Madison's favorite shirt

This is Madison's favorite shirt. She told me the reason she loves it is because she looks like a mom. This morning she didn't want to put her coat on because it didn't look like a mom coat. It didn't go with her sunglasses or her purse. This girl loves to accessorize! Too bad her mom knows nothing about it. We got lots of smiles as we went to the doctor today. She had her purse with all of her supplies. She passed out sunglasses to all the other children in the waiting room, gave them lotion, and tried to paint their nails (pretending of course). She is always making me smile.

Toothless Gavin

Gavin lost his first tooth this week. I can't believe he is old enough to start losing teeth. It was hard for me to send him to kindergarten but I would have to say that the first loose tooth rates up there pretty high too. He was so excited and pulled it out all by himself. Now he has bragging rights at school because I think he is one of the few who have lost their teeth. He is working on the one next to it and it should be ready to pull out pretty soon. Gavin is anxious to have another visit from the tooth fairy. Mom on the other hand is not!

Just a closer look at that beautiful toothless smile.

President Gordon B. Hinckley

I know we are going to see pictures of this special man on blogs everywhere. But I wanted to share my thoughts on such a wonderful prophet. I am so glad I was able to listen to such great counsel. His love for the members of the church just radiated from him. I loved his sense of humor and quick wit. He ispired all of us to be a little better and work a little harder. He has touched so many lives and will surely be missed.

Sunday afternoon naps

Mark and Madison were having a little Sunday nap. Our time for church changed from 9:00 to 11:30 and it has been a struggle because of nap time. Madison doesn't always get a nap on Sunday and she can be quite a bear so luckily for us she did yesterday.

I'll share a little conversation that Mark had with Madison at church that I thought was quite funny.

Madison was pulling up her dress and showing her tights. Mark told her that she shouldn't lift up her dress because it shows her underwear. Madison said, "we don't show our underwear but we can show our bresses". Mark is thinking no we definitely don't show those, but he quickly realized that she was trying to say dresses.

It's good to be home!

I went to Utah last week (by myself) to go to Jason's farewell. This is the first time I have ever gone anywhere for a few days without my kids. I had so much fun spending time with my family and friends! I stayed up later than I have in years (for me that is not saying much I have always gone to bed early). But despite all the fun, I sure missed my family! Mark and Madison came to the airport to pick me up and as soon as Madison saw me she ran to welcome me with the biggest hug. She sat and stared at my face for awhile remembering what I look like. It's so much fun to go on vacation but it's just as much fun coming home!

Cousins

Gavin and Madison had so much fun with their cousins over the holidays. I'm so glad they got to spend time with them. I have such fond memories of playing with my cousins when I was growing up.

Christmas at Grandpa and Grandma Hawk's


Gavin, Madison, Abbie and Elijah playing with all of the toys.


Gavin, Madison, and Hobbs at Grandpa and Grandma Binks' house.


Gavin ate a few too many cookies over the holidays. He gains weight just like his mom, it goes straight to his behind.


Jason thought it would be funny if he stuffed pillows down their pants. Not only did it entertain the kids for awhile but we were quite entertained as well. My stomache still hurts from all the laughing!


Madison and Hobbs had so much fun hiding from everyone. There were several times when they were MIA. This was one of their many hiding spots.

Christmas Highlights

Our holiday kicked off with Gavin's school program. All of the kids did such a good job singing the Christmas songs. The songs were complete with actions. It was so funny to see their arms all over the place. Gavin actually got hit on the head several times from the kid sitting next to him and you could hardly see him because he was dodging arms. It was really funny! Gavin's teacher came up to me afterwards and said "Gavin is so patient! I saw that he got hit in the head several times and asked if he was okay, and he just nodded his head". Madison also had a school party and Santa brought her a present. The Santa was quite scary and Madison didn't dare sit on his lap. She told me on the way hom that he wasn't her Santa. We made sugar cookies about three or four times. Daisy's sugar cookie recipe is the best and I couldn't get enough of them! We also made a gingerbread house and the kids ate lots of candy in the process. On Christmas Eve we played the M&M game and Santa's beard game. The kids had so much fun and I think Gavin had the biggest beard. We got a phone call from Katie on Christmas Eve. She was stuck in Chicago and couldn't get a flight to Ohio until 7:00 p.m. on Christmas day (United Airlines didn't want to pay their employees overtime so they cancelled her flight). She ended up flying to St. Louis and we picked her up at 7:00 a.m. on Christmas and she spent a few days with us and we drove to Ohio on the 28th. It was fun to have her here to spend Christmas with us. We were very busy over the holidays but we sure had fun spending time with our family and friends.