Tracking

Tracking Santa online on Christmas Eve...

he thought it was pretty cool and wanted to know if he had come through our city yet

Santa was making some pretty good time according to this website!

Christmas at home

I worked this past Thursday night. The kids had been begging to open one present before we left for Hutchinson on Friday. I kept putting them off saying, i have to talk to Daddy. We decided we were going to surprise them when i got home from work Thursday night and tell them that we were going to do our little family Christmas all before we left town including not one but all of the gifts. We ate a late dinner when i got home and then told them...they were super excited!

i made them endure a few pictures first

this is what Raegan had asked Santa for...

Santa did pretty good for Trey too! He had really wanted this Bear Gryll knife!

Avery had about 5 pages written in her new journal by the time we were done opening presents!

Ethan. loves. angry. birds!

and this is the aftermath...

And, in case you wondered how we managed to get Santa to come early to our house...well i have special connections. Didn't you know he does early drop offs for some people that leave town?? He also has access to front doors when certain homes do not have a chimney. Santa is a pretty flexible guy, thank goodness!

Partying it up at school

Last Friday was the kids last day of school for semester and also their day of parties. Ethan's was in the morning so i didn't have to go back and forth to parties. Kindergarten parties are so cute! We have a super creative mom in the class that does the cutest things at the parties!

they made little sleighs with snowmen driving them...somehow before the end of the party Ethan's was misplaced...if you have visited a kindergarten party this would come as no surprise!

In the afternoon we headed back to school to snap a few pictures at the 5th grade luau. They had pizza, hula hooped, cake walked and hung out in their grass skirts and summer attire

This first semester of school flew by! We are almost a week into enjoying their two and a half weeks off from school before they get back to studying!

Gingerbread house

Ethan was very proud of his gingerbread house that he made in kindergarten. He get's very attached to his things and after it sitting on our kitchen counter for a couple of weeks and pieces of candy being taken by his older brother and the roof falling apart i convinced him it was time for it to be thrown away...only after being reminded that we have a picture of him with his gingerbread house...

Sisters

Sisters are forever friends. These two annoy each other, fight like cats, tattle on each other...i could go on and on...but i love when they are in their beds at night talking to each other (ususally it's raegan talking her big sister's head off), i love when avery does her little sister's hair and get's her all dolled up. I love when Raegan is struggling with eczema that Avery says "i know how you feel Raegan". They may not ever have to fight over sharing clothes since there is the age gap that there is so maybe that is one less fight they will fight. :) I pray these two will remain forever friends!

School performances

The 5th grade strings performed during lunch Wednesday so we went to school and watched Avery play her violin. She is very happy that she switched from the flute and really enjoying learning how to play the violin.

On Tuesday the 4th and 5th grade special chorus group went on a little holiday choir tour. They sang at a nursing home, at a church and had lunch and played for awhile at Zonkers. They then went to Crown Center to perform.

Today is Christmas parties. I am home from the first and heading back to the second one in a bit. Then the kids are off school and i would like to say we can relax but i'm afraid next week is going to be hectic trying to finish up shopping. At least i get to silence the alarm for a few weeks! That always makes me happy especially since my kids are now of the age that they don't even wake me when they get up!

Trey tried out for the 7th grade basketball team but got cut along with a lot of his friends. They have got a team of his buddies put together that are all going to play basketball in a leauge together so tonight he starts practice for that.

Avery is still loving tumbling and is perfecting her back handspring. One of these days i will get a picture of her. She had her allergy followup and her asthma has responded very well to the meds and she is doing great! Someday i will look back and not remember how much you wear your mama out Raegan...at least i keep telling myself that!

Santa

Trey has informed me i am doing a poor job at keeping up the blog. No worries Trey, i am on it and from here till the end of the year i am sure i will have lot's of pictures. There has just been something to go to at school almost every single day...lot's going on this time of year as i'm sure you all well know!

We went to Crown Center the other day for Avery's choir performance and got there a little early so took the littles to Santa's little shop. Raegan freaked out a little and said. "maybe when i'm 5 mommy" (anout sitting on Santa's lap) but Ethan told Santa her name and she seemed to like the fact that he knew her name so then was happy to go sit with him. Ethan told Santa he wanted a remote control car and Raegan whispered to him that she "wanted what Brookly is getting" (her cousin that she bought a gift for and they are the same age so it is something that she loves)

the kids played for awhile and got all the wiggles out before the concert (ha, who am i kidding...pretty sure the wiggles never leave Raegan's body!)

here is the action shot of how most of my pictures turn out!

Up until last night i had only bough 1 or two Christmas gifts but John and i dropped the kids off at their Wednesday night church activities since we did not have Life group and made a stop off at Wally World and now i am well on my Christmas shopping way.

John also surprised me with a brand new laptop last night!! He has been bombarded with side jobs which we are so thankful for because they were few and far between for a couple of years. It easy for me to complain when he is gone evenings and weekends trying to get them done but i am thankful for the extra income! And, it doesn't hurt when he comes home with fun surprises like this! He just bid and got another huge one so he will be busy busy busy again for quite awhile!

Hit it Taylor

It has been a busy past week. I just got back from Memphis on Monday. If you want to read about my marathon you can visit my running blog with the link over there------>

John was busy playing single Daddy. He did a great job along with the help of some friends and Grandma who helped with younger ones. The laundry was waiting for me when i got back though and kids saying "i need clean this or clean that!"

Raegan loves playing with barbies! We have a Taylor Swift one that has a button on her tummy that you push to make her sing. While she was playing yesterday i heard her say "hit it Taylor!" as she pushed the button. It made me smile!

Scootin

We recently had a nice warm, though windy Saturday. Daddy was working so i decided it was a good day to spend some time at the park. Ethan and Trey both had recently spent their money on remote control cars and i had picked up some razor scooters at the thrift shop.

we walked, scooted and drove cars round and around the path till the kids were worn out.

a snaked slithered under my feet while we were walking...i still shudder just thinking about it. it was good entertainment for the kids!

the kids were then on a mission to find the snake again. trey did and chased it with his remote control car...crazy boy!

raegan scooted till her legs "were soo tired!"

It's not even full blown winter and i'm already missing the warmer temps! I am not a winter person.at.all! But, it's here...like it or not!