Nice Day at HOME!!

We just stayed around the house all day today. It was great!! We all slept until 11am this morning then the boys spent the day playing with new toys and riding 4-wheelers. Dawn & her boys came over for supper & the kids played for a while. It was a great day! Gavin just zonked out in the chair while watching cartoons & eating Goldfish crackers!! Isn't he too cute!!

Merry Christmas!!

We had a wonderful Christmas! I don't think it could have been better! We went to my cousins' home in Lake City for Christmas Eve & then my mom & dad came home with us. We put out milk & cookies for Santa & reindeer food for the reindeer. We left Santa's special key out for him & said goodbye until next year to our scout elf Zack & then headed to bed. It was a bit of a chore getting Ryley to go to sleep because he was soooooooooo excited!!! The boys got us up I guess around 8. They both got everything on their lists from Santa & mom & dad. Justin appreciated having my dad here to help him wrestle all of the toys out of their packages & remove hundreds of tiny screws to install batteries! LOL!! I have had bronchitis for what seems like 6 months but has actually been about 1 month so after all the gifts were opened I took a little nap!! Which was great!! At lunch my mom made gumbo. Delicious!! Later on in the afternoon we went to Justin's parents' house to exchange gifts with them. All in all a great day!!

Gingerbread House

While I was out running errands Justin & the boys built a gingerbread house. It is really cute!! They did an awesome job!! I'm so proud of my boys!!

White Family Christmas

Last Saturday, we had our family Christmas with my parents, my brother & his new wife. We had a good time! The boys especially loved having an early Christmas!!

Ryley's Birthday Cake

Ryley's actual birthday was the 28th (the day after Thanksgiving). Bethany made him a deer hunting cake for his birthday present. It was awesome!! Bethany makes the best cakes!!

Ryley Birthday Party

For Ryley's birthday this year we took a group of kids to the ASU museum to see the Grossology exhibit. The kids had a blast but honestly I was too busy trying to keep up with all the kids to even look at anything!! Anyway that was way too chaotic & probably won't happen again!! Afterwards we went back to our church family life center to build ice cream sundaes with the birthday boy.

Winnie the Pooh Live!!

I'm playing catch up again!! On Nov 7th my mom and I took the boys to see Winnie the Pooh Live! The boys had a great time!! We spent the night in Little Rock and shopped all day the next day!

Which was great fun for mom & me!!

Smores on a School Night??!!

Yesterday after work Justin decided to burn a pile of brush in the woods behind our house. Well the boys thought it would be a great opportunity to roast hot dogs and make smores!! So I ran to the store and bought the stuff we needed. The kids thought it was so cool to do this on a school night. I think it is good for kids to see that parents can be spontaneous too!! The dogs had a great time also because Gavin dropped a couple hot dogs and at least a half a dozen marshmallows!!

Halloween

We went to my parents house in Highland for the weekend so my boys trick or treated a few of my parents friends' homes on Fri evening. We went to my parents' church's Fall Fling on Sat evening which was lots of fun for the kids. Ryley got to shoot cans with a paintball gun so now of course he wants one for Christmas, but no way is he getting one!! Maybe when he's older. Ryley & Justin went deer hunting Sat morning but they didn't even see any deer. Oh well maybe next time!! I forgot to take my camera this weekend but I did take s

ome pics with my mom's camera. maybe one of these days I'll get copies of them!! Anyway these pics are of the hayride at our church's fall festival & go with the last post.

Saturday

We had a great time at our church's fall festival & hayride Sat evening. It was perfect weather! My mom was here with us because she stayed with the boys while we had our short anniversary trip. Gavin did his best to abuse her by telling her she has a big butt! She wasn't too upset & actually thought it was funny!! But other than that she said they had lots of fun. She & Beda (Aunt Belinda) took my boys & their cousins (Beda's grandsons) Kade & Kaleb to Chuck E. Cheese for lunch.

Happy 10th Anniversary to Us!!

Believe it or not--on Oct 24th Justin & I celebrated our 10th wedding anniversary!! I know we don't seem that old! We had planned a romantic weekend at a Bartee Meadow Bed & Breakfast in Hot Springs-complete with massages, pinic lunches, and dinner cruise--but Ryley's taekwondo testing turned out to be in conflict with that plan--& as parents we have to sacrifice--they'll be all grown up too soon!! So we went to Memphis & spent the night in the hotel that we stayed in on our wedding night. We had to wait until Ryley's taekwondo testing was over so it was 10:30pm by the time we got to Houston's to eat dinner--but it was worth it. When we got to the hotel Justin surprised me with a beautiful white gold 3 stone ring. I was really surprised because I had hinted all summer that I would like a white gold wedding set & he kept insisting that he was not buying one right now & I believed him. Little did I know he purchased mine back in June!! I'd post a pic of it but I forgot to take one & it's at the jeweler's being sized right now--oh how I miss it!! We spent Sat. morning shopping at Bass Pro then headed home to get ready for our church's fall festival & hay ride. Here's to another wonderful 10 years!!

Ryley's Taekwondo Testing

Ryley tested for his yellow belt on Oct 24th. He did awesome!! I am so proud of him!! He has diligently practiced the 19 step form & 5 1 steps that are at 4-5 steps each. I think this is quite an accomplishment for less than 2 months of lessons. He will find out Thursday if he passed or not. I'm sure he did from talking to his instructor. He's so excited!!

Fireproof the movie

Justin & I went out for a Sunday afternoon date this past weekend. We watched Fireproof Your Marriage. It was wonderful!! I encourage everyone to take your spouse to see this movie!!

Halloween Party

The Halloween party Sat night was loads of fun!! The kids had a blast running around, dancing, & eating!! Everyone was so cute in costume!! Thanks Tiffany & Allen for letting us party at your house!! Ryley & I made a ghost cake, a rat cake & cupcakes for the party. Ryley & Justin dressed up as phantoms. Gavin & I were a dalmation and Cruella DeVil.

Fall Decor

We have recently decorated our yard and porch for the fall holidays. I think that the boys & I did a pretty good job this year!

Gavin is a "Big Man"

I forgot to post some special news. Gavin is now a self-proclaimed "big man". He gave his pie-pies (pacifiers) to the baby red wolves on Oct 3rd!! He decided that he was a big man & didn't need them anymore. His friend JP gave his to the baby red wolves so Gavin did the same. I am so proud of him for being such a "big man"!! Since he gave up the pie-pies so easily his daddy & I went ahead a got him the kitchen and chef's outfit he was going to ask Santa to bring for Christmas. Doesn't he look sweet in his chef's hat??!!

Homecoming

Yep I'm still playing catch up!! Last Friday was our school's football homecoming. Ryley was invited to ride on the Pee Wee football float in the parade so he was super excited!! Gavin & his Playschool pals were in awe of the parade!! That evening our church had a tailgate party which was lots of fun!! The boys loved having their faces & hair painted for the event!!

Soccer

Ryley's soccer team has done really well this summer!! We are really proud of them! Go Goodman Contracting!!!

Pirate Cousins

I just had to post this pic of my little pirates at Kidsfest!!

Taekwondo

Ryley started taking Taekwondo in September. He loves it & is really good at it!! He will be testing for his yellow belt next Friday so he's really excited. He practices his forms everyday. We are sooo proud of him!

Fair Time

Okay so I know I'm wayyyy behind on blogging so I'm going to try to play catch up tonight since Amber told me I better!!

The kids had a blast at the NEA District Fair. They thought the rides were pretty cool but the petting zoo was definitely their favorite part. We're going to have to get Gavin & Ethan some goat kids! They loved them!!