New Pictures

It's the most wonderful time of the year...

And it's definately the most busy time of the year here in the Palmer house. Mommy is still trying to get the Christmas cards out...and yes, you read correctly it's currently the 19th of December. Oh well, better late than never, right?!

Right now Devin and Sarah have been staying with us as they came home from Alaska last week. The boys have had a blast spending time with them. They are really busy meeting up with everyone - we've all missed them so much.

Last night Ryan and Karen and their kids also came over to spend the night - thank goodness for square footage in this home!!! Us adults had an absolute blast playing with the Karoke option on our cable. We were up until 1:30 am watching Travis sing Lady Gaga (my P-P-P-Poker Face) and Karen giggling until she may or may not have possibly peed her pants. Who knew that the word "spoken" would take on such a hilarious meaning... I tried - I really really did - to capture these moments on video but Travis refused to allow me to share this hilarity with you all, so sorry... Great times, wonderful memories.

The boys are adorable - will that ever change? I doubt it. Rylan has been caught up with the term "oh geez" lately and is in a naked phase. Never had we had such a hard time keeping clothing on a child. Braden is so smart and is really concerned about "days" lately. Every morning he asks how many days in the week will he get to go to school, how many days will he be away from school, how many days until Christmas, how many days until he's home, how many days until his birthday, etc. Whew! This week Rylan and Mommy went and had lunch with Braden at school. Rylan loved getting to hang out with the big kids and Braden was an allstar cuz his mommy brought him Wendy's for lunch!!! Last night we took the boys to visit the infamous Santa at the mall. Rylan was terrified but Braden proudly took charge of the moment and let Mr. C know that he would really really really like a remote control car and fishing pole for Christmas. Rylan however was not at all interested in going anywhere near that strange man with the beard. Guess there's always next year!

Next week Travis will be home with Rylan all week having "boy time" and then Mommy gets her turn the following week. Can't wait.
Blessings to you all and you will probably, hopefully get our Christmas card by the New Year!!! AGGGH!

Thanksgiving Feast 2009

We had Thanksgiving at our place this year - Travis was so excited! We celebrated on Saturday which was also Travis's 36 birthday. Some of our family wasn't able to make it - you were missed! On Thurday (the actual Thanksgiving) we took a family picnic to the park. The boys both were asked what they were thankful for and the answers were as follows:

*Rylan is thankful for bean bags and ice cream

*Braden is thankful for our family, our friends, our house and food

It was a beautiful weekend!

Sharing soda - too cute

Family Picture Time!!!

The adult table

The kids table

Uncle Cody teaching Rylan the ropes

Olive fingers!!!

The spread and the family

And how could we forget, the holiday cheeseball on the right...

Firepit and Big Screen

I am finally getting the chance to catch up on our blog. I'm writing this as I am waiting for Rylan to fall asleep. He's definately wound up from juice, cookies and pizza. Braden still is outside playing!!! Thank goodness for long holiday weekends.

Tonight I got home from work to find Travis and all the neighborhood kids collecting in our front yard. Ordered pizza and set up the Polar Express movie, complete with blankets and bean bags for the kids. Adults got the firepit and a few beers. It was a blast! We must have the most awesome neighborhood. All the kids being around the same age is going to make for such great childhood memories for the boys. Love it! We adults had a blast laughing about Travis's decorating sense and Black Friday shopping. Us parents swapped stories about kindergarten homework being harder than it should be and laughing at Lane Bryant. So funny!!! The kids had a blast watching the movie in our garage and for Arizona, it's certainly getting cool outside now at night. That fire barely kept our toes warm. This was the perfect way to unwind after a long long week!!!

What a fun night! Thanksgiving tomorrow - can't wait!!! And a 4 day weekend - what more could we wish for?!?!

Fall Festival & Movie Night at the Palmer's

This weekend was full of fun for the boys as Braden's Fall Festival for school was on Saturday and then we had movie night at our house with all the neighbors that evening. Mom worked the photo booth for the Fall Festival and then Dad made a cool big screen for all the kids to watch the movies on... check out the pictures - we had lots of fun!

Mom & Braden Playing with the camera...

Movies at our house with all our neighbors...

Halloween Pics

Halloween was fun this year with all our neighbors. Braden wanted to be here but we all look forward to him being home for the fun next year. Daddy dressed up at the last minute so Mommy went in costume as herself :)

And of course, the most adorable pirate was played by Mr. Rylan Palmer...

My desire

I saw the following on my sister in law's blog and stole it from her (thanks Sarah!). It's a version of one of my favorite verses ever and really has inspired me today to remind myself of these words each and every morning. Lately it has been really hard to be motivated to get up in the morning and go to work. Anyone who truely knows me, has known my deep desire to be a stay at home wife and now that we have children, stay at home mother. Rylan has grown so fast! Braden too and I can't help but feel like their lives are slipping so quickly through my fingers. I don't want to miss these precious moments of their childhood.

But, I must rejoice in this moment as God has so greatly blessed myself and my family. I will choose to be thankful for the blessings that I have been given, including my job of working outside the home. There are many people without jobs right now and I do feel selfish for wishing that the grass was greener on the other side.

This deep desire to be at home is something that God has really hard-wired in my heart and I know one day the time will come. Sometimes it's so hard to be patient and remember that God is always in control. With prayer and God's guidance, Travis and I are hoping to have another child next year. With that, I am praying that we will be able to have me stay home. If you get the chance to pray for our family and for wisdom for Travis and I and also for descretion as we deeply desire to always remain in His will.

Lord, let me be a woman....

of worth

who's husband has confidence in her

who brings good to others, not harm

who works with eager hands

who gets up early

who provides for her family

who is compassionate to those less fortunate than her

who considers before buying

who spends wisely

who works hard

who is generous to the poor and needy

who is devoted to God and her family

who is clothed with strength and dignity

who can laugh at the future

who speaks wisely

who guards her tongue

who doesn't waste time

who is a blessing to others

who fears the Lord

Pumpkin Patch, Pumpkin Carving and Oatmeal Cookie Day

Today was a blast! We spent the afternoon at the pumpkin patch here in town. The kids loved playing with all the animals and jumping in the bouncy and corn pit.

After we picked out our pumpkins we stopped for ice cream and ran into some of Mommy's friends from work.

Later on that evening we carved the pumpkins and Mommy made oatmeal cookies while the boys watched Cops (a Saturday night family ritual).

It was a fun filled day!!!

And the carving began...

Daddy's was pretty creative... carving our last name and all...

Daddy also thought it would be funny to take pictures of Mommy

making cookies without her knowing...

So Mommy got even by not smiling nicely :)

Rylan backed Mommy up too. Haha Daddy!!!

Parent Teacher Conferences

Yesterday was our first parent teacher conference for Braden. It went perfectly! We heard all about how Mrs. Mullins LOVES having him in her class and how he's always trying to help others in the classroom. He's got perfect grades thus far and we're seeing that all that work we've been doing at home has really helped him catch up!

He and his classmates are much farther ahead so Mrs. Mullins has been able to progress her teaching a little bit more, which is nice to know.

Rylan does look forward to getting to go to school soon, but seem more interested at the conference in expressing his desire to go home to "get my monster truck"....

To celebrate, Braden got to choose where we went for dinner which obviously resulted in us going to McDonalds for Happy Meals and time on the playground.

Family Pics 2009

We got our family pictures done this weekend! Check them out. Rylan was a little more "workable" this year... Spent most of the time sticking out his tongue and crying.

Travis and I even got some time to play around!

I love this cheesy smile!!!