Eight

Rowdy likes to play with his cars on the counter in the kitchen while I clean up or cook. On day he brought them into my office and I asked him why he was bringing his cars in here? He said "So I could be were you are."

Seven

Bodie has learned how to climb up into chairs and he loves to draw. So really this was not a huge surprise when I came into the kitchen to find him keeping himself busy. If he could only figure out how to get down it would be much better. Love this boy!

Six

Ponytails are a big deal around here. Avery has had one haircut in her life and I wouldn't even call it that, it was just a trim. She will be five in February. It just hasn't grown. Needless to say she loves her hair in a pony. And when we add a ribbon to match she prances around in delight! She can feel it swing around a bit when she turns her head or jumps so she exaggerates her movements so she can feel it swing. Sometimes I will see her checking to see how long her hair is by pulling it down to her shoulders.

Five

In 2008 I bought a DSLR Camera and have been trying to learn how to use it and become better. I also have been trying to learn Photoshop. I am also a scrapbooker. But to tell you the truth I haven't been scrapbooking lately. I still enjoy it. I just have been spending time getting to know my camera and software that I haven't done it much. I need to decide how the two will coincide. There is no way I can scrapbook everything, but I do want some scrapbooks to give my kids. My goal is for them to have a baby book, a book of their birthdays, a school book (documenting the first day of school for each and I want to create a book of their blessing at church, their baptism, scouts, achievement days and young mens and young womens.

Four

Avery had her first dance recital last night. These photos were taken at the dress rehearsal at the dance studio. She did so good! I just can't explain how my heart swelled to see her up there dancing her little heart out. She smiled so big. She told me "Mama, I'm not even scared to go on stage!" She did three dances The Sugarplum Fairy (ballet), The Robot (tap) and Hip Hop Teddy Bear (tap). She nailed them all. Ron even said some people in the audience were singling her out and saying how cute she was....Ahhhhh that's my girl. I have to admit there was a small part of me that was a little envious of her. I have always wanted to take ballet and tap. It just look like so much fun. It was so cute to see how independent she was, as well. She just walked onto stage each time and found her spot and waited for the curtains to open. BRAVO SWEETHEART. I even bought her a single pink rose to give to her after she was done. And of course we went to DQ for some ice cream afterwards. So we had both a cultural experience and some fine dining too!

Three

What is it about boys and things with wheels. Ron was busy cleaning up limbs and debris in our yard from the storm. Bodie heard the tractor, so we went outside to see what Dada was working on. It is interesting to me that Bodie just got up there with Ron and grabbed the steering wheel like he had been driving all 15 months of his life. He was so comfortable and the tractor seat is pretty high off the ground.
It was fun for Dada to have his little helper and a great time for the Bo-man!

Two

I love helping Rowdy with his Homework. Although, he doesn't need much help at all. I just enjoy watching him work and improve. He got bumped up to a new spelling group because he was doing so well with words like bug, rug, mug, and hug. Words with the same suffix. He gets to choose his spelling words now and they don't have any correlation. Maybe he can help me become a better speller (what would I do without spell checker). His least favorite part in school are his timed tests in Math. His teacher wants him to finish to entire page in the allotted time. Anything problems they don't complete in class comes home as homework. His favorite subject seems to be music. He also talks about science quite a bit.

One

I've been thinking about my blog as of late and I want to take it a new direction. I have read on several other blogs about trying to do a post everyday for a year. Well, if I wanted to do it for 2009, we all know I am way behind. Oh well, how is that different from any other part of my life. So here is the plan.

* Post one blog entry a day
* Include at least one photo (I don't have a shortage of those)
* I want the topics to be about our daily lives. I want to document all the things that we do everyday that sometime very soon will only be a memory. At the end of the year I will have a neat little documentary of the shinkle household.
* The photo and entry doesn't have to be about the things that happened that particular day, it just needs to be about the daily life of us.

So there you have it. I will be spending some time catching up on the days that I have missed but I think this will be fun.

Merry Christmas...

Thankful for answered prayers...

I would like you to meet my new best friend...The Generator. Oh how I love The Generator. When your power goes out for two days it allows you to have heat and light and maybe watch a little TV (ok, a lot of TV). Because you see when you are confined to one room in your house with all three of your kids for two days you start to go a little crazy. We made the best of the situation. We played Memory, Sorry, Triominos and even tried Monopoly with the kids. We snuggled on the couch under blankets and read books. We drew pictures and decorated the tree. Yes, I just said decorated the tree (we just hadn't got around to it).

But I must say that I was so thrilled to learn the power had been restored late last night. I have to say thank you, thank you, thank you, to the people working on the power lines all night to fix it. My first order of business this morning was a warm shower. Ok maybe I read some blogs first then got in the shower.

I hope you all have had a safe time in this crazy weather we have been experiencing.

I will post some other photos later. Obviously, I took some photos of everything frozen in place by the ice.

Oh and by the way, I am addicted to blogging, because of all the things that I could not turn on while the power was out...I missed my computer the most...and it made me really grumpy.

These might be one of Grandma's Christmas Presents!

Anything to get a good shot and some practice...

Me: "Bodie, Bodie, look at Mama, Yoo Hoo, Bo Bo, over here, where's Mama, peek-a-boo"
(and making other various noises to get him to look at me so I can practice manual focus on my camera)
Bodie: "Brrrrrrm"



Me: "Bo-man do you see the bug in Mama's camera?"
(Pointing to the lens and trying to manually focus at the same time)
Bodie: "Huh...bug, what bug?"



Me: "Where's the bug?" (still adjusting and tweeking the camera like I know what I am doing)
Bodie: "In there!"



Me: "Good Job! Where's the bug?" (I'll get this yet)
Bodie: "Right there!"



Bodie: "Are you sure there is a bug in there?"
Me: "Yep, it's there keep looking"



Bodie: "Mama, you're silly"
Me: (Standing on a chair with a Pez dispenser in the Hot Shoe of my camera) Hot Shoe - where the flash attaches

Cooter:

"Hi Amber!"

Note: Click on Cooter to fully experience how "fury bear" he is...I couldn't get a larger photo of him on here last night for the life of me. I have the worst problems with photobucket and blogger sometimes....Yikes!

Landscape...

I have been trying to figure out what size I need to make my landscape photos so they show up in there entirety. Usually the right side gets cropped off. So, I am just testing things out.

Yippee!!!

I'll be in the kitchen if you need me...

Moo!

Me: "Where are the cows Bodie?"

Bodie:

Smokin' Deal at Amazon

I just bought this for Avery at Amazon. I have wanted to get it for her for awhile...it is 89 bucks at Walmart and I got it for 29.99....WHOO HOO!!!

I have seen it in person at a friend's house and it is really cute!! It is kind of big, so you need to have space for it. With the winter months coming up, I thought it would be a fun little hide out for her.

By the way, Amazon has some really good deals. In fact, this little playhouse was 49.99 two days ago...then this morning it was 39.99...this evening it was 29.99. I ordered it this morning and I called Amazon and they honored the 29.99. Now that is how to earn repeat business!!!

"Wheel" Fun!!!

This is how Rowdy spent most of his Thanksgiving break. He is getting more and more confident on the bike. He was so proud of himself. Mainly he was impressed with how dirty he got. He kept telling me "Mom, the mud just kept splashing up on me and the bike!"

Tending to the rabbits!