A New Sport

Ben had his very first basketball practice today.  Basketball is a sport neither Matt or I don't know much about so this is going to be an adventure.  He is excited about learning about basketball.  He has a couple of buddies on his team so no matter what he will have a good time.  Tonight at practice they did some dribbling, passing and shooting.  All those good basketball basics.  Check out our basketball star in action. 

Wordless Wednesday - My 2 Favorite Guys!

Kate is Special

As I was going through some pictures on my phone yesterday, I noticed something about sweet Kate.  Whenever we leave the house she has to be "accessorized" and have an armful of stuff...

 

Yesterday before we went to the grocery store she had to wear her slippers and tiara. 

 Before heading to church, carrying her stuffed kangaroo and Bible while wearing her hot pink plastic necklace.  She was moving quickly hence why she is so blurry. 

Before heading to Halloween party, Darth Vader mask and Ariel dress. 

 Another trip to the grocery store purse, old cell phone and stuffed tiger. 

That just made me laugh.  It is part of what makes Kate so special.  The girl loves her accessories and always has to make sure she has an animal with her.  I love her so!!

A Few Final Thanksgiving Thoughts

So I noticed I had a few more pictures left over from last week that I thought I would share today.  Ben was so excited to make an Indian (Native American if I am being PC) costume in school last week.  They learned all about Indian symbols and decorated their costumes.  I thought he looked too cute!

 Last week was just beautiful.  Highs were in the 60's and 70's.  It was sunny and just perfect.  We spent hours playing outside.  It was just wonderful.  Our driveway is still beautifully decorated from all the sidewalk chalk.  I love just getting to play and be with my kiddos!

We also made some fun turkey cookies for Thanksgiving.  The kids did a great job helping.  Ben really got into it and put all the feathers and eyes on.

 Our turkeys turned out really cute!

What a fun week it was just getting to be with my kiddos.  They are really special kids and I don't ever want to take for granted the time I get to spend with them.

Getting Caught Up

It has been a busy few days since I posted about our Thanksgiving.  We have really enjoyed the time off from school and done lots of fun things.  It started on Friday when the mood struck me and I decided to get out the Christmas decor.  Matt had to work on Friday so I was on my own but I wanted to get it done.  I got it all put up with some help from a couple of little helper elves!

 They have fun playing in the empty tree box.

 I just love it when our house is all decorated.  It feels so cozy and festive.  I love sitting at the end of a long day with the tree lights on and just enjoying it.

Friday night we went to the Havoc hockey game.  we had never been before but it was a lot of fun.  Ben's buddy Evan joined us for the night and we met up with Kelly and Andrew and some friends from church.  It was a great way to spend the evening.

All Kate wanted was popcorn so Matt bought the world's largest bucket of popcorn.  And it was all eaten!

 Saturday morning we had family pictures made.  Then we went over to our neighbor's house to watch the Iron Bowl.  It is usually an unwritten rule that you can't watch the game in mixed company but since everyone knew it was going to be a blow out they invited lots of different people over.  It was nice to chat and eat good food to take our minds off how bad the game was.  The final score was 49-0.  HORRIBLE.  But Auburn is hopefully starting a new and better era for football.

 The kids had fun playing during the game.

Real life started back today with church and then laundry and such.  Sad for school to start back tomorrow.  I sure have enjoyed time with my sweet little guy.

Turkey Day 2012

What a blessed Thanksgiving we had!!  It was such a fun day of spending time with family.  It was so nice to get to think about what we are thankful for.  I loved talking to the kids about what they were thankful for.  Ben said he was thankful for Mommy, Daddy and Kate.  Kate is thankful for her friends and Ben.  Love those kiddos!

We started the day with lunch over at Matt's parent's house.  We always enjoy the big family gathering with over 30 people.  The kids had fun playing with all of the other kids and just getting lots of attention.  We played a fun new game called big happy family.  Ben loved it!

 After stuffing ourselves at lunch we headed over to my parent's house for even more eating!

 We had another super yummy meal and then enjoyed some fun games.

 The guys headed out around 8:00 to hit the early black Friday sale at Walmart.  They weren't gone but about 45 minutes and got everything they wanted.  That was a fun adventure I am sure.

What a special day it was .  So thankful to get to spend time together with family and remember all that God has blessed us with.

One Final Party

We finished up celebrating our new 3 year old on Saturday night with a family (plus the Wrights who are pretty much family) party.  It is hard to do a party with family and friends so it works well to do 2 even though it means more work.  It is a fun time to have all our family together.  We don't get together with both sides of the family that often so it is always good for everyone to get caught up.  We enjoyed a great dinner of Chic-fil-a nuggets, mac & cheese, chips and fruit.  

 My mom loved being able to feed baby Grace!  Grace is such a sweet baby!  Everyone enjoyed getting a chance to hold her.

 These 2 girls are so goofy!!  They ran around like crazy women all night.  They had so much fun.  We asked Kate what her favorite part of the party was and she said, "playing with Paige."

 There were so many awesome presents from everyone.  Kate was so excited.  She loved telling everyone thank you and giving hugs!

 It was time for a little more cake!

 Ben also got a chance to hold Grace.  He had been saying he wouldn't hold baby Perry because he might drop him.  So holding Grace gave him lots of confidence.

We were all very tired at the end of the party!  It had been a full and fun 2 days of partying.  I even hit the bottle (of lemonade).  

What a great few days it was celebrating Kate.  Now it is on to giving thanks for all we have been blessed with.  Just a side note.  This is the closest Kate's birthday will ever be to Thanksgiving.

Princess Fun

So promptly at 1:00 little princesses began arriving for the tea party!  Kate was so excited.  I love this sweet picture of Kaylee and Kate.  Ashley and I were talking about how it wasn't that long ago we were getting dressed up to go to the prom and now our little girls are getting dressed up together.  How fun!!

 Kate's carriage was a hit of the party and they all enjoyed playing princesses!

 After all the girls arrived, we began with tea.  The girls were so cute during the tea.  They all sat up straight and prim and proper.  It was so sweet.  Matt did a great pouring the tea.

 Kate wanted to invite her 3 best friends - Genevieve, Addy and Kaylee.  They looked so pretty in their princess dresses!

 The girls chowed down on the food!

 One of their favorite parts was pretending to turn Matt into different things with their wands.

 There was lots of princess twirling going on.  It was so cute!

 Then it was time for some cake.

 Had to get a picture of all the pretty princesses!

 They did lots of playing.

 Then it was time for presents.

 And lots of sweet hugs!

 We had a fun princess craft to do.  The girls loved making their own wands.

 Check out the concentration on the birthday girl's face.

It was a perfect little party.  Kate had so much fun (and so did we).  It was a wonderful way to celebrate our big 3 year old.