Walkers' Trail

We went to the basketball game with Pistol Pete Partners.  The boys all had free McDonalds meals, played in the practice gym with Pete, and we found some great seats! New Years 2013   We let all of the kids stay awake until we celebrated New Years (shhh - we moved clocks forward an hour and celebrated New York time - kids didn't know any different and they were in bed about 11:30).   We played a game called Paper Telephone, and several of us were laughing so very hard and crying.  My friend, Melanie, texted the next day that her stomach hurt from laughter.  Now, THAT, is fun!   Being silly with Barrett   Movie time in our room for those who wanted to watch Planes.  Only two girls out of the bunch.   Our party may have been "those neighbors" who got a kick out of banging pots and pans outside and being really loud.  :)   Bodey, Avery and Kyle   Michael ...

We spend Christmas Day at Nana and Papa's house. Group photo!   The boys got some great toys but Reid really loved his new McQueen helmet. He's outgrown his baby helmet...     Morgan and Reid - biggest and littlest cousins!   Kyle and Manning - partners in crime/fun/mischief

A tradition we have is that the boys sleep in our room on Christmas eve.  They didn't let us forget that tradition this year!   We left appropriate food for Santa and the reindeer - carrots and homemade sugar cookies.   SANTA VISITED!!!!   Grant's pile Nerf gun, chima legos, candy, fun socks, UA shirt, robe, sun hat    Kyle's stash Nerf gun, Star Wars legos, Star Wars paper airplane creator/guide, UA shirt, sun hat, "sportsy" bracelets, candy and fun socks   Reid's pile McQueen sleeping bag, little jungle animals, Turbo movie and toy, piggy bank, underwear, UA shirt, some ring pops   Grant wrote Sammy this goodbye letter - I didn't see it until nearly midnight! love that kiddo!!! Only picture of that morning - Reid likes his toys!  We then had our Happy Birthday, Jesus birthday party for breakfast. Again, fail on the lack of pictures!   Off to Nana and Papa's house! ...

Christmas at GG and Bubba's this year was on Christmas Eve.  My brother's family, Chase, us, and my parents were there.    A fun thing about this day was that Grant created brackets for a ping pong tournament.  Bubba won!   Reiders running fast....     Bubba and his Grant-boy   Reid was really into unwrapping the paper this year.  He had to get 100% of the paper off of the box before seeing what was inside!   He got some lawn tools - mower, blower, weedeater, chainsaw, glasses and gloves - to help with future projects. First - ever "everyone" photo!   Jacob slept most of the day but he finally joined the fun!   We finished the day by attending our candlelight service at church!   This picture is from mid-December when we babysat Jacob.  I just love the classic look on Reid's face that totally said "would you please keep this baby out of all of my toys...

We love to visit Santa! Christmas magic is in full-force this year with all three boys, and it, by far, has been the most fun season of celebrating.  Everyone is excited!   When we arrived to visit Santa, there was NO line. Not one person in front of us.  We spent at least 5 minutes chatting with him, and it was PERFECT!     Not related to the Santa visit, but Reid discovered our Christmas countdown that is marked with hershey kisses candy.  He ate nearly all of Kyle's this year, and thought we wouldn't notice the mess....

My mom is the oldest of five siblings, and we have usually gathered on Christmas eve at Granny's house.  However, due to expanding families/obligations/Granny moving to retirement community, we met the weekend prior to Christmas, and stayed at a hotel.   We arrived Saturday afternoon, and our family spent some time in the indoor pool.  That evening, we brought in pizza and congregated in the hotel's meeting room, where we ate, played games such as pictionary, watched a slide show from the past 60 years, and laughed.  It was fun!   My cousin, Will, is 3 months older than me.  Here are our two boys, with Tripp being 3 months older than Reid!  Amazingly, I have no other pictures from Saturday!   Sunday plans were to go to church with Granny and then have lunch at Ted's mexican restaurant.  Due to the winter weather, church was a no-go, and so we simply did lunch, where we play Dirty Santa.   Aunt Val and Mom Val and ...