Christmas 2012, a little late, I mean A LOT late

We had a wonderful Christmas vacation, and boy was it packed with fun!

We had a long Christmas this year. It started with having Christmas with my In-laws the Saturday before; it was soooooo nice to be able to go spend the day at their house here in Washington. I can’t say enough how thankful I am that they moved here to be close to all of us. It’s unbelievable to think how it all worked out and they were able to have a church to serve in and that we finally got to repay the favor of them living with us this time. We had a yummy meal and a fun time together.

The next morning, we opened presents at our house (just the 6 of us). My heart smiles each time we have special times like this. I realize how time is flying and these special times of having all the kids little is slowly diminishing. I want to just enjoy and play and take it all in and hope they are making memories in their mind that will last as well. The big boys got Traxxas remote control cars and they were a hit. They go over just about anything and man are they fast! Caleb got a battery powered Jeep and is still working on being able to steer it without help, but he sure is cute in it. Aubrey got a shopping cart and she pushes that thing just about everywhere she goes. I am so thankful for their little lives and that I get to be their Mommy and also that there is a little pink mixed in with the blue and brown (dirt, lol).

 

The next morning (Christmas Eve) we went up the mountain and found a place to sled. I love sledding and watching the boys sled too. Caleb was keeping up with the big boys, hauling his sled up the hill and coming down really quickly (all by himself, he is a smart little 2 almost 3 year old). I love living in a place where you can go 30 minutes and find snow (I really do). We had a good, cold, fun, snowy Christmas Eve.

On Christmas day all of the kids and I flew to Texas to spend some time with my family and visit with some friends and Jonathan’s aunt, cousin, and his Grammy too. The flight went better than expected, and we arrived and were greeted with a white Christmas.  We spent some days shopping (of course), when I’m with my Mom, we just have to shop.  We finally celebrated Christmas with the whole family (minus Jonathan) and of course we had a great time, with presents, yummy food, lovely people, and laughing. It is always a special time and means way more now because the time is so precious (because of how far we live from each other).

On one day, we got to visit with one of Jonathan’s aunt and cousin and then we visited his Grammy in the hospital (so glad she is back home now).

One day that followed we spent with MY cousins and Aunt and Uncle. I can’t remember the last time I’ve seen them all (in the past just the girls get together) I was glad that all of THEM at least were there!

Another day, I got to hang with Faylean aka Faline and my nephew Tristan. I just love them!!

 Another day, my sister-in-law and niece (2 ½ years old) came over and we spent the day at Chuck-E-Cheese. It’s always cute to see all of the cousins together playing and riding kiddie rides together. I believe the rode the carousel about 100 times. Oh, what fun!

Yes, another day we spent hanging out with one of my favorite people (it was confirmed on this visit that she is one of my most very favorite people in the world, for real). I believe we are sisters from another mister, I finally got to meet her whole family and our 9 kids got to play too!!

You guessed it; another day was spent playing Putt-Putt and arcades. Sadly, my mother beat me at golfing, but I at least beat Nathan, Clayton and Caleb.

One of the final days was spent at the Fort Worth Omni Theater and Museum. All of us girls and kids spent the day watching a film, exploring and of course just getting to spend time together and watching all the kids have fun together. The kiddos and I had a great time and we are so thankful for the people that made it happen, Mom and Dad. Thanks to my brother and sister-in-law for the use of their vehicle to transport our whole family (you will never know how grateful I am for that!) And lastly, for everyone that took time to see us and visit with us, it was a happy trip.

We sure were happy to get back to our Hubby/Daddy, we missed him and are thankful for him holding down the fort and letting us go for a while to be spoiled in Texas.

I never posted this blog, over a year and a half ago!!!! Oh my!!! This is Christmas 2012.

Hello Beautiful Day!

