December doings

We're halfway through December and in some ways I'm thankful. I always dread the business of this time of year but am thankful that we don't have a lot of the extras that eat up time like so many other people. I finally got around to decorating the house last week and we put up the Christmas tree this past Saturday. It actually took us three attempts to get the star on top!

David with the first attempt

Ella with the second attempt



Jason with the third, final and successful attempt!



David and Ella playing under the Christmas tree

Jason and I also celebrated our 13th wedding anniversary this past week and enjoyed an evening alone together!

My one gripe is that we haven't had much snow yet. We got a small snow of about 2 inches on the 6th and a piddly one inch today. Ella and David were so excited about the two inches on the sixth that they suited up and played outside for about a half hour (then it got too dark). I'd like to see at least 4-5 inches, at least enough that you don't see the grass and have a nice blanket of snow to enjoy looking at.

David and Ella suited up for fun in the snow

There is not much else to report around here, life is routine, but don't get me wrong I'm not complaining! I probably won't write until after Christmas, I'm sure you understand. Jason and I both wish that you find the true peace, joy and hope that Jesus' birth brought. May you slow down and reflect honestly upon who He is, what He said, and what He asks of you. Until later, much love from us to you!

My kind of weekend!

This past weekend was filled with family and friends. This is my favorite kind because I love being surrounded by those that I love the most in this world.

Thanksgiving was quite an event at our house. It was a "family blowout", as my father put it. We had 24 people for dinner!! We had to use three tables and found out that when it gets this big there is not an easy way to sit and eat. Next year it'll be buffet style people! I loved the craziness but didn't realize what a toll it took on me until everyone left and I was exhausted! Jason stayed up and did ALL the dishes and cleaned up the house (without me asking), do I have the best husband or what?! Unfortunately for me I had to get up and go to work the next day (rrrrrrrrrr).

Dad Kelly (Boppy) and David had a great time chasing and squirting

each other with mini squirt guns

Jess and Thanapat fought over a very slippery wishbone.

Connie (Jason's mom) was helping to "clean up" the mashed potatoes!

Me on the phone with Thom (in Texas) right after dinner.

Jennifer and Finn

Friday evening we had my best friend, Jennie Apthorpe, and family come to stay with us for the weekend! The kids took FOREVER to calm down and go to sleep, that only happened after we seperated them! The next morning we headed to my parent's house to make some Christmas cookies and a craft! Matthew was the hardest working kid there, and did an awesome job making the Empire biscuits.

Making reindeer ornaments with Jennifer

Saturday evening was a time that I had been looking forward to for awhile now. We (Jason, Jennie Apthorpe, and I) had a "mini reunion" of sorts for our high school class. It's been 13 years since we graduated and we never did have a 10 year reunion. But, some of us got reconnected on Facebook and decided to get together in person! My parents were generous enought to watch our children while we were out for the evening (THANK YOU!!!) What a fun time to reconnect and find out what a bunch of our old friends were up to. After saying hey to everyone, it was funny to see how people got right back together with those they were friends with in highschool (the cliques, if you will). I was with my "clique" of the "band nerds". We weren't really that nerdy but that was what you'd call us for lack of a better term. A number of people looked different and an equal number looked like they hadn't aged a day (how does that happen?).

Jennie and I right before heading out the door for the reunion

Jason tried on his letter jacket from highschool before leaving for the reunion (he didn't actually wear it to the reunion). David came around the corner and looked at his father and said "Wow Daddy, you look facinating!"

On Sunday, Jen and family had to leave :( The kids had such a good time playing over the weekend and so did Jennie and I! The rest of the day was spent lounging around the house and getting Ella and David to take a nap from staying up so late on Friday and Saturday nights. We did get to celebrate Dad's birthday that evening with pizza, cake and icecream (another night with family)!!


We hope your Thanksgiving weekend was just as enjoyable, whether you were shopping, working or spending time with loved ones! Until next time!!!

What's been "bugging" the family

There has been an unwelcome guest at our house for the past week. We've had some type of stomach bug being passed around from person to person. As of today I have yet to experience this lovely 24 hour tour of sickness, and hopefully I won't get it either! Ella and David both came down with the bug last Saturday night and Jason was up most of the night going back and forth between the two of them cleaning them, their beds and the bathrooms up! Jason came down with it on Monday night and Emily is just recovering from it this morning having been up all last night in the bathroom.

