Christmas Day

Wake up Daddy!

Hey, how come he's not getting up?

What's in here?

Thank you for my books grandma!

All the bounty we recieved

Daddy teaching Thula how to play checkers

Baby Asha has a new big sister! Thank you grandpa

My other favorite toy is a slinky, who would have though?! (Ignore the 'forever under construction hallway...)

Christmas with kids is so fun. Thula wasn't feeling all that well, but she put on a 'brave' face and enjoyed opening all her gifts. We had the missionaries come over and we spent the afternoon playing games. I made a ham, mashed potatoes, green been casserole, salad, and rolls for our christmas dinner. De-lish. We miss all our family though and look forward to seeing everyone again in 2009!

Carol of the Bells

This is Thula's favorite christmas song and she really likes this music video of it. (Well, WHOOOOO Wouldn't?!)

Pajamas and Sugar Cookies

Talking to Grandma on the phone while cutting out cookies. Such a housewife already!:-)

Today is Thula's last day of school before christmas break. Her class is wearing their pajama's and watching the Polar Express. We made sugar cookies for the celebration. I'm not sure what she is more excited for; the pajama party or christmas.

Snow Storm

Connecticut received over a foot of snow this weekend and church was actually cancelled! We had some fun in it. Let it snow!

Happy Birthday Thula/Merry Christmas

Ward Nativity Walk

Making Gingerbread cookies with Granny

Partying hard with Birthday Bingo! Wha-hoo!

Pin the nose on the snowman
I brought rice crispie treats for Thula's kindergarten class (her teacher gave her the crown-I'm not that weird:-)
Grandma and Thula

My mom came out to celebrate Thula's fifth birthday this past week. It was a lot of fun seeing her. We miss all our family and friends and hope that everyone has a good season.

New look

Just scroll down a few posts to see the old cabin fever look of our living room to see the difference. Thanks Stuart!

My other dream job....

A Day in the Life: Chimpanzees at Tchimpounga Sanctuary from The Jane Goodall Institute on Vimeo.

Thanksgiving

This post doesn't have the typical billion pictures of Thula, but I thought I would post anyway and let everyone know that we had a great Thanksgiving-incase anyone was worried or something....Our good friend Tricia invited us down and in typical Trish N' Friends fashion a Thanksgiving shin-dig was prepared. It was so fun to see all our friends in Phillydelphia. When I was watching Thula play, it reminded me of how I used to play with my cousins when we would see them for holidays/summer. Our church friends have really become our second family and I am so grateful for the wonderful people who have come into our lives.

African Anniversary

Have you seen this video before? I find it's message so promising and hopeful.

Halloweird

Thank you dad for the awesomely weird jump suit, crocodile slippers, tricker treat bag, and light up wand. Thula had a blast!

Thula LOVES the restaurant Friendly's. She wanted her picture taken and so did Stuart. :-)

Thula at a little halloween party with some friends from church.

Thula and daddy with her pumpkin that she carved with her neighbor friend, Arnie. He's about 65 years old, but she doesn't mind.

This was Thula's first Halloween costume that she wore to her friends house. I think the wig is frightening!

Then she changed it to a ballerina/fairy/witch for the ward shin-dig. She has a little knee bandage because she sprained her knee while jumping on a friend's trampoline.

Thula and her after party stupor.

Thula was carried around by this girl in our ward who really likes Thula. (Try not to be jello of our ward party in CT Pennypack!;-)

So we really missed not spending Halloween in Philly this year, but we tried our hardest to enjoy it up here. We had a lot of trick or treaters. It was fun to see all the packs of people around the neighborhood. Stuart had to go and make another candy run and we still ran out. Next year we'll be prepared with more candy and decorations. Miss you all. Take care. Oh and to answer a question from the last blog entry. I am due the first week in April. Thank you for all your great comments. We are excited and I was so happy to share the news with all of you.

Hi Friends

I didn't want to make a big deal about it, so I've been kind of keeping the fact that I'm pregnant a secret, but then I decided to put a baby ticker on the blog and then Natalie B. saw it and commented and so I thought, "What the heck, why not announce it." So here it is, "I'm pregnant and I'm proud:-)"

Stuart doesn't want to know the sex of the baby, but I'm planning on finding out. So if your curious you'll have to email me.

Clomid is what worked for us, so for any of you who have or are experiencing infertility issues, there is always hope.

Hubbard Park and Castle Craig

A bridge in Hubbard Park. Hubbard Park is a nature park where we live.
This is our town from Castle Craig. We live over by the white steeple church.

Thula on our front lawn.

Thula's favorite swing at the park.

A view of Castle Craig. It sits at the highest piont within 25 miles of the coast from Maine to Florida.
The local resivore on the way to Castel Craig

Castle Craig! Thula is convinced that Rapunzel used to live here. It was built a hundred years ago and made to look like an Irish castle.
View from the top with Meriden in the background

On a little hike

On top of Castle Craig
Fall colors

Sharon, Vermont

The monument commemorating Joseph Smith's birthplace in Sharon, Vermont

Our Relief Society took a rode trip to Sharon, Vermont. It's a 3 hour drive from where we live. It was a beautiful drive this time of year. I didn't realize how hilly/mountainous Vermont is. There isn't very much development either which leaves everything unspoiled and beautiful.

The hills are alive!
The woods on the property of the Smith farm in Sharon. There is also a vistor's center where they give a little church history tour. The only remaining things left of the farm are the stepping stone that was used to enter into the Smith house and the hearthstone. The original foundations of the Mack (Lucy Mack's family) homesteads also remain nearby.

For those of you who know 'Baby Asha' Thula informed me that it was her birthday a few days ago. So we made a cake and celebrated her 6th birthday. Thula makes a great big sister to her favorite doll!
Thula earned 5 good behaviour tickets at school so she was able to participate in "hat day." She was so excited. She originally picked out this pioneer bonnet. I had to convince her that all the kids would want to play with it so she should pick something else out. Whew!

This is a section of our attic. Perfect for Harry Potter reading days!
I was trying to capture the red tree outside our house. I'm not such a good photographer.