Happy Valentine's Day!

 There's LOVE in the air!  Yup folks, it's that time of year!  Valentine's Day is a fun holiday to show everyone how much you love them.  I don't go all out, but I try to do a few special things.

 This year I decided to hang hearts from all of the kids' doors and tell them how much I love them on the hearts.  I was actually really surprised at how excited they were about this little gesture.  They sat there and read every sign.  Good thing I took the time to individualize them!

 So I looked on Pinterest (an absolutely favorite spot of mine) and found a cute idea for rearranging cinnamon rolls into hearts.  But silly me... I didn't buy the cinnamon rolls that rolled out!  So, I had to attempt my very best to change these round cinnamon rolls into a heart shape.  You can kind of get the picture, right?!?

 Avery was the first one up of course since she catches the bus first.  We sprinkled a few Valentine M&M's on there... as if a cinnamon roll wasn't sugary enough!  But it's Valentine's Day- load it up!

 We got the kids all dressed in their best reds, pinks and hearts, and sent them off to school!  Luckily the school has started off-setting the parties so different grades are partying at different times.  It helps when you have three kids at the same school!  Austin's party still coincided with one of the other parties...

 but I was able to go to Addie's party.  Here she is with her friend and desk buddy Chloe playing Valentine Bingo.  They played until everyone had a chance to win and get a prize.

 And I was able to make it to Ashton's Valentine party.  They had different stations and in the end had more sugary treats to eat!

When the kids got home from school, I had made, yes, another sugary treat!  I think we all crashed at the end of the day from a major sugar high... but feeling very, very loved!  Happy Valentine's Day everyone!

Austin's Basketball Season

 This was Austin's second season to play basketball.  He was super excited to get going again.

 Randy helped head up a program this year to keep us in town which I was so grateful for!  Our teams were formed from our elementary schools so each elementary had a team or two and we played against each other on Saturdays.

 Last year we traveled far for our teams to maybe score 2 or 3 baskets an entire game!  I could really see the difference in the boys this year.  They had all grown fundamentally but I was still glad we weren't traveling!  I just think its too soon for that.

 Austin really impressed me this season.  He didn't score one basket the entire season last year but this year he really took on a leadership role and scored more than one basket every game.  

We all enjoyed watching him play... with his little tongue sticking out!  Here are some of his fans hanging out in the bleachers!  

MLK Day

 For some reason, right after the kids get back in to the groove of school after being out all Christmas break, we take another day off for Martin Luther King Day.  Now, don't get me wrong- he's an awesome man who did a lot of good... we'd just rather have a the break a little later in the year when there are no breaks!  But we tried to do the most with the day off.  As you can tell, it started off with breakfast at McDonald's.

 Randy took the day off to spend time with the family which I so appreciated!  To be honest, if he didn't take off we probably would have just stayed at home the whole day.  I'm such a home-body and so we are lucky to have him around to get us out and "doing".  

 After breakfast we decided to hit up the mall.  And anytime we go to the mall we will always end up at Hibbitts Sports Store.  It's the only sporting good store in the mall and we are a sporting family!  In fact, the employees recognize us... is that a bad thing?!?

 Next we headed over to get Addie's hair cut.  This girl has been begging me to get her hair cut for so long but it was not something I wanted to do.  I love her hair and its fun for me to try new things on it.  Look how long it was!

After just three days of it being cut she was ready for it to be long again!  I told her she would feel that way.  However, it still looks adorable!  It turned out to be a fun-filled family day which was the best part!

Merry Christmas!

 We hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas!  We sure enjoyed our Christmas holiday!  We have started to try and create some of our own family traditions and it's really helped us slow down and think a little more about why we celebrate Christmas.  But it has also created some fun family memories!  Christmas Eve is now our day to do things as our own family.  We started going to a matinee and afterwards getting pizza for dinner.  We read the Christmas story in Luke and watch a few church videos about Christ.  And this year after the kids opened their one gift (which is always pajamas) they went to their rooms to find tickets to the "minivan" Express.  We all jumped into the car and headed to Quik Trip (our local awesome gas station with amazing hot chocolate) where the kids all got to go get their own hot chocolate in their pajamas.  After that we headed around town on our very own Christmas Light Scavenger Hunt while listening to Christmas music.  We had a blast!  It's definitely going to be a new part of our traditions!

After that we headed home where the kids have started another tradition since we've lived in this house.  They all sleep together upstairs and wait for us to come up and get them!  They were so excited for Christmas!

Avery's favorite gift was her new phone.

Austin's favorite gift was his basketball hoop!  It hangs on his closet door and he plays on this thing all the time!

And the little girls got a new craft station homemade by the Christmas elves themselves!

And it also included a wall of dry erase boards!  Let the creativity begin!

 After that we headed over to see our families.  We went over to Grandma and Grandpa John's house where the kids made trains out of candy.

 And then we headed over to Gum-Gum's house where Nana helped the kids create some donut hole snowmen!

 They also got to open up presents while there.  Gum-Gum got them all fake glasses.... they all loved them!  For some reason its the big thing here!  I keep telling them if they actually HAD to wear them they would hate them.  But I have to admit- they look so darn cute!

Christmas Card Pictures

 I love taking pictures.  One of my favorite things about the Christmas holiday is getting pictures from friends and family.  However, my family doesn't quite share that same love... so it's quite a chore getting some of them to cooperate (Randy).  The day I decided we would have the time to take pictures was actually quite cold.  We have a field at the end of our street so I loaded up the family and a ladder and set the timer.  Wa'la!!!  But when I got home I didn't like all the pics.  However... this one had to do because it included my dear sweet husband who I knew would not be up for going back out another day to retake.

 I mustered up the courage to get my kids back in their outfits... and to my surprised they didn't throw a big fit!  Score!!

 And double-score because the weather was warmer and the light was so much better!  I love the color of the tall yellow grass with the red in their clothes!

Look how happy they are!  I think I promised them a trip to Sonic Drive-in or something... but it worked!  Christmas cards are out! 

Ashton's Ornament Party

 Every year our Pre-K has an ornament party where one adult comes and goes around each of the Pre-K classrooms with their Pre-K student and makes an ornament.  Ashton decided I would be the lucky one!  With her being our last, I really tried to take in every moment.  She made some neat ornaments to hang up on our Christmas tree.

After we finished with the ornaments we went to the cafeteria where we decorated cookies to eat!  We had such a great time together!

Thunder vs. Lakers

Randy was given tickets from a vendor to go watch the OKC Thunder vs. LA Lakers.  This was my very first real Thunder game to go to, and I was super pumped that we were playing against Kobe Bryant and the Lakers.  We took our friends Trey and Carey Auschwitz.  Of course with the Lakers in town the entire stadium was sold out. The seats we got were completely the last row, nose bleed!  I remember seeing people up on that row when I would be watching the game from home and saying that I would never buy tickets to sit up there.  But honestly, they weren't that bad!  Thunder fans are amazing and it was such a great atmosphere.  Best part- they beat the Lakers!!