December Surprises!

It has been a little while since I have updated our Family blog, but with good and bad excuses. For one we were pleasantly surprised that Nana and Grandpa from Canada showed up at our door on the 8th. It was great. The kids were very surprised when they came home from school. Ben who is 6 years old turned and cried a little at finding Grandpa on the couch. It was a great week full of great fun. We are so very thankful for their visit and they can surprise us any day!

We did get some hard news to chew as Cameron will be deploying once again in the spring time. We have been busy spending family time and just enjoying his presence while we still can. Other then that we plan to have a great quiet family Christmas as next year Cameron will not be with us at least physically, but we are proud that he can serve our Country!

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL WE LOVE!

What Are You Thankful For?

Teeth

While Ammon is growing and sprouting more teeth, particularly his top teeth, his brother Ben has just lost his first tooth. We were at the clinic getting immunizations and in the parking lot he showed my how much his tooth wiggled, so I took a closer look and pulled up and out it came! Ben was so excited and was surprised that it didn't even hurt. Whew!

More of My Little Ammon!

Believe it or not, but the little fellow fell asleep in his swing leaning over. Poor guy. Ammon is growing and growing. It seems he is getting bigger everyday. His hand are growing into toddler hands. I am a little sad to loose my newborn, but there are good times ahead. He has recently learned to sign back. It is so nice to know what he wants such as milk, more or eat. Trying to get him to learn the sign for drink, but it will come in due time.

Ben and Emi are doing well. They participated in the church Primary Program and did well. Emily is having a hard time since her Price (a.k.a. DAD) left a month ago, she will be happy when he returns next week! Ben is still full of questions for everyone. With him there is a question for everything. Blue sky are over head and we are having a fun time!

The "Jane Eyre" Project Update!

As of last night I have read the entire "Jane Eyre" novel by Charlotte Bronte. I read it in 19 days. It was a hard task as it just goes on and on about nothing at times and I really did not agree with her suitors as one was 20 years older and the other her cousin. But I have read it and now it is up to Cameron to hold up his end of the deal!

My Little Ammon ...

Ammon is getting bigger and stronger! He has now figured out how to pull himself up and every time I turn around he is standing holding on to something whether it is the chair, window sill, the shelf in the pantry or  his fun thing to do is to dig in my plants!

Canadian Geese!

Last Monday morning we had the wonderful time driving to school as we got to see the visit of some pretty important birds. The Canadian Geese landed in our neighbourhood in the morning for a rest and as Emily and Ben stated they must be visiting from Nana and Grandpa's house.

Trick or Treat!

Emily and Ammon before Emily's Halloween Party at her school the Friday before Halloween. Emily and her class went Trick or Treating to the surrounding businesses. There were some cute kids! We ended up with LOTS of candy!

Emily's Pre-K class. They had a long walk getting all their candy from the local businesses.

Emily, Ammon and Ben ready and anxious for Trick or Treating. Since we had so much candy from the Truck or Treat and Emily's school, I promised that we would go to ten houses and we did actually end up going to more, but who is counting. Emi got her brother to carry her bag of candy all the way home. What are brothers for! The kids enjoyed handing out candy WAY better then knocking on doors. They were so excited when the door bell rang. They would have ran up the street to give kids candy if I had never stopped them!   HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

When the Kids Don't Pick Up their Markers!

So you might be thinking the worse has happened, but let me assure you it hasn't Ammon just found one of the markers that the kids did not pick up! Evidently it had to be red. Ammon doesn't seem to mind though. He is setting a fashion statement one could say! I had to give Ammon a bath and scrub my carpets... Let's just say the markers are in Time Out! HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

My Brilliant Idea!

It seems now since we are more settled I am trying to organize rooms. I was looking at the office last night and I was sad that somehow I didn't have space for me since Cameron took over my desk and it seemed so cluttered. As I was looking around I thought of something so I measured the back wall and there was my idea. I could fit a desk or table between the book shelves... YEA! I was so excited that the kids wanted to know what I was jumping around for. So here is some before and after pictures of my brilliant idea for the office...

This is the room before we had moved our stuff... Looks small as I thought at first.

This is the room before my arranging. It is a mess. We plan to add french doors on to the entrance of the office so that we can hide the mess some.

Here is my finished look. I still need to put some stuff away in right places but it is better then I had hoped. One day too I would like to buy another desk from Ikea to the one we have. His and hers desks!

Our Ward Fall Festival

This last saturday was the Ward Fall Festival. We weren't expecting Cameron to join us, but he was able to and we had a great time. The kids loved it and had fun playing games with all the other children. After the indoor fun we got to go Trunk or Treating. Our car however lost the appeal on account that we had a rule... in order to get candy they had to sing a song. We had people pass us by. But that is okay we heard some good songs.

