Haircuts

All three boys got their hair cut last night. They all three needed a haircut but b/c Benjamin cut his bangs we had to find time to get it done. I could not believe he cut his hair. He said it was in his eyes so what else could he do! That sounds about right for him! They all look precious. Kaleb got so much cut off. He's been letting his grow long but found a picture in a hair book that he liked so he took the plunge and got it cut short. It looks great.

Indoor smores!

This weekend it was too cold to go outside and build a fire but the boys have been wanting smores so we made indoor smores! Mom bought the boys a smores kit for Christmas. We put up candles and had a ball. Remember, when making smores - the more burnt your marshmallow is...the better!

Advent

This post is out of place but I don't know how to put it in the right order. Every year we do Advent with the boys. Years ago I made Advent stockings. Inside each stocking is a Bible verse and enough room for a small treat. Each morning leading up to Christmas we read the verse and talk about what it means. Then the boys open the small gift. One day I got them the funnies suckers with lips on them. I had to post this picture.

Fun with Austin

We have a dear friend, Austin, who Rusty and I have had the privilege of watching grow up. His dad is one of Rusty's closest friends and we just love their whole family. Well, once Austin went away to college he never returned...for more than a visit. We all knew it would happen but we sure miss him. So just about every time he comes home he makes time to visit with our family. We see him less now that he is a minister in Guam so this visit was especially nice. The boys love him (even though he teaches them very bad things). This year Austin, Kevin (his dad), Rachel (Kevin's fiance), and James (one of Austin's friends from Boston) all came to dinner. One of the traditions the boys have with Austin is some kind of battle. One year it was marshmallow shooters - which ended up in my Christmas tree!! This year all three boys got an automatic Tommy 20 Nerf gun from my parents for Christmas. They were so excited when I told them Austin was coming because they couldn't wait to blast him with their guns! So after dinner the boys brought each of the men a single shot Nerf gun while all three boys had their automatic Nerf guns. The boys went upstairs and the battle began. It was hilarious! It went on forever and I found many Nerf bullets in my tree and one on my ceiling! The two funniest moments were when Austin shot Benjamin right in the forehead and the bullet stuck - so funny. And the funniest moment was when Kevin ripped his jeans in the battle! I laughed til I cried! He had to take off his shirt and wear it like a skirt - pretty pretty! We are sad that Austin is back in Guam and look forward to seeing him again.

Room Makeover Mom Edition...

For part of the boys Christmas I gave them an envelope with a card that I made on the computer. It says "Extreme Makeover - Mom Edition....coming to a room near you!" I told the boys that I was going to redo their rooms. They are going to go to my parents house one weekend while Rusty and I spend the weekend getting their rooms ready. We are tearing down walls and painting and buying furniture and linens! It's gonna be so fun. The best part is that the boys have no idea what their new room is going to look like. I haven't told any of them what I'm going to do - as in they don't even know what the theme is going to be. I can't wait!!
Sooo in preparation for the makeover I started cleaning out attics. In the two upstairs rooms there are 2 small attic spaces. The ones in Matthew's room have Christmas decorations and the air conditioning unit. The ones in Kaleb's room have sporting equipment and teacher stuff from when I taught first grade. The plan is to clear these out so we can make a nook for them or another closet. I started on the Christmas closet - got it done then moved on the one of the two huge attics. On either side of our house we have a huge (way bigger than a bedroom) walk in attic. Great for storing stuff but a pain to keep organized. Well, in order to put the Christmas stuff in there I had to first get it organized and cleaned out. We decided to get rid of a bunch of stuff. Rusty rented a storage building for a month so I'd have a place to put all of it. I finished the one side of the attic, finished the Christmas closet, am finished with my half of the other big attic (the rest is Rusty's tools and stuff), and am almost finished with the sporting equipment. Are you ready....the storage building a full! And we have 8 boxes in our entry way!!!
About mid way through some friends of mine decided we should take a girls' trip to Utah to go snow mobiling and stuff. They suggested I have a garage sale to help pay for the trip. That motivated me to really get rid of some stuff. We are planning a sale in a couple of weeks. I still have a lot to do to get ready (haven't priced a thing) but boy does it feel great to have so much stuff gone. And I'm going to get rid of bedding and furniture and decorations from the boys rooms to get ready for the makeover next month! Woo Hoo! I'm on a roll!!

Upward basketball

This year both Matthew and Kaleb are playing Upward basketball. We love this program. They play through a church in Marshall. Kaleb played last year and it was such a good experience. This year Matthew decided he wanted to play. Again, it has been so much fun. They play every Saturday for 6 weeks. And they only practice once a week so it doesn't take too much time. Benjamin stays with Mom and Dad sometimes because he gets bored being there that long. We end up being there about 4 and 1/2 hours each Saturday because Kaleb plays before Matthew but there's not enough time in between games to come back to Harleton. I haven't taken many pictures yet this year because we still have games to play but I'll post a few.

Letterboxing

Letterboxing - the funnest family activity to do. You can learn more about it a www.letterboxing.org . Basically it's like a treasure hunt. People all across the US and other countries hide these boxes (think small Tupperware containers). Inside each box is a stamp and small notebook. You get the clues online. You bring with you a stamp, ink pad, pen, and a small notebook. Once you find the box you press the stamp you find into your notebook and press your stamp into the notebook in the box. That way you have a record of all the boxes you have found and the person who hid the box has a record of every person who has found their box. You need a compass too.
We love it! We have went letterboxing in Tyler, Harleton, Jefferson, and all the way to Colorado on our vacation last summer. So we decided to go to Dangerfield State Park and find the boxes that were hidden there. We had such a good time. We found all but 2 of the 8 or 9 boxes hidden there. Here are some pictures of our fun day.