Again, photos that never posted...

Here are Christmas Eve photos.  This is JR with his cousin and her husband.

The step son (who is not leaving FL and moving to MT), the oldest daughter and her mom.

The cousins!

Our crew!

The cousins did a few outings of sledding and one day of ice skating.  I took the two girls, their brother and my three to the ski hill one day.  They really enjoyed it, although the girls struggled some and one of them said it was probably their first and last time skiing!  We also had a few rousing games of Pit and Spoons (thought of you Jan, Mason and Kelvey).  It brought a smile to my face to hear Jacob tell the cousins that he did not want me to play because I was too good and would beat him!

Speaking of Jacob, he has a friend that he invites over every so often.  I really like this kid, but Trentin seems to bring out the rowdy in Jacob.  One day I asked Jacob why they never went to Trentin's house.  He said, 'to be honest, their house is messy'.  I said like really messy and he said yep, stuff everywhere.  I asked him how he liked it and he said he did not like going over there.  Then I made sure to tell him all the cleaning and chores sure paid off at our house!   He has learned to appreciate my cleanliness/organization. Brought another smile to my face.

Speaking of organization, I finally rented a storage unit.  We are just busting at the seams and I am tired of tripping over the out of season stuff.  Plus I am wanting to get everything out of the crawl space and to the storage unit.  Then I will have plenty of room to spread out and really go through/organize/label everything.  (Plus I am secretly hoping that this is a first step to decluttering a house that we will need to put on the market!)

Here is a photo taken at an ugly sweater party we attended mid December.  It was with our Friday night dinner group.  Almost every one showed up in a regular Christmas sweater, none of which I thought were really ugly.  I think I set the bar pretty high.  I won the Christmas gnome, which is now the traveling trophy from year to year.

(I had several posts pre dated to post and for some reason they did not...so these are really late, but oh well....)

More random pictures from last month or so.

Gingerbread making!!  Kristine seemed to be the best builder.  All the boys struggled with the frosting and being patient while it dried!

I wish I could say that the houses made it until Christmas, but their time was pretty short lived

When I was at my Dad's early December, I went to Hobby Lobby.  I found this mug.  I have learned when I really like something, I should buy it.  Just makes me happy.  The back side says "Let it Snow"  We are getting a Hobby Lobby sometime this spring and I need to start a cash envelope for my Hobby Lobby fix.  I think it might become one of my new happy places!

One of Jacob's bball games.

He actually made this shot!!

One of our new games, is called Bounce Off and seems to be the biggest hit.  You bounce ping pong balls and try to get 4 in a row!  I highly recommend it, if you are looking for a new game.

Some ice skating pictures.  Not sure how well you can see it, but behind Jacob is a small goal he made using the saw and drill at home!

He is so fluid.

Here is Joseph, yes skating in shorts, with 'tights' underneath them!

Every time I am back in Abilene, I drive by the old stomping grounds.  Sure loved this house.  There have been additions added since we lived there but the circle drive and basketball hoop are still there!

 During one of Jacob's basketball tournaments we had a 5 hour break and explored Phillipsburg.  We found an amazing candy store, which ships things all over the world!  This is a taffy machine.  It rolls about 300 pieces of taffy in just a few minutes.

 So much candy to choose from.

This is a drawing by Joseph, done free hand!  He is getting pretty good!

Another month of silence and a new year has been ushered in!!!  Things have been so crazy here, but I am also excited because after probably 3 months of no internet capabilities on my regular computer, it is fixed.  Which hopefully will mean easier for me to download and post pictures!

The boys went back to school on the 2nd!  We have a lot of activity for Christmas!  JR's cousin and her family were here for 12 days.  They did not stay with us, but we saw them every day but one.  It was his cousin, her husband, their 2 daughters (aged 14 and 15) and then a step brother, who is early 30s.  These are the same cousins that came to visit over the summer.  The reason they came to visit in the winter, is because they wanted to experience the cold and see if it is something they could handle permanently.  And  guess what, they loved it and are making preparations to move here this summer!!  They would live in our community and the girls would go to school with Benjamin.  They are a lot of fun.  My mom and niece got to hang out with them too!

My mom was here for 5 days.  We spent lots of time hanging around the house and playing games.  Christmas Eve was spent at the cousin's place...lots of food and music.  Then Christmas day we were at our house.  We had our annual scavenger hunt before opening gifts and then spent the rest of the day eating and playing games.  I am glad to say that I don't even think the tv was on during my mom's visit. 

We have been on a screen free kick lately.  I took away the gaming system early November and then removed the tv (so no movies) a few weeks before Christmas.  And you know what...everyone survived!  Joseph even said recently that he has enjoyed the break and the older two have not had a huge desire to play the PS4.  It has been nice seeing them playing board games, inside football, building things with their hands, etc.  I was always quick to point out to them how none of those things would have happened if screen was an option.  Jacob and Ben both alluded to the fact that it was nice not having the arguments that often ensued with the gaming system.

With the exception of a few cold, cold days, the winter has been mild.  Temperatures for early January have been above freezing, which is very unusual.

I have been allowed back to unlimited status with work!  Very excited for the boys to earn some money and for us to get more money in the bank.  I am still watching the housing market and just praying for contentment until we get more space!

JR has been busy at work!  He had lots of clients in town over the holidays.  He even picked up a new client and is in negotiations with another potential client.

Jacob continues with basketball and Joseph starts snow boarding lessons tomorrow!

Pictures are coming very soon!!