We just got to visit with Dan's sisters and Mom for a few days! We haven't seen his mom in 2 years, so this was a big treat!
This is a picture of Ashlyn Belle meeting her Grandma Tate for the FIRST TIME!!!And we all got to visit with Liz's sweet baby, Xander! This is Xander's Aunt Misha holding him!

And the girls got a cute puppy dress up set from Aunt Liz and Uncle Caleb! Here's Ashi modeling it!Avery got to spend some time with her Grandma Tate. They really resemble eachother!

After a short, but fun visit, every one was crashed out!Even Stoney!
There was lots of love to go around!
Here's Uncle Dan scaring baby Xander...
And Avery giving him some love...
We had a great time! Let's do it again REALLY soon!!!!!

Atlanta Thrashers Game!!!

Last Friday, Dan's company treated us to tickets to the Atlanta Thrashers Hockey game! We had a blast!

We had GREAT seats!!! At one point, one of the Thrashers Dancers came and sat by us. She stayed long enough for a picture with the girls. Check out Avery's model face (with her cheeks sucked in!!!!)
Alex took in the game by Daddy.
Mommy and Avery

Ashi LOVES the camera!

Cheeeeeeeeeese!

We really enjoyed the hockey game!
But mostly, just beating each other with the noise maker sticks!!!

The Newest Member of our Family!

OK... This is a REALLY bad hair day for all my kids... They don't usually look this way! But it was early morning, and these are cute puppy pics! Meet the newest Vaagen... a 2 pound Chihuahua! We rescued him from a Georgia pet facility, and he is making himself at home! Here are some pictures... I'll update again once the poor guy has a name!!!

Happy Valentines Day!!!!

Happy Valentine's Day!!!!

And now these three remain- faith, hope and love; but the greatest of these is LOVE.

-1 Corinthians 13:13

We celebrated Valentine's Day with good friends, good family, and good food!!!

First, we attended our FCHE Homeschool party at Jumpsters! There were LOTS of kids there, and we had a blast!!!!

Ashlyn Belle was SO asleep most of the time!!!

Each child made a Valentine's bag or box, then they all made Valentines to give to their Homeschool friends! We came home with WAAAAAYYYYY too much candy!!!

Here we are all together!!!! Ashi's still out...

Then she finally woke up for a quick photo with her big bro!

Here is Avery's Homeschool group, the 3's, 4's, and 5 year olds! They are all having some Valentines food and drink. Avery is 4th from the bottom left in this picture.... and this is part of Courtney's homeschool group (there were more tables)... She's on the right side in the middle (red shirt)!

THEN, we came home and celebrated as a family! We had prepared a gourmet dinner for daddy!

I made seared filet mignon with garlic butter sauce, broiled and seasoned scallops, and spinach salad. YUM!!!!

Then, the kids prepared strawberry and marshmallows in chocolate fondue!

AND...

IT...

WAS...

GOOD!!!!!!!

We hope you had a wonderful Valentine's Day too!!!!!

My Birthday 2008

My Birthday was in February (28 again!!!), and I celebrated it by taking the kids to Build-a-Bear! Unfortunately, Alex didn't make it into any of these pictures, because he has outgrown Build-a-Bear, and I took him to get a new DS game instead!!!

Here is Avery helping to stuff Ashi's new bunny...

While Ashi watches from the comfort of her new jogging stroller, a birthday gift from my Mom and Dad! Thanks, guys!! We love it!
All of the girls pose with their new furry friends!!!

Before the night ended, I got a visit from the sweetest little princesses!!!!

Snow in GA!

Oh, Snowy Night!

On Wednesday, January 16th, it was SNOWING in Georgia!!!

Ashi had been asleep, and she woke up to her first SNOWFLAKES!

Avery had been napping as well, and she was THRILLED to see the snowflakes!

Ashi looks out the window to watch the snow

The 3 big kids are staring out the front door, contemplating whether or not enough will fall for them to play in!

Ashi is all bundled up to go out in the snow!

Courtney makes a snowball!

Alex was living it up!

This must have been half of the snow from our yard!

I love this picture of Avery watching the snow fall!

Vaagen kids and neighbor kids having a ball!

"What is this stuff falling from the sky????!!!!?!?!"

Mom and Ashi... I think she's getting sleepy. Stimulation overload.

So we came inside and ate dinner, then had some yummy strawberries and cream!!

...and Avery found the whisk...

Then we enjoyed the nice fire Daddy made,

and the kids (and Dan!) tried snow cream for the very first time!ALMOST everyone loved it! Here is Ashi with crazy hair, eating her snow cream.But Courtney decided she would rather gnaw on an actual snowball!Avery asked for seconds! What a FUN night!!!