Hair Update

I wanted to make sure I posted an update on my hair- since the journey has been surprising. I went in for a trim a couple weeks ago. Christy, my hair dresser, made a comment to the hair dresser next to her about me growing out my hair- since that was the original plan. The statement made me feel like it was official- I was growing it out. At that moment I realized I wasn't quite ready, I think I am actually having fun with this new mop I have. I don't know when it happened, but I have really come to love my hair now. I have tailored my new cut to just the way I like it, longer here, and short there. I have figured out how I like to style it so that I still feel cute and girly, but then hip and edgy too. I have noticed that I have changed the way I dress, they way I do my makeup and I never leave the house without a pair of earrings. These originally were all my desperate acts to look more feminine with my "devestating cut." To be honest, I feel much more fashionable. I can't say if I have just built up more confidence or if my ability to pull off more trendy styles has increased.

I recently had my first modeling gig. A friend of mine makes these awesome pendants.

Ugly Sweater Party

You know you have great friends when the highlight of your holiday season is an Ugly Sweater Party. Especially when your friends feel at ease enough to come dressed like this...

Ben borrowed some of his wife's fake pony tail to create his own creepy do. The scary part was that he pulled if off too well...

Ali as...

Amazing that they found these just the other day at Steinmart...

The awards begin...

"An Innocent Toy Had to Die For Your Sweater" Award went to Jake (this is a very poor picture of Jake, but the best of his sweater- you can see the end of his reindeer on the back of his sweater) ...

The "Dickie-rific and Creepiest" award goes to Ben and Annie (she made her own Dickie since they are hard to come by now-a-days)...

The "Best Couple Sweater Combos" award goes to Andrew and Michelle (she will be shipping them off to her Mother-in-law who thinks they are cute, if you want a pair of your own you can find them at k-mart)...The "Knowing The Owner Of Your Sweater" award went to Kim and Kevin (they snuck them out of his parents house)...The "You Need a Tie With That" goes to the one and only Connor (I have to keep watch around the clock to keep him from burning it)...The "Best 80's" award goes to Dan and Janet...The "Ticky-Tacky" award goes to ME...

The "Grand Prize" winner goes to Ben and Megan. They get the coveted gnome that will be the grand prize for next year's Ugly Sweater Party...

And the people who made it all possible, our lovely hosts, Julie and Patrick (Patrick got his very chic mug on amazon)...

I hope your holidays have been just as cheery!!

Time to Dance

I have been tempted to put Ashlyn into dance classes recently. However, I can't seem to get past the fact that my parents spent thousands on many, many years of dance classes for me. "Why can't I put that money to good use and pass my talents on?" I asked myself. I decided to teach her beginning ballet. However, the most fun part of dance class is the environment- lots of little dancing friends. So we invited some of Ashlyn's friends to participate with us...

It has been a fun but also challenging experience. There are days where Ashlyn definitely treats me like MOM instead of TEACHER. GRRR! Some days we have 6-7 girls, other days just two or three. After a few weeks in I realized I needed to change gears and see the class in a different way. At this age it isn't about doing it right, it's about learning to love dance, to enjoy it, to be creative with their bodies and fun. So that is what our class has focused on. It's been really FUN!

Thanksgiving 2011

I had the most wonderful Thanksgiving this year. It was relaxing, and that was a huge gift in itself.

It started out with a 5k at 8 am at the near by high school for a no drunk and driving cause. Then hurried over to the ward Turkey bowl. This was by far Dylan and Connor's highlight of possibly the entire year. We had enough people to play two big games and even a little kid game. When the little kids were done they came and played with the big guns. I even got to play- what a treat thanks to Hannah. I did however, come home with war wounds. I was covering bishop and he was off with the ball toward the end zone. I was running right on his tail but couldn't quite catch him. I knew I had to dive for it, but I got him! Dylan and Connor have many of their own success stories as they were on the winning team of the winners game. I of course realized that I hadn't taken any pictures until everyone was walking to their cars...

We had two families that also don't have family around over for dinner. Lucky for me, Patrick brought the turkey, it's always good when he makes it. Shelley brought the most amazing appetizers. The company was great and of course football got turned on near the end. All-in-all, it was a success!

I was also very happy with the center piece. I kept it there until yesterday when Christmas took over...

FYI- For all of those who wish you lived in Raleigh...Today is December 7th and this morning at 7 AM it was 65 degrees already. We sure have been having pleasant weather this last MONTH!!

Tis the Season for Flag Football

I hate to brag, but I'm gunna. So if you don't want to hear it don't read this post.
Football is always 10 times better with one of your best friends (Ben).

For those of you who KNOW Dylan you know he is quite an athlete. We could see it in him even at age 1. Had he not been our first child we would have realized how extraordinary he really was. I also assumed he might grow out of being ahead of others his age, but he hasn't. This kid can do ANYTHING. Right now he is really enjoying flag football. I ALMOST feel bad, but he has scored 95% of his teams points this season. There was only one game he didn't score. Most of his points are running down the entire field. He also does a great job in defense- he can catch just about anyone. His teammates beg that he not be put on the sideline.
I have to say it- I am pretty darn proud to be his mamma on the sideline! I also would like to think that I taught him all he knows or that his athleticism is from my side of the family. But I can't really. He's all natural!He's really enjoying watching football with Connor, he begs us to stay up late to watch and also turns down the neighbor boys when a good game is on. Connor is in heaven! They even have their own touchdown "cheer." It goes a little like this... Utes score, Connor turns to Dylan and puts his hands on Dylan's chest and gives him a bunch of little shakes while they booth hoot.
When we realized how athletic Dylan was I also assumed he would be more average on the intellectual side. However, he proved me wrong there too.
This kid is unbelievably smart. He was excelling at school last year so we put him in a private school this year for second grade. He is doing all third grade work and it still comes easily to him. He has straight A's in all his classes (yes, he changes classes for each subject.)

