basketball

logan and ian had their very first basketball games!!  logan has always loved sports, but ian is more the artistic type, and likes to play here and there, but nothing that consumes him. i have tried several different sport options over the past year and he just isn't interested....though he always said, "maybe basketball when it's here". i was thrilled when he wanted to play...he has never liked being in front of people, and i think that was the primary reason he didn't want to play sports. but he has been really excited, and they have both had several practices and were ready to play! the games were SO fun to watch as a parent. i love the "upward" program because there's not a high competitive level...which i didn't want for ian's first experience... we are really excited for this season!

tysen and buddy gideon were hanging out while the brothers played!

ian scored a goal...which i could tell really boosted his confidence. logan has played baseball before....but this was ian's first time to ever play a team sport...we were such proud parents!

brothers

i love that they love each other enough to share a blanket while watching saturday morning cartoons...

finishing out 2012...

christmas part 3

part 3: it began to snow on our way to the vanderveers on christmas day. that was a fun surprise...christmas day was ok, but it all kinda went downhill after that. when we got there, terry was down sick....and i was not feeling well. the next day, we just kinda hung out all day and took it easy. by thursday, i was really sick and not breathing well, and linda was down sick. i ended up with pneumonia, and was allergic to my first attempt at antibiotics, which made me even worse. i was bedridden for about 3-4 days...literally could barely walk to the bathroom without feeling like i was having an asthma attack. i couldn't take deep breaths at all, and it hurt just breathing normally. i've never had anything like that before...it was not cool. poor andy had to wait on me hand and foot (which he did perfectly!)...plus handle all the other affairs. we finally were able to travel on saturday...and by saturday evening all 3 boys had had a stomach bug. thankfully andy never got sick, but i have no idea what i would have done without him. he was an amazing caretaker when i could do absolutely nothing! it's a slow recovery, but at least i can breath normally again! due to the ridiculous amount of illness, i didn't get many great pictures from the vanderveers...i think we need a re-do in july! :)

 katie and logan were the only ones brave enough to play in the snow a little! 

 our outing for thursday was at cabela's...i wasn't able to go since i couldn't do anything without not being able to breath. the boys loved it, and apparently it was pretty cool...glad they were able to get out for a bit. we had also planned to sing at papaw van's retirement home...

a few of them went and did that on thursday evening also...praying for a better time next year!!!

christmas

we were still at mom's on christmas day...but just our family. (and mom, dan, and sam)...tysen had been positive for the flu a few days prior and was on tamiflu...which was pretty hard on his little tummy. we had a long christmas eve night...and he ended up sleeping in some. the older boys were super patient and watched tv in granny's office while tysen slept a little more...and we finally woke him up about 8:15. it was a nice quiet christmas...the boys loved their stuff...especially the skylanders video game...

it got SUPER cold on christmas day...and we had to leave a little after lunch to get to the vanderveers. it began to snow on our way, so that was fun to have a white christmas!

christmas part 2

part 2: at granny's house, we all showed up on sunday the 23rd. santa came and paid us a personal visit that evening! most of the kids were really excited...and of course, mom wanted all "her" kids in a picture with santa...but seriously, what do you expect when you ask 6 adults to take a picture with santa? no one could take it seriously...

we all spent the night together, and had our big christmas brunch together....the rest of the time was spent playing games, or video games, and just hanging out. despite chaos, we always have a blast!!

christmas part 1

our christmas week started with driving in for the vanderveer lunch at spring creek bbq. after lunch, we went to a park to hang out with aimee and reanna, since they couldn't come on christmas day. played some football, fed the ducks...it was a really nice day to be outside!

spelling bee

logan participated in his first spelling bee! he was first in his class, so he competed against all the class winners in the school...grades 3-5th. he said he was very nervous, but he didn't act it! :) he tied for 6th place in the school! we are such proud parents!!