New Rooms!

Well, I have been busy painting again! I repainted Aida's upstairs playroom and it is now their new schoolroom. We put up an ABC border like they have at school and hung their marker board. Nate took the blinds down and we just put up panels. The view from the windows was too nice for blinds! They love the room and I do too!! Aida specifically sat like a grown up with her legs crossed for this picture!

We sold the guest bed and got this new furniture for the kids so they now have an upstairs gameroom/tv room. I painted this room and we put the Wii up here also and all of their movies and karaoke machine! It is a nice extra room for them that they can be banished to when they are driving Nate and I crazy!! These little pieces make into little beds. The ottoman actually turns into a cot! Charlotte is already taking over! See her in the chair? We plan to get a sleeper or futon to go in the game room for adult guests! We just hated to waste the space and like this arrangement better! The kids do too!

Christmas!

We had a nice quiet Christmas at home this year. Gramp Gramps and Grandma Fay came over from Tulsa. The kids had a ton of presents as usual! Nate and I agreed not to get each other presents this year, but he broke the rule and go me a Nikon digital camera! No more dimly lit pictures! Yea! Santa brought the kids desks and a marker board and school supplies since they love to play school so much! They LOVED it. Henry claimed it was the best Christmas ever! We even had snow flurries! Everyone on Christmas morning after the present fest!
Hats received from Gramps and Grandma Fay!

Daddy's gift cards to Lewis anc Clark and Home Depot from Gramps and Gr'ma Fay. I received one for Pottery Barn!

Aida's new little muffler.

Henry's little winter hat.

Aida with a new calendar from Gramps and Grandma Fay.

Miss Barbara (Grandma Fay's stepmom) sent a ton of nice presents for the kids. This is one of their games that she sent.

Our little white Christmas! The pool cover had snow on it.

The new marker board!

Henry woke up at 5 am and saw his desk! He went back to sleep on the sofa!

Henry at his new desk! They came with chairs and a lamp.

Aida at her desk.

Henry got a new magic set. Papa T needs to come and help him with tricks. I tried, but I am not a very good magician!

Grandma Fay with Flexeez creations. They bought Aida these little crafty things called Flexeez. They were fun. Gramp Gramps made a giant ball which he was very protective over...he he

Aida with her flexeez.

New pjs!

Ice Skating with Luebkers

We went ice skating at the new outdoor rink in Bentonville. It is nice and about 5 minutes from our house. The kids had fun. We went with our old neighbors Emma and Alex. The weather was decent....around 50 degrees. We went at a good time, because tomorrow the high is supposed to be 32!

Skulls Everywhere!

Henry got some skull/crossbones pj bottoms today. They match his robe and slippers. It took him about 30 seconds to finally come up with this pose!

Upward Cheer!

Henry has played sports thru Upward since Kindergarten. Aida decided she wanted to do cheer this year for Basketball. She should get to cheer for a couple of Henry's games! It is so cute. They had a cheer clinic with the Washington Jr. High cheerleaders (the jr. high the kids will attend). They taught them two cheers and how to do a toe touch. She looks soooo cute in her uniform!

Door Contest at Work

The company I work for is very family oriented and is always doing some kind of activity. For Christmas, we are having a door decorating contest. We are to decorate our office door. I decided, since our main product is eggs, I would make a tree out of egg cartons and eggs. We also sell bagels - my wreath. I spray painted the bagels. The star on my tree is Chicken Ringos - another product we sell.

Patrick and Henry

We went to Silver Dollar City last weekend with my parents. It was miserably cold so we didn't last very long. The kids had more fun playing at the condo where it was warm! I only took one picture the entire time! Here it is....Patrick and Henry on the tram to SDC - all bundled up. They look awfully cute!

Random Stuff

I have posted some random pictures here...The kids and I had to go to Fayetteville to pick up our Christmas cards so we decided to haunt our old stomping ground - the NWA mall! We used to go once a week with Christy and her kids Ian and Lia...They have since moved to South Carolina. Henry remembered, but Aida was just a baby so she doesn't remember our visits there. Santa didn't have a line so the kids chatted with him for a bit. They also got in this little ice cream truck and took a 75 cent ride! They looked hilarious in it! They used to fit in the little pink truck! It was fun to eat at the food court and reminisce!

We stopped and looked at the arch on our way to Illinois. It was cold out!

The kids had an event at their school called Passport to Kindness. They did several activities promoting kindness. Here they were writing letters to children at the NWA Children's Shelter. They stuffed bins full of necessities for the children.

They made little frames courtesy of Lowe's. They used hammers and nails, hence the goggles.

Trees

Here is our one of our piney trees. I know they look scrawny, but we love them. It may be the last year for this one though! You can see all of Henry's legos in the floor! He is working on Santa's Toy Shop. It is a really neat Lego set with a real light for the tree! Also, notice there are no presents under the tree! I have got to get busy and do some shopping.

Another little piney tree.

Well, we are finally finished with one room of the house if you can call the entryway a room! I painted this piece that was in my Grandma's house and I love it. We also finally got a nice coat rack and my mom got me the basket you see. It is filled with gloves and hats which we have needed lately since the weather has been so cold!

Grandma Charlene

On our way to Aunt Alice's house, we stopped in Clinton, IL to see Nate's Grandma Charlene. She was in good spirits and it was nice to get to talk to her and see her.

Thanksgiving

We spent Thanksgiving in Illinois with Nate's Aunt Alice and Uncle Ronnie. Nate's first cousin Lisa and her kids were also visiting from Minneapolis. Nate's Dad and Fay also came from Tulsa to visit as well. We had a great time on the farm. We stayed inside the entire time because the weather was FREEZING! Our family slept each night in an RV in Alice's driveway which was fun - except if you had to potty in the middle of the night! We had to go inside for that! Of course, I was the only one who had to do that! We had a great Thanksgiving dinner and the kids had a ton of fun playing with Jess and Alissa (Lisa and John's kids who are 13 and 11). They made Gingerbread houses and decorated cookies and Henry also arranged a talent show where even the adults had to participate. It was a lot of fun for all...I took these pictures with my iphone, so they didn't turn out very well.

Aida and Alissa decorating their houses.

Aunt Alice helping Henry decorate his house.

Ready for Thanksgiving dinner!


Henry waiting for the Turkey!

Kids with their teachers

I took a picture of the kids with their teachers at the Halloween parties. They have really adjusted well to Apple Glen Elementary. Aida with Mrs. Bowen

Henry with Ms. Wright - with green fangs in his mouth!

Halloween!

We had a candy-filled Halloween. We went over to Shadow Valley to trick-or-treat and the kids loaded up on candy and seeing old friends. Aida and Henry hamming it up for the camera!

This is Henry's candy only! This doesn't even include Aida's stash!

Ok, this is my old neighbor, Lisa's candy basket. I had to take a picture because she put raisins in to get rid of them because her own children won't eat them! It was the joke of the night. Kids would come up and pick over the raisins!