Well, for once the weather forecasters were right! We woke up this morning to about 10 inches and it was still snowing! We ended up with 12.5 inches, which is a lot for Indy! They said it was the 6th biggest snowfall ever here.

So, talking about the weather is really not very exciting, but you should have seen how excited Madelyn was about it this morning. She got all bundled up to go outside with Daddy while he shoveled off the driveway.

Maddie had fun playing in the snow. She kept throwing it up in the air and began falling down in it with a high pitched "eeeeee!" squeal! She decided to help daddy shovel.

Notice she is saying (after Chuck asked her what she was doing) "I fixing the snow because you broke it". Too funny

Look what I can do....

Amelia learned some new tricks pretty quickly! She had been working for awhile now to get sitting up and she has it mastered! She is so quick and flips from sitting to crawling in a split second.

Her newest trick began on Monday evening. I was out for the evening and the girls were with Chuck. He told me Amelia started pulling up on the stairs. She gets into a kneeling position and then pulls herself up.

Getting started:

Got it!

However, I think she must have decided the stairs were too easy because she moved on to the exersaucer. Once again, she started on her knees....

Then stood all the way up! What a champ! Not bad for 8 1/2 months. Maybe she will walk early!

Christmas #3 12-25-08

The Carnes Grandchildren -
Back row - Brenna (4 1/2), Zack (14), Kayla (9), Amelia (8 mo.), R.J. (2)
Front Row - Caitlyn (2), Madelyn (2 1/2)

Our third and final Christmas was spent at Chuck's parents house on Christmas day. We got up and had some donuts before we headed down to see if Santa came. He had come and delivered lots of presents for the girls.

Later that morning the others arrived for the big festivities. There were fifteen of us there and it was a madhouse of wrapping paper and toys!

After dinner we went outside for some sledding. We don't really get snow at all, so Madelyn was thrilled to be able to not only see it, but play in it.

Kayla and Madelyn wore ski masks to keep their faces warm. We were surprised Maddie left it on the whole time!

Brenna, Kayla and Maddie making snow angels.

Amelia and Uncle Randy

Christmas #2 12-23 and 12-24

Shinevar Grandchildren -
Madelyn (2 1/2), Rebekah (1), Rachel (3 1/2), Amelia (8 mos)

We spent the 23rd and 24th together atMammaw's house celebrating Christmas. It was kind of a revolving door of people! Unfortunately Mom had to work on the 24th. Randi and Joe hit some bad weather on their way North and didn't make it for the 23rd. So, we spread out our festivities and enjoyed the time we had together!

Grammy and Amelia

Mammaw and Pappaw

Grammy got Madelyn a tea set for Christmas. She set it up and was serving tea! She plays with it all the time with her ponies, dolls and stuffed animals....pretty much anyone that will come for tea!

Rebekah and Amelia "sharing"

A new rug for my laundry room! Chuck thought it was kind of funny to get a themed rug, but complimented it when it was in the laundry room!

Christmas #1 12-20-2008

On Dec. 20 we celebrated Christmas with Dad, Roberta, Randi, Joe and the kids here in Indy. This was our first run of opening gifts with all 4 girls here. Amelia, as usual, slept through most of the gift opening festivities, but the other three girls were more than willing to open her gifts.

Rebekah was pretty excited about her gifts!!

This gift is for Rebekah, but the older girls were circling so they could "help".

Amelia did get to open a couple!

Chuck got some new binoculars, however this picture makes him look like Johnny 5!

Christmas smiles!

It was a fun weekend and glad it worked for us all to be together!