Class Christmas Parties

This is a letter that Dylan received from his teacher.

They did parties different this year. It was during the grade's special time and that whole grade went to the gym and had different stations with activities. The good thing was that I was able to go to both parties rather then go from one kid's party to the other, but Dylan's was in the morning and Blake's was the last thing of the day, so it made it for a longer day. I was able to get all my shopping done in between the parties so it worked out.

Dylan and Hudson.

Hudson, Dylan, Troy, and Caleb.

Blake's party.

Avir, Blake and Kenny.

Coach Baker (the main PE coach came up to me and talked to me about Blake. He is in LEAD and she is the teacher over it and said he does a great job)

That night we went to dinner with the Schwarz family and then we did an escape room and we escaped with 15 minutes left.

Tavish's Christmas Party

Blake's friend, Tavish, lives around the corner from us. They became friends at camp..his dad was one of the chaperones. Their family had a Christmas party one night and the invited us so we went over for a little bit, but had to get back home for the Young Men Christmas Party that was at our house.

Tavish has the same floor plan as us, so I explored. For those who have been in our house, they closed off what we use as a living room, but we have considered closing it off too. So it was fun to see what it could look like.

We have a ledge above our entry way that doesn't really serve a purpose. They built a door from the playroom (to the left) and made it into an office for the kids--they put desks in there.

Basketball Games

December 14--We had basketball games and our ward Christmas Party. It was a busy, fun day.

Smoker

Aaron's Christmas present arrived..the delivered it upside. It has been used since we took this picture and it is fantastic. We are now officially Texans.

I found this picture from Blake at 55th grade camp. He really had  the best time.

Gingerbread House

December 8--After church and after our walk, we made our gingerbread house. This is a tradition that doesn't get old.

Dylan's Basketball Game

Saturday, December 7-We went to Home Depot for a project. Then we had Dylan's first game. His team name is the Cougars.

He has done a really good job. His coach has taught him some really helpful skills/moves.

He is not the tallest kid on the team--these 2 kids next to him are bigger. I think they are both in 3rd grade, but still..big boys. Dylan is much quicker then them.

That night Blake and I went and looked at some lights. Dylan wasn't making good choices, so he had to stay home. 

Here is house #1 that is fun.

This is house #2. It is synced to music and their backyard backs up to a main road and it looks just as amazing and is also synced up.

I didn't get a picture, but the neighbor's house had a sign that said "Ditto" with an arrow to the house next store. It made me laugh.

Blake's Basketball Game

The night Blake got back from camp, they had a game that started at 7pm. He was so tired. Poor kid, but he played his game.

His coach is pretty great and knows that Blake is shy on the court so he gives him one challenge every game and that's the only thing he wants him to really focus on. This game was to  take a shot every time he got the ball. And he did it!! The next morning he slept in until 7:15. That is just how tired he was.

Blake's 5th Grade Camp

December 4-6 Blake had his 5th grade camp. They went to a YMCA camp about 2.5 hours west of us. I was worried because they were having camp in December and in previous years it has been freezing. Well, these kids lucked out and the weather was great. During the day it was in the 70s or 60s, but it did cool down at night, but there was no rain, which really would've been a bummer.

I dropped Dylan off at school and then we went  to the Home Depot parking lot to wait for the buses. There were so many chaperones there. Each class had 2 cabins--1 for girls and 1 for boys. There were 2 chaperones for each cabin, so it ended up that each chaperone was responsible for 4-5 kids. Then you have the teachers too. Blake's chaperone was amazing and sent us 1 million pictures throughout the day. He lives around the corner from us, but Blake hasn't really hung out with his son, but they have hung out a lot since camp. He is a good kid and his dad was super impressed with Blake. The day they got back from camp, I had picked up Dylan from school and we were walking home and passed the chaperones house (they drove separately so got home a lot faster then the buses), so we talked for awhile. He said Blake was perfect. He is a great kid, but I wouldn't say perfect. 

Anyway, here he is at drop off with his buddy Kenny. I ended up knowing almost all of the chaperones and some were sad that I couldn't come and so they sent me texts throughout the week too letting me know how Blake was. I wasn't worried about him, but it was sure fun to see pictures and get updates.

Here is his class! Packed up and ready to go.

My dad let him take his camping pillow and Blake loved it. Gramps has lots of backpacking and camping experience, so he knew the perfect water bottles to get. 

He had a blast at camp. Dylan was bored with out him and Blake was super tired when he got back. He isn't used to staying up late, and he still doesn't know how to sleep in, so he was up at 6am every day.

Island Adventures and Dinner with Ririe's

November 30--It was a beautiful day so we each took a kid for an adventure, or they call them island adventure. Dylan wanted to go for a bike ride. So we went to the zipline park as we call it and then went on the trails there. The trails are perfect for bike riding...also for running--a lot of my races are on these trails.

Then we went and played at the park.

Aaron and Blake went to the school to play basketball. After, we met at Braum's for ice cream.

That night we had the Ririe's over for dinner. Rachel's parents were in town so we wanted to have them over too because we just love her parents. They invited us over for Thanksgiving, but we already had plans. They have a daughter, Rikki, who is a freshman in high school. She broke her foot awhile ago and has been in a boot for months and it hasn't healed. We are talking this happened in August. Fast forward---lots and lots of tests and specialists later (they just had a huge meeting with 9 doctors who have been working on her case) to find out she has Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy. It was super sad seeing her--she lost muscle and feeling in her left side from her feet to her hips. They told her surgery, they told her she isn't going to heal, they told her lots of stuff..but this week they told her she will go on medication and intense physical therapy. Hopefully it will work. She is such a sweet girl and is emotionally tough...she is still smiling, but her mom tells us when she is having a rough day and we bring over a treat for her--the boys just love her and she loves the boys! We are so hopeful that she will be able to heal and not have to walk with crutches anymore.