12.27.2013

Christmas 2013 Re-Cap

This is all for my recollection!
The Week of Christmas!
Wednesday, December 18th
Work/School
Meeting at 8:30am
Stratton School Party at 2pm
Frozen with Stratton
Church
Thursday, December 19th
Work/school
Arden’s 15 month appointment & shots @ 2pm
AFA Meeting @3pm
Friday, December 20th
Work/School
Arden’s daycare Christmas Party @2pm
End of the year office meeting @3pm
Jarrod’s work Christmas Party @7pm
Stay night at Mom and Dads
Saturday, December 21st
Get up and head to Searcy
Christmas with Staggs
Spend the night in Searcy
Sunday, December 22nd
Church in HR
Dillon’s Birthday Lunch at mom and dad’s
Church  @ VV
Monday, December 23rd
Work/School
Armor Christmas party in Weiner
Shop for groceries
Cook/Clean/Finish wrapping
Tuesday, December 24th
Christmas Brunch at our house with Mom & Dad and Dillon & Brandye
Christmas Dinner with the Wilson side of the family in Hickory Ridge
Back home to prep for Christmas Morning!
Wednesday, December 25th
Christmas Morning
Lunch and Christmas with Gibson’s in Hickory Ridge
HOME!- Whew!

Christmas Day

We headed for Hickory Ridge for lunch and spent most of the day there, eating, opening more presents and visiting.
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Stratton, Laney, Cooper and Arden
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Grandkids- 7 out of 8, not bad.
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family shot
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Photo bomb!
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The only two pics I got of my kids:
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There was too much going on to take pictures! We left later that evening, neither kid took a nap all day! So they were both so tired! We were all glad to be home.

12.26.2013

Christmas Morning

The kids actually slept till about 7 am. . . Late for them! Well, I say "they", Arden usually ends up in our bed around 4 or 5 am. We have every intention on breaking her from this as soon as we aren't so tired! Stratton woke us up and he had of course already scoped things out and Santa had indeed visited, the evidence was clear, eaten cookies and Milk and most importantly, Presents!

I think he was more excited to show Arden her Santa gift than he was to open his!

Of course he was ecstatic about getting a chocolate bunny and a chocolate bear, just liked he asked Santa for!
Here he is doing a happy dance. . .

Then after they saw their Santa gifts and stockings I tried to get a picture of them together. . . .



 
 
We all opened presents, ate breakfast and then it was time to get ready to go to Hickory Ridge for lunch and Christmas with the Gibson side of the family.

Christmas Eve :: Part 2

Christmas Eve at Grandpa and Grandmas is always my favorite get together. The entire family comes in, we eat (way too much) the kids open presents and then the adults play Dirty Santa. We always have such a good time. For the most part it's the one time of year we are all together, so it's just nice to get to visit with those that we don't see as much.






It's probably my favorite also because its still Christmas Eve, the best part of Christmas. I like the anticipation I think better than the actual event! It was late by the time we got back home and got the kids in bed. Although Stratton really didn't fight us! When we went out in the yard to sprinkle his reindeer food he was certain he saw Santa's sleigh way up in the sky, I'm pretty sure it was a plane or star. . . But who knows!

Christmas Eve :: Part 1

Christmas Eve morning Pops and Gigi and Dillon and Brandye came to our house for our Christmas. We had a light brunch and opened presents.
 
Stratton was so excited that he got soccer goals! And shin pads, which he wears around the house now.

Yes. My daughter can fit in a shoe box. And was happier playing in the box than playing with any new toys!



We had a good morning, then everyone left and the kids took a nap to get rested for the party at Grandpa and Grandma's house that night!

12.23.2013

Dillon's 30th birthday present


This is Abe! Dillon and Brandye's new puppy! Dillon got him for his birthday from Brandye. They brought him to mom and dad's house on Sunday. We had a birthday lunch for Dillon's birthday. The kids really liked playing with Abe!

12.22.2013

Christmas with the Staggs

Nan and Pa got a special Christmas present! Pictures of the grandkids!


I think they liked it! Jarrod and Terry even got them hung tonight!

Then the kids opened presents.



Arden got her very own PB chair!

And a baby!

Sweet cousins!

Arden the entertainer

The boys putting on a show singing frosty and rudolph for everyone

Stratton writing everyone (fake) checks

Typically situation, he wants to love in her but she's not having it!

12.17.2013

Arden 15 Months!

I’m a proud mommy. . .

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At 15 months Arden is. . .

Funny.

Charming.

Spirited.

Good Natured.

Bubbly.

Tenacious.

Unpredictable.

Energetic.

Sweet.

And always sassy!

