Random

Here are a few random pics I found on my camera this month:

Volleyball action in the living room w/ duct tape as the divider. (we're high class)

 I finished my nieces stocking w/ mistletoe on the front. And nope, I haven't even STARTED Kellyn's mistletoe one.....but I'm just gonna kick back and enjoy the holidays. She won't know the difference, right?

 I found the boys like this one night..... Emerson on top and Camden on bottom.....it's like a ghetto bunkbed. 

 Iris is such a sweetie and a great sister.

 Emerson is STILL my snuggle boy. This is one time he was laying on my lap after school and I just can't get enough of looking at his cute freckles on his nose. I used to count my when I was younger. I had 13. :)

He has them all over his cheeks too. I love 'em.

 And since the weather was in the 70s last week, why not start a camp fire in your backyard right?

high 60s and 70s in December? I'll take it. And so will Aleeya.....who is ALWAYS still wearing either a swimsuit or gymnastics outfit. Always.

Last day of school is today for the boys. YAY for Christmas break. I'm just getting sooooooo excited.

Christmas Par-tay

Our church had a church party this past weekend. 

I was in charge of all the music w/ the Primary kids while they did their nativity, so it was SO fun pawning off my younger 3 to others there since Brooks was working. (weird, I know........NOT!)

Anyway, I had the most handsome wiseman and shepherd.....who I didn't get a picture of because we came straight from football practice to the party. But trust me, they were cute, and they did GREAT on their chimes musical number.

But I DID have the sweetest little sheep up there......

 And the most energetic ox. :)

And the rest of us just decked ourselves out in green and red. I love that little "Roycey"'s face.

At first Royce wasn't sure of Santa but was fine after he handed over the treats. (Yes, I realize he should've asked for shoes for Christmas!) Iris just sat there thinking and thinking of what she was going to ask for. "Hmmmmmm"

"WHAT?! You'll bring me MAKE-UP Santa?!?! THANK YOU! I LOVE YOU!"

Yes, we love Santa around here.........but I'm not too thrilled Santa told Emerson he would bring him a jetpack for Christmas. 

Or at least that's what EMERSON understood.

2 years old!!!

 Here he is admiring his brownie/ice cream and MOST importantly, the 2 fire sticks sitting on top!

 We sat there for a while coaching him on how to blow them out........he ended up doing it his way and just spitting them out.

He LOVED the hoop we got him. So let's count here. One hoop in the driveway, one on the back of my front door and one Royce's height in his room. :)

I wasn't sure what to do for his pinata or if I even felt up to doing one (as if Royce cares). Then the kids told me that THEY all got one when they turned two. So I started thinking on what he likes and what would be easy. Airplane came to mind and I figured in my head how to make it. Then I told the kids my idea and they said, "He likes a LOT more things more then airplanes!" (did that even make sense?!?)

I asked, "Like what?"

Then one of the boys said, "Royce's FAVORITE thing in the whole world is his blankey and thumb. But right after that, he likes suckers. So make him a sucker one."

YES!!!! That WOULD be the easiest pinata known to man. So I grabbed a wrapping paper roll and ONE balloon, paper machey-ed (sp?) only one layer (come on! He's 2!!!) and let it dry. Talk about EASY!

Then the day of, I wrapped it up and drew on the sucker wrapper.

 Don't let this next picture fool you, he actually was OBSESSED with the pinata and loved it.

He loved it so much he didn't want anyone else to whack it!  

(Look at all of them just WAITING for their loot,

which consisted mostly of.....you guessed it.....suckers!)

 He's kinda a pinata whacking pro. He was in heaven actually getting PERMISSION to whack something with his bat. That NEVER happens! :)

But as much as he loves suckers, the boys were right......

he likes his thumb and blankey much more.

And I love it too.......because he's STILL my baby boy!

He's Makin' a List

and he's checkin' it twice. Gonna find out who's "Noti" or "Good".

Or something like that.

Emerson has done Santa a big favor. He has taken upon the responsibility to report to Santa who has been "noti" and who has been "good". He even checked it twice (the check marks on the side).

However, if you'll notice, under the "Noti" column it says "Aleeya, that is it"

So apparently only one stocking will have coal in it............according to my Elf, Emerson.

Not sure what Santa would do w/o him.

My favorite Christmas decoration is my HUGE Moravian star on our front porch (24"). So I decided to order a 12" Moravian star for the tree-topper this year. I love it. It reminds me of Winston-Salem and my wonderful memories there.

 And as always there are sugar cookies on the tree that the kids made. Last year I put hot sauce in the the batter for the cookies for the tree. It prevented nibbling quite nicely. I was out of hot sauce this year so I DUMPED (and I mean dumped) Chili powder in the dough.

Apparently, I didn't dump enough............

 (or Royce has a VERY high tolerance for spicey stuff)

Here is Aleeya's list to Santa to put her in her stocking (Santa just does stockings around here)

 If you can't read it it says, "Kiwi, treat, chapstick, nailpolish, bag (purse), Aleeya, Chocolate)

She's so easy to please.

Little does ALEEYA know, Elf/Emerson told Santa she was "noti", and I didn't notice "coal" on her list....

There is just something magical about Christmas and the lights. Here are the kids getting ready to play hide-n-seek in the dark (but JUST with Christmas lights on in the house). I love it how when they play a game they have a FULL "roster" and plenty of players. :)

Kellyn's blessing

This happy little girl was blessed this last Sunday (December 2nd)

 Our friends from Winston Salem, the Cunninghams, came down for her blessing.

