More Visitors

The week after Thanksgiving Joe's parents and grandma drove up from Virginia, where they were visiting Joe's sister and her family for Thanksgiving, to spend a few days with us. It was wonderful to have them here, and we crammed in as much activity in just a few short days as we possibly could.

They arrived late Sunday night, after Madeline was in bed, so we stayed up talking for a bit, but Joe had to work early Monday morning so we had to go to bed soon after they arrived.

On Monday Joe went to PT in the morning, then got permission to spend the rest of the day with the family, so he came home around 10 am or so. In the meantime, Joe's dad hooked up the Wii he brought, which proved to be a standout activity of the visit. Of course as soon as Joe got home, they had to play a few games before we could do anything else. Finally we got to explore Watertown a little, and that night we had a small Christmas celebration.

Tuesday we hopped in the car and made the 3+ hour drive to Niagara Falls. Joe's dad loves the Hard Rock Cafe, so we ate there for lunch before seeing the falls. After lunch we went to go check out the falls, but it was so cold and windy that I think we were on the observation deck for a total of about 10 minutes and that was that. Just long enough to take a few pictures and we were out of there!

We stayed at a hotel that night in lieu of driving the 3 hours home and then 2 hours the next day to go to Palmyra and view the Church History sites. Joe's dad hooked up the Wii in our hotel room and grandma and Madeline stayed in the other room to sleep while the 4 of us had some rousing competitions late into the night. This involved lots of standing on the bed to get the "right position," lots of laughing, and my personal favorite - Joe's dad standing right in front of his mom to play, and her aiming her foot right at his rear to give him a nice little shove and throw him off, and then he stepped forward just in the nick of time, but he hit the bed anyway and we all collapsed into laughter. I don't think I have ever seen Joe's mom laugh so hard in my life, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Probably had to be there.

Anyway, the next day we went to Palmyra and got to visit all the Church History sites: Joseph Smith's farm and the Sacred Grove, the Hill Cumorah, the Martin Harris farm, and the Book of Mormon publishing site. This was their first time visiting, so we took all the tours and spent the whole day learning about the beginnings of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. It is hard to visit everything in 1 day, but we did the best we could and I think everyone was able to strengthen their testimonies that The Book of Mormon is the word of God and that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God.

Check out this cool wheelchair they have to drive through the Sacred Grove...
Madeline enjoyed it too!

Thursday morning Joe had to go back to work, and the family headed back down to Virginia for a few more days before flying home to Washington. In all it was a marvelous visit, and we are especially grateful that Joe's grandma made it out here - it's not easy to travel across the country at 88! Thanks to you 3 for making the trek. We love you!

Halloween & Thanksgiving

We had so much fun on Halloween and Thanksgiving that we completely forgot to take any pictures!

This was Joe's first Halloween with Madeline, and I think he had even more fun than she did. If you want to see her costume, the Paddy Cake Baker, you can check it out on this post. We just layered a bit more with a turtleneck and coat to go with the chilly temperatures outside. I thought we would have a nice leisurely stroll around the block, but Joe thought otherwise. He was determined to hit every house possible within a 6 block radius. Maybe that is exaggerating a little bit, but that's what it felt like. Every time I would say, "I think that's enough. Let's head home." I would hear, "Just one more street." By the end it was kind of a running joke. Madeline had so much fun. We taught her to say "Trick or treat" but she wouldn't really say it at the door. She would thank them and tell them goodbye, and then she would come running back to me on the sidewalk yelling, "Trick or treat!" and showing me her pillowcase (another idea of her dad's - give a 2-yr-old a pillowcase as big as her so she won't run out of room for candy). Near the end we stopped by our friend's house and warmed up a bit before heading home.

For Thanksgiving my friend Katrina came to visit from Boston. Though the snow from Halloween had long melted, of course it had to come rolling back in for the holiday weekend. It snowed the entire time she was here. On the way to the airport we drove 10 miles in an hour on the freeway because there were so many accidents.

We had Thanksgiving dinner with several families from church, and there was tons of food. The kids made little paper feather hats and the adults played games and chatted, and we all stuffed ourselves. Oh yeah, and we were all very thankful.

Katrina's trip was short and sweet but we had a great time and hope she comes back soon!

