Christmas Tree

I love our Christmas tree. There's nothing special about it. I've written about it before. It's almost 20 years old but I still love it especially once it's decorated with white lights and have all my children's ornaments on it. It's just beautiful.

I did find some pictures of some not-so-cute trees. I thought I'd post a few. I know some of you will probably love the pink and white tree because it's trendy and chic. Well, it that's chic, then I don't want any part of it. And...ummm...excuse me...but isn't that an orange monkey as the tree topper??? HORENDOUS!

A favorite game

My parents introduced my kids to a new game last weekend and they LOVE it. I remember seeing this game in the closet when I was young but never played it. It didn't look exciting enough. I have to say, my parents are so good about finding fun things for the kids to do when they are at their house. They are always introducing them to fun games, crafts, and baking that they don't do at our house. I guess that's why grandparents are so much fun!
Tripoly is a game that has aspects of Michigan rummy, poker, and hearts. While I don't condone gambling for children (ha!) this game is a lot of fun and the kids absolutely love it.

My mom tried to find Tripoly for the kids for Christmas but didn't have any luck. It is, after all an older game and not as popular today as it was several years ago.

On Sunday, Elijah and I were doing some shopping at Meijer and we decided to see if there were any sales on some fun board games. On the very bottom shelf, we found it. On sale for $9.99...there it was....TRIPOLY! Sydney is going to be SO excited when they open it.

I have a feeling we will be playing a lot of Tripoly over Christmas break.

I'm so excited!

On top of that, this will be one of those memories Elijah, Noah, and Sydney will carry over to their children. They will tell their children how Granny and Pappy taught them out to play Tripoly and then we bought it for our house. Maybe even one day, Chad and I will teach our grandchildren to play Tripoly. What a fun thing to pass down to your children's children...games and having fun...TOGETHER!

One of my favorite things

Goodness knows I'm no Oprah but I do have some favorite things. No, I won't be able to buy you each one of these but I do reccomend getting one.

You can get these cups just about anywhere. Walmart has reasonably priced ones and I notied this weekend that Walgreens had some Christmas style cups that were a bit smaller but really fun. My friend, Sam actually got me one of these and I love them. Fill them up with ice and water and they are good all day. It keeps your drinks cold and they are SO cute! Most are different colors and have decorations on the outside. Sam got me a clear one with a blue lid and blue straw with a snowflke on the outside. It's so fun! I just love it!

If you get one, please wash them by hand to keep them extra nice.

Definitely a good gift for a stocking. They run about $7 to &12 depending on size and kind.

Enjoy!

Ready!

I'm ready!

I'm ready for snow!
I'm ready for a break from school!
I'm ready to be with my family!
I'm ready to relax!

I'm SO ready for Christmas!
I'm ready for the baking and the smells of wonderful food coming from my kitchen.
I'm ready to finish wrapping the rest of the gifts and get them under the tree.
I'm ready to see the kids excited with anticipation.
I'm ready to not have to worry about practices, projects, and tests.
I'm ready to ice cookies, watch movies, snuggle on the couch, and drink hot chocolate.
I'm ready to stay up late and sleep in.
I'm ready for days full of jammies.
I'm ready to play games and do a lot of laughing.


BRING IT ON!

Are you ready for this???

Today during lunch, we were talking about winter. Don't ask me why but someone mentioned that we're supposed to get A LOT of snow this year.

My stomach flipped a little bit.

Don't hurt me...but I'm excited.

Just a little bit.

Bring it on.

Yahoo!!!

Apples, apples EVERYWHERE!

I'm going through a bit of an apple fetish phase right now. I think my family is getting sick of it but they're just going to have to endure it!

This is, after all, the season of apples. We've had apple pies, apple cake, fried apples, apple dumplings, caramel apples.... I'm loving it! I love choosing the apples from all the different kinds and try to decide which ones would be best to bake different things with. One of my favorite things is baking with the kids. We have such a good time in the kitchen. I love smelling the concoctions cooking in the oven. I love spending the next few days munching on all the goodies. I'm so thankful for the sweet, tart, crunchy, warm, sugar and cinnamon coated apples. YUM!

Lovin' this time of Year!

It is the beginning of my favorite holiday seasons. Nothing beats Fall! Halloween, caramel apples, lighted pumpkins, spooky decorations, crisp Fall mornings, warm afternoons, and the crunch of leaves under your feet. So much fun!

My kids always make fun of me during the Halloween/Thanksgiving/Christmas time of year. I think it's because I get a little giddy and they think I'm ridiculous. BUT...I don't care! I love it! I decorate the house, put up lights, spread cobwebs and spiders on the stairway and lights, make lots of apple desserts, plant mums and decorate my porch with pumpkins.