Wendy, ALWAYS was called the "Baby Whisperer" w/ Iris and Royce when we lived there. It was fun to see she still has her touch with Kellyn. We had such a fun time visiting.

Kellyn was actually blessed in the same dress that I was blessed in when I was a baby.

Here she is on her way to church. She is DEFINITELY not stingy with her smiles anymore!!!!

Buying Happiness?

Someone once said you can not buy happiness........

Well I'm here to tell you that you CAN buy happiness AND peace of mind!!!!

AND IT ONLY COSTS $35!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This metal gate is IN-PENETRABLE!!! Infact, Emerson on down can't open it!!!

This sweet face is quite.....um.....trouble right now.

(oh yea, he didn't nap yesterday, just found a permanent marker under the bed and went to town in there.....quietly, I might add)

 Now he's not any MORE trouble then the other kids were at this age, but well, I'm  just a tad busier now. For example, I could be helping someone w/ homework and he'll be climbing the pantry and eating.

Or picking up the living room and he'll move the dining room chair over to the sink and have at whatever is there. He's VERY resourceful. And most of the problems happen in the kitchen!!!!

So this metal gate makes me smile...........like REALLY big when I see him like this.

So THERE all you nay-sayers who think you can't buy peace. I JUST DID!!!!!

And I can say GOOD-BYE to this sneaky intruder who CAN open the fridge (seriously, what one year old can open the fridge AND the freezer???!!!!) and then dump out out whole gallon of milk while I'm feeding Kellyn in the other room!!!!

TAKE THAT, Royce.

My favorite room

There are MANY things that I would change about this house, but the HUGE selling point for me was the boys' room upstairs. They ABSOLUTELY love it. (Camden actually says he likes this house better then our last just because of his bedroom)

So if you walk in the house there will be some stairs going up (no door to their room.....makes it PERFECT to hear all their silly conversations at night that gives me entertainment)....that's their room.

Oh, and here's Aleeya dancing on the landing going up to their room. She thinks it's her stage and she'll just sing and sing and dance (ALL DAY!!!!)

 The door to the right is the girls' bedroom and the boys' is up the stairs....you can see Camden's bed up there. And yes, I realize I have NOT made Kellyn's stocking yet, but I'm workin' on it.

Aaaaaaaaaaaand, Aleeya is STILL dancing.

 The boys' room is the whole upstairs. It reminds me of a dorm room w/ the bed-dresser-bed-dresser look. I love it. The 4th bed is eventually for Royce when he's older, but we didn't have a place to store it so there's a 4th bed up there. It has a bathroom/shower up there for them too (THANK GOODNESS!!!!) and a desk and closet in the other corner.

I just LOVE all the space up there.

The other interesting thing is our only TV is up there too. We didn't want it in the living room (there isn't much room anyway) so their room was the only option. I was worried about it at first, but it has turned out to be the BEST. They can't watch it unless they ask, obviously, but it makes for some fun Saturday night football watching when they can just fall asleep in their beds. Plus, it is SUCH a good reminder to me that we, as adults should ONLY be watching things we would allow our kids to. I don't watch movies much, but if I DID it would only be something appropriate for them. It helps the whole hypocrite factor of us parents. Now, now, I don't watch horrible movies (and haven't even seen a PG-13 one in 4 years) but still, some PG "chick-flicks" might have scenes I really don't want my 3 BOYS watching, if you know what I mean.

In our smaller home here, I just think it's so fun that they have their AMPLE amount of space in their room!!! The only thing it's missing is a multiple-shower-head in the bathroom (just like the dorms) to make school mornings go a little faster. :)

Thanksgiving

 There are no words to describe how SUPER DUPER excited I was to have my friend Allison (and her family) come visit us for Thanksgiving!!!! The best part was sitting around and visiting. I missed them so much. And WHAT better place to visit then in a ghetto kitchen so we could check on the turkey?!!?

 They actually cooked the turkey w/ all these fancy-shmancy herbs, etc. and it turned out amazing and pretty awesome looking.

 All the kids at the table ready to eat. So cute.

Allison also brought some SUPER fancy pies (pecan and apple). The sides had cut-outs of acorns and leaves that you can't see............and I provided a frozen pumpkin pie. hahaha. In my defense I DID make a blueberry cobbler too. :)

 The boys loved playing w/ their buddies Paul and Joshua at the park.

 And Iris wouldn't leave Abigail alone.

 Paul and Aleeya playing

And since the menfolk and Bronson were golfing, this seemed to be the easiest way to contain Royce AND hold Kellyn at the same time. The park was actually INSANELY crowded and turned out to not be that relaxing (code for: CRAZY!!!) because Allison and I were there trying to keep track of 9 kids ages 8 and under. 

 We went to Rise of the Guardians with the older kids

(will someone please tell me why boys start doing weird hand signs with their hands?!?!?)

 Aleeya looks EXTRA happy because she was sitting next to Joshua......who she couldn't stop flirting with.

 Paul and Emerson in the row behind us. We had to keep checking on them because it was kinda a scary/high action movie and we were wondering how they would take it all. (Honestly, I wasn't a fan of the movie all around)

But I WAS a fan of spending time w/ Allison!!!!!!!!! Who knew I would miss my friends so much!?