Naughty or Nice?

 

Or maybe a little of both!

Last Wednesday we went to visit the Man In Red...also known as Santa!

(I'm just now getting to this post because I'm finally back to the land of the living. Hooray for me!)

You know how us Joneses like to roll. We like hitting Santa up early in the season for several reasons. Short line, more time with Santa, he's not all "germed up" yet, blah blah blah. BUT the real reason is because we are ready to get the Christmas party started. We LOVE Christmas and visiting Santa is our own little way of getting the season started. I do realize there is a Thanksgiving celebration before Christmas, but I like to think of them lumped together so we have a longer time to celebrate. 

  

Nice!

 

Naughty.

This one was Santa's idea.

He told the kids to make their best Grinch face.

 

 

Here's a few pictures I took...you have to buy one of their packages to take your own photos (the two photos above we bought). Silly, BUT I did get a special package deal that included a super cute light up frame. I'm such a sucker sometimes!

 

 

 

 

Sydney asked Santa for Lego Friends and a Nerf Gun.

 

 

  

Jordyn made up her mind on what she was asking for as she walked into the mall. She asked for a Kindle Fire and a Webkinz monkey.

 

 

 

Bryce has known for about a month now what he wanted to ask for. A toy train to go around the Christmas tree and a remote control monster truck. He even got specific (yah!) and wants a red monster truck with black racing stripes.   

 

 

 

After our visit with Santa we headed to Cracker Barrel for dinner which has become a little tradition for us. It was a much needed family night out. No volleyball, no soccer, no karate, no tumbling...nothing to do, but enjoy each other's company. Perfection!

November 2013 Clinic

 

A little quickie November clinic update for our peoples.

 

On Monday of this week we had our last clinic visit of 2013. Bryan took the day off of work to head down to Children's with us because he had some insurance questions he wanted to ask. It was so nice to have him with us for the visit. I could start complaining about our the "affordable" insurance options we get to choose from, but that my friends would make up it's own lengthy post so I'll skip the topic for another day.

 

Our boy gained 3 pounds since August clinic. I couldn't believe it! This news shocked me since Bryce hasn't cooperated much in the way of eating lately. He really doesn't ever cooperate, but lately seems to be even more so. This weight gain and the little growth he had put him at 70% BMI!! Not bad...not bad at all!

 

Bryce had x-rays this clinic and as much as I would have loved to shown you a picture of him all ready to get his x-rays I didn't get to take one. The technician running the x-rays said it was a HIPPA violation to take a picture of him. I found this odd since it was MY kid I was taking a picture of. I didn't press the issue, but seriously...lame.  Bryce got to see the x-rays, which he found totally "awesome". I wish I could have seen them, but the tech wouldn't let me since she said she had other patients information sitting on her desk.

 

Bryce blew PFT's and blew 16% lower than last time. None of the team seemed too concerned since he is younger and still really new to blowing into the machine, but it slightly stresses me out.  Over the weekend I noticed Bryce was starting to cough a decent amount in the mornings and in the evenings so I started him on breathing treatments. His pulm doc said his lower number could be due to the cough so she wants breathing treatments twice daily now and if the coughing persists over a week we are going on antibiotics. We are also waiting on his culture results so hopefully those don't have any surprises in them. He is having sinus issues, but that is his norm for this time of year. We are doing our daily nasal rinses and Flonase routine to help with the sinus congestion.

 

And that's it. Nothing super exciting this visit. I like non exciting visits because it means things are going smoothly. I should have the culture results by next week so pray that those are normal and clear.

 

 

 

 

 Next clinic is scheduled for February 3, 2014!

Halloween 2013

 

We dressed up. We had fun. We got candy.

 

Another Halloween under the belt. After the girls got out of school the rest of the day seemed to be a whirlwind, but so much fun. The Mullinax crew joined us as well as the Howe girls so we had a nice little group to Trick-or-Treat with. The night started a little slow since a lot of houses didn't seem to be participating, but as the sun set the pace picked up and the kids ended up with their buckets full of treats.

 

No theme costumes this year (tear), but great costumes none-the-less.

 

Hope everyone had a fun and safe Halloween!

  

 

 Sydney as Super Girl!

 

 

 

 

Jordyn as Princess Jasmine!

 

 

 

 

 

Bryce as a Storm Trooper!

 

 

 

 

Bryan asked Bryce to give him a mean serious face.

Pretty legit don't ya think?!

 

Hudson as Mickey Mouse. (Seriously...so stinking cute!)

 

 

 

Max as a White Ninja!

 

 

 

 

Miles was supposed to be a red ninja, but at the last minute he decided to go as Thomas "Crazy Eyes" the Train. His mom was thrilled. He was also not in the mood to have his picture taken.

 

 

 

Family shot!

 

 

 

Group shot of the girls.

 

 

 

One big happy group minus Thomas.

 

 

 

And off they go...

 

 

 1, 2, 3, JUMP...didn't really work.

 

 

 I caught him smiling. I don't think his little feet are touching the ground.

 

 This guy...on a mission people!

 

"Dad...Reece's cup for you!"

 

 

Thanks to our friends for joining us. Until next year...

We Slumbered. We Survived.

 

Well I'm a little late with this, but better late than never!

 

The slumber party for Jordyn's 8th birthday went VERY well.

Apparently we got lucky, which was just fine with us!

 

 

 

We had 13 girls show up for the party and we had 8 sleep over. We started the party off with a treasure hunt. I was worried this activity would go by too quickly, but it worked out perfect. There were 12 clues, which let them to a treasure or a fun activity at each stop. The treasure hunt took almost an hour and the kids loved it. At the first clue the kids all got a bag to put their treasures in as the hunt went on. Big thanks to my baby brother Jay for helping the kids with each clue. The kids loved him...and let's be honest, I think he was having a blast too.

 

 

 After finding their bags they had to sit in a circle and introduce themselves and tell how they know Jordyn. Some of the girls didn't know each other so I figured this would be a good ice breaker.

 

A stroll to the stop sign.

 

Everyone had to show their best dance moves to earn the next clue.

 

Finding glow sticks at the neighbors house.

 

 They had to do some jumping jacks and push-ups....

 

 As well as some running in place.

 

 After exercise and  high-fiving each other they got sprayed with silly string!

 

 

 For the last clue Jordyn had to wait by herself on the driveway.

 

 Finally her friends came out to join her...

 

 To throw confetti on her and yell: HAPPY BIRTHDAY JORDYN!!

 

 

After the hunt we did the usual party stuff. Pizza, presents and cake. From there we put a movie on, which was kind of crazy, but we made it through. After the movie some of the girls went home and the kids left got ready for bed. The girls watched a little TV and then it was lights out. Bryan and I had the baby monitor on so we could hear everything going on, which I was hoping would be entertaining, but it was pretty uneventful since everyone fell asleep really fast!

 

 

 

 Impressing the ladies...

 

 

 

 A giant banana...ahhh!

Yes. Yes that is Uncle Andy dressed up as a giant banana. Jordyn loves monkeys and bananas so why wouldn't he dress up like a giant banana!!

 

 

 

 

 

The next morning we had a carb loaded breakfast. Figured I would load the kids up with sugar before sending them home. While eating breakfast the girls all took turns taking pics with the mustache pencil. So cute.

 

 

 

 

 

It was a great little party and it was so nice to get to know all of Jordyn's friends better (and their parents too!). She has herself a fabulous group of sweet friends.

 

 

I had to post this picture of Bryce...not happy having to sit at the table by himself and finish his breakfast while the girls played downstairs. How cute is that face though?!