Brookes New Haircut!!

Brookes hair had gotten pretty long and her hair is like mine, really thin. So the longer it gets, the more stringy it looks. It was so hard dealing with all the tangles and putting her hair up every day and getting it to stay up. So i decided to let her get a haircut. She seemed really excited about it. My mom took her this morning to the same woman who does our hair. I think she did a great job! Brooke seems to love it, and i do too :)

Brookes hair BEFORE

*Rachel has her First....

TOOTH! We finally saw it in her mouth, on Christmas Eve, while we were at church, actually. Its her bottom one. I felt in there and she bit me, its sharp! No wonder shes been so fussy lately, and chewing on everything and DROOLING! LOL! Anyway, we were expecting it to be right around now, b/c her brother and sister got their first teeth around the same age.

She also said her first word: DADA! Arnold was so happy to hear it :) All 3 of the kids' first word was that. Oh well, its ok.. the "d" sound is easier to make than the "m" sound! Rachel will say MAMA eventually ;-)

She is doing so much better with sitting up, too. we keep practicing and she will sit up longer and longer periods of time now. She is actually sitting up earlier than Brooke and Caleb did, so i was surprised :)

Heres a few pics of her from the past few days...

In her dress she wore to church yesterday

Spending some time w/ daddy :)

New PJS :)

Look whos sitting up! :)

*Calebs Dr Appt*

I forgot to post about this last week.. Caleb woke up with a pink and swollen eye last Wed. and my first thought was that it was pink eye, so I called the DR and they said to bring him in. Well that day my mom had gone to Raleigh to visit some family and taken Brooke with her, so I only had Rachel and Caleb that day.. it was an easy day! I think caleb and I bonded some that day :) Anyway, I didnt want to take Rachel to the DR too and risk her getting sick, so my FIL came over and watched her. When we got there Caleb got weighed and he was 31 lbs! He is finally starting to put some weight on! Hes always been a little skinny for his age. The dr then looked at his eye... she said it wasnt pink eye (thank goodness) and it looked like an allergic reaction to something. I couldnt figure out what he could have come in contact with... but anyway. She said to give him benadryl. We did, and it made him cranky! But at least his eye cleared up! I still wonder what had bothered his eye.



Anyway, that evening we went next door to Aunt Nancy's house and gave Peyton and Carter their Christmas gifts. We got ours too while we were there. Aunt Nancy and Gene gave Arnold and I chocolate, cash, and a GC to eat at Ruby Tuesdays. We used it that night, we just have no patience ;-) Caleb got a hotwheels racetrack and he couldnt wait to break into that thing.. neither could Arnold, haha! He loved playing with cars when he was little. They had blast playing with that that evening. Brooke got Baby Alive, the one that "pees and poops" and has stuff to mix up in a bottle for her.. needless to say i havent tried that out yet w/ her b/c itll be messy! She also cries and moves, shes really cute.. Even caleb wasnted to play with her :) Rachel got one of those walking/ride on toys that grows with them, shes a little young for it still, but im sure she'll love it! :)

*Day After Christmas*

Every year my moms' side of the family gets together at my Grandpa's house in Granite Falls the day after Christmas. Everyone brings in finger foods, and we eat, and then hand out the stockings. This year my Aunt Mary and Uncle and their 4 kids went able to come into town, which was sad.. but everyone else was there. The kids had a great time playing with their cousins and seeing everyone that they only get to see once or twice a year. The kids got walmart GCs, and Sonic GCs, Arnold and I got sonic GCs too so i guess we'll be making a trip over there sometime soon :) I also got a Starbucks GC.. i dont like coffee, hehe.. Ill probably just let me Sister in law have it. I also got a book and a journal from my Aunt. I already started reading the book, its pretty interesting.


