December Door of Fame

Here's the kids December door of fame.  This month, since there was so much fun Christmas stuff, I decided to skip putting all the worksheets on the door, and instead just focused on the art.

Connor came home with lots of worksheets (not pictured), some coloring pages, but my two favorite things are the Christmas tree (towards the bottom left) and the "Thankful For" turkey (middle (from last month)).  On the Christmas tree there are different ornaments and coloring pictures of reindeer.  On the "Thankful For" turkey he said he is thankful for: mom, dad, car, house, school, food, friends, bother, and baby sister.  Pretty good list, if you ask me.

Klayton had lots of fun Christmas things that he brought home, and during the winter break he made even more things.  Towards the top middle, is a drawing of a reindeer (standing up with stripes on it) that he cut out and colored.  He also brought home "Buddy the Elf" (towards the middle).  This was the replica of "Buddy the Elf", also known as Elf of the Shelf,  that visited them in class for the month of December.  Towards the bottom of the door is a house, reindeer, and Santa's sleigh (blue) complete with a fire engine on the back.  Just like the one from the movie Elf.  He also has a candy cane, a snow globe and another elf. The last few items mentioned (reindeer - elf) he made several of them during Christmas break and displayed them all over the house. 

Kambria also had a few things on the door that we made at home: a Christmas wreath (center) and a Christmas tree (below wreath) we made with her hands.  She is always so proud to see her stuff on the door.  She keeps pointing to her tree saying "Cismas tee" .

A Day of Fun

Winter break seemed to have flown by in a flash.  I can honestly say, I don't know where the time went.  Last thing I remember was the boys coming home from school on Wednesday, excited for a two week break.  I think we must have skipped a few days, because it sure doesn't feel like we had a two week vacation.

Nontheless, here are a few more pictures of a fun day over winter break.  Jeff went back to work during the break, so we decided (thanks for the idea Sharon) to join him, along with the kids cousins,Uncle Craig, Aunt Sharon, and Aunt Kristi for lunch and a game of bowling. 

The boys absolutely love to bowl. 

Good thing we had food to keep Kambria happy.  She was quite content eating her subway sandwich while we bowled.

Love how Austin's casually hanging out on the bowling thing (don't really know what that is called).

Kayla and Kambria having a good time together.

I kept trying to get a good picture of Kayla.  This was the best I got. 

Cousins being silly

She must have gotten this pose from her brother. 

Austin was learning how to keep score for his team with the help of his mommy.

Can you tell he's having a good time?

Connor dancing on the bowling floor.

Finally Kambria finished her sandwich and bowled a few rounds.

After bowling we headed to the duck pond with our bikes and lots of bread.  The weather was perfect!!!

I've been saving the heels of our bread for months - to the ducks had plenty to eat.

Connor loves riding his bike.  He lapped Kambria and I 3x's while we made our way around the duck pond.

Kambria on her new bike Papa Choo Choo and Granny Deb got her for Christmas.

In all the years I've been to the duck pond, I've never seen a black goose.  It was really pretty.

Can't wait to go back on another pretty day.

Just a little more of Christmas....

 As hard as I tried to get all of my Christmas blogging done by Christmas I forgot to post pictures about our ornament from this year.  I only realized this while we were taking down or Christmas tree, so here they are, without the tree, on our living room table.

From left to right:

3 reindeer - from Jeff's work Christmas party

Klayton with Santa - Santa visited them at school

3 reindeer  (down the middle) - Kambria at top, Klayton in the middle, and Connor at the bottom

Top right - Klayton's santa hand

Kambria's red and green snowflake

Klayton's gingerbread man

Our three hand wreaths from all the kids:

Connor's from a few years ago when he was in Pre-K

Klayton's from this year in Pre-K

We made one for Kambria at home. 

Can't wait to put our their little hand prints up around the house next year.  

This year Klayton and the other Pre-K kiddo's at school made ornaments.  I was so excited to join him.  Just like with Klayton, I joined Connor when he made ornaments in Pre-K and I wanted to carry on that fun tradition.  However, I was super bummed when I got to school, started to take pictures of him making his precious little ornaments, only to realize I forgot to put the memory card back in the camera. But at least we have the ornaments so we can cherish them for many years to come.  

 So cute!!!!

Family Christmas Gatherings

Without saying too much, here are our Christmas gathering with our families.  I'm mainly showing these for the pictures of people I love and to remember the good times we had together this year. 

Christmas Eve (day) at our home with my Mom and step-dad Charles, Grandma Long, Roy and Jacob:

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 Christmas Eve (night) at Jeff's mom's and step-dad's home, with several of Jeff's siblings:

 This is a poster given to Jeff's Mom and Dad.  For Christmas we all pitched in and gave them money to go on a mini vacation.  I just love the poster idea Sharon came up with to reveal their gift.

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Christmas morning (5:45am) at our home:

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Christmas (afternoon) at Jeff's Dad and step-mom's home, with lots of Jeff's siblings:

The day after Christmas (evening) at my Dad and Step-Mom's home, with Grandma Morgan, Roy, and Jacob:

We have been so blessed this Christmas season with lots of love and quality time with our family.  I just love this season!!!!

Seven Year Old in the House

I know I say it every time one of my kids have another birthday, but I just can't believe Connor turned SEVEN today.  In some ways he seems so much older, but in other ways he still seems like he's my baby.   It's hard to believe that my once, 9 lbs. 14 oz. new born baby, who was all chunk, is now tall a lean.

During his well check-up visit his doctor said, and I quote, "He is all solid muscle underneath that skin.  A good healthy boy."  She was right, he is very healthy, very conscious about what he eats, and very conscious about keeping his body healthy. Whether it be just running home from the bus stop, playing in the back yard, or kicking a ball on the soccer field, he is always on the go. 

 6 months old - look at those chunky cheeks and legs - love them!!!!

These are a few of his favorite things (and traits):

• Loves to play Wii and his NintendoDS
• Wrestling and playing ball (soccer, football, basketball, baseball) with his dad and brother
• Reading - His reading skills improve more and more every day.  And although he would rather be doing something else, like playing something physical, he still likes reading his books every now and then. (or at least he gets the chance to read for his homework every night)
• Shy but he loves to make new friends
• Rule follower and rule enforcer
• Likes to watch Thunder basketball and Sooner football with his dad.
• He's become really good at eating almost everything on his plate.  He's always been a little picky when it comes to eating certain types of fruits and vegetables but this past year he has improved greatly.  I can't name the amounts of fruits he started liking this year because there are so many.  In veggy's his added broccoli and salad to his "like" list.

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This year Connor requested a sledding birthday party with his friends...but in order to do that, it would need to be cold and snowy.  Needless to say we are keeping our eyes out for a cold snowy day to plan that party.  So for now we invited our family over for cupcakes and ice cream.
 

 Love this picture - Connor is giving me one of those "Not another picture mom" looks and his Papa Choo Choo is holding up seven fingers in the background. 

What do you get a boy for his birthday that just got everything he wanted for Christmas?  More toys and games.  

We're singing "Happy Birthday" to him in this picture.  He's trying really hard not to smile.

 Again, crazy face picture.  Maybe I should try to take more candid shots.

 What do you get when the Bastings boys get together with electronics near by?

A game of Wii

 We start them young in our family - the younger the better.  Right?  (Just kidding)

 Connor lost his 2nd tooth on the 21st while eating dinner.  He bit down on his fork and out it came.  I love how he looks. 

Connor, thank you so much for being such a great son.  Our family has truly been blessed to have you apart of our world these past seven years.  Happy Birthday my little baby boy.