New Blog...Again!

I hope that you enjoy this piece of artwork done by Sarah Jane. She is really working hard in Kindergarten and they are practicing their numbers. In case you have not noticed--I have a new background again....I promise this one will be the last time for I really, really, really love this one! Aunt Violet helped me change to a new 3 column format instead of 2...so I decide to change everything. I hope that you like it I know I love it...even Craig checked it out and said he was digging it. I also think that all the pictures really "pop" out at you. Whether the pictures are color or black/white they really look smart on the black background. Thanks for putting up with me again Aunt Violet--you are a real trooper. I am learning alot from her--Aunt Violet is the "Queen of code"! Well signing off for the night--oh reminder to Dad don't forget to keep clicking on the ads--yes I am getting paid for them when people click on them...also the music playlist has been updated with new songs so if you do not like the openning song click on any of the songs at the bottom of the page and it will play on 1 click. Thanks for supporting my blog I feel it has really come a long way--happy reading--and keep those comments coming.

Happy 9th Birthday Hannah

Wow...Hannah turns 9! That means only 7 more years until she can try out for the Olympics! Hannah got so many nice things for her birthday...even her cousin Ryan gave his own money for a gift (A BIG THANKS TO RYAN). But her favorite gift would have to be her ipod nano--hot pink--girl power!! Uncle Todd set her up and she is already using it and loves that it can play movies on it. Well here are some pictures for you to enjoy. Stay warm--still pretty cold here in the northeast...but Nana Mertz said it was 62 in Hawaii...I told her I feel so sorry for her...NOT...meanwhile one of our days was -20 below. Enjoy this cold weather while we can...because soon it will be really hot and humid. Well Hannah --we are so very proud of you and you have really blossomed into a young lady.

Sarah Jane's 6th Birthday

Sarah Jane on her birthday.

Openning presents...

Cousin reading cards to S.J.

Sarah Jane had a great time at her birthday party. I made 2 homemade ice cream cakes and a "soccer ball" chocolate cake (which was lop-sided) but still tasted good. Everyone pretty much took the ice cream cake...especially the kids. She got some cool presents and even some much loved "Bobby Jack" monkey stuff. Sarah Jane loves Bobby Jack (which you can only get at Sears!)

Craig and I cannot believe our littlest turned 6...boy have the years really gone by so fast. Just seems like yesterday that she was born and WOW--having a mommy moment here! Anyway the party was a hit and all the kids had fun as the adults too.

We hope that everyone had a wonderful Christmas spending time with family and friends. We love that time of year--I drive Craig nuts with all the lights (yes indeed I am Queen of Lights)...however this year I ran out of time--and did not put too many lights up for the outside. I once again packed up the Christmas things until next year. Happy New Year everyone!

Hannah's Meet Dec. 14, 2008

Hannah did rather well at her second meet of the season. These pictures are of her on the beam. She placed 1st place on beam, 2nd place on vault, 3rd place on bars and 3rd place on floor in her age divison. She also placed 3rd place for all-around with a score of 33.00 (she needs a 35 to be able to go to Nationals.) I think she can do it! Yeah I know I am her mom...but Hannah has the drive in her...she is really excited about summer this year...she is going up to a camp called International Gymnastics Camp and Shawn Johnson is going to be there (please pray that Shawn's week does not change!!) Hannah is so excited about meeting her! Well I think that I am actually caught up on the family activities...but our family is always on the move and we are going sometimes in different directions...but that's okay, and hey we are having fun!

Christmas Day 2008

We hope that all of you had a wonderful Christmas! Our children were waiting for the day to arrive...we got them a wii system to all share; but of course "Santa" still came by with some small gifts for each. Our cat Tate even enjoyed the wii box as you can see with the pictures above. I love to see the excitment of children of all ages openning there presents on Christmas Day! And best of all...each and everyone of us got the best gift of all!--yes Jesus--God's Son gave the best gift of death on that cross--but rose again to save us all from our sins.