Can you tell I'm proud of his hard work? I love you buddy!

Visitors

Almost a month ago we were lucky enough to get not just one visitor but many. Connor's parents came to see us after they saw Connor's sister in Ohio. My brother, Nate, and his family of 6 also came. We had so much fun throwing our regular routine out the window and playing!

We really enjoyed have Nini and Poger all to ourselves (instead of sharing them with 45 other people.) Poger read to all the kids (Ashlyn didn't make it out awake)...Nini and Kamryn played dolls...
Corbin enjoyed sitting and listening to Nini play the piano (for a really long time!)...
We played a round of miniature golf. We had the course to ourselves. Corbin thought it was a race track...We took both of our guests on our new trail. On this particular day we caught all sorts of bugs ( I don't know if any of them made it out alive)...
We went to the Science museum in Durham (one of our favorite places)...
We saw all the bugs, all the dinosaurs, steered the remote control sailboats...
Dug for any sort of treasure at all (which I found later in my dryer)...
We watched all the snakes get fed mice (or gold fish- not the cracker kind!) We then pet a baby alligator...
We had to take them to experience "the farm." They especially loved the corn pit...

And the slide...The hayride wasfun too...

Thanks to Nate's engineering we no longer have any balls in our entry way chandelier (it was quite the exciting moment)! Hurray! I thought they were going to melt there before they would be rescued.

Thank you for taking the time to come see us!

Halloween 2011

I strongly dislike carving pumpkins.

I am sure you have all now labeled me as a Halloween scrooge.

I have finally figured out that it isn't so much the carving that I hate, but it is when the pumpkins start to become a host to more living things than I want to imagine that throws me over the edge. They get soggy and turn black. No thanks. So I have resorted to finding other fun things to do with pumpkins. Last year we painted faces on them, used Mr. Potato head pieces and clipped facial features from magazines and glued them on.

This year we enjoyed hammering golf tees to make polk-a-dot pumpkins and painted a few to mimic candy corn. Since Nate and Leslie had to leave their pumpkins here from their visit (another future post), we had enough to make a snowman pumpkin! No melting!

Every year, Genworth has trick-or-treating at the office- LOVE IT! It is warm, not dark and the kids can't run too far ahead. This is my kind of trick-or-treating. (Someday, when the kids are older, my true halloween spirit will come out! You'll see!) They then serve ice cream. Kinda weird. Don't you think that is a little overkill on the sugar? Who's complaining?

Dylan was Jay Ninjago...
Depending on the night Ashlyn was either a princess or a fairy...
Corbin wanted to be a fairy too. I didn't have to do too much persuading after I slipped in the Incredibles movie. He was the perfect Dash...
Kamryn played an especially cute octopus...
Seeing her walk was the cutest!

K'nex Mario Kart & Lincoln Logs

We were lucky enough to receive more products from K'nex to kid test and review. We enjoyed our last bunch of toys. This time we got a piece of a Mario Kart track and Lincoln Logs. The kids were so excited they practically ripped open the box and pieces were everywhere. Corbin loves to play with Mario and his car. He would be happy with that piece alone. It runs on a few batteries- which we have already gone through a few sets. However, since we only have one piece of the track it is hard to tell if we would enjoy the whole track. It does look like fun from the picture on the box.

We enjoyed the Lincoln Logs for awhile. Since there are a limited number of logs that come in the box, we had a similar problem. We enjoyed them, but only till we couldn't build anything more. If we had more logs I am hopeful that our playing and creative time would be multiplied.

Photo Hall

I try to tackle just one space at a time to decorate. Decorating my own home has been a long process. Sometimes I see something I like and try to recreate it. And other times I get these almost strange ideas in my head of how I want something to look without knowing how in the world I will make it happen. This was one of those...I printed these stretched canvasses of the kids during a mega sale. I printed them in black and white to create some unison. However, our walls are grey leaving a very low "wow" effect when hung on the wall. So I found some cheap vinyl molding, let Connor cut them for me. There was a lot of deliberating on how to attach the molding together to frame each canvass. I should have talked to my dad earlier because he offered the quickest and easiest solution- hot glue! Let's just say I am in love!

One Last Time

We couldn't resist going to the beach last week while the kids were tracked out. It is now "off season" so we had a lot of space to ourselves. It was a perfect day- can't you tell...Kamryn loved getting in and out of her little lawn chair...
and playing in the sand for hours...
we made Karolina and Ashlyn into Mermaids...
Dylan and JR are now buddies...
we even had our own swimming pool...
I enjoyed getting to know Kelly better...
Peer pressure or gentle guidance?
I bet your jealous now...
Will it make you come visit?
See you next year beach!