For Thanksgiving we were so THANKful to get to go to my cousin, Traci's cabin in Strawberry! The kids had so much fun needing their coats! It was a very fun trip!

With A LOT of help, I made my first quilt! Paul and I have wanted a quilt for our bed for a while. He made me the mirror above our bed a couple years ago and this year I made him a quilt to match! I'd like to take the credit but I couldn't have done this alone to save my life! Thank you, helper friends!

We think maybe I was pregnant with twins but the other twin is stuck in Parker's tummy...no sign of it coming out anytime soon! We love our chubby girl! She pulled her shirt up like this...clothes are just too tight!

Joe Joe

Joe is BOY 100%. He plays hard and is so so sweet. He loves his sister, Parker! Every morning when he hears her wake up he runs in to ask us if he can go talk to her. If we say yes, he BURSTS into her room and they laugh together forever. He allows us to keep sleeping...good boy Joe. He is right at that point where a nap benefits his mood greatly but if he does nap for even a minute he is impossible to get to bed at night. I love my kids!

The one and only Christmas photo of 2009

This is my Sydney. This face says it all. But just in case it doesn't say it, I'll explain. She is 6 1/2 but she thinks she is 18 and knows everything! She is sassy and very opinionated! She hates the color purple and hates her hair the way I did it in this photo. She is beautiful and so loving when she wants to be and she is a great big sister...to Parker. This attitude on her face and Joe kinda clash. This is our ONLY Christmas picture...I was not snappy this year. Got some cute video, though! I love this girl and adore spending one on one time with her. She is so bright and special to me.

Thanks Heidi Stanford...and some rambling

My blog is so cute and I haven't posted or even seen my own blog since August of 2009! I think Heidi probably knows my password better than I do! She is my friend and she has my permission to change my blog background...why would someone take their time to make my blog so cute when I'm never one here? Because she loves me. Why does she love me is the bigger question?? Heidi, you are a great friend and I love you so much! Thank you for making my dusty old out-dated blog look like a beautiful fun well written one! I know it isn't easy to make a cute blog and it takes time. Thank you so much! Heidi and I have a play date this wed and I am so excited! I don't know who reads my blog but if you happen to read it, you can stop reading this post, it is very uniteresting. If I'm being honest, I don't read anyone's blog. Not anyone's. I feeel bad about that but I just don't. I'd like to but...I don't. Today, out of morbid curiousity, I checked Ted Kimball Mac Jack Marshall Xander's blog (a nut job that used to be my brother...)and for the first time in 5 months looked at other blogs. If, I get on the computer, I look at (don't read) my email then check out facebook. That consumes me and I forget I even have a blog. I'm rambling but who knows if this will ever meet another humans eye. I kinda hope it doesn't cause I might offend some people with my "nut job" comment and unlike that nut job, I care about other people and their feelings. So, Mom, if you ever read this, I'm sorry to vent about "him". My bashing is actually mild for how I'm feeling...ANYWAY...Thanks again to Heidi Stanford and her creativity for making my words looks so cute! Sorry about the little tangent I took there in the middle. Hopefully I will post more often and more interesting. But if I don't...at least it is cute.

Finally

This picture looks EXACTLY like my sister Katie as a baby! Parker has a beautiful future ahead if she keeps looking like her amazing Aunt!
I Finally got a kid that looks like my side of the family! She has a lot of Merrill in her too but she has the most Dickerson of any of the 3. She has brownish/green eyes...hazel, if you will. She is very similar looking to me and Kate (my younger sis) whom she was named after. Beautiful Parker Kate!

SPOT LIGHT on...

TJ Dickerson is my sister-in-law but more importantly my friend! She is amazing because of a lot of things but I only have pictures of 5 reasons...This one shows how sweet and loving she is towards my kids. She loves them like they were her own! I love that! This shows how fun she is! She always dresses up for halloween! holidays are all a big deal to her and her enthusiasm is contagious...and she forgives bad spelling.

She married this sexy man I call my brother! He is awesome but I will save his spot light for another time. She married him and that means...a lot. We all know how much I love him so you have to be pretty dang awesome to get my approval.

She is crafty and selfless. She made the shirt Joe is wearing and the skirt Syd is wearing. She made a ton of other things that she spent her selfless time on but I don't have the pix.

She is BRAVE!! One "bad hair day", she let me shave her entire head...no reason, just crazy and fun! I was so jealous!! And another photo of her loving my kids...

She is so fun and so loving and patient and kind. She is selfless and thoughtful, artistic and talented! I love TJ and am so lucky she is my friend! Thank you TJ!

Losing a friend

Some of you may know that I recently lost a good friend. Not to death and not to a move but because I wasn't the friend I needed to be. I have spent a lot of time sad and confused and empty feeling because of this loss and want to say to all of you that I love you. I know I am not always the friend I need to be and not always or ever the one to call or plan things. I do love my friends! I know I am the one being blessed by the friendships I have. I want to say that I appreciate all of you and the fact that you or anyone is reading this means I'm not alone. As the Golden Girls said "Thank you for being a friend..."