While the boys are away...

While the boys are away...the parents will play!  While the kiddos were at Mom and Dad's, we got invited to go the Indianapolis Zoo with our friends, Brian and Ashley!  Even though it was a bit chilly, the zoo was a lot of fun!  We were able to see the animals that were out, watch the dolphin show, see the lights, ride the air lift, and have dinner at PF Chang's.  It was such a fun night and a great way to round out the end of our first week of break!  We're headed to my parent's tomorrow to start the Christmas festivities!

Friendship Kitchen

On the first official day of Christmas Vacation, we woke up this morning to same sheet of ice that we went to bed with!  Not a soul has gone down our road all morning, but we have some work to do!  We volunteered to host at the Friendship Kitchen, which serves meals every Saturday to anyone that would like one.  The Leaders, the Jennings, and ourselves took this Saturday and we had chili, cornbread, and grilled cheese to make, so no ice was going to stop us!  Chad had to put salt down (and had been since about 10:00 the night before), but everyone else was able to get out and get to the kitchen.  We had a great time with our kids, serving others!  

 These are some of the cutest little helpers I've ever seen!  They were all a huge help and made the day a lot of fun!

After working, we packed up and headed to Little Mexico to celebrate Callie's birthday!  We hadn't been able to go out due to conflicts, so we thought this was the best time.  Unfortunately, Chad wasn't able to join us, but we still had a good time!!!

Friday Night Basketball!

The boys were in Little Dribblers again this year and had the chance to go "perform" the skills they had worked on for the past 5 weeks.  Ava and Blake were in it too, so we made a nice night of it.  The kids did a great job!  We had planned to go hang out afterwards, but when we left the school, we were greeted to a nice sheet of ice on everything!  We decided against a night out and just made our way home...very, very slowly!

 Even Papaw came to see the kiddos!

 Having some fun with my new iPhone 7 Plus and the camera features

It's Christmas Time, Once Again

I love the holidays!  I love everything about them...time with family and friends, buying the "perfect" gift for those I love, the wonderful food, the holiday movies, the Christmas music, and getting to snuggle up on a cold night with those I love most!

Of course, I can't snuggle up every night...sometimes we have places to go.  A few nights ago, we had a very special place to go; Ben's school Christmas program.  It was a great night!  Ben was on the front row, which was nice considering last year he was hidden by some reindeer horns, lol!

There is nothing more precious than the sound of little children singing...definitely puts the joy of Christmas in your heart!

 Kyran, Ben, Blake and Finn (Finn went to the babysitters with the boys for several years)

Ave - 2nd row, middle in navy dress with gold sweater.  This was her very first Christmas program and she rocked it!

 Ben - front row, middle.  Still blows my mind that this little guy is in 1st grade!

 Blake - end, on right.  Second grade marks the last Christmas program for this guy...he'll move on to the spring program next year!

 I may be biased, but I think these four crazy kids are some of the cutest around!

 I think they were getting tired of pictures...as you can see from Kyran, below :) 

Happy Halloween

We did something different this year for Halloween...we loaded up the boys and went camping with my parents, their friends, and my sister and her family.  We carved pumpkins, had a campfire, rode bikes, went for walks, and the kids played for hours on end.  It was such a fun weekend, and to top it off, I think the boys came home with enough candy to last three years!

 Grandma and Grandpa with 4 of the kiddos...ready to head out on the candy trail!

 Eric, Tai, and Rose came to trick-or-treat too!

 Taking a break

We got back home on Sunday night, headed to school the next day, and then we were back out in full Halloween gear for a few stops around the neighborhood with our friends!  Of course, I had my camera out at the first place and then didn't get it back out again, lol!

Disney!!!

We spent our Fall Break in Disney World this year, and we had a blast!  For the first time, our school moved from a 2 day break to an entire week.  We took full advantage of it and loaded up the campers and headed South.  We went with Andy's parents, his sister and her family, and our friends and their kiddos.  Despite a trip to the ER, to find out Ben was constipated, we still packed a lot of fun into a short trip!

 Face painting in Animal Kingdom...poor Ben was in the camper resting.

 Dinner at Chef Mickey's

 The highlight of the trip...lunch in Cinderella's Castle!

 Before we went up to lunch, Kyran proposed to Ava.  He had been saying all trip that he was going to ask her to marry him, in Cinderella's Castle...poor guy, he got rejected!

Some random photos from the rest of the trip!

 

 

 Somebody was a little tired!