January Highlights

The month of January was a busy one. We started off the month with a homemade pizza contest night with some friends. Here we are making our pepperoni ones.

 Master chef Geoff tossing the dough

 The girls testing the pepperoni and helping apply it to the pizza

Macie had a dance performance for school. It is always fun to see what they have been working on and how much she progresses and learns.

 She is the one 2nd from the right with the huge bun in her hair

Camden started taking a soccer class at the rec center. At first he hated it and just wanted to sit on my lap, but by the end, he loved it and couldn't wait for his class each week.

 

Getting his certificate at the end of the class.

We surprised the kids with a  trip to the local indoor water park: Great Wolf Lodge. This is always a fun trip. The girls love it and this time the 2 little ones could do everything on their own and even some of the bigger slides. Everyone had a blast and came home very tired.

 Watching the live story time from the cabin loft

 Getting the big bucket of water dumped on their heads. Geoff, Macie, Addie, and Brynlee were brave enough to try it out. Camden sat by side and cried the whole time for Bryn. He was pretty worried for her. She came running out pretty fast and was crying. The rest of them enjoyed it though.

 Camden loved the slides and couldn't get enough of them.

 The 2 littles playing on the jet ski's and shooting water at Geoff.

We have a little ledge in our dining room, that occasionally gets stuff stuck on it. This was Geoff's solution this time to getting said object down. I though it was pretty funny so had to snap a picture.

 Addie being the brave retriever.

The weather finally warmed up a little bit one Saturday so we took advantage and went to feed the ducks at the pond. This is always a favorite and these ducks are not shy. They will chase after you and bite your shoes or your fingers if you are not fast enough.

We went upstairs to check on the kids one night after they were supposed to be asleep to tuck them all in and this is what we found in the littles room. Camden was completely passed out on the floor while Brynlee was reading him a bedtime story. It was quite possibly one of the cutest things I have ever seen.

 Love these 2 little ones.

Geoff was looking up a recipe on his phone and the 2 little ones climbed up on his lap to see what he was up too.

 I had to snap this cute picture of the 3 of them

Macie won the spelling bee for her class, so she got to compete in the school wide one. The spelling bee contestants ranged from 3rd grade (her class) clear up to 8th grade. We were very proud of her for getting up there and trying her hardest. It was fun to watch.

 Spelling her word.

Macie started taking voice lessons and while she is there, we get to go to the park and play.

 Here are the kids swinging while we wait.

Some construction started behind our home and these 2 love watching the tractors work. It keeps them busy and I can't complain.

Macie and I got tickets from Geoff for  Christmas where we got to fly out to Cleveland to visit our best friends MaryPat and Tony. We were so excited.

 Here we are on the plane getting ready to take off.

 We went to the art museum while we were there. It was a fun museum and Macie built this fun tower.

Here I am with little baby Howie. These twins were so cute and busy and it was so fun to be able to go and help and visit these wonderful friends.

Christmas 2014

Christmas this year was so fun. Grandpa and Grandma Bradley were able to come and they brought Uncle Tyty and Morgan with them. Christmas is so fun when you have family there to celebrate with. The kids are all at such fun ages and the Christmas spirit was definitely in the air. On Christmas Eve the kids got to open their pajamas.

They were just excited to finally be able to open a present.

And to go with tradition, here are the annual pictures of the kids sleeping on Christmas Eve as they dream of Santa coming....

 Macie 8 years old

 Addie 6 years old

Camden 3 years old

 Brynlee 2 years old

Finally it was Christmas Morning. The kids had been waiting for this day all month. They were a little over excited and woke up bright and early...like 5:30 am early..

 Waiting for dad to check and see if Santa came

Here is the living room after Santa came.

Cute little Bryn Bryn checking out her new doll house.

 Addie going through her stocking

 Macie trying on her new glasses

 Camden playing with his long awaited choo choo track.

 Macie got a nice new huge blanket to sleep with at night from mom

 

The kids opening their last gift. It was an awesome bounce house

And Grandpa and Grandma both got a scooter from all of us kids. They were very excited and shocked!
It was a great Christmas and everyone had a magical time and made tons of memories.

Top 10 activities in December

December was a busy month. Here are our top 10 things we did:

1. The girls and I went to see the Nutcracker. It was a fun girls date and the girls loved it.

2.  Macie had her first piano recital. She did a great job and was happy that grandma and grandpa Bradley and Tyson and Morgan could be there. It was a fun night.

3.  Here are the kids in their Christmas outfits this year. I just love these kids and their matching outfits!

 

4.  Addie had her first ever dance recital. She did an AWESOME job and was the only one in her class that knew the whole dance and didn't make any mistakes! She also loved that she got to wear a little makeup for it!

5.  Pixar came to a local mall this year and set up "An Adventure to Santa" House. We were lucky enough to get tickets and were able to go and fly to the North Pole and visit Santa in a private room with just us. It was a magical experience for all and the girls even got a red ribbon from Santa himself that he took off of one his presents to match the ribbons in the girls hair. It was a very special night!

 6. Addie also had her school play and winter performance. She did great

 7.The kids loved the new village display that Geoff and I set up this year. We added a fun train that went around the whole thing. It was so fun!

 8.We went to Bass Pro Shop and were able to see Santa and ride on the carousel. The 2 little ones loved it the second time around and even did it all by themselves.

9. We went to the Gaylord Hotel to check out their indoor lights and river walk. It was so much fun and so pretty all decked out.

 Grandma was even nice enough to get the kids balloon animals. They loved them and the clown that did them was amazing at his job!

10. We made gingerbread houses when G and G were in town. All of the kids made one and they all were so creative. The older did their houses all on their own. I was very impressed and excited all at the same time.

Here is Camden with his final result. He actually did really well and didn't eat to much candy along the way!

Camden turns 3!

 This cute little guy turned 3 on December 16th. We just love our boy. He is so fun, crazy, messy, happy, crazy, master destroyer, tower builder, car and train lover, crazy, and all boy! He definitely gives me a run for my money. He is fearless when it comes to jumping off of things, or doing slides, or climbing or anything that little boys do. Yet, he is so scared of dogs, loud noises, new things and anything that has to do with change. He is a complete momma's boy and homebody. He loves to be home and really doesn't last very long if we go out and about, especially to other's peoples houses. We are lucky if we can stay somewhere longer than 2 hours without him crying to go home. He gives the best hugs and kisses and is the BEST brother (when he isn't destroying). He has such a love for Brynlee and their relationship is really one of my favorite things to watch. We love our boy and can't imagine life without him.

 Here he is opening is first present. I love this picture!!! He just saw what was inside and he is soooo happy. It is a Thomas the Train dvd.

 And here he is showing me his new show.  (don't mind the undies...this is how this kid rolls and we are just at home, so I don't care)

 A t-ball game to play outside. He loves it.

 A Thomas the Train play set. He is so excited!! He has been asking for trains for a long time!

 trying to get it open and check it out.

 Checking out his cupcakes and candles. He has been singing happy birthday to you all day and practicing blowing out his candles. It was pretty fun hearing him all day.

When it came time to blow out his candles, he covered his mouth and said, "no, I can't. It's to scawee." And he absolutely refused to do it. So, the girls blew them out for him. Funny kid. Happy birthday to our sweet little man! Love you buddy.