Rewind

2010:  A Year in Review

JANUARY
We announced to the world our big news!

FEBRUARY
Kris' birthday month (Beth's too)

MARCH
Jacob turned 3!!

APRIL
Beth and John's 6th year of marriage (sorry for the blurry pic)

MAY
Five years of bliss!
{where did that girl go?  sigh}

JUNE
Levi is here!!

JULY
Jacob adjusting nicely to his new role... big brother! 

AUGUST
After seven years, Kris' last night of class! 

SEPTEMBER
Praising and giving all thanks to our Heavenly Father for watching over sweet Levi

OCTOBER
Having the best time with cousins

NOVEMBER
My birthday month

DECEMBER (tie)
Celebrating a big accomplishment!

and

Celebrating Christmas with these two precious little people

2010 was definitely a year of blessings!
Makes me even more excited for 2011!
Thank you Lord for this sweet life!

I hope 2010 was a year of greats for you too!

This & That

Here is another craft project Jacob brought home from school last week.  LOVE IT!

Beth brought her munchkins over last week to bake Christmas cookies.
This is the only picture I took.  So sweet!

Oh, and I forgot to post this last week.
Poor little Santa was tuckered out.

****

I ran into a friend the other day who was surprised when I told her I had a blog.
Not in a bad way, just curious as to what I blog about.
I told her about 99% is of the boys (my scrapbook).  The remaining 1% would fall into miscellaneous.
I told her I'm always looking for blog material.  HA!  

Anywho, I say this to say a big thank you to all who pop by, and especially leave comments.
I appreciate your patronage.  :)

****
One last thing... I'm looking for some new blogs to read (don't tell Kris!).
I have my regulars who I thoroughly enjoy, just looking into expanding my list.  :)
If you wouldn't mind doing me a favor, let me know a blog that you read daily and maybe give a reason or two why.  Someone who just makes you smile when you see they have a new post.  :)  

The eyes have it

Just love bundling up Levi in his coat and hat.
He looks so snug as a bug once he's in his car seat.
And I had to include the picture on the right.
Can those eye lashes be any longer?
If he was a girl, I'd already have mascara on them.  HA!  
I'm so sure for his and Jacob's eye lashes be longer than mine!

Making Muffins

Pumpkin Cinnamon Chip Muffins


Saw this on another blog and immediately knew I had to try since I love spice cake!
And I have never heard of cinnamon chips, have you?
Walmart doesn't carry them, had to get them at Harp's (another local grocery store)

Can't get much easier than this!

1 Box Spice Cake Mix
1 -15 oz can of Libby's 100% Pure Pumpkin 
1 Bag of Cinnamon Chips 

Add the Spice Cake Mix and the Pure Pumpkin together and MIX
After the above is mixed, add in the cinnamon chips
(please note that you do not need to add eggs, oil or water, just the three items above)
Put batter in a muffin or cupcake pan and bake as directed on the Spice Cake Box

And viola!

I'm not sure if this is how they are supposed to look after baking because I didn't have a picture to reference.  
I really filled my cups full because I only have the one large muffin tin and I didn't want to make a second batch after the first were done, so I just piled it on.    :)

I think using the whole bag of cinnamon chips made them really moist.  
Enjoy!

Christmas Recap

I hope you had a wonderful Christmas!  

Kris had to work till 1pm, so once he got home we (Jacob) opened gifts.

Santa brought a mixture of Toy Story, Cars, and Thomas the Train toys... his current faves.

This is the fist year that Jacob actually opened his own gifts, and was so excited to do so.
It was so fun watching him!

Levi was asleep while Jacob opened his gifts, once he was up, we gave him his stocking.

See my new rattles?

I love them!

Later we went over to my parents (up here) for Christmas dinner with them and my sister's bunch. 

We tried getting a family photo

But Jacob would not stand still.  Then he started walking away, so we walked with him.
Why am I laughing so hard?  Wait, it gets better.

So then he decided to sit.  So we thought we would too...

while trying to balance Levi...

We tried.  And all while Jacob was oblivious.  Good times!

Levi spending some time with Papaw

My mom has had this huge stocking forever.  
We've put all the grandkids in it when they were babies.
Tonight was Levi's turn.

