High Point Climbing

After we were stuck inside for 2 full days due to the ice, we finally HAD to get out. Joel's brothers asked us if we wanted to join them at the new High Point Climbing place. This place was amazing and a perfect little spot for our little guys. My only regret is that Joel and I did not do it too, but it definitely would have been a little crazy with the boys there too since we were constantly having to hook them up to do different things. We definitely plan to go back without the kids sometime...we just won't be able to tell them where we are going! They loved it!

 

They had a great kids room that even adults could enjoy too.

 

Harrison was not scared in the least. It took Hudson a little while to understand that the rope was going to catch him when he fell. He kept climbing up, and then climbing back down instead of just letting go. He finally figured it out though! Both boys climbed like monkeys though!

Jordan and Harrison climbing the spider web!

 This is still in the kids room, so you can see adults can do this too!

After spending a long while in the kids area, we made it over to the big room and let the boys have a try on the "real" walls. It was tough!

The good thing about this place was that the ropes were automatic and we didn't have to worry about holding each other up. However, the bad thing about this is that there are not enough of them in the big room! It also meant that when you were halfway up the wall, there was really no resting since no one was holding you. Jordan and Stuart both said they wanted to take the class so they could do that. There was definitely more options.

My boys climbed for almost 3 hours and it was only when their hands literally started bleeding that they agreed they had had enough for one day. It really was a huge hit and we will most certainly be back!

Snow Day

The kids were back at school for all of 2 days after the holidays before school got cancelled for a snow event! It was super exciting though. We don't get much snow, so we'll take what we can get, even if it ended up being ICE instead (and we had to wait all day for it). We still had a fun time though!

 

In anticipation of the forecast, I did buy a cheapo sled earlier in the week. You know, just in case! :) It ended up being perfect for what we had and I'm glad I bought one.

 

The ice started coming down that Friday night and we headed out as soon as there was enough to do anything with. We've lived in Alabama long enough to know that it would be gone in the morning! And for us, it was mostly gone the next day. For others close to us, the roads were still iced over the next day and even into Sunday. School was even delayed on Monday! It was crazy! I'm glad we had a little bit of fun that night though!

 

 We did a lot of sledding that night! The boys pitifully tried to build a snowman, but it's not so easy when you are dealing with ice!

 The next day, the roads in Vestavia were still closed so we were homebound even though the roads in our neighborhood were ok. We were not about to get out though. Ice is definitely NOT my friend! We still had a good bit of ice in our yard though so the sledding resumed and it was so much fun! It was so cold though.

It was a good couple of days, but by Sunday, we were itching to leave the house. Two days of confinement was ENOUGH!!! And now we're back to our regularly scheduled 75 degree weather in January. Only in Alabama!!!

The Days After Christmas

We are currently having our first snow day of 2017! The kids only went back to school for 2 whole days before they had to cancel. Oh well, we were all for it! It was pretty difficult getting back into the swing of things this week with the alarm clock going off at 6 am. We are eagerly awaiting the white stuff to get here this afternoon. I "might" have bought a sled earlier in the week hoping the forecast just might be in our favor for once. We'll see if it happens or not.

 

Anyway, I wanted to add a few pictures from our week after Christmas. It took a few days for us to get re-energized after the big holiday. The boys received so many building sets that they spent the first several days in their rooms working like busy bees. I'm talking 8+ hours building legos. And they loved every second of it. I tried offering to take them places to get them out of the house, but they were not interested at all! So, I used that time to put Christmas away. It was nice to have those several days with nothing going on!

 

Of course, when they finished each set, they brought it out to the den where it spent the week. I wish I had taken a picture. It was insane.

We finally got out and went to the zoo one day.

 Hudson got a slack line for Christmas and we put it up in the back yard. It has been a huge hit, for ALL of us! It's been really fun.

 We took the boys bowling for the first time one day. That was an experience! :)

We did have a fun time, but Harrison beat Hudson both rounds and Hudson was pretty upset about it. The first round, we let Harrison use the little ramp thing, but then we made him actually bowl the second time, thinking that Hudson would for sure win that time, but Harrison still beat him. Oh well, gotta learn sometime!

The boys had buddies come play. This was the only picture I got, but they had a lot of fun.

We spent New Years Eve with friends! We went over early and watched the Alabama game, and were home in time to toast to the new year and promptly go to bed, well before midnight. And that was fine by us!

 I took the boys to see the movie Sing. It was such a cute movie! We all loved it!

The boys also got to visit McWane with Migi and Pops, but no pictures from that! They got there just in time to see the trains before the exhibit left for the year! It's their favorite time to go to McWane!

We had a great time off, but I think we were all ready to get back into our routine. We all just wish it didn't start so early in the morning! Clearly, we are not morning people!

Christmas Day

Sometime well after midnight, thanks to one child that would not go to sleep, Santa finally did come. He was pretty exhausted, but left the boys a few things he knew they would like!

 

The only thing Hudson asked for this year was a guitar, and Harrison only asked for a marble run (which I had no clue what that was, but will say it has been great and fun for the whole fam!).

 

The boys were not allowed to come out of their rooms until I came and got them at 7 am. At least that was the plan, until I heard Hudson out of his room a little before then. I knew he would not listen to me!!! So, he peeked early, which I am not surprised by at all. I tried! Harrison was still sound asleep, so we woke him up to see what Santa brought.

