Black Friday

This year we had a good Thanksgiving . . . but even better than Thanksgiving was Black Friday!!

On Black Friday, we do a full Thanksgiving dinner at home with just our family. We also decorate the house for Christmas.

This year was the best Black Friday ever! The food was fabulous, and it was so nice to just have a relaxing day at home. At the end of the day, the house was decorated and clean, we were well rested and well fed. Does it get any better than that?

From the time they got out of bed, the girls were begging to decorate the tree. Of course, they forget how long it takes to get the thing set up and get the lights on. Alas, it was finally time.


Ali hanging up her Baby's First Christmas ornament.


Emma's turn . . .

Meg does hers with a big smile.

And last but not least . . . Julie.

It's so fun as the girls get older to watch them reminiscing over their different ornaments. This is a tradition that they really look forward to!

Birthday with a Friend

Meg was invited to spend the day with her friend Lucy to celebrate her birthday. She was SOOO excited! For her birthday we gave Lucy a dress and tights (and a matching dress and tights for her American Girl doll). It's funny because these girls have been known to show up to activities with matching clothes (on several different occasions). So I bought Meg a matching dress and tights as well. They thought that was totally cool. When they came to pick Meg up, Lucy opened her present and changed into her dress right away (hence the tennis shoes). They went to Walmart to get Lucy's ears pierced, and then back to the Drinkard's house for some girl time (a treat for Lucy, who has 2 brothers.) What a fun day!

While the girls did their thing, I kept the Drinkard boys. Julie loves playing with Nate, and my 2 big girls love doting over both of the little guys. Here Emma is reading to Nate and Julie. I just thought it was sweet. We loved having them!

Life When You Have Two Older Sisters . . .

Meg and Julie are such good sports. Ali & Emma have enjoyed fixing their hair here lately. I think it's sweet.

Halloween Festivities

Due to our super soggy October, the pumpkin patch was a no-go this year. Instead we went to our local produce stand. We got a great pumpkin and still managed our usual pumpkin patch pictures.

Julie

Emma

Megan

Ali

All four girls - and they're ALL looking at the camera! It's a miracle!

All carved and ready for Halloween.

Getting all 4 girls dressed into their costumes is a LONG process. We started putting curlers in Meg's hair pretty early. She wore them for hours to get those curls.

Meg as Little Orphan Annie

Emma as an Egyptian Princess

Julie as Madeline.


Ali as a China doll.

All four . . .

Time for pics with the Alligood kids. Karis is a cheerleader, Jonah is Iron Man and Aubrey is a present.

In past years we have gone to Miss Sherry's house for Halloween festivities. This year her mom (Maw Maw to my kids) is in a nursing home, so we went to see her there. They loved seeing Maw Maw and Maw Maw LOVED seeing all of them. The kids did some impromptu singing for the residents. They were a hit!

This year we did our Trick-or-treating in the Alligoods neighborhood. It was a great night! Weather was wonderful and the kids did a great job!

Treats from our local police officer. Thank you EPD!

We wrapped up the night with some hang out time a the Alligood's house. Great fun!

Where's the Ark?

October 29, 2009

What a way to test our new fence!? Let's see how it holds up to flood waters!

First, I feel the need to mention: we do not live in a flood plain.

However, we are new construction, and we have a drainage creek that runs around our house. Our builder has been having problems working with the county to get our creek flowing the way it needs to. It's rarely a problem, but if there's a flash flood warning, you can pretty much bet that our creek will have issues.

Thankfully, this time the rains came during business hours and our builder was able to get the guys from the county to come and see the problem. So, it looks like everything will get worked out. The questions is: how long will that take?

Another thing to be thankful for: our house is high enough that water doesn't get into in. It will wash out the road before it gets to our house. Unfortunately, we can't say the same for our neighbors. They got water in their garage, and their basement. Bummer.

Another thing to be thankful for: Our fence DID hold up. The water was rushing across our yard, and it put lots of pressure on the fence. But it came through in tact!

Well, here are some shots of the action:

Here I'm standing on my front porch looking at the side of our yard, and the neighbor's driveway.


The water rushing over the road.


The neighbor's driveway and garage.

Our back yard. The water was rushing from left to right.

More brown than green. Isn't that wonderful? : )

Six Flags

October 19, 2009

Once our fence project was coming to an end, we decided that we wanted to take our kids out to celebrate somehow. We decided to take them to Six Flags. (For those of you who don't know, we live one exit away from Six Flags.)

