Showered with LOVE!

Last week, while we were in Virginia, Debbie and Parys threw me an amazing baby shower. It was such a fun time and I drove away feeling overwhelmingly blessed to have such amazing friends!
Debbie and Parys did all of the planning and preparing, but so many other people pitched in by bringing food and prizes!
The theme was polka dots and there was lots of blue and green!

I let Isabelle come along and she had a blast opening all of the gifts! She even participated in a few games!

She especially loved the stuffed monkey that is almost as tall as she is!

I wish I had gotten more pictures with people while I was there! Somehow we got caught up in all the fun and I only got a couple. Here is my girlfriend, Amy, who was 37 weeks pregnant in this picture. (And I am 28weeks.) She gave birth to a beautiful baby girl yesterday!!! Congrats Amy and Bryan!

And here is another one of my girlfriends, Brittany! I am excited that she and her husband just recently got orders and will be heading down here to SC in a few months! It will be great to have her down here!

To all of you that were involved with the shower, I want to extend a HUGE "Thank You!" I never imagined such a wonderful day with so many special people involved! You all are the best! Hopefully you all will get to meet our new little man when we venture up there this summer...unless you plan to stop through Charleston before then! Thank you for the amazing gifts, the special day and the awesome memories! I love you all!

Girlfriends

One of our outings while we were in VA was to the mall play area to see Kylea! Isabelle was so excited to see her! They ran all over the play area and enjoyed themselves. They even enjoyed the shelves...or are they bunk beds?

Thanks for taking some time to spend with us! It was so great to see you all and we hope we get to see you again soon!

Snow Day

While we were in VA, the weather men were calling for 3-5 inches of snow!!! We were all so excited. Because Virginians don't know how to drive in snow, school was even called off for the day. We woke up excited to see how much had fallen over night...but nothing was there! I ran out to the store for some milk and some hot chocolate mix for the kids so that they could warm up after playing in the snow. The man at the grocery store told me that the storm had stalled out and was not going to hit until lunch time.

So we waited.

And waited.

And even prayed for snow (at least Isabelle did...)

Until the blue skies appeared and we decided we may as well forget about it. Turns out the whole storm when south and we never saw so much as a flurry.

But the kids decided to make the most of all the winter gear that Debbie had pulled out for them and they bundled up to jump on the trampoline!

Here is Ian...with an extra hat covering his face because he thought his face was going to freeze!

Isabelle loved the pink ear muffs that we found for her.
The whole crew had a great time.

They came inside periodically to warm up, but they always ended up back outside!

That night, when I was tucking the kids in, I had a really funny conversation with Isabelle. It went a little something like this:

Isabelle: I think those weather men lied to us.

Kimberlee: I don't think they lied to us, but maybe they were playing a trick.

Isabelle: That was a mean trick. Those guys are Dum-dums!

So much for a snow day! But at least we got an extra day with our friends!

Road Trip

So, it is no secret that I am behind on my blog...but we have been on adventures lately. You see, the kids and I drove up to spend a week in Virginia last week. Ian had a couple days off from school and I decided it wouldn't hurt him too badly to miss a couple more. So we got to spend an entire week up there!
I was a little nervous about my energy level for the drive, but I can tell you that this was one of the easiest road trips we have ever been on! Ian did a little sleeping, played his DS, watched a couple movies and was an awesome help to Isabelle when she needed things.
Isabelle spent most of her time coloring and watching movies. And, yes, that is chocolate on the side of her mouth! Hey, we all need treats on a road trip, right?

After 6 hours and one quick gas stop, we got to VA! It was so nice to be back there! We were so excited to catch up with some friends and just hang out a bit! We got to have dinner with Miss Andrea at RED ROBIN. Unfortunately, I was so excited to just visit, that I completely spaced taking pictures most of the trip...so you will get to see what I have...

After dinner it was off to the Morelands! The kids were so excited to see their BFFs!!! As we pulled into their neighborhood that night, Ian asked if we could just move back to VA. He was nearly in tears, he was so excited to see his friends! I had to explain to him ( for the 1,213,532,738th time) that we live in SC because that is where Daddy works. It is a conversation that I know he understands to the best of his ability, but he still longs to be with his buddies!

