Time to decorate the Gingerbread House...

The Blood Family, awesome Mac Millar loving the candy cane, the Millar family, Brian and Liz Davis, and our gingerbread house for 2007

We had our 5th annual Gingerbread House Decorating Party this last weekend! This is such a fun tradition for us to have! We had 8 families over this year to decorate houses that Jaimee made during the week. Cameron whispered to Kelsey (not knowing that Mom was listening) "The best part about the gingerbread house party is that you can sneak around and eat as much candy as you want!" He's right--it is like a candy store that night and Cameron did help himself to lots of candy! It was a great night with some of our great friends here in Kentucky.

Thanksgiving in DC

Family by the Lincoln Memorial


Blaine and Jaimee with Justice Alito



We had a wonderful trip to DC to spend Thanksgiving with our dear friends The Moore's. We did some fun things; visited the monuments at night, went to the Native American Smithsonian Museum (on Thanksgiving morning), had a delicious Thanksgiving Feast, went to a session at the DC Temple, went to the Air and Space Museum, and the highlight of the trip (especially for Blaine) was going to the Supreme Court for an official tour (our friend Dave Moore is a law clerk for Justice Alito) and was able to attend an Oral Argument at the Supreme Court with all 9 Justices there and to see the real action. We met Justice Alito, who was very nice, and it was a chance of a lifetime to be there! We love DC and really are feeling excited about moving there next August. We really mean it when we say we hope you all come visit us because it is such a fabulous city to be in. Blaine was able to see the Law School at GW where he will be attending school next year and its right in downtown DC which is very exciting. It was a great Thanksgiving Holiday. It was our 4th Thanksgiving with the Moore's so we were happy to keep up the tradition. We really miss them! Hope you all had a nice Holiday too.

Trip to the Pumpkin Patch

One thing I really look forward to is going to the Pumpkin Patch! The kids love the Spooky Farm House, the Petting Zoo, seeing the Baby Farm Animals, and most of all...going on a Hayride to find just the right pumpkin!

Halloween Fun

We had a great time with our Gma Bell and Uncle Phil, Aunt Lisa and Emma and Jacob this last weekend. We went to Keeneland Race Track, had a fun Halloween Party that Grandma brought with her in her suitcase, and of course went Trick or Treating! The kids had a ball!
Here are some pictures of some of the cutest Trick or Treaters ever!

Cameron the Jedi, Grandma Bell the Computer Nerd, Kelsey the Mermaid,Ellie the Pumpkin

Congratulations to Blaine!

Blaine recently applied to George Washington University Law School in Washington, DC to get an LLM degree. Don't ask me what LLM stands for--but its a specialized law degree that will focus on one specific area of the law. Blaine applied for a LLM in Civil Litigation and Alternative Dispute Resolution. We found out that Blaine was accepted to this program last week! So...we are working out the details, but we will most likely move to DC for two semesters next August so Blaine can pursue this degree. It will be an adventure-that's for sure! As Blaine's wife--I am so proud of him. This is his dream, and being accepted to GW is really something! Its a great school and we know many of you think this is a crazy thing for us to do--but we feel really excited about it. We are praying everything can fall into place for us to go and hope it will. So, everyone make your plans to come and visit us--you'll have a free place to stay (the floor of our tiny $2000/month D.C. apartment)!

Ellie--our 14 month old!

We just thought we would show off our sweet Ellie Jane who is now 14 months old. She is walking all over, climbing, and holds her own against her two older siblings. She is so fun--we just can't get enough of her. It's amazing to see them pick up on on things--Ellie folds her arms for prayers, knows how to "rock" and "love" her baby dolls, she loves to climb up on the step stool and brush her teeth like a big girl, and she gives the greatest kisses ever! Is it wrong to have a favorite child?? We may be guilty of that--at least for today. (Just kidding of course).

Everyday life...

Life is good here in Kentucky--these pictures show a little of what its like around here on most days!


Ellie loves eating apples--the whole apple!










Kelsey and her best friend Makai Morgan (Holly Lundberg Morgan's little girl) playing dress ups! These two are about as girly as it gets when they're together which is good for Kelsey so she learns how to play something other than Star Wars. She knows every character's name just because she hears Cameron talk about it non-stop!


