Ashton turns 7!

Ashton enjoyed his birthday a lot!  We had a small gathering at Chuck E Cheese with three of his closest friends.  We are so proud of who is becoming!  Happy Birthday Ashton!

Being 7 is AWESOME!

Celebrating 15 years!

Derrik and I celebrated our 15th anniversary in between visitors over break.  While out for dinner, I came across a note in my purse from the boys:

With the note they gave us $3 and some change towards our celebration.  Love!

And when we came home, Ashton and Cameron had created a masterpiece out of magnets.  These guys know how to celebrate us!

New Years Resolutions

We went out as a family tonight to Chili's (Thanks Deckers!) to celebrate 2012.  I had a project (of course) for all of us to write out some goals for the new year.  We talked about some family goals and just enjoyed the evening out.  Happy New Year!

New Years with Grandma Bonnie

Mom also stopped by the Hubbard Bed and Breakfast for a few days.  The weather stayed nice and we even took the boys swimming!  We celebrated New Years in style - in front of the tv with lots of snacks!  We are glad she made the trip!

Papa Ron and Grandma Suzanne sighting!

 We got our first visitors from the west after Christmas!  We turned up the outside thermostat and had some beautiful and unseasonable weather, which was awesome.  We had a lovely time and can't wait for them to come back!

Our Christmas

Mario Kart!

 The boys started the morning early, but who could blame them.  We opened presents, had some yummy monkey bread and breakfast sandwiches and then enjoyed the gifts for the remainder of the day!

Santa brought Twinkies!

Ethan as Santa 

Christmas Eve

The boys opened pajamas tonight and we headed out to look at Wakefield Wonderland where they have the best lights.  We have a friend whose parents live there and she let us take some photos in their front lawn.  Merry Christmas everyone!

Can You Draw a Pigeon?

We've all been drawing pigeons around here.  Ashton fell hard for Mo Willems "Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus" book.  So we've all taken a turn recreating the sassy pigeon.  Drawing in your pajama shorts is optional.  :)
We're gearing up for the big Christmas celebration around here.  School ends Wednesday and Katie has two programs to direct and then Christmas can officially begin!

Cookie Decorating Time!

Cameron Award

We celebrated with Cameron on Friday when he received the "citizenship" award at school!  Yeah Cameron!

Cameron Soccer Celebration

We're finishing Cameron's soccer season this weekend and had a party with his team last night.  He got a cool soccer trophy and his coach shared some very special words about Cam to the team.  He had a great season and even though it wasn't a winning season, he learned a lot and met some great kids.  Yeah, Cameron!

Deck the Halls? To Get You in the Spirit!

Fa La La La La.....La La La La!

 (He knows the best part!)

Silly photos

 Sometimes, you just gotta laugh at yourself!

Happy Thanksgiving!

We spent Thanksgiving in Apple Valley with the Hubbards.  I made pie crusts with Mom Hubbard and was quite good at it!  Surprised?  I was!  They turned out well!

The boys made turkey sugar cookies and frosted them and Cameron took a special interest in all the food preparations and peeled sweet potatoes.  We took a few sides and pies over to cousin Brian's house and met up with family and had a lovely time!  We have lots to be thankful for!

I am thankful for.....

Our yearly Thanksgiving poster is in full swing.  This year has lots of treasures on it: friends, family, shelter, and warm blankets.  Of course, it's never complete without things like legs, fridge and other items that make you go hmmm......  It's always a great project as we prepare our Christmas lists, focusing on what we want instead of what we already have.  I love my family!

School choir performance

I had the kindergarten thru 2nd grade sing at the Friday flag ceremony last week.  Ashton chose not to be a part of the choir this year which I supported but I think he'll be back in the spring.  Derrik was on hand to run sound for me and I had Cameron play bells on "Over the river and through the woods."  Derrik took a few photos of me in full director mode.  :)

Books, Pillows and Pajamas!

Our school had a pajama story time tonight!  We read and listened to stories and had a great time!

Growing and growing

We were all the school tonight and I had the three boys stand in front of the flag.  Then when I compared the photo against the one taken last year at this time.  Wow....they sure are growing!

Halloween Night

Cameron organizing his loot

Derrik, Cameron, Ashton and I attended the church fall festival ALL in costume - a first!  Derrik dressed as a soccer referee, I was Dorothy, Cameron was Jango Fett, Ashton as Spiderman.  We had a lot of fun trunk-or-treating and the Swarm band did a few songs for the kids.  I didn't get as many pictures as I'd like, but you get the idea.

Ethan with his "Steve" head and pickaxe because the character builds things

It was a little creepy!

Ethan went trick or treating with his friends and dressed as a character from his favorite game, Minecraft.  You'll be proud to know we made the costume ourselves out of cardboard and printouts.  I felt very crafty.  :)  His friend, Austin bought his online so I'm proud of us for saving some money.  Happy Halloween everyone!

Halloween Carnival

Ashton and I attended the Halloween Carnival at the school tonight.  Cameron had soccer practice and needed to be there so he didn't get to go.  :(  But, we had fun and shared all the candy with the rest of the family.  Mom made me a Dorothy costume, complete with shoes!  I did give the shoes a bit of a makeover but I was so thrilled to have a new costume to wear this year!  Thanks, Mom!