An aerial view of our land

We found this aerial view of our land on the Pike County website - cool, huh??!!! Our parcel is the "L" shaped one outlined in red. We will build our house in the center of the southeast square part about 175 feet back from the road. Still no showings on our house here but we'll close on the land in 5 weeks. You can see the edge of the lake on the far right side of the photo.

She just couldn't wait another minute....

A few weeks ago I was taking too long to get the twins down for their nap after lunch so Maggie decided she just couldn't wait any longer and put herself to bed. I sure hope it's that easy when they get "big kid" beds! Matthew's 8th birthday was a quiet one at home. Our neighbors and friends Amy, Brooke and Blake came over for cake and presents. Matthew loves to play at their house because he says Amy is a "fun" mom...and apparently I'm not. : ( Maguire hasn't had this much fun with cake since his first birthday party. Maggie ate the frosting off the top of the cake then put the plate on her head like a hat...it's a good thing they're cute!

False alarm...

I'm sure many of you were sooooooo relieved that they let school out early for us to prepare for this major storm that only brought 2-3 inches of snow today - so much for the HUGE storm...unless some major snow happens overnight this whole thing will have been one big hurrah over nothin'....How much money did our school district spend on thousands of phone calls, text messages, and double bus trips for those kids whose parent's couldn't pick them up early only for our kids to laugh that they got out of school early for something that didn't happen?

Oh, the snow....

So I know many of you reading this are living through this junk with us right now but for those of you not in the midwest, we thought we would show you what it looks like in northern Illinois right now. I really hate the snow. It's only beautiful when it's actually falling. As soon as it stops and the snow plows come out and people start leaving home again, it's just dirty and messy. (And this is from someone who is buying 9 acres in the country to build our next home!) I look forward to the 60-70 degree winter days as a resident of the great state of Georgia, may this be my last winter living someplace where it snows! Our cat Muffin likes to try to chase snowflakes through the sliding glass door. I didn't wait long enough to get a photo of her in a full jump but my camera doesn't take good action photos anyway. Oh, the things that provide entertainment in the winters here! These are views out our front windows right now. It's supposed to snow a foot in the next 24 hours so I'll post again with after photos. Our playset hasn't had much use in the last four months but provided a good backdrop to show you how hard it's snowing.

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.