My family didn't ever celebrate Halloween much growing up. I remember we once had a HUGE Halloween party and bonfire at the farm when I was young complete with hayride and bobbing for apples. Later we celebrated Fall but not Halloween. My parents believed it wasn't right to celebrate a holiday that celebrated witches, ghosts, and evil spirits. So, at about age 6 or 7, we stopped trick or treating, stopped dressing up, and stopped decorating the house. We started attending Fall Festivals instead. It was always a good time but there's something about Halloween that is just F*U*N! We don't do the "scary" part of Halloween but we do love our jack-o-lanterns, cobwebs, spiders, purple and orange lights, and witches. Last year we had a very fun Halloween/Birthday party for Elijah's surprise 16th birthday. It was such a blast that we've decided to do a repeat this year. Hopefully the weather will cooperate and we'll be able to have get out the fire pit, eat some great food, play some fun games and just hang out. I'm excited! We've decided to have our party for our kids and some of their friends. It looks right now that there will be about 25 teenagers at our house that night. While some of you may think, "No Way! You are CRAZY!" I have to giggle! We thoroughly enjoy our kids' friends. They are fun and polite and silly and all around good kids. We love when they come over.

So we'll decorate the house and the garage, make up some treat bags, play some games and celebrate Fall with the kids and their friends. It's bound to be a good time and we're excited!!!

Vacation!!!

It's sooo much fun to get away and just be together. Our excuse to leave the lovely Hoosier state this year was because of Dance Nationals in Myrtle Beach. (Please read the below post alllll about dance and to watch Elijah's AMAZING championship video!) We left on Saturday night and drove all night and arrived in MB around 1pm on Sunday. We checked into our beautiful and spacious condo, took a nap, and then headed to the Evan's house to help Haley (One of Elijah's closest childhood friends) celebrate her 16th birthday. It was a such a blast to hug their necks, catch up on life, and have some awesome fellowship over some of the best food (prepared by Haley's daddy, Jeff...who was home on vacation that week.) By the time we got back to the condo, we were all exhausted.

The next few days were filled with doing the tourist thing; eating great food, going to the beach, seeing the sights, and relaxing. We ate at Planet Hollywood,
spent lots of time at Broadway at the Beach, saw the fourth installment of Pirates at the 3-D IMAX theater, ate some great ice cream at Cold Stone Creamery, and beached it up at North Mytle Beach.

Wednesday and Thursday were spent doing the dance thing. But in the evening we had time to do some sight-seeing and shopping. We went to this great candy store, called It's Sugar, and spent quite a bit of time looking at everything they offered. Talk about a fun place. It was HUGE and there was so much to see! We picked up some of our favorite treats while looking at some "treats" that didn't seem so sweet....like bacon-flavored mints, ranch-flavored gum, and dill pickle-flavored toothpicks. Fun stuff...but we'll stick with the sweet stuff!

Friday night we went back to the Evans' house for some more of Jeff's homecooking. He introduced us to Shrimp and Grits and it was the most FABULOUS thing ever! I was in heaven! He made a fabulous apple crisp and topped it with vanilla ice cream. It was fun hanging out them. Jeff has one story after another and he is a hoot. He's like one giant kid in an adult's body. Then there is Kristin...this strong, amazing, fun woman whose kids adore her. Isaac was in Sydney's class when they lived here. It was great reconnecting with him. Then there's Haley. We just love this girl and hated saying goodbye to her.

Love this family!

Saturday consisted of beach in the morning and then finals dance competition in the evening. Sunday morning we were up early and on the road.


It's good to be back but we sure had a great time!

Elijah's Nationals Competition

We are back from Dance Nationals in Myrtle Beach. Good to be back but had a great time. It was HOT and HUMID but we had a ton of fun and most importantly, got to spend some quality time just hanging out together.

Elijah danced his heart out and we are SO proud of everything he has accomplished. Elijah danced tap and hip hop competitively this year as well as danced a production number. Out of all of his dances, hip hop was the best and most impressive. It was fast, current, upbeat, fun, energetic and it was the dance to beat this season.

Traditionally, hip hop doesn't do very well at competitions because it's not considered "technical." This year, Elijah's teacher, Miss Amy completely outdid herself. She and her kids should be very proud of themselves. Elijah kept telling me, "Mom, this dance is soooo fast. I just love it. I think it's my favorite this year." I had to agree. Watching him perform at competitions, the hip hop dance choked me up each time. It was different and exciting. I told his teacher this would be the "one" to win it and she agreed. Hip hop always did okay at competitions. They received platinum standings but never won first overall.

