Merry New Year~

This is a picture on Christmas Eve right before Ole St. Nick made an appearance. It was very peaceful and quiet at this moment!

Our Christmas tree had a train at the base of it this year with some of our Christmas village pieces to create a little town of its own. Stan is the mastermind behind this. Who would've thought?

The stockings were all hung by the chimney with care (or actually laying on the floor because they were too heavy.....

The kids had a fun Christmas morning. Santa brought them EXACTLY what they wished for plus too much.

A couple of days before Christmas Santa made a personal visit to our house. Mason opened the door and this is what he found.....

Christmas Card Letter 2008

Today at 5:00, my official 16 day vacation began!! The first task completed was scripting the family letter for the Christmas cards. Here it is for those of you who just can't wait for the postman to deliver it.....
Hopefully, they'll be mailed before New Year's Day!


Holiday Greetings from the Simpsons!

In January, Madison Victoria turned 11 years old. She currently is in the sixth grade, and loves middle school. She is as smart as ever, and still keeps us on our toes with her creative mind and stories. She began playing violin in the school orchestra, and not surprisingly… does a great job. I must admit that I wasn’t crazy about the idea at first, but she doesn’t screech when she practices, and she is actually making music with the violin. She is still dancing with the same performing company, and they just finished up The Nutcracker. This year, she is dancing a ballet duet for the first time, and is excited to compete in March.
In February, Makenzie Vaile celebrated her 9th birthday. She is in the fourth grade and is in her last year of elementary school and wearing bows (or so she keeps saying J) How time flies!!! She is singing in the fourth grade honor choir called the “Treble Makers.” This is her first year to dance in the performing company at the studio. She is enjoying it… especially the social part of it. She too danced in The Nutcracker recently. She also loves to draw, and teases her dad with drawings of the two of them hunting together.
Mason Riley was 5 years old in August. He is in his second year of Pre-K, and is doing extremely well. He could’ve started in kindergarten this year, but with that late birthday, we decided that another year of maturity wouldn’t hurt. With Mom being the Assistant Principal at school, she didn’t want to have to suspend her own baby boy his first year J He played his first year of T-Ball this summer, and had a blast. His favorite pastimes are playing the Wii and hanging out with his best buddy- Daddy. They are quite the pair together.

We pray the joy and blessings of the season for you and your family,



Stan, Amy, Madison, Makenzie, and Mason

No It's Not, But..............

we DID get gift bags from Blakeman's. Inside was some jewelry cleaner, coupons for various retailers in the area, and a burgandy scarf with the Blakeman's emblem "B" monogrammed on it in with silver thread. Oh, AND there was a David Yurman catalog in the bag that contained pictures to remind me of all the things I DIDN'T win this evening. But.. it was a quick spontaneous adventure (which I haven't had in a while), and it gave me some quick time to spend with an old friend. Thanks Aricka!~

PS... If your name begins with a "B", comment on this post. I have a nice personalized Christmas gift for you.

Is it my lucky day???

An old friend (not age... but we go way back), Aricka just called me out of the blue. She asked me to go with her to Blakeman's to enter a $5000 drawing for David Yurman jewelry. You must be present to win. Of course, I said yes.... so off we go to WIN. If we win, I'm heading to Vegas :-)

Grammy Bound

Mason's choir at church had a performance a couple of weeks ago. The time on the invitation that I STILL have said 5:30. I guess they must've meant 5:20, because at 5:30 they were completely finished and parents were leaving. So I asked for a private performance and this is what I got. Here are the lyrics to help out a little:
"Let's count the ways that we can play.
And CRAZE the Lord together...."

Mice, Mini-Me, and a Man Child

Yes, I know it's been a week since Halloween. The good news is....it hasn't been a month since Halloween. Here are some pictures of our Halloween 2008.

Madison and 2 of her friends dressed up as 3 Blind Mice. They were very cute. I was a little sad about Halloween with her this year. She wanted to go off with her friends and "hang out" with them. So she was gone until about 9:00. She's growing up too too too fast!


The 3 Musketeers/Mice

Sophie, Emily, Madison

If you think Madison looks short in the picture... you are correct. She is this much shorter than most of the kids in her class. :-)

Makenzie was Kit~ the American Girl doll. She looked adorable. At school, she did a book talk on "Kit Learns a Lesson" and she could dress up as a character in the book. She was just going to take her Kit doll as a "prop". But we surprised her with the matching Kit outfit the Tuesday before Halloween.

Mason is his daddy rolled up into a small body. When I asked him what he wanted to be for Halloween, his response was "a red Power Ranger". Well if you refer back to my Halloween post from last year http://simpsonsnapshot.blogspot.com/2007/11/lost-photo-op.html you will see why. He already has the costume. Why wouldn't you be a red Power Ranger? Well.. I talked him into a blue Power Ranger. He had a blast Trick or Treating.

After the kids Trick or Treated, we came back to our house for our annual Taco Soup dinner with the Doshiers.

Makenzie and Meredith took a short pause from the candy to pose for a cheesy picture.

Boogie Shoes

I am posting this video, not because it's the best ballet dancing I've ever seen Madison do, but because at the end... her true personality shines and I got a good laugh out of it. And you've gotta love those legs. Thank you Aunt Kris and Aunt Leanda!!

Here are a couple of pictures from her dance class:

Bethany, Katherine, and Madison

Concentrating hard.... which is difficult with a camera pointed at you

No post would be complete without a Tutt child in it~ Catie Beth and Madison being silly