Tae Kwon Do- Cory earns his 1st stripe!

My little man, Cory earned his first stripe in Tae Kwon Do last night, he was soooo excited and we were so proud of him!

234th US Marine Corp Birthday Ball

Steve and I attended the Marine Corp Ball last night, we had a really nice evening. The special guest of the evening was the Commandant of the Marine Corp. which was a real honor! The rain was horrible, we have had like 12 inches in the last 24 hours but a good time was still had by all.

Halloween

Halloween is always a favorite time of year in our house, the kids love dressing up in something creepy and haunting the neighborhood for tricks and treats. Karlie was a Dark Bride and Cory was the Headless Horsemen! We also had our second annual Halloween party follwing trick or treating and the kids had a ball!

We have decided to put in a patio at the bottom of our deck stairs. The deck is only 12x12. Steve has decided to dig it up himself an transplant the grass in another part of the yard. The problem is that our yard goes down hill. so we are going to have to build a retaining wall. So here are the pics after yesterday and today.

Daddy Daughter Dance tonight!

Karlie and Steve went to the Daddy Daughter Dance tonight

Creative Juices!

Its been a while since I have posted so I thought I would share what I made today. For the first time in a long time I was feeling a little creative. The red and paisley one I will admit that I did scrap lift the design but who cares I still love it! so here you go I did it I finally scrapped!

Karlie's Speech

Karlie had to write a speech for school that the woodsmen of the world is sponsoring Titled Someone who has touched many lives, Karlie decided to write about my Mom, her Mom-Mom. We are really proud of her speech.

Here is what she wrote.


A Person Who Has Touched Many Lives,
My Mom-Mom

A person who has touched many lives in my life would be Helen Frazier, my Mom-Mom. Not only has she touched my life but she has touched the lives of everyone around her.
My Mom-Mom lives in Centre Hall, Pennsylvania with her husband, my Pop-Pop Jeff. Mom- Mom was born on March 9, 1945 and grew up on a farm in Centre Hall where she lived with her 7 brothers and 4 sisters. After growing up and moving to NJ for many years, where she worked with mentally and physically handicapped children, she returned to Pennsylvania to live in her home town.
My Mom-Mom has done many things that make me look up to her. One of my favorites is that for the last few years she has been sponsoring a girl that lives in Tennessee; this girl is from a very poor family and needs the extra support that my Mom-Mom provides. They send her things like clothes and school supplies and even one Christmas they fulfilled her wish to own a Game Boy. This girl is very thankful and writes letters to them all the time thanking her for her help.
My Mom- Mom is also a quilter and is always making quilts for special needs people. She provides a quilt to them so that they have something to call there own and to help keep them warm. I love the quilts she makes especially the one she has made for me. She has even started to teach me how to sew when I go to visit her.
She also has started a program at her church that welcomes home service men and women who have served overseas. Mom - Mom makes a special patriotic wall hanging to give to them during the church service as her special way of saying thank you for all they have done for our country. This makes me very proud because my Dad is a Marine.
My Mom-mom also helps with the elderly, she helps by cleaning there homes, running errands and spending time taking them places that they may need to go. Many of these women would not be able to get out of their homes if Mom- mom did not help them.
Mom- Mom also donates food to her church food pantry to help her neighbors in need and she and Pop-pop also help serve public dinners to raise money for their church.
If you visit my Mom-Mom’s house you will notice her beautiful gardens of flowers and in the summer she has a wonderful vegetable garden. She is always willing to share her flowers and teaches others how to garden. I hope that someday I will have the green thumb she has.
I am very proud of my Mom-mom and all that she has done in her life to touch other people; I could not imagine a life without her to look up to. I love my Mom-Mom very much.

Snow in North Carolina

Well our kids got their first official "snow day" off from school. It is a rare moment in time that we see snow here but it started snowing this morning and it is still snowing now at 4pm. Karlie and Cory(okay and my self) are really excited to play outside. We have had a sled in our attic for 8 years waiting to be used! LOL

bird watching

Since we got home from traveling at Christmas, the birds have really been coming to our bird feeder, the kids love to watch them. We have had so many new ones, and here is one of our favorites, its a Tufted Titmouse. (this was taking taken through a screen that is why its not so crisp)

Happy New Year!!!!

Waiting for Santa

Dressed up for Church Christmas Eve

The cold must have frozen them them together

I am going to make the perfect snow angel Mom!

Wahoo!!!!! We love sledding!

Wow Can you believe that it is 2009 already?!?! I can't, 2008 went by way to fast. My wish for everyone is to have a healthy and happy New Year!

I was in PA and NJ over Christmas and was home before the New year but I wanted to share some pics from our trip. The kids had a great time playing in the icy snow at my Mom's house, and we were all happy to see our family over the holiday.