catch up - photos since Christmas break

the 1st year of no more Santa  :0(

1st snow on Christmas eve...

Curt Jr in a live nativity...

Christmas morning...

Wilkins/Fawley family...

Winslow/Skates family...

no school or work...time for fun!

family trip to DC...

trip to Roanoke for more ink...

Corinn made the Hot Sox team on her 1st try...

videos HERE, HERE, HERE...

...HERE, HERE & HERE

Silas Layton Matthews was born on January 9th...the Skates go visit him in NC at 2 weeks old...

more road trip fun HERE

other random happenings...

Jaden's still one helluva artist!

the girls are still going strong in gymnastics...

& New Year's Eve!

here's to a FABULOUS 2013!!!

♥

miss me?

ok, last ditch effort to save this blog...in 5, 4, 3, 2...

you might be wondering WHY i stopped blogging...well, i'm not really sure...it was a combination of things i guess...

-a certain tattle tail at work that was always trying to get me in trouble for blogging & Facebooking on work hours...which by the way - not true

-a lack of (what i thought was) anything interesting to say

-a lack of time to put any energy into posting

but regardless of the WHY, i'm back...& i'm not putting any expectations on myself this time...i'm just going to post

because i realized how much i LOVED this blog...i still to this day, go back to years past & reminisce over the stories & photos i posted here...& now i'm kicking myself for ever stopping!

so i'm going to jump back on the horse...i plan to post lots of photos - so if you find that boring, i apologize in advance...when a fun/cute/humorous story comes up, i'll post that here too...maybe some bragging on my kiddos...ok, you KNOW there will be bragging on my kiddos...possibly a cake here & there...but mostly, just documentation...i've missed a year & 1/2 of STUFF...lots of stuff...boring stuff, fun stuff, important stuff, meaningless stuff...but oh how i wish i had posted ALL of that stuff!

so here goes...enjoy if you'd like...& if not - peace out...i'm only really doing this for myself anyway  ;0)

bullies suck!

bullies suck! long story...

this evening, the girls came inside to tell us about 3 older girls down the street, teasing them...they said these girls were sitting in the church parking lot, listening to music...as my girls rode by on their bikes, the mean girls go "nice hair cut - you look like a boy!" and were laughing at them...their friend (our neighbor) was with them & confirmed the story

i assumed these mean girls were maybe 12/13yo, hanging out & listening to their ipods...i decide to ride my bike over with the girls, just to check it out...i fall back & let them go ahead...soon as the mean girls see my girls, they start laughing...they spot me & get silent. i stop as i ride up next to them...& get this - they are sitting in a CAR, windows down, & are probably 16/17!!! i'm confused, thinking this can't be them

i ask Gabby if that's them...she confirms...i ask them if it feels good to pick on 8/9yo little girls...they immediately start denying it "we didn't pick on them"...i ask them directly about the "you look like a boy" part...still denial - "we didn't say that...we just said hi!"...i ask why my girls would have reason to lie...that someone is calling them out on their immature actions - at this point, they should just grow up, 'fess up & apologize...of course, i'm remaining calm - but inside, i'm SO pissed that these TEENAGERS are bullying little girls!

they continue to say they don't know what i'm talking about...i tell them they should be ashamed of themselves...then we ride on

what is this world coming to???

weighted vest...

jan 30

Jaden has been wearing Curtis' weighted vest since he got home from school...this isn't a dinky sensory weighted vest...i'm talking a 60lb vest meant for working out in! it works the same tho...he absolutely loves it & it helped us breeze through tonight's mountain of homework! he's outside playing now & asked us to not make him take it off ~lol~

seconds in a year...

just went upstairs to put the kiddos to bed...Jaden asked if i could check his math figures...i was confused, cause we did all his homework earlier...i looked at the binder he was writing in & it turns out, he was working on figuring out how many seconds are in a year...love that kid!

i took it one step further & said, let's see how many seconds you've been alive!

jan 24

dirty mind...

just last evening, the girls & i were watching Little People, Big World...one of the son's (little person) is dating an average sized girl...Corinn left the room & Gabby asked me "what do they do when they get married & have kids? does she bend over, or does he get on a stool?"...i giggled & said "well, it doesn't really matter when you're laying down...it all works out" & winked at her...she thinks about it for a second, then goes "NOOOOO, i meant when they're getting married & saying 'i do'!" lmao

jan 24

Corey graduates