Ashton's Christmas program and the House

The K5 kids at Ashton's school did their Christmas program Thursday night... The Gingerbread Man.  Each class did one song and then all classes came together for a big performance.

It was really cute and the staff did a great job of bribing us to come to hear their spill on literacy, common core, etc.

Here are a couple pics from the evening and a video!

 

Ashton's Class.  He is easy to spot with that blonde head.  The glare from the light boucing off his head is crazy.

He found us.

Ashton right in the middle of the entire K5 (cropped most of them out)

The ending of the last song.

After the show.

It was a sweet performance.  Great job Ash.

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I took the lazy route in decorating this year.  I will blame it on Bennett. :)

Outside is barely decorated at all and the bit I did, I dont even really like.  Oh well, next year will be a better performance.

On the plus, we do have 2 trees this year.  A fake one and a real one. Actually, we have more than that. The boys each have one in their room and I have a small one in the dining room and a small one of the porch.

 It was fun to be able to not have to pick between two color schemes for the tree.... I just did both.

Tree one I went traditional with Christmas red and white/ silver.  Must say, it turned out really pretty.  I only had to buy the red ribbon ... and the tree.

This looks kind of messy in the picture, but it is actually quite pretty.... haha.. or is it? 

Tree two I went a little more rustic.  Mostly brown with touches of green.  I think it is very calming.

The mantle just got a slight dressing as it would be a sin to not decorate a mantle, right?  On a side note, I am so sad about Bennett's stocking.  Mom bought each boy a stocking on his first Christmas.  We always get them at Orvis.  They no longer make the same kind so I tried to find something similar.  I know it doesnt matter in the big... or small... scheme of things but I would have loved for them to all match.

"May grace and peace be yours in abundance."  I Peter 1:2

Shep and Smash Stats

Friday Ashton and Shepherd had their annual check ups at the doctor.  We still have not switched doctors so a doctor's appt turns into a day trip which then turned into a weekend stay with my mom and dad.

Ashton is almost exactly in the same percentage as last year for height and weight. 5 year old stats

Six years
Weight 42.4lbs (27%)
Height 45.75" (52%)











Shepherd's percentages have always been on the high end but this year he actually went up a bit on both.  He also officially weighs more than Ashton. 3 year old stats

Four years
Weight 43.4lbs (93%)
Height 43.75" (98%)
He got his 4 year old shots and handled them like a pro.













We then met up with Leah and her boys for lunch at Chick fil A.  It was great to get some girl time in while the kids played.  Thanks for taking the time to meet up with us Leah!

Then off for hair appts... all but Bennett got a hair cut.  I got a bunch cut off.  :)  Shepherd and Hunter got a good cut too.  They needed it, they were starting to look a mess.  Ashton just needed a trim.  Thanks mom for paying for the boys haircuts and watching them while I got mine done... It truly takes a village!

For the amount of things we squeezed in on Friday, the weekend was laid back.  Mom treated us to our favorite Mexican restruant for lunch and we did a bit of shopping with all 4 kids.

We also saw Santa in the Marshall's parking lot.  He asked us if we wanted a ride.  Of course.  The funny thing is that we didnt know that he charged $5 per adult.  Good thing mom had cash on her because I literally had 4 quarters to pay him.  haha.  So much for the Christmas spirit.

It was a fun weekend.  Gearing up for Hunter's birthday and then Christmas.  I still have so much shopping left!

Thanksgiving- Come and Gone

What a whirlwind Thanksgiving turned out to be.  I feel like I have not come up for air.

We traveled down to Chad's family on Thanksgiving Day and come home Friday morning to celebrate with my family on Friday evening.

Spending time with Chad's family was a lot of fun.  Dinner was good and their was plenty of laughter.  Aunt Joan and Julie (and Uncle John) kept the kiddos occupied and we would hear laughter from the downstairs often.  Shepherd asked me the next morning where those girls are?  I assumed he was talking about Charlee and Sami but he quickly corrected me and says, "no the other ones."  I laughed and knew he was talking about "those girls" Joan and Julie.  :)

 The adults. 

Bless Joan.

Julie playing hide n seek with Ash, Charlee, and Shep

Trouble coming down the steps

Sami half laughing/ half crying.

Benett getting some lovin' from Grandma

Yum Yum.  Papa Hub bought the boys us bottles Dr Peppers.  We were quite happy!

