new years eve

We rang in the new year with our annual get together at the Shipleys!  The kids always look forward to this and have a great time with their friends. 

I pray that she never loses that smile and sparkle in her eye.  It's going to be a good year for this soon to be five year old who goes to kindergarten this year.  Slow down time!

This one has come out of his shell a bit!  I pray he is always strong and courageous!  I can't wait to see what this year has in store for him!

Cheers to 2017!!

A look back at New Years over the years!

Thanks Shipleys for this fun annual tradition!

H-O-K-I-E-S

Jason and I went to Virginia Tech our freshman year of college and both ended up transferring home our sophomore year.  Even though we didn't graduate from Tech, I feel like we can say, "once a hokie, always a hokie".  So needless to say, we're big fans, and so is Bryce.  This year their bowl game was in Charlotte and we already had plans to be in Raleigh the day of the game, so we drove down to see it!

We left bright and early Thursday morning. 

Bryce's (and Emmy's) first Tech game, and a bowl game at that.

Jason did a good job with our seats!

The state of Virginia

VT

HOKIES

We didn't really need binoculars, but they were still fun to have!

The first half of the game was awful (we were down 24 to 0)!!  Emmy asked for a bucket of popcorn at half time so I figured that would be good entertainment for the second half of the game.

Little did we know they would turn things around and actually play some football.

If you didn't hear, we won 35-24!!  Greatest comeback in school history!

This guy (Sam Rogers) is from our town and has a great back story!  We had a little connection to his family so we were able to arrange a meet and greet after the game and Bryce got him to autograph his hat!  This was his last game as he's a senior this year and was getting ready to sign with his agent when he finished with Bryce so this was quite an honor and a pretty great memory for Bryce's first Tech game!  

christmas day

Christmas morning brought many smiles!

Bryce wanted a telescope and Santa wasn't messing around when he fulfilled that wish.  The boys are hoping to see the rings of Saturn with this thing.

Emmy was super excited about her hot wheels ultimate garage and baby doll camping set.

Tons and tons of football stickers!

Two happy kiddos.

After presents at home, we head to Jason's parent's house for breakfast and gifts with his family.

The Whitlock crew.

Next we headed to church and then my mom's for stockings, before heading to Jason's grandmama's house for Christmas with his mom's family.  

It was a full day of fun and food with family!  Our hearts are full!  We hope your family had a blessed holiday!  

christmas eve

We started Christmas Eve with a trip to Krispy Kreme for donuts!  We ran a few errands then came home and prepped some food before heading to Nana's to finish cooking dinner. 

Ready to eat!

Christmas Eve

Four generations of girls!

Candle light Christmas Eve service.

We had a full day of fun and the kids were excited for more.

christmas week

I kept the kids busy last week for their first week of Christmas break.  Each day we did out Truth in Tinsel lesson/craft.

We had friends over to decorate cookies.

We built forts.

We had so many gingerbread house items left over from Bryce's party so we had friends over to make more!

Bryce made a double house.

Emmy did hers all on her own!

Fun with friends.

Bryce has been reading each day for his school reading challenge.

We had our neighbor Christmas party!  The 'BelJackLock' crew is a hoot.

Love these ladies.

We gifted this bottle of Trump wine to Courtney before she had heart surgery and we broke it out at the party to celebrate her improved health and even a Trump win.  Jason's hat seems to be quite the party accessory.  He doesn't leave home without it!

this and that

Jason found out last Friday that he passed a test he took back in November.  It was a difficult test, but he worked hard to prepare!  We were so excited so we bought a balloon and met him at work.

We even took him out to lunch to celebrate!

Pap's birthday was last Friday so we had a little party complete with pizza, cake and a present for my mom!  I can only imagine the celebration Pap had on his first birthday in heaven.  

I took the kids out to do their own random act of kindness on Sunday night.  We left free slurpee coupons on all the machines at 7-eleven.  

We took Nanny and Nana on a tacky light tour Sunday night!

We ventured outside of Mechanicsville this year and saw some great houses.  

All the houses were very interactive.

We have a few more houses we hope to visit before Christmas.

christmas fun

We broke out the Christmas outfits for school this week!  Ready for school on Tuesday morning.  

Wednesdays outfit was made complete with red and green nails!

We dressed it up a bit for her party on Thursday. 

This was the only picture I got from her party on Thursday.  Her teacher organized a book exchange between classmates.  I'm the room mom and I planned a fun nativity stained glass craft, lunch and Bingo!  

Bryce got in on the Christmas attire but I forgot to take his picture on Wednesday, but I got this cute one on Thursday.  I took him to school this day so he could deliver teacher gifts. 

Today was pajama day for their class party.  I planned a fun gingerbread house decorating activity as well as lunch and Bingo.  

It's been a fun and busy week, but I'm worn out!