Before we knew it, we were off to Nationals. Over 1300 groups competed. Tap did ok. Production we knew, wouldn't make the cut. Hip hop had a chance, but when we received a second place overall, we weren't sure. What that meant, we didn't know. We just had to wait. In any event, Elijah had so much fun and there were some outstanding numbers to watch, beautiful costumes to drool over, and choreography that made our heads spin. A mass of talented kids who had the same passion as our son...dance.

After everyone competes, the top 80 groups make it to the finals on Saturday which are televised via webcast. The overall winner takes it all so it's literally do or die. We didn't figure any of our senior groups would make it. We figured if any groups would make it to the top 80, it would be jr. company tap. Friday at lunch, Elijah got the call that changed everything. His friend, Grace texted him and said, "We made it to the finals!" We sat in stunned disbelief. Even Elijah couldn't get excited. He texted her back and asked, "Are you sure?!?!?" Sure enough, hip hop made it to the finals. The top 77 groups were in the televised webcast dance-off for the championships on Saturday.

We were nervous, and excited, and not sure what to expect. The competition would be the fiercest they'd ever be up against. The groups were AMAZING and what's more.... Elijah's hip hop group was the ONLY hip hop group that made it to the finals. That right there speaks volumes about how good this number was. They performed and it was incredible, and inspiring, and energetic, and emotional. Watching my son, on stage, dancing his heart out, was perhaps one of the happiest moments for me and one I won't forget anytime soon. Seeing him live out his passion, doing what he loves, putting his all into something he's been working on getting right since he was six years old was awe-inspiring. My heart was bursting with pride watching him up on that stage. Watching him dance on the big screen, knowing that family and friends at home were watching and able to see them do such an incredible job and share in our joy was incomprehendable.

They didn't win but they didn't care. They were so proud of their accomplishments and they couldn't have done a better job on stage. Every movement was fluid, their choreography was completely in sync, and their facials on stage said it all. They were winners because they had done their best and made it to the top and we couldn't have been more pleased. Here's the Top 77 video link of their "do or die" performance. GREAT JOB, ELIJAH!

Prom 2011

Here they are! In all their handsome glory!

Our boys both got invited to Delta's prom this year. Noah went with his favorite gal, Samantha, who he went to Senior Ball with, and Elijah went with his friend, Ashley. They both had a great time and danced the night away at the Horizon Center and then went to After Prom at Union Chapel's 180 building. They played games, ate, and posed for pictures. They came home tired but really excited from the evening's festivities.

Here are a few pictures from the day. Sam looked unbelievably beautiful in a pewter/gunmetal colored dress. Noah accented her dress with a hot pink tie and pewter-colored vest. Noah and Sam's flowers were gorgeous with hot pink Gerbers and black ribbon. VERY HANDSOME!

Elijah's date looked the complete part of a princess in her pink dress. He set it off with hot pink vest and tie. Elijah and Ashley's flowers were Sweetheart roses and black and pink ribbon. AMAZING!


Great memories to look back on, a fun weekend, and lots of pictures to look back at. I'm so excited that they both got to experience Prom with good friends!

I had to include these pictures. Noah is definitely our big goober and obviously, Chad gets right in there too! :)

She's 13!

It's official!

We now have THREE teenagers in the May house. I can't believe it.

Sydney's birthday this year fell on another busy weekend but we were able to make it special for her. Friday evening after Sydney went to sleep, I decorated her room with streamers, crepe paper, banners, and balloons. She was very surprised when she woke up and still has refused to take anything down. Later that morning, we had to pick up the flowers for the boys for prom and Elijah bought flowers for his baby sister. She got to pick out five carnations and the gal at Liggets made it extra special and made her a beautiful bouquet. She was thrilled that Elijah did that for her.

After we got the boys off to prom, Chad and I got to spend some one-on-one time with her. She wanted to see the movie Soul Surfer. It turned out to be such a good movie, rated PG and a Christian movie with a fantastic message. We all loved it. By the time we got home, she was tired but had had such a good day that she fell into bed with a smile on her face.

Next weekend, she is having her friend, Brittany over and we will head to the Cheesecake factory for dinner (her choice!) I know she is very excited about that.

What did Sydney want for her birthday? A television in her room and to have her loft bed taken down. We moved the television from the sunroom into her room and hooked up a DVD player to it. She is sooo excited to be like her brothers and have a tv in her room. She is so easy to make happy.

