Hmmm....let me try that post again...

http://www.heritagemakers.com/?event=projectBrowse&projectId=fd11ab35-3048-32c2-acfe-f8fc877cb894&productId=5&projectSponsor=234070

Here is a link to a fun book I did this year. My sister gave me a book project from Heritage Makers for Christmas last year (yea!). I completed the book this year with the theme of Germany. All of you know we were there for 3 years, so I put s ton of pictures in from our travels through Europe. I don't think I'd have ever fit them into any book, but these were some of our favorites :-)

If your reading this, you just got tagged........do it on your blog so we can all read yours!

10 years ago:
1. I was about 7 months pregnant with my 3rd Child
2. Living in Alaska enjoying every minute of it
3. Working in the Primary Presidency at church
4. Counting the days till my hyper 2 yr old started kindergarten.
5. Oblivious to the joys of a pre- 9/11 world.

5 Things on Today’s ToDo List:
1. Burn cds into iTunes. I knew i had more music than that!
2. Finish decorating tree and house
3. Help kids make gingerbread ornaments to decorate tree. They apparently hate my "pretty" trees. so we are doing a "kid" tree this year :-)
4. Watch another episode of Heroes
5. Go to bed early....har har har....it's on my to-do list everyday because it rolls over from teh day before that it DIDN'T happen......again.

5 Snacks I enjoy:
1. anything chocolate....
2. Dr. Pepper (When I feel crappy.....like gingerale!)
3. bowl of yogurt cheerios
4. Rold gold pretzels
5. Fresh veggies or fruit bowls from walmart

5 things I would do if I were a millionaire:
1. Pay off debts
2. Buy a house
3. Buy george a volvo...he's wanted one since he served his mission in Sweden.
4. Pay off all of our college tuitions/put in accounts for kids
5. Put a ton away for George and I to travel europe when we retire.

5 Places I have lived:
1. Vicksburg, MS
2. Kaiserslautern Germany
3. Anchorage Alaska
4. Wichita falls Texas
5. Long Island, New York

5 Jobs I have had:
1. Kmart Shoe department
2. Weis grocery store clerk
3. Finish line sales associate
4. Home Day Care Business
5. PTA president

Easter 2007 Daniel and Brian

Decorating "Easter Eggs" last year. We did cookies instead of eggs. Easter 2007

You can just feel how tight he is wrapped around her finger, can't you..... :-)

Boys about a year and a half ago. Cute kiddos!

At the Christus in the Salt Lake city visitors center. Summer 2008

This was so cute. I found them asleep on the way home from Utah. They'll pretty much hate me for this pic :-) Summer 2008

Daniel at a scouting event. He enjoyed cooking muffins in a sun oven. Summer 2008

Jonathan about 2 years ago, but loved the pic :-)

Brians 10th birthday.

Brian doing a scavenger hunt for his birthday.

Picture from Koln Germany about a year and a half ago.

I love Thankgiving!

Of all the holidays, I look forward to Thanksgiving the most. There is nothing commercial or overwhelming about it. There is no pressure to do more or buy more. It is all about my Family, friends and food. How much better does it get than that. I hope all of you enjoy November, and mostly enjoy Thanksgiving. What a great time of year!

This is why some adults should not be put in charge of children. The kids at Brians Halloween party had a blast with this though! Definitely a party staple now!!!

One of the kids titled this Ballet du Notre Dame :-) This was what I talked about in my 44 silly things below :-) It just struck me :-)

Here is some mindless stuff that kept me busy while George watches the World series :-)

