it's the little things

It makes me so sad

to know that I have all of these new memories to share

and that there will be no new memories made

for all of the people that lost loved ones in Connecticut 

I cry for them

I pray for them

and I try really hard not to take the little things 

for granted.

Little things like

a day of crafting with a good friend

laughing at how Luke decided to sleep in his closet all night long

Grammy making fudge with Ryan

 Christmas shopping at the mall with all of my boys

you can see their enthusiasm

Cody in his glasses

he is doing great with them and even says that things don't look

just like blobs anymore

 a little bit of snow  

 watching Ryan's Christmas program at school

listening to their little voices singing "Christmas Is"

the words 

"it's about peace, it's about joy

it's about every girl and boy

it's about family

it's about caring

it's about people giving and sharing

it's about peace

it's about joy

it's about love"

it was just too precious, my favorite program yet

 good friends that will always be there 

 reading Ryan's Christmas chain that said

he can vacyoom the living room to help

 being there to cheer on Ryan at his karate promotions

not only did he earn his third stripe but he also earned

an award for most improved Tiger 

my loving family

december so soon

I was feeling good about the holidays

until today

december first 

how did that happen?

 The tree is not up

the decorations are slowly coming out

but we did start our tradition 

with our elf 

"cotton headed ninny muggins"

to see the mischief that he can get into each night.

 Since the chess board was already out

the boys were wanting to play

Cody is learning chess at school every friday during lunch

so he got to test out his skills on Heath

he lost but they had a good time.

 We also made it to our school

for breakfast with Santa

The kids had each written their letters to deliver.

Ryan asked for some stuffed star wars angry birds

Luke told Santa that he's just been so so good

and Cody opted out of visiting with Santa

but did go in for the group picture. 

Next up on the days to do's

were family Christmas card pictures

it was cold and windy but we managed to get one.

Do you know that this boy will be wearing glasses soon?

We all had our vision tested this week

and it turns out that Cody is near sighted and 

needs to wear glasses only while he's at school.

He wasn't really loving the idea 

and was in denial 

telling the doctor that he can see just fine

but he's warmed up to the idea now

and is going to look so handsome in his new glasses.

 This boy too will be wearing glasses in the near future

maybe one or two years from now the doctor thinks

Luke was a little bummed

he wanted glasses now

he thought that he would look so cool in them.

I would have to agree 

this is one cool kid.

And to think that this is the kid that I thought

would be needing glasses.

Glasses will be a whole new thing for us

Heath and I don't wear them

(thankfully I passed my vision test too

after not having been in like seventeen years)

so we will see how it goes.

How can you not smile when you

see this toothless grin?

I know it will all get done

it always does

the boys are excited

and so am I
the holiday countdown is on.

Wait.........What?

So remember last week when I told you Ryan failed both his hearing and vision tests at school?

Well today was the day we found out if our youngest son was a little deaf or blind.

Wait.....what? 

are two words we hear from Ryan ALL the time, it's actually become a

 family joke now so if he was hard of hearing I guess we wouldn't of been all that surprised

but the vision part did have us thinking because we have never noticed anything.

So our day looked a little something like this:

9:00 am appointment with pediatrician 

(checking for any infections and abnormalities)

12:30 pm appointment with audiologist

(hearing tests)

1:30 back to the pediatricians 

(to go over hearing results)

3:00 pm appointment with optometrist

(regular eye exam)

Ryan was a trooper.

Today was a lot of waiting in waiting rooms

and would of tested anyone's patience

so I was proud of Ryan

even more proud that he passed all of his tests with flying colors

and can see and hear just fine.

Wait........What?

 wasn't expecting those outcomes from our day

but I'll take 'em
so thankful for those blessings.

our thanksgiving

Thanksgiving 2012

my family

including Matt's dog Dixie

I love the traditions of our day

the dinner that we eat off of my great grandmas's china

the kids wondering when and if they will move up to the grown up table

the turkey being carved by my dad

the kitchen full of everyone helping to get it all done

the jokes of me always over eating

the feeling of us all being together

I didn't take one picture at Thanksgiving and don't really know why

I had my camera but sometimes it seems like too much work

but at least I have these that I stole from the family.

It was a good day together.

The family was all there including a few others

Jim's parents and his son Tyler.

We ate a delicious dinner 

played apples to apples

watched football

looked at the sales papers

watched old videos of my mom's singing group

took naps

and hung out.

 Kimber was such a happy girl

she is changing so much and is watching everything

she loved having a house of people to watch

and we loved watching her

she giggled

and smiled

and laughed all day long.

Luke spent a lot of time with her.

He was so sweet. 

We also have fun writing anonymously something that we are thankful for

then going around the room drawing one out at a time to guess who wrote what.

Some are so obvious (like my moms) and then some are a little harder to figure out

but it's fun.

 Since my brothers birthday always falls somewhere around Thanksgiving

we usually get to spend part of the day celebrating him.

He is something I tell you.

He brings a lot of fun, excitement and craziness to our family.

My baby brother is twenty nine, now that is crazy.

 Matt had asked that everyone make him a home made birthday card this year,

We don't know if he was serious or just kidding around but that's what we did.

