An update of sorts from the past week!

As I am again procrastinating on housework, my bible study for tomorrow, and dinner, I remembered that I hadn't really posted anything since last Thursday. GASP!!! Almost a whole week???? Boy am I slipping in my old age!
Highlights of the week:

• Last Thursday was my ladies bible study. I LOVE this series. Beth Moore is hiliarious & I am learning so much! I think that it is good break for me from both kids as well.
• Friday night we hosted our small group here at the house. We had about 6 couples plus us. We didn't do our lesson instead it was game night. We played battle of the sexes. Pretty interesting game :-)
• Saturday, Ben worked more on the storage bench for our bonus room & we all recovered from Friday.
• Sunday was just our normal routine minus me being called out of the service to help out in our runner room. Our church is growing in leaps and bounds which is a good thing but now we need volunteers to help the nursery staff with all of the kids!
• Monday, I went to talk to the new office manager about getting some hours at my old office but I am still waiting to hear the results of that......
• Tuesday was spent working on some bday stuff for Benny's big day which is coming up so soon! We also had a visit from Brodi & Colbi which pleased Kendall to no end!
• Today I missed a chocolate party hosted by our moms morning out group so that I could catch up on things here at the house. Bummer! We are going tonight to talk to the children's pastor about Isaac's dedication which is this weekend.

Whew! I am sure that I am leaving a bunch out but that is what happens when I am short on time and memory! Stay tuned for pictures from Ben's bday, Isaac's dedication, and of course the upcoming super bowl. GO STEELERS!!!

Good Luck Dadoo!

Hope the Jeopardy test goes well!

M.O.P.S. pictures

Family Videos

You may have to turn the music player off on the right side of the page to hear the videos. Hope you enjoy!

We are still in eastern NC right?

Today our world was turned upside down....we had a good accumulation of snow so we went out to play. Here are a few pictures from our "snow day."

Indoor activities

Push-ups with Daddy

Isaac following in his father's footsteps

Happy day!

The Steelers are going to another Super Bowl.....on Ben's birthday!

I sold my first diaper cake for a baby shower this past weekend.

Ben is off today for MLK weekend & has already started the wood storage benches for the bonus room.

Isaac let us sleep all night last night after 2 very long sleepless nights in a row!

2 Prayer Requests

• My Aunt Diane as she has her check-up today.
• Our friends Roni & Phil for a safe delivery tomorrow!

Here we go Steelers......

Beat Baltimore!!!

BRRRR....Baby it's cold outside!

Ok so I know that our northern friends and family are going to laugh at my title and say come up this way. But seriously, it is in the 30's during the day and down to the teens at nights which is mighty cold for us! It is hindering time spent outside getting Kendall to wear herself out!

Here's old Isaac bundled up to go out on Friday night.

We had a blast with our small group on Friday night. It is always great to be with such wonderful people.....makes going out in the cold bearable! I also had a wonderful time on Thursday at our ladies bible study. I think it is going to be very interesting & it is fun to have a few friends there as well.

Almost all of the kiddos

4 leggers relaxing on one of their beds

My long awaited project. I have been having a great time journaling online in this blog but I also wanted to put my thoughts into hard copy. (Mostly so the kids will have something of mine later on in life. Ben has even talked about doing something like this as well.) I found this on Amazon & thought it was perfect! I am pumped to get started.

Last Sunday before the San Diego game!

Procrastination at its finest!

We just got home and although I have many things to do at the house and some serious reading to do I am contemplating a nap since the kiddos are down :-)

Where do I head instead????Of course to blog world.

We just had a great impromptu breakfast/lunch date with Stef & Greyson. I headed out the door promising Kendall we were going to eat breakfast. (My mom's morning out group was supposed to meet today but I was a little late so I missed them.....) I called Stef and she was headed to work out so I conned her into eating at Chick fil A instead.....what a good friend I am :-) We had a great time visiting! Thanks Stef. Happy 1st Birthday Greyson!!

We had a fun afternoon yesterday since Brodi and Colbi came to visit us! Kendall always has a blast with the boys. Tonight I have a nursery comittee meeting for church so I am praying that Isaac will be a good boy for Ben while I am gone.

I start my first ladies bible study in Jacksonville tomorrow. We are doing Esther. (I am supposed to read that before I go tomorrow.....need to get on that one!!!) Ben and I have homework in our marriage book for small group on Friday night & we have our homework on Isaiah for Sunday school. I am feeling like I am back in school with all the reading :-) It is good to be learning again though!

Since many of you have been asking, I am still praying and waiting to see where I need to be as far as my nursing career. If you could do the same I will let you know when that happens!

"Sunny Delight"

For the last 2 or 3 years, my sister has been asking about taking a family vacation together. 2009 is going to be the year. We had talked about several locations but finally settled on Emerald Isle. (It is a great place & it is close to us so our crazy trip schedule this year will not get us down on this trip!) We are going for a week in June to "Sunny Delight" pictured above. While we don't have a pool, there is a hot tub and it is so close to the beach! (Jen and Josh haven't been to the beach in quite a few years poor souls!!We are super excited about it! Stay tuned for more information about our other trips.

