Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree

We decorated our Christmas tree on Sunday. All three of the girls had a lot of fun and really enjoyed it. (That was until Annalyse broke a bulb and Mike wouldn't let the twins hang up any more of the glass bulbs. They were given pine cones to hang up instead. Annalyse was fine with the pine cones, but Meredith (Miss Drama Queen) on the other hand was not okay with it. She was quite upset that Daddy took away her "Christmas Cheer"). The twins actually did a great job hanging up the bulbs (and pine cones). Meredith (as you will see from the picture) had a perfect spot to hang ALL of her ornaments. So perfect in fact, she hung all of her ornaments on two branches.










The twins enjoy laying underneath the tree

Thanksgiving Thankfullness

Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving. There truly is a lot to be thankful for. I am very thankful for my three wonderful daughters. There are truly the joys of my life and make each day exciting and new. I am thankful for my wonderful husband who is always there for me and helps around the house so much, together we are a GREAT team. Thankful for our families for their love, support, and fun times. I am also very thankful for our wonderful friends who are always willing to help out and be our "lower peninsula" family.
We had the privilege of having Mike's whole entire family stay with us for the Thanksgiving holiday. We had a great time and our house didn't seem as small as I thought it would. Megan had a blast playing with her cousins, especially her bud Piper. We also got to meet Avalon, the newset addition to the Voakes Family. She is a very sweet baby, although I was glad that the baby days are done here when I heard her cry in the middle of the night. We also got to hear some of the wedding plans from Saundra and Vince. The wedding should be beautiful and a lot of fun. They are getting married on April 18th (the twins 2ns birthday). We packed in a lot
of stuff in the few days everyone was here. Friday morning we went to "America's Thanksgiving Parade" in downtown Detroit. It was a good parade but got a little chilly towards the end. We came home and had some snacks as we got the feast going. On Friday, myself, Beth, Sharon, and Steven went shopping in the wee hours of the morning. We made it back before anyone had rolled out of bed. The morning and early afternoon everyone just relaxed and then most of them took off again for Detroit to watch the Red Wing game, do a little gambling, and have the best pizza in the world at Pizza Popolis (can you belive they didn;t bring any leftovers home). While they were at the game, Beth, myself, and Sharon took the girls to have their pictures taken, it was a little interesting - 6 kids ages 5 and under! It went relatively well though. Saturday was relaxing and packing up.
Thank you everyone for coming to visit. We had a great time and spent the rest of the weekend relaxing!
The Parade










Thanksgiving Dinner





Ice Cream Treats from Auntie Saundra and Vince



Opening Presents







Happy Kids When Chex Mix Fell on the Floor (Who Needs Dogs????)



Pooped Out Meredith

Family Pictures

Pictures, Pictures, Pictures...

Today we went and had the girls Christmas pictures taken and also our annual family picture. They turned out really nice. Mike was having a fit beacuse they were running about 20 minutes and was worried how the girls would hold up. They girls did great and Mike's blood pressure went down eventually. Here are some of the pictures. Some of the pictures are sideways, sorry the cd wouldn't let me change directions.


















In other happenings, Mike and Bob were busy getting the house ready for Thanksgiving and Christmas. They got the outside lights up on Saturday and Bob put the garland up on our banister today. Little by little it's beginning to look like Christmas!