December Fun

 December was so crazy busy!  We had lots of different activities going on and we celebrated some fun days, too, like Cookie Day on December 4.

 After their final gymnastics classes before break they had a gingerbread house and cookies.

 Trying out a photo area while we waited on Alice...

 Treats in their shoes for St, Nicholas Day!

 We went to the German American Society's Christkindlmarkt for the first time.  It was a lot of fun!

 I got this cute ornament for the tree there.

 Dressed up for the Christmas parade!  The theme was Christmas Then and Now.

 

 Our 4-H club had a float where the front of the trailer was Christmas Then (where Jack rode) and the back was Christmas Now.

 

 Alice walked along and handed out candy.

 Donuts on Dozens Day (12/12)

 Hot chocolate to celebrate the end of PE for the semester

 Decorating Grandma and Grandpa's tree

 On Friday the 13th we watched The Nightmare Before Christmas...

 ...and had Jack Skellington cupcakes.

 We packed food boxes for the Salvation Army with our 4-H club.

 We've done this for several years and the kids always enjoy it!

 Santa came to our club Christmas party!

 We spent a beautiful afternoon at the Gathering Place.

 Group selfie of our annual trip to Philbrook!

 

 All the kids saw Santa at Utica Square

 Checking out the Nutcracker scenes

 Everyone in the phone booth!  This year another lady stopped and took their picture, too, because she said that was something you didn't see every day.

 Sweet babies

 Alice's dance class had their winter program.  She is loving this class! 

 We all had a good time at the county 4-H party, too! 

 

 A chilly night at Rhema!

 Last weekend we had some Christmas movie marathons.  On Saturday we watched all of the Santa Clause movies and and Sunday we watched all of the Home Alone movies.

 Monday the weather was beautiful so we went to OKC and got the special Christmas Moldaramas at the zoo.

We're enjoying a bit of a lull this week, so hopefully I will get a few more posts done!

10 Year Friendiversary

 

(Starting off with this one because it's cute.)

 10 years ago (on November 2) we met up with some new friends at a local park.  I had known Rachel for a couple of years online through the FIAR boards and when we moved back we decided to get together.

 I wish we had known how much we were going to hit it off because I would have taken more pictures!

 The only close up I got was of the two littlest ones, now 10 and 12.

 So on November 2 of this year, we went back to the same park!

 It looks quite a bit different now, but they still had fun.

 We tried to recreate the one close up shot and I don't think we stopped laughing the entire time.

I'm so thankful for these friendships.  We have made so many wonderful memories over the last decade and I know we'll make many more!

Where I Am (Twelve Years Later!)

Twelve (!) years ago today I started this blog as I was preparing for my husband to deploy overseas, and I was pretty faithful to write until the last couple of years.  As my kids have gotten older it's been harder to find the time to sit down and write, but for the last several months I have been thinking more and more about starting up again.  There's no way to post about everything we've been doing, so I'll start with the biggest change.  Since the last time I posted we added two cats to our house!  In August of 2018 we started going to Street Cats each week to play with the cats who are waiting to be adopted and in January we brought home Beckham, a six year old Russian Blue.  In July our vet posted a picture of the most adorable little orange kitten and I texted a picture to Jay.  When he came home from work that evening he had Tycho with him.  These four keep us busy around the house and we're still involved in 4H and swimming and gymnastics and more. With all of that going on, I know some memories will get lost in the shuffle, so I hope to get back to posting a time or two each week so we can remember the details!

4H Summer

 There's been an obvious lack of posts this summer thanks to my phone not cooperating with my USB cord, but I've got one that works now and I have some catching up to do!  The main thing that filled our summer was 4H, starting with our club picnic at the beginning of June.

 In June we also had Survivor Camp, which Alice was excited about being able to attend now!

 One of the camp days the kids got to go swimming.

 The fair also took a huge amount of time.  Both of the kids worked at set up and judging and helped with the make and take table one day.

 This was Alice's first year to be in the regular 4H categories and she did great!  All of her entries but one placed and she has several items going on to state!

 Jack did a great job, too!  He's got several items headed to state, too!

 The fair isn't complete without our annual trip to Village Inn!

 

 Other than this picture from before they left, I don't have many, but Jack and Jay went to Round Up for the first time in July.

 Record books.  I'll leave it at that.

 Last week were county elections and Jack ran.

The new county reporter!

Many more posts to catch up on and many more fun things ahead!

Happy Birthday, Jack!

 Somehow my little baby is now 14!

 He and Alice spent most of the weekend at their Nana and Papa's and came home this morning to open gifts.

 All good birthdays have Legos, TMNT, and He-Man!  This was his first birthday in years to not get a Harry Potter book.

 For his Sunday dinner he chose appetizers.

 His one of a kind cake...

 4:30!  Officially 14!

 Birthday selfie with mom!

 He requested ravioli for dinner and we had Cherry Berry for dessert.  Then we had a movie night at home.

We haven't had his party with his friends yet, but we did get together with our old neighbors to celebrate the kids' birthdays!

Happy birthday, Boots!  We love you!

Happy Birthday, Alice!

 Alice is 9 now!

 She started the day with presents from us and from Jack.

 She had made a card for us, too!

 She wanted to play at the park and splash pad and have a picnic.  Unfortunately, not all of the groceries made it back into the cart and I didn't realize it until we were across town, but at least they had a big bag of chips to snack on!

 She spent the afternoon in puppet camp, which she is loving.  This is the only picture I have because they are keeping the puppets a secret until the performance on Friday.

 3:31:  She's officially 9! (At Target, looking for a friend's birthday gift)

 She requested Arby's for dinner.

 Then we went to the Pop House for popsicles!

 Birthday selfie at the fountains!

 Last week she had a party with her friends.  They made fairy gardens!

 Alice made this frame!

 She decorated her cake, too!

 For her Sunday dinner at my mom and dad's, she picked her usual: popcorn chicken, chips, potatoes, bread, and cottage cheese.

She asked for mayo and candy cigarettes and my sister added an ash tray, which she loved!

Happy birthday, sweet girl!  You are so smart and sweet and funny and we love you so so much!