Christmas Eve

Before I get started I would like to ask everyone to say a prayer for my brother Ben. He broke two bones in his leg today and is having surgery tomorrow (Thursday) morning. The breaks were down by his ankle. The recovery process will take about 6 six weeks. He has a very talented doctor working on him tomorrow and with God guiding him I know he will be just fine.

I hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas! I know I sure did. Ryan and I spent 4 wonderful days surrounded by friends and family. We spent Christmas Eve and the 26th with Ryan's family in Perry. The snowstorm (or the 2009 blizzard as the news stations called it) came in on the 24th. We decided to stay in Perry that night and wait until the roads were cleared in the morning. If the wind hadn't blown all day the roads would have been a lot better. It was the snow drifts that kept getting people in trouble. My brother Jake called and told us to stay. He had to pull my brother out of a snow drift and then like 9 other people on his way home.

Below are some pictures of the day.

Below: Grayson was in the middle of eating some oatmeal and saw the orange light of my camera and struck a pose.

Below: Kelly is mad that I beat him in our contest. (Don't even try to argue Kelly, you know I totally whipped you!)

Below: Ryan got to help Grayson open all of his presents. Grayson made out pretty good this year!
Below: Kirk is opening one of his gifts. I was sneaky and caught a picture of him without him knowing.
Below: Alyssa had so much fun opening all of her presents. I think the majority of them under the tree were hers.
Below: Marianne opening her gift from "Santa". Have you figured out who that is from yet?
Below: I am opening my gifts from Kelly. He got me this really neat expensive perfume that is my FAVORITE!! Below is the wine rack he got me. So cool!
Below: Alyssa received this puzzle as a gift and was so excited after she put it together that she wanted her picture taken by it.
Below: Gryason received these really neat puppets from Uncle Greg. I was in the other room and kept hearing Grayson laughing (his laugh anyways... he doesn't really laugh, it is kind of a screech). I came in and Uncle Ryan and Grayson were playing with this duck. I have never seen Grayson laugh this hard. It was SO funny.

Below: Greg opening his presents from Mike.
Below: Mike is opening his presents from me. He kept posing in all of his pictures.
Below: Mike would always comment about the entire family wearing orange, so I got him an orange shirt so he would fit in while he was in Oklahoma.

In the next few days I will be posting pictures from our other Christmas adventures. I hope 2009 has treated you all well and that many great things are to come in 2010.

Christmas

The next 5 days will be very busy for us, but a good busy. Christmas Eve we are going to Ryan's parents house for our Christmas there. Everyone will be there and it will be a lot of fun. Megan and Mike will be in for a couple days so it will be nice getting to see them. We haven't seen them since August. This will also be Grayson's first Christmas!!!

Christmas day we are having Christmas at my Mom's house with the family. We always have a great time. This will be Tad's first Christmas as well. He has enjoyed the tree very much the past couple of weeks.

On Sunday we are having Christmas at my Dad's house in Tulsa. It is always a good time and the family will get to stay for a couple of days so it will be a lot of fun.

Ditch Witch always has a week shut down during the Christmas holiday. This year it is the week following Christmas. Ryan has taken that whole week off as well. We really do not have anything planned. Just a bunch of hanging out and relaxing.

Below are some random pictures of Tad and what has been going on lately. When I uploaded them they got out of order and I didn't take the time to fix them. :)

Below: Uncle Ben rigged up this neat toy into a makeshift wagon and Tad LOVES it! I think he would let us pull him around all day in that thing.

Below: Tad's socks make awesome ear muffs!! I put them on my ears and he would smile and run over and pull them off.
Below: Tad thought he was pretty cool sitting in the middle of the greedy game. He kept trying to eat the dice.
Below: Tad was tired and Ashley kept going in and out getting his things together. He was tired and kept thinking she was leaving so Grandma and Tad watched her through the bathroom window to make sure she came back.
Below: Everytime Tad hears the door, he has to run over and see who it is. It was Poppa this time. He LOVES Gigi and Poppa. Poppa can get the biggest laughs out of this little guy. So cute.
Below: I will have to post a picture of Mom's Christmas tree before Tad and after Tad. The ornaments are now about 1/3 of the way up the tree. Tad pulls them off and then runs.

