Family Pictures

My friend, Melissa, is so talented. When it was time to have family pictures again, there was no question that we would be going back to her. My family is amazing.

The Girl

She is so dang special. Her teacher sent me a picture of something she wrote at school.

I just love her.

I'm......in my Mid to Late Thirties!

The Man took me out to lunch and picked up the kiddos from school and made me a steak dinner and did the dishes. It was lovely.

I went on a serious hike with this hot mama.

I have been so fortunate to make good friends wherever I've lived. These fine ladies took me out to dinner. I love them all! Funny, I'm holding a baby in my lap in this picture, but you can't tell.

A Post on the Boy

He's had some things going on lately that I need to share.

First, he's still in tennis. Loving it (for now) and doing pretty well, I think.

Second, he moved up from a Wolf to a Bear in scouts! His blue and gold banquet was Star Wars themed, so he and I made light saber kebobs.

Third, he had a Fiesta party at school. They did some traditional singing and dancing for the parents and then we got to dance with them. It was a lot of fun dancing with my boy!

Zombies

The Girl is sometimes preoccupied with zombies. This is a recent observation she made:

"I'm curious about why Heavenly Father didn't give zombies a brain.....Zombies are so stupid".

It's Her First Award

The Girl got her first award at school for being a "Complex Thinker".  She often lives in her own world where, instead of solving the simple problem presented, she is working on something more complicated.

Her teacher gave this example: while the class was discussing a number line counting by ones, the Girl was busy figuring out how to do one counting by twos. Unfortunately, sometimes this makes it seem likes she's totally lost. But really, she has just moved on.

Turning 9

My boy is just growing and growing. And I love it.  And I hate it.

 He decided he wanted to go to Chuck E Cheese with his buddy Finley, have strawberry cupcakes with chocolate frosting from the same gal who made the cupcakes for their baptism, and then come home and play video games and eat Panera to his heart's content.

He's starting to act older, too (sort of, occassionally). Sometimes the things he says surprises me and makes me laugh. I love you, Boy!

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.