Wednesday, December 28, 2011

Happy Birthday Mason



Today our oldest "baby" turned 15.  It is simply amazing how time flies ... many people told us it would, but until you actually live it, it's a hard concept to grasp.  We are very proud of the young man he is growing in to & hope he thoroughly enjoys hunting with the bow!!



Sunday, December 25, 2011

O Christmas Tree

Merry Christmas from our family!!! We spent the day at Stan's parents with his Mom & Dad, Sisters and their families.  The kids sang a couple Christmas carols and Nicole played "O Christmas Tree." It was a wonderful day eating lunch and then Happy Birthday was sung to Jesus before opening presents.

Friday, December 23, 2011

Favorite Passtime

Dane can often be found just like this.  He truly has all the plays memorized as Mason can attest to :-)

Today he enjoyed playing with Dylan while we hung out at Gramma Barb's house to see Uncle Craig and meet Tammy & Krista while they are in town from Austin for Christmas.

Tuesday, December 20, 2011

Snow Fun

After about 5 or 6 inches of snow, the kids had a good time playing in the snow today.  And almost 2 weeks off from work .... my biggest accomplishment is going to be The Hunger Games Trilogy (so far so good)





Monday, December 19, 2011

Gingerbread House

Dane & Abby worked on this at Gramma's house with Kaci & Ansley today while I was at work.

Sunday, December 18, 2011

An Unforgettable Week of Basketball

Friday we traveled to Ness City to watch Mason's game.  And best of all my best friend forever lives there so we were also able to spend some time with Terri & her family.



After the games at Ness were over .... the bus had broke down, they borrowed a bus from Ness only to find out it's tail lights didn't work so they had to swicth busses again.  Mason finally got home at 1:30 am.  And when he wakes me up to let me know he's home ... he says "and someone grabbed my bag off the bus" so he doesn't have his uniform, shoes, brace, or anything for the tournament they are to play at Norton the next day.



The bag was found AFTER I had made multiple phone calls and had all the Ness City busses checked .... had Terri ready to meet me in WaKeeney.  BUT the boys were leaving at 8:30 and I had finally resorted to the fact that I was going to stay home and clean the house.  THEN Mason calls and says his bag is in Monument.  I take off to go pick up his bag, pick Stan up in town, drop Dane off at Mom's and we take off for Norton.  Thankfully, there were no law enforcement officers patrolling between here and there.  We made it in good time and Mason was dressed and ready to warm up 41 seconds before the game before theres ended.  The boys ended up placing 3rd!

Wednesday, December 14, 2011

The Family Pictures

I am finally getting our family pictures on here to share! A big thanks to Michele Hockersmith for another group of amazing pictures.














The 100 Workout

100 jumping jacks
90 crunches
80 squats
70 leg lifts
60 jumping jacks
50 crunches
40 squats
30 leg lifts
20 jumping jacks
10 min run

Well, I actually only got in the 1st 1/2 because of time.  Was hoping for a 2 hour late start at school again today, BUT I'm guessing that isn't happening so I need to start getting ready for work.  Tomorrow I will get up earlier & do it all.

Monday, December 12, 2011

Band Concert

Disclaimer .... FORGOT THE CAMERA

We enjoyed the evening at the 5-12 band concert.  A nice evening watching Nicole play 2 songs on her flute and 2 songs on the bells.  Very proud of her AND enjoyed her excitement for playing the bells .... as she was able to do that BECAUSE I have been a MEAN mother and didn't give in when she wanted to quit piano lessons.

Sunday, December 11, 2011

Chef Abby

An afternoon of making sugar cookies with Abby.  It's these little things I cherish the most with my kids.  It was afternoon of just Mom & Abby time, that just doesn't happen very often!


Friday, December 9, 2011

Dane's math mind

Sometimes this boy's mind never ceases to amaze me.  We stop this morning to get hot chocolate before school & we had this conversation knowing that the total was $2.46 and I paid with a $5.

Dane:  Mom, I know you'll get $2 back. Not sure about coins just yet (wait less than 5 seconds).  And 2 quarters and 4 pennies.

Wow buddy ... your math skills have always been sharp & much better than mine

Thursday, December 8, 2011

Snowballs...black eyes

It was all fun after we got home from school and this a misfire hit Dane in the face ... with a little bit of ice in the snowball.

Dane wasn't too thrilled.  Still not sure who was more upset ...
Nicole for throwing it or Dane for receiving it


Tuesday, December 6, 2011

Winter Concert

We enjoyed an evening being entertained by Dane & Abby and all the K-5 students at the elementary concert.  Great Job!!




Sunday, December 4, 2011

It's Beginning to Look Alot like Christmas


At least with all the snow on the ground it is making it look like Christmas.  The boys took to blowing a little snow and clearing paths around the house and at Grandpa & Grandma's before they got home.  A mere 4-6" and Abby made a volcano & had it erupt, but of course I didn't get any pictures of that to share :(

Saturday, December 3, 2011

Smores

When the snow flies & it gets cold ... it's time to light a fire.  Along with that comes roasting marshmallows and smores.  Thanks Dane for making a yummy smore and sharing

 Dane's finished product he made for Mom
Abby & Dane roasting marshmallows

Friday, December 2, 2011

2 points

The JV Boys won their first game! It was even funner because we got to see Mason & Chase play together.  Last time they were on the court together was back in Little Dribblers YEARS ago.  And even better, it was a Plainsmen Win



Thursday, December 1, 2011

Basketball Season

Basketball season is officially underway .... 1st game is tomorrow night.  We will begin traveling the state again :)