Christmas

Opening her Vsmile games


Very excited about Hi Ho Cherry-O



Play-dough!

Look I can be a scary dragon when I get out of the bathtub!!!

Well this was a very interesting Christmas for sure. There aren't many pictures because I forgot my camera at home when we went to Warsaw and Evansville/Jeffersonville. So that said we did open up gifts at our house on the Friday before Christmas (I know I know it was really early). We were really busy every day up until Christmas and since we were out of town we didn't want to have to drag all the gifts to my families house and Chad's mom's house. Anyway this whole Christmas season started off poorly since Grant had a bad habit of opening presents (not just his, everyones!!!) he opened a record 13 in a 30 min time frame. Then the Saturday before Christmas Rileigh was standing on the rocking horse instead of sitting on it and lost her balance and fell into the tree which in turn fell over. Rileigh was fine a few ornaments did not make it through the ordeal. We got the tree back up with no problems and then on Tuesday the day before Christmas eve Chad and I both came down with the stomach flu... go figure. We ended up feeling better on Christmas Eve but I will kinda be glad to see this Holiday Season come to an end. It will definately be one to remember!

Preschool Musical

Singing Away in a Manger

Rileigh's preschool had their Christmas program tonight and it did not disappoint. It was all 3-5 year olds all singing together..... I was quite entertaining. Rileigh had a part in the program where she placed a heart on a banner, she was very proud of herself. We weren't sure if the program would take place since we are supposed to get an ice storm sometime this evening. (ugh) When Rileigh walked in she was holding hands with her "best" friend Lainey, it was so cute! We got pics of her and her two best friends at the end of the program. Her class was supposed to go caroling at a nursing home yesterday but due to the weather the field trip was cancelled and Rileigh was very upset, so I am glad that there were no issues tonight with the weather.

Ok I was trying to upload a short video of the kids singing but as usual blogger does not like my videos for some reason and after an hour of attempting I gave up..... maybe another day I can get it to like my videos :(

Ri and her best friend Lainey

Ri and her other best friend Jillian

The Christmas Play

Rileigh played Mary in the church play this weekend. It was quite hilarious

since the 3-5 year olds played the part of the manger scene. Rileigh and Riley were Mary and Joseph, they were pretty good did their part it was the shepherds that were funny. One of them kept taking his staff and raising it as high in the air as he could and then lowering quickly back down. We thought he was going to hit someone on the head it was quite comical. Here are some pics of my child looking oh so innocent.

Let It Snow!

Here are the kids at Grandma and Grandpa's house on Thanksgiving. Noah, Spencer, and Hunter weren't there since Spencer is still in the hospital. We hope you come home soon! Gabe was at his dad's house so it was only the 3 kids.

We had our first snow early this morning. Grant woke up and looked out the windows and said "mommy, it's snowing where's the grass?" So after breakfast all the kids got dressed in their snowsuits and went outside and played in the snow. Cousin Lucas and aunt Ellen were down visiting since Gabe was going to other cousin Noah's birthday party so he was out playing too. We then went to the Noblesville Chrismtas parade and froze our butts off! It was very chilly but the kids had fun seeing McGruff the Crime Dog, firetrucks, police cars, and at the very end Santa!!!!! They got more candy (just what we need since we still have Halloween candy left). It was a fun afternoon and the kids are so ready for Christmas. They can't wait to open presents and make cookies. We love this time of year. Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving with your families!

Here they are enjoying the freshly fallen snow! They made huge mounds of snow in attempt to make a snowman it was very wet snow.

Here they are at the parade.....freezing!

Say Cheese!

Friday evening we went to get the kids annual pictures taken. It was an adventure as usual. The place was running about 30 minutes behind and there were kids and parents EVERYWHERE! The photographer said that they were 3 people short that night so that is why it was so crazy. The kids did well regardless and managed to not mess up their nice clothes while running around the store with some other restless little ones. There weren't as many good pics as in the past years but some turned out really well so here are a few. Hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

I couldn't get this one to rotate sorry...

Needless to say they cropped out the purple flower..... daddy didn't really want it in the pics but it kept Grant busy :)

You're not my friend?

