Happy Birthday Rob!

Happy 35th Birthday Rob! Our friends invited us over for a wonderful enchilada dinner. While we were there, the little girl that is Anna's good friend gave Rob a card. In the card she wrote, "You'll be a good missionary!" along with a drawing of an Elder. It was so funny yet so sweet.
We came home and celebrated with our little family. Rob wanted a coconut lime cheesecake and it turned out awesome. The girls had a great time singing to him.


Overall, I think he had a good birthday. I love you Rob! Thank you for being such a wonderful husband, father and friend.

Touring GE

Rob has been working at GE for almost two years now. He figured it was time for us to see where he worked. He was one of the few people that was still working during the week between Christmas and New Years, so it was a perfect time for us to go. We had to get special badges and everything to get in.
It was fascinating to see where Rob spends twelve hours of his day. The place is huge! I would easily get lost in there.
Here they are in front of his building.
Anna proudly showing off her badge. It was a great day and we were glad to spend some time with our daddy!

I like to ride my bicycle!

Sara couldn't wait to get out and ride her new bike. Rob was willing to brave the cold weather and take them out. She is a natural. They went all around the block and did it in record time.The next adventure in biking is to take Anna's training wheels off. She is pretty hesitant. Who knows, Sara might be riding without them before Anna is.

Christmas Day 2011

Anna kept telling us that she was going to get up really early to see if Santa came. I told her that she was not allowed out of bed until her clock read 6:30. She did good! She didn't come into our room until around 7:30.
Here is the before...

The girls were pretty eager to get out there and see what Santa had brought for them.
Sara was very excited to see a bike. She loved the fact that the pedals were purple!
Anna was completely overjoyed at the sight of a suitcase.
Rob loved opening his presents, especially all the toys from the girls. I think his favorite thing was the pressure washer from me. He has been talking about all of the things he is going to wash. Too bad the weather hasn't cooperated with him.
Santa knows me well. I found a Best of Donny Osmond CD in my stocking. Rob, the wonderful man that he his, gave me a Kindle fire. He is too good to me!
We had church that day at 11. It was perfect. The girls did okay, but were pretty anxious to get home and play with all of their new stuff. Anna was more than willing to have her picture taken in her new dress.
Sara, on the other hand, refused to do so. This is the only picture I was able to get of her and it was only after offering her a bribe.
All in all, it was a wonderful Christmas. It was hard being away from our family and friends, but it was also rather peaceful as well. This is the first Christmas that we can recall where we did not have to run back and forth from family to family. It was nice to just enjoy the day.

Christmas Eve

We were invited over to a friend's house for Christmas Eve dinner. Unfortunately I did not get any pictures, which is too bad since they broke out the "Just Dance" and my girls knew how to groove. When we got home everyone got to open their Christmas Eve present.Jammies!!!

Sara had to model both her's and Pretty's jammies.
And here's Anna modeling both hers and Savannah's. They also got to open their presents from their Cloward cousins. Anna was thrilled with her present from Aubrey...A book that she gets to write and make all on her own.

Sara got Superella (what she calls Cinderella) squinkies from the Tippet boys.
Afterward, we went out and spread the reindeer food so that the reindeer had something to enjoy while Santa was in the house.
Then it was time for bed. Sara didn't quite make it that far....

The Polar Express

Anna and Sara are obsessed with the Polar Express movie. Anna came down a couple of days ago to borrow my camera. This is what I found. They had decided to build the Polar Express in the playroom for all of their toys. I love how they included all of the Barbies.

Lunch with Daddy

On one of the days of Christmas Break we decided to meet Rob for lunch. His office is right by Anna's favorite place...Steak 'n Shake. She was pretty excited.I couldn't get Sara to look at the camera. The only way to do so was by tickling her. Silly girl!

Pregnancy Post

I realized that I have not blogged a lot about this pregnancy. Since this is my journal, I thought I should write a little about what is going on. So far the pregnancy is going great. I hit 30 weeks today. Wahoo! And since I have to have a c-section, they will take the baby at 39 which means, only 9 more weeks! I think I can...I think I can...