Falling Leaves, Falling Snow

A couple days after Joe got home he went outside to rake all the leaves that had fallen in our yard. With Madeline's "help" they raked 18 of those big, black garbage bags full of leaves - and that was just our front yard and driveway! That day I talked to him about buying a snowblower from our friends, and we agreed to get it.

Sure enough, the very next day it started to snow. Considering it was still October, we didn't think it would amount to much. I must've forgotten we live in the North Country. We got a lot of snow, and it wasn't even Halloween yet! Thankfully we were prepared and had just purchased a snow suit for Madeline the previous weekend. We didn't have snow boots for her yet, so we just put on her rain boots and had a ball playing in the fresh snow.

Joe stayed out and built a baby snowman to go with the big one, but I was way too cold by that point so I went in, and I guess I didn't get a picture of the snow family.

I Have a Real Life Now

Thank you to everyone who has inquired about my blog, and where the updated pictures are. The reality is, I HAVE A LIFE NOW! This is a fabulous change, and I was so busy relishing it that I just wasn't into getting online and writing about my life, when I was so busy living it! Now that Joe has been home for a few weeks things are starting to calm down a little. Well, I wouldn't say calm really, but at least I am making it a priority to get on here and share the wonderful happenings of my life with you. Enjoy the most recent posts about Jamin's party and Joe's homecoming, and I promise to continue posting more regularly to get caught up on the exciting adventures that make up our lives. Love you all!

The Moment We've All Been Waiting For

October 24, 2008. The Big Day. Jocephus finally came home, for good, from Iraq! He flew in at about 8:15 am, but the Welcome Home Ceremony wasn't until 1:30 so we had to wait a grueling 5 hours to get to see him. Needless to say, it was all worth it. Another member of our ward came home that day too, so we sat with his wife at the ceremony, and some other sweet women from church came to support us and take pictures. Thank you!

The ceremony was short and sweet. It had to be - there were 600 soldiers that came home that day. Can you imagine trying to hold back 600 spouses from their soldiers who have been away for 15 months? Right.

I guess we made it on TV, on one of the news channels. We don't have TV so I didn't even hear about it until a couple of weeks later. But hey, we're famous! Autograph anyone?

Seriously, we are so grateful for his safe return, and we know the Lord was watching over our family during this deployment. It is true that "absence makes the heart grow fonder" but I am so glad he is home because I don't know how much fonder I could get of him!

I know, enough words. You only came for the pictures. Wait no more!




Joe is the last one in this picture. He was first in the second row. Gene Cottrell, who is in our ward, is right in front of him. Welcome Home, Gene!

Happy 2nd Birthday Jamin!

Madeline's friend Jamin turned 2 in October, and he had a costume party to celebrate. Jamin is one of Madeline's best friends. In fact, she thinks he is her boyfriend. We have caught them kissing goodbye, and Madeline will even put her arm around him and tell him "I love you." Yeah. Watch out for those teenage years.

Jamin was a surfer for Halloween, so the party had a beach theme. All Madeline's friends were there. It was rad, dude.

Madeline was a Patty Cake Baker. It may be hard to see in the pictures, but I ordered her costume online and I swear the dress looks like it is made for a doll. It took some serious work to even get it on her body. The first 2 times I tried, I couldn't even get it on. I think I stretched it out while I was trying, because I finally squeezed her into it. Once it was on though, the hat said it all - Cutie Pie!
We even made it authentic with a little "flour" on the cheeks.

Jamin's little brother, Levi, was Squirt from Finding Nemo. Liam, the ninja, was hysterical with him. Levi is about 6 months old (right Christine?) and he was just chillin on the floor. Liam thought it looked like fun to go swim right along side him, so he repeatedly got on the floor and pretended to just swim through the ocean with Levi. So cute.

Another really cute thing about Liam and his ninja costume - his dad taught him what a ninja does, so if you go up to him and ask to see his ninja moves he crouches down and moves his hands through the air like a ninja while making little ninja sounds. He cracks me up.

Madeline spent half the time hoarding these huge balloons and running around the room with them on her arm.

Clearly I need more work on my cake decorating skills. I usually slap on some frosting and write "Happy Birthday" with gel icing.

These are Madeline's best friends: Addie, Haylee, and Jamin. Jamin is clearly a ladies man.
Classic 2-yr-old party. The kids all wanted to help him open his presents, and then play with the toys before he could even look at them.

Madeline and Haylee are superstars.

This is where she confesses her love for Jamin. Happy Birthday Jamin! I love you, too!