I'm sure you've asked yourself, where was Alison when Ella and David were sick? Why was it Jason's responsibility to get up all night and do the dirty work, she's the nurse! In my defense I must tell you that I was out of town that weekend! I went away with a bunch of friends from church to a lakehouse at Lake Cumberland (this event had been planned for several months). We spent the weekend chatting, playing games and eating a bunch of really yummy food! When I arrived home on Sunday afternoon I came home to Ella and David feeling better and my husband having done ALL of the laundry in the house! He said he figured he'd go ahead and do the laundry since he was already doing the kids sheets and pj's. What a wonderful guy!!!!!!

On a more pleasant note, Jason has great news to share. He passed his test that he took two weeks ago in Arizona. This is a big deal as far as his job goes. He can now stamp his own work, and others if he needed to!

This past Saturday I went to the Gap Outlet with Emily and my sister Jennifer and her son Finn. We braved both the weather (it was cold and rainy) and the crowds to get some awesome deals! Ontop of it all we had a 30% off coupon!!! If you know me well, I'm all about the coupons!

Early that afternoon we went to an art fair at Ella's school (a fundraiser for the art program). We saw a dot painting that Ella had done of a chipmunk on a log. I spoke with her art teacher telling her how much Ella enjoyed art and her art classes. Ms. Kemper, the art teacher, said she could tell how much Ella enjoyed art and that she thought Ella was very good at it. I told Ella, who was standing nearby, what her teacher had said and Ella just made a motion with her hand that said "Oh, go on!" I laughed, as did everyone else. I'm hoping we witnessed some true humility.




The kids have the day off school today, which is fortunate with Emily feeling so bad. I had planned to take them to paint pottery. My motivation behind this is the fact that both Emily and Ella painted a plate for me when they were 4 1/2 years old. David is now that age and I am hoping to have him do the same thing today and then I can display their work in my kitchen!

That's it for now, until next time!

Our weekend

This was one of those weekends that we all enjoy. Nothing to do and plenty of time to do it!

Friday started with Halloween. We were without Emily because she had a sleepover planned with the junior high girls from church and went trick or treating beforehand with a friend also going to the sleepover. I found out the next day that the police arrived to the house that they were staying at while the girls were outside playing a game and questioned them! What a roudy bunch! I'm just kidding, the police were making their nightly rounds on the empty lot next to the house and the girls just happened to be outside at the same time. When one of the ladies came out and vouched for the girls the police left. It gave the girls quite a scare though!

Our two unicorns were joined by a flapper (Nataliya) and made their way around Mamaw and Papaw's neighborhood within 45 minutes. Ella broke tradition and decided that she wanted to continue onto ANOTHER STREET! Emily had never been interested in going past the first street and the other two had usually been worn out by that time BUT this year we went onto another street and collected candy. Jason and I were both proud thinking of how we would practically run from house to house with our siblings on Halloween as children to get as much candy as possible. It's funny though because Ella doesn't eat much candy, just plain M&M's and York patties! I wasn't about to rain on her parade though (more candy for Jason and I)!

Saturday brought a lot of nothing and then Finn in the afternoon. We had the privledge of watching him overnight while Jennifer and Joe went to Columbus for a small get away. Finn was perfectly behaved and was quiet. He did wake up in the middle of the night and I figured out that he was hungry when he tried to nurse from me! YIKES! I quickly heated up a bottle for him and that made both of us happy. He fell back asleep easily and then did well in the nursery at church. His mom and dad were waiting at our house when we got home from church and he seemed very happy to see them!

Jason has a very long day today. He's traveling to Phoenix, AZ and back to take a test for his supervior stamp for HVAC systems. He left at 3:30 this morning and won't land back in Dayton until after 11pm. Thankfully he just has one test to take (he passed the other 5 parts in the spring) and he's feeling pretty good about passing this one on this go around! Pray for him if you think of it, it's a big deal as far as his job is concerned.

That's it for now, I'll post again soon! Until then, enjoy the small "Indian summer" we have going on!

Ongoing October

I know I had promised a post last week and did not deliver, I apologize. So here is a post for the past two weeks!

We went to "The Land" in KY. Emily did not join us. Her social calender had her at a friends for the weekend because of a birthday sleepover. She had an excellent time and even got to ride horses! Jason went down early on Wednesday the 15th with some friends to relax and chop some wood for the campfire.

I KNEW that we had some excitement coming up and I was right. While at the land, Saturday morning to be exact, Ella woke up with poison ivy ALL over her face. Her left eye was swollen shut and the right side of her face was all puffy not to mention the itching she had going on. Soooo, Connie (Jason's mom) and I took her into the local hospital and got to try out their emergency room. They were very kind and thankfully not busy at all. Two hours, two shots, two pills, and two prescriptions later we were back at the land and we could see Ella's left eye. The medicine worked well and the only leftover from the poison ivy at this point.is some dried skin.