12.16.2013

Branson Trip 2013

This past week/weekend was our annual Armor Seed MAP conference in Branson. You wanna hear something real crazy??? This was my 10th year to plan this meeting! And the 9th year to have it at the Chateau on the Lake. Wow. The first time I planned it I wasn’t even married yet! How things have changed. . . .

We left after work on Wednesday night. We decided to take the truck since there was a possibility the weather might get bad.  Jarrod ran to Walmart and bought a dvd player set for his truck to keep the kids occupied! What did people do before!! He also took Sadey to the kennel to stay the weekend! We had a sandwich and then hit the road! I think we got there around 11:30pm. Of course both the kids slept almost the whole way there so they weren’t tired once we got there! Whew! I had to get up and be in the meeting room to set up around 9am, the meeting didn’t start till after lunch but we like to make sure everything is set up and working correctly! We grabbed lunch at the hotel and then Mom and Dad took the kids up to the rooms to take a nap. I’m not sure what Jarrod did. . .come to think of it. I guess he enjoyed some alone time! Ha! Thursday night after the meeting we went to Branson Landing for dinner and did a little (very little- it was freezing!) shopping. Stopped to see Santa, Stratton had no fear this year! He wanted to go talk to him. And we were surprised when he told Santa he wanted a soccer goal set and a chocolate bear and a chocolate BUNNY!! I think he’s confused about what holiday it is!! I guess in his mind the Easter Bunny and Santa are probably friends and what would be the problem?! Arden didn’t want anything to do with Santa! So I didn’t force her. Santa remembered us! He asked where we were from and then asked if we come to Branson every year. I said Yes, and he said he thought he recognized us! Haha! After we left the mall we had to stop by Target and buy a new Stroller. We got a Sit and Stand one. I have been eyeing them since Arden was born, and I think we will get some good use out of it, especially at the zoo!

Thursday

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Telling Santa all about it. . .

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Friday the meeting lasted until noon. So we had an interesting afternoon. We had lunch at Mel’s, which Stratton always likes. Except this time he didn’t hardly eat anything. Then Jarrod’s back starting really hurting again and then Stratton got his hand shut in the truck door (luckily a doctor was standing right beside us and he looked at it and said it wasn’t broken! And Stratton cried a while and then never mentioned it again!) And it was nasty cold and rainy. We headed to the outlet mall for some shopping, both kids passed out so Jarrod took them to the truck while I shopped for a little while. Then we met my mom and dad for dinner and headed back to the hotel.

Friday

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Little Ham!!

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Whew! Long day!!

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Saturday morning Jarrod couldn’t hardly get out of bed his back was hurting so bad. We had already bought tickets for a Saturday morning show and Stratton was excited to see it (Amazing Pets!) so I had to call and wake my parents up and ask them to take the kids to see it while I took Jarrod to an urgent care clinic! At the clinic they did an x-ray and since this is the 3rd time in about 3 months, the doctor suggested he start doing some physical therapy.  They gave him a steroid shot and a script for some muscle relaxers and pain pills. We found the kids and my parents and they were already done with their lunch so they went back to the hotel to take naps and Jarrod and I had lunch and went to get his meds and hit a couple of places before heading back ourselves. He was feeling much better but thought some rest would help. We got tickets to see the Haygoods on Saturday night, so after everyone rested we headed back to town to eat at Landry’s and then go to the show. Arden fell asleep and slept through the entire show! Stratton loved it of course! We got back to the hotel and my mom gave them a bath and occupied them for a little while so I could pack all of our stuff up. Thank goodness they came too! Especially since Jarrod was down on his back and not able to help me much! They were lifesavers!!

Saturday

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Sunday we got up and were out of the hotel by around 9:45am. We stopped at Bob Evans for brunch before getting on the road. Arden took a good nap and was great. . .Stratton didn’t sleep AT ALL!! And was whiney and fussy the whole time. I thought I was going to have to put him in the back with the luggage! We got home just in time to unload the truck, clean up a little and then it was time for church! After church we came home and I started laundry (the joys of being away for 4 days) and got busy putting stuff away. The kids were so tired I didn’t even make them take a bath! I think we were all just happy to be home and sleeping in our own beds! We took a toddler size blow-up mattress that has sides on it for Arden. It was Stratton’s, but he hasn’t used it much. She did pretty good with it. Except our first night, she made it almost all night on it every night. I was actually pleasantly surprised! Stratton does so good on a pull-out bed. Most of the time anyway. We had a couple of nights that he wanted one of us to lay down with him, but I think that had more to do with us having separate rooms. His bed was in the living room part, and even though there was an open door, I think he was a little scared.

Waking up Sunday in their matching Jammies

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We had a good trip, despite all the issues! I think this year is the last year for the meeting (but then again, I think I’ve said that for the last 2 years) but I have a feeling that even if we don’t have the meeting we will probably try to keep this a tradition. It will just be better since I won’t have to work any!