New Year - BUSY! BUSY!

We are only half way through January and we already have a lot to talk about. You probably didn't notice, but I didn't blog about a certain party that I/we have attended over the last 11 years. Actually, I think we missed it last year because we had the flu but that is beside the point. We have celebrated "Texmas" over the last 11 years. It started out with some friends from work all celebrating together. Then it turned into friends and significant others, then spouses and then kids! 5 couples and 10 kids later it started to get a little chaotic, so we decided to try something new this year. Instead of exchanging gifts, we rented a private room at III Forks and had a nice adult dinner. The food and company were delicious and we still ended the night playing games.

We had gotten Grammy and Grampy YETI cups for their birthdays but they had gotten so expensive so we gave them an IOU until the prices went back down. They came in right before they left for Florida!

I am not sure when or where this picture came about. It was on Mikey's phone and definitely blog worthy.

The kids have been having fun on their scooters!

All of the neighborhood kids got hover boards for Christmas and of course Mikey had to try one out.

We sent this picture to Marmee of the girls in one of their new outfits she gave them for Christmas.

Bentley is close to turning 3 which means he can start extra curricular activities. I took him to have a swim evaluation to see if he qualified for the class without Mommy getting in the pool and thank goodness he did!

He is more intimidated than Presley was, but once they started playing he had fun.

Bentley also gets to start soccer! He is doing a program called Soccer Shots. It is after school on Thursdays and teaches the fundamentals of soccer to kids. We don't have to buy any uniforms or equipment or go to games yet, so it is a nice introduction. Bentley's first soccer practice is in the books. I think he may have some of his Daddie's skills.

This girl is too much. She had her sunglasses on and her baby in her arms (not pictured) yelling from the sidelines telling Bentley not to use his hands. It was too cute.

Speaking of firsts, I found a dance studio that offers a dance class for kids with special needs. Kiley absolutely loves to dance and this is such a blessing. She truly feels the music. We hope after a couple of classes she will warm up and show her true skills!

Once again, little miss thang, peaking around the corner keeping an eye on her sister.

Presley had an "S" parade at school where the kids brought anything that started with an S and they walked through the school. Presley brought sunglasses. Not sure why she didn't have them on for the picture.

Her teacher sent me this picture too.

Now she wears her sunglasses every day!

Mom also helped me update all of my pictures in my frames in the living room. Is it weird that I dressed the kids for their school pictures to match the decor in my living room?

Soccer sideline selfie!

This time I tried to get baby in the picture. When we were leaving practice the coach said, "It looks like Bentley has two Mommy's". That is correct.

I still get the biggest kick out of the whole "boy potty thing". He has some skills...

Goodbye 2015, Hello 2016

Marmee and Guy came up to ring in the New Year with us. We all wore PJs and celebrated with the kids.

After the kids went to bed, we had a 5 star steak and crab dinner. It was delicious!

After dinner we got in the hot tub and then got out just in time to watch the ball drop in NYC. Shortly after we went to bed. The next day we had everyone over for a big New Year's Day dinner. The guys sat in the kitchen and the girls sat in the dining room.

We hope to have a very Happy and Healthy 2016.

Merry Christmas!

It looks like Santa came!!

The kids had so much fun looking in their stockings and playing with their new scooters!

After Grammy and Grampy came over to see what Santa brought we packed up the truck and headed South to Marmee and Guy's!

The kids got to open their stockings before brunch.

After brunch the kids were ready to open presents! The presents get pretty chaotic at Marmee and Guy's house so this is the only picture I took.

And after presents, the kids were ready for a tractor ride!

Marmee made a delicious prime rib dinner and then we had a bonfire when it got dark. The next morning, Mom, Mycah, Presley and I loaded up my truck with gifts and we went to Mycah's apartment to hang some mirrors above her brand new couch.

Then we headed to my house to make some updates to the dining room and play room! I got a new dining room rug and a new table runner and place settings. I have two other colors of chargers to swap out. We also hung some art work to give the room some dimension!

The picture is sideways, but it is a cursive B on the top plate. I am so in love with them!

In the play room, I purged all of the kids toys and got rid of a shelf with 9 cubbies. We gave our blue recliner to my cousin Molly. We washed the couch cover and moved the couch against the wall. I bought new storage cubes for the shelf under the TV and Mycah gave us the letters to spell PLAY above the TV. We framed and hung the kids pictures on the wall as you come up the stairs. Mom and I cleaned out all of the drawers and cabinets and organized the puzzles so that the kids can access them better. We obviously didn't do all of this in one day, but here are the pictures of the end result!

It is a new and improved play room! Having less toys and "junk" has been so nice. The kids play with more of the toys and there is a lot less cleanup. They have also been watching movies on their bean bags that have been stashed in the media room for the past year because we didn't have enough room in the play room.

When we left Mom's house that morning, we knew that severe weather was going to come at some point. We checked with Dad later in the day and he said it would probably hit around 5pm. We could have worked on my house for days, but around 330 we loaded up and headed back south. We stopped at the store for a couple of things and then got on the road. When we were a couple of miles from Mom's exit, she and Mycah started getting texts and warnings on their phones that a tornado was forming very close to where we were. We quickly exited and I sped all the way to their house. The rain started right was we pulled in the driveway. We lost cable on and off for a while, but ended up spending the rest of the evening watching tornado coverage. I think there ended up being 11 tornadoes that touched down on the day after Christmas. It was devastating. The one that we came very close to ended up hitting the town that I grew up in. There were several others. We had a friend send us this picture of one across a lake from them. So scary!!

We were safe and sound and our prayers went out to all of the families who lost their homes in the devastating tornadoes.

On another note, Mikey and I splurged for Christmas this year and finished decorating our outdoor living area. I finally framed my shell art and we bought and hung curtains for both privacy and decorative purposes. It warmed the living area up and we absolutely love it!

We can close the curtains and turn the fire place on and it stays pretty warm.

This is a view from the outside looking in.

We were blessed to have a wonderful Christmas again this year. We love our traditions that we have created with the kids and each year gets more and more fun. I'll leave you with this picture of Bentley helping Marmee in the kitchen.