1-18-14 YW BASKETBALL

 Ashley & Aylexie LOVE playing YW basketball!  Jeff’s passion is basketball.  Unfortunately, the girls did not “feel” the love for the game as much as their dad and didn’t continue girls basketball beyond middle school.  However, they played enough “Pig” &  “Frozen” on our backyard court to be able to handle themselves on the court.  The one thing they both have going for them is their height.  It intimidates the other girls!  Here are a few pictures of their last game…I don’t have ANY idea who took these blurry pictures…

12/28/13 AT THE RANGE

 We went to the range to hit a few balls.  Golf can be very exciting and frustrating all at once!  Practice, practice, practice…that’s what pays off.  After warming up, we all did pretty good!  Thomas inherited one of my hybrids and hit the ball 150 yards…I hated that club anyway! 

I forgot to take pictures of Thomas, Jeff and myself…oh well.  Maybe one day, I’ll remember to photograph everyone! 

12/25/13 MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

 Christmas was wonderful!  Each year, Jeff & I make our kids wait while we get ready for the day before they can go downstairs.  I know…we’re mean parents!  We told them they had to wait until 7:00am to wake us up.  We were listening in our bedroom to see if they were awake.  At 7:00 our door flew open and they all jumped on our bed yelling and screaming!  I love the excitement of Christmas! 

There’s a funny story behind Ashley’s present.  After we left Everett, we decided to stop at the outlet’s in Centralia.  I gave each of the kids $20 to spend on themselves.  Ashley called me to tell me she had found a scarf she loved at Eddie Bauer.  I told her I’d be right there to have her show it to me.  I was SHOCKED when she showed it to me because I had already bought it for her!  I then lied…I told her that she couldn’t buy it because it was THE ugliest scarf I had ever saw!  OUCH!  When she opened it, she said, “Mom!  You hurt my feelings when you told me it was ugly!”  I then told her I had to lie, because I had already bought it for her!

More clothes…(sigh)

TOYS!!!

A new Home Theater System!

Merry CHRIST…mas!!!

12/24/13 CHRISTMAS EVE

 Christmas Eve was very relaxed.  We watched Home Alone 1 & 2, ate way too much junk, went caroling with the Younger family and the Missionaries and then came home to open our pajamas.  Yippee!!!

My kids were VERY specific about what “kind” of pajamas they wanted this year.  Flannel bottoms and a large, loose top (they like to wear Jeff’s old t-shirts to bed).  I decided to “glam” them up a bit and put their nick-names on back.  Smalls, Petco & Buddy Roosky.  They LOVED them!!!

I had originally planned on making their flannel pants, but I found a screaming deal at Old Navy I couldn’t pass up!  I bought men’s bottoms for all of them!  I added a few inches to Aylexie’s and hemmed up Thomas’.  It worked out beautifully!

12/21/13 HARD AT WORK

 I like to call this picture “Tall & Small”.  I know Jeff is tall, but I forget HOW tall he is!  Dad needed help putting a new mount on his TV and asked Jeff for some help.  I looked over and saw the height difference and knew it would make a great picture!  :)

12/19/13 I’M A DIE HARD RUNNER!!!

 After my morning run, I came home and my kids told me I had frost on my hat!  It was foggy outside and cold.  I didn’t believe them until I saw the picture.  Pretty cool!

12/18/13 THOMAS GOES TO BIZTOWN

 It is a real treat each child looks forward to…in 5th grade, you get to go to Biztown!  They study all about business in school for weeks leading up to this event.  If you want to chaperone, they enter you into a lottery to choose who will go.  The parents that are chosen have to go to training at Biztown to be able to chaperone.  It is BIG!  Thomas laid out his work clothes and was too excited to sleep the night before!  He was a UPS distributor.  He had SOOOO much fun!  He came home with stars in his eyes!  He couldn’t wait to tell me ALL about his day at work!