1. Do you like blue cheese? Only with hot wings
2. Have you ever drank? Nope, not a single time.
> 3. Do you own a gun? No
> 4. What flavor Kool-Aid was your favorite? Cherry
> 5. Do you get nervous before doctor appointment? Nope
> 6. What do you think of hot dogs? depends on my mood, sometimes I like them, but try not to think what is in them.
7. Favorite Christmas Movie? Little Women
> 8. What do you prefer to drink in the morning? Milk
> 9. Can you do push ups? Yea, but I hate them, even girlie ones. they are better though.
10. What's your favorite piece of jewelry? My wedding/engagement ring
> 11. Favorite hobby? Crafts with friends
> 12. Do you have A.D.D.? YES! ALWAYS!
> 13. What's your weight? You're ugly.
> 14. Middle name? Kay
> 15. Name 3 thoughts at this exact moment? I ate too many cookies, athe Phillies Rock and I should be working on my Heritage Makers book right now.
> 16. Name 3 drinks you regularly drink? Water, Soda and Milk
> 17. Current worry? getting 60 brownies made for the teacher luncheon on Tuesday.
> 18. Current hate right now? Germs.....still.
> 19. Favorite place to be? with my family
> 20. How did you bring in the New Year? Can't remember...I had too much to drink.. LOL! Just kidding!
> 21. Where would you like to go? Salzburg or Venice
> 22. Name three people who will complete this. Christine, unless she actually decides to have this baby!
> 23. Do you own slippers? yes, dog ones my friend Carmen bought me :-)
> 24. What color shirt are you wearing right now? A bleached out yellow one.
> 25. Do you like sleeping on satin sheets? no, feels too girlie.
> 26. Can you whistle? yea, but not super loud with my fingers, that would be cool!
> 27. Favorite color? Purple
> 28. Would you be a pirate? never!
> 29. What songs do you sing in the shower? Depends on when I am in the shower I guess, I don't know....
> 30. Favorite Girls name? Rebekah
31. Favorite boys name? Jonathan, Brian and Daniel :-)
> 32. What's in your pocket ? My cell phone....always.
> 33. Last thing that made you laugh? One of the kids copied a pic of when we were in Paris and made stick figures dancing on Notre Dame. Had to see it.
> 35. Worst injury you've ever had as a child? Tip of my thumb got cut off. Still looks weird.
> 36. Do you love where you live? I actually do kind of like it!
> 37. How many TVs do you have in the house? 3 Not including the 2 computers that technically count.
> 38. Who is your loudest friend? Deanna Carpenter
> 39. How many dogs do you have? NONE! I'd have to kill it if I ever did have one too!
> 40. Does someone have a crush on you? George does :-)
> 41. What is your favorite book?Hmmmm.....I am loving my Julie Andrews Biography. She just makes me happy. I'm reading it slowly so it doesn't end......or because I have no time :-)
> 42. What is your favorite candy ? Too close to Halloween to answer that question, the thought makes me want to Yak!
> 43. Favorite Sports Team? NY Mets, always has been. Phillies this week though :-)
> 44. What song do you want played at your funeral? Footloose :-) LOL! It'll get the party started anyway :-)

Daniel is such a good kid. He is definitely the poster child of a care free kid. He fills him time playing outside with friends, being kind, smiling, hugging and enjoying life. If he is not smiling ear to ear or hugging you, he is either reading, playing with his big brothers (or being tortured by them, depends on the day) or running around the neighborhood with some friends. He is in 4th grade this year. The 4th graders are "upstairs" in the school building, with the 5th and 6th graders, so it is really a strange thing to admit that he is not a little boy anymore! Boohoo! Rebekah took this picture of him as they were out looking for things that made them say "Wow!" for a PTA photography competition. I guess Daniel made Rebekah say Wow! :-)

We kept Brian home from school last week to spend the Day with George and I. It started out as just breakfast alone with us before school, but he was just so cute begging us to stay home for the day. He is such a good kid, we thought we might as well. This was at lunch at Cheddars, he spent about 10 minutes trying to get that ice out of the cup with just a straw. He was so amused! :-) We had a lot of fun with him talking about life. He revealed to us that morning that he had had a girlfriend the year before! needless to say we questioned him, tortured and teased him all day about it. We told him when he is 16 we would be mature about it, till then, good luck! LOL!

Voila! It is a handsome 11 year old instead :-) Much cuter in my opinion :-)

Brian chose to be Gir this year for Halloween. It took several hours to make this, but it was worth his excitement! Gir is an alien invader (from Invader Zim) that wears a dog costume as his disguise on Earth. This is the dog costume with the robot Gir inside. Weird, but he loves it! You'd think the big zipper on the front of a dog would tip people off to the fact that there was an alien robot inside. Duh!

Or manybe not.

These are my sisters and I when we were little. The one in the middle, Christine, is due with Child #2 any minute now. Good Luck Christine!

I know, Brenda with a girlie girl? Freak of Nature I guess, that my body would actually produce a feminine little princess, but here she is, getting her first Manicure! I'm not sure I even knew what a manicure was till High School when my little sister got one! LOL! We went and got her hair done that day, I had to get my eyes done, so I caved and we got her nails done too! :-) The guy was sweet and did her feet free. Very fun!

This is a picture Daniel took outside before school one morning. He just entered it into a PTA contest. He is really excited about it....and it's cool too!

Should a 40 year old man be excited about receiving a rubber chicken for his birthday? Mine was, and I loved it! He has developed a habit lately that almost any question the kids ask him, the answer is "Chicken!" "Dad, what's 2+2?" "Chicken!"
"Dad, what's for dinner?" "Chicken!" "Dad, can we play outside?" "With the chickens?".....you get the idea :-) So, needless to say, we got him a chicken for his bday :-)

Is Jonathan really this old?

Yup, he is actually a year older than the newbies to priesthood. These kids had literally turned 12 that month and this was their first temple trip as well. Jonathan had a great time, I posted about it below, but wanted to share the pic.

Rebekah cutie!

This is a list that we out on Rebekahs student of the week poster for school. Thought it would be fun to put on here. Enjoy!

