2008: Let's Review!

JANUARY

Our family of six, waiting to see what the year would hold!

FEBRUARY

Seeing this face and realizing that she is part of us!

So...we played basketball and waited.

MARCH

We celebrated Easter and waited.

APRIL

We flew kites and waited.

We went to the beach and waited.

MAY

We flew to China....

ended our wait....

and made new amazing friends!

JUNE

Home with Claire!

Lizzie graduates!

Learns to love the bath!

Finds her personality!

Baseball games-8th year!

Swim team-2nd year!

First set of casts, first trip to St. Louis.

Time with good friends!

JULY

First trip to the beach and Fourth of July!

Isabel turns 7...they grow-up so fast!

Time with family...some normal...

Some not!

Marriage negotiations take place in Tennessee. YoYo and Claire are clearly thrilled with this idea! That's why it's called an "arranged marriage" kids!

AUGUST

School starts.

Lizzie goes to college!

SEPTEMBER

Five happy, healthy children! What more could we ask for?!

So Pretty!

OCTOBER

New feet!

New shoes!

New concept!

New walker....new skills!

So smart!

First camping trip!

NOVEMBER

Boys turn 12! See, what did I tell you about time flying?!

And get their first guns!

Claire's first Birthday...so much fun for one little girl!

New braces

No hands!

DECEMBER

First tree...first experience with all the fuss!

Baby steps!

First Christmas!

Our Family of Seven!

What will next year hold?

Behind the Scenes!

Okay, while Paul and I were getting Claire ready to go see what Santa brought.....my Dad and sister were apparently keeping my other children at bay! The kids had gotten up and come to the next room where Paul and I sleep but my parents and sister were already up at the other end of the house....where the tree is....where the stocking were hung (on the china cabinet with care)......and the kids are not allowed down there until I get up....and they KNOW IT! They woke us up but we had to get Claire up and ready before they could go see anything and they were not being especially patient about it! I did not know what was going on behind the scenes until I saw the pictures my mother took on Christmas Day!

Here they are-READY TO GO!

And here my Daddy and Amy are having to hold them back....after teasing them relentlessly about what they could see and my kids could not!

Amy resorted to the use of household tools to threaten them!

As you can see my Dad is having a great time cutting up with them! :)

Now, Claire is ready and they are just waiting for the word from me that they can take off!

We also had Christmas with Lizzie yesterday when Paul drove to Lexington to pick her up and bring her to my parent's house....unfortunately, she will not let me post any of the pictures of her from when she opened her gifts because she had decided not to put on make-up yesterday! I said she should have known better...but she begged and I'm a sucker for her puppy dog eyes....hence the reason she's getting a kitten for Christmas! Good Grief!

First Christmas!

Claire's First Christmas

The kids got us up about 7:45.....yes, I know how lucky I am! I am perfectly aware that some kids are up at 5:00am on Christmas morning....in fact I was one of those kids! My sisters and I used to play cards in my room from as early as 4AM until we felt it might be safe to go wake my parents! My sister Amy spent the night at Mom and Dad's with us and she got this great picture of Noah and Isabel charging down the hall to the Christmas Tree! They had waited patiently while we got Claire up, out of her braces, and cathed. That ordeal takes 10-15 minutes!

Claire was so busy playing with the toys Santa left that she would not look up for a picture! She totally love Little People and was thrilled with her carnival and camping Little People toys!


She stopped playing long enough to check out her stocking and found her favorite-CHOCOLATE!

Isabel went first to open her presents this year. Claire watched and was very patient!

When it was her turn she really got into it. She had watched how Isabel ripped into the paper and got all excited so she mimicked that behavior! It was pretty funny to watch!

When it was time for someone else to open, Claire designated herself as their "helper" and opened all the presents for them!

The boys were sweet and let her help them too!

It was a virtual Christmas for my sister.

Amy's children went to Missouri with their Dad for Christmas. They used web-cams to see each other Christmas Day! It was really neat that she still got to see them open their presents! Claire wanted to watch too....I'm sure she really wanted to "help" too!

There they are, Christian and Brianna, all the way from Missouri! It was like having them right there in the house.....kinda...sorta. Okay, not really 'cause we couldn't hug 'um! But, at least we got to see them!

Claire had a wonderful day and was so tired that when I put her to bed that night, she didn't get up until 10am the next day!