December 2017

December was full of...well...everything. It always seems that way when the end of the year hits though. This year, Alex started band and is currently playing my old trumpet. He's coming along on his playing so well! And with band comes concert time. Alex has his bad concert on the same day that Abby had her 4th grade music concert. It was actually pretty funny when they played the ugly sweater song. Abby's favorite part? Making an ugly sweater to wear. And I never even got her to wear it for a picture other than in the group shot here.

Alex's band concert

After the band and vocal concerts with my three turkeys.

I got the pleasure of being treated to a pretty snazzy haircut courtesy of Mandy for my early birthday present. It was by far the fanciest haircut experience I've ever had.

Then we got to go to see Santa and enjoy our annual trolley and carriage ride around the town. This year Josh had to work, so I took the kids by myself. We still had plenty of fun and it wasn't too bad of weather for the occasion.

 

 Then of course we had to make gingerbread houses from our traditional graham crackers and buttload of sugary goodness. I'm the only one that didn't even nibble a single bite when it was done. The kids, however, devoured them entirely.

A proud moment incoming! Alex was chosen as a Top Dog student at school. This basically means that he shows all the requirements and characteristics needed to be the best student he can be at school. This is a big deal as only one boy and one girl is chosen each month out of the school year. I am super-duper proud of this kiddo. He's a great kid and an AWESOME student. That's means we're doing something right. He gets certain privileges throughout the year including helping out Mr. Reynold's (the gym teacher who is seriously the best) and missing school to help out at the end of the year. He got to bring home the trophy for a month and it was filled with all sorts of goodies to celebrate him. Go Alex!

Josh and I celebrated our 16th anniversary. Seriously. How has it been this long? Poof! Time gone. We celebrated by going to see Star Wars: The Last Jedi at the balcony in our theater. Great time and a great movie! Happy 16th to us and many more to come!  (P.S. We never take selfies together.)

 Then there was the annual trip to the city light display that is always a favorite. We go out to eat at Wendy's, go Christmas shopping and then enjoy the lights. It's not a great picture, but it was a wonderful time.

Evie had another round of gingerbread house making at school. *sniff* the last Christmas party in Pre-K. :(

Christmas cookie decorating. Yum

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And the last Christmas singing concert in pre-K . *sniff*

 Christmas is always one of my favorite times of the year and this year did not disappoint. We have lots of traditions and each one is special. This year, we had most of my brothers around too which was fun. It was a great holiday season and went by way too fast. I miss it when it's gone (even if the tree is messy and annoying at times). I feel like I will blink and these pictures will have grown children in them with families of their own. I enjoy every minute and love the time we spend as a family. Merry Christmas everyone!

Christmas cookie decorating the night before Christmas. Yum!

Alex and his loot.

Evie and her goodies.

Abby and her treasures.

Christmas Day at Grandma's house. Love it!

Evie sure does love Great Grandma!

I spent forever making this quilt for mom with all of Dad's old t-shirts. She cried. I cried. And I made pillows for all my brothers. It was a lot of work, but turned out to be one of the  best gifts I've ever got the joy of giving.

Christmas Eve and the annual Jammies present they get. New jammies are always fun!

Evie's 5th Birthday

Evie turned five years old. What?!? How did my littlest baby already turn five? This year Evie had quite the week of celebrating. It seems that the more years that pass, the longer the celebration of birthdays go. Maybe that's because of school. Or maybe I just really enjoy celebrating my kiddos' birthdays. Evie had her last birthday at pre-k and she wanted to have Christmas tree cookies. Odd, but I just rolled with it.

 

She got to go out with daddy for her birthday too, which I think she enjoyed a whole lot by the look on her face and the slitherio toy that she came home with. She could talk him into anything.

 

For her birthday party on the weekend, she wanted to have a Cloud Guy cake (the funny dude from the Trolls movie). And once again, I whipped up another overly decorated cake. It turned out great and she was super excited about it.

 

As she shares her birthday with my brother, she got to celebrate it (now that they live close to us) with her uncle Jeremy. I love this picture. :-)

 

She even got to invite her BFF from school, Vayda. The day was lovely enough to be outside for the messy cake eating. And her cousins all got to come and enjoy the party as well.

 And last of all, Thou whose birthday it is, chooseth the dinner. And natually, Evie chose Wendy's. It was a great day and she most certainly felt loved and celebrated. I can't believe that five years ago, I had this sweet little baby that came into my life and now she's this wonderful little kid with a fun personality and the sweetest little thing (most of the time). I'm super proud of her and can't wait to see how she grows. Happy Birthday miss Evie! We love you!

 Oh, and did I mention the giant cat she named Cookie that she bought with her birthday money from Uncle Aaron and Aunt Michelle?

Halloween 2017

Halloween is really one of my favorite times of the year. I mean, I love Christmas and all that cozy happy stuff, but Halloween is just plain fun. I love decorating and pumpkins and (not gonna lie) candy. But I love, love, love dressing up. I love it so much that I tend to get a little to into my costumes. This year all of us had fun dressing up (except Josh who might actually try it next year - his own words). Alex wanted to be Master Chief from Halo, but ended up deciding to be an arm soldier. Thanks to Uncle Jeremy for supplying the gear. Abby wanted to be a troll originally (Smidge to be precise), but ended up deciding that she wanted to be a veterinarian. One trip to Goodwill and I had all I needed. Evie was easy. She wanted to be a purple cat named Cookie. Done, done and done!

