80 degrees of separation......

And that is without the wind chill! We left Memphis on Friday at about 2pm and the temperature was a lovely 69 degrees. When we pulled into Granny and Grampy's at about 5 :30 pm Saturday the temp was a frigid -10 degrees. Mind you, if you factor in the wind chill, it has been about -30 to -40 degrees! We are so happy to be here in Marshall with family and are so glad we made it through the blizzard conditions safely! I'll try and get some pictures from the drive posted soon. The wind was blowing like mad, it was snowing, and the roads were icy. Lucky for us, our children are amazing travelers, and that made it that much easier on us! We ventured out to church today for the Christmas program, which Val and I got to perform in, and other than that I think we will probably board ourselves up in the house and avoid going outside at all costs! We are so excited to spend Christmas with our awesome family and can't wait to see what the coming weeks bring!

Christmas spirit!

We had our ward Christmas program this past Sunday and so we decided to dress the kids up in their cute Christmas attire. A big thank you to Granny, Grampy and Mary, who all contributed to their cute outfits! We got some cute pictures, and hope to get some more this week!

On Sunday evening we went to look at Christmas lights, one in particular. Here is a short video of that home--they definitely go all out for Christmas! I wonder what their electrical bill looks like! :)

Ward Christmas party

We had our ward Christmas party tonight. We got to enjoy some yummy cookies and hot chocolate, visit with Santa, sing Christmas carols and visit with all of our wonderful ward family! Here are a few of the highlights....

Daddy and Lainey playing in the gym!

Leecy T being silly!

Lennon with Santa, thinking, who the heck is this?

What the girls turned into once they actually saw Santa!

What we eventually got them to do....

treats will entice them to do almost anything! However this was the closest they got to him! :)

Singing Christmas carols!

Seriously, the cutest Santa EVER!

could he be any cuter?

I think not! Ho, Ho, Ho! Merry Christmas!

Jingle Bells

We were watching Charlie Brown's Christmas this week and had just finished watching the scene where Schroeder plays Jingle Bells for Lucy. This is one of Lainey's favorite Christmas songs and just a few short minutes after watching that scene this is what I came across!

What do you think? Not only does she look like her Daddy, it looks like she may inherit his piano playing talent as well! :)

Dick and Jane

Sorry it took so long for me to post this video of Aleece reading! This is from a couple of weeks ago--she is reading a Dick and Jane book (obviously!). She has already come a long ways---she is asking if she is spelling things correctly and really sounding things out well! We are so proud of her!

Mr. Lennon

Lennon is rolling over like crazy and learning to sit up all by himself! I can't believe he is almost five months old! He loves to play in his Excersaucer from Granny and Grampy and he is definitely a textures person! He has this super soft blanket made of this plush green material and he loves to be cuddled with it! Lennon has the sweetest smile and I love the look of adoration on his face when he looks at his big sisters! He has us all wrapped around his little finger and we all love it! We love having him in our family and we love him so much! It's hard to believe the year 2008 is almost over! At the beginning of the year I was just on the beginning of my 3rd pregnancy journey and now here I am at the end of the year with my three beautiful babies! How lucky can one mom get!?

Cute little Lainey bug

Lainey bug has always loved music and is usually found singing wherever she is! She has picked up on the Christmas songs so quickly and I often catch her singing "Jingle Bells", "Santa Claus is Coming to Town", and "Deck the Halls". The other day she probably had us play "Deck the Halls" about 20 times in a row in the car! She kept telling me yesterday, "Sing it mommy! Fa la la! Sing it!" She is mostly talking in full sentences now and I am amazed at how much she knows! I love to hear her say prayers and I love that something else she has learned to say is, "I need you Mommy/Daddy! I need you!" I hope she always feels this way! She is such a sweetheart and we love her so much!

Sweet Leecy T

We were quizzing Aleece over dinner tonight on her Articles of Faith. Guess how many she can recite from memory! Come on, just guess! 6! At only 4 years old she has about half of the Articles of Faith memorized. She is so articulate when she recites them and I love seeing her testimony of the gospel grow every day! I love that she is learning so much in preschool! She is so smart and I love that she teaches Lainey so much of what she knows and learns. She is such a good big sister and we love her so much! We are so glad she is a part of our family!

