The Good Ol' Days

Since Jacob has a summer birthday, they celebrate his 1/2 birthday at school.  That momentous occasion occurred yesterday.  As he was telling me about getting a "1/2 Birthday" card from his PE teacher, and the principal announcing his 1/2 birthday with morning announcements, he got very quiet.  I asked what he was thinking about.  He said, "I'm just thinking about book we made for our friends in kindergarten.  You know, the birthday book thing?  Now, THOSE were the good ol' days!"  I smiled, tried to stifle my laugh, and told him, "They sure were!"  Even if it was just last year!  

Happy 1/2 Birthday, Jacob!  Six more months to the big bad SEVEN!! 

Invasion of the Dolls

Our house has been invaded by dolls - baby dolls, Barbie dolls, Strawberry Shortcake and friends.  You name it, we probably have it!  This is a new stage in our lives.  We are used to being overrun by Legos, Star Wars "dudes," Power Rangers, baseball cards, balls of all sorts and all kinds of boy toys.  But, tiny brushes and itty bitty shoes?  That is new territory.  Tonight Lizzie, Brian, Jacob and I played with her new dollhouse.  It is fun to play with her and see her imagination working and her thought processes.

Here she is brushing Strawberry's hair.  

Jacob and Lizzie with Strawberry and her friend.

Even the cat likes the new dollhouse!  Lizzie ran her out of there very quickly!

Lizzie posing with her new dollhouse!

I wonder. . . does stepping on Barbie brushes and shoes with your bare feet hurt as much as a Lego?  I am sure we will have plenty of opportunities to find out!

Back to Reality

Well, this morning, we are back to our regular routine.  We are all ready to tackle what the day brings us.  It should be quite the interesting one - we have work, school, a staff meeting, basketball practice, and this is Brian's night to work late.  Nothing like hitting the ground running, huh?

A Paragi Christmas and New Years

We traveled back to Illinois and Brian's mom, dad, sister, brother in law, and nephew came to visit.  We have our Christmas with them over New Years.  

Can't you just see the excitement oozing from Brian's pores?  I think "whatever" actually came out of his mouth!  He and his sister love to tease each other.  This picture was taken during a discussion concerning who was going to get to eat the most of Molly's birthday dessert - mint pie!

Aunt Molly and Grandpa helped Zach build one of the KNex sets he got for Christmas - the double rollercoaster.

Molly and Chad

We let Zach stay up until midnight with the adults.  He enjoyed playing Cranium and Password with us.

Jacob stayed up too.  He spent his time playing with his new knight set and watching Wall-E with his Dodo.

Dodo, Lizzie, Ben and Jacob watched Wall-E.

Trying to get decent pictures of this crew was interesting.  This is as good as it got!

Ok, so I love this picture!  But, I can almost read Zach's mind - "he's touching me!!!!"

And of course, Lizzie had to get in on the action as well.

Check out this crew!  They were having fun weren't they?

We had a great time playing cards, playing Wii fit, and making fun of each other!

Christmas with Mamaw and Papaw

On Christmas Eve, we headed to Orleans to my mom's house.  Our tradition is to spend the night there and all wake up together the next morning.  My brothers, sister, brother in law, and niece join us bright and early!  This year, the kids were up at 5 but we made them stay in bed until 6 since my niece Kaitlyn didn't even fall asleep until 1 am!  But, at 6:00 we were up and ready to go.  

Here is the tree first thing Christmas morning.  

Then, we head to my Grandma and Grandpa Wellman's house for a big lunch, visiting with family and present opening.  

Zach had fun trying out his new clubs!

Darn, Lizzie looked so cute in her dress!  I just had to snap this shot!

Jacob spent a lot of the time playing with and holding his Papaw Burton's Christmas present - Sadie!  She is so adorable.  We all fell in love with her and Lizzie even asked if we could bring her home!

My Grandma and Grandpa with all the great grandchildren.  

Lizzie and my niece, Kaitlyn.

We had a wonderful day and were ready for bed by 8:30!

Christmas at Grandma and Grandpa Ellis' House

We started our Christmas trek through Southern Indiana at my dad's house.  We enjoyed spending time with each other, playing games, and, of course, opening some awesome presents.

Here is Lizzie making sure she has money in her wallet.

Zach is loving his new iPod.

Dad and Karen with Zach, Jake and Lizzie.

The kids actually sat still long enough for a cute picture in front of Grandma and Grandpa's tree

As you have read, December 19th was our 16th wedding anniversary.  Several people have asked how we met.  We met at IU.  We lived in the same dorm - Brian lived on Teter 1 and I was on Teter 3.  We first met in the fall of 1989.  We were having a "barn dance" and the girls from our floor were checking out the guys and trying to figure out who to set our roommates up with.  We were standing around on Teter 1 talking when I opened my mouth and said something.  Brian turned to me with a look of shock and said, "Where are YOU from?"  Apparently I had quite a twang and me mistook southern Indiana twang for Tennessee.  So, those were his first words ever to me.  And no, we did not go to that dance together!  I thought him to be very rude after that comment, and besides, my roommate did not set me up with him!

Fast forward to December . . . Brian and I started spending time together studying with some other friends.  I considered him a great friend and nothing else.  He could make me laugh when I was feeling frustrated by finite math.  Christmas break came and we went our separate ways - him to northern Indiana and me to the southern "twangy" part of the state!

After break, we continued our friendship.  We spent more and more time together.  It was completely innocent.  I guess deep down I knew that I felt something more for him, but I was not about to admit it and risk losing our friendship or his being appalled that I felt like that.

Long story short - we finally admitted that we had feelings other than friendship for each other and had our first official date in late February.  Bowling and Pizza Express - still our idea of a fun night.

He proposed to me - are you ready for this - at the jewelry store at the mall!  I said yes, but when we got to the car, I made him ask me"for real!"  We were married in December of 1992.  

It has been 16 years, and it has been a wild ride.  We never could have imagined the plans God had for us.   A wild ride thus far?  Yes.   Ready to continue the ride?  Of course!

Aren't we sweet?