me out for brunch. It's a crazy busy month so thank you to those who were able to come and I am sorry we missed those of you who were home with kids or at work--and thank you for my boots!

I started my actual birthday in the wee hours of the morning talking to Koryn for over two hours on the phone (when I should have been cleaning my house). Then I woke up in the morning to the phone ringing and was surprised to her from Koryn again! We usually play phone tag for a few days before we connect. She never checks her email so I had to tell her to go read my blog about her birthday and she needed the blog address again! Since our birthdays are two days apart we can celebrate both on the 14th and call it good! I spent most of the day cleaning and preparing for open house. Good thing church isn't until 1:00 because I still have a lot to do AND keep it all clean until we leave--wish me luck!

Mike took me out to dinner tonight and gave me a present. I don't know about you but we usually have something we've been thinking about and we'd like to buy so we just get it and say it's our present for whatever occasion is coming up. Well, this year Mike really surprised me!!! He got me an ipod!!! Now Mike is usually very frugal but every now and then he just decides to do something extra special. I am very excited to be able to use it on walks and at the gym and....where do you use your ipod? It's the kind that I can watch movies on and can have 20,000 songs or something crazy like that. I'm not THAT much into music but I am thankful to Mike, I love him very much and I am thankful to be happy and healthy for another birthday.