Anyway, that afternoon my parents took Brooke and caleb home w/ them to spend the night, so arnold and I could go out by ourselves for awhile. We dropped Rachel off at my inlaws' house. While we were there, Arnold's cousin and her 2 kids came over, and they brought the kids' christmas gifts.. all 3 kids got new outfits, they were so cute! Anyway, then Arnold and I went out. We went to the mall first and went to Gymboree, they were having their Red Balloon sale so i got some stuff for really cheap. Then we went to Walden Books.. they are going out of business and their stuff is now 30-50% off storewide so i picked up a book, a magazine and a 2010 planner. Then we went to Hallmark and picked up a few cards we needed to get. Then we decided to go over to Target, we looked at the clearanced Christmas stuff but they had really been wiped out, so we didnt get anything. We lastly went to Ross, and I found a heart dress for Rachels 1st Valentines day, and i found her a little blanket, an Elmo DVD and a little purse, so I think im saving those as gifts for the kids, for either Vday or Easter. Then we went to get Chilis to go... it was too packed to go in! We took the food back to the inlaw's house and ate in their dining room so it was still kinda like a date ;-) I tried the fajitia (sp?) pita and it was really good. After we were done we took Rachel and went home. All in all it was a VERY busy day, but it was fun :)

*Christmas Day, 2009*

Christmas morning the kids got up and opened their gifts from Santa.. they seemed pretty excited. They all got new ornaments, we do that every year. Brooke got some my little ponies, a strawberry shortcake doll, an Elmo camera, a curious george doll, lots of books and puzzles, and some dressup clothes and jewelry. Caleb got a bunch of cars and trucks, books and puzzles, and a Raggedy Andy doll. Rachel got a fisher price teether, turtle rattle toy, a little doll, some books, and a ROCK YOUR BABY bib w/ a pic of a guitar, i couldnt resist when i saw it! It was a small Christmas for us, but we had a rough year, and the kids didnt even notice the difference. It was still a wonderful Christmas! :) Arnold and I usually only get each other small things... I got him 2 shirts and a Rock & Roll book. He got me the 2010 NEW MOON calandar, magnets and bandaids, lol! I LOVED them! I already have my calandar up ;-) Anyway, We stayed in all day and the kids played with their new toys. They were still exhausted from the long day before, so they took long naps that afternoon, which was nice. We had quite the mess to clean up around the house, too!

Im only posting a few pics b/c I dont have a lot of the re-sized...

My NEW MOON stuff from Arnold :)

Admiring my man ;-)

Rach w/ her new Seahorse toy :)

*Christmas Eve, 2009*

We usually go all our family get-togethers on Christmas Eve. So that morning we went over to my inlaws' house around 11:30 am and had lunch. My MIL made the whole get-up.. turkey, ham, mashed potatoes, green beans, mac & cheese, rolls, tea, etc. It was so good! After we ate we opened presents. I got Pjs, a bracelet, and a Walmart GC from them. The kids got a ton of stuff, new Vtech laptops, clothes, pjs, shoes, socks, huge playdoh packs, new videos to watch, books.. Brooke got hairbows and tights, and Caleb got some toy planes. They also both got underwear and new sipcups! Rachel got clothes and a cloth book and the Fisher Price Glow Seahorse.. she sleeps with it every night now :) It was a fun afternoon.

That evening the kids stayed with their grandparents and we took Rachel and went w/ my parents, brother and Grandpa to church for the candlelight service. We only made it halfway thru, though, b/c Rachel wouldnt stop crying. She usually does so good in church, but she had had such a long day and was overwhelmed. Poor thing kept getting woken up when she had fallen asleep.


After we picked up the kids we went over to my parents' house and had our traditional dinner that mom makes: lasanga, salad and garlic bread.. sooo good! Then we opened gifts with them. I got new black boots, they are sooo nice! I also got some VS lotion, lipgloss, socks, and some other things. Arnold and I got some GCs to go out to eat, we think we're going to save the Carrabbas one for our anniversary next month :) My brother got us a Target GC, everyone knows how much i love that store ;-) The kids got an awesome Art Easel with a big box of all kinds of art supplies and paper-- i think that was their fave. gift this year. They also got some clothes, pjs, socks, books, and little stuffed animals. Rachel got a Leapfrog Tag toy, a Crayola ball drop toy, and a teething book. Needless to say it was hard finding places to put all the new stuff! We didnt get home till after 9pm that night and I was EXHAUSTED. Thankfully the kids went right to sleep!

