Christmas and all that hoop la

We're in our last week of January and I'm finally posting about Christmas

 I wish for just one year, 

we didn't have to work or go to school through the month of December

We could sit home, admire the decorations, bake Christmas cookies

 and celebrate without all the hustle and bustle

I was a little ba humbug going into December

If it hadn't been for the hubby, I'm not sure the tree and village would've been put up
but it was and I'm forever thankful he got me out of that rut

I think I've posted about our village before
We've been working on painting this village for 17 years

Our tree gets decorated in the traditional red and green with Robert Stanley ornaments
Every year I buy the boys an ornament and try to pick one that's personal

Spencer got a robot - He is loving his robotics class
Parker got a Santa with a fish - The boys have taken up a serious hobby of fishing

The first Friday in December is always the Holiday Stroll downtown

Parker sang at the church with the Colorado Jammers

and the weather was beautiful so we decided to go enjoy the stroll

I'm pretty sure they had a record turn out this year

We started out the month with a critter in the attic 

We've had everything from mice to a raccoon up there and we were pretty sure it was a squirrel

When the live trap didn't work, we resorted to rat traps

We ended up with a BIG mouse and were relieved when we finally caught it

There's nothing like laying in bed and hearing it scratch in the attic above you {Eeeek} 

During one of our ventures up into the attic to check traps,

we discovered we have a mold issue

The people that added the addition on to the house didn't vent the bathroom vent out of the roof

They vented it into the attic so all of the moisture has been trapped up there causing mold

We got more bad news the middle of December

We found out that Parker failed his eye exam at school in October

I scheduled an eye exam and sure enough, the boy needed glasses

A little more bad news news
This boy grew - Like over night!

He is officially taller than me, not that it takes much
It's a sad day when your kids can look you in the eyes

My baby turned 11!
We are careful about keeping his birthday totally separate from Christmas
so I'll be writing a special post about how we celebrated at a later date

The week school got out for Christmas break we had 3 concerts

I love Christmas concerts and the fact that our schools still let the kids sing CHRISTMAS songs

Many schools have winter programs in fear of offending someone
Not ours and I'm forever grateful!

The week of Christmas was WILD

We weaned Spencer off of his migraine medicine by doctors orders

As of right now he's doing great without it and we pray things continue to go well

Spencer chipped 2 teeth that we had to have fixed at the University of Iowa Dental College

If you ever need a tooth fixed, Dr. Vargas is your guy!

My brother and his family came home and I took some pictures of the kids for my mom and dad

This was one of the fun pictures I took
They were such troopers wearing pea coats when it was 60 degrees

We celebrated Christmas with my mother in-law on Christmas Eve, 

Christmas day was spent with my immediate family 

and the day after Christmas was spent with my aunts, uncles and cousins

Spencer told me the only thing he wanted for Christmas was an iphone
He didn't want ANYTHING else!
Thankfully the boy was due for an upgrade so that's what he got
Plus a few other things
He has become quite picky in his teenage years
Just about everything needs to be Nike or Under Armour
He got a Nike sweatshirt, Nike belts, Nike long underwear...
You get the idea!

Parker still has that little boy left in him and I LOVE that
He also got an iphone but also got legos, a huge art set, a game and some other fun stuff


We were truly blessed in 2015
Happy New Year a little late!

A fall recap

Here's a Fall recap

I'm so far behind I can't even remember what went on
I had to resort back to my phone and check the picture gallery for a reminder
Isn't it sad that we use our phones instead of cameras these days?

Spencer and Chip went to Wartburg College in September
  Spencer and some of his friends from school sang at the Real Men Sing event
It was a fun guys day out but Chip said it was middle school overload

We celebrated homecoming with a WIN for the Muskies
We walked in the homecoming parade and even went to the game
The weather was wonderful and since we're close to becoming a Muskie family,
we decided to go and cheer them on

Spencer isn't really a cheerleader but they were willing to let him try their poms out

Finishing up the parade with a beautiful sunset

Game time

Spencer and Chip went to a corn field maze with the youth group so
mama was left in charge of pumpkin carving this year
Parker and I picked out a design, he scooped it out and I got to carve it while he watched tv
I think the hubs would have done a better job but Parker LOVED it and that's ALL that matters

We celebrated Halloween
Grandma made Parker's vest and hat {Such talent} and such a cute little fisherman

The boys say they'll never be too old to trick or treat

We support the teal pumpkin project
{Food Allergy Awareness}
Read more about it here

We worked hard last fall to get some projects done around the house:
Stained the monstrous deck we rebuilt last year
Stained the front deck
Painted the bathroom
Stained and put a towel cabinet in the bathroom

and
painted the kitchen

We had Fall parent teacher conferences
The boys are doing GREAT and we're so proud of them

I did the Lagomarcino 5k with a friend
The location was BEAUTIFUL {downtown Davenport}
It wasn't one of our favorite 5k's but we enjoyed the hot chocolate and turtles at the end

We were going to do the Turkey Trot in town but we got our first snow and it was canceled
We were pretty bummed but are looking forward to a new year and many more 5k's


We celebrated Thanksgiving with family and LOTS of food

There you have it,
Our Fall recap