This baby girl of ours, the one who completed what we thought was our already complete family, has brought more joy and sunshine, more inspiration and giggles, more smiles and laughter than we ever thought possible. No matter how much she changes in looks, the older she gets, she remains such an amazing, sweet, and tender-hearted young lady. She is so well-loved by her brothers, adored by her daddy, and more precious to me than she'll ever realize. Happy birthday to one of the most incredible gifts Chad and I have every received.

Elijah's Hip Hop group 2010

This is a big dance year for Elijah. His tap and hip hop groups will be performing in Myrtle Beach at Nationals and he is so excited! I wanted to publish this picture of last year's hip hop group. They performed a fast, upbeat, high energy hip hop mix and did very well at competitions.

Dance is Elijah's passion and he's very good at it. It is thrilling to watch him on stage and performing.

We can't wait to see this year's numbers and are even more excited to watch Elijah and his friends in action on stage. We know it will be a great year of dance for him and one we won't forget any too soon.

We love Hay!!!

This is Haley. We loooovvveee Haley. She is such a great girl and one of Elijah's bestest friends. Haley and her family moved to South Carolina just after fifth grade. She has been a mainstay friend for Elijah since he started Albany Elementary and even though she is far away, they keep in contact and their friendship is stronger than ever.

We're very excited because this year Elijah has dance Nationals and they are taking place in Myrtle Beach which is only FIFTEEN minutes from Haley and her family. On top of that, Hay will turn 16 while we are there which means Elijah will be able to spend a ton of time with her over her big birthday. We are excited to get to spend some much needed time with the Evans clan. Here are a couple of pictures of Elijah, Kenna, and Haley. The one picture was taken on the last day of school in fifth grade. It was pajama day and they posed like Charlie's Angels. The second picture was taken over the summer of Elijah's freshman year. Same pose, completely different looking kids.

We love you, Hay and can't wait to see you!!!!

Elijah's big year!

Elijah had a big year so far. He went to Delta Sadies with his friend Maddie Walker, he turned sixteen, and he's going to the Sweetheart Ball with his friend Katherine Smith. I did want to included some pictures of his night of Sadies. He doubled with some of his best friends Aaron Jackson and Leah Williams. Some of you might remember Leah from last year as she was Elijah's date for Sadies and Sweetheart.
On our way out of Leah and Aaron's neighborhood, we saw some more of Elijah's good friends. Here he is posing with some of the girls. Gracie (red shirt) is his best dance buddy. They dance tap and hip hop together. She is silly and loud and funny and adorable. Kenna (on Elijah's left) is our neighbor and she and Elijah sit together on the bus everyday. They've been buddies since second grade. Missy (white shirt) also dances with Elijah. She and Elijah had danced together outside of the studio and have become really close over the years. Erin (green shirt) is Grace's best friend and has become friends with Elijah through osmosis.

You gotta love good friends. They make each day worth living and provide so much joy and happiness. Elijah is very lucky when it comes to his friends. We are very thankful for the friends Elijah has. They keep him going, they provide strong shoulders to lean on, and they are all such great kids.

Elijah is 16!

I was going back through my blogs recently and realized I didn't post or blog anything about Elijah's 16th birthday. I'm terrible!!! SO...I'm going to blog about it today and hope Elijah forgives me later! We have some pictures but we got more video than pictures. I'll share a few pics here.

First off, we kept the party planning under wraps. We didn't want Elijah to know anything about the party. In fact, Celeste (one of Elijah's best friends) and Elijah share the same birthday so she helped me out a lot by planning a "fake" party for the two of them to distract the birthday boy. And boy, did it work! (Thank you again, Celeste! You are awesome!)

About a month before the party, I started contacting Elijah's friends. Elijah's birthday is November 3 so we decided to have the party on October 30th and make it a Halloween costume party. The kids were really excited about this. Every week, when we took Elijah to dance on Thursdays, I would go to the Halloween store in Muncie and stock up on stuff. We were so excited and we knew as long as no one said anything, we would be able to pull it off. Sydney did slip up once and it was a doozy but we covered well and Elijah still didn't have any idea.

The day of the party, we knew we had to get Elijah out of the house so we could decorate the garage and get the food ready. The Albany Halloween parade was that night and we had told Elijah that Mom and Dad, Uncle Todd and Aunt Sue, Auntie Val and Uncle Randy and allll the kids were coming over to eat and then to walk up and go see the parade. BUT because of all the stuff we had to do, I wasn't going to have time to run to the store. Brooke "volunteered" to pick up Elijah and they went to get all the stuff. Little did he know the list I gave him of stuff to shop for was all the food for his party. Once he left, we had 2 hours to decorate, get everything ready and have the guests show up.