Here are a few pics I got...

Lunch w/ the inlaws

The kids with their new laptops

That evening at Grandma and Pop Pop Sears' House

Rachels Gingerbread Christmas dress :)

With her presents :)

Checking out a new toy

The kids helping their grandpa open gifts

My mom and I :)

My new boots! :)

Arnold and Caleb trying out his new Hotwheels racetrack

Rachel is 6 Months Old!!

I cant believe it, but Rachel turned 6 months old this past Friday! She is HALF A YEAR old! I just cant get over it! Where did the time go?? :(

She is doing so much! Just a few weeks ago she rolled over for the first time. She seemed really shocked, and excited about that :) Now shes sitting up on her own for a few minutes at a time. She uses her hands for support and leans forward, its so cute :) She also is babbling a lot more. She is such a social baby! She loves "talking" to people and she imitates people too. Our newest game is i will stick my tongue out and she'll copy me and laugh, its so fun :)


This past week we tried her on baby food for the first time-- just the rice cereal stuff in a jar. She seemed real excited at first. She made a huge MESS of course. After a while she got tired of it though. Im sure she'll like fruits a lot more, because of the sweet taste :)





Heres a few recent pics of Rachel..

Her Gymboree Turtle Sweater, i love it! :)

Shes always smiling :)

Her OH DEER shirt ;-)

Holding her head up so well :)

First taste of baby food :)

We got SNOW!!

We got SNOW this past weekend! We hardly ever get snow around here so everyone was so excited about talking about it when we heard on the news that we would get some. A lot of people were hesitant b/c a lot of times the weather people say we're going to get some, and we dont.

Friday morning we woke up and we were getting freezing rain..it sounds like big chunks of ice. Arnold went to the grocery store real quick and got us some stuff we needed. He decided to just stay at home that day. The weather then said 100% chance of snow, and that we could get alot. A little later that morning it started snowing hard. It was so peaceful watching the snow fall from the window. The kids were SO excited, they loved watching it too. The older kids have only seen snow twice in their lives, and of course it was was Rachel's FIRST snow :)


We hung around the house and just rested. It was fun to have Arnold home on a weekday :) It stopped snowing for awhile, but then it started back up bigtime that afternoon, and kept on all day and evening. The snow was covering EVERYTHING by around 3pm. Brooke wasnt taking a nap, so we decided to take her out to play in it for a little while. We took Rachel out for about 5 minutes to see it, but she started crying because it was so cold. Brooke had a BLAST.. she ran around, laid in the snow, made some snowballs with Arnold and even threw one at me! :-P



Unfortunately Caleb was napping while we were outside and didnt get up till it was dark outside, so we figured it was too cold to take him out. He didnt miss much though, he doesnt really like the cold to begin with. When we got back in, Brooke decorated a gingerbread man cookie and then attacked it, she really liked it :) Rachel developed a bad cough.. i felt bad at first because i thought she had gotten it from going outside, but now i figure she couldnt have gotten it from being out there for just 5 mins.. obviously she picked up some germs somewhere.



So anyway, we were stuck inside ALL weekend long. Our church services were even cancelled. So i got a bit of cabin fever. I hate it when i cant get out of the house for several days in a row. But it was nice to rest. I am currently weaning off my antidepressant, so i guess it helped to be inside all weekend dealing with the sideffects-- I have been feeling pretty tired, moody and getting headaches :( I just hope i feel normal again soon! Sunday i DID get a lot of cleaning done though, so I guess it was good I was stuck inside :-P I found something useful to do. we also got hooked on the show GLEE This weekend. Id heard a lot of people talk about it, but we had never watched it b/c we dont have cable. Well we watched a few episodes on HULU and now im hooked! I love all things musical. I guess ill have to buy the DVD when its released :)



We were going to go to Morganton to see the Christmas light display last night.. but when arnold went down the road to pick us up a pizza he wrecked the front of the van. He hit a curb real hard and knocked something off.. im not quite sure of the name of it.. but we're going to have to get it fixed. So anyway-- we didnt make it to see the lights last night. But we're planning to go either tonight or Wed. night, so its all good. :)

Heres a few Snow Pics...