Came back Friday and started to prepare for me to host Thanksgiving.  My Aunt Christy (mom's sister) was in town because GrandmaDean had surgery (nothing serious) on Tuesday so her and mom were "on call."  And we got a surprise visit by my dad's brother, John.  Again, a great dinner and lots of laughter.
*** Did not take one picture from my family get together... got too busy in the kitchen.  Actually, there is not one picture of me in any of these but I was there ;)

Definitely walked away feeling so blessed and thankful for our families.

Mom and I then teamed up on Saturday and helped Nolan decorate his house.  I also started decorating mine and am finally starting to see light at the end of the tunnel.  Add to the mix that I started reading 3... yes 3... big ol novels and feel quite overcome with mess.

Another surprise was that Zach, Anna, and their kids were able to stop in for a bit on their way back from Anna's family.  Just so happened that the Ol' Clover parade was that day, so we took the 7 kid... and Queenie to the parade.  

Caelum running to catch up to the rest of the crew

Not a great pic of B but proof he was there.

Miss Esme'... she is becoming quite a chunk :)

This one is for you Mantis... Clover AFJROTC

Love this kiddo.  Caelum

Santa!

Totally mesmerized.  Owen was so exciting over the band and firetrucks.,

I will show pictures of my decorated house once I am finished.  As I mentioned, I have been reading a good bit so I might post some of my favorite reads.  :)

Hope all had a Happy Thanksgiving! 

The Good, the Bad, and the Beach

THE GOOD
Chad was offered a condo in Garden City... yes please.

We decided to get away for the weekend as a good bye to football season 2013.  The condo turned out to to be ocean front and a perfect place for a weekend get away.

On our way back home.  Shep was mad bc I  made him get out of the warm car. 

It is amazing how even with free lodging and eating in 3 meals that we still wound up spending about $500, but it was worth it.

When we got there on Friday this was the view from the condo unit.


 The boys wanted to go down and test out the water, it was quite chilly.  We did convince them to just put their feet in.

The view of the beach at 5:00 pm on Friday

The view of the beach at 10:00 am on Saturday.  Got to say love how we owned the beach.

 

The shells were awesome as well... none of those pesky tourists :)

 

The wildlife was also amazing.  I bet the birds and other animals love this time of year when people are gone.  The birds looked so happy... except for the one below.  He looks quite dead.  We saw a ton of dolphins (or some other type of dolphiny things).  The jellyfish were also around, the one below was so pretty (if pretty could describe a jellyfish). 
  

Dolphin fin

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On Saturday, we went down to the beach and told the boys to dig in the sand and put their feet in the water if they wanted.  Well,  Shepherd all but dove into the ocean.  Once his brothers saw that he survived they all got in and played in the frigid water for a good 15 minutes.  Chad and I were amazed. Bennett loved crawling in the sand and kept making a beeline to the ocean.  He desperately wanted in too.






  

 





  








I tried to convince Hunter that we had already seen a lot of sea animals and a $65 trip to Ripley's Aquarium was not needed, but he disagreed so we went.  And though it was cool, it was not worth $65.  But here are the pics.
 The boys taking the conveyer belt through the shark tank......  Bennett was mesmerized by the sharks

Imagine that swimming in the ocean with you.. eek!

 This was probably my favorite... these Pacific Jellyfish.  They light up and are beautiful.

 

The Mermaid show... it was kind of weird in my opinion.  But Shepherd fell asleep on my lap... more on that later.

Out like a light

  

My animal lover totally enthralled.
 

We finished up this busy Saturday with a quick round of Putt Putt because who can go to the beach and not Putt Putt?!?!  And then a nice dinner at a seafood place.  It was a busy but fun day!

THE BAD
Thankfully the good totally outweighed the bad.  But, our first night was a comical one.  First, Bennett did not sleep good last week... add a pack n play to that and a place he had never been plus being totally wound up and mercy...

But enough on his rough night.  Shepherd has been 100% potty trained  for close to 2 years.  But, I guess he had a poop explosion in his sleep because he woke up and... words just cant describe.  For the record, this has NEVER happened. So, at 10:30, he got a full bath, I cleaned a tub, scrubbed carpet, washed out poopy pants, and put him in Hunter's pants all while Chad wanted to gag. haha.  Bless his heart., he then woke up at 5 and needed to pee and I dont think he went back to sleep so it really is no wonder that he fell asleep during the mermaid show.

Everyone slept perfectly on Saturday night though, probably because we wore them out and switched sleeping arrangements a bit.

Overall though, we all felt refreshed and totally amazed with God's creation.

Bring on Thanksgiving!!!