My mom printed off this picture for his birthday card

it was taken just a few days after he was born.

Matt thought that it would be fun to re-create it

so that's what we did.

Twenty nine years later

So that was our day.

Thankful for so much.

quick catch up

  I don't know what I've been doing the last two weeks, 

obviously not blogging

so here is a quick catch up.

Ryan had a parade at school.

He had to make a float out of a shoe box.

We copied the same one we had done for Cody in first grade

and made a Lego brick.

Ryan was happy so I was too.

Being creative isn't my thing.

Luke has been bugging my mom about making a blanket with her,

so we met her at the fabric store.

Have I told you how much I hate these stores?

Anyway.

Ryan thought it sounded like fun too so he jumped on board with it.

He picked out his material right away.

Sharks.

Luke however took awhile, a long long while.

He reminded me of my sister from years ago

and I wanted to poke my eyeballs out.

Luke found the pattern print right away and knew that was the look he wanted

but there were too many other colors to choose from, oh my!

Then he found a fuzzy black material and the boy was in love, he wouldn't put it down.

Finally after some time and patience on my part Luke decided on the red

and the boy couldn't of been happier.

 Luke and Ryan went home with Grammy to stay the night

and to sew on their blankets.

They loved how they turned out

and I love that Grammy can teach them about sewing.

Cody and I met up with Heath after work for dinner.

I chose Mongolian BBQ.

I love that place

and I love to stack as much food as possible into my bowl

and I really love the leftovers the next day.

I was a happy girl.  

I met back up with my parents the next day to get the boys.

they had fun.

Cody got to spend the morning out shopping with me

he probably didn't have fun. 

Heath had to work

so he really didn't have any fun.

I had parent teacher conferences last week too.

The boys all did great.

Ryan is my little reader just like Cody

and likes to talk just like his momma

but is doing great in class.

Only bad news is that he failed his vision and hearing tests

so we have appointments next week to see what that means. 

 Luke is my math whiz

he loves numbers 

and the teacher was amazed at how he figures out his math problems

he's also quite the angel at school

respectful to everyone.

Imagine that.

Cody is my lover of school

he still loves to learn everything

maybe just not the new ways to do math though.

His teacher started crying during the conference

she really likes Cody and was so proud of his hard work.

He was the only student in his class to get straight A's.

I was so proud of all my boys.

One thing I wasn't so proud of was 

going to McDonald's five times within two days.

Thankfully it was mostly to get drinks and peppermint hot chocolates

but we did eat a couple of meals there.

It was most embarrassing when one of the employees had

recognized me from eating there earlier when I was in the drive thru.

Note to self

more home cooked meals this week.

my vote

 I voted today and so did the kids in their classes.

Luke was home sick with me today so he was an absentee ballot and 

I had to email the teacher with his vote.  

Three people in my family were first time voters this election

Yeah for Brooke, Tucker and Ricky.

I think this little girl gets a number one vote from her daddy.

 I finally got my hair cut and colored.

Did you know my last hair appointment was in March?

It's a dark brown, purplish, reddish color, I like it.

Does it get your vote?

 We celebrated these two birthday kids with a family party on Sunday.

My oldest and my sisters youngest.

It was a really good day with the whole family.

My vote is that I'm done celebrating birthdays for awhile,

it's been a long week of celebrations.

 Papa was a baby stealer the whole day.

He stole her right when it was time to feed her so he got the job.

He didn't do too bad but Grammy came in for the rescue and clean up.

I wonder who Kimber would vote for to feed her again?

Hailey loves owls so my sister made her this super cute owl cake.

I love it.

My sister has become a new person because of Pinterest.

Just ask her family, it gets their vote for sure!

 Hailey and her momma.

Hailey loved her party and got everything owl.

I'm talking owl phone case, owl sheets, owl sweater, owl jewelry,

Whoo knew there was so much owl stuff out there?  ha ha

I know Hailey would vote that her mom is the best.

My mom couldn't believe how much Brooke and I looked

alike on Sunday.

Brooke likes to call me Auntie M and I still call her Brookie,

just like when she was little.

What's your vote, are we twins?

We have had some great weather here still.

It's November 6th and the boys are still wearing shorts to school,

I can't even believe it.

Cody is also wearing his new favorite kind of socks, dress socks.

He likes them because they don't fall down, I tried to give him a little fashion advice

when he was wearing them with his athletic shorts but he said he didn't need it. 

My vote is that Cody will always be just one of a kind,

but I like him best that way!

 So Halo 4 came out today, this is the rest of Cody's birthday gifts.

I had to pick it up from Best Buy today,

you know just me and all the other gamers out there.

I was the only girl in the long line.

Good Times

This game for sure gets a vote from my boys!

 Amanda and I went out shopping on Monday.

You would think that we do it all the time with no kids at home but we really don't.

We had fun and even started our holiday outfits shopping.

I'm going with gray, black and maybe gold or cream for our colors.

I found this shirt for Luke and tie for Cody, the rest I ordered online.

I vote that I'm totally going to love our outfits more than the rest of my family.

Hope you had a good day of voting too!