It was a such a nice, sunshiny day out today, so I decided to blow up both kiddie pools (Caleb prefers the small, shallow one, so I blow up both). I bought the boys a snorkel and some goggles with noses yesterday and they had a good time playing in the pool with them. We filled some water balloons up too.
I went to the Y the other day and signed the boys up for swim lessons(to take in August), so they really like practicing and want to get better. They really, really got into wanting to learn how to swim during our vacation, because we swam pretty much everyday. Towards the end they were belly flopping, jumping, and diving in too. It was neat to see their progression throughout the week.
No hot day is complete without some kind of cool treat! So, on the menu for today we had Popsicles. Aubrey drank a bottle instead ;)
I'm a stickler for not letting my babies have sweets 'til they turn one year. Some people get annoyed with my rule(and have given them some things), but first, there's no need for them to have sweets and second, they're my kiddos, and that's the way I want to do it. On their first birthday, they get to dive into their cake (and it just makes it fun!)! For Aubrey it's coming soon!!!! My last baby is about to turn 1 on the 29th! It's exciting and unbelievable! I'm so glad this year that my Mom will be here to celebrate too! And I'm just oober excited to just see her and hang out with her!!!!!!!!!!! Yay! Yay! Yay! She'll be here on the 19th! Come on Momma!
Enjoy the pics!

Our family of 6

Playing with some different photo apps

Bikes, Creeks, and Golf

I am so thankful for my husband!! The reason I say that is, as a family of 6, some things are harder to do with more people and especially with two babies. Jonathan is always such a trooper and I am thankful that we do all the things we do! Some families refuse to participate in some activities because it's just too hard. Jonathan ALWAYS finds a way! He really is the best!
This afternoon (the 6th) we went on a bike ride. We went first of all to find a frisbee disc that got lost just as the sun was going down the day before. We found it and rode to the creek to throw some rocks and the boys took their shoes off to play in the water for a little bit. We even caught a fish with our bare hands!! (Pictured below)
As we ride back home, there is quite a long uphill ride to get to our street. Clayton, does not have a bike that can switch gears, therefore it's extremely hard for him to ride uphill at all. Jonathan (with both babies in tow), ties a rope from the babies seat to Clayton's bike and pulls a train of kids behind him. It is the cutest sight to see :) I'm just glad it's him and NOT me!!
The night ended with a game of frisbee golf with Jonathan, my father In-law, and a good friend Rich. I may not have beat any of them, but I got the best score out of all the girls!
It was an eventful week, full of fun, family, and friends!

More Busy Week :)

On July 4th we went to see our town's parade, with floats of all kinds. I love living in a country town, they have tractors and 18-wheeler logging trucks. The boys love the free candy they throw in the streets. We also got to see Granny and Papa (my In-laws) too, they had a spot in the parade with their church handing our flyers and candy to the crowd. It was a perfect sunny day for the parade.
Next, we headed home and blew up the swimming pool for the kids, and rode the motorcycle and 4-wheeler in the front yard, waiting for the sun to go down!
We had some friends over for dinner and fireworks(Steve, Jan, and Travis). We ate good food and had good conversation too! We topped it off with brownies and root beer floats! Mmmmm.....
Jonathan LOVES fireworks, therefore we shot them off for 2 hours straight! (That's 4 people lighting them off, pretty much nonstop) The big boys can't get enough of them either (reminds me of myself at that age, lighting off fireworks at the farm, good times). We had 2 fireworks (12 shots) fall over after the first shot and continued to shoot toward the house, garage, and people. It was a quite frightening (and two friends politely headed for home, lol!).  We watched the show by campfire, it was a perfect evening, ending at midnight with some smores :)
The next afternoon, we headed south to return our furry friends to their original owner :( It was a mixed emotions kind of day. They had a few issues that were not quite disclosed when we picked them up, resulting in their return. All of that to say, for now, the dog days are currently over, lol!
The next blog post will conclude our week o' fun!

Busy, busy, busy week!

This week has been busy and eventful :)
It started out with dentist appointments on Monday.
Tuesday (July 3) we headed to the Loggerodeo (this event is what puts our town on the map). It's a week long celebration in our town. They have all kinds of logging events, carnivals, street vendors, and all sorts of festive events. We headed to see a chainsaw woodcarving. It's amazing the things they make out of a huge log, and it's fun to watch them. Our town has these huge wood sculptures all around the streets downtown.
That night, we went to our town's annual rodeo. When we got there, the boys got a chance to lasso some cows (made out of bales of hay). They did really good and had fun too. Our family loves rodeos, it's always exciting and the boys get into it.
I'm gonna post pics of the fun and continue our week on the next post!