9 years!!

I know I have been really bad lately and haven't undated my blog in like FOREVER!!! I will try to get what has been going on in our household posted in the next few days, after you see how busy we have been you will realize that I have had no time to work on my blog!!!

But I did want to mention that today is our 9th Wedding Anniversary!!! I love my husband Scott, he is a great husband and father. He works very hard to provide me and Natalyn with all we need and want. I am looking outside as I type this and the weather is cold, but it is a clear, sunny day! This is a far cry from the weather we experienced on our wedding day. I remember praying for a little snow for our wedding (we had a Christmas-themed wedding) and I just thought a little snow would be the perfect touch. Well, boy did I get what I asked for! We got several feet of snow instead!!! The cake, photographer, guests, etc.. almost did not make it!! But thank goodness everything worked out in the end. We don't have big plans for today, we may go out to eat or just hang-out at home with Nat-Nat!!

NATALYN IS SOOO SMART!

Sorry, there are no pictures to go along with this posting. I just thought of this and it is pretty funny, so I thought I would share it!!! I just LOVE the fact that over this holiday season so far Scott and I have been outwitted by a 2 yr old about a million times. I think that there is maybe one or two presents for Natalyn that she hasn't discovered yet. What we usually do is have half the presents from Santa and half from us, and I try to keep it pretty even (like a big gift from us and a big gift from Santa, etc...) but when Natalyn finds something, I have to shift things around or go out and buy something else that she is not aware of, but then she finds it and then we are back to the starting line. Last Wednesday, Scott got of work early, so I sent him to Wal-mart to pick up a little tyke basketball goal. He came home with it and immediately put it up in the attic while Natalyn was taking a nap. On Friday, we were all outside getting the Christmas lights on the house and Scott had to get in the attic to get the light clips. Natalyn looked up in the attic and said "I want to play with that!" I looked up and saw the top portion of the basketball goal box exposed! I told her to go see her dad in the yard and I immediately shut the attic door. It amazes me how smart she is... I mean, there are several boxes in the attic, and she noticed that there was a new one up there and knew what it was! GEEZ! I told our good friend Susan the story this morning and she suggested just bringing Natalyn's stuff to their house from now on and we can come over on Christmas eve and get them!! We will definitely have to do that next year!!!
Oh- by the way, Natalyn is calling the snowman stuffed animal that my dad sent her "snow animal." And she calls Frosted Flakes -"Frosted Snowflakes"!!!

MORE MAIL!

Today, Natalyn received some special mail just for her from her Grandpa Nixon. OOOOOO! Frosty the snowman!!!

Another snowman!!!

Natalyn had a great time decorating her own Christmas tree with some of her new ornaments, the rest of the ornaments enjoyed a trip on Natalyn airlines!!!

THANK YOU GRANDPA NIXON!!!

Thanksgiving Day!

On Thanksgiving, we went to Scott's parents. Papa Sill recently got a new tractor and Natalyn really wanted to take a ride on it! It was a little chilly, but she still enjoyed it! The tractor was really noisy and Natalyn kept putting her hands over her ears! This is Papa's new barn to house his new tractor! He hit the garage door track as he was pulling out of the barn and had to have it replaced!

Natalyn is steering with her eyes closed. She was getting really tired and was ready for a nap!

On a sadder note, Grandma Sue passed away Thanksgiving evening. She was a very sweet and kind lady. She made my Pappoo very happy!

FINISHED PRODUCT-CHRISTMAS DECORATIONS

I am always excited to get the Christmas decorations down from the attic, but it just seems like it takes forever to decorate when you have a 2yr old helper. But I did finish the end of last week and now we can enjoy it. It's hard to believe that Christmas is only a month away.

(All the stockings are Natalyn's -just kidding!) There are people who love to wait until the great sales at 4am on Black Friday to start their Christmas shopping, but I am not one of those people! So I have been finished with my shopping (other than a few more things for Nat-Nat) for about 2 weeks.

I love receiving Christmas cards, but where to put them?!?! I like to display them in the greenery on this shelf in the corner of the dining room.

I have several pottery snowmen that I like to put around my kitchen. This one is my favorite.

This is Natalyn's bathroom. I put pictures of her from her first and second Christmas in the frames I have displayed.

We have several hand-me down ornaments that I decided to finally start to use. The tiny ornaments are from Scott's side and the larger vase is displaying several ornaments that my aunt K-K has painted, there are also a few ornaments that Mammoo (my late grandma Nixon) used to have on her tree.

Here is the front porch.

Getting the blog ready for Christmas

I just spent some time switching my blog colors over to a more festive pallet. This is the only Christmasy (I am pretty sure I just made up that word!) I have of Scott, Natalyn and myself, it is blurry, but will just have to do until I get another one.

NEW MOON

This afternoon, my friend Katie (Mia's mommy) and I went to see New Moon. We had alot of fun, the theatre was packed, this movie is running like every hour today!! It was fun to get together with another adult and...might I say.......NO KIDDOS!!! I won't get into any details about the movie, other than the character Jacob (when his hair is short) is a HOT-E and I HATE how they ended it, but I can't wait for movie 3 to come out! I heard it was going to come out in about 6 months or so....we will just have to wait!