Below: Aunt Jan won this bike for Tad at some event. He hasn't grown into it yet, but he thinks it is a blast. Uncle Jake pushed him around forever last night. Tad was so proud of himself.
Below: Tad was helping Grandma sweep the floor.

Below: We play hard... but we crash even harder.
As I sit here and reflect upon this past year, I feel very blessed. I have a wonderful husband and I love him very much. I have an amazing family and have been blessed with new additions this year! Tad and Grayson were both born this year and they are such a joy. Ben married Angie in July and we are so happy to have her as part of our family. Family is my life (as if you can't tell through this blog :) ) May each and every one of you have a blessed Christmas and new year. I know 2010 will be a great year!

Love you all!
Ju

Tad's Ready for Christmas!

This is Tad's first Christmas and he is at such a fun age! We put up the Christmas tree a week ago and Tad had a wonderful time! You see... Tad doesn't get to touch Grandma's plants, so having this large tree in Grandma's house that he could TOUCH was awesome! Below are some recent pictures of Tad and the Christmas tree fun.

Below: Tad and Aunt Angie look like they were having a deep discussion about the Christmas tree. Tad wasn't quite sure what was going on yet and how much fun this was all going to be.

Below: Uncle Ben put Tad under the Christmas tree. He thought it was really neat.
Below: This is one of my favorite pictures. Tad was touching the tree and go really excited! He started waving his hands up and down and screeched.
Below: Only the coolest tree topper ever!! Everybody else disagreed. I remember this ornament I made out of muffin tins... but don't remember really what it is! They kept trying to hide it in the tree, but I found it. Once they put the "real" tree topper on I snuck in and put mine back on top.
Below: Tad is still checking out the tree. He thinks it is neat to crawl under and run around and hide from you.
Below: There is currently one present under the tree. Can you guess who that is for?!?! Tad thought it was pretty neat.
Below: It was a drum.. and then a stepping stool!
Below: He is so sweet. He thought he was big stuff up on his present. I'm surprised he didn't try and get into it early!!
Below: Tad really REALLY liked the lemon poppy seed muffin. I'm not sure how many he ate.
Below: Tad also thought it was fun to play in the crumbs.
Below: We are trying to start him out right. He brought the sweeper to clean it up, but he isn't quite there as far as actually doing it.

I hope each and every one of you has a wonderful Christmas. God Bless you all!

Ju

Lately with the Ward's

This is a random posting of what Ryan and I have been up to lately. I would first like to put out a warning to all wasps:

Beware... if you choose to try and attack me while I am on a ladder painting, or hide in my bath towel and sting me (huge rash for a good week) my house will one way or another get back at you. For this unfortunate soul, he was captured in my Scentsy. This is your warning.

I will spare you the rest of the details...

This weekend Ryan and I were fortunate enough to get to see all of our nieces and nephews. Well, niece and nephews. The Davis family had their family picture taken in Perry so we went and saw the whole gang. Isn't Grayson cute in his sweater?!?! He is looking at me thinking "So what if I am eating the dolls hand."
Erica, Alyssa and Marianne decorated ginger bread houses. I think Alyssa enjoyed the candy more than the actual decorating. As I was looking through my pictures she had something in her mouth in every single one.
I don't remember what she said... but Alyssa said something comical that made Marianne and Erica smile. Alyssa is full of comical phrases these days. She cracks me up sometimes, but is so much fun.
Yeah... Lasagna is THIS fun!
Ryan isn't always the best influence on Tad, but hey... they have a GREAT time. Below, Ryan was encouraging him to bang his hands and smash all of his food. As you can see he was having a great time.
Tad LOVES the refrigerator. He always gets Grandpoppa's salad dressing out. Oh the things he is into these days. So much fun!!
Oh I am feeling sleepy...
So sleepy!!! I don't know if you can tell... but that is drool coming out of his mouth!
Asleep. It is hard being so darn cute all the time!!!
This is a fun new toy Tad has been enjoying. He has started doing his scrunchy face smile again.
Ben and Tad were playing. I'm not sure who was laughing more by the end of it.
As you can see, lately our lives have been filled with family and I wouldn't change that for anything. It is so neat watching our niece and nephews grow up. What a joy they have brought to all of our lives.

