Treven's D.A.R.E. Graduation

The 4th graders all do a class designed to teach them ways to say No! to drugs. I'm not sure how long the classes took, but the kids got to have a little graduation ceremony. Treven learned quite a bit and sometimes when we are talking about drugs, he says things I can't believe he knows. I always ask him where he heard that word or how he knows what a certain drug looks like or what it's called. He tells me he learned it at his D.A.R.E. class. I'm really not sure if knowing more than his parents do about drugs is a good thing or a bad thing!

Snow Forts/Angels

I was at work one day and the kids called and said dad was helping them make forts. The second I walked in the door, Ellie wanted her snow clothes on so she could show me their fort! They even built a snow couch, a snow t.v., and a snow refrigerator in it! Then, Ellie wanted to make snow angels. Then, she decided she was going to lick the snow like a dog would...silly kids!

Snow Cream

We got quite a bit of snow one day, so Mikayla decided her and Ellie would make snow cream. They took a bucket of snow outside and scooped as much as they could. They added some vanilla and a bit of milk. I'm not sure if they added anything else, but it actually turned out pretty good. The crazy part is Mikayla's outfit!!!!

New Year!

We had New Year's Eve at our house and the crew all showed up! I wrote activities on paper and put them inside of balloons. Every hour, we popped a balloon and did whatever the activity said. We made a time capsule, had a hairy leg contest, and played Just Dance and karaoke. We always have such a good time when we get together and food abounds! We are so lucky to have life long friends and I love that our kids are still getting together as adults and staying friends!

Christmas 2012

I know I'm almost a year behind, but better late than never, right? Christmas 2012 seemed to sneak up on us once again! Every year, I tell myself that I'm going to slow down and enjoy the next Christmas and every year I end up running around like a mad women to get everything done. Totally lose the true meaning of Christmas! Ellie got a game system for preschoolers from Santa this year and a stocking full of Hello Kitty goodies.

Keven and Braquel came up and stayed the night on Christmas Eve with us. It's so much fun to have the whole family here to celebrate the holidays. It makes this mommy's heart so happy! I had fun staying up late with them and helping wrap presents and stuff stockings.

Chelsey got mostly clothes for Christmas this year. Imagine that! The problem with updating the blog almost a year later means I can't remember what Santa brought her!! Mikayla got money to go toward a lap top from Santa. With her going to school, she really needed something she could take with her for homework.

Treven got a Nintendo DS XL from Santa. Lots of electronics at our house this year. The kids went together and bought me a Kindle Fire (which I LOVE) and Gary got me a cover for the Kindle and also a gift card so I could download games and books on it!

Mikayla's Senior Project

For Mikayla's senior project, she chose to put together a blood drive for the Red Cross. She coordinated with the Red Cross supervisor and the school and set up December 21st as the day. We had to have four or five volunteers and she got both grandmas, me, Braquel, Kimberlee, and two other girls that were taking the CNA tech class with her to help. Everything went really smoothly until the day before when the principal at the junior high decided they needed their gym for a dance instead of the blood drive...panic mode! Luckily, the Red Cross approved the band room for the draw, so it was back on! (Huge sigh of relief!) All in all, they had over 50 people try to give blood and I think they ended up with 47 pints of blood. Mikayla was a little disappointed they didn't reach their goal of 50, but the Red Cross people were thrilled with such a turn out and most of them being students. It was really neat to participate in the blood drive and we've all decided to continue giving blood! We're so proud of Mikayla for all of her hard work putting this together!

Chelsey's Sweet Sixteen

We celebrated Chelsey's sweet 16 by renting Wheel's. We invited the family and her friends and had pizza and pop as well as cupcakes. We had several games and spent lots of time dancing! It was a lot of fun and I'm kind of sad that this will probably be her last "Big" birthday celebration that we will throw!