Memphis Zoo Lights

We had the opportunity to go to the Memphis Zoo Lights the day after Thanksgiving. We had such a great time! We were the first people in line and there were so many fun things to see and do. There was "snow" falling when we walked in. (Bubbles really, but it looked so much like real snow, it was awesome!) We got to decorate sugar cookies, ride on the zoo train, pet the various animals in the farm area (they even had Dasher and Dancer, Santa's reindeer!), drink hot chocolate and see all of the fun lights! There were some really fun displays and we really enjoyed ourselves! We are so glad the Granny, Grampy and Trey got to experience this with us for the first time! We will definitely be going back next year!!!


Granny, Grampy, Val, Leecy and Lainey by the panda exhibit

Leecy T by the elephant statue

Leecy, Lainey, Lennon, Trey, Granny and Grampy at the zoo lights!

The Moore the Merrier!!! by the giant lit up Christmas tree

Lainey kept hugging the panda--she did not want to let him go! It was so sweet!

Granny and Trey

Leecy and Daddy at the carousel!

Lainey and Grampy at the carousel!

the girls by the giant castle of lights!

Dasher, Santa's reindeer

Lainey would not leave until she got the donkey to come over. She was very insistent and got her way, as you can see!

Riding on the train!

Cheese!

Grampy and Lennon enjoying the lights!

Decorating sugar cookies!

Lainey and Daddy

The Memphis zoo lights!

Thankful

What a great week. I love the holidays! This year was the first time we have had Thanksgiving in our own home and we were fortunate enough to have Granny, Grampy and Trey come and celebrate with us. We had so much yummy food, wonderful company and we were able to create some awesome memories. We have so much to be thankful for......our families, our sweet children, our home, the gospel, friendship, love, good health, safety, missionaries (especially Bubba!), and so much more!!! I am so thankful for my amazing husband and for his strength and love. He is my rock! I am so thankful for Aleece--she is so bright and intelligent and she has such a good heart! I am so thankful for Madelaine---she is so sweet and funny and she can always make me laugh. I am so thankful for Lennon--he is such a good natured boy and his smile melts my heart! I have been so blessed in my life and am so grateful I was born into the family I was. My parents are such a great example to me and I am so thankful for their guidance throughout the years. I am so grateful for my awesome sisters and brothers (and in laws)---they continue to amaze me every day.

Our Thanksgiving meal was delicious! The turkey was perfect, the stuffing heavenly, the mashed and sweet potatoes were amazing and the rolls just melted in your mouth. Our bellies were full as well as our hearts!
By the way, there were no surprises this year! ;)

I didn't get up early and do the Black Friday thing. I never have and don't think I ever will. There is just too much craziness involved for me. You all know I love a good deal more than anyone, but that is why most of my Christmas shopping is done already! We did go out later in the morning and thankfully didn't have to fight off as many people, but it was still a madhouse everywhere we went!!!

Unfortunately Granny and Grampy had to go home today, but we have Trey till Monday morning! We miss them so much already and wish we were together all of the time. But we get to see them in 21 days (yes, we are counting!) and we can't wait! Thank you for making our holiday so wonderful!

We hope all of your Thanksgiving celebrations were as wonderful as ours, and that you had time to reflect on all of your many blessings! We sure are thankful for all of you!

our fun turkey creations

our sweet Leecy T

my cute mom and her delicious rolls!

my cute dad carving the turkey

baby brother Trey and our sweet boy Lennon

my amazing hubby, in front of part of our list of things we are thankful for!

beautiful boy Lennon

cute little Lainey bug

Granny, Grampy and Trey

the Moore the merrier!

family pictures thanks to my parents!

it was a feat to get everyone smiling at the same time!

but it worked!

Just a thought....

