cousin Di

My cousin Di was in and made time to come and hang out with us. She has twins that are about 6 weeks older than PJ. We have been able to connect about yearly since the boys were born. Our kids seem to remember each other now and always have a great time with them! Trent and PJ are usually busy to all things boy and Cole is more open to playing whatever it is Maggie and Brie have in mind! Regardless I am so thankful she puts them in different colors because these little men are quite similar! The kids together provided us with great entertainment!Cole handled the microphone well while PJ and Trent did a puppet show for us.

what is so fascinating about remote controlled toys???? all boys, especially PJ's age are obsessed with these sort of things! After supper we had to say our good-byes and say Happy New Year! we hope to see them again in June! thanks for visiting Di and boys! we love you!!

home Christmas

 

 It is so fun to spend the holidays with family but coming home and having Christmas always feels so special! Watching the curiosity and wonder in their eyes is really priceless. It is a a very relaxed, enjoyable day of just the six of us. The presents and bows for 6 people really makes a very pretty display!

big presents are the most fun, listening to the kids guess was quite entertaining....

The four kids did a great job of taking turns, switching who goes first and waiting when others need to take a potty break or get a drink. They were equally curious as to what their siblings were opening.

 PJ received many updated boy toys. He was more than thrilled with his gifts from transformers to dragons. Please note PJ had completely unwrapped a present while maintaining a tied bow! silly kid

Maggie was very happy to get the biggest present wrapped with Tinkerbell and a silly bow. She was quite surprised by the contents of many of her gifts. The favorite was probably the very large box of glitter glue, sequins, and glitter.(what a mess, what were we thinking!)

 Brie got the only request she kept repeating, a Frozen Ice Castle.( I feel like I got the last one in the city!) score mom! She insisted Makayla cover her eyes once so her present was a surprise! the Frozen pajamas were also very well liked! she wore them for 2 days straight.

 Makayla is a little more challenging to shop for lately, but in the end I think she was happy with her gifts. The stinker really wanted the Pegasus book series and I kept saying probably not, so we wrapped up all four books(with the 4th on the bottom, she open the first and went straight to the bottom of the box!) she is too smart. She also enjoyed being surprised with new nail art supplies.

 BIG PRESENT TIME........

They were many guesses as to what the big present was, Makayla came up with pool but the others were not sure...of course, Makayla was correct and everyone was thrilled!The last group gift...they all opened.... and then had to open some more because that is the fun part right?.....

They each got tackle, I got bobbers, and Pete got an ornament labeled Fishing 2015....then it started to click with Maggie and Kayla and PJ ( Brie was left confused) and then they could not open fast enough to see what awaited them in the large box flat box!!!

Makayla carefully read the certificate inside and Maggie made sure she did not skip any key words.....we have a 4 day stay at a somewhat local cabin for this summer!! it is not Alabama but it promises lots of fishing and other fun! it will be a nice little get away that we can look forward to. The last picture explains their excitement for not only the cabin adventure but their 2014 Christmas in general! the kids have had a great holiday, thanks to many, many people! A huge THANK YOU to all who made our Christmas special, we love each of you!!

ornaments

The kids exchanged names last year and got each other an ornament. They really enjoyed putting their ornaments on the tree this year so we did it again. After returning home we let them open those gifts. They all did a good job of keeping secrets and had fun shopping for each other. They each so enjoyed watching their person open their gift. Maggie had Brie.

Brie had Makayla.

 Makayla had PJ.

 and PJ had Maggie.

It was really fun watching the pure happiness on each of their faces. They really do love each other and like making each other happy.

classmates

It was last minute but 2 classmates and I were able to get together and hang out for an evening. It is always so fun to get together and catch up in person, rather than just on Facebook. Believe it or not the one in black had her baby 6 days after this picture, she looked so good!! somehow these get togethers make me feel younger!!  The picture below is all of our kiddos, minus little Madison who was T minus 6 days here. So neat to have them all together, my 4 definitely had a fun time playing with everyone! Thanks ladies for taking the time to visit while I was in town!

presents with grandma

We exchanged gifts with grandma earlier in the week. The kids were able to enjoy their gifts and then not be rushed with them.  They all really enjoyed their presents. They were all very disappointed when our visiting time was up. It is always so fun for them to be around the farms and family.

It appears that grandma too enjoyed her gifts!! love you mom!! thanks so much for letting destroy your home and eat all your food for 6 days! it never seems like enough time but so grateful for the time we do get together!! LOVE YOU!!