I don't think he mind.  :)

Finally it was time for a group photo, santa hats and all.  :)
{notice Luke?  silly boy!  kate in her princess costume and jacob refusing to look at the camera}

Another year of Christmas making lots of memories.  
Love all these crazy people!

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas!!
From our family to yours!

6months

Levi, you are 6mos old today!
I better start planning your 1st birthday party!  I kid!  (maybe) 

You will have your very first Christmas this week!
I can't wait to put you in the little Santa suit.  I know you will be precious!

Here are few things you're doing at 6mos:
*You recently started eating baby jar food, and you love it!  You have yet to turn your nose up at anything
*Your bottles are 6 or 7oz depending if you had any jar food prior to feeding
*Your 6mo wellness check is Tuesday, so we'll find out then how much you weigh, but I'm sure it's over 16lbs.
*You wear a size 2 diaper
*You are wearing 6-9mo clothes
*You LOVE the jumperoo and the teachers at daycare tell me you go crazy in the one there too!
*You love bath time!  And within seconds of putting you in the tub, it's like the Bellagio!
*You are so ticklish!  And have the best giggle!
*You roll over instantly to your belly when we lay you on your back
*You give the biggest smile when you notice Jacob
*You are starting to jibber jab more!  Definitely finding your voice!
*You are the best cuddler!  I call you my little cuddle bug!

*as soon as I started taking pictures, he spit up so I grabbed a wash cloth and when I wiped his mouth the 6mo sticker began to run.  I guess part of the wash cloth touched it.  Oh well.

We love you so much Levi!!!
Could not imagine life without you sweet baby!

College Graduate - Bachelor of Science; Business Information Systems

Kris' newest title!  

This past Saturday was the commencement ceremony for John Brown University.

My mom was so nice to watch the boys while me and my sister Beth went to watch Kris take the stage. 

It's a small school, about 240 graduates so it was held in a brand new gym.

Can you see him?  :)

Beth was quick to point this out to me from the program.
I got a little teary-eyed.

So I figured if it's like high school graduation they would walk toward the left of the stage, so we headed to that section.  We had a prime view!  See?

I was so ready for pictures!
His row started walking toward the stage and I was in position.  HA!
At about 4 people in front of him I started aiming to take a shot then realized the battery was DEAD!
I immediately had a sick feeling in my stomach.  I freaked, ask Beth!
I was so close to crying.  I couldn't believe this moment was about to happen and I could not capture it, especially so close to the stage!  

Luckily, Beth whipped out her cell phone and was able to capture the only pictures of him crossing the stage.
I could barely cheer for him when they called his name, I was so sad.  
As soon as he sat back down, I texted him "dead battery".  :(
{he's on the stage and big screen - HA!}



So afterwards we met up and guess what, I suddenly remembered my little camera was in my purse.
Are you kidding me?!  Sheesh Kimberley, think!

I am so proud of Kris.
He is a wonderful example to our sons of going after your dreams even if it means sacrificing.
Speaking of dreams, at the end of the day he looked at me and said, "Masters?".  
Say what?!?!?

Here comes Santa Clause

This is very blurry because they are scanned, but here are the past Santa photos.
Surprisingly, Jacob has never been scared of Santa.  
He just walked right up to him, well maybe not in the first photo. :)
{2007, 2008, 2009}

This year was no exception.  We picked him up from school and asked him if he wanted to go see Santa.
He said YES!!  On the way there he kept saying, "I'm going to see Santa."

I was dreading the line, but guess what... there was no line!  Hallelujah!
We walked in and Jacob exclaimed, "THERE HE IS!!"

Once again, he walked right up to him.  
We put Levi down and immediately started taking pictures.
We got some great ones of Jacob smiling, but Levi was looking down.
Once we finally got Levi looking up, Jacob started showing his fake smile.  

Oh well, this will work.  

I want to show you their sweet shirts.
I bought from Etsy these cute Christmas iron ons - a set for Jacob and one for Levi.
{we bought the tshirts from Old Navy and then ironed on the prints}

They came in sets of 6 different prints.
I figured I wouldn't use them all this year, but save them for future Christmases.  

This picture cracked me up.
Surely Levi isn't sick of pictures already.

Looked what I made... peanut butter balls.  YUM!

Why does time fly by when you get older but drags when you're a kid?
Wasn't it just Christmas 2009 the other day?