Photo Book

Click here to view this photo book larger

Shutterfly allows you to customize your photo book just the way you want.

Snow Days

Well, kids went to school on Monday but Central Park was closed due to inclement weather the rest of the week. We got 8 inches of snow on Tuesday and 4 more on Friday. Emma and Bodi stayed home Tuesday and Wednesday and luckily, Pine Crest opened on Thursday and Friday. Thank goodness, they were going stir crazy! Although they opened with limited hours, the kids were happy to get out of the house. They're calling for more snow tomorrow (Sunday) but I'm keeping my fingers crossed that Central Park will be open tomorrow.

I worked from home on Tuesday but the kids were pretty needy. I got the question, "Can we go outside?" every 5 minutes so I sent them upstairs to watch a movie. Emma came down later and told me Bodi locked her bedroom door and asked if I could unlock it. Well, it was dinner time and I was busy making a meatloaf so I told her I would be up in a minute. I asked if Bodi was in her room and she said no.... so I thought I had a few minutes to spare. She seemed pretty upset and wanted me to hurry. She finally told me Layla was inside her room. I told her to give me a second but she insisted. I asked what the urgency was and she said that Layla was all alone in there and that she was probably scared. After we unlocked the door, we discovered the urgency. Emma had put Layla in her tote bag and had her hanging from the door knob. I don't think Layla minded too much, she actually looked pretty comfortable.

We finally took the kids outside to play Thursday after work but it was so cold. We only stayed outside for about 20 minutes and the kids were ready to come inside.

Christmas 2009

Our first stop during the Christmas season was to Morton, MS. The kids love to visit the country to see Nana and Peepaw and to enjoy time on the farm.

How cute, my little cowboy and cowgirl.

My other cowboy, look at him go!

Time for riding lessons....

Bodi's turn...

After all the fun, the kids were put to work. They

helped Nana sift stalls. Oddly enough, the enjoyed it!

Our next stop was to Memphis to visit with the rest of the family.

My boys and Nanaw

Bodi Turns 3!

Bodi celebrated his 3rd Birthday on October 20. This year we decided to do his birthday party at Chuck E Cheese. I can't believe how fast he's grown up. It seems like yesterday we were racing to the hospital, in anticipation of his arrival. After 7 hours of labor, my doctor came in to give me the news of a c-section. I had not made any progress and Bodi's heart rate was dropping. Of course I was devastated but was ready. I asked the doctor if he could check me one more time and to his and our surprise, I was fully dilated! I went from 3 to 10 in 30 minutes. After a couple pushes, Bodi entered the world. He has been such a joy. He and his big sissy get a long so well and play all the time. He's so spunky and people tell us all the time "he's ALL BOY".

Our Prince

Bodi and his Sissy and favorite cousin, Natalie

Cake time - Bodi loves cowboys so he had to have a cowboy cake

Enjoying his cake

Opening presents with his friends Charlie and Jake

Pumpkin Patch

We went to McGarrah's Farm in Pea Ridge on Saturday, which was only a short 20 minute drive from the house. We rode hay rides, went through the corn maze, and picked pumpkins. We ended up getting a couple carving pumpkins and a gigantic one, I think it is around 80 lbs! We absolutely love this time of year, Emma and Bodi have already picked out their Halloween costumes. Emma will be a witch (a mean one) and Bodi will be a cowboy. Actually, Bodi says he wants to be a cowboy all the time like his Pepaw and wore his cowboy boots to school today... too cute!

Bodi, Emma, and Natalie posing

Emma on the hayride. I was so happy that it had the tall sides, otherwise, Bodi may have bailed on us!

Bodi and Natalie. Yes, Bodi's hair is long. We went for a hair cut that afternoon.

Bodi LOVED the pumpkins!

Bodi pulling the wagon, he's always showing off his muscles

Bodi taking a break after pulling the wagon

My beautiful model

Of course, you can't go to a pumpkin patch without taking some pictures with the cute cut outs!

The Latest Addition to the Gist Family

Please welcome Layla. My mom is so sweet, she got Layla for the kids after we had to put Abby down a few months ago. The vet thinks she's a Chihuahua/Rat Terrier mix. Bodi and Emma named her Layla, after one of the characters from their favorite movie, Sky High. Thank you Mom!

Layla is so smart. She sits on command and does a great job going potty outside. She weighed 2 lbs 8 oz when we brought her home and weighs around 4 lbs now. The vet thinks she'll stay under 10 lbs.

Emma and Layla, the day we brought her home.

She's definitely a Daddy's girl

The kids just love her and are very gentle with her

Tonsillectomy

Emma had her tonsils removed 2 weeks ago, on September 18, 2009. This was something we should have done a few years ago but we wanted to wait until she was a little older. The ENT said age 5 was a great age to do the surgery. Emma was excited to have the surgery and kept saying "Yeah, no more strep throat!" but the day before the surgery, she said she was nervous. After talking through it, her fear was going under the anesthesia. I told her it was just "goofy" medicine that helps her not remember the surgery. It seemed to calm her fears.

We got to the hospital at 7:15 a.m. to check in. Emma's nurse, Sue, was phenomenal. She was so sweet and eased Emma's fears. She went back at 9:30, the surgery lasted 30 minutes, and she was in recovery for another 30 minutes. When she came out, she was very groggy but that only lasted for about 15 minutes. The nurses said she did so awesome and was so brave. Emma did great taking in her liquids and eating the Popsicles. She was discharged at 1:30 p.m.

Emma before the surgery, she's so brave! The nurses said she was the best patient they've ever had.

Bye bye tonsils!

Emma missed school for a week and was very happy to start back this week. She did great during her recovery, although she grew tired of Popsicles, ice cream, and sherbet after a day. She lost some weight but we hope she gains it back as her diet gets back to normal. We're happy Emma did so well and hope she'll have fewer illnesses from now on. Now she says, "Yeah, no more swabs!" She hated getting her throat swabbed for strep and loves that she won't have to do it again... hopefully.