Gma Birthday n Such

Grandma's turn for a birthday! We love you!

 Birthday meal at her house. Thanks Grandpa! (Gma is still recooping from surgery so Gpa has become Mr. Grandma.) Isaac is smoosh-eye and ear-hat.

 Ta Da!  The wearing of the decorations!

I figure I would go ahead a post some of January. There's really not a whole lot because seems like someone in our house has been sick every week since the beginning of the year.

This picture came from Wendy's on our trip home from MO (Olivia was sick).

 Since I feel like I've been at home for a bazillion days in a row, we are finding different things to do.  This was Diaper War.

 We all wore diapers and ran around the house shooting each other.

 I think they lasted outside for 20min because it was too cold.  No, Elias cannot ride by himself.  He still can't quite reach the down pedal but he thinks it's great to sit on his own bike.

 They were carrying on conversation about something on the ground.

 Olivia selling girl scout cookies in the neighborhood. She has LOVED going door to door (which is amazing because I definitely do NOT).  She thinks of it as her own business and gets excited when people buy.  She goes to the door by herself and says, "Hi! I'm Olivia would you like to buy some girl scout cookies from me?" and then smiles.  Who could say no to that?

Duck Dynasty Tour

Since the next post is so long, our Duck Dynasty trip to Monroe, Louisiana gets one all it's own.

We drove 1 1/2 hrs from my sister's house to see the "tour". This obviously is the warehouse. They have a large gift shop inside. People were coming and going the whole time we were there...twice. 

You can't tell from the pic, but we were at the bbq restaurant they took the famous race car driver to after they raced camo limousines. I just thought this was sweet.

 Willie's truck was parked outside his office, but we didn't see Willie.  He used this truck when he went "crazy redneck up in here" and got it stuck in a field.

 Excalibur Fun Center where Uncle Si wanted to win enough tickets for the giant teddy bear.

 Justin hit the jackpot with this game and won 253 tickets at once!

Snow cone stand that the guys went to when the AC was broken. We met Debbie. She was super nice and said that Sadie and John Luke still go there almost every day after school.

 Kids splitting their shake 3-way in the car from Debbie's. It was too cold to eat outside.

 Doughnut shop where Uncle Si won his bet that he could eat the most doughnuts.

 Outside the warehouse loading dock where they created the swimming hole.

 Random picture of Elias I found decorating his gingerbread house.

Christmas at Home and in Louisiana

Here's our family Christmas. This is what the kids came down to in the morning. Yes, our tree is a wee bit bright, but it didn't look that bright in the store. But for $75 you can't go wrong....or can you??? 

Ready to open.

 But first Justin read the Christmas story.

 Since he ate so many of our other bullets, we got him a bunch more. I think he's slowly coming out of the eat it stage.

She's been wanting the glitzy globes for awhile.

 Olivia was excited to wrap this present all by herself behind closed doors. She made J&me a calendar at school with some ornaments for the tree and kept it all a secret until we opened presents.

And then we went to Louisiana to visit my sister and brother-n-law. The 13hr trip down wasn't too bad. This pic actually came from the 10hr trip from LA to MO. Elias had a rough time, but hey. I kept reading. And, btw, that is a really cool book. 5 star.

Uncle Will began with the story of Jesus.

 Excited to get a ninja turtle beanie baby.

 Merry Christmas everybody!

 All the rest of the pics are in no particular order.  We had a fire a couple of times. I love burnt marshmallows. And then I like to burp up the burnt smoke smell later. Call me weird.

 Playing Uno one night before bed.

 Tara sprayed this table with chalk paint. Cool.

 The kids got to dig since not all the grass has sprouted yet in their new yard.

Nice enough weather for backyard fun.

Love it.

 Making cupcakes like Martha Stewart for Connor's 2nd birthday.

 Party time! Connor sleeps with a football...hence the footballs.

We took a walk down the boardwalk by the river and visited a few shops. I thought this picture was better.

 But this one had almost everyone in it.

There was also a merry-go-round down there. We got to ride it twice since it was Connor's birthday.

 Riding the elevator up and down at Bass Pro. They have live alligators at this one, but they weren't there this time of year.

 We ate dinner at a cool Italian restaurant. Olivia got this pic of Tara and Will.

 Festive and fun.

Love you Tara! So thankful we're friends!

 Color time.

 Line up to get your teeth brushed...

 Went to the Fowler's church 2x for a service and a special Christmas Eve service.

 The boy table. Olivia got to sit at the high counter on a stool with me. The other 3 adults sat at the regular table.

 Watching the movie Planes.

Christmas in Missouri

We ended our Christmas vacation in Missouri to visit Justin's family. These two were waiting for "Santa & his elf" to hand out presents...aka Nate & Aleah. Nate said he was acting just like Santa when he sat in a chair and made the kids come to him to get their presents. Funny.

 We open gifts from youngest to oldest taking turns and only opening one at a time so everyone can see what everyone gets. I think it was Elias' turn.

 Kids had fun with this monkey.  He repeats whatever you say to it.

 I was amazed to see how big Aleah and Nate have gotten.

 Elias looking at his truck book that makes sounds.

 I liked Gramp's smile.

 Nana got some cool vases.  They will be remodeling their house soon. What a great gift!

 They look so tough.

 You gotta laugh at this one.  Justin went to the bathroom while we were visiting his grandma's house and this is what he found.   

 Is that a bone coming out of his head?

 Really glad you were able to make it Greg!

 Ahhh....Christmas.

This chair has had lots of little bodies sitting in it over the years...

 Nana helped Elias play basketball and he LOVED it.

 Playing with her face.

 Aleah taught Olivia how to make those rubber band bracelets on your toes instead of using the loom.

 We extended our trip one more day because of a yucky sickness that went around.  Karsen and Olivia created this score card for puking.  Not only did Aleah get transferred, but also Aunt Katie, mom, and Olivia ended up on the puke side after the picture was taken. During our 11hr car ride home, Olivia puked for the last 4hrs of the trip.  What a memory!

It was great to see everybody.  Missed getting pics of get-togethers with Gramp's side and Nana's side of the family. But it was fun to see all of them too!