Thanksgiving 2019

   We had a wonderful Thanksgiving this year.  We hosted like we do every year.  My mom, sister, and grandma all contribute so it is not as much work for me.  We ate around 1:00 and all stuffed ourselves silly!  So much good food.  Joey smoked another turkey and it was so good.  A miracle happened this Thanksgiving: my brother actually did the dishes afterwards for the first time ever!!!!  (I made sure to get a picture!)  After our food settled a bit, my mom, sister, and I went out to do some Black Friday shopping.  I know it's not everyone's cup of tea, but it is a tradition we have had since I was little.  We always have such a great time shopping together and we always come home with lots of great gifts.  We truly have so, so much to be thankful for and Thanksgiving is the perfect way to celebrate! 

These two helped set the table

Joey's perfect turkey

Handsome boys! 

Emmy in her special Thanksgiving shirt

Time to eat!  

Gracie having some of Gigi's pumpkin pie

It's a miracle!!!! My brother did the dishes!!!!

I even put Bryan to work! 

Play Street

   A new play type place opened up recently.  I have been wanting to go, but I needed to wait until Gracie did not have school.  Over Thanksgiving break, I took the girls.  It is a really neat place and there was so much to do and explore.  The girls had a great time playing and we stayed several hours.  It's definitely a place we will visit again. 

Emmy 24 Months

   She is getting closer to two years old every day!  She continues to entertain us daily with her silly antics.  She is one funny girl! 

Being silly with a diaper on her head

At the play place

She loves the slide at the dentist's office

She loves going on walks.  

Ruby is her best bud!  

Gracie's Performance

    All the kindergartners do a fall music performance at the kids school.  They don't do it in front of the whole school , just family.  It's way for them to show what they have been learning in music class.  This is my fourth time seeing this performance, but each time it's a little different because every child's personality shows in a different way.  Grace wore her fanciest outfit and she did a fantastic job. 

Ready to perfrom

Coming in.  She was so excited!!!

Ashlyn's 12th Birthday

    I can't even believe that my first born is twelve years old.  On one hand it's like they had flown by, and on the other hand I feel like I have been a mom my entire life.  I will always remember the day that Ashlyn was born as the best day of my life.  It was the day she made me a mother and I will never ever forget it!
   Ashlyn is quickly growing (she is almost as tall as me!) into such an incredible young woman.  Now that she is in middle school, she is definitely entering a new, more mature stage in life.  It has been neat to see her grow and change into a new stage.  She has a great group of friends in school and she really enjoys middle school.  She loves her art class and is slowly learning how to play the clarinet.  Ashlyn continues to love to read and draw.  She is such a good little artist and I love to see the different things she makes.  She is and always been such a blessing and bright spot in our lives. 
   Ashlyn had school on her birthday, so we weren't able to celebrate until that night.  When she woke up, our elf, Eddie Buddy had shown up with donuts and chocolate milk for her. 
     After school, we all went out to dinner at Red Robin.  Ashlyn requests Red Robin every year as it is one of her favorite places.  After dinner, we went to my parents house for cake and presents.  She requested that I make her a cherry chip cake.  I was happy to oblige. 
   Joey and I had gone back and forth for a long time as to when we wanted Ashlyn to have a phone. We live really close to her school, but now that she is in afterschool activities, I wanted a way for her to be able to contact us.  Also, she sometimes stays home while we go places, and I wanted her to be able to call us if she needed something.  We decided to surprise her with a phone and boy was she surprised!  She hadn't even asked for a phone so she had absolutely no idea she was getting one.  She was very, very excited to open that gift.  She declared it her best birthday ever! 

Our beautiful 12 year old

I think she was in shock

Ashlyn and all of her presents