i can't find our sd card reader and it has our sd card in it :(
oh well
Christmas is over, but the mess is still here
all the kids gifts are still under the tree since we really can't put them away here at my parents
they were of course spoiled rotten
Jonas' gifts included
2 of the ever elusive zhu zhu pets, plus the wheel and the car, i have to admit, the things are pretty cool
the bop-it he wanted so badly
books with corresponding character stuffed animals
more matchbox cars (yay...)
uno-moo
2 big GI Joes (snake eyes and storm shadow)
a bakugon battle dome
a painting of a train from my grandmorther
cash
and the biggie, a luddwig drum set
and i know im missing a few gifts of stuff we opened up in NC
Hayley got
a rocking horse
another baby doll, this one says a little prayer
the crayola color me a song tablet
crayola begining crayons
a disney princess 'cd' player
a little purse
fisher price stuffed learning toys
a doll house
a farm that goes with the doll house
a giant my little pony
a painting of a kitty from my grandmother
puzzles
cash
and more stuff haha

tom and i don't exchange gifts
we haven't for 3 years
it doesn't bother us, we would rather spend the money on the kids and getting home for christmas.

though we did get another deposit on our heroes at home sears card
im thinking a new printer..
my parents continue to pay for our XM radio and our AAA membership
they also give us a little cash
we gave them a flag tom had flown while he was deployed, folded and put in a box along with a certificate saying where and when it was flown
the kids gave them gifts they made at our paint your own pottery place and my dad of course got his annual bottle of mennen skin bracer

most of our family left sunday
my uncle is still here, though i think he leaves tomorrow
and my other uncle and aunt and cousin will be back for new years eve
it gets pretty crowed here around Christmas, we used to have 17 people sleeping in the house at christmas, with 1 bathroom and 3 bedrooms.
im not really even sure how sleeping arrangements worked back then. except 6 of the grandkids were crammed into the family room.
now we are down to 11 staying in the house this year, still a bit crowded but we also have an extra bedroom/living room added on since then, and an extra bathroom.

hayley had her first romp in the snow yesterday
she did not like it
she took 2 steps and face planted right in the snow
as soon as we hunt down the sd card ill post those pictures

thursday night tom has another race he is running. jonas is running the 250 meter 6 and under race.
its going to be chilly, 34 with a windchill of 29 and snow...
its 11 degrees outside right now
yikes

how cute are my children





i need to scan the santa picture, but i don't know how my parents scanner works

i wish i had taken snow pictures this morning (no snow in our part NC, we are at my parents)
there was a good 3 inches but now at 11 20 at night there is none!
it snowed all day too, big fat snow flakes
not so fun to go out to the mall in
but very fun to look at the window and watch

the kids saw santa today
jonas actually talked to him this year!
hayley cried. of course
but she fell and bumped her heard, literally 30 seconds before we they called us for our turn
i'm really not sure if she wouldn't have cried even if that didn't happen though
when i picked her up of his lap she stopped crying and then stared 'talking' to him
she touched his beard and his glasses and she held his hand
when we left he blew him a kiss and signed 'love you'
then he gave them each little christmas mouses.
maybe he should have gave hayley mouse before we took the picture

i got all my hair cut off this morning
i mean all off it
like a good 15 inches
i have a baggie of hair to mail out tomorrow
2 year of growing out my hair
the last time i got it cut was dec 11th 2007
ill take and 'after pic' tomorrow after its washed and fixed
right now its just in pigtails since we left the salon and went straight to the mall to get the kids pictures.

family comes in tomorrow
not sure what time though

tom is very content in playing madden 10 all night
i think all be content in going to bed shortly

more race picture

http://www.flickr.com/photos/5k/sets/72157622829766523/

thats the link to the whole 428 pictures!
but if you don't want to pic out the ones of tom and jonas ill post them
thanks sayer photography! and thanks barnes photography!

