Addie watching Micah

Our good friends in Nebraska made a video of their son talking to Addie. She loves watching all his videos, but this one has to be her favorite. Maybe because he says her name. If you listen closely to what she is saying she tries to say Micah and I love you. A lot of her baby babble is starting to take some real form. I love you has been a recent transformation. Probably because we tell her so many times. :)

Can you say Cabin Fever?

We have been hanging around the house this Holiday break. Mainly due to lack of fun coupons and the rainy weather. But today we headed out to blow the stink off of us and enjoy a really beautiful day. We started with getting the kids pictures taken, a long overdue photo shoot, and then headed over to the Fernbank Science Center and Planetarium. The center is free to the public and we are members of Fernbank so the planetarium is free for us. After a nice night sky show, we walked around the center and saw lots of cool things from moon rocks to live snakes, spiders, and frogs. Then we headed outdoors to walk through the Fernbank forest. It was 68 degrees! Then it was time to run an errand at the Vital records office and then some dinner. We hit up our favorite place, Sweet Tomatoes, and then went back to pick up our photos.

As we were driving out of the photo parking lot, Xavier says "and now we end our journey. What a great day we had."

I guess that pretty much sums it up.





We love Sweet Tomatoes!


Enjoying the really warm and nice weather in December.


Making sure we are on the right path and headed in the correct direction.


Xavier being eaten by a T-Rex.



checking out the surface of Mars.



standing in front of Apollo 6.


This is a bio satellite. It was used to send the first animals into space.



Addison having some refreshment before the planetarium show.

Merry Christmas!!

We had a very nice Christmas with just our little family this year. Addison was great and just played with the wrapping paper and her toys. She still has 3 gifts left to unwrap. Xavier got tons of stuff and so next year we will need to make sure Santa and family scale it down a bit. He was really happy though.

The Pethtel family hopes everyone had a great Christmas!

The Tree

Here is the tree after Santa came to visit and one with Addison before she went to bed. I am glad I got this picture because the roof started leaking, again, and we had to move everything so it didn't get wet. (the roof has been worked on 2 times now and is still leaking in the same spot.)

Gingerbread House

Tonight we put my gingerbread house together. We didn't follow the design on the box and made our own. I think it is more fun that way.

Addie and her Puffs

While doing some shopping at Target the other day, Addison got a little hungry. So, I got some banana puffs for her to eat while we shopped and then through the check-out line. She was cracking us up because she refused to let go of the container and if you took it away, she would scream. This is some video of her when we got to the car. She was not giving them up.

The Polar Express

My son loves trains. Most people know that about him. One year for Christmas we got him the book Polar Express. He loves it and we read it every Christmas. I also have a very expensive train cake pan that my husband was not happy I bought. With a son who loves trains it comes in very handy because every year he wants a train cake for his birthday.
This year he asked me to make the polar express to take to his class Christmas party. He asked on Tuesday and the party was today, Thursday. Being the mother that I am, I made his cake and think it came out pretty good for throwing it together in one day.
When I brought the finished product to his class, he came running out to see me and jumped into my arms and said the cake was "AWESOME!". That right there is why I love being a mom.

Video of the kids and the Christmas Tree

Playing in the Leaves

Some video of Xavier and Alexis playing in the leaves.

Thanks Aunt Sheila and Uncle Mike!

Aunt Sheila and Uncle Mike sent the kids some Christmas decorations the other day. Xavier was given a cool Christmas tree that has a train chugging through it and a star on the top. (Xavier apparently prefers stars on tops of trees and not angels. We have an angel.) Anyway, here are some cute pictures of the kids playing with the tree after church today.

Playing around the House

Reading together.




Playing on the bed and under the covers.







Going for a ride on the new car. Thanks Grandma!

Santa at Fernbank

Hi Santa! Addison was so curious about this strange looking man. Xavier screamed and cried the first time he ever saw Santa.




In front of the Dinosaur christmas tree.


Somewhere in that camo is my son. Do you see him??






Listening to the Pan Pipe. It's so cool.




Xavier during the storyteller hour. Some were pretty good and some were ok. The kids from Kennesaw State University told stories about penguins and polar bears. I was getting unnerved by the fact that they kept saying penguins and polar bears were in Antarctica together. It's a pet peeve of mine.


Addison listening to the stories. She was actually more interested in the audience.


This is what a moody 4 yr old looks like.




Coloring a menorah. What can I say, it's in his blood, he can't help it.