Christmas Concert

Just a few shots of the Christmas concert from the December PTA meeting. 2,3,4 graders performed. Here is V with some of her fellow 2nd graders. They were really great!

Victoria was nervous about remembering all of the words to "O Christmas Tree", but did great and  really enjoyed herself. She also liked watching the other grades and her teacher and teacher from last year sing in the Teachers' Choir.

Mrs. Venable on the far left

Mr. Huff, an aid that works part of the day in Christian's classroom, and Ms. Dudley, V's teacher from 1st grade. It was cool to see them participate.

Also, at the PTA meeting, we had a 50/50 raffle and a silent auction for themed baskets. I had a hand in those (assembling, wrapping, and transporting the baskets, making bid sheets etc. and selling the tickets), so was happy to see that we raised 900 dollars.

Saint Nick's Day

I took these letters out of the kids shoes to take pictures of their letters to Santa, but then I put them back! He took them and left some neat things in the shoes. It is a pretty cool tradition for the kids.

Visit to see Granddad

Danny and his brother Bobby took a great trip to Boston to visit their Grand dad. They really enjoyed their time together and with him and the other relatives they visited with. I'll ask Danny to edit this by writing about the trip.

wrestling

2 of Christian's biggest fans!

A post match photo- he won his first match!

Having fun watching his friends wrestle.

Many more wrestling pics to come along with better photos and explanation of the season. Stay tuned- I'm hoping to not get this behind again!

Sleeping beauties

Sometimes as a mom, I feel so blessed. I feel that a lot when I go and check on the kids at night and give them another kiss before I go to bed. From time to time, I bring my camera with me. This was one of those nights.

V in her sponge curlers, on her hand colored, yet faded, Snow White pillow case. She is so cute!

Grant sleeping peacefully through his midnight breathing treatment.

And rosy cheeked Christian in is skater pjs. He's so sweet too.

Love them!

Rudolph cookies

We have made these with my mom before, but this year we made these at MOPS. I had some leftover supplies, so Christian and I had some special one on one time making some! He did a great job and we had fun together. They tasted good too!

Peek a Boo!

While we wait for the bus.... Peek

 A

Boo!

Grant still enjoys simple games!

A face only a mother would love

Apparently Grant loves pumpkin black bean soup.

Another "Best Day"

A couple years ago I remember that Christian declared that it was the best day of his life, well, he has done it again.Crafting with Dad was pretty great!Christian loves to make things and really liked making wooden Christmas ornaments with Danny! Thanks, Danny for making Christian's day!

I think, Christian, it made Dad's day too! He loves to spend time with you.

beautiful bathing boys

Another one of those pictures- they are so cute in the tub every night. Another portion of life that I'll want to remember on day. As you may notice, I feel like these kids are growing up so quickly. 

Serious Portrait

These kids crack me up. This picture was to funny to not post- they wanted to look dignified in their wedding portrait. Not one of them even cracked a smile. Too funny.

Of course they really were having fun though!

Such good little friends.

Grant- a few random shots

These are totally candid, nothing too special happening in these pics, but I think one day I will want to look back at these simple times eating a snack or making cookies together while the big kids are at school.

Grant with his snap pea and cup of water and snap peas. Grant likes to put his food in his cup every meal.

Grant also likes to put things in the mixer when we make cookies. Molasses totally made a mess, but he wiped it up. Can you tell?

He also likes to help sample the dough! I am so glad I get to spend my days with this little boy.

Sam's shower

We hosted a fun fall baby shower for my friend, Samantha Carwile. I am writing this pretty late, so she has already had her baby, Samuel!(who is so sweet and who I hope to be able to hold at church). Here is a picture of Sam and a few other friends from the branch playing pass the pumpkin.

 

We played a couple other games and enjoyed good fall inspired food- pumpkin black bean soup, pumpkin chili, turkey rolls with cranberry orange relish, apples with caramel, veggies, crackers and artichoke dip. We had pumpkin chocolate chip cookies and pumpkin cake for dessert. The food was was yummy. 

We also enjoyed watching her open cute baby boy things.

Call the tooth fairy!

 Remember how Christian's tooth was loose? Well, it got really loose!

And then he lost his first tooth! He was so pleased and we were all very happy for him.

 He looked so cute and was so excited! The tooth fairy gave him a dollar too, which was awesome!

cute pic of V

Raking

Some autumn days are just perfect.  The other day, the Ashley and Johnathan came over after school and the weather was just right. The kids had a great time playing outside- raking leaves, jumping and sliding into the leaves, and playing on the swing set. 

 I caught this picture of Christian- a few of his teeth are loose. Wiggle wiggle.

Halloween 2010

We finally got around to carving pumpkins on Halloween after church.

Victoria loves pulling out the guts! Christian and Grant, on the other hand, will not.

 

 Dad helped Christian carve a really cool skull.

I helped Grant, but he really kept his cute little hand right on my hand, so he definitely helped. He was pretty proud of it.

We all thought that the walking stick we found on our garage was pretty neat. See, God has a sense of humor.

 Victoria's first jack-o-lantern carved without help! I think those pumpkin carving knives really made easier and safer for her.

Christian's scary pumpkin

Getting ready to trick or treat with friends!

 

We totally had a blast this October. It was fun going trick-or-treating in our neighborhood with the Toneys and Stephanie and Faith. We met up with a few other friends on the way too. People really made it a big deal with neat decorations and props and music and mist and such. A lot of people come from all over the county to the Greens and the Avenues because the houses are within walking distance. I am totally glad about that. I think kids should be able to trick or treat and we like to give out candy and see everybody. The only problem was that a lot of cars just drive from house to house and it makes it a little scary/frustrating for the walking folk. It was fun though. People told us that we would have a lot of trick or treaters and we totally did! We think between 250 and 300. We started giving 2 out at the end and maybe Danny and I ate a few Reese's cups too, so we couldn't tell for sure.

And, as a couponer, I have to brag. I got 5 big bags of  candy- the good stuff- for 11 dollars out of pocket and came out with 10 in UPS too. I did lose some ECBs, but that's ok.  That was under the 11.99 price of 1 of the bags. I used coupons and went to 3 stores to do it, but really, I was not about to spend over 50 dollars on candy and didn't want to run out either. Yes, I am a nerd.

Hope you had a happy Halloween! 

Big Baby in a basket

I got this great basket at goodwill for less than 3 dollars. Grant likes to sit in it, V currenly has a Barbie family sitting in it and I have see Christian carry his stuffed anmals in it. I put some throw blankets in it to use when watching tv in the playroom, but they are easy enough to take out. Glad the fam is enjoying my bargain.

"Surprise, Mom and Dad!"

It always makes me a little suspicious when everything is quiet in our house, but it sure was nice when it was beacuse the kids were making our bed and making this cute sign. I found this picture on my camera when I downloaded its contents and was glad that V tood a picture. Kids can be pretty great!

Primary Halloween Party

Our Farmville branch Fall Festival was really fun. It was at the Nyce's farm which was a perfect setting. It is a beautiful farm. Brother and Sister Nyce and the primary presidency (Pam Ludgate and my mom) did a lot of  work to make it such a great day for the kids. There was a costume contest in which every kid won an award, relay races, pin the nose on the jack-o-lantern, a hayride, and dinner. Most of the primary came as well as several friends. We had a great time.  Here are some pictures in no particular order. Enjoy!