Back to Bethlehem

This church right behind our house has done this town of Bethlehem that you walk through. It is so neat and a great way to share the gospel.
When you first walk up to the gates of the town the guards read about the royal census being taken.

Ally did not really like the guards she just kept staring at them. The girls each were given "shekels" before they entered the town and that was to pay taxes. Last year when we went the tax collector asked this boy for his and he said no and so the tax collector started yelling guards, guards- so our girls were thinking oh I hope he doesn't ask me for mine- thankfully they were not asking the kids for their coins this year-that would probably make them cry. It is neat how everyone is in character. Here Ally is pointing out the guards to me!
This woman was selling vegetables (all real not plastic)

Here is a scene of part of the market place. Everything they use is real food, etc.- the nasty part was the man selling fish- it smelled so bad and those fish were nasty.

The girls taking turn grinding the grain to make flour.

They have many live animals as well. Here is a baby goat. The girls loved all the animals!!


The baby camel- he was so noisy!

Had to take a picture of the horse- Ally was so excited about that!
The larger camel- Emme turned to say something to me and her back was to the camel and he tried to bite off here hat, it was really funny!




The manger scene- with a donkey to the right and sheep and goats to the left.

Here we are feeding the goats- a couple were huge, found out later that they are pregnant.
Then we went inside the church and had hot chocolate and cookies. This was there fifth year doing this and plan on doing it again. It is really fun walking over to it from our house- what a neat experience for the girls as well. They were so excited to go again this year- have to make that a tradition now!

Our Road Trip

Ok this post is a little late but I was waiting to see if I could get the video from the trip as well. Seems we do not have the right cord- so here is the post on our trip to Jacksonville, FL to see Todd compete in the Southern States Powerlifting competition.
Thankfully we did get the cord for our dvd player- we were down to one screen working, but got the replacement part before we left. Crossing over into Florida- sorry it was getting dark!
Ok- on Saturday night we went to this restaurant some friends of ours recommended- it was so much fun! It is called Clarke's Fish Camp- What a crazy fun place. The menu has a wild game section- Ostrich, Kangaroo, Snake, Gator Tail etc. Well we ordered the fried gator tail, which actually was not bad. Here is Ally trying a bite, knowing full well it was alligator, like the ones she saw coming into the restaurant. (they had some baby alligators in a tank)

This face looks like she doesn't like it but she really did, and asked for more!


Here is one section of stuffed animals- these owners are really into the whole taxidermy thing!

Outside was decorated crazy as well for the holidays! Oh and they had this game- ok you know at arcades how they have the claw games, the ones that have been on the news - little kids getting stuck up in the machine- ok well here they had one and it had live lobster in it- with money in plastic attached to their claw $20 bills- and then there was this huge one, who must have been avoiding the claw for awhile! It was really fun!


Ok so Todd competed in the Bench Only part of the meet. They also do Dead Lifting and Squatting, he is still learning on the correct technique and that also requires more gear, squat suit, etc.

I was very impressed, he has only been doing this for about 6months and here he is lifting 640lbs!!

This is Eric, his lifting partner, they both won first place in their weight class! I am so proud of you Todd and was glad we were able to be there to support you! I love you!

It is...

another GIRL!!! Crazy I know, what are the odds of having four girls? We are excited and she looked healthy on the ultra sound. I was the one crying today- just b/c I knew Todd's desire to have a boy and raise a godly man. Todd's response was one that honored the Lord, I was the one questioning this time. But he helped me to realize that this is God's best for us and the reason we are having another girl we may not fully understand but there is a purpose. God is sovereign and His plans are far better than our own.
So now we are deciding on a name- we had a boy name already picked out but I wasn't sure about the girl name yet... so we shall see. The girls are excited too- they want to know where she will sleep etc. Ally thought this morning she was going to get to hold the baby when I told her we were going to see the baby this morning, I wish it was only five months and then they were here. So cute- she is going to be, they all are, great big sisters!!

A boy or a girl?

Wouldn't you like to know- so would we! Please be praying we go in tomorrow for the ultrasound. I have some candy to eat before hand to get that baby movin'! (idea of my sisters!:)-it worked well for her) So I will be posting if they can tell and if Todd doesn't change his mind in wanting to find out! Until then...

Pictures of the girls

Here are some pictures my friend Katie took of me and the girls! She did a wonderful job!! We did this one for daddy's new desk at work!:) The latest shot of my belly! Who knows we may not be able to do an all girl shot soon?!

Kylie- she is getting so big!

Cute Emme- this smile reminds me of myself when I was younger!



Full of personality Ally...