Thanksgiving - Edited (in orange)

I love Thanksgiving. I love spending a day filled with family. I always hear people say that this is a day you should think about and remember what you are thankful for. I think this is a great time to do that, but I try to do that everyday.

I am so thankful for my wonderful family. I love the time we spend with each other.

Ryan was reading this and I asked him what he thought. He said I was thankful for everyone but him!!! I cannot believe I left him out. I AM SO THANKFUL for you. Ryan, you truly bring out the best in me and I love you so much. You make my life complete and I am so blessed to have you in my life. I love you so much. (FYI - Ryan made me change the title and put this in orange so it would all stand out and everyone would know I left him out. Thanks Ryan.)

I am thankful for my mother, she really is my hero. She continues to amaze me each and every day. If I tried to list everything I admired and loved about her it would take me days to write. Mom, I appreciate everything you have done for me and I truly want to be just like you.

I am thankful for all the love and support my Dad has given me. I love him very much and feel blessed to have him as my father.

I am thankful for how close I am to my brothers. I cherish each and every one of them. Angie and Ashley are truly a blessing to our family and I love you very much.

I am thankful for the relationship I have with my grandparents. I am so lucky to have them so involved in my life. I am thankful for all the love and support they give me.

I am thankful for Ryan's amazing family. I have felt a part of their family even before I officially was (even if they wouldn't let me golf in the Masters lol). They are always there for us and I am so thankful to be a part of their family.

Lisa (Second Mother in Charge) - Wow, I don't know if thankful is a big enough word. Lisa has been there through it all and I love her like a mother. Thank you for everything you have done for me.

This does not even touch all that I am thankful for, but I will spare you all the details and get to our Thanksgiving day activities.

Ryan and I had a great day. We are fortunate enough to have both of our families living close by, and spent part of the day with each of them.


Below: Ryan and I were helping Mom get the snack trays ready and she thought Tad should have a snack bowl too. His bowl is at the bottom right of this picture and is filled with puffs, crackers and yogurt bites.Below: Grandpa Jack and Bryan were discussing... well who knows...
Below: Bryan and Ben might be eating the snacks as fast as Mom can put them out there. Just kidding guys!
Below: Grandma Lou and Angie were trying to talk, but Tad took a liking to Gigi's earings.
Below: Ben was the official ham carver this Thanksgiving. I have to say he did a mighty fine job!
Below: The Thanksgiving food was starting to arrive and Tad and I were discussing what he would be eating for dinner. He had a little bit of everything I think.
Below: Ryan and Jacob were ignoring me. I WAS sitting at their table until they kicked me out. No joke... they kicked me out.
Below: Everyone is stuffed from dinner!!
Below: Tad is giving Grandpa Dale kisses.
Below: Bryan and Ben were spinning their rings. Tad would crawl and pick one up, drop it on the ground (repeat) trying to get it to spin. It was so cute. Uncle Ben stepped in and helped him.
Below: I don't know how long Bryan spent building this tower just so we could watch Tad knock it over. It was fun though!
Below: Next we went to the Ward Thanksgiving. The cooking had already started when we showed up. Erica, Kelly and Marianne were discussing the vanilla. Not sure what was going on but it looks like a serious discussion.
Below: I don't know if you can tell, but Alyssa has a milk mustache. She should totally be the next milk ad person!!
Below: Grayson and I were observing all the cooking going on.
Below: It is a pyramid!! Kirk refused to look at the camera. Alyssa and Grayson aren't camera shy!!
Below: Greg is reading Alyssa a story. They look pretty serious but then again the story is called I lost my tooth!
Below: Ryan was the official turkey carver.
Below: Marianne was teaching Alyssa how to play a song. Alyssa loves to sing and play the piano.
Below: Grayson is sitting up!! He is the cutest little guy.
Below: He wants to crawl so bad. He will have it figured out sooner than later!
Below: Bryan was driving to Laverne Friday night (Ashley and Tad went earlier in the day) to spend Thanksgiving with her family on Saturday. He hit a deer going about 70mph on 412. He is okay, however Jacob had to go load his pickup on a trailer and bring it back to Garber.

I am so thankful he is okay. Bryan has not had the best luck with vehicles. 3 vehicles have been totaled (white Honda, red Ford and the little pickup I had an accident in - not my fault by the way) They haven't taken it in yet to see what kind of repairs it will need.