Christmas in Canadia

We are currently thawing out from our trip to Canada. Although weather in PA is not so nice either, it beats -35°C with that great Canadian wind chill to boot.


Blake's Great Grandma Anderson

We went sledding with the fam.






And what do Canadians do after spending all
day in the cold snow?


They go out for ice cream!
Hot Coco is for sissies.


A little pajama party and Mama Mia!

Jana must have been dipping into the spiked

eggnog.

I know we are retarded for taking 100 pajama

party pictures, but we had a lot of fun doing it.



A little Rock band to celebrate the New Year.



The boys took 2 days and went ice fishing (no

pictures were taken). For girls day out, we did

what all girls do - we went shopping, hitting

the Boxing Day sales!

Our last day there was on my other gorgeous

sister's birthday. Happy 25th Birthday Dina!

2 of my brothers (Mike and Scott), Me, Dina

Oh look, Dina has rock band too. My Dad did

the best out of all of us!


Blake was soooooooo tired by the end of the trip.

Poor kid, but he had a blast with all his cousins!

Heading home....... 9 hours to go!

Tribute to Robbie

My brother in-law, Robbie, has now lived with us for a year!  During this year he has worked hard and has accomplished so many great things.   So I decided to give him a shout out.  Letting him know he is more than a live-in babysitter that is banished to the attic.  

Robbie, we are proud of you!  Blake says you are awesome!

(Blake took this picture) talent eh!

Some Taggidge

These are all suppose to be 8 things but I think I am going to make it 3. Just b/c I just can't think of that many things to write. If you haven't noticed by my blog, I am not what they call "long winded" ("cough, Jana, cough").

3 Things I am passionate about
1. My Family
2. The gospel
3. Eating out (I wish I could do it more often)

3 words or phrases I say too often
1. Oh man!
2. Shoot, I forgot!
3. I am hungry!

3 things I want to do before I die
1. Sky dive
2. Learn how to sing, I really wish I could sing!
3. Travel more

3 things I have learned from my past
1. Don't give into fear
2. Family is everything!
3. It's better to just be yourself

3 places I would love to see
1. Ruins in Mexico
2. Jerusalem
3. Machu Picchu

3 things I currently want or need
1. Someone to clean my kitchen
2. To live next door to my sisters
3. A long vacation

Gobble, Gobble

Blake made this in nursery yesterday. I thought it was such a cute idea for Thanksgiving and so simple! So if any of you are looking for a fun craft idea to do with your kids - here's a good one!
I am sure you can all figure out how to make it from the picture. Just in case I will write instructions.
All you need is:
a cup
colored foam or construction paper
googlie eyes or you could just draw your eyes on
glue gun
string
sponge
scissors

Make two holes on the bottom of the cup and tie the string around it. Then tie the other end of the string around the sponge. Cut the shapes out of the foam/paper and glue them onto the cup - the eyes too. Then dampen the sponge.
To make the GOBBLE sound, wrap the damp sponge around the top of the string and pull down. It sounds amazingly close to a turkey gobble and the kids LOVE it!






Happy Thanksgiving!

Two little love birds...

Today is our 4 year anniversary. While I was thinking of what to post for our anniversary, I was looking through some old pictures of us. A lot of fun memories came back, so I thought that's what I would share with you all.

Our 1st trip together.

Our 1st challenge together (I won). Also the 1st day we met.

Our 1st baby together.

Oh, don't bother commenting on how hot I look here. I already know. I have had a lot of people tell me how GREAT I looked for just having a baby. Don't be jealous, I am just one of those girls that naturally looks amazing after giving labor. Some of us just have it and some of us don't.

Newly Weds.

Our 1st married moment in public. Awwwwww.

Hey look, Blake must have been watching us from up above (ie. heaven) and decided it would be fun to try it for himself.

We had a great day. Mike took me out for dinner. It was so nice to spend some "us time" together, we actually got to have an uninterruped conversation. Which I love! After dinner we went grocery shopping - a very romantic milk run.

It's been a great 4 years and I look forward to spending forever with Mike. I am lucky to have married my best friend!

Here's to love and laughter and Happily Ever After...

Mmmmmmmmmm Chocolate and more

Is there anything better than family visiting? We hit it lucky when my parents came to visit for 2wks and the day they left Mike's sister Chrissy came out for a week. We had so much fun hangin' out together.

Getting a Zwahlen's hit Mmmmmmmmm

Hershey, PA hershey kiss street lights

I thought they were pretty cute.

Blake's guilty lips

I LOVE chocolate milk!

Visiting Surf City. Barnegat lighthouse.

Climbing to the top of the lighthouse

My Dad and Blake at the top inside the lighthouse

and out of the intense wind.

Chrissy, Blake and I spent a day in the city.

Reading terminal market

Sorry!

These were really heavy!

I recommend public transportation any time

going into the city. Parking is a PAIN!

New Love

Ok so let me explain my new found love.
I have been wanting to find a hobbie that I can do While at home and one that I really enjoy. I have tried many things - scrapbooking, sewing, cleaning, I have even tried making cute hair clips and bands even though I don't have any girls to show them off. None of those hobbies have turned out to be very successful. I was begining to think the creative side of me just didn't exist. Then I found some paints and a canvas that Mike's sister left at our house. Looking at my bare and boring walls, I decided to paint something to hang. I looked on line for some ideas and started painting. Here are the results of my work so far.

I've really had fun doing this and it doesn't turn out to be such a disaster like all my other tried projects. I am still learning at lot. I just started an art class - hopefully that will help out a lot. It also helps having a husband that is an artist. Well atleast he use to be. He took private lessons back in the day. He's one good teacher!

Blake likes to show off his skills whenever possible. Here are some samples.

Lightning McQueen driving in the rain

Little Nemo

Halloween

Starting off our holiday right by carving our pumpkins








Mike's finished product - he did this by hand,
no stencil. Pretty good eh?



This year was bit of a downer for us. We didn't get
into the holiday as much as we usually do.
No themes, no homemade costumes, no Mike in
womans underwear.
Just in case: If any of you would like to see Mike
in womans underwear one more time (Chrissy I
know you do) click here.

Blake was a dragon




I was a cat and Mike was nothing. That is why
he isn't in any pictures.


We ended the trick or treat night meeting up
at the Stratton's house for yummy wassail.






GO PHILLIES!