Merry Christmas!

This last year of 2010 was one of the fullest we have known!

Crew Boy!

• learned how to walk and immediately began RUNNING and JUMPING!!!
• words so far:

mama

daddeeeee!

Dee Dee (Kadie)

Nay Nee (Laney)

Mineeeeey! (Mine)

no no no! (while pointing his finger and smiling)

awe (putting his head to the side when something is cute)

joo (juice)

ha dah (hotdog)

• Crew also knows to fold his arms in prayer and he dances to all kinds of music
• He gives the sweetest little kisses, and he has a baby doll.
• He is a monkey and climbs on EVERYTHING, and breaks most things he throws.
• Crew stole the title of Messiest from Laney, and probably also owns the title of best tantrum thrower. We will continue watching him closely in 2011. :)

Laney

• Learned to write her first name as well as f-o-x, c-a-t, l-o-v-e, n-o, y-e-s, t-o, and m-o-m and d-a-d. She leaves notes everywhere in the house.
• She is always right at my feet when I am upset about something telling me she loves me.
• Laney LOVES flash cards. Any and all kinds!
• Laney discovered the world of girly toys and things this year. She still has a special love of dinosaurs, but she and Kadie play all sorts of princess and fairy games.
• Laney has also started "crafting" with her sister after school.
• Laney still owns the title of Most Curious child, but Crew is a close match!

Kadie

• Kadie became a big kid in my eyes this year which really makes me happy and sad at the same time. :) :( But mostly happy. :)
• Kadie was baptized this year, she pays tithing, and she reminds me now of family prayer, scripture study and family home evening. I even put her in charge of one lesson and she is a natural at teaching!
• Kadie's favorite thing in the world is NATURE. Anything and everything about it.
• Kadie changes her brothers diaper sometimes, she even offers to vacuum on occasion.
• Kadie is a WIZ at math and loves it almost as much as her Daddy. She rarely comes home missing more than one problem on her math or spelling tests.
• Kadie has even dabbled in jewelry design this year, and wears one of her most recent bracelets almost every day.
• She wants to be a mom when she grows up, and I think she will be such a patient mother.
• Kadie still wins the award for Most Dramatic in our family, and she can add a touch of Sassy to the mix most days.

Josh and Leisa

Leisa started a few new hobbies this year including party throwing and her Sassy Pepper blog. She discovered a new obsession with organizing, which doesn't last long with an 8, 4 and 1 year old. Instead of trying to be the perfect mom this year, she tried being more fun, and the kids voted to keep the fun. :) Leisa is also in the Primary Presidency as an intern... I mean, counselor. She now knows the secret to making it all work at church is just that...a SECRET that she hasn't discovered yet! :) Leisa wins title of Most Crazy, but a good crazy, not "crazy" crazy,

at least not yet.

Josh was so blessed to be given the opportunity to go back to what he loves again for a career. Josh is now an Audit manager with a full staff at PWC and absolutely loves it. His engagements include Twitter and Zip Realty! Somehow, he still finds time to play the Wii with Kadie, bake cookies with Laney and wrestle with Crew. We are back to our old schedule of working hard in the week and playing twice as hard on the weekend! I think Josh deserves the award of Most Thoughtful because although he is overworked and underpaid...he does anything I ask, even without the asking.

This upcoming May will mark 10 years in our marriage! And we plan on celebrating in style.

We want to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and hope that your year to come is full of joy and happiness. We also are so thankful for all of you, and most of all our Savior.

With Love,

Josh, Leisa, Kadie (8), Laney (4.75), and Crew (1.5)

Every Day

Every Day...

actually several times a day, when I open this fingerprint decorated garbage can,

I find a surprise inside!

Crew's pants!

Whenever I see he has taken off his pants, I check in the trash and sure enough...

Other items included in this search (but are not limited to);

Bottles, sippy cups, silverware, school books, stuffed animals and DVDs.

Another Everyday Occurrence...

Crew's Clubhouse as I like to call it.

Also know as my shower.

When he finds things he likes, he takes them and hides them in my shower.

Similar to how a dog hides a bone.

Crew is the "new" puppy.

Goodbye...Hello!

Last Christmas the girls were so excited to get their little leopard gecko's from Santa.

Sassy really had a special little love for Laney.

As our first "real" pets other than fish, Santa told us that gecko's are very low maintenance and easy to keep alive. So even Josh and I were excited. They really were cute.

About 2 months ago, Laney's lizard dropped it's tail, and it was all downhill from there. Both gecko's were lethargic and wouldn't eat a thing for the last month. So we decided to give them up to a shelter that would nurse them back to health and then find good owners for them.

We saw and heard many many tears this last weekend.

Josh and I felt bad for the girls and for their gecko's.

What we weren't planning on was meeting some teeny tiny turtles at the shelter that need a new home! Kadie tried to talk me into a snake, but with all of the fiasco's with crickets this last year, I could only imagine mice and gold fish being worse. So we agreed on turtles.

Meet Freckles and Cuddle!

Now the girls are smiling again!

Let's hope that these little things stay healthy.

Lost Photo's

I just found these from August.

They are so funny! I can't believe I forgot about them!

What happened in Dallas...

What happened in Dallas didn't stay in Dallas.

My Josh came home a Cowboy. He finally found his perfect Cowboy hat.

After being gone almost two weeks in a row, I am so glad he is home! It was a long couple of weeks. And one very very VERY long Sunday to start it off with. We did come home from church to find little notes all over the house with messages from Dad. The girls loved it.

I'll take the real Josh over his notes any day. Glad you are home shnookums!

{Green} Halloween

The night of the trunk or treat for our church, I decided last minute to go as the wicked witch of the East, which meant I would have to be green.

Laney followed suit. She even requested a gross fake mole.

Crew was originally the tin man, but his costume was too small and showed too much diaper.

He became a last minute "Toto" with one of our older costumes from when Kadie was a wee one.

By the end of the night, being green didn't seem to excite Laney as much.

"From Dad"

Conversation between Laney and I while Laney was creating a card for her Dad.

Laney: "How do I write from Dad?"

Leisa: "You mean to Dad or for Dad?"

Laney: "No... one Dad,"

Leisa: "Is the card for Dad or to Dad?"

Laney: "I made the card for my Dad, Mom."

Leisa: "Do you want it to say To Dad or For Dad, Laney?"

Laney Starting to Cry: "It is only one Dad. (sniff) Just my Dad!"

Leisa: "Oh ONE Dad, I'm sorry now I get it. It's okay Laney, don't cry. Let's just write for my Dad."

Laney with tears: "No ONE Dad mama, ONE Dad, my Dad!"

Leisa: "Okay, let's just write My Dad. Is that okay?"

Laney: (sniff sniff) "OK mama, How do I write my Dad?"

Leisa: "M-Y and then D-A-D. My Dad."

Laney with a giant grin: "Thanks mama!"

The End.