Here are some fun Christmas celebrations from December. Aunt Janel sends the kids a new personalized ornament every year. They love getting to put them up on the tree. Each year our church has a Christmas party. The Primary aged children got to sing for the party this year. Denton decided it would be more fun to play airplanes and make airplane noises instead of singing. It was quite comical.

Mishonnes Birthday Celebrations

Mishonne got a big Birthday hug from her siblings and help from Aliyah opening her presents.



We always have a family party and a friends party for our kids birthdays. Every other year they get an organized party with their friends. This was Mishonne's year so we had a Pajama Party. The girls has a ball. They had toilet paper and duct tape makeovers, matress stair sledding, smores, and home made pizza along with other games. There were 10 girls so it got a bit loud at times.

Cute Kiddos

Here are some fun pics of the kids this past month. Denton and Elizabeth dressed up as Pilgrims at pre-K.
One day I was trying to keep Aliyah up until noon so she would sleep longer. She got so tired that she crawled up on Denton and fell asleep.
Aliyah likes to follow Haley around so I took a picture of her posing with Haley.
Too cute!

Thanksgviving with the Thompsons

We had a wonderful time for Thanksgiving. Our good friends the Thompsons who we met in Delaware came up from Tennesse. They have three little kids the same age as our youngest three. We are so thankful for good friends that we have met along the way especially with our family so far away.

Aliyah loved having little Elissa to hug and hang with.

Halloween Fun!

WE had fun Halloween night trick or treating with the Mastens. Three of the kids brought friends along so we had quite the group. Mishonne was an indian girl, Logan was a ninja, Haley was a black cat, Denton a knight, and Aliyah was a Halloween princess.



The kids had fun trading candy when we got home. I even got a few pieces that I liked.



Aliyah found the kids' stash and thought she would do some quality control checks.

Happy Fall Y'all

This year I do a swap with two other moms for pre-K. We rotate teaching twice a week. I much prefer the cheap BREC Pre-K that used to be in our neighborhood but this is a good second option. The pre-Ks around our new home are expensive and I would rather spend the money on the house. So for our fall field trip we went to a Pumpkin Patch by Port Allen. It was fun for the kids. They got to pick their own pumpkin and do some pioneer activities like pump water. Aliyah liked the people and the petting zoo area.

Home Finally!

Move over Budget, now there's something leaner! After living out of the budget truck for 3 weeks we finally closed on our house. Check out our floor sofa and card board box side table. Luckily we kept out our matresses to sleep on. What a nightmare. We did not know from day to day how long our situation was going to last. I had to commute the kids to school 25 minutes one way for 2 weeks. Luckily Mom Renee was here and the Lablancs let us hang out at their house during the hour in between the elementary and middle school start time difference. Phew, that was close. I almost went insane.






Well here it is. Our new house. It took some miracles to get us here but here we are. It is on a dead end street so the kids can ride bikes and not get in traffic. We love bing less than 10 minutes from the church bldg. and 17 minutes from the temple. It also only takes Loren 25 minutes to get to work. It is out in the country compared to the old house and has 700 more sq. footage. Now that Mishonne is in middle school she is in a different school but the Dutchtown schools are all next to eachother. This means less taxying for me. Yeah. We are close to the freeway and so can get to places easily. I am also only 5 minutes from the Tanger outlet mall. I still have yet to go there but just wait. WE are enjoying it very much here. Thanks to friends and Mom Renee for helping us out while we were in limbo for 2 1/2 weeks.

Here is the front of the house, the garage, the work area in the garage, and the very undeveloped back yard
A funny story: Loren took Mishonne on a hike through the woods you see in the dead end picture. There is a big pond and lots of trails back there. They got to the end of a trail where it comes out on the other end of our neighborhood and a lady with a rifle comes running at them. Actually she was running with a rifle because her husband just spotted an alligator by the pond and was going to shoot it. Only in Louisiana!


These are the downstairs pics. There is a nice big entry way with an office nook, the piano room, the kitchen, a guest bathroom, and don't forget Logans under the stairs man cave. He has locked himself in there many times to read his Harry Potter books. HE just started reading them in September and is now almost finished with #4.


The cute little boy came with the house!



I just finished my bedroom last week. I saved up for 2 months to get a new comforter and painted the walls to match. Dont worry Grandma we still have our ten year anniversary quilt that will rotate with this one.
The messy clothes pictures are my unfinished closet. It is so huge that half of it is used as a closet and the other half is my new sewing and craft room. Cool!


Upstairs is the game room and kids' rooms. They are all undecorated. They will get done as time and money allow. It is fun to have a big area for the kids to play. We are getting our beloved ping pong table for Christmas.