Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Lots of activities and pictures to post from all the holiday festivities….

Had a fun date with the kids and Grammy at the Nutcracker early in December.  We also joined a few of our little friends!  That night, we met up with the McIntiers to watch the light parade.

One of the things Tall had asked the kids to do this year was for each of them to pick out a few
toys to give to others and to leave a note for Santa listing all the things they were grateful for as well as one wish for someone else.  They really seemed to enjoy this and Tall magically took their notes and toys to the North Pole… after having a little dip in the marshmallow tub first!

Grayson and Colbie both had Christmas programs this year at their school.  Colbie was a little moo moo cow and G was an angel!  Don’t these boys look like a bunch of little angels?!

We kicked off their Christmas break this year by visiting Santa, followed by a movie to the Good Dinosaur and ice cream!  Yet another successful Santa picture in the books!  Poor Santa must think we don’t like him!

As if we didn’t have enough to do in the month of December, Buddy dropped off some wood and a new tool box for Grayson because he mentioned that he wanted to make a play house.  One awesome Dada and a few coats of paint later, the kids have a new fort to play in!  Oh, and this is Grayson’s interpretation of meditating.  This is what we all do when there is entirely too much noise and whining going on!  I wish!!

Christmas festivities at the McIntier’s!  The kids had a blast hanging out, decorating cookies and making huge messes!  Thank you Becca!

Christmas eve at Grammy and Papa’s beautiful new home!

SANTA CAME!!

Playing on their new swing set!  I guess I never got a picture of the entire thing.  Nevertheless, it is awesome and the kids are loving it!  Jed especially loves to swing.

And Chase enjoying his new bone!

We headed out to Buddy and Susan’s that night for Christmas dinner.

And back home in time to open up their stockings!  It was almost like Christmas morning all over again!  They were super excited about their minion underwear!!

Playing on their new trampoline from Grammy & Papa and a picture of Grandma’s old tire snowman!  Blaine collapsed in the middle of the trampoline after putting this together protesting “no more projects” for the rest of his life!  Hahaha!

Playing a little basketball, then off to the desert to ring in the New Year!  It was super windy and FREEZING, but there’s nothing a few games of UNO, some cocktails and a warm camp fire with smores can’t fix! 

Even Chasey wore his jacket!!

 

We met up with some friends the next day for a picnic and a little exploring.

The boys got to see some big horn sheep and the girls were busy have a tea “potty!” Ha ha ha!

Last, it was off to Sarah and Clint’s wedding where they finally tied the knot!!

The kids started back to school this week and have their first soccer games this Saturday.  Colbie is super excited to have Daddy coaching this year.  I was thinking things would slow down a bit with the holidays behind us (haha!), but I really don’t see that happening any time soon… at least not before the kids move out and go to college!!

Wishing everyone a Happy, Healthy, Blessed New Year! 

With that said, this marks my last post.  I honestly can’t believe I’ve kept up the blog this long!  With three kids, work and the cuckoo hectic funny farm life that we live, time is a rarity these days.  I need to simplify things as best I can and am thinking an annual picture book may be the way to go.  We’ll see how that goes.  Thank you to any and all who read our blog and shared in our crazy life! 

xoxo, Ramsey

Birthdays, Parties and Holidays, Oh My!

November was yet another crazy month filled with more birthdays, parties and some pretty chilly weather.  First up, Happy Birthday Colbie Elaine!!  I can’t believe our little girl is already FIVE!  Colbie, you are a fierce and fiery little diva and can drive us all crazy at times, but you have the kindest and most thoughtful little heart and still give the biggest and best hugs in the family!  We love you to the moon and back LuLu and are so proud of the little girl you are.

Early in the month, the boys took the trailer out for a weekend to do a little camping.  The girls and Jed stayed behind and kept busy at Sara’s Bridal shower and Malia’s birthday party.  Colbie even got to have her first slumber party here with Maggie and Molly.

The next week we were off to Phoenix for Jed’s follow up.  Unfortunately things haven’t improved on their own and Dr. Stock re-iterated the fact that Jed is at a point that another ballooning is necessary.  The good news was that he was okay with us waiting till after his spring appointment to schedule this, rather than having to do it right before the holidays.  Here is our little trooper! 

Not sure if this was another weekend or right after Friday’s appointment…. the days all blur together.  We spent a morning with the McIntier’s at their school’s annual barn bash. 

Always a project going on….. dirt plus a bobcat equals lots of fun for the kids!  Blaine might feel slightly different about this equation!

This military piggy/ Davey Crockett ninja is also the bird whisperer of the family.  I can’t even count how many dove this kid has caught, but his recent hummingbird catch shocked us all!  After holding him for a few minutes and showing his catch to all of us, he gently let him go. 

We had a great Thanksgiving, first stopping by Buddy and Susan’s and then Ryan and Kim’s later that night!  Our bellies were happy and full!

The day after Thanksgiving we had a birthday party for our little princess with family and a few close friends. 

She even made out with an ice cream cake on her real birthday!

While Colbie and her friends enjoyed decorating cakes and doing nails, I’m pretty sure playing on the sewer pipe was the hit of the party!

That same weekend, we joined a few other ballet friends and their moms at the Sugar Plum Tea event for a fun little date with our girls and preview of the Nutcracker.  Colbie wore her new Rapunzel dress that she got from Aunt Stacy!

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas!  Tall even made his way back from the North Pole shortly after Thanksgiving and has been surprising us with bathroom decorations, green milk and dates with Barbie!  Mama thought it would be funny to stick him in Stuart’s cage one night.  Well that was all fun and games until I went to move him the next night to learn that our sweet little hamster beat the heck out of poor Tall!  His arms were dangling and almost completely severed and he smelled like pee! I quickly had to come up with plan B, as the kids notice every little detail.  Luckily I remembered a little sweater ornament that I had bought that fit him perfectly and covered his scars.  Hopefully they won’t get to close to smell him!  G has commented a few times that Tall is always wearing the sweater now, but we just tell him that he probably gets really cold going back and forth to and from the North Pole!

Another December tradition…. making fresh squeezed orange juice!

Grayson had his first orchestra concert and a piano recital last weekend.  He did an awesome job!