We attended a church activity last night for The Week of the Family here in Memphis, and we were going from one room to another. The girls and I were holding hands and Aleece looks at Val and she says, "This hand has a whole bunch of nothing in it. You can hold it if you want to Dad." How cute can you get?

Night and Day

We went to the doctor today for Lainey's 2 yr and Lennon's 4 month checkups. Lainey weighed in at 21 lb 10 oz and 31 inches tall and is finally on the charts! Hooray! She falls at about the 1-3 percentile! Hey--it's better than nothing! Lennon weighed in at 13 lb 6 oz and is 24 inches tall! He won't be huge either and is falling at approximately the 20-25th percentile. Lainey received her flu shot and Lennon got three immunizations. Lennon didn't even cry after his shots--he is such a good baby! Lainey cried for about 5 seconds and she was good to go! She even had the nurse pick her up as we were getting ready to go and she kept saying to me, "Bye Mommy! See ya later!" She is so friendly to everyone she comes in contact with and you couldn't find anyone who would be your friend more willingly than her if you tried!!! Aleece on the other hand is still incredibly shy around adults! They are like night and day in that regard! She doesn't usually have any issues with kids but she'd rather hide behind mom or dad than say hello to someone she isn't completely familiar with! That is until you get to know her---than she can chat your ear off with all she knows! She has been learning Thanksgiving songs in preschool and I love listening to her teach Lainey everything she has been taught. They are such good friends and I love that they enjoy playing together and spending time with one another. I hope they can always have an amazing relationship just like I have with my cute sisters!

Reading

Aleece has known her letters and numbers for quite some time now and her preschool teacher thought it was a good time for her to start learning to read. This last week we have been working on sounding things out, and she loves it when we ask her to spell words for us, like cat, hat, mom, dad, aleece, moore, stop, etc. Well, last night Val was working with her reading a Dick and Jane book, and Aleece came to me and read the first two chapters by herself!!! We are so proud of her! She is so smart! It's crazy to think she is growing up so fast! A video will follow soon, so that you can all share in our excitement!

The Birthday Girl

We had a lot of fun celebrating Lainey bug's second birthday this past weekend. It's hard to believe she is already 2! She got so many nice gifts from everyone! On Saturday we had some of our good friends, the Nobles(thanks for the play-doh, bubbles and foam puzzle!) and the Tibbitts(thanks for the cute hair clips, bracelet and crayons!), join us at Chuck E. Cheese. We enjoyed pizza and played lots of games! It was a great time! On Sunday we had a nice dinner and Lainey got to open lots of presents and eat some yummy birthday cake! She had a Scooby Doo themed birthday and really enjoyed herself. We discovered that she is a lot like her Daddy--she had to have every gift opened right away! She wanted to start playing with everything immediately! Her gifts were all a big hit and we want everyone to know how much we appreciate their kindness, love and support of our family! We just you all could have been here with us to help us celebrate! And you all know we can't just celebrate once.....so expect to see more pics when we celebrate again with Granny, Grampy and Trey in a few weeks when they come to visit! We can't wait!

Daddy and Lainey at Chucke Cheese

Lainey, Daddy and Leecy

Mommy and Lennon

Natalie and Emmy

Quinn and Porter

Shauna and Corbin

Emmy and Lainey playing away

Leecy and Hyrum enjoying the rides

Lainey being silly

Lainey with her birthday poster

Our sweet two year old!

Lainey wearing her cute apron from Mary Rose and Adam and talking on her fun new Dora phone from Katchie and Jeff! Thanks you guys!

Lainey with her cuddly Curious George and Curious George book from Patty and Eric! Thank you!

CANDY! from Granny and Grampy!

Cinderella mega blocks from Granny, Grampy and Trey! She calls them her Boppidi Boo and Cinderella toys! Too cute! Thanks so much!

Sisters and friends!

Listening to her new MP3 player from Mommy and Daddy! It was a big hit!

Mommy and Lainey

Daddy and Lennon

Lainey's giant cupcake cake complete with Scooby Doo paw prints.

Blowing out her candle!

3 Cute Kids!!!

Thanks again everyone!