A Little Christmas Celebration

We had our first Christmas celebration of 2014 at my Dad's on Sunday. The cousins got lots of playing and wrestling time in! We had a great time, enjoyed everyone's company, received fabulous gifts, and went to Botanica. Very thankful!

Cousins!

Christmas wishes from these three: a dragon ship, a doll and a box of pizza. 

Fun at Botanica!

Ava and Papa

A few December things...

Ava had her first grade Know Your World presentation at the beginning of the month. The students had been learning about the three types of communities. They wrote a class alphabet book that was shared during the presentation, made a model of a town, sang and danced. It was super cute and I know Ava learned a lot! She really enjoyed making her doctor's office for the town. You can see the video here.

We bought a real Christmas tree this year. Ugh. Erick and the kids picked it out. It feel twice after decorating it. :)

B putting the star on the tree.

And Ava putting the star on the tree. Had to be fair. :)

B had his school Christmas program. Love all the singing voices of those little ones!

B and his teachers before the program.

Not a great pic but here's his shepherd costume.

Ava said this isn't the real Santa, but they still sat with him for a pic and told him what they would like for Christmas. 

On The Run

It's November and we've been busy bees! B-man and Lady A have been playing basketball for the Y each weekend and Ava also has practice during the week. This is the first time for either of them to play a basketball game and it's pretty cool and watch them learn and grow in the sport. The three and four year old team is pretty hilarious and Ava's team is usually pretty fun to watch. Love seeing those girls be aggressive on the court!
B has been practicing for his Thanksgiving feast program that's coming up and working on giving me a run for my money. Whew! What an attitude he can have!
Ava also has a program coming up for her grade level them at school. They're building a community (she has made a house and is currently making a doctor's office) that will be on display and she has a couple of speaking parts in the program. Can't wait to see all of their hard work in December!
Ava and I ran/walked the Girls on the Run 5K last weekend. It was lots of fun for me, but Ava thought it was a little too long. :) It was also pretty much freezing outside. But we made it to the finish line (that I dragged her across) and we did it together! Erick and B went to several points along the way to wait for us and cheer us on, which was super awesome. The crowd at the finish line made all the girls feel so special for finishing! One guy reached his hand out to Ava a little before she crossed and said, "Give me a high five before you win this race!" Made her smile so big. :)

Ava chose #7 since she's seven years old. :)

Waiting for the rebound. 

We can do this! We are strong!

A little selfie before the run.

B was so proud of his sister for finishing! 

We're done! And frozen!

Erick and Ava working on the beginning of the doctor's office she has to build for school.

The rest of the pics are from Erick's brother's wedding (RJ & Michelle) in Colorado right before school started. It was so pretty!

Family Time!

Celebrated my nephew's birthday this weekend. Super fun family time!

The cute old folks are gossiping. 

Garden fun!

The Little picking some beans.

I got a smile from both of them! The birthday boy, Nolan, is on the left and Shea's man, Hayden, is on the right.

Making burgers is super fun! 

Carrie and Erick...twinning. 

Randy is thrilled that everyone is at his house! He might invite us over every weekend!

The boss lady telling her man what needs to be done.

My mama, my nephew and me!

So much love!

Emmi loves to kiss puppies!