Go Steelers Go!

This and that....

Here we are enjoying another weekend together! Last night we went to our first small group where we are completing a study on marriage. It was really fun to get together with friends & interesting to hear everyone's take on our marriage study.
We spent the day doing some odds and ends around the house. How nice to just enjoy puttering a little bit :-)

Here's Kendall enjoying her shirt from Uncle Daniel. If you can't read it, it says "true blue Texas Aggie." We are so proud that Daniel got into Texas A&M. WHOOP!!

Another book that I am reading and forgot about in my list a few days ago
One of my beautiful anniversary gifts from Beegeeweegee

Christmas Break Part 3- Christmas and beyond

We had a great visit with family and friends while we were in PA. These are the remainder of what I took up there! We were glad to see Brad, Rhonda, Bill, Cathy, Jamie, and Becki too. I didn't do a great job of keeping up with pictures of everyone this year.....due to Isaac's insatible eating habits. Thanks again guys! I can't wait to see everyone in August.

What I am reading......

....for 2009. I hope to get through all of these books and maybe a few more too. Not to mention stay up to date on my nursing & parenting magazines. This is one of my New Year's resolutions for 2009!

• The lucky one: Nicholas Sparks
• Bliss to you: Dean & Trixie Koontz
• Grace: Richard Paul Evans
• His needs, Her needs for Parents
• Sisterhood of Faith: 365 Life changing stories about women who made a difference
• 8 Sandpiper way: Debbie Macomber
• Tribute: Nora Roberts
• Scarpetta: Patricia Cornwell
• Married to the Military
• Separated by duty, united in love
• Homefront club: The hardheaded woman's guide to raising a military family

And of course the books that we are completing right now in our Sunday school class and small group.

• Isaiah
• Buliding your marriage

Christmas Break Part 2- Up until Christmas Eve

Isaac's 4 month appointment

Isaac is 4 months old today! He also had his 4 month check-up and shots today. What a trooper he has been. He weighed in at 19 pounds 2 ounces (off the chart for weight!) and was 26.5 inches tall (95%). It is looking like we are going to have another big Beach boy on our hands. He is nice and strong for his age too. Stay tuned for more news on both of the kiddos!

Christmas Break Part 1- Daniel's visit to PA

We had the distinct pleasure of visiting with Daniel in my home state over our Christmas break. Daniel was driving across the country from San Diego with one of his Navy buddies. They dropped Daniel off in Elderton, PA where we got to spend several days with him. While he was with us, we tried our best to keep him entertained......

• Ben and Daniel got to go out for a very chilly run together. (They both got back safely but Daniel did try to take Ben down with him on the icy slopes of the road.)
• We took a trip to the "Festival of Lights" near Indiana, PA. (Kendall slept through it & Isaac screamed thru most of it.)
• We took Daniel on a mini tour of Indiana and IUP (my college alma mater) that was shortened due to Isaac screaming.
• Once my sister & brother-in-law got there we had a pretty heated Rook game.
• Uncle Daniel became Uncle Jen, Uncle Josh, Uncle Jesus, and Santa Claus....Kendall was a little confused on his identity.
• Daniel was introduced to the YUMMY MTO (made to order) subs from Sheetz.
• We also had a small amount of time to take Daniel to Smicksburg, which is Amish country. It would have been fun if we had more time to show him around up there.

Thanks to Jim and Chris for loaning us another Beach boy for Christmas! We really had a blast with him!

Date night

Whew.....finally my first blog of the year. I have to admit I have been having problems getting my butt in gear since we returned from our Christmas in PA.
I just put some beef brisket in to cook and I am waiting for Ben to get home and the kids to wake up so we can go for a run so I decided to post a few little tidbits while I have the time!

We had our first true date night in a LONG time last night. Kelly & JT very graciously watched the kids for us so we could go out and celebrate our anniversary. We went and watched Marley and Me. (They did a good job of staying close to the actual book!) After the movie, we went to O'Charley's (mainly because I was craving it!) and had dinner. What a great time to have an uninterupted conversation and alone time! Thanks for watching the kiddos guys!

New Year's eve, our actual anniversary, we had dinner and lots of fun with about 16 of our friends. The kids stayed at one house with 2 very brave babysitters and the adults went to Michelle and Daniel's house for adult conversation and fun. We picked the kids up at 1100 & for a change Ben & I actually made it to midnight without having to wake each other up :-)

The first day of the year was cleaning, cleaning, and more cleaning. The Christmas decorations actually made it down as well. I was super disappointed in the game and its outcome since Penn State didn't pull it out.

Ben goes back to work tomorrow so I guess that ends our "play time" for now :-(
I am working on getting our Christmas pictures into a slide show then I will post them for ya'll to see.
We hope everyone had a great New Year's and we look forward to making many more memories with ya'll in 2009!