Trip Advisor

Jay and I decided that we needed to be adventurous tonight, to go out and find something fun to do. We had heard about a ferry that you can drive your car on and go across the river. We figured that the boys would find it thrilling. That's what we figured.
Real story: Before we made it to the dock, Olivia was already screaming because she was hungry. As we waited in line to board, a man came up to the car and asked Jay if we could "jump" his car because it wasn't starting. Jay obliged but kind of thought the guy might be a bit intoxicated. As the guy was about to leave, the cops showed up to arrest him. Ooops!
The ferry ride lasted all of 5 minutes. When we got to the other side of the river, Olivia was really letting us have it. We took off driving, figuring that we'd find some great restaurants on the other side.
That's what we figured.
Real story: There was nothing on the other side. We finally pulled over and turned around (and let the boys out to use the "bathroom") and headed back for the ferry. By the time we got there, Olivia had finally calmed down. The boys were starving and exhausted from a busy day. We stopped by a McDonald's drive-thru on the way home and chowed down in the car.
We're afraid that we wasted about 3 1/2 hours of our lives. I guess that it was an adventure.



From inside the car

Wow! Thanks Mom and Dad! This is the best night of our lives!

Jay and Olivia enjoying the beautiful view

Sailboats lined up along the river (as we are driving past)

Wrapping Night

Tonight was the night that I finally decided I'd better wrap all of the gifts for Christmas. Whew! I'm beat. If my kids tell me that they are bored any time in 2009, I'll shake my head in disbelief.



This is about 1/3 of the gifts that we wrapped...grandparents, these are some of the boxes we have been receiving. It's kind of fun to live far away. I remember Dad loading our car up with all of the gifts that we got for Christmas (4 kids worth). Good thing that we don't have to haul anything home. :) :) Plus, it's fun when the doorbell rings and a big box is out there smiling, waiting to be brought in.

This is Jay enjoying a peaceful time of sitting with his computer, knowing he'd be able to sit and watch his wonderful wife wrap all of his darling children's gifts. He didn't know what was about to hit him. He helped.

On a side note, Jay is the most wonderful husband in the world. Seriously, I'm not joking...don't even beg to differ...I'm completely spoiled! When he got home from work, I went to get my hair cut. He took all 3 kids to the grocery store with my grocery list in hand. He came back with all of the stuff I needed and a frozen pizza so that I wouldn't have to cook tonight. PLUS he brought me chocolate. Then, he wrapped gifts and toted cardboard boxes out to the curb from trash pick-up! Thanks Jay, you are the best.

Another side note, I think that I'm allergic to cardboard. By the end of all the wrapping, my hands were burning and started to swell up. I took children's Benedryl. I'm a bit loopy now, so don't pay attention to anything that I'm saying. ;) Whoo!

The Tree Is Up

Do Superheroes Hug?

We're so glad that our buddies came over today. It's so funny to see how these guys interact. The two oldest are a lot alike, and the two youngest are a lot alike.



Buddies

Uh-oh, I can see it in Josiah's eyes. Things are getting a little too huggy for him.

Josiah's hugs are more like smacks and pushes. I think that his buddy on the other end feels the same way.

That's more like it!

Tagged...Again! (Okay, I'll admit it. I actually like these things. :) )

Rules:
1. Post rules on your blog.
2. Answer the six "4" items.
3. Let each person know they have been tagged by leaving them a comment.

4 Things I Did Yesterday: Went to church, went out to eat (VERY stressful), took Isaac to pageant rehearsal, went to a Christmas party

4 Things On My Wish List: my kids to never fight (good one Leslie!!), photography lessons, abs of steel (hee hee), a personal chef (I'm working with Jay on this...I keep telling him that he'd make a great chef and it's not flattery, he really would!)

4 Things I Look Forward to: getting Olivia out of bed each morning (ahhh...she is so sweet!), haircuts, weekends, seeing family!

4 Restaurants I like: Rosa's Cafe (can anyone send it through my computer??), The Grill (I was thinking about it today), Abuelo's (They have them down here!!!!!!! Can you believe it?? Jay ate there when he was in Orlando...without me), Logan's Roadhouse

4 Favorite TV Shows: The Office, Amazing Race (does that count?), that's all I know of.


4 People I Tag (You're it): Mom, Kelley, Rachel, Lindsey

Kitchen Wars

Question: What happens when you take a sword away from a little boy?

Answer: He finds one.

Question: What is it like to have a little girl after having two great boys?

Answer: Alphabet soup instead of war.

Moo, Baa, Whaa

As our night was winding down and we were getting kids ready for bed, Jay remembered that a church down the street was doing a live nativity.  I loaded up the boys and we went.  I'm so glad that we did, I think that the boys will always remember it.

When we pulled up, Mrs. Joanie, Isaac's P.E. teacher, was right in front of our car.  So it was really neat to walk through the nativity with her.

We walked down a path that led us to different scenes.  We started at a market, then saw shepherds, wise men, an inn, and finally, the stable with baby Jesus.

These shepherds were explaining to us that they had seen an unusual star.

There were live animals everywhere.

The boys loved this camel.  Here the wise man is asking what kind of camel has one hump, ha!  Mrs. Joanie was curious.

The kids are all watching baby Jesus.  Before they got here, they had all "purchased" gifts to bring to baby Jesus.  Isaac gave a ring and Josiah gave a necklace.

I think that baby Jesus had to be cold!

Isaac petting a sheep (if you know Isaac, you know that this is a big deal).

This pig was so cute and wanted some food from Josiah.

Candy canes and goats...what more could a little boy ask for??

Isaac really enjoyed getting close to soldiers.  I couldn't believe that he let me take his picture with them.  

After all of this fun, we went in the church and listened to a Christmas concert.  All three of us thought that it was wonderful and really reminded us of what Christmas is about.  In fact, when we were driving back home, Isaac said, "Christmas isn't about toys, it's about Jesus!!!"