I had a Dr's appointment this morning and since both Rob and the girls were home, they were able to come with me. Anna was so excited to hear the heartbeat. When the Dr first started to listen, I noticed that it was a little slow. Rob noticed as well. So I asked him if he was listening to mine or the baby's. Turns out, it was mine. He moved the wand one inch and found the baby's. He said that it was a first to have the two heartbeats so close together. He also said that the baby has already dropped. No wonder I am already waddling! Can't imagine what it is going to be like in nine weeks!
We are scheduled for an ultrasound in two weeks, just to measure growth and make sure everything is going okay. I'm pretty excited to see the little monkey. He is quite a mover and he loves to kick. Anna's favorite thing to do is put the remote on my belly and watch him kick it. We still don't have a name for him...Egon Danger for right now. Hopefully he will come home from the hospital with a real one.
Anyway, that is the update. Nothing too exciting, which is just what it should be!

Gingerbread Train

One of the traditions that I had growing up was making gingerbread trains with my mom. She would make about four or five of them every year and take them around to neighbors and friends. I wanted to try it out with my girls this year. The train didn't turn out exactly how I remember, but at least it resembled it a little bit. The girls refused to look at the camera. Sometimes they can be such stinkers...But cute stinkers!

The Real Santa

With the girls off from school for a full two weeks, I was trying to come up with fun things for them to do so they don't kill each other and drive me crazy. Today we decided to head over to Indiana to the Bass Pro Shop to see Santa. According to Anna, this was the real Santa. He had a little village with Mrs. Claus, reindeer and elves. The real Santa. He does look like the real Santa but he didn't act like it. He was quite grumpy. But the girls didn't seem to notice, so that made it okay!

Puppet Show

The girls put on a puppet show for family home evening. It was quite interesting. They set up all by themselves and it was actually impressive on how they did it. Anna turned around her play kitchen and used the back as the stage. I'm still trying to figure out how to post videos. The girls did a great job and it entertained them for more than half of the day!

The Wiener Mobile

On that same trip to Walmart we got to see the wiener mobile. We have seen it around town a couple of times, but we were not able to go in. This time we got lucky and were able to explore. They had it all decorated for Christmas. The girls even got wienie whistles and wiener mobile silly bands. Rob was pretty jealous!

The Walmart Santa

We made a quick trip to Walmart and ran into the Walmart Santa. He is quite the guy. He really is quite nice, but I have a hard time getting over the tobacco stained beard. I guess since everyone in Kentucky smokes, why shouldn't Santa?

Sara's Class Party

Sara had her class party as well. Santa Claus made a surprise visit. I was shocked that Sara smiled and was happy the entire time. Usually she is such a pill in front of the camera. Here they are singing their hot chocolate song to Santa.Santa gave them all a pair of reindeer ears.
The class with Santa.
The class with Ms. Christine and Ms. Kim
Not only was this the Christmas party, but it was also the last day for Ms. Christine. She will be moving to Idaho before Christmas and Sara will be getting a new teacher in January. Words cannot express how much we are going to miss her. This picture just shows how crazy she is. I told Sara to go get a picture with her teacher. She refused and laid down right in front of her. Christine, being the wonderful person that she is, grabbed her and laid down with her.

Grinch Day

Anna had Grinch day at school. She insisted on being Cindy Lou Who. We woke up earlier that normal so we could do crazy hair. Then she picked out her most festive dress to wear. I think we did pretty good. She makes a pretty good little Who!

Anna's Class Party

I volunteered to help with Anna's class Christmas party. Unfortunately, I did not get a lot of pictures because I was busy running the party. I was able to snap this one. The kids adopted an angel from an angel tree. They raised money and bought presents that they thought she would like. Then at the party they all got to wrap them. Such a cute group of kids!

Gingerbread Houses

Our friends have the holiday tradition of making gingerbread houses. We have been fortunate enough to be invited for the last couple of years. It's a great time. They have figured out how to do it right. They premade all of the kids with burnt sugar in order to keep them sturdier. None of the kids collapsed. As for the adults, well we can't say the same. We had a lot of structural incidences, but luckily the Clowards were not one of them.Sara was quite pleased with her house. I'm glad I snapped the picture when I did because she proceeded to eat her house immediately afterward.
All of the kids. They ate so much candy! Anna ate so much that she ended up throwing up as soon as it was over.
Anna's finished project. she was especially proud of her chimney.
And Rob's finished project. I especially love the satellite and the pink flamingo in front. I married a creative genius!

Paiting Pictures

The girls love to get with daddy and paint pictures. This was the first time Sara really got involved in the process. They had a great time and the finished project turned out great. Unfortunately, I didn't get a picture of it finished.