Christmas time!

Christmas came to Southern Illinois!

Of course the kids were spoiled! How could they not be? They are so stinking cute and have a bunch of family and friends who love them! Enjoy these pictures :)

This is the bird house Sydney painted this summer. She bought it with her own money and painted it by herself.

After begging us to put of the Christmas tree and wanting "Christmas at mine house," which is Peyton for wanting decorations in his house, we finally decorated and put up the tree!

Finally Christmas Eve arrives! The kids got in their new jammies and put out cookies and milk and carrots and a note for Santa, posed for pictures then off to bed! Look at those smiles!

It's amazing how many gifts were under the tree since friends and family had to mail packages to us this year! They were overflowing our family room and Santa hadn't even come yet!

Dad and the kids checked the Santa cam on the internet to see all the places Santa had visited already and how close he was to Illinois! We saw he visited Uncle Ryan and Aunt Irina in Bangladesh already!

Santa came!!

Since it was nice and sunny and warm, the kids got to play with their new toys outside! Sydney rode the scooter she got from Uncle Ryan and Aunt Irina all over and Peyton tried out his cool new green bike!

What a fun Christmas! We got together with a few friends for dinners and parties, but we sure missed our family! We have video of christmas morning and of Sydney's school program that we'll share the next time we see any of you! Here is a poor quality picture, but a picture none the less, of Sydney as an angel at her school program.

Hope everyone had a wonderful Christamas! Happy New Year! We love you all! :)

April 2011 Visitors!!

Okay, so yes, I am WAY late on this one, but better late than never, eh?

In April Gramma Jaynee and Papa Philip made their visit! The kids were very excited and looking back at these pictures, they look so little to how they are now! Gramma and Grampa are due back for another visit! Here are just a few pictures from their time here.

After picking them up at the airport, we stopped by the St. Louis arch and walked around outside and went to the museum inside. This first picture is of everyone posing in the elevator pod that takes people to the top of the arch. We didn't go to the top this time, maybe next time?

The day we wanted to take them to Giant City State Park was a rainy day, so we ended up going to the Lodge, pictures below, and driving around the area to show them how pretty the forests and such are.

Jason's Graphic Designer at work owns an Italian restaurant in DuQoin and we had to take them for some yummy food!

We had some sunny days too! So, we went golfing. Since Gramma and Papa didn't bring their clubs, they had to borrow ours and rent some others, the rental ones had a broken strap and Papa wouldn't use a pull cart so he rigged the strap so he could carry it.

It wouldn't be an outing with the Longs without finding something silly!

We took them to Garden of the Gods for a little hiking! On the drive there we saw a slithery snake slide across the road in front of us! No picture of that one though.

I think this is what they call Turtle Rock.

And what would a trip to the midwest in the springtime be without crazy midwest weather? While they were here we had a crazy storm burst with strong winds and hail. Gramma and Grampa were certain they were in a tornado, and although it wasn't, it did cause enough damage from the wind and hail to require us to get a new roof, gutters, and window screens, as well as inheirit the neighbor's playhouse that blew over! Here are a couple pictures of the hail.

All in all, it was a fun trip. We didn't get to show them hardly all there is to see here, so hopefully when they come back we'll be able to do some more!

Springfield Illinois

So, back in November Jason's mom came for a visit. Jason had to give a presentation in Springfield and we all decided to come along for the drive and see some of the sights while he was being important.

We went to the State Capitol building and the cemetary where President Lincoln is buried. After Jason was done with his presentation we went to lunch at a quaint little restaurant and then went to the Abraham Lincoln Museum. It was all really neat! Here are some pictures from our little excursion, and a video of the kids playing in the crunchy leaves!

Jason and Sydney were trying to be one of Lincoln's wax family :)