Opportunity (and seeing Santa)

Last Saturday we had the wonderful opportunity to go to the local Ronald McDonald House in Lexington. Todd and I have been feeling like we need a place to volunteer so we got in touch with an old friend of Todd's to see if they could use at the RM house. Oh course they said they could and we were invited to attend the open house they were having for Christmas.

We didn't know Santa or that Ronald McDonald was going to be there but the kids were suprised. I didn't take my camera but the pictures above are from Kelly Hamilton the director of Volunteers there at the house. Sam loved seeing Santa and told him for Christmas he wanted an orange dog and a some trees. lol. Sophia was not impressed and wanted nothing to do with Santa. I have bruise marks on my arm from how hard she was holding on to me.

All in all we had a wonderful time despite the freezing snowing temps outside and we are thrilled to join the RM house after the new year as volunteers.

Our newest family member

Everyone this is Rufus. We adopted Rufus from the Lexington Humane Society. He is 3 yrs old and is super sweet. He loves the kids and doesn't seem to mind a lot of noise and chaos. He's a small breed dog that is a mix of a Terrier and something else. We think the something else may be a beagle. Because of his size he doesn't scare the kids which is good since the kids showed some anxiety with some of the other dogs we looked at that were a lot bigger than Rufus.

Besides being the smallest dog he was also the only one that showed in interest in the kids and gave lots of love right off. He's a perfect fit for us (though I don't really think he'll be going on morning runs with me).  He's already got a bed and his carrot toy and has been exploring the house like crazy. We have had a handful of accidents but are sure in a couple of days he'll have it figured it and that wont be an issue. It's a learning curve for all of us. Oh and yes Rufus was his orginal name and we decided to keep it. Seems only right to let him keep it since that's the name he's had his whole life.

It's that time....

We have our 2010 ornaments. Todd and I took the kids to pick out one ornament each this year at Target. After much debating and lots of "no" from Sophia we all finally found the one that we loved. They are all now happily up on the tree with the ornaments that we got last year.

Here is the break down of who picked what:

Todd got the pirate nutcracker man
Nikki picked the doll in the sweater
Sophia picked out the penguin
Sam got the lion

Fall Pictures

Marissa Noe Photography is where these beautiful came from. As most of my readers know we are big fans of Marissa and her photos so much so that we try and get family photo's done twice a year.

Please take a moment to go to the link and leave a comment on her website about how great you think these photos are. If we get enough people to comment we get a free print in a larger size. I would love to have it to add to my wall so please go and comment on her website.

My oops....

Even though I'm not a fan of Halloween I am ok with the kids dressing up for school events and stuff. Last week the school sent home a notice saying that the kids were to dress up like book characters for the following week. We were to send the book with the kids and they were going to have a little book parade and class party. I thought the note said Friday. It didn't. It said Thursday. I of course didn't realize this until Friday afternoon after Sam got home from school.

Sam got home and I asked him how the party was to which he responded 'mommy the party was yesterday but I had fun being a fireman today'. Well stink...I failed. I'm glad he had fun being a fireman (Todd went to the store after work on Thursday to find the jacket for us) but I was bummed that my little guy missed out on dressing up with his classmates the day before.

Oh well...guess we all make mistakes from time to time. Oh and Todd said Sophia was dressed as an 80's pop star since she was decked out with all her accessories. :)