daddy had the day off!!

lance has been on a recruiting trip this week so he was able to take today off! we decided to make today as special as possible! we went to shipley doughnuts for breakfast... and, yes, we did bring our own gallon of milk. you have to think thrifty these days!we then headed to barnes and noble for the friday morning story time. if you haven't tried this at your local barnes and noble - it is definitely worth the trip. This morning they read The Rabbit Who said MOO. After the story, the kids got to color a picture of a rabbit and glue a fuzzy tail on it.
and, as if that weren't enough fun, they provide snacks from the Starbucks. here are the kids drinking their hot chocolate shots and enjoying chocolate chip cookies!
we then headed to the park for a picnic lunch and playground time. no one else was there so we had lots of privacy.... which was good considering the bathroom doors were locked and we had to get a bit creative.
don't judge us... this really was the next most responsible thing to do. wouldn't you know that both kids had to pooh. allie went first and said repeatedly, "i'm very disappointed!" (we have not included her picture as to protect her femininity). caleb went second and enjoyed singing, "pooh pooh in the potty, pooh pooh in the potty!"
once that was over we could enjoy the park for the afternoon!
now we are home.
kids are sleeping.
mom and dad are relaxing on the couch.
happy Friday!

mommy and me date

isn't that face priceless?
about two weeks ago lance and i were itching to take our kids out on "daddy and me" and "mommy and me" dates. the boys went to lowes together for some male bonding, but allie and i had our own agenda.

we got dropped off at Brookshires (of all places) and i let allie go to the bakery and pick her favorite doughnut. she, of course, selected the chocolate glaze with sprinkles and enjoyed EVERY bite of it!
we then walked over to the coffee shop (java jams) and ordered a hot chocolate. But you can't enjoy hot chocolate in Styrofoam so mommy pulled two mugs out of her purse and we drank in style!

after enjoying our treats, we played hi-ho cherry-o, one of allie's favorite game!

it was really fun to see her act like such a little grown up and it was good to give her some one on one attention!

belly pics

i had a request for sisco #3 pics. here are some shots of the kiddos kissing him/her.
fyi: had dream last night that i had a beautiful brown haired / blue eyed baby girl???????

pitiful!

cooper licked his stitches open... here is the result!
i thought he would fight this thing until it was non existent... but, instead, i think he feels completely defeated by the lampshade! he's been home almost an hour and has not moved from that spot!

funny pic

my mom emailed me this picture recently. she found it on her camera along with other "interesting" shots. i think we know who the culprit is!! do you?

cold days.... drastic measures!

mom pulled out the hot chocolate to warm us up....
hum... i think this might be good....

ok... yea... BEST THING EVER!!!

and mom is the hero!

wow...

does anyone else see how small that number on the right keeps getting? crazy!

our BIG puppy

he's not even a year old, but he's getting so big! we are trying to teach him his "place" in the house. he's showing improvement!

christmas 08

Christmas for our family began in mid december. the day after caleb's birthday party we celebrated with lance's parents. we missed being with kent (lance's brother) and his new family this year, but hopefully we'll get it all together next year. it was fun to watch the kiddos enjoy opening together and get excited for and with one another!

great picture of the kids with grammie (most recently coined "gram" by allie) and poppy!

christmas morning was interesting to say the least. here is a pic of the christmas tree cinnamon rolls that were a tradition in my house growing up. it was fun to begin those type of things in our own home. this is the first year since we've had kids to wake up in our own home on christmas morning.... it was special - made even more special by the fact that lance had poison ivy and we had no water (gotta love living in the boonies)

caleb enjoying cooper's gift before he did. cooper's our dog (i should post pics of him soon... he's huge) we are slowly teaching him about his bed... right now... he just wants to eat it!

christmas morning presents.... handy manny tool box was a hit!

allie's excitement for her own bath soap, lotion, and body spray.... stocking stuffers are the best!

this has to be christmas 2008's best picture... caleb playing his electric guitar in his unders and stocking cap - what a rocker!

by lunch time we were at my parents house for total chaos! here are seven (youngest not pictured) of the grandkids waiting patiently for their gifts.

my aunt robin brought silly string for the kids... look close to find allie... she wasn't slowing down for a picture!

with seven girls in the house.... caleb quickly figured out what he could do around there! we were at my parents for three days and i think he did this or rode the big tractor a dozen times!

one last photo for mom and dad! what cuties!

we had a great holiday. the thing that blessed lance and i the most was that allie's prayers after christmas were not about gifts and stuff, but she was praying at night and thanking God for time with all her different family members! it was touching to hear that. we are grateful for the Lord's grace in covering her with that mentality in this consumer driven world.

lazy days

we have managed to string together several lazy days around the sisco home. the time has been so sweet... quality time with the kiddos is especially needed since our newest family member will be joining us in about 8 weeks.... yikes! we wanted to post a few fun pics of the things they've been up to.

lance had both kids outside yesterday when allie found a piece of sidewalk chalk. she ran over to the driveway wrote something and then said, "dad, come see, i wrote my name!" seriously... it may look like toddler scrible, but this old kinder teacher was really impressed.

allie has been having fun with "make up".... or chapstick!

posing for the pic with pretty lips and some jewlery.

the boys decided to wash the cars and caleb has not had this much fun in a long time! he was thrilled to be daddy's little helper.

hard at work!!! thanks buddy!

****christmas pics and adventures to come soon!!!****