Rachels 1st Snow! :)

Brooke had a blast!

She started shoveling snow, haha :)

Daddy and Brooke making snowballs :)

Arnold had to wear that silly facemask :-P

Brookes gingerbread man cookie

She seemed to really like it :-P

Girl Scout Christmas Party

Last night our Girlscout Brownie Troop got together w/ the Cadette Troop that meets in the room next to us, and we all had a Christmas Party. I was asked to bring 2 dozen doughnuts, so I had Arnold bring them home for me, on his way home from work. I was happy they all made it home ok :-P Anyway, we had pizza, chips, doughnuts, and drinks.. so healthy, i know, but soo good, lol! We then all got the kids all bundled up and got them to get together with a buddy and line up-- and we took them on a walk down the road from the church to this Senior Center. The older scouts had made up packets for them, with ornaments and other stuff in them im not quite sure what. Anyway, the girls handed them out and we went walking around caroling.. a lot of them came outside and listened, they seemed happy we were there, so it was a good feeling :) The girls seemed to have a good time. Our troop is usually VERY rowdy, so we were relieved that they behaved on the trip. A dog followed us the whole way out there and the whole way back, he even tried to come in the church w/ us, haha! :-P Anyway, after we got back we still had a little time to kill, so we had a lesson. Then the girls were handed out little Christmas gifts from their leaders. Then it was time for them to go. I was EXHAUSTED by the end of the night.. I had had a long day to begin with.. the kids arent feeling too well, so I was dealing with sick/grumpy kids all day. But anyway, it was a fun night. Next week we have a meeting w/ the parents about our COOKIE SALES (yay!) And then we dont meet again until Jan. 4th.

Hickory Winterfest 2009

I forgot to post about this past Thursday. There was this thing at the Hickory Square called "Winterfest." That night they keep the shops open a little later than usual, hoping to get people in to buy gifts. The whole place is lit up w/ Christmas lights.. and Santa was there, and they had hayrides for the kids. There was also a jazz band. Anyway, one of the guys in Arnolds' band.. his GF is a singer, her stage name is Ashera (i think thats the goddess of Love or something like that..) But anyway, every year she gets paid to set up and sing Christmas songs in front of the Hickory Wine Shoppe. This year she asked Arnold and this other guy in the band, Skip, to play guitar for her. So I went out there that night to see him play. The kids stayed behind at the grandparents' b/c it was COLD and WINDY that night! IT was like in the 30s i think, maybe even the 20s by the time they were done. I was in like 3 layers and a scarf and still freezing my butt off! But i went to see Hubby, so it was worth it :) They did really good.. and they seemed to get a lot of people come and watch and the Wine Shoppe got a lot of business that night, so I guess thats good. After they were done Arnold and I stopped by dinner at Ihop before we went back and picked up the kids. So it was basically a date night for us! It was a great night.. just wish it had been a TAD bit warmer ;-)

Here are a few pics I got that night..

Arnold getting ready

The Singer, Constance

Arnie, Eric, Skip-- having beers between sets :)



My honey and I in the Wine Shoppe :)

On the way to dinner-- still freezing! :)

A Few Christmas Pics

The other day we were getting ready to go to one of the bday parties and we decided to try taking some pics since the kids were in Christmas outfits. Its soo hard to get them all 3 to look at the same time, and even if they are, one is not smiling, or is crying, or looks weird, etc etc. LOL! But anyway, we got a few decent ones. I wish they were a little better, but its all good :)

Rachel in her Christmas Dress

At least theyre all looking!

Aw, Big Sister/Little Sister Love :)

Me and my babies! :)