We had a great day of people coming and going all thru out the day...Craig cooked (yes ladies I have got a good man--does all the Christmas cooking every year!) He made chicken, ham, potatoes, veggies--but then I come in and top off the evening with many desserts! Kevin made the cheesecake this year and it was very yummy!! Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves...so until next year we can do it all over again. I think that food is a big part of the holidays.

We hope that you enjoy the pictures of the Waterman kids openning up some gifts. We miss you Grams, Pappy Althouse & Nana Mertz! Hope you enjoy your package of goodies (so sorry that it was late getting in the mail).

We wish everyone a Blessed New Year! May the Lord bless you with good health...remember to treat everyone in a loving, respectful way & to do your very best whether it would be in school or work--no matter what you are doing in life do it to the best of your abilities!

Christmas just around the corner!!

Well I hope all is well...and everyone is almost done with their Christmas shopping...NOT!! Yeah this year I am really behind in that department. I am really just not in the spirit of shopping...hate the long lines...hate the rude people in the long lines...and hate the fact that I have to be pinching pennies. Okay enough feeling sorry for me cuz I know that you don't. Anyway the real reason for Christmas is JESUS. I think that people really have forgotten the reason for the season. Remember to celebrate the birth of our Savior this Christmas season. And yes--I am saying Merry Christmas to people in the stores.

Actually to be honest with you Craig and I are getting away cheap this year...kids in the Waterman family took a vote and all agreed with getting a wii--so good old Mom (that's me) shopped online in Oct and got a great deal on one. Hopefully Craig and I will get to play sometimes too!

We are still upgrading everything to our new computer (thanks to my inlaws--they got us a family gift of a new computer for Christmas and gave it to us early) We have windows vista--pretty cool now that it works...word of advice--use Norton antiveris not Panda...Panda was locking up our whole system and yes it was not even getting to our pretty desktop...so I want to say sorry that I did not get to update the blog for so long. But never fear good people--everything is working great and we are actually enjoying windows vista...great things like videos and other stuff can be done...so when I figure out how to videos I will then try to figure out how to post to blog.

Well everyone please have a Blessed Christmas with family and friends.

Donna's thoughts

Well I don't know about you...but we were blessed to get an early Christmas gift for our family--a new computer. I have not decided if I like "Windows Vista" yet. There are pretty cool things that you can do but could not do in "Windows XP". I am really excited about all the cool stuff that you can do with pictures...however Vista is really slow to boot up and actually work sometimes!! Somedays I really want to start ripping out my hair!! (which I have alot of). You know I have a passion for the camera, and I have started now to really play around with pics. I will post them once in awhile and would love to have your comments on them. This is a purple cornflower from my sister's backyard...boy with all this cold weather I really am starting to miss summer time. I thought I would post this picture to help us all think of summer when we nice and warm and did not have to turn our heat on. Of course our son is still wearing shorts like a "knucklehead"...all the middle school and high school kids are still wearing shorts. Well got to go...have a great night.

Kevin ends fall soccer season

Just wanted to update our blog. Kevin's soccer team did well this season. He played hard and still is a living, eating, sleeping soccer machine. He decided already he wants to play for a division 1 soccer college. It is hard to believe that in 2 years he can tryout for the high school soccer team. Boy the years are going by fast. We are really proud of him. He also is doing very well in school and gets good grades. The time is come for indoor soccer to soon start...HOORAY

Just click once on the collage of pics

& you can view them bigger.

School Pictures

These are the back to school pictures that I took...Yes I was too cheap to pay for the school picture packages. I saved a ton doing it myself. They turned out nice--did black/white this year for something different. Everyone seems to like them...don't worry folks if you still did not receive them they are going to be mailed out soon. Well I hope that everyone has a great week and don't forget to check back.

Kevin receives his first YELLOW card in soccer

The boys are really playing great together...it was a nail biting game and Kevin received his first "yellow" card today from the ref; basically if Kevin gets a "red" card next...he will have to sit out of the rest of the game plus the next game. He plays very aggressive and ran the goalie over...couldn't stop in time...so that is why the ref carded him....they protect the goalie alittle bit at this age level...however the ref told him that if it was a high school or college level game he would of not got carded. Needless to say at this age he thought it was cool to be carded.