We started out riding the Colossus. What a beautiful view of Eureka in the fall!


Daddy with Ali & Emma


Mommy with Meg & Julie

Ali & Meg in the engine of the little train in the kids area.

Daddy with Emma & Julie, on that same train.

This picture is a miracle in my mind. The last time we went to Six Flags, Meg was a newborn and we just took Ali & Emma. They were scared to death of all of the characters. So, it was fun to see them excited about Bugs and Taz this time!

What a fun crew!

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After a few hours in the kids area, Aaron took Meg and Julie to Aunt Lydia's house so that we could do some real rides with the big girls. We learned a few important things about our kids:

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1) Emma doesn't like heights. She loves speed and spinning, but NO heights. Even the swings that just spin you in a circle. Too high. She did a lot of crying.

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2) Ali loves roller coasters, but isn't ready to brave anything that takes her upside down. No Batman for her. Or Ninja, or any of the really great roller coasters.

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Bummer.

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So, needless to say, we had to get creative. What rides does that leave?

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Thankfully, the weather was PERFECT! Lines were short (for the most part.) I even got to ride the Batman (by myself, of course) 3 times without ever getting out of my seat.

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Now that the girls have had more time for mental preparation, I think our next visit will be a little more adventurous. I guess we'll see!

The Fence is DONE!!!

October 18, 2009

Can you hear the Hallelujah Chorus in the background? No? Maybe I'm just hearing things! : )

Our fence is finally finished. I can't even express how good it feels to be DONE with the darn thing! A project that we began in May, finished in October.

The kicker is that we did probably 3/4 of it in 2 weeks. Once the weather cooled off and our schedules freed up a bit, it was fence building time. We sloshed through mud and endured misty rain, but we were on a mission.

Our kids were FANTASTIC helpers! Seriously, we'd still be working if they hadn't helped. They each earned $1 for every fence section they helped with. They thought that was awesome, and so did we. You can't imagine what a help it is to have someone just passing you screws and pickets!

Really, you can't hear that Hallelujah Chorus? Well, imagine it with me then . . .

Here are the final pics:

Life When You Have Cats . . .

October 2009

Or maybe I should, more accurately, say "Life when you have Kelsey."

Ever since we moved into our new house, the mini blinds in Megan and Julie's room have had "problems." We have repaired and replaced them a few times. I thought that Megan and Julie were playing with them, and breaking them. I even spanked them for it once.

Well, I was oh so very wrong in my assumptions.

It was Kelsey. She likes to sit in that front window, and when she would weasel her way behind the blinds, they would bend, and eventually break. I guess that's what happens when you buy $5 mini blinds from Wal-Mart. I should also mention that the view of the front of our house was rather trashy. It was a pet-peeve of mine.


Isn't that lovely?

(The bottom hole is from her climbing on to the window sill, the top one is from her climbing on the top of the bottom window, if that makes any sense.)

We finally went to Lowe's and bought some faux wood blinds. That way the little rugrat can climb behind them all she wants and they won't bend.



Ahhh . . . much better!

Ears Pierced!

Okay . . . It's about time to do some serious blogging. Actually, it's about time to write my annual Christmas letter, and as I'm thinking over our year, I've realized that I needed to organize some pictures, etc . . .

So, let's catch up on these past few months!

September 22, 2009

Well, Megan finally decided that she wanted to get her ears pierced. Our policy with ear piercings is that I'll take them whenever they decide that they want to do it, as long as they understand one thing: It will hurt like a shot!

Well, that one piece of information has had Megan insisting that she would never get her ears pierced . . . EVER!

Of course, she has 2 older sisters who were very eager for her to do it, and she finally changed her mind. I'm sure that the incentive of "Aunt Brooke will buy you tons of earrings for Christmas" had something to do with it. : )


Here's the "before" - sucker in hand.


Here's the "during." Her response to the entire ordeal was "Ouch." Pretty uneventful.

Of course, I would be the slacker who didn't take an "after" picture.

Then we move on to Julie. She had no qualms about piercings hurting like a shot, and has been asking to get her ears pierced since she could say the word "earrings." (And for those of you who have conversed with this little one, you understand how long ago that must have been!)

I decided to go ahead and make this a sister event. She was very excited!

Here's the "before" picture (the dot on her ear is marker).


And the "during." We didn't get a peep out of her!

And, once again . . . no "after" shots. I'm sure I'll get them on here eventually!