The Drive To Florida

We are here in Florida now! We decided to leave when James got home from work on Monday night and drive about half way so we could break it up a bit. It is about 10 hours total.It was quite an adventure- you have to go on some back road county highways- no interstates. We were definitely BACK WOODS ALABAMA there for awhile! We played "dodge the animals" all the way there! There were deer darting out, coyote darting out, oh and people kept brighting us. So after a few cars turning their brights on us, James said- dang, are your lights just really bright or what? The next car that came up flicked their brights so James tried to flick his brights back, but they got turned on- not just flicked. Um.. ya it was a cop- so he flipped around and pulled us over! I was laughing! He was nice and gave us a warning.We could barley understand him with his THICK southern drawl! It was pretty funny! We drove to Albany GA and then stayed the night there. In the morning we got up and got going again. We stopped at a gas station to get gas and then got back on the nice little 2 lane highway (if you can even call it that) just as James set the cruise control here is another police officer behind us pulling us over! I guess the speed limit on the "HIGHWAY" went down to 45 for a short little stretch. We thought it was 55. SO, James got a ticket for going 62 in a 45! Ya $175!! I wanted to ask the officer if I could take a picture of him for our blog- but thought that might not be a good idea! :) Needless to say- we drove very careful through Georgia! Once we hit the interstate people were driving faster and we felt better about going a little faster too!! It was 80 degrees when we got here! SO NICE!! I think we are going to try to go to the beach today so I'll get more pics! I just wanted to post our first little stretch of the trip!!!

Christmas Day

Here is a little collage of our Christmas Day! We hope everyone had a GREAT day!!
The kids woke up the EARLIEST they ever have- it was 6:30-- not too bad though! We made them wait until 7:00 then we woke up Damon! James hides a dollar on Christmas Eve before we go to bed. The kid that finds it in the morning gets to open the first present! Damon found it-again- for the second year in a row! He was so excited- I helped him a little- he was looking right at it for a while and couldn't see it-- so I kind of helped him out :)
We surprised the kids with a trip to Florida. They are SOO excited! We are leaving on Tuesday and staying for about a week! The kids are very excited to hang out with their cousins! James old boss from UT lives out there and we are going to go visit him and his family too! Im excited to go to the beach and relax!

Merry Christmas!!

We wish you a Merry Christmas, we wish you a Merry Christmas, we wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!!!!

James took Damon to work with him this morning and he was SO excited! He sent me this picture of him! Future District Manager! :) They only stayed about 2 hours then they got some lunch and came home!

They are all out hiking some trails near the house now, so I can get my wrapping done~ I guess I need to stop procrastinating!! :)

It's almost Christmas!!!

Holy Cow! I can believe that Christmas is here! It came so quick this year! It will take a little getting used to no snow again- but that's great with me!! We were looking back at the blog last year at this time and I can't believe how much snow we had! It seems like it isn't even possible! Especially when I am hearing the ICE CREAM MAN outside still!!



James decided it would be a nice break for me and fun for the kids if he took each one to work with him this week. He had to go all over and hit a few stores to make sure they were all good, so it would be easy for him to take the kids with him. We also decided to give the kids some money to pick out a present for each of us- so while they are with James they will get a present for me, and while they are home with me, they will get a present for him. He took Jaymz yesterday and he said he had a really good time! He LOVES hanging out with dad! He came home with a yummy smelling present for me, so I am excited about that too! :) It's amazing to me the difference 1 kid makes. Yesterday with Aubrey and Damon, it was great! She does whatever he wants and plays good with him! Today on the other hand-- not so peaceful! Jaymz doesn't give into everything Damon wants so it's a little tougher! They have been pretty good though!! Damon is SO excited to be able to go tomorrow! (Lucky for James he only has to go in for a little bit)

Baby Tag

BABY TAG
I will just do Aubrey so you don't have to read 3 of them!!