The weather was a little chilly, especially on the Sunday morning, but it just made the campfire even warmer. I enjoyed holding my little ones in front of that campfire, wrapped up in a fleece blankets, and have them fall asleep in my arms. Aaaahhh, motherhood.

The entertainment for some of the weekend was provided by Shane in the form of Rockband! I personally do not see the appeal but most everyone else loves it!

On Tuesday, Jason and I took Emily to the place where we got engaged 14 years ago and surprised her by presenting her with a purity ring. This is something we had been talking to her about for awhile and we felt this was the proper time to do it. She gladly accepted it and the challenge that it represents. The purity ring shows her promise to God, herself, and her future husband (if God blesses her with one) that she will keep herself sexually, mentally and spiritually pure until she is married. We acknowledge that this an extremely hard road to follow but we do believe that it is what God has called us to do. It's our responsibility as her parents to help guide her as she grows and in this very hard and confusing world.

Monday, I got to take some photos of Finn, my nephew, at a local farm. It was at the end of a long day but the results speak for themselves........ what an adorable guy!

Today we went to a pumpkin farm to pick out our pumpkin! We hadn't had a chance to do this and it was obvious when we got into the pumpkin field that it was the last weekend before Halloween, the pickings were slim. The part we all like the best is searching for neat looking gourds that we call "Nyrts" (what David is holding in the photo above). We did end up finding a pumpkin and did the carving this evening. I say "we" but Jason did all the carving, and did an excellent job! The results are below for your enjoyment.

I probably won't post again until after Halloween so have a Happy Halloween!

More Fall Festivities

Oh, where to begin. Not too much has happened but certainly enough for a blog post, so here it goes!

This past Saturday the 11th we hosted a surprise retirement party for Jason's father, Tom. He retired from Kroger after working there for about 38 or so years. He started working there when he was 16! Connie, Jason's mom, lured Tom out to our house saying that we were all going to the pumpkin farm for a hay ride and so Tom had no idea what was really in store! He truly was surprised and we all had a good time of hanging out and for some, playing Rock Band in the garage (courtesy of Shane Beverly).

Tom "surprised" by his cake.

Our first official use of the patio!

The next day we had a visit from my best friend Jennie and her family. This time we really did go to the pumpkin farm (without Tom) and did not end up taking the hay ride. When we arrived we discovered Carolyn and her family were already there! The three families went back to our house for dinner and another evening of fun!

Kids in a big vat of dried corn.

On Monday, Emily decided it was time to get her hair cut. She has been growing out her bangs for awhile now and wanted to even up her hair. I've posted the cute results for you!




This weekend is our annual fall party at the land and so early next week I'm sure I'll have a post with those photos and any stories that may emerge. Until then, enjoy the beauty of this season. I'm always amazed when I see a tree in it's full autumn color, what a majestic God we have!

We had some possible beginnings and/or endings this past week. Only time will tell which they were. I'm sure some have no idea of what I write so I'll unravel the mystery.

This past Friday Emily performed with the junior high band on the football field for the first time. It was homecoming at our school and the JH band was invited to join the high school band in playing the fight song on the field during the pre-game show. Emily has said that she does not want to continue on in band next year and so this may have been the only time Jason and I had to see her perform with a marching band. :( We tell ourselves that she is her own person and we can not live through her but we also don't want her missing out on an awesome opportunity. I'm posting a shortened video of her performance. It's shaky because I was videotaping with David and Ella hanging on me and bouncing around. Emily also ends up behind a cymbal player most of the time but I'll take what I can get.







The next morning Emily ran her final race of this cross country season. It was run on the hardest course but she did an excellent job and pushed herself very hard. Emily also does not plan on continuing on in cross country next fall but instead hopes to get onto a high school soccer team.

Jason had a hopeful beginning this past Saturday. For the past several years he has been running in various 5 or 10K runs but always made it a point to participate in one in particular (it has a great after party). This run is the Reggae Run, which is a 5K, held at Ault Park in the beginning of October. He had a goal for his recovery from his broken leg of running the Reggae Run this year and he accomplished his goal! It was almost 10 months to the day from his accident. His time was about 29 minutes, not bad, huh? His leg felt fine but the next day he was tired and ached all over, but who wouldn't?

Jason and I at the after party

That's about it for now. I hope everyone is enjoying the cool evenings of this fall. I'm still waiting for the leaves to change color but I'm also thinking that this fall won't be as pretty as it could be due to the lack of rain and Hurricane Ike blowing through. Until next time!