 

He's still half asleep in this picture, but was super excited about his lego monorail...just like the one at Disney World! He put the whole thing together in 2 days. I was super impressed!!!

 The air hockey table has been extra fun!

Both of our families were coming over at 9:30 for brunch so we had to get going quickly. And here's where I took no other pictures of our families or the food, but only pictures of the darn Hatchimal!!! That thing had us all wrapped around it's finger all morning long!

 The paparazzi waiting to get a picture of the birth! Ha!

 We all took turns loving on the thing and rubbing on it (lots of dirty jokes going on at the same time with some of our older males in the fam!) and finally, it hatched!

 "Jamerica Fart Reed" is it's name, and he was born on Christmas Day at approximately noon. It was a joyous occasion witnessed by both sides of our family. The name is derived directly from a book called "Farts Around the World," received the night before from Big Mama and Big Daddy. Hudson got to the page about farts in Jamaica, and called it Jamerica, and we all cracked up over this. Hudson decided that the Hatchimal needed to have that name. It actually has a little "tune" after you say Jamerica Fart Reed, too. Obviously, I am immune to words like this because they are a daily occurrence in my house and according to Joel, are a part of every boy's daily language. So, there you go. Jamerica Fart Reed is our new family member! :)

 He went everywhere Hudson went that day and went from the baby stage where he was sick, crying, mad, happy, cold, to older. Then, he hasn't been touched since! Haha!

After our families left, Joel and I went to our cocoons and did not come out for several hours! Phew! I have no idea what the kids did, but no one got hurt or ran away so I guess that's good! Haha! I was SO tired!!! It was so warm on Christmas Day that we spent most of the late afternoon outside playing with some of our goodies. We spent that night watching Pete's Dragon and talked about what an awesome Christmas we had this year!

Christmas Eve

We started Christmas Eve with our usual tradition of lunch at the country club. Oh wait, let me back up. We really started off the day with a certain someone snooping in closets that should not be snooped in, which caused some undue stress and an extra trip to Toys R Us that afternoon to cover it all up! Geez! We had hidden stuff for months and of course, on Christmas Eve, that's when he finds it. All I can say is that I am very glad that Hudson turned himself in and asked if there were any presents that I still had to wrap because otherwise the secret was going to be out!!! Phew! At least he is honest!!!

 

 You can tell that there is some mischievous in those eyes...or maybe he's a little too much like his mother!! I might have always known what I was getting for Christmas growing up! Payback hurts! Haha!

 Our annual picture in front of the tree at the BCC!

 I love this picture of all the littles! Rooney's dress is the most fabulous thing you have ever seen! It was something!

 Can you tell how excited Harrison was about Christmas in the picture below!?!? I love that kid!

 After lunch, we headed straight to church for the candlelight service. Christmas Eve can be very stressful for me so it was nice to take that hour and reflect on the reason why we celebrate!

Then it was straight home (for some, straight to Toys R Us!) to prepare for Christmas Eve with my family. Since mom and dad sold their house this year, Christmas was at our house. Thankfully I had a lot of help from Carrie!

This wild boy was still going strong! (that's sparkling grape juice by the way, in a fancy dollar tree glass!)

 Rooney is in charge of the boys. She had them doing what she wanted and she did not hold back one bit! She can definitely hang!

 The table...

 The kiddie table!

We had eaten such a huge lunch that day, so we kept it light and just had soup and sliders, and of course some dips, and our annual peppermint ice cream pie for dessert. It was easy.

Morgan treated us to a clarinet concert and it was really fun. She played some fun Christmas songs and we all sang along!

Then it was present time! All of the kids received a Hatchimal, which was what people say was the "gift" of the year. Of course my dad has to track it down and who knows what ungodly amount he paid for them. They were a hit though, especially on Christmas Day when the entire family sat around waiting for the thing to hatch!

 Harrison got some new reading material! :) This is actually really relevant because Harrison's bottom is flat like a pancake and can't keep any of his pants up! Ha!

My favorite was the Ryne Sandburg shirts! When I was growing up, I was the biggest tomboy ever and the Cubs were my favorite team and I literally wore Cubs athletic gear every where I went. And I claimed I was going to marry Ryne Sandburg! He was my all time favorite! So, it was only appropriate in the year that the Cubs won the World Series that I would get a Sandburg shirt! Dad knows me well.

 More gag gifts...

More gag gifts...

 Trey gave Dad a drone and he was like a kid in a candy store. I've never seen him get so giddy about anything...ever! He had a nice drone a couple of years ago and the first time he flew it, he got it stuck in a tree where he could not get it down. A storm finally blew it down and it broke in a million pieces. So, he was extremely happy to get another one to play with!

 I have no idea where my parents find this stuff, but this stuffed animal is all sweet until you squeeze it and it turns into a scary stuffed animal. It was sooo funny!!!

Kids in their Christmas PJ's!

It was a great night had by all. But there was still excitement to come! Once everyone left, we got the cookies and the milk out and the kids went straight to bed. They were SO excited about Santa coming!!! Of course, 11:30 came around and Hudson was STILL awake...grrrr....it was a really, really late night for ALL of us.