CHRISTMAS DAY 2008

Christmas Day 2008 was AWESOME!!!!! The night before we went to church as a family. Our friends Daniel Wisler and Casey Jo Snyder joined us. The boys were a little tired but overall we had fun.

The boys slept through the night. I wanted to get them up at 2:30, just after we put them to bed at 1:30 to open presents but Jeff said "no". Then I wanted to get everyone up at 5:30 and again Jeff said "no". Finally, at 7:30 a.m. I begged to get the boys up.

They were so excited. I first made them put on the Santa hats and the HO HO HO shirts. Then they opened their stockings. For Christmas Aaron got an IPod Shuffle (silver) with his name engraved on the back, a bath robe and lots of art stuff. He really enjoys drawing. Daniel got a red IPod Shuffle with his name engraved on it, a bath robe and an alarm clock CD player. Sean got (can you guess?) a blue IPod Shuffle with his name engraved on it, a bath robe and a Star Wars Lego kit. I got some perfume and a Sudoku book. I am totally addicted to Sodoku. Yesterday I did Sodoku for three hours. I love the problem solving. Jeff got a fleece pull-over and a book that he has already read.(oops) LuLu and Zoey got toys in their stocking. I will upload more pictures later.

For dinner I made meatloaf, macaroni and we had the bread that the Whitaker family gave to us. It was a nice candle light dinner. It was a great day.

Thank you Lord for blessing our family.

Christmas Eve 2008

Today we spent the day cleaning up the house. I currently feel like organizing the whole house. This also means the boys have to clean :).

We went to Kentucky to visit family over the weekend. We celebrated Christmas with both families. The boys got lots of gifts and money. They were so excited. We enjoyed spending time with our families. Jeff's family still gets together with his Dad's brothers and sister and their kids. It was lots of fun to see the Sims family. For my family we had lunch at my parents with all of my sisters and their families. My Dad wasn't feeling well so I was sad that he could not get around and enjoy the day.

Tonight we are going to church at midnight. I am looking forward to seeing old friends. This will also be Daniel's first time to take part in the Communion.

Tomorrow morning will be so much fun watching the boys unwrap their gifts. They are so excited. I remember getting up really early to open presents when I was a little girl and then going to my grandparents for the day. Tomorrow we will spend the day together, have our traditional meatloaf (yes I said meatloaf) and macaroni with cheese. My kids are Guatemalan, they don't like the traditional ham or turkey Christmas dinner. Last year I made meatloaf and they said it reminded them of Guatemala so that is now our new family tradition.

Enjoy the family pictures. I will post again after Christmas with our pictures.

MERRY CHRISTMAS. Thank you Jesus for being our Blessed Savior!!!!!!

Halloween 2008

Hello Everyone,

Sorry I don't post as often as I would like. The boys had an awesome Halloween. We invited a couple of friends to go with us. We decided to go to our old neighborhood this year. The boys got tons of candy. Aaron dressed up as a "Gangster". Daniel was a "Spy". Sean was a "Businessman". Jeff and I also enjoyed walking around with them and talking. It was a great night to be out.

We also went to Kings Island for "Fear Fest". Normally I would not got to that but someone told me that on Sunday's it was not scary. So we went on a Sunday after church and had a great time. Enjoy the pictures.

Sims Family Blackout September 2008

Hello to All,

Well this has been an exciting week at the Sims household as well as everyone else in the city of Fairfield, Ohio.

It started on Saturday, September 13th when we attended Sean and Erin's wedding in Indiana. It was a lot of fun despite Daniel and I being itchy from Poison Ivy. We got home around 2 a.m. on Sunday morning and went straight to bed. Daniel and I woke up really itchy so we decided to go to an Urgent Care. Thank goodness we went. On our way home we noticed the wind was really blowing but thought nothing of it. We dropped off our perscriptions (after both of us got shots in the butt) at Kroger and said we would be back to get them later. Little did we know that the whole town was about to shut down due to a blackout. Jeff went to work, the boys were watching a movie and I was taking a nap.

