Birthday Girl

Jodie opened her birthday presents last weekend at Grandma and Papa Silverwoods. She really liked the ribbon and the wrapping paper.Jodie didn't want to open her presents she just wanted to stand on them.
She loves being the center of attention.

Again she was much more interested in the bags/paper than what was inside.

She finally started getting the hang of it. Mason and Ryley didn't get too far away just in case she needed a little help.

When Mason was born I bought this cake pan for his first cake, then I saved it to use with the rest of our kids. So this is Jodie's bear cake. It is the perfect size for her and leaves enough batter to make cupcakes or a small cake for everyone else.

Mmmm good. Jodie (like most 1 year olds) was a little timid at first. However, after she tasted it she tore into it. She even ripped the head off.

This is all that was left of the cute bear cake. Jodie ate some, played with tons, and tried to throw a bunch on the floor. She really enjoyed her cake.

Happy Birthday Jodie

I can't believe that a whole year has passed. Our baby is already a year old. Here are some of the things Jodie is doing right now...She is walking some, but prefers to crawl because it is quicker. She loves to climb everything. She enjoys playing with Mason and Ryley. She is still nursing (pray that I can wean her soon!). She talks all the time, and says some words that we understand. She knows how to throw a fit, but it is still "cute". She has 6 teeth (four that are very visible, and two I can feel). She is just darn cute and amazing and wonderful and I am so thankful that she is our last (yes I said LAST) child. Jodie truly has completed our family!

Merry Christmas

What a wonderful Christmas we had!! The kids didn't get up until 6:30am (yes this may seem early for some, but here at the Silverwood house this is late). The presents were opened, we played the Wii until lunch, ate, played the Wii some more, and then ate a nice ham dinner and went to bed. I love Christmas!!

Christmas Cookies

Last year on Christmas Eve we baked and decorated sugar cookies for Santa. So we are going to make this a tradition. This year we baked the cookies, went to Church, then we had to sprinkle our "reindeer food" on the yard, and then we decorated our cookies.

This is how Mason was dressed to go outside, luckily it didn't take long to sprinkle some food for the reindeer.
Jodie liked eating the cookies!

Jodie's new favorite game: unloading the cabinet.

Ryley with her cookies. I helped her ice some of them and Daddy helped her decorate.

Mason with his cookies. He got a little carried away with the sprinkles and the cherries.

Our cookies for Santa. Ryan did the circle one (yes its a boob!), last year he did an anatomically correct reindeer. I don't know why?!~

Christmas at the Grandparents

This past weekend we celebrated Christmas with our families. We were going to leave Friday, but we have all been fighting colds and decided to stay home until Saturday. We went to Ryan's parents on Saturday morning and opened presents, visited, and ate lunch. We all received really nice gifts and had a wonderful time.

This was Jodie's first experience with opening presents, luckily she had her siblings to help out!

Grandma Beth holding baby Regan. I thought this was a very sweet picture.

Regan and Jodie have on matching outfits, but we didn't want to get them too close because Jodie was still fighting off her cold.

That evening we went to my families to celebrate. Here are all the kids with their Great Great Grandma. They love going to Grandma Gladys's house because she always has candy (and I imagine it must taste sweeter there than anywhere else!).

Again we received really nice gifts and we all had a wonderful time visiting. Loading the van the next day was interesting, we always have too much and not enough space. Ryan says we are very blessed to have such wonderful people who loves us so much, I agree.So this was Christmas with our families. We eat too much, talk to loud, and run around for a few days before coming home to crash. It is controlled chaos and we love it. We hope everyone has a wonderful safe Christmas!!

Mason's Surgery Update

Just wanted to let everyone know that Mason's surgery went great. He is such a brave and wonderful little boy. The Dr. found 2 cysts (hydrocele's), so they were removed and the hernia was fixed. Mason is doing very good, just a little sore. He should be up and going in a day or so, but they want him taking it easy for the next four weeks.

Visit with Santa

Last night we took the kids to our Church to see the Christmas Program (they didn't want to participate). The show was very cute and all the kids did a great job. Afterwards there were treats and Santa made an appearance. It is a well know fact that my children are terrified of Santa. Last year Ryley didn't even want Santa to come deliver gifts. So I didn't really think they would want to see Santa, but like always they surprised me. Ryley told Santa she wants a princess doll. Santa gave her and Jodie a stuffed puppy and some reindeer food for Christmas Eve. Mason told Santa he wanted a football and he got a checkers game and some reindeer food too. When we left Mason explained that he was thinking about the movie "A Christmas Story" and that was why he asked for a football. We just watched this movie on Friday for pizza and movie night, it is one of Mason's favorites. We got home right before the sleet hit so it worked out great.

Ryley holding on tight. Ryley wanted to talk to Santa, but not sit on his lap.She was excited to have a gift to open.

Jodie always smiles for the camera.

Mason was a little nervous, but happy not to have to sit on Santa's lap.

Quick Brag and Funny Story

***For those who can't read what it says here you go.... "If I lost a mitten I would look in the potty".

This is the paper that Mason brought home from school last week. First I was very impressed because it is an entire sentence, a lot of the words are spelled correctly, and I can read it. Plus, at the start of school he didn't even know all his letters (I hear the gasps, Mason was just too busy to care about writing!) Then I was curious why he would look in the potty for a lost mitten. I asked Mason and he just laughed. Why are little kids obsessed with the potty, and everything having to do with the potty? My kids still laugh when someone says toilet, toilet paper, poop, pee, etc.

Also, Mason's teacher sent me a sweet e-mail on Thursday telling me what a great boy he is, how much he has grown since the beginning of school, and how patient he is with the other kids. Ryan and I are very proud of him.

Lastly, wanted to ask everyone to keep Mason in your thoughts and prayers. On Monday Dec. 22 he has to have surgery to repair a hernia and remove a cyst. The Dr. says it is a very simple procedure and he should be up and going in a few days. However, the recovery time is supposed to be six weeks Ha ha ha. We will see how long that lasts.

Gingerbread House and Ornaments

Here is the gingerbread house we made. My Mom bought the gingerbread house kit and the kids couldn't wait to make it. I did the icing work and then let the kids do the candy, but I wanted to help too so I did the front and they did the rest. It was lots of fun, and the candy was yummy (the gingerbread was not that good).

Jodie didn't get to help with the gingerbread house or the ornaments, but she is too cute not to include a picture of. When Mason was a baby I decided that every year at Christmas I would buy an ornament for him to color/paint, and we would write his name and the year on it. Then when he is all grown up and has a tree of his own he will have some ornaments to put on it. So when the girls came along we started their collections too. The kids love looking at the old ornaments and painting the new ones. I painted Jodie's this year.
Ryley's is pink imagine that!?!

O Christmas Tree

Last night we put up our Christmas tree. Every year we say we are going to go to the tree farm to cut a tree down (we have done this once), and every year we get to busy on the weekends to go. So Ryan and Mason stopped and got us a tree. I love putting up the tree, it makes the house smell, and look like Christmas.

Mason puts the star on every year.

Ryley loved putting on the ornaments, taking them off, and putting them back on. Mason was standing on the window sill so he could reach the top. Jodie refused to sit by the tree for a picture, she prefers to sit in the sleigh.Jodie helping Ryan wrap garland around the banister. Sitting in the sleigh. She loves taking all the toys out of it and sitting in it.This is our new Nativity Scene. Thanks Mom it looks really pretty!