2 in one day
go me!
yesterday, tom, jonas, and our friend jerry ran in a local reindeer run
tom and jerry ran the 5k and jonas ran the half mile egg nog jog.
it was cold and slightly rainy
but we had a great time
tom came it 21st over all out of 725 but came in 3rd in his age group.
we need more marathons or 10ks
longer races
tom is more of a distance runner
though he still does very well in shorter races

spoil sport tom wouldn't wear his antlers
jonas only wore his for a little bit

before hayley wanted them

she refused to give them back
jonas also had a nose, but it fell off and landed in a puddle before i could take a picture of him
he is very proud of his ribbon
tom's next race is another 5k in fairborn ohio new years eve
after that he has a 20 miler somewhere near asheboro, nc
also, tom and jonas have this set up
http://mycharitywater.org/p/campaign/?campaign_id=2286
seriously
everyone should donate like 10 bucks
every little bit helps!

i have 2 months worth of videos on our ipod
i should probably up load them to the computer
or i could do a few on here

what a good lil mama

tomorrow at this time tom will be back!
he's been in florida since tuesday so he missed most of hayley's birthday.
he did get to wish her a happy birthday though, we went out to breakfast before he left.
we aren't doing anything big for her birthday till next saturday though when we will be in VA for thanksgiving.

i've been looking over a lot of 'black friday' ads
christmas is going to have to be on a very tight budget
very tight
with us having to buy a new engine and compressor for my jeep and tow it back here
that leaves us with very little money for christmas shopping
tom and i will probably go giftless again this year
i don't think we have bought christmas gifts for each other in about 3 years
my birthday is 2 weeks from christmas, and i usually go giftless for that too
i'd rather save the money to get the kids gifts
thankfully we've been blessed once again by being accepted into the sears 'hero's at home' program for military families
we get a gift card to sears/kmart
they put money on it 3 times between Nov 24th and Jan 1st
last year we ended up with almost 300 dollars
they also gave us a special card with an extra 100 for decorations and gift wrap and such
im not sure how much we will get this year
frankly any little bit will help
we also saved up all our change from the year and that alone as given us a pretty good amount of money, if i can hit up good sales.
i've made each kid a list at toys r us
people had better follow them this year
i make a list every year but it hardly ever gets followed
jonas doesn't really need toys
but i still want him to have some gifts of course
what i guess i mean is he does not need toys with 'parts'
like lego play sets, tool kits, train tracks
pieces get lost and then the play set is pretty useless
certain members of the family are really bad about giving him gifts like that even though every year we ask them not to
last year one of these relatives gave him 50, yes 50 hot wheels cars, even after a phone call asking what he needed and what not to buy for him
he does not need anymore toys like that
books are good, movies are good, a few age appropriate few action figures maybe
and he really wants a bop it haha

thanksgiving will be in VA this year
never done a thanksgiving in VA
since we have been married tom and i have had thanksgiving in St Augustine Fl twice, once at our 'friends' house, and twice on our own.
St Augustine thanksgiving will always be my favorite, with the exception of last year when hayley was with us for her first thanksgiving :)
jonas' first thanksgiving was in St Augustine
i love thanksgivings with lots of people.
im not sure how this thanksgiving is working since it's not at my house
tom's mom (God love her) is not the best cook, she will be the first to tell you that haha
but her sister is coming down.
i also like to be in charge in the kitchen, so this could be a problem
unless people have assigned tasks, like my side of the family has had for the 20 thanksgiving i remember, i like to take charge
i do know im making the pies
at least i am assuming as much, tom told his mom i was...
as for the rest of the meal i don't know whats going on for now
we are having a party for hayley on saturday
not really sure whats going on for that as of now either
i feel like i've dropped the ball on her birthday
again its not at my house so im not sure how they want to handle it
for jonas we just a big bbq
i really should be in bed right now
jonas has school in the morning
sarah palin will be on Ft Bragg on monday
trying to decide if i want to go
well i do want to go, really really bad
but rumor has it that her book signing starts at noon, jonas gets out of school at 11 20 and it is at least a 40 minute drive to that side of the base
blah it probably won't happen