Perfect Angels...NOT!

This weekend was a three day weekend for the kids. Meaning they were home from school today(Monday). Let me tell you...as much as I love my kids and I do love them, I love it when they have school. The constant nagging and crying and begging can get on my nerves. I know they don't act that way at school because their teachers both say that they are so well behaved and polite. Why aren't they like that for me? I'm the one that truly deserves a little respect and kindness, don't I? I'm only the one that gave them life after all. I just don't get it. They used to be so kind when they were little. Always loving and cuddly, perfect little angels. And then they grew into little monsters with attitude. I just don't know how to change it. For example, Gabbie's favorite thing to do is say the exact opposite of whatever we tell her. She doesn't even think about what it is we've asked, she's just on auto pilot. "Gabbie pick up your toy so the dog doesn't eat it. NO!" First thing out of her mouth. It makes me want to pull my hair out. I'm so frustrated. I know that I can't be the only one out there with this problem. Maybe I am though. Any suggestions?

The Good, The Bad and The...

First I have to start off by saying that I am so grateful to be pregnant. I love that we are adding another beautiful baby to our family. However, I have about 2 1/2 months left of this pregnancy and I don't know if I can make it! I am already so big that people keep asking me if I'm due any day. I feel like I can't catch my breath and sleeping is almost non-existent. It doesn't help that we are still weening Gideon from our bed. (We are going to buy a King size bed before this baby is born). He loves to creep in at night and climb up on the bed and squeeze in between Joe and me. Then he kicks and squirms until morning. I just don't have the energy to move him though. I've also been trying to kick a cold that I've had for almost 2 months now. A cough and stuffy nose that just won't go away. Any suggestions? (I think I'll have to talk to my doc about that). The cough is what is killing me. Every time I cough I get this horrible pain in my neck and shoulders. Oh the things we put our bodies through. At least in the end we get to have a baby to show for all that we've been through. Most of the time I really enjoy being pregnant. I guess the lack of sleep this past week has taken it's toll on me. I just had to vent a little.

The newest addition

Here he is my sweet adorable little nephew Jackson. He is so cute and so small. I'm pretty sure that he is the smallest that Rachel and Bryan have had. He weighed in a 7 lbs 15 oz and 20 in long. He resembles Joshua when he was born but I can't honestly remember so, I will have to take everyone's word for it. He is pretty darn cute though. Just a wonderful blessing from heaven. Rachel is doing well and slowly recuperating from a C-section. Congrats you guys on bringing another beautiful baby into our family.

Celebrating Christmas

Well, Christmas is over. I'm very sad about this because if you haven't guessed yet, it's my favorite time of year. Although I have to say that putting up the tree and trimmings the day after Thanksgiving does make it a little easier to take it all down by the New year. I figured that once the trees needles start to get all over the floor it's time to take the stuff down. It was a nice tree this year (I will have pictures posted shortly). Our tree this year started out all nicely decorated and then slowly over the coarse of the month we pretty much moved all of the ornaments to the top where little Gideon fingers couldn't reach them. He loved the ornaments. I couldn't believe how much he wanted to touch them and hold them, and break them. This year I got wise though and bought some shatter proof ornaments on clearance for next year. Hopefully they will live up to their name. So, I think that I will give a run down on what our holiday was like...hope you enjoy.

Christmas eve was really nice. We started the day off by making cookies which I pretty much ended up doing. We then just kind of hung out with our little family until everyone got here. All of my siblings came for Christmas this year which was really great. We ended up at Bev's house this year for our 3rd annual Woodard(Kearns, Adderley) Christmas Extravaganza. It was a lot of fun. We ate some good Italian food and had lots of treats. We then went into the talent show. That's right I said talent show. Every family was able to share a talent with everyone else. My kids shared there beautiful singing voices, Brent did some interpretive dance for Bryan's fam, Bev and Demarco read the Christmas story, and Ben did a pretty good magic show. We then had our family gift exchange. We all have one other sibling that we buy for. We rotate down the line so this year we had Ben and Tracy. They are expecting their first baby in April so we got them baby stuff of coarse. It was a lot of fun to watch everyone open their presents and to just be together.

Christmas day we woke up to more snow...surprise surprise. I was watching the news and it said that we have gotten 92" of snow in the month of Nov/Dec...CRAZY. We opened our presents which was a mad house. The kids went wild. I will post video of it shortly. They got a lot this year, so much for sticking to our plan, one big gift and two smaller ones. We had fun watching them open it all though. After presents the kids went sledding with their uncles and cousins. They had fun but didn't last all that long. We then ended up back at Bevs to eat a Christmas lunch before everyone had to leave to make it to other commitments. All in all we had a really great Christmas this year. It is always good to spend time with family and to be able to reflect on the time that we are celebrating. My kids said something that was pretty cool..."you know mom, this isn't really when Jesus was born, we just get to celebrate his birth and remember why he came to earth." It really is about remembering isn't it. I thought that was pretty insightful for an 8 and 6 year old. I hope that you all had a really great Christmas season.