Then it was down to me. I don't know what inspired me, but I decided to do my very first cosplay. I say cosplay because it really ended up being more cosplay than costume. I went as Professor Trelawney from Harry Potter. Boy was that fun! Goodwill is my friend when it comes to costumes. So is the Dollar Tree.

We had a blast even though the day was pretty cold. We also went to two trunk or treats on the weekend. The kids have so much candy from all this that we'll be gaining weight for weeks! In face, I already feel fatter! I need better self control. Happy Halloween!

Fall Festival 2017

I'm not sure I've missed more than one or two Fall Festivals that my hometown puts on yearly. I love it and having kids has made it that much more enjoyable. This year was a beautiful day and the kids were super pumped to go catch candy and watch the parade (the highlight of the day of course). We then went into the buildings and enjoyed getting a few things at the local vendors and art and crafts booths. It's always an enjoyable time and I hope that my kids want to keep going as they get older. Who doesn't love a good parade?

These two pictures crack me up. I told her to take a picture with me. The first one is her smiling and then...

 ...she saw a piece of candy.

Timber!

We had some massive straight line winds come through recently and it decided to cause some pretty hefty damage to our trees. When we looked out the window the morning after the storm, I was shocked to see that a tree (a huge tree) decided to lose one half of it's massive size by falling down. On its way down, it took out half of another one of our trees and landed on our rabbit enclosure. Thankfully, Pickles the bunny was in her other safer home. It was a tree slated to be trimmed for winter by the electric company and, thank goodness, they agreed to clean it up for us for no charge. The tree company that did it had it cleaned up and chipped within ten minutes. Ten minutes! It would have taken me two weeks to do that. Crazy!

The picture doesn't do it justice.

The Last Pumpkin Patch

I'm sad. Well...kind of. This year is Evie's final year of Pre-K. Unlike her brother and sister, she got the pleasure of going to Pre-K twice. After getting talked into it by the teachers at the school, I couldn't be happier it turned out this way. She loves school. Way more than her siblings, I might add. We used to go to the pumpkin patch with Alex and Abby during their Pre-K years and was happy that Evie's teacher convinced the school to let them go as well. This year, however, is the final year for our days at the pumpkin patch for school. I'm kind of bummin'. This year, it fell on the same day as Alex's fifth grade rocket launch. Luckily, Josh had the day off and got to fill those shoes for me while I went with Evie. 

She had so much fun even though it was cold that morning. I was watching her run around and could still see Abby and Alex running around in my mind. It's heart wrenching to realize how far they've come and how fast it is all happening. My babies are babies anymore. We had a great time though, and that's what counts. I'll miss going to the pumpkin patch with tiny ones. Good times.

She loves riding the bus - no car seat.

Me and my baby girl. Boy was that sun bright!

Alex's 11th Birthday

My oldest baby just turned eleven. Alex is just two short years from becoming a teenager and that terrifies me when I start thinking about it. This year we had more people over than usual. Alex begged and begged me to let him invite a couple of friends and so a few days before the party, I finally caved. He had two specific friends in mind and both of them got to come. He asked me for a Halo cake somewhere around summer-time. He's been really into that game for awhile so I wasn't surprised. I was hesitant to have to design this one as I really am clueless about that game. Luckily, Google didn't disappoint in finding an easy helmet to recreate. The big black things on the sides are some kind of gun from the game. Apparently I nailed it as he knew what they were when he saw the finished cake. To me, the look like the silhouette of Wolverin's claws. But whatever.

He really doesn't have much these days that he is into as far as toys. I can see the days of action figures and gallons of new toys slowly coming to an end. Nerf and Halo. That was pretty much it. But he wanted to be surprised for his present from us. So I got creative and decided to give him something we've been working towards for some time now. I found a really nice pocket knife with a cool shark on it. I let him open packages of soap and wood before the knife to totally confuse him. I think he thought it was because he stinks or something. He was super excited to see we upgraded him to a pocket knife. We will be learning how to use it safely by carving soap.

It was fun even though the day was supposed to be super rainy. It didn't rain during the party at least. We grilled hot dogs and all the kids ate and had a blast. I'm glad I let him have a couple of friends over. It kept them very distracted. And this year we had extras as Jeremy moved back home with his kiddos. Jake couldn't make it because his family was all sick. Tis the season. But Abby was happy that Audrina got to come with Nikki. It was a good day. Alex has grown into quite the fun kid. Other than his temper (genetics, I think), he doesn't seem to get into much trouble. He's a great student, kind kid, and loves his imagination. I'm super proud of the guy he's growing into. And he's not too far from outgrowing his mama. I figure he'll be taller than me by 14. But who knows? Happy Birthday Alex! We love you!

We had equal amounts of boys and girls.

Left to right: Wesley, Alex, Zach, Matthew, and Chase.