Welcome Emmy Matthews

Our new cousin "Emmy" Emmerson Rose Matthews has arrived. She was born on Thursday February 12th. She weighed 6 lbs 5 oz. Congrats Chris, Jen and big sister Avery!

Sophie for President

Durbin had dress like your favorite President Day to celebrate President's Day as well as Abe Lincoln's 200th Birthday. Sophie originally wanted to be Barack Obama, thankfully Mommy talked her out of that (I can make costumes but come on!) and we decided on Abe Lincoln. Sophie was so excited to dress up!

This is Sophie and her teacher Miss Monserud.

We were able to find the jacket, shirt and pants at Goodwill. The pants were a little short but I told her that was okay because Abe was really tall too.

The hat was made from a cowboy hat she had for Halloween. I cut the brim down to about an inch all the way around then we fashioned the stovepipe out of FedEx envelopes and then covered the whole thing in black fabric. Her necktie is just a hair ribbon.

Winter in Noblesville

No ice just white fluffy snow. But 12 inches of it!

Brian worked hard to clean off the driveway for tomorrow.

We were all home today. Hamilton Southeastern Schools were closed and are on a two-hour delay tomorrow. Brian's boss told him not to come in and I didn't have school either. IUPUI even closed down for the day. Last night it took me 3 hours and 15 minutes to get from my office by the airport to home. And that is cutting through downtown and then taking side streets. The interstates were like parking lots and cars weren't moving for hours. It is normally a 45-50 minute drive.

Our attempt at a snowman before the girls got too cold and wanted to go inside.
You can see he isn't very big.

I feel bad for our mailwoman.

Visit from the Buenings

My friend Stephanie and her two little ones Jake and Ally got to spend the whole day with us on Saturday while Scott was at a football clinic. After he was finished we all went out to eat at Carino's. We had a wonderful time and promised we would do it more often.

Lola and Ally practicing their cheers! Those girls sure do have some great moves.

Jake was really tired but he was even more hard-headed and fought taking a nap all day long. For a little guy with no nap he was very good. He will be one in just a few weeks.

They had a good time playing dress up.

Even more wonderful news! Scott and Steph will be moving closer to us. Scott just got hired as Varsity Football coach and English teacher for Jennings County High School in North Vernon. Go Panthers!

Congratulations O!

Olivia will be signing to play soccer for the University of Evansville next month!

Sophie's First Grade Class

We just got back Sophie's First Grade Class Picture. The pictures were taken several months ago but for some reason the class photos take longer to get back from the school. Her best friend in her class is Abigail. She is just to the left of Sophie in this picture.

Welcome to Lola's Room

Lola cleaned her room and then decided she needed a welcome mat. (It's one of her baby doll blankets.)

She couldn't fight it anymore!

The girls took a break from playing the Wii and wanted to watch Mommy and Daddy play for a while. Lola didn't last long. Turtle decided she could use a nap too.

What a sweet big sister. hmm Wonder what she is really up to?

Michelle is the WOMAN!

My friend from college who now lives in Germany also just had a baby boy.

Blaise weighed in at 9 lbs 2 oz and is 22.4 inches long!

Congrats Michelle and Jan!

Misty's Wish Come True!

Misty has wanted a baby for a long time so I am so happy her wish has finally been granted. Welcome Kameron Daniel! 1-3-2009

And of course because of the slight mohawk in the picture I had some ideas to spice up one of his first photos.

I am sure Misty will love it...she is an 80's girl herself!
(love you Misty...don't hate me for this)

Indy Children's Museum FUN FUN FUN!

These are all from our trip to the Children's Museum.

Christmas Card Outtakes

These are just some of the Christmas Card attempts I thought were cute. You can see why I had to make the picture black and white.....I think Sophie has Ravioli sauce on her face in some of the pictures.

Lola is tired of getting her picture taken.

Must be the Red Hair

Every year before Christmas, Brian and I go through the girls rooms and clean out the toys they don't play with anymore and give them to Goodwill. This also gives us the opportunity to rearrange the girls bedrooms, which they always love! This year we made the girls help us and pick out the toys they wanted to donate. They were very sweet and found all kinds of things they decided they could live without. I think Mommy, the pack-rat, was more emotionally attached to some of their items than they were.

While cleaning, I came across a book under Lola's bed. It is a book that Maw gave to Lola. It is about baby animals. Throughout the whole book Maw labeled the baby animal as Lola and the grown-up animal as Maw. Lola LOVES this book! She goes through it over and over and points to which one is her and which one is Maw. On the last page there is a picture with two babies and a grown-up animal. In this one, Maw labeled herself, one baby as Lola and the other as Sophie. Apparently, Lola wasn't too crazy about this and took it upon herself to change the story. Sophie's head has been ripped off and now the book is satisfactory as far as Lola is concerned. Should I be worried?!?!? ha ha