Oh, a little side note. My brother Bryan and his wife Rachel had their baby today. A little boy. This makes their 3rd boy. He is 7 lbs, 15 oz and 20 in long. They don't have a name picked out yet but I think they've narrowed it down to two possibilities. Jackson Benjamin or Jacob Benjamin or some variation of them. Of coarse they could throw something completely different into the mix. You never know with them. Congratulation Bryan and Rachel! So, I went to see them in the hospital today and they have picked a name.....Jackson Bryan Woodard. Cute huh!

Some Pictures

Christmas is almost here. I can't believe that it is only 3 days until Christmas eve. I am so excited to see family and friends that I can hardly wait. This really is my favorite time of year. We finally installed all of the pictures from our camera and I thought that I would share some of our highlights with you all. Here are a few of my favorites. All the family that made it to Cordins baptism, Cordin in the botanical gardens in Alaska, Gabbie in the gardens, a beautiful waterfall in the same gardens, Gideon being Gideon, and one of the only family pictures that we have also from Alaska. Hope you all enjoy. Have a happy and safe Christmas and New Year. We love you!

This year has been a blast!

I can't believe that we are already to the end on November. This year is going by way to fast. I thought that I would share some of the highlights that have happened to our family in the past year. There have been some really great things that have happened to us.

In Jan we started off a great year in our house and have loved being here. Not much happened in Feb and Mar. In April I got transferred to the Walmart that is only 5 min from home instead on 30. In May Joe received a great compliment from work... they love what he does so they give him a big fat raise. We celebrated kids birthdays and our anniversary all in May. In June I got pregnant but didn't know that I was. In July we went to Silverwood and had a wonderful family day at the amusement park, we also welcomed a new addition to the family our nephew Kade. Joe decided that he is ready for a change in his life and quits smoking. YEAH! We also start saying our family prayers on a regular basis and studying the scriptures as a family more consistently. It's neat to see the difference in the way our family acts toward each other. In Aug wasn't feeling all that great took a pregnancy test and yep, we're going to have another baby. We also got to go and spend 10 days in Alaska with half of Joe's siblings. Sept school starts YEAH! Mom gets to have quiet time, well a little quiet time. Cordin takes soccer and discovers that he actually likes it, and is pretty good too. Gabbie loves school and accelerates at everything that she is doing. Joe finds out the his job is pretty secure...phew. In Oct Joe turns 35. In Nov we celebrate Gideons 2ND birthday and find out the same day that we are having another girl. Cordin is baptised by his dad which is really cool. All of my siblings are able to make it except for Ben who was playing in the Apple Cup, which they won in overtime. Baby starts moving a lot. She is very active. I'm sure that Dec will bring lots of fun too.

Thinking back through the year I have realized just how blessed we have been. With everything that is going on in the world we have really been watched out for and taken care of. I am so grateful for the blessings that I have and that my family have been given. I don't know where we would be if we didn't have a loving Heavenly Father that watches over us and protects us. I would truly be ungrateful if I didn't acknowledge that all I have has come from Him. I hope that we will all take the time to thank those that need our thanks, and love those that need our love. I love you all and wish you a happy and safe holiday season.

What IS she having?

First I have to start off by saying HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Gideon. I can't believe that my little boy is 2 already. The time has flown by and I wish it would slow down. We're taking the fam to chuck-e-cheese tonight to celebrate. It should be a lot of fun, he is at the age where he loves to go and do. (This is him covered in flour).

I went to the doctors office today for my ultra sound. It was pretty cool to see the baby and watch it move around in there. The technician was able to get some pretty good pictures of the baby but if wasn't very cooperative when it came to seeing the face and the spine so she said that I will probably have to go back in a couple of weeks to have another one. Which frankly I'm okay with. The baby was pretty much all tucked into a ball and would move constantly. We did see a pretty cute pose of the baby playing with it's toes. The tech was really nice. She pointed all of the things out to us that she was looking at so we didn't have to guess what blob was up on the screen. It was cool to see. Joe was able to come and watch with me which was nice. I think that it made it more real for him to see the baby. You're probably wondering whether we were able to see what the sex was. The tech was 99% sure that we are having a (drum role please) GIRL! That's right, I said a girl. We are pretty excited to add this little one to our family.

That brings me to names. For the longest time we have said that we were going to name a girl Khloe Jane we are now not that certain that that is what we want to name her. We have tried to name our kids with mostly unique names, something not so common. Well, when we liked Khloe it wasn't all that common of a name. Now it is in the top 10 girl names in the country. needless to say we are rethinking our decision. So, here are the top 3 options that we are thinking of...

1. Branwynn Dianne

2. Braewyn Dianne (bray-win)

3. Khloe Jane

I was hoping to get your opinion of what you like. I know you're probably thinking "why does my opinion matter you'll just name her what you want to in the end". You're right we probably will, but I'd still like to know what you think of our selections. This is our happy news, and I just wanted to share it with all of you, another beautiful little girl is joining our family.