Rhett and Mamma's Special Day

I wanted to do something special for Rhett on this day. His brother had soccer camp and a sleepover that night. I try really hard to make sure he doesn't feel left out (being the middle child and all). So, we dropped Gracie off at preschool, dropped Braden off at soccer camp, and we headed out. First stop, his choice for breakfast- McDonalds.

He snapped this picture of us before we went in. I'm doing the "Henley Squint" in this picture...

2nd stop, bowling!

End Score. He said I was mean because I beat him. I really didn't try that hard. It was fun!

Video Games

What a fun day we had! It's always good to get to spend some special one on one time with each of the children. It's amazing what you hear when you have time to really listen to one child apart from the rest of the family. I'm thankful that we were able to spend time together on this special day!

Christmas Dress

I just have to share a picture of Gracie in her Christmas dress. She wore this to church on the night after Christmas. She was a doll!

She is posing in front of the pantry door with the Christmas cards that we received this year. I love getting Christmas cards!

Can you guess?

What this is?

Seriously, guess! Just leave a comment on your best guess as to what this is. I'm anxious to hear your guesses. I bet no one could figure it out! I'll give you all some time to submit your guesses and I'll be back later to tell you what it is and to tell the story!

Gifted?

I'm sure I'm partial, but I think my Gracie might be gifted. Seriously, she is super smart and I'm so proud of her.


But this.... took the cake.


One morning as we were getting ready for school (the boys' last day of school before Christmas break), the kids were all getting their teacher's Christmas gifts together. I was in my bathroom getting ready and they were in the kitchen at the bar writing out cards. Rhett and I were hollering back and forth with each other about the letters in his teacher's name so he could get it spelled correctly. Gracie wanted to know how to spell Ms. Kelli. So, I started yelling out the letters one by one and she would say, "Ok, what's next?" I kept telling her which letter was next, thinking that she was just scribbling on the paper.


Then she brings me this:

(She did dot the i at the end. It was just a little tiny dot!)

She is 3 years and 5 months old. WOW! I was SO proud! I didn't even know she knew how to do that! I am so thankful for the WONDERFUL preschool she's going to. She started going the 1st part of October and has only been going 2 days a week and they've already taught her this!
Ms. Kelli, you rock!

And now she knows how to spell and write her own name already. I smell a scholarship already!

All dressed up with nowhere to go!

Aunt Cathy got Gracie 2 darling dresses for Christmas. 1 was the cute little pink Christmas dress with the fluffy white sleeves that you've already seen on the blog. She was able to wear that a few times before Christmas.

The other is this gorgeous thing:

She wants to wear it everyday. Although she has nowhere to actually wear a dress this fancy, I can't bear to let her just play in it. I'm afraid she's going to ruin it, then if she actually gets a chance to wear it, she won't be able to.

I'm hopefully going to get to go to my cousin's wedding in a few months and if we are able to go, then Gracie will wear this dress. Hopefully there will be other occasions too! My little princess is so beautiful in it! She calls it her "getting married dress".

My BFF is 30!

Well, I'm officially getting older. I know this not only because my husband has reached the big
3-0 mark (ahem, over a year ago!) But, also because my BFF just reached the big milestone. We've been friends since 4th grade and best friends since probably high school.

You know how you have 1 friend that no matter where you go, what happens, what you're going through, she just gets you and loves you no matter what? That's Tasha to me.

Her husband planned her a surprise birthday party in Branson. She had no idea! It was a lot of fun!

The Birthday Girl with her hubby

Braden soccer camp

We were thrilled to be able to send Braden to a soccer camp with professional player Domenic Mediate. It was held during his first 3 days of Christmas break.

We were so proud of him. He appeared to be the only player that had not already been playing on a club level. He started off very timid because he's not used to that. He's usually one of the best in the sports that he's played. This was a good learning experience for him. By the 3rd day, he started opening up and his playing certainly improved greatly. Like they always say, you get better when you have to play "up" to compete. It was proven during this camp. It was neat to watch him evolve a little bit during the week.

Braden with Domenic at break time on the last day of camp.
Braden (in the red shirt on the left) practicing some goal keeper drills.
Braden's cheering section!
Drills!

At the end of camp, Domenic gave out some camp awards. Braden got the "Toughness Award"! He had hurt his thumb on the first day of camp and he kept playing hard and trying his best the whole week. He even still participated in the practice with the goal keepers. You could see him grimace when he'd catch the ball with his hands. It was neat that Domenic noticed that and rewarded him for it. That really gave Braden the confidence boost that he needed. He can't wait to get back at it in the next soccer session.

This was his prize for his awared. A DC United T-shirt that he had Domenic sign.

What a great week! I'm so glad we were able to send him to camp!

More fun in the snow!

The day after Christmas, Jason took the kids back out to play in what was left of the snow. They also got a chance to test out the go kart.

I didn't get too many pictures, because it was freezing cold and the boys took the go kart out of my viewing distance!

Christmas Day #2

Here's the kids playing with some of their stuff throughout Christmas day.

I think this one's sweet because I didn't even ask them to touch much less embrace. So sweet.

SNOW DAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Playing with some of the gifts from MeMe and PaPa that they hadn't got a chance to until now

Christmas #5

Christmas Morning!

Santa came!

The kids got everything they asked for. We are so blessed. I can't even tell you the feelings of gratitude that I had as I sat in my jammies, spending our first Christmas in our Awesome new home, watching my kids' faces light up as they opened their gifts. I'm not even close to deserving any of the blessings that I've received. Thank you, Lord!

(Once again, there were over 100 pictures from this day, so here's the edited down version...!)

First, we opened the gifts from Unca Bruce and Aunt Jill. The box said don't open till Christmas, so we waited! Thanks guys! They loves their goodies!

The boys got Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Winter games for Wii. They've been playing their Summer Olympic games game for over a year and they really love this new one!

Gracie got a new Cinderella Barbie with a horse.

The one thing Rhett REALLY wanted was a Peyton Manning jersey.
Talk about one excited and happy little boy!

And some other Peyton stuff too!

Books!

Gracie asked for costumes... ask and ye shall receive!

BIG gifts!

Rhett got an MP3 player!

Braden got a laptop!

THE BIG gift.

What a WONDERFUL Christmas!!

The icing on the cake was that we got to stay home all day. For the first time, we didn't have anywhere to go on Christmas day. No plans. We cooked a big breakfast and a big dinner. We opened all the kids' stuff. They got to play with their toys, try on clothes, play games. It couldn't have been a more perfect, wonderful day! Oh wait, the fact that we had a beautiful White Christmas didn't hurt either! Those pics are next!