The "Jane Eyre" Project

About a year ago Cameron and I came to an agreement. It was said that if I read all of Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte that in return he will read Charlie by Jack Wayland. So, as we have no cable and I am running out of good movies to watch I have finally decided to pick up Jane Eyre again. (I have read the first chapter about four times in the last few years.) So as soon as Cameron gets back in December I am hoping to be able to hand over Charlie for him to read so he can quite complaining on how lame the movie is. Lets see how it goes! ....

Pumpkin KITTY!

Saturday we were happy to spend the day with Dad and we went to the mall but most importantly on our way home we were able to pick out a pumpkin at a pumpkin stand on the way home. The kids enjoyed being able to see all the pumpkins and being able to pick out their very own. After brining it home the kids decided that our pumpkin should be a kitty. So Dad made a hole for the lid, Mom scooped out the inside, Ben separated the seeds so we could roast them later ... mmmmm..., and Emi thinking it too slimy just supervised on the pumpkin carving.

Ben and Emily at the Pumpkin Patch stand in Savanna, GA.

Pumpkin before the operation!

Ben and Mom scooping out the inside of the pumpkin while Emily supervises!

Even Ammon is helping with the event... holding the bowl down!

Fin!

Two Bike Riders and an Inchworm!

Ben and Emily are both riding their bikes. They are getting good and trying to keep up with each other. They are getting faster each time we go out and there are times that I have to walk fast pushing the stroller with Ammon to keep up with them. They are too cute and I am glad they are getting some miles on their bikes. Although there are times that Ben is more interested in how his bike works then wanting to actually ride it. It was only until Emily finally figured out how to ride her bike that Ben wanted to ride his.

As for Ammon, I have finally captured him at crawling. He was 5 months on the 16th and started to crawl soon after. He seems to crawl like an inchworm. First he gets to his knees and then slithers to his tummy. It works for him and he is quite fast at it. He likes to visit me in the kitchen and feel the floor. It seems to be different then the carpet. His knees are a little rug burnt but I imagine that they will get tougher through time. He travels fast and I have had to invest in a baby gate to put upstairs. And sooner then later I think I will find myself baby proofing the whole house!

My Little Ammon ...

Ammon is now five months old and is growing so fast. Where has my new born gone! He is just about crawling and is good at getting on his knees and rocking back and forth. In no way am I condoning this stage in his little life, but soon I will have to baby proof my home.

Cumberland Island Day Trip!

We signed Ben up for Cub Scouts and already this month has been full of activities. We were able to join Ben and the Pack on a tour of Cumberland Island last Saturday. The ferry ride over from St. Mary's is 45 minutes. Thankfully the weather held up and only started to rain just as we were ready to get on the ferry back home, but made a great cool day to walk around the island. We got to see the wild horses and see some armadillos.

Walking through the forest was fun as we got to look for shark teeth. They dredge the sea bottom and put it on the trails so we are not walking in mud. From the forest and the guided tour we got to walk on the boardwalk over the marsh and over to the sand dunes and then to the beach. The kids had a blast at the beach and got extremely wet but had to wait until we got back to the car to get dry clothes. It was cool to find some clam shells to take back home too.

The kids did well walking and Ammon hung on too with only a minor sunburn. Poor Baby! It was a great day. It was good to see Ben having fun with his Tiger Den buddies.

I Finally Did It!

I have been thinking about starting a blog for a long time now. I am by no means a brilliant writer or a writer at all, but I wanted to be able to share some family stories and some pictures since I am not an avid scrapbooker either. Since we moved into a new area and a new home and everything seems to be settling into a good routine I have started to blog.

We moved into our new home in the beginning of August and it feels great to be a homeowner of the most beautiful house on the block... I might be a little biased on that though. We have enjoyed the last two months here and are looking forward to some great years here although leaving behind Germany has been hard on all of us. We missed touring their great country and being able to go to places like Prague for the weekend.

Ben and Emily are enjoying their time in school. We made sure when choosing a place to live that they had good schools. Ben is soaking in the vast knowledge he gains at school and Emily is a proven social butterfly.

This year has also and most importantly brought a wonderful new bouncing baby boy into our lives. Ammon James was born in April. It has been a great new adventure having him join our family and we have enjoyed every minute.

It has been a learning experience so far, but as Cameron grasps ahold of his new job and the rest of us getting into a good routine we are enjoying what Georgia brings us.

  Nurnberg Airport ... Leaving Germany for the last time.

January 2009

Ammon James

Born: April 16th, 2009

Weight: 7lbs 6oz

Length: 21in.

Our New Home July 2009