She really did get some wonderful ones- I did not post all my favorites b/c their are just too many! These give you somewhat of an idea- so fun! Thank you Katie!!!!:)

Gramma and Papa's visit

Todd's parents came and stayed with us for a week. We had such a great time hanging out.
Here is a picture of the girls with the dogs- they are getting so big. We were looking at pictures of them when they were puppies- it is hard to remember them so small before. We hung outside some days- the temperature had dropped 20 degrees the night they came. So some days it was just too chilly. But we did have some bonfires while they were here!

Ally's favorite thing to do- ride on the four wheeler! Papa took the girls for lots of rides through the trails daddy has made in our yard!
I did not get one picture of all of them looking at me- tried four times- oh well!!
Papa said Ally was the cutest, giggling and saying who hoo the whole time! Wish I had a recording of that- we had a great time- thanks for coming to visit Gramma and Papa!

A trip to the doctor...

Ok, so I had to take the girls with me to the doctor the other morning. Wow what a funny visit this one was. Kylie remembers a lot when I was pregnant with Ally- but Emme doesn't remember anything. She was the curious one today~ First they were asking while we are all in the bathroom why I was peeing in the cup? Ok so next the blood pressure taking- Ally was a little concerned about that and why she was putting that thing on my arm, Emme then asks me what was in this little brown cabinet (a little refrigerator) you could tell she wanted so badly to open it and see, the nurse then says we keep medicine in there. Then Ally gets on the scale to weigh herself. Next we all go to the room. I get up on the table and today was not a full check up, just a quick listen to the heart beat and any questions or concerns etc. So we are waiting for the midwife to come into the room, here are some of the questions that were asked- What is that curtain for? (while opening and closing it two or three times), Why are there socks on those things (the stirrups), which then Ally begins to move them around. Emme then sees the light- "Oh cool look at that flashlight it has a arm that can move all around." Ally finds the "poison" bodily fluid trash can and opens it, please don't touch that- that is yucky I say, opens it one more time from the other side just to make sure it really is yucky!! Then the midwife comes in and she gets the "jelly" to put on my belly, and Emme says what is that she is putting on your belly. Then they were able to hear the heartbeat. Their little eyes lit up, so cute!! Then Emme tells the midwife as she is wiping the "jelly" off my belly, Oh I am glad you are wiping that stuff of her belly. Then she asks the midwife what the curtain is for and Kylie says, don't you remember we had to always stay behind it and were not allowed to peek out until the doctor was done, the midwife is laughing. Emme has no memory- she was a little younger than Ally is now. Oh it was so funny- thought I would share with you all and I am sure there are those mommies out there that have had similar experiences!!

Atlanta Falcons Game

Some friends of ours, Chris and Kristy, invited us to go to the game on Sunday. They bought four tickets and a parking pass at a yard sale for $30- can you tell how well both of these teams are playing this year! They were playing the San Fransisco 49ers- the Falcons won 20 to 16! It was fun just actually being at the game, as to watching it on tv. We were "way up" in the upper deck- but we had a great time. Thank you Chris and Kristy for taking us with you.

Callaway Gardens

Here are some pictures from our trip to Callaway Gardens. We saw a lot of butterflies, this particular one we saw in Mr. Cason's Vegetable Garden. Here are some pretty flowers- in the vegetable garden as well. A lot of the vegetables that are grown here they use in their restaurants in the Gardens.
Off to the Butterfly Center- my favorite!
A little cheesy, but how can you not stop and take a picture...

In the Butterfly Center- the butterflies were flying everywhere. And were landing on peoples heads that were sitting in there and on your shoulders etc. It was really cool.

still in the butterfly center....


This is across the street from one of the restaurants we ate at- it was so pretty!

This is the same night, but near the golf course- it was such a pretty sunset!
This is me posing with Virginia Callaway and her dog- great photo opportunity, I thought.


We rented bikes- they have bike trails all through out the garden, unfortunately they were not the greatest bikes and Todd's chain busted off, he was able to fix it, but we still had fun.

This is in the Horticultural Center- thought the dinosaur my girls would enjoy a shot of- and they did. Not quite sure how long that would take you to form that out of a bush.
These are hungry goldfish- they were so huge and some very ugly! We just threw in a handful of fish food and they went crazy!



A pretty waterfall near a bridge in the Azalea Bowl. That place would be very pretty when those are in bloom.

We kept passing this and though it was so funny- this is not even close to as many we saw the first time- the whole log was covered with turtles. A few had jumped off when Todd tried to get close to take a picture!
We had such a great time! Hope you enjoy the pictures...