LIGHTING OF THE SQUARE

Saturday night we headed to the Bentonville Square to see the Christmas lights. Natalyn really liked to see all the pretty lights and all the people. She was mostly impressed with the camels (they were giving rides, but Natalyn was too young.)

Natalyn was able to ride a pony though! This was her first horse ride and she loved it. She told the pony "thank you" afterwards. She also let me know that she rode the pony "really fast!"

FUN ON FRIDAY!

Friday we decided to stay in our PJ's most of the day. We headed outside and took down the fall decorations and started putting up the Christmas ones. Natalyn wanted to wear her scarf, cap and gloves to match Minnie Mouse!

After we decorated the outside we came in and Natalyn painted a few of Santa's reindeer and a slid to display!!

Natalyn ditched the brushes and decided it was easier to use her fingers (this really surprised me since Natalyn doesn't like her hands dirty!)

A BREAK FROM CHRISTMAS DECORATING

GREAT WEATHER!!!

Yesterday the weather was way too nice to be stuck inside! I couldn't believe how warm it was outside and I have a Christmas tree up in my house! Here are some pictures of Natalyn enjoying the leaves in the backyard! (And yes, I am still working on those grass stains on her jeans!)

CHRISTMAS DECORATING -PHASE 1

CHRISTMAS TREE TIME!!

Monday evening, I had Scott get the tree down from the attic and put it together. It only took about 5 minutes. I just LOVE pre-lit trees!!! Natalyn was so happy, she was bouncing off all the furniture!!Natalyn is acting as "manager" of the tree project!

YIPEE!!

Natalyn decided she would help daddy get the tree centered. She gave Scott a whole 2 inches of arm room, she was practically on top of him!! She kept saying "what are you doing now daddy?!" over and over and over and.......

On Tuesday, after Natalyn and I got home from work at the church, she got to do some of the decorating.

She had so much fun putting the ornaments in the very same spot.

MORE IS MORE!!!

Natalyn's finished project.

CHRISTMAS TIME ALREADY?

Ok. I know we haven't even celebrated Thanksgiving yet, but this time of year is just so busy that we took advantage of the great weather this last weekend and headed to Branson to see Silver Dollar City all decorated for Christmas. It was hard to believe that the weather was in the mid 70's on Saturday!

I can't believe how big Natalyn looks in this picture. She is climbing through a maze. No, she is not alone, you can see me just above her!Have I mentioned that Natalyn got to see Santa on Friday? We went down to Branson Landing and they had a great Santa Clause there!! Santa actually talked Natalyn into sitting on his lap for a quick photo (NO SMILING THOUGH!) She told him that she wanted a purple swing and a new Mator!

Here is Scott and Natalyn watching the giant Christmas tree at SDC!

Natalyn, Daddy and Mama!!

What a cheese!

Natalyn patiently waiting to go shopping!

Natalyn is entertaining herself by coloring in her Pooh coloring book. See the pink unicorn behind her on the couch? I had a coupon from Build-a-bear, so we went to the one at Branson Landing and I told her pick out anything. Of all the cool animals to pick from , she chose this pink unicorn!! Trust me, we tried everything to get her to pick something else, but she wouldn't change her mind. If you showed her another animal, she would just say "I don't like it!" Natalyn loves her new buddy, she thinks it is pretty and it has pink glitter stars on the sides! She named it Pony tail, "Pony" for short!

GO KENZIE KAY!!!

Last Thursday evening we went to watch cousin Mackenzie "Kenzie Kay" cheer. She is a 7th grader at Farmington!! We were glad we could finally make it to go a game, since this was the last one of the season (can you believe it has rained for 11 Thursdays straight?!?) Cousin Keeley and Natalyn (Grandma and Papa in the background).

Natalyn just loved to watch Mackenzie. She would stand at the fence and just smile!! Natalyn also tried to do the cheers and routines with cheerleaders.

Mackenzie and Natalyn.

Mackenzie looks go grown up now!! I can't believe it!! She is just gorgeous!!

CAN'T WAIT FOR BASKETBALL TO START!!!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

HALLOWEEN 2009!!!

Well, Natalyn and I did not feel exactly like trick or treating on Saturday. On Friday, Natalyn and I stood in line and waited for 3 hours to get the seasonal flu shots for both Natalyn and myself and also the H1N1 vaccine for Natalyn. It was a major mess! Anyway, I have never had a flu shot before and I started feeling really run down within about 3 hours of getting the shot. By Saturday afternoon my voice was pretty much gone (it still is). That was my first and last flu shot.

We went to Miami for Natalyn to trick or treat the family and then went out to eat supper and then went to bed early. Natalyn just work up from her nap as we were headed to Pappoo and Grandma Sue's house. Uncle Glenn gave her a few glow in the dark sticks and a wand. She still really likes the wand!

Here is Natalyn a little more alert heading to Nan-naw, Papa and Uncle John G's door.

Natalyn (after a little candy in her system) and me (have I mentioned that my head felt like it was going to explode!)

Natalyn with Nana, who gave her the lovely jewelry she is posing with!