Well about 1:00 p.m. the boys woke me up to tell me that a tree limb had fallen. I said "thats okay, mommy is taking a nap." So they went back to watching TV so I thought. They continued to play downstairs with no TV because the electric was now off. I woke up around 2:00 p.m. and realized that my fan was not on. I kept trying to turn it on not knowing what was going on and then realized we had no electric and the wind outside was blowing really bad. So I went to check on the boys and that's when I saw a big part of a tree in our backyard not far from our house. Then I went outside and saw another big part of a tree in our back yard close to the driveway where the garage is. Our chairs on the deck were blowing all over the place, our trash cans were all over the back yard and the soda cans we are collecting were all over the backyard. It was crazy.

We stayed inside. I was not able to go to Kroger to get mine and Daniel's medicine so we just suffered through the itchiness. Luckily we got the shot at Urgent Care. Jeff was able to come home. We worked on cleaning up some of the cans and other debris then we grilled out hamburgers and hung out with Kurt, Marie, Tonya, Malory, Hannah, Adam and Riley. It was fun just sitting around talking.

Then the call came that there would be no school on Monday. On Monday, thankfully, Kroger was set up to only give out perscriptions not for any groceries so we borrowed eggs from our neighbor and cooked eggs and oatmeal on the grill. Monday evening we had chicken on the grill. Our neighbor DeSean also had a generator that he hooked up to our refridgerator to keep it coo. It was fun roughing it. We played games by candlelight and hung out with our neighbors. It was a blessing that we were home on Monday because my neighbor Tonya's grandmother was rushed to the hospital and I was able to watch her kids for her. Sadly, her grandmother passed away Monday afternoon. Monday evening while playing cards our electric came on and we were so excited. It lasted about 5 minutes and then was back off until Tuesday morning about 3:00 a.m.

Tuesday no school so we just hung around, went to the library and out to eat with Jeff's golf team before their big GMC Tournament which is today (Wednesday).

Today still no school, but life is pretty much back to normal. We are now allowed to drink our water so I assume that we will have school tomorrow.

We will look back on this time and think of how much fun we had sitting in the dark, playing games by candlelight and spending time with family and friends. This was a great reminder to take some time and slow down to enjoy each other.

Rockbridge 2008

Hello From Rockbridge,

We are having a great time here at Rockbridge. The days are filled with work and lots of fun. Right now the boys are doing the Zip Line for the new campers coming in.

Big news in our family is that our son Daniel Sims asked Jesus into his heart yesterday morning. We are so excited for Daniel. GOD IS SO AMAZING!!!!

Love,

The Sims Family 5

My 2nd Mother's Day

Well I just celebrated by 2nd Mother's Day. My husband gave me the night off by leaving me at my parents to spend the night. I had a great time with them but also missed my boys.

I love being a mom. God has truly blessed me with 3 wonderful boys. It is amazing how much I love them. They are growing so fast. They are like little men.

I pray that everyday that I will be a godly and patient mother. One who will be quick to listen and slow to anger. I want my sons to be able to talk to me.

Sims Family Udate - Muddy Boys

Well the Sims family is doing great. We had a wonderful Spring Break in Gatlinburg. This was the first time the boys had experienced Gatlinburg. We got t-shirts.

We are going to be on TV. Our house will be featured on "Desparate Landscapes". We will film on April 22nd. Not sure when it will air. Of course the boys will be staying home from school to help. Sure to have funny stories.

Well our latest funny story is while I was at a luncheon with Sheila, Jeff and the boys were home. On my way home I called to see how everyone was doing. Jeff was lounging watching TV while the boys were outside. Jeff said the boys were riding bikes and all was well. Well, I pulled into our culdesac and saw three muddy boys laying in the street. I went inside and asked Jeff "have you seen the boys lately", he said "no, the last time I saw them, they were riding bikes". I had him go outside to see them. We both laughed. Boys will be boys thats for sure. They had a lot of fun and it made for some great pictures.

That's all for now.