Top 10 Things to Know About Rebekah Woodward
1.I was born on June 10, 2002, in Detroit, Michigan.
2.I have three brothers, 25 cousins, nine aunts and 10 uncles.
3.I am a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.
4.My favorite food is lasagna.
5.My favorite color is orange.
6.My favorite toy is my “Daddy Bear”, a bear I got from my Daddy.
7.My favorite thing to do is to go to school. My favorite subject is art.
8.My favorite singer is Hanna Montana.
9.I have visited 25 states, Washington, D.C., and four European countries (Germany, France, Italy and Austria).
10.I have ridden in a Gondola on the Grand Canal in Venice, Italy, and danced to a violin player in front of Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, France.

This actually was taken of Daniel a few years ago, but just wanted that on here :-) Isn't he cute? :-)

I really don't have much to add to this picture :-) It was just so cute, I had to add it! This is the roof of a pavilion over picnic tables! I love Brian!

Yes, again, this is Brian ON TOP of playground equipment! hahah! I think his feet have suction cups!
Brian spent a lot of his summer climbing, jumping, running, skating, playing etc... I don't know where he gets the energy from! I am convinced it comes from his lack of oxygen at Birth! :-)
We got a trampoline this summer. Brian shows plenty of talent and energy on that thing, it is definitely entertaining to watch! He does flips and all kinds of things that really show off how strong this little booger is! Man!

This is Brian. Yes, climbing a wall as usual :-) Those of you that know Brian know his feet don't touch the floor very often unless two hands are on the ground helping him run like a dog/monkey/banshee etc... LOL!
Brian is 11 yrs old now, man! I can't believe it! He is BACK in Jr high again this year. In Germany 4th grade was Jr High, so when we came back to Wichita Falls, he was back in Elementary school for a year, now back to Jr High again! :-) Not many kids can say they have done that! But poor Brian, the way that school has worked out for him, he has spent every year since 2nd grade in a new school. Orange street, Sembach Elementary school, Sembach middle school, Crockett Elementary school and now Zundy Jr High! LOL! He has really enjoyed it all though! He is meshing into Jr High quite nicely.
Brian got a cell phone this year, which I swore I'd never do till High School at least. but it takes only 1 time to have your child lost for 2 1/2 hrs on a bus (WITH an apparent arrest of one of the students being taken off the bus in handcuffs!.. between here and school!) somewhere in Wichita Falls to finally agree to a cell phone! Now I always know where he is :-) Man, I don't know how Mom did it without cell phones and 9 kids! I love you Mom!

Now here are two peas in a pod! This is Jonathan and Ammon, his best friend who lives near Houston. They became instant friends, haven't seen each other in 4 years and you'd think they'd never spent a day apart! Isn't it great to have friends like that? Thanks Ammon!

This was right after Jon got his cast on. He loves the color red, but regretted the decision afterward. he thought it looked like Santa Clause! :-) yes, he still has an active imagination! Mom decided that the worst thing about a cast would be all the graffiti all over it making something nasty look even nastier! So she paid him $20 to not let anyone write on it for 6 weeks. He did it and scored on a computer game out of it too! They both were happy!

This is our oldest, Jonathan. He is an interesting young man that keeps us on our toes, regularly! He has had a wonderful opportunity to start attending a charter school here in Texas where he will be able to graduate High School with atleast an associates degree. All of you that know him know that this is a neat opportunity that he has landed. Now, all we need to do is convince him to do homework and all will be well :-) LOL!
he keeps himself busy with about everything electronic and books (like his Dad!) :-) Yes, I read too, but not the garb...stuff they read :-) Hahaha
He is a deacon and was able to attend the temple for the first time this summer. We went to the Oklahoma City temple in the middle of Hurricane Ike, but we were watched over, that is for sure! I have never driven through such pounding rain! Tons of prayers and 10 white knuckles later we got our cargo to the Temple just fine where there were the first blue skies we had seen in about 2 hours! Yikes! Jonathan's first name he was baptised for was John Henry George Houston. He baptised a few John's and few Georges. he thought that was cool! We also baptised a John Wayne that day too....which of course brought a few snickers :-)
Jonathan was the first Woodward kid to break a bone this summer. he broke his wrist on a Young Men bike trip of all places! His cast drove him completly nuts, but managed to get through it mostly OK. He decided he would apparently hide in the bathroom while shoving combs down teh cast, so he woulnd up with a nice wound when tehy took the cast off. He didn't seem to mind too much :-) That wekend of getting his cast off the YM invited him (reluctantly) on a 100 mile bike race. We respectfully declined the invitation :-)
Other than that, jon is doing well, maturing fast adn counting the days till he graduates! (And so are WE!!!)

Am I really doing this?

So here is our attempt to keep a working family journal....we'll see how this goes. I figure I will never write in a journal, but this maybe :-/ Hopefully I can get on here fairly regularly and update you on what is going on! I look forward to keeping in touch with all of you, and at the same time following the council to leave a journal for my children. So here we go! (And yes, George will be on here with his random, cute, funny and great posts!