Christmas in Idaho

We hope everyone had an awesome Christmas! We had a great time, although it would have been better if we would have been able to be with family, and we missed everyone during this holiday. Back at the ole homestead, all of my brothers and sisters and their kids and spouses were all there, except us this year (every year it's someone...keep your fingers crossed for next year though!!) We did have some friends over for Christmas dinner and they tried raspberry vinaigrette and cranberry sauce for the first time and liked them both...can't believe the amount of people who have never been privy to such awesome and amazing palette pleasers! We had fun and can't wait until next year.

Christmas morning, Roarke decided that it was time to wake up...at 6:45 am when we thought we might be able to sleep in as Ada doesn't wake up til at least 8:30...but nothing doing there. So Josh and Roarke kicked it for awhile until Ada and I awoke and started opening presents. Then as Ada sat on her turtle, we noticed she REALLY needed to be changed...so we stopped and changed her then began again. Ada loved ripping open the presents, and Roarke, being very grabby right now, would hold onto a piece and then we would pull the present away and continue this until the present was open. So much fun was had by all!!

Roarke eating his new bear

taking a second from eating it to at least look at the camera

Ada on her bounce and light up Vtech turtle - thought we should get the kids stuff that allows them to be more active inside during these very cold and harsh months where we are stuck inside...

Got her a necklace and earrings that have "A" on them

Making sure that she got everything from her stocking, she even upended it just to check!

Roarke spent most of his time either like this, watching Ada open presents, or in his new jumperoo

Checking out her new cabbage patch doll that Grammie got her (although we almost forgot about this, as it has been in the closet since she was much younger!!)

Playing with Roarkes' rolling backpack which is a duck; Adas' is a pig.

I tried making some new rolls, this one is a Knot roll

and this one a cloverleaf roll, obviously I am moderately impressed with myself...

Our Stockings. We used to share the 1st one as Josh thought it was silly and wasteful for each of us to have a stocking, but now it is his stocking until we get him one that looks like mine; perhaps next time we go to DisneyWorld, there will be a Mickey stocking like my Minnie one...

Our Nativity set

Some pictures for your viewing pleasure

Hello All! A lot has been going on lately but rather than bore you all to tears with my usual litany, I thought I might as well take a hiatus from said monotony and just show you!

Our beautiful kids
Roarke looking like such a stud!

His favorite position right now. He loves to be on his stomach, as long as there is something somewhere in the vicinity to shove in his mouth. He is either REALLY teething or he has a serious mouth fetish.

Looking cute in his Santa outfit, but Ada likes to take his hat.

Just chillin'

Our Christmas cookies, devoid of red or green but very tasty!

Ada is helping Daddy prepare for his lesson next to the Christmas Tree

See? Told you she likes to steal Roarkes' hat!

She likes to hug him for a few seconds and then she pushes him away...at least she has good intentions right? Or maybe she just wants the picture evidence that she is a good big sister (just kidding she's great!).

These are her usual hugs; they are very abrupt and quick.

More Love

Well as it has been FREEZING outside recently, we have been spending more time indoors already (and by freezing I don't mean a mere 32 degrees; we're talking like a high of 18 and a low of -10!!). We have also been spending more time indoors as Josh, Ada and Roarke have been kind of sick for the past week (Josh even had to take 2 days off to help recuperate as he was working too much and when he called us every night, he sounded like a Barry White impersonator!)

So I also tired my hand at making the pumpkin roll Josh has been hankering to have me make for a while and I must admit I was intimidated at first, but it wasn't so bad and it turned out very well! pumpkin roll slices
he likes to sit up in the corner of the couch and watch basketball with his Daddy and cries when the commercials come on...Josh is in Heaven! He is also measuring in at about 26.5 inches already so Josh is hoping he'll be really tall and play basketball!

Trying on Mamas' winter boots and she doesn't want to give them back

It is hard to take pictures of Roarke as Ada gets very jealous! She will get in front of the camera (which has made me miss some really great pictures of Roarke, but I would much rather have 10,000 close-ups of Ada) so here she is almost yelling "CHEESE!!!"

Ada likes to hold Roarke now and even tries to burp him! But it only lasts a few seconds so the camera always has to be nearby and ready in a flash!!

A Late Post regarding Thanksgiving

We had such a great time on our vacation! It started out with a LONG trip across the country by planes and automobiles (sorry but we couldn't fit in a train...). We left the apartment at 4 am and Roarke fell right asleep, but Ada decided something fun must be going on so she stayed awake for almost the entire time! When we got onto the plane, the flight attendant informed us that two lap children cannot sit in the same row...so luckily the plane was very full so Josh and Ada went two rows ahead of Roarke and I and Ada even had a seat to herself near the window. Roarke and I had an extra seat too, but he couldn't quite use it yet...but I did use it to lay him down so he could roll around a little and play by himself.

Then we got to Philly and got to see Meemaw and Pop, along with Aunt Skye and Uncle Will. We were all so excited to see them and spend time with them at the zoo (not many people go to the Phila Zoo in the Fall/Winter, but it was fun and not nearly as cold as Idaho so we didn't think it was too bad!). On the way back from the Zoo, we stopped at DUNKIN DONUTS!!! Josh ate 4 donuts before we even made it home (about a 3 minute drive from dunkin donuts to Meemaws' house). We had a Beard Family Thanksgiving Dinner on Monday night and it was soooo good! We miss cooking like that (and from the McLaughlin Family Thanksgiving on Wednesday night too!!) as Josh works almost every night so neither of us have dinners anything like that!

Tuesday we drove from Elkins Park to Reading to Joshs' younger sister Amandas' house (which by the way Thank You So Much for hosting the Thanksgiving Festivities! It was awesome!). We stopped off for some more Dunkin Donuts on the way too. We got to hang out with almost all of Joshs' side of the family (except for his younger brother Aaron as he's on a mission right now). It was so awesome to see them as they hadn't met Roarke yet!! We also got to play some Wii games including The Price is Right (I have to admit I am terrible at that game but Joshs' Mom and sister Amanda were such pros!) and American Idol (that was so much fun, and almost everyone got in on that action, even Josh!!). My step-dad Bill got baptised on Tuesday night and Josh got to perform the baptism (which was awesome) and I got to sing with Sister Akerman and my sister Skye (who sings so beautifully!). The ceremony was amazing and we thought that as we were travelling so much and we didn't have much time to spend (there is never enough time) we would leave Ada there to play with her cousins and Aunts, Uncles and Grandparents.

Wednesday we had Thanksgiving with the McLaughlin side of the family and it was great!! Too bad we had to leave so soon! We miss everyone already and hope time will pass very quickly until we can all get together again!! Thanks Everyone for EVERYTHING!!

Cousin Abby
Aunt Amanda with Roarke

Ada found Ruggers' antlers

Playing with Cousin Lexi

Eating some lunch

Some deep knee bends were needed for this stunt!

But he liked all of the visual stimulation. Everyone loves the Zoo!!

Simply Adorable Sunflower

Chillin' at the Reptile House as it was very warm

Our little Annie Oakley with Meemaws' b-b gun and cowboy hat

Don't forget to check out the new videos (3 of them)! We also just had our family pictures taken and we have to wait for them to come in so we don't have them right now. But if you want to see them early, email/call/ask and I can email you the link!