The garage looked great, the guests were dressed up and in place and then Elijah arrived. He walked into the garage and the look on his face was PRICELESS! He had NO idea and was absolutely thrilled. Chad and I had bought him a priest costume and had laid it out on his bed for him to wear so he could be dressed up with his friends. After the initial shock, Elijah and his friends walked uptown to the parade and then afterwards came back to eat, play games, open presents, and dance. They had a blast.


A highlight of the party was our gift to Elijah. We don't allow our kids to get cell phones until they turn 16. We just don't feel like there's a reason for them to have one earlier than that. Two weeks before the party, we ordered his phone, got him a ringtone, and charged it up for him. We delivered it to him at his party. He was SO excited. He and his friends had so much fun taking pictures and putting in their numbers into his phone and calling and texting each other.


It was a great night. We are proud of Elijah and wanted to celebrate his big birthday in a big way. Happy Birthday, Elijah! We love you so much!

Noah and Sam at Senior Ball

This was the big weekend! Noah was invited to go to the Senior Ball with Sam. He was nervous but very excited.

Our Saturday started off early and was busy until we dropped off to bed around 1 a.m. Chad and I went to an early breakfast at Starbucks and then went to pick up Sam's flowers (which were beautiful!) By the time we finished our errands and got home, it was time to get ready to go to Sam's basketball game. This was a big game for her because first, it was her very last home game and on top of that, it was Senior Day and she and the two other seniors on her team were honored. They won their game against Shelbyville, which always makes for a good day. Afterward, we headed home to get Noah ready to go. Sam on the other hand, had to quickly take a shower and then head over to get her hair done.

Once Noah was showered, shaved, dressed, and smelling good, we made our way over to Sam's house for pictures. Noah looked amazing! He can pull off pink in a big way! Sooooo handsome! And Sam, well, she looked absolutely gorgeous. Her dress looked stunning on her and together they looked absolutely fantastic. While I know you can't see her entire dress, the hot pink sash tied into a huge bow in the back. Her skirt fell above the knee and was all black and filmy and flowed beautifully.
They had so much fun at the dance. They had dinner and danced a lot and laughed and had the best time together. Afterwards, Sam and Noah came back to our house where they had pizza and couched. I think I pulled about 300 bobby pins out of her hair, which I hated to take down because it was so pretty! They both crashed out on the couch shortly afterwards.
We spent a lazy day on Sunday. I made a huge breakfast and later Sam, Noah, Sydney and I played a game of Sorry (Sam won but I think she cheated.) Afterwards, Noah and Sam headed to her house to celebrate her little brother, Trooper's birthday.

Noah had a great weekend and he had such a blast with Sam. I know it will be a night he won't forget any too soon.

Good times!

Meet Sam

THIS IS SAM.

Sam is AWESOME!

I've always been proud of our kids and the decisions they make when it comes to friends. They have always chosen friends with good character and values and as a mom, I so appreciate that because... as many of you know... who we surround ourselves with speaks volume about our own character.
Don't you love it when you get the privilege to connect with amazing kids that have a good, solid head on their shoulders? I'm talking about kids with not only a great work ethic but the strength to not give into peer pressure and ones that just can be themselves no matter what the situation and keep perspective? There are a lot of kids like that out there but I'm very proud of Sam and the person she is.

Sam has become a good friend of our family. She interns at Albany and while her mom and I went to high school and have always been good friends, her daughter, Sam has become a regular fixture in our home. She loves our kids (she has a special fondness for Noah) and they always have so much fun with her. She and Elijah are going to be workout buddies and are planning to make trips to the Y to keep fit together. She's funny and silly and we love her tons. Sam and Noah have this incredible bond that is so fun to watch. I won't go into a lot of detail but they are hilarious! They laugh at everything and have the same sense of humor. Sydney loves Sam and enjoys having a "cool" girl at the house to hang out with.

Sam was given the honor of being The Star Press Athlete of the week this week. She is a forward on Delta's Girls Varsity Basketball team. She is amazing and we are very proud of her.

She invited Noah to be her date this year for the Senior Ball. (He's very nervous but know they'll have a blast!)

I don't think Sam knows for sure what she's going to do after high school or what school she will be attending but our family can't wait to see what happens in her life and watch her grow into an amazing adult.

We've gotten to watch Sam play basketball this season and she is a great athlete and is usually the top scorer in her games. She is fun to watch in action. We are very proud of Sam and all of her accomplishments.

If you get a chance, check out Sam in the Star Press. www.thestarpress.com/section/aow There's also a video of her that is fun to watch. Enjoy!

P.S. Pictures soon to follow of Noah and Sam for Senior Ball.