Not what I had in mind....

When we got home West Virginia, I told Ryan that Brandon needed a haircut. Just like any other time, Ryan told Brandon to come into the bathroom and sit in the tub. I normally stay and help but I had dinner going. Well, I should have stayed. When I came back this is what I found...




That is right, folks...BRANDON HAS A MOHAWK. I was really worried about what school would say and told Ryan that he was going to deal with the school when they called. They have not said a word. Brandon really likes it and although I said I didn't like it to begin with, it is starting to grow on me. :)

Well, I hope everyone has a great night! I am off to do homework...lots of it. :)

Love,
Missy

Christmas at the Canfields

Well, we finally got to visit Ryan's family to celebrate Christmas since we were not able to make it due to the massive snowstorm we had right before Christmas. We arrived on Thursday night and when Brandon woke up on Friday morning, he was eager to open his gifts. It was like Christmas morning all over again...he woke all of us up early so that he could enjoy his gifts. As you can see from the pictures below, he got some good gifts and enjoyed opening each and everyone of them.

Since Ryan's parents house has lots of snow left, Brandon wanted to go sledding. I thought I would show him how to do it by having Ryan pull me around the driveway on the sled....



Here is Brandon playing in the snow...

Brandon had just taken his gloves off because they were all wet

Here is Brandon going down the hill...

Hope everyone has a safe week!

xoxo
Missy

New Year's Resolutions...

It seems that everyone has their list of New Year's resolutions, so I thought I would jump on the bandwagon. Here is a list of my resolutions...

1.) To be a better wife to Ryan and mother to Brandon. More often than not, I take Ryan for granted. I know that he will be there to help me fix something I have broken. He is a great husband and my best friend. I want to focus on giving Ryan more of my attention. He definitely deserves it. I also want to give Brandon more attention. Even thought I am constantly doing stuff for him, I feel that I don't spend quality time with him. That will change in 2010. I want to be the mother that he deserves.

2.) I want to be a better sister and daughter. Both of my sisters are just as busy as me and I need to find time to connect with each of them, find out how the kids are doing, or just calling to say hi. I also want to spend more time with my parents. It is always a joy to see them spend time with Brandon. I also need to find time to visit more.

3.) I want to be healthier. Yes, I need to lose some weight. I have lost weight in the past and I know that I can do this again. I also want to start exercising. I would really like to start running and possibly run in some races later this year.

4.) I want to go to church more. Ryan and I have not found the 'right' church for us and I hope that in 2010 we will find that church. Even though we pray at dinner and at bed time, I would love to share our experiences with Brandon in person and in a place that we all feel comfortable.

Well, I am not sure how many of these I will keep but I know that I will work at each one of them daily. I hope that you all will help me if I start to falter.

Love,
Missy

Happy New Year! I wanted to wish all my family and friends a wonderful and prosperous New Year.

We had a great New Years eve. We hung out with our friends Meighan and her family and Belinda and her family. It was a very nice relaxing evening and a great way to bring in the new year. The rest of the weekend we will just be working around the house (taking our Christmas tree down, cleaning house, doing laundry). Today we are going to continue to relax.

I hope everyone has a wonderful year!

Love,
Missy

Christmas

Well, we just returned from my parents house for the Christmas holiday. Boy was it exciting for us. Santa was very good to Brandon. Not only did he get everything he asked for, but he got some gifts that he added 'last minute'. Here are some pictures of what it looked like before the kids got to opening their gifts.


Here is an early morning picture of Brody with my sister Christy.


Here are some pictures of Brandon opening his gifts...





Today before we left, we went and visited with my Grandmother. She is getting around well for her age and was happy to see all the grandkids this morning. Here are some pictures of this morning.





Well, now that we are back home, it is back to the grind stone. We all have to go back to our normal routines tomorrow. Hope everyone had a great holiday and wish everyone a safe and great week.

Love,
Missy

What an Adventure!!!!

Wow...what a weekend!!!!

Our vacation officially started on Friday night when we decided to head to West Virginia to celebrate an early Christmas with Ryan's side of the family. We thought if we left early enough we could get a head of the storm. We headed out and within 30 minutes of being on the road the snow started. It came down slow and steady at first and then started to come down fast and furious. About 10 miles before we hit the interstate, we hit a major backup. Apparently there are a number of hills that you must maneuver before you get to the highway. People were afraid to go down them because they knew that they would not get back up. We ended up sitting on the road for about 45 minutes before we decided to find the nearest hotel to stay the night. I also must add that while all this was going on Ryan was talking to his dad in West Virginia who was telling him that the interstate was closed down because of the weather. The first hotel I found was about 0.5 mile away so we decided to go around the massive backup and get to the hotel. What they forgot to tell me was that the hotel was at the top of the hill. We had major problems getting up th hill but were finally able to make it to the top of the hill after we helped out some stranded travelers.

The next morning we got up and found that it had snowed about 6-10 inches more and that we were stuck for the moment. It was hard to entertain a 5 year old in a hotel room when not planned. We ended up watching a lot of tv and taking plenty of naps. The downside to the hotel...they only served a continental breakfast daily. Around noon or so we started to get hungry. Thank goodness that Ryan was a cub scout...he is always prepared. He had MREs in his car. For those of you that don't know, a MRE is a Meal Ready to Eat. It is what the military uses in the field. They are not gourmet but they were something to eat to get us by. Later that night the hotel had pizzas brought in from Dominos. Ryan continued to shovel our cars and got them moved to a better spot by days end.

When we got up on Sunday morning, the sun was out and the snow had finally stopped. After breakfast, Ryan went out and met up with a group of guys from the hotel to help dig us out. Within in a few hours, we had a path to get us down the hill and out of the hotel parking lot. This is what the roads look like when we were driving home....

We finally were on the road and back to our house. What we didn't know is that we were leaving one problem to head to another problem. When we got home, we found out that we could not get into our driveway because we had over 20 inches of snow and that they snow plows had plowed all the snow in our way. See what I mean....

Ryan and I spent the next few hours shoveling the snow so we could park out cars in the driveway. See the beauty of our work...




Well, we are thankful to be home but sad that we didn't get to spend the weekend with our family. I think we are going to start a fire, enjoy a good dinner and go to bed early. We are all exhausted from our weekend!Hope everyone has a great week!

Love
Missy

Great News....

Some might have already heard, but I thought I would share it again. On Thursday we found out that Brandon was accepted into the University of Virginia's 2010 Saturday Enrichment Program. This program is offered to students in Virginia that are determined to be gifted or high ability/high interest students in grades K-5. From what I hear, this program is very competitive and only a select few are selected each year. Brandon will be in the 'Invitation to Invent' tract. The classes meet each Saturday starting the end of January for 5 weeks. We are very proud of Brandon and know that he will excel at this challenge.

Other than that, it has been a very busy day for all of the Canfields. Now it is time to sit back and relax. Hope everyone has a great week!

Love,
Missy