Christmas in Arkansas

This year we went to my hometown for Christmas. Before that, though...we ice skated. The Man's group rented out the ice rink for the evening, and we all quite enjoyed it. The Boy skated and skated!

Then we opened our stockings on Christmas Eve, per tradition, and had our Bethlehem dinner that night. The rest of the day was spent getting ready for Arkansas. 

We left on Christmas Day. Not my favorite plan, but I must say, everything ran on time. 

 Still, we had to get up pretty early and it was a long day. We were glad to be done with that.

We got to see both aunts, our uncle, all the cousins, grandma, and great-grandma the next day for family pictures!

 The Boy could be found doing what he would always be doing if I let him.

Finally we had Christmas. I got to see my cousin that I was roommates with my first year in college! I hadn't seen her in nearly a decade. We opened presents and had a really nice dinner together.

The Man had to go home early to work, but the kids and I stayed an extra two days. The Boy went to the trampoline park with his baseball buddy from last summer while Aunt Jo and I took the Girl bowling.

On New Year's Eve it was time to go home. Another long day ahead, but my kids are absolutely amazing travelers. The day was made a bit longer by a monumental error on my part that serves as one of the low points of my life - I missed our last connecting flight for no other reason than lack of brain activity. I don't want to dwell on that. We made it home alive very late in the evening and that's what's important. I fell asleep just as the fireworks went off to ring in the new year. Happy 2015! 

I am so grateful to have spent it with people I love doing the things I love. We are truly blessed by the Lord.

Nutcracker

I decided this was the year the Girl should go to the ballet. So we got together with our girlfriends, dressed up, and went out. 

The show was really great and the Girl did fairly well. With about 20 minutes left though, she'd had just about all the sitting she could take. Maybe we'll skip it next Christmas....

Four Eyes

Well....dang it. I was hoping my kids would get all my husband's genes and none of mine. However, the Boy got my teeth and now it seems the Girl got my eyes. At least they split it. 

Thanksgiving

The Girl had a Fall Feast with the entire kindergarten class! As one of the rooms moms, that was a bit of a beast to plan. But it turned out so cute. 

We flew out to Grandma and Grandpa's for Thanksgiving. 

The Girl made cookies with Grandma. 

We spent hours and hours coloring adult coloring pages Aunt Cassidy brought. The kids loved it. They really did sit and color for 2 hours straight. I, on the other hand, colored a lot longer. Let's just say my hand cramped. But I got some cool wall hangings for the Girl's room out of it.

 And we played indoor mini golf in black light. 

Good times.

Beach

We got out of school early one Friday and decided to hit the beach. We hadn't been in so long. The sun was hitting the water just right, so I took a few pictures. 

Ended up using one of them for our Christmas card. God bless camera phones.

Halloween

It's the end of a short era. My kids no longer tolerate coordinating Halloween costumes. *sigh*

The Girl decided she wanted to be Draculaura from Monster's High despite the fact that she has never seen this show. She loved the costume - I found it a tad creepy. And the Boy saw this Fire Swamp costume online from a show called Ben 10 even though, and there's a theme here, he's never even heard of that show. Ever. *shrugs*  Fine with me.

The Man and I attended our yearly Halloween party at the Harris' which was, yet again, a ball. They had a Nirvana cover band. I'm not gonna lie, I was concerned about how much Nirvana a band could play and it still be fun to dance, but it was awesome! We went as the Spartan cheerleaders from SNL. Always a heckuva night.

Walk-a-Thon

This year the Girl got to participate in the school walk-a-thon.  She lost a shoe somewhere in the middle of it, but managed to recover it with a little help from friends. 

The Boy walked 3 miles! Such a fun school event!

Lip Sync Battle

I am such a dope. We hosted a lip sync battle party for a friend's birthday. It was a total blast and everyone performed something. And IIIIIIIII....didn't get one picture. Brilliant, no? That's too bad, because The Man and I made a great Rhianna (him) and Eminem (me) as we lip synced (is that the word?) The Monster. I'm hoping we can make this an annual event!

He's a Wolfman

The Boy worked quick and hard to earn his Wolf in Scouts. I'm pretty proud of him - even more so

seeing him stick his tongue out for the picture during the ceremony. 

We haven't done a thing in his scout book since.  I'm such a good mom. A note about his leaders: they are saints. Can you imagine dealing with a large group of 8 year old boys? 

Migraine

I have such a sweet boy. While The Man was away on mancation, I managed to get a pretty bad headache. After I put the Girl to bed, it really hit me. All I could do was sit on the couch and whimper in pain. I wanted to lie down, but that made it worse. Eventually, I had to throw up - that was all the Boy could take. Having googled home remedies for headaches, he ran downstairs and promptly made me an ice pack to put on my head. After he handed it to me, he sat down and said a prayer that I would feel better.  It was so great.

I imediately knew what I needed to do to feel better. The ice pack helped enough that I could lie down. I went to bed early, leaving him to put himself to bed - which he did. I was so proud of him for wanting to help me, figuring out how, and then having the knowledge and the wisdom to use prayer on my behalf.  He has such a good spirit.

Tooth

Unfortunately, the Boy seems to take after his mama in the teeth department. I must have redneck in my DNA and passed it on to him. Nothing but trouble, those teeth. 

The icing on the cake was that he was growing an EXTRA tooth up in his gums. It was basically sideways and causing all kinds of havoc on his front, adult teeth. So it had to be surgically removed.

 I think I was more nervous than he was. He took it like a champ.

Soccer Season

It begins.....and he scored a goal his first game!

He's decided this is the end of his soccer career. We are now free of all team sports. Kind of bittersweet for me.

First Day of School

A kindergartener and a third grader.

She is excited. He is excited. I am excited!

Anniversary

For our anniversary this year we decided to do something other than dinner. So we took a trail ride along the beach. 

Beautiful, no? After 16 years of marriage and two kids, I'm not sure who has the bigger butt...

LEGOLAND!

Due to rain (during a 3 year drought) we had to postpone our May vacation until August. It finally came. LEGOLAND! I don't want to write too much about it. We stayed two nights in the Legoland Hotel and it was a blast! The park was a day filled with legos, food, roller coasters, and a robotics class for the Boy!

By the end, they were tuckered out. We drove down to San Diego Zoo the next day. They were so tired and whiney, I took about three pictures of that part of the trip. 

 We will definitely do Legoland again. Such fun!

Soccer Camp

We did the British Soccer Camp again this summer, though we did not host a coach due to some upstairs bathroom flooding and kitchen re-remodeling we had to do. Ugh. But the Girl got to participate this year! (She is dressed as a bunny because it was costume day.)

The Boy had the same coach this year as he did last! We love Coach Charlie! And the Girl really liked Coach Ryan.

They both worked hard during the week and had a good time. The Boy won a camper of the day award on the last day even. The Girl, however, decided that she did not want to play soccer again.  I concur. It was not her "thing".