Cute matching dresses for our sweet girls!


Cameron--our smart Jedi kid who is just soaking up all the stuff he's learning in kindergarten like crazy!

FALL IS HERE!

We LOVE the Fall here in Kentucky! The weather is perfect, the countryside is beautiful and there are lots of fun things to do here in the Fall. Today we went to an Apple Orchard (or the "Apple Patch" as Cam and Kelsey called it) and picked some apples! The kids thought this was really fun--until the bees started swarming around our picnic lunch. Cameron and Kelsey did not like that! But...we have lots of apples to make some yummy pies and treats now!
It was a fun, beautiful day!

Cameron is 6!

Cameron had his 6th birthday and his Star Wars Birthday Party! The Star Wars Party was great! Cameron and many of the kids came dressed in Star Wars attire--but it was a pretty hot day so the costumes didn't last long! We had "Yoda Sodas", Star Wars cupcakes, and edible light sabres (pretzel sticks dipped in red and green chocolate). We played the following games: "Pin the Light Sabre on Yoda", "Destroy the Deathstar" where the kids had to throw a beanbag into the ventilation shaft like Luke, "Save Princess Leia" where the kids had to pop a balloon which had a picture of Leia trapped inside the balloon, and "Stormtrooper Bowling" which was 2 liter bottles with a picture of a stormtrooper on the front, and a "Jedi Obstacle Course" which was fun. We made light sabres for each kid out of those pool noodles which we cut up into 3 pieces and wrapped black tape at one end for a handle. Of course--the boys mainly just wanted to whack each other with the light sabres the whole time! We were so busy keeping the kids going we didn't take many pictures of the party--but here are a few pictures of Cam opening up some of the sweet Star Wars toys his friends gave him. He's in Star Wars heaven! Remind us next time to think twice about inviting 15 boys to Cameron's next party! It was worth it though to see Cameron have such a fun time with all his great friends here in Kentucky.

Kelsey our Ballerina

Kelsey had her first
ballet class yesterday!




She's been wearing her
ballet slippers and
outfit for weeks now
waiting for this day!
She did really well and
it will be fun to see her
learn. Jaimee's been
teaching her some of
her ballet moves!
Kelsey is quite a girl.

Big Time Bday

Cameron is turning 6! Ha! Given the way that Cameron's interests have blossomed over the past year, we feel that there is only one way to appropriately celebrate his birthday this year. The picture is Cameron's bday invitation. You're all invited.

Game on!!

Cameron has started the Fall Soccer Season on the Eagles Team. He's got a totally sweet uniform this year and has some great kids on his team. He likes to play, except its hot and sometimes his mind wanders to imaginary Star Wars battles happening on the field, but he's trying and having fun so thats all that matters. To Cam--really all that matters is the snack and drinks at the end of the game. Hey Drew--try and beat these sweet soccer moves!

Temple Drawing

This morning Cameron drew a picture of the temple. Not bad eh? That's Moroni at the top of the spire. Cameron is looking out the temple window (on the left). The red drawing on the left is an "anonymous" brother helping his "anonymous" sister up off of the ground (I think that she might be bleeding ... oops). What do you think? If you click on the picture, you should be able to see a larger version of it on your computer screen.

Kentucky Horse Park FANTASTIC!

We went to the Kentucky Horse Park "Hats Off Day" on August 24, 2007. It was super NEAT! The kids got to play with and ride both real AND home made horses and horse-related species. Oh yeah, they also got to sit in two really big chairs.

Ellie's one-year-old pictures

Here's a picture of Ellie at one year old. There's more where this came from too. What can we say? Posts about how cute she is are welcome.

(Hey grandmas don't you want to pinch those cheeks in person?)

Jaimee and kids go to DC

At the beginning of August, Jaimee loaded up the kids and drove to DC to visit our good friends the Moore's who moved there in August. Our sweet Dad, stayed at home unfortunately, slaving away at work and we really missed him on this trip! It was a fun time for us in DC! The kids didn't really appreciate that they were standing in front of memorials to some of the most important people in US History, but it makes for some fun pictures and memories.