Love,

The Sims Family

Aaron's 11th Birthday

Wow! Today was an exciting day. We celebrated Aaron's 11th birthday. We decided this year to have the birthday party's at home instead of McDonalds. What a blast. We had lots of family and friends here to celebrate. He had a great day. It is hard to believe he is already 11 years old. He is growing up so fast. It feels like we just got him yesterday. Time flies by so fast. I need to remember daily to take the time and enjoy my kids. HAPPY BIRTHDAY AARON. WE LOVE YOU.

The Sims Boys First Snow 2006

The video below is the first snow the boys experienced in 2006. Sean was so little. They have since experienced many snows and still love playing in the snow.

Sims Family Update - They Are So Cute!

Not a lot going on. Jeff and Aaron did finish Aaron's first Science project. They made a tornado. It is awesome. I dreamt about his project all night last night. Why do I feel like I am back in school and worry about my kids reports, projects and spelling test. I have often said I feel like I am in first, third and fourth grade all over again.

Last week we only had 2 days of school. We had lots of fun. Thursday night a big snow was coming and at 8:00 p.m. we called the Rooks, our neighbors and went outside and played in the snow. It was a big hit. I know I need to find my camera to capture these moments. We played, talked and slid down the street which is a pretty cool hill to slide down. Tonya and I were afraid as each child went down but they all made it just fine.

This is my last full week of being home. I start back to work after being off for 6 weeks due to having surgery. I like being home but I also love my job. I am looking forward to work.

I have learned how to use "facebook". I love it. It is a great way to keep in contact with friends. Sometimes you just want to give a quick hello and this is the perfect way to do it.

Well all is well at the Sims house.

What a day of fun. Today NO SCHOOL. The boys have been out playing in the snow for hours. I wish I could find my camera. They have even shoveled off the driveways of two of our neighbors. They did not do ours, wonder why? They are hard working kids. They don't seem to give up on a task.

The boys are doing well in school. Aaron and Dad are working on the 4th grade Science Project that will be shown at the Science Fair. Aaron is really excited about it. He is doing it on Tornado's. He is so fascinated by them and Jeff is to so it made for a perfect project for them to work on together.

We are also looking forward to the carnavil at South Ele. It will be a fun night for our family. Last year at West Ele. we spent all of our money buying raffle tickets to a Wii. We did not win.

We like the snow days but we are looking forward to Spring. We are looking forward to soccer and the nice weather. Here is a soccer picture from last year. It was the first time they had played. Of course I cried. The boys laugh at me because I cry at the first of everything.

Dad, Mom and Three Boys Shopping

Well we decided to venture out as a family to go to Sams Club and Costco. I usually do this by myself and things go fine but since having surgery I am not allowed to pick up anything or push anything over 5 pounds. First of all trying to keep 3 active boys with you at all times is crazy. Aaron was still feeling the effects of the flu that he had earlier during the week, Daniel was no longer feeling the effects of the flu he had and Sean was just being his wild self. We did have one scare. It's funny now but was not funny at the time. Jeff was talking on the phone in Costco and I was looking at some shirts when I turned around to find Aaron and Daniel putting Sean in a big Safe. You know the kind that lock. My heart stopped and I yelled at the boys NO!! They looked at me like I was crazy. I told Sean to get out and explained to them that is very dangerous. Like I said it is funny now, but not at the time. I believe the boys got the message that locking their brother in a Safe is not a good idea.

The boys have mixed feelings about Valentine's Day. I believe they have decided (with the help from Dad) is that it is basically for girls. They do enjoy the candy. I am looking forward to my three surgared up boys coming home from school tomorrow:)

We are so ready for warm weather. They want so bad to get out and play but since we have all had the flu (except for Sean) we thought it best to play inside.

Friday, Feb. 8th, 2008

Well I decided to start a Sims Family Blog. I'm not exactly sure what I am doing but thought it might be fun. No big news here at our house except that we all have or have had the flu. I think next year we will do flu shots.

It is amazing how each of my children are different when they are sick. Daniel is very quiet and calm, Aaron is very jittery and poor Sean whines like his mother. They are still precious no matter what.