I'm baaaccckkk!

Thanksgiving was a fabulously fun! The long story short....I was woke up at 2:30 am Turkey Day. My mom, dad, brother, sister in law, and nephews all came and surprised me! I had *no* clue that they were coming. Brad kept it a secret and so did the girls!!!! It was the best surprise ever.

I hadn't seen John and Erin since July of '04. Erin and John are expecting their first baby the end of Feb. His name is Joshua Scott, but we call him Fred. hee hee hee. I think they should name him Froshua. *grin* (side note, Erin won't let him be named Froshua, so I'm going to get a dog and name him Froshua.) *grin*

We had so much fun! Mom, Erin, and I hit Wal-Mart to pick stuff up on Thanksgiving and then came home to EAT! We did watch the Colts spank the Falcons that night. I actually didn't watch the whole game though---Erin and I decided to join the crazies and go shopping Friday morning. We went to Target, JoAnn, HHGregg, Radio Shack, Starbucks, Chic-fil-a, Sears, The Christian Supply Center, and finally Kroger. We got back and were POOPED!

The kids had so much fun with each other. It was great watching them all. Speaking of kids...Justin and Benjamin discovered that Uncle John is a big kid and LOVED wrestling around with them. I have a video of Justin jumping off the couch on to John. Sometimes he flipped right off and others he landed on John and inflicted some pain. =)

Sunday we went to church and after we had Christmas. Mom and Dad bought all of our kids new bikes for Christmas and then filled their stockings with all sorts of cool things! THANK YOU MOM AND DAD!!!!!! They love their bikes. Justin is doing awesome riding his. The girls got beach cruisers and Gabe got a really cool red bike with handle brakes. =) The winter has not stopped the kids from riding their bikes either. They have had them out in the cold and in the snow. Justin tried riding his through the snow a couple weeks ago....silly kid! John and Erin spoiled the kids with a ton of stuff too. They got Haeley a MP3 player, some remote control cars and trucks for the boys, and Jasmine got 2 nice art sets with canvases and real paint! She is jazzed!

They stayed until Monday morning. I tortured myself though because I followed them out of town. We went to the gas station together and then to Starbucks so I could get one more cup of coffee with my Momma. I forgot to mention that they took Justin back to VA with them. Brad had to go to VA that week and so Justin flew back to IN with Brad. It was so hard watching him go. I knew he would be fine, but that didn't make things ANY easier! When I got home and walked into my empty house I felt terrible! I climbed the stairs in my foyer and just sobbed. I wanted to curl up in a little ball on the couch. My house had been bustling for the past 4 days with my family and everyone was having a blast and then they were all gone. =(

I did relish the one-on-one time I got to have with Benjamin though. He loved it! AND Benjamin decided to take the opportunity to poo poo in the potty for the first time that week! I was so excited when I saw what he had done!!! It was great! And he was so proud of himself. You've got to love that!

The kids were excited to see Justin when he came home and I think he was equally excited to see them---not me. Just them. Little booger!

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Brad's birthday was on the 3rd we had to celebrate it on the 4th though. I made him a roast, bisquits, and a homemade German Chocolate Cake. Mmmmmm......It was soooo good! Jasmine and Haeley did help some with the cake. He got a couple movies for his birthday. I think more than anything he just enjoyed being home with the family.

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I got my Christmas present from John and Erin on Brad's birthday. They bought me an 80GB iPod. I *love* it lots and lots and lots! Then, I got to open up all of the stuff from Mom and Dad. It was fabulous! I got a bunch of accessories for my iPod. There was a bluetooth stereo hook up and a iPod adapter thingy for the stereo and a bluetooth headset for it all!

I was so jazzed. Then I discovered a problem. I needed iTunes. Why is that a problem??? Hmmm....let me think. OH! WAIT! I remember now! We are on dial up and it was going to take me 14 hours to download it. Yes, you read right. 14 hours. I wasn't playing that game! The next day we went to my girlfriend Sarah's house for lunch and I took the external hard drive and downloaded it at her house.

Can you guess how long it took? Less than five minutes. GRRR! Just one more reason to STRONGLY dislike dial up!

BUT, I got my iTunes and it transfered all the music on my computer and I loaded my iPod and I'm loving it !!!!!!!! I even let Justin watch "Finding Nemo" on it. I'm such a nice Mom. =)

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There will be more to come later, but my pinky on my left finger is hurting...I'll put more up tomorrow night! Hope you enjoyed this!

Over and out.