1. Where were you when you first found out you were pregnant? Work- Allens grocery store
2. Who was with you? I think I was by myself
3. How did you find out that you were pregnant? Blood Test from the hospital
4. What was your first reaction to finding out you were pregnant? Excited and then terrified because I was getting divorced!
5. Who was the first person you told? I think my mom
6. Did you plan to get pregnant? No
7. Did you tell everyone else right away?I think I did
8. Was everybody happy for you? Probably not- under the circumstances
9. Did you go out and celebrate? Not that I can remember.
10. Did you want to find out the sex? I wanted to, but couldn't tell by my Ultra Sound- my Dr wouldn't authorize another one
11. What was the sex? A girl
12. Did anyone throw you a baby shower? Yes
13. If yes, who? My family, neighbors, and friends - 3 separate ones
14. Did you get any outfits at the baby shower that you knew you would just not put on your baby? I don't think so- everything was super cute
15. How much weight did you gain? not sure- about 30 Lbs
16. Did you lose all of the weight that you gained? Yes. (with that baby I did)
17. Did you get a lot of stretch marks? Just a couple
18. What did you crave the most? CANDY!!
19. Did you crave anything crazy? I don't think so
20. Who or what got on your nerves the most? My Ex- but not because I was pregnant-
21. Did you have any complications during your pregnancy? Nope, it was a really great pregnancy thankfully!
22. Where were you when you went into labor? At home in bed.
23. Did your water break? The doctor broke it.
24. Who drove you to the hospital? My mom
25. Did you go early or late? LATE- I ALWAYS go late :(
26. Who was in the room with you when you gave birth? The doctor, My mom, LeAnn, My Aunt Elizabeth (she worked there)and some nurses
27. How long were you in labor for? about 10 hours- at the hospital about 7 hours
28. Did you have any drugs for the pain? You'd better believe it!
29. Did you go natural or have a c-section? Natural.
30. What was your first reaction after giving birth? SHOCKED she was a girl!! I thought she'd be a boy for sure!!!
31. How big was the baby? 7 Lbs 8 OZ
32. Did your husband cry? didn't have one at the time!!!
33. What did you name the baby? Aubrey Mitchell Holloway (now Bischoff)
34. Does his name have any significant meaning? Nope just liked it- Mitchell is my moms maiden name
35.Did you have any visitors? Lots of family and friends
36. Did the baby have any complications? No.- she did have jaundice so whe had ro fo home with the lights for about a week
37. How old is your baby today? 11
38. When is the next one coming? NEVER!!
39. If you could, would you do it all over again? not now- but I did it 2 more times after her.
I tag: Christina, Nikki, Leslie, Kim and anyone else who wants to join

New Christmas Decor

I went out to get the mail this afternoon and I noticed we have some new Christmas Decor on our house. The kids thought it was pretty cool! They tried to catch it, but it was too fast. How funny that in Dec the Lizards are out! Quite the change from our last winter in NH! They have been getting blasted. Im so glad we don't have to deal with that this year!




Aubrey and some friends made this gingerbread house at school yesterday! I can't believe the kids are out of school until Jan 6th!! That is a LONG time! :)


James and I are going to dinner at Fire and Ice with some other couples tonight! Im excited!

Volcano

Aubrey has been doing a unit on Volcanoes at school and for her big project she had to do a report and then make one and erupt it. That is SO up her alley! She loves the artsy stuff so she was so excited! Today is the day she has to present it, so I hope it works as well at school as it did here at home!

buddies

It's so nice to see your kids get along and be nice to each other! I came into the living room yesterday to find the boys watching TV like this! I was so impressed that Damon hadn't punched or kicked his brother off of him! They were just chillin together!

Santa

We had our Christmas Party last night at our church and Santa showed up! Damons face was so funny! He was staring him down the whole time! I got thinking about it, and I guess I haven't really taken him to go see Santa. I hadn't this year and I know I didn't last year. I guess you kind of get that when you are the baby of the family. There are perks being the youngest, but you miss out on some things too. We waited in line to see Santa and when we got up there Damon drew a blank and couldn't think of what he wanted! After he kept saying that Santa wasn't dead! I couldn't figure out what he meant and then he said that sometimes Santa falls off the roof and dies. (Too much of The Santa Clause movie I guess) He was thrilled that Santa came and he hadn't died!!! Aubrey wasn't real excited to sit on Santa's lap, but we got her up there for a picture at least!!
I forgot my camera so we had to use the phone camera so it isn't the best- sorry

