Kaylee writes her name!

Kaylee started a new preschool this January and has been loving it! She now goes to Brookwood Baptist Church's Early Childhood Center (ECC), which is the same church we are members of. Kaylee is learning to write and has started writing her own name - all by herself! She is doing an amazing job!

The Boys go Duck Hunting!

January 9-11, 2008. Waterproof Waders - check. Waterproof gloves - check. Waterproof jacket - check. Warm layers for under all that - check. The boys are officially ready to go duck hunting with Daddy in Ruleville, Mississippi! They woke up at 4am and headed out to hunt... Not many ducks, but lots of water, cold weather, and fun!

Girl's Week-end ~ January 9, 2009

What's a girl to do when her brothers and Daddy leave for the week-end to go duck hunting? You got it! Have a girl friend (Lilla) over and break out the cheap make up, nail polish, and hair accessories! This past week, I was shopping down the 75% off Christmas aisle at Wal-Mart and saw this huge make up set. I made it mine for only $3.00! Last night, we opened it up, took a large mirror off the wall to use, and had some glittery fun. It's so much fun to be a girl!

Our New Wall Art

Thanks to Uncle Matt, we now have these gorgeous canvas hand prints of our family! I thought they turned out really good! Kevin and I shared one and the kids each got their own and wrote their names and year on them. They look fabulous on the wall, too.

Our Favorite Things from our California Trip

At the end of our trip, I videoed the kids telling me what their favorite things were from our trip to California. It took Nicholas a little while to remember, but he finally figured it out.

Our Family Vacation to California 12/27/08 to 1/2/09

Right after Christmas, we took the whole family along with Grandma and Papa Dunlop to California. We wanted to take the kids to Legoland! We stayed in Carlsbad near San Diego and went to Legoland for two days, the San Diego Zoo, the USS Midway aircraft carrier, the Maritime Museum, an Aquarium, and saw a few beautiful sunsets along the way, too. We kept the kids going all day long! It was a fabulous trip, and very nice to have two extra sets of hands every step of the way!

Maritime Museum of San Diego

The Star of India

Raising and lowering the anchor.

This is where immigrants slept aboard the Star of India when being brought into America.

The Surprise.

Cannons aboard the Surprise.

This is where men who were manned on the Submarine slept - very, very, very tight quarters in that sub!

Thursday, January 1, 2009. The first day of the New Year, we headed to San Diego for the Maritime Museum. Talk about a must see place! This was really cool! In the words of the boys, "Wow! A real War Sleuth Pirate Ship!" We toured the Star of India ship, the Surprise which the ship used in the movie Master and Commander w/ Russell Crowe, a Russian Submarine used in the Cold War, and few other small vessels.

Legoland - Day 2 - New Year's Eve

Wednesday, December 31, 2008. Day 2 of Legoland was just as fun as the first day we went! Volvo sponsors a car racing section for kids, so we got the kids their "driver's license" and let them drive the course in Lego looking Volvos. We saw more amazing things made of Legos, of course, and rode some cool rides. As it got dark we made our way to the Miniland, USA for a Kid's New Year's Eve Party. There was singing by the Legoland performers and then instead a "ball drop" at midnight, they did a Lego "brick drop" at 6pm followed by fireworks. We found this much more enjoyable than staying up till midnight :)

Sea Life Legoland Aquarium

Wednesday, December 31, 2008. We started off our New Year's Eve going to Sea life, an aquarium right next to Legoland. It is geared for kids and has a lot of hands on activities. The kids got to touch a sea snail, sea cucumber, and lots of starfish. There are several Lego themed tanks throughout with Lego divers, Lego fish, etc. This was a fun place to be.

Sunset at Torrey Pines State Beach

Tuesday, December 30, 2008. After going to the golf course, we stopped to see another beautiful sunset over the ocean. While waiting for the sun to set, we saw a magnificent fog rolling in. It was a thick, huge cloud just hovering over the ocean for miles and permeating into the land and mountains. That was the most wicked thing I have ever seen. As it moved over the water, everything just seemed to disappear into it. Hope you can see what I mean while looking at a small photo.