December

Our Annual Family Pictures are so much fun.  This year we had a great photographer and the kids did such a better job than the past years.

 Since the girls were both taking ballet this year I thought they'd like a trip to the Nutcracker.  It was put on by a local ballet studio and it was great to see younger kids dancing.

Spencer worked on Christmas Day so Santa came a day early to our home.  Christmas Eve was also our Christmas day. 

Our afternoon was spent at Grandma & Grandpa Allreds home with the rest of the family.  We have an early dinner and then white elephant exchange for kids then adults. 

 Cousin love!

During the holidays we had a visitor for a week.  His name was Cash and he's Jasper's BFF.

 it wasn't 24 hours later from Cash going back home that Spencer brought this guy home. He's a 9 month old Boxer.  We tried naming him Chief but it just wouldn't stick.  We finally decided on Cooper.

 Jasper loves having a brother.  Now the challenge is to break his stubborn streak.  Luckily for Cooper, he's a fast learner! Welcome to the family Cooper!

From August to November

Before school started for the kiddos we went to the Museum of Natural Science.

We went to the butterfly area and it was so beautiful.  The kids loved it! 

 We had a scary few minutes after the butterfly area.  Josh wanted to ride in the elevator and snuck away when our backs were turned and I noticed him just as the doors were closing.  He was all by himself!  Spencer ran the three flights of stairs as quickly as possible and finally found him. It was a lesson we all learned to watch out for each other. 

They loved looking at the bug collection.  I'm certainly glad we don't have some of the huge bugs the kids are looking at in this drawer.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JAKE!

Jake turned another year older and another year wiser.  I can't believe he's 9.  He's such a great boy and I'm so glad he's in our family!

 I think he had a great birthday!  He got a lot of cool scout "stuff" including a BSA knife. He also got a bigger bike since he's growing so much. 

 HOMESCHOOL Year 1

I felt strongly over the summer to homeschool the kids.  Avery asked to finish 5th grade so that left Jake, Emily, and Josh.  It's been a lot of fun and we've all really enjoyed it.

 For one of our homeschool experiments/ activities Jake and Emily made a volcano and we made it erupt.

 HALLOWEEN

Josh was Batman. Jake dressed up as Harry Potter.  Avery wanted to be Emma Swan from Once Upon A Time.  Emily was a cute little cheerleader. 

It was a fun time at our ward Halloween Party and then trick or treating in our neighborhood.

 THANKSGIVING

We had a smaller than usual group this year and this was one of our group picts!  Love this Allred family in Texas!

So Behind

I can't believe how far behind I am in our family blog.  I know it's been a busy few months but I had no idea that I'm nearly 6 months behind.  Looks like I've got a lot of work ahead of me.  Maybe I'll just sum it all up in a few posts.

August Birthday

I wish I was better about birthdays and making a bigger deal about them.  Really my heart is in each one. I have images of a fabulous birthday cake. Happy smiling people. Great presents. But they don't seem to turn out that way... there's always some grumpiness to some degree. And the cakes...ummm are always so homemade looking. The presents always seem to go too quickly.

This is my homemade cake.  Well, its not cake.  It's brownies. With ice cream, ganache, squished Oreo cookies, cool whip, and chocolate shavings. (I really need to invest in better candles, that should help them look better!)

Can you spot the grumpiness in this picture?

Now this is a better picture. At least one boy has a smile on his face.  (btw He had more than one gift to open.)

If Jasper could smile it would be in this picture.  He found a bug to play with while wearing his new reflective collar.

Finally getting to blowing out the candles.  Another happy smiling boy.  I think Jake thought he wouldn't be able to blow them all out.

And....he almost did it.  He got a little help from Josh I think when he ran out of breath and still had four more candles to blow out.

I think this was the highlight of the birthday day.  The motorcycle date. 

We had to take pictures of the event since this is the first time it happened and probably the last.

The helmet was necessary but a bit uncomfortable.

A picture driving in the parking lot to dinner.

Another picture after dinner.  The funniest part I thought about this dinner was here we are riding on a motorcycle and Spencer chose dinner at a salad place.  I think that's SOOOO funny.  Who does that?  Well, we do apparently.  Happy Birthday Spencer here's your salad.

Another picture driving on side streets closer to home. The speedometer is broken. We were going faster than 0 mph.

And our yummy birthday brownie ice cream dessert.  It is really good! 

Happy Birthday Spencer!

We LoVe You!

12th Anniversary Getaway

For our 12th anniversary, we were able to get away for the first time. in a REALLY long time. too long. We stayed at a Bed & Breakfast in Chapell Hill.  It was a beautiful farm. This is the house we stayed in.

the living room

one of the bedrooms

one of the bathrooms

the bedroom we stayed in

the entry and stairs that led to a locked attic.  I loved the painted floors.

the pool (that was dirty because of all the rain)

the chicken coop

We had dinner at a nice Italian restaurant.  It was so quiet inside.  We are so used to struggling to hear each other if we go out to eat.  It was very nice to literally enjoy a nice quiet dinner together.

my eggplant lasagna

my cute husband, chewing

our raspberry cheesecake

so glad I married this guy!

We spotted a Texas longhorn on a nearby ranch.

this is what I usually see attached to his ear

at our B&B there were two little ponies that wandered eating

and eating some more

sunrise

doing a little antiquing before heading home.  Back to the kids. Back to reality. Back to our home.  Back to our family- something I cherish and am so eternally grateful for.