One of my Dad's many masterpieces (and a bonus pic of Frank)

My dad has been turning wood on a lathe for years now. He has won ribbons in the state fair, been offered money for his work and been admired by many. It's his latest piece of work however that has really put a smile on my face!! For Christmas he made Josh and I a set of salt and pepper shakers that were made from pinecones that had been turned on the lathe. If you think that sounds crazy you should take a look at them, they're amazing!! The part that has the darker coloring is also "fuzzy" to the touch which makes them even cooler! He also made us a set of salt and pepper grinders that were turned on the lathe. He always finds the prettiest pieces of wood to use that add soo much character to the finished piece! Thanks dad for the AWESOME gift, it is one of the neatest things I have ever gotten!!

p.s. here is a picture of Frankie too, just because he is soo darn cute!!

Merry Christmas!

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Thanks Jessica!!

We finally got around to putting together our gingerbread train, Jessica brought it for us at Thanksgiving and we just did it yesterday. It was a lot of fun, Thanks Jess!! We have never put together a gingerbread anything before and it was a lot easier than I was expecting. The girls of course wanted to eat all of the candy (and the gingerbread a little too), luckily it wasn't the greatest tasting candy so most of it made it on the train. Frank has the Christmas spirit too : )

Soccer Season is over... for now.

Playing goalie

Jillian's sweet new trophy

Going head to head, go Jill!

Kicking it with coach Mike on the sidelines

Jill's biggest cheerleader

Today was Jillian's last soccer game of the season. She had such a great team and a fantastic coach! We will definitely have her on the same team next season, which is only a couple of weeks away : ) Jillian was awarded a great bobblehead trophy for her hard work during the season. She played a lot of different positions this time, including goalie. Her favorite position was inside forward which was also a lot of fun to watch! Great Job Jillian!!!

Snip Day / Two Weeks Old

Frank is 2 weeks old today. It is hard to believe so much time has already past and yet when I was looking at photos today I couldn't believe how HUGE I was only 2 weeks ago!! Frank has had a great couple of weeks. He is finally figuring out the difference between night and day, Wohoo!!! He is more alert when he is awake now and he is getting a little bit stronger : )

Konked out after a long walk with daddy

This is how he works out. We are amazed at how long he can hold his legs like this! The girls tried to do it and they couldn't even get into that position : ) I don't think I could either.

Today was also "Snip Day" because he was circumcised, poor little guy. I was prepared for this to be a tough day but he has done incredibly well!! He of course screamed for a while after it was done but he calmed down and has been pretty relaxed for the rest of the day! He must have been ok with the way things worked out because he did get his revenge : ) He peed ALL OVER THE PLACE!! We had to switch rooms so they could clean up the mess. We think that was just his way of saying he was pissed off about what was going on.

This is how chilled out he was later today, it's like nothing even happened

Frank was nervous before the big snip

Gelsey's a Cheer Champion!

Today Gelsey competed in the regional cheer competition. She did FANTASTIC!! Her team came in 4th place. She had a lot of cheer and spirit, she smiled huge and did her absolute best! Great Job Goosey!!

Deck the Halls time

It is Christmas time!! This past weekend while my family was in town we decided to decorate for Christmas. This is one of my absolute favorite things to do. Each year after Christmas we always buy a couple of new decorations at about 80% off and then the next year we have so much fun remembering what we bought the year before and deciding where everything should go. This year was no different, we have a new angel on top of our tree and we got a new set of twinkling stars to hang outside. It is always a mess getting everything out but it is also like opening little presents when you unwrap each thing and reveal what's inside. Also, because this is Frank's first Christmas he doesn't have a stocking yet. Jillian felt so bad about it that she made him a stocking herself. It was the sweetest big sister gift! Last but not least we put on the new Faith Hill Christmas album, which is fabulous by the way, and got into a jolly old mood singing away!