Ok so we had our cousin Hunter over on Wednesday for a several hours to play and visit while his older brother is in the hospital for his second round of chemo. It is so funny because in this pic they are of course having a good time watching a movie together like nice little boys..... haha! For the first 2 hours he was visitng things went pretty well and then Grant and Hunter did their usual fighting routine. Why the two of them do not get along is beyond me.... they are 6 months apart and their cousin that is right between them gets along with both of them pretty well. Anyway so there is a reason God did not give me twin boys.... having 2-3year olds does not sound like my idea of a good time. They were fine and I love having Hunter over he is a sweetheart and loves his aunt Amee but at one point Grant looked at him and said you are not my friend... hahaha hopefully when they get older they will be the best of friends, but right now they fight over EVERYTHING... even more than Rileigh and Grant do. It was so funny when Hunter left Grant gave him a hug and a kiss. Oh boys...... but you've gotta love them!

Happy Halloween!!!!

The weather was so awesome last night! The last couple of years it has been freezing outside but it was a comfortable 65 degrees yessterday. The kids went 0ut in the neighborhood with Chad and I stayed home to pass out candy to all the other kids. Here are pics of the kids in their costumes.Grant wouldn't wear the spiderman face but he carried it in his hand all night.

Fall Days

So not a lot going on here lately. Rileigh had her last soccer game on Sunday and got her medal for the season. It was too cute. The team went to Culvers afterwards for ice cream and had fun playing together. We are all going to try to be on the same team again in the spring, the girls get along really well. The coach was telling us that he thinks Rileigh will be good at soccer if she keeps it up, she and one other girl on the team were the only 2 to score at all this season. Thank goodness she doesn't have her mother's athletic abilities!

Today we went outside to play because the weather is so nice. I took some pics of the kids sitting by our pumpkin. Rileigh drew the face on it and I carved it out. More to come after Halloween. Hope you all are having a good week and a fun filled Halloween!

I couldn't get both of them to look at the same time.

Family Camping Trip

This past weekend we went camping with most of my mom's family. Yes that is right we were camping with my parents 4 of my aunts and uncles, my siblings, their spouses, and some of my cousins! There was a large group of us and we had a great time! We went to Patoka Lake in southern Indiana. We arrived Friday evening and had to put our tent up in the dark but with the help of my sister in law Cathy and my day shining flashlights on us we got it up in no time (well mostly Chad got the tent up). We sat by the fire roasted marshmallows, hot dogs, and ate way too much food! On saturday we took a walk down to the beach which was 3 miles each way, so on the way back I had to give piggy back rides to the kids, whew that was a workout carrying them! We did a lot of relaxing and hanging out and had a great time overall! Even though it was FREEZING outside at night!!!!! The kids had a blast and loved spending all that time outdoors!

Rileigh posing on the hike back from the beach.

Hiking with their "walking sticks"

Grant playing in the sand at the beach.

At the playground!

Day on the Farm

Sunday we went to Smith Family Farms in Pendelton with Nana and Papa. If you get a chance it is a great place for the kids and the parents. http://www.smithfamilyfarms.com/

The kids had fun hunting for a pumpkin in the pumkin patch. They picked a pretty big one to bring home to our front porch.

They also played on the playground and in the sand. There was a real tractor to play on and a pretend cow to milk. Grant's favorite was the playhouse that had food and a kitchen. He made us some tasty carrots in the oven.

They also walked through the corn maze where Grant led the way, he lept saying "I know the path, follow me!" It was too cute!

They also got temporary tattoos, Rileigh got lips on her hand and a butterfly on her cheek. Grant got a spider on his hand which he refused to get a picture of.

Both of the kids had fun at the petting zoo Grant's favorite animals were the baby chicks they were only 3 days old. Rileigh got to pet one of the baby chicks and she loves petting all of the animals and said that the sheep felt like a pillow! Rileigh also got to ride on a pony for the first time, she loved it.

Birthday Party Pics

The beginning of the party with the Thomas conductor hat on.

Sitting next to his cake only thinking about the train on the cake and when he could play with it.

Favorite toy #1, a remote control Lightening McQueen .... I have a feeling I will be waking up at 7am to the sounds of this car.....

Finally a piece of cake. He waited until everyone left to finally have his cake (ahem I mean icing).

Watching favorite toy #2 a battery operated Thomas set. Also finally eating dinner his favorte Peanut Butter and Jewy .