As soon as we walked in their house, it was as if we had never left. The kids were playing together instantly and got along great, as always! Here is a quick pic of the boys attempting rock band. It was quite entertaining!

Show Week

Isabelle also had her show week this month.

Here she is showing her motion drill:

And here is her shoulder stand (her favorite stunt):

This is her cute little routine:

And here is one of her cheers:

Gymnastics Pro

This month Ian had his final gymnastics class at the Little Gym. The final class is what they call "Show Week" so that they kids can show us all of the skills that they have learned.

Here is Ian's floor routine:

And here he is just being silly on the beam:

And finally, one of his favorite skills on the parallel bars:

Thank you Mr Chris and Mrs Kathy for so much fun!

Coffee with Kate

Last night I got the opportunity to go hear Kate Gosselin (from Jon & Kate plus 8) speak at our church. Her story was both fun and inspiring. She followed the timeline of her family and how each step of their lives has brought them closer to God. I stayed afterwards to have my book signed and to take a picture of her because Isabelle was quite upset with me for not taking her with me. I promised her a picture.

The picture that was taken when I was getting my book signed didn't turn out, so this one will have to do...

A girl day!

The day after Christmas, all of us girls, including Isabelle, went out to do a little shopping. She was happy to be treated like one of the big girls. You can hardly tell in this picture, but she was modeling some of Aunt Bean's lip gloss! Aunt Haaley was excited to do some shopping with the gift cards that she had gotten for Christmas!
It was off to the mall for us!

Bean and Isabelle had a great time together...

Isabelle even convinced Bean to let her try on some shoes because, "they are just so cute!"

What a girl!

Christmas Dinner

After all of the excitement of the morning, we got to sit down together for a really yummy meal! Jilienne and Haaley had flown in on Christmas Eve to share the holiday with us! It was so much fun having them here for Christmas! Right after dinner, Isabelle was happy to prepare us dessert! (After Daddy's quick trip to Walgreens for a 100watt lightbulb!) She used her new oven to make s'mores!
Then both of the kids went out to use their new toys!

It was a very fun day!

Christmas 2008

Please excuse the lengthy post, but I spent so much time going through pictures and couldn't leave much out! The kids had a wonderful time this year and they were truly spoiled rotten! Ian and Isabelle were very patient about coming downstairs...

One of Ian's favorite gifts from Santa was his Darth Vader light saber!Isabelle loved her Pretty, Pretty Princess game!

David was thrilled with his pajama pants (that I have conveniently adopted to fit around my belly!) and the complete Star Wars collection.

After a quick breakfast break, we started on the gifts under the tree. Isabelle was happy to get a new cheerleading outfit from Aunt Tara and Uncle Josh.

Ian got a Transformer that he didn't already have! Good job Aunt Tara! He was excited!

Ian was thrilled to get the Speed Racer game from Miss Andrea!

And Isabelle was in heaven with her Easy Bake oven from Miss Andrea. She was ready to stop opening and start baking!

Then Ian discovered that Grandpa had gotten him the NERF machine gun that he has been asking for for months!

And Isabelle is prepared to become a superstar with her new keyboard and microphone that Grandpa got her!

Ian was ecstatic to find a watch and an alarm clock from Aunt Bean! He has been determined to set his alarm everyday since...

Isabelle got princess roller skates!

Miss Kim made Ian's day with the Nerf gun that goes with his new WII game!

Isabelle (our little artist) was so excited to find a new selection of coloring books!

Granny B new just what Ian wanted...a new two wheeled scooter!

But, when he opened his new Lego set from Mommy and Daddy, he informed us all that he would be upstairs working on his new ship!

Isabelle has always told us that she will one day drive a pink car. She was stoked to find out that she could have one now!

There are more pics somewhere, but I can't seem to find them. You see in the midst of the morning, I dropped my good camera and it stopped functioning properly...oh, dear. So, there will be more pictures when I get the rest from my sisters!