Tree

We had such a good time with Jen, Shaylie, and Grandma! It was a CHILL visit! We hung out and did really nothing- but it was so fun! Grandma wasn't feeling great and the weather was rainy so we just hung out! The first day was warm and nice, and then the rain came! There was a big thunder and lightning storm on Tuesday night. The tornado siren even went off. I had never heard one, so I had no clue what it was. I woke James up and asking him what the heck that was? He didn't know so we went back to bed! (REAL SMART) The next morning I was watching the news and saw there were still some tornado warnings and then it hit me- DUH!! I asked my neighbor and she said it wasn't near us so we were fine, but next time I hear that I will turn the TV on to see where the warning is! :)

Grandma brought a book full of cool things you can make out of cupcakes, so one night we decided to try them out! They were harder than they looked, but it was fun!! Aubrey loved it!




James took Thursday off, so I let the kids miss school too. We hung out and played games. Jen and I went to the mall for a little bit.

Shaylie LOVED Uncle James! He would talk to her and she would just smile and giggle! It was cute! He started to talk to her about shoes and she just smiled like crazy! It was funny!!
Thanks for coming out guys!! We had a lot of fun!!! :)




The kids have been bugging me to post a pic of our tree. It took us a while to find the "one"! They were either too small, or not full enough, or something- so after a few trips out we found the perfect one! Then when we got home our tree stand was for a smaller tree and wouldn't hold it (we've never had to get a 9 footer) so we had to go back and get a new tree stand, then we didn't really have enough ornaments, so I went and got a few more- So, finally here it is!!! :)

Mom and Jens Visit!!

My mom, sister and her baby Shaylie came to visit us on Monday! They got here on Monday night. Tuesday Damon had a little Christmas party with his playgroup so we went there for a little while and then we bummed around town. When the kids got home from school and James got home from work we let the kids open up Christmas presents from her and my dad. My mom likes to see the kids open their gifts so while she was here we decided to go ahead and do it!! The kids were THRILLED!!! They are enjoying the warmer weather and just relaxing and we are having so much fun with them and that cute baby!!!! :)

Surprise

Today I was cleaning up a few things before my mom and sister get here, and Damon kept being kind of needy and I was getting irritated because I wanted to finish up what I was doing without having to see what he wanted. So I after helping him get on club penguin I went downstairs to Aubrey's room and he started yelling for me again. I was saying "what" to him but he couldn't hear me. When he found me he said Mom you have to come upstairs I have a prize (surprise) for you! He was so excited- I was a little nervous of what in the world could be so great that he had done for me-- Taken all the ornaments off the tree, cleaned the bathroom and overflowed the sink, WHO KNOWS!! So I walked up the stairs slowly and this is what I found!




He had made me a bowl of cereal!! LOTS of milk and a little bit of cereal, but it was VERY nice!! He didn't even spill the milk!! He said, "Mom, you've been working hard and I wanted to prize you because I Wuv you!" It was cute!! How could I be irritated with him now??

Not sure why he won't keep his shirt on, but he won't!!!

Breakfast and Santa Shop

Today was the Christmas breakfast and Santa shop at Jaymz school. The kids sang Christmas songs- each grade group had a certain time to be there to sing.




I volunteered at the Santa shop and James had the camera- so he was being annoying and trying to take pictured of me!! This is as good as it gets!




We gave the kids some money to buy each other a present at the Santa Shop. They walked around and decided what to buy each other. It was cute to see what they picked out! :) They even had free gift wrapping~ what more could you ask for?

Winter Dance

Aubrey had her Winter Dance tonight. This is her first school dance! She was so excited to go hang out with her friends! I can't believe she is old enough to go to a school dance already! Most of the kids were wearing a dress, but Aubrey HATES dresses so she went with a longer shirt and leggings! She looked cute! :)

Pump It Up

Today for playgroup we went to Pump It up. Damon had SO much fun! It was the best $5 I have spent in a long time!! We were there for 2 hours. He made a new friend Max (that goes to church with us) and has been asking when he can come play at our house!





I've been trying to get up all the Christmas decorations. We have been sick and in slow mode. We decided to rearrange the house so that too some time too. James finished the forest and village- YES that's right I said JAMES did it- every year he sets it up because Mr perfectionist can't stand it to be not perfect and I can't stand to take the time to get it perfect so he does it. I do have to say it looks much better his way than mine!!