What's Up With Those Glasses?

Elaina, Elaina, Elaina......I can't figure this child out most days. Right now she's on a kick with some glasses from Halloween 2 years ago when Cade was a nerd. She wears them all.the.time. and she LOVES it.

 I feel like I really have to choose my battles with her since we are battling over something most every day. This one? I just decided to lose. You want to wear goofy glasses? Do it. Do it and own it. 

So she did. We were heading to the grocery the other day and I look in my rearview mirror and see this. Apparently they were in her sweatshirt pocket. Whatever. 

We're in the Kroger....

she's pushing her little cart and wearing her geek glasses like she's the boss. 

Well, glad she got THAT out of her system. Uh, no. Next day? Heading to the gym? Yep. The glasses. 

Hey, it makes her happy and when she's happy I'm happy. Some things you've just gotta roll with and I'm rollin' with the geek glasses. Word on the street is that it's the new trend with the tweeners and young girl crowd. 

See, turns out she's just fashion forward! 

Shoot 'Em Up!

I spent the first day of the new year hanging with this shady crowd shooting guns on some property we have in Columbia. It's never too soon to prepare for a zombie apocalypse so we wanted to make sure our marksmanship was on spot. 

Bobby shot trash and whatnot that was floating in the river. 

G was hangin' tough..

Bobby bought Rhett a little 410 rifle and he was SO excited to take it out and shoot it. 

I tried out Bobby's pistol and discovered that my aim was quite low. The boys were cracking up that whomever I was shooting was getting their tenders blown to smithereens. Boys...

Our littlest shooter got his ear protectors on and was ready to pop a cap in something.

With some help from his dad he was good to go! 

G, ready to roll.

Cade and Grant both are pretty good shots. They destroyed the water bottle targets we brought. 

Brian also found an old door on the side of the road and he brought it along for target practice. 

Burton got distracted and found it more interesting to pick up the bullet shells to use as finder adornment:)

We tried some skeet shooting too. I didn't.  I figured that if my shooting of a still object was less than optimal then shooting a moving target the size of my hand was going to be a no go. 

Burton wasn't the only one that got distracted. Grant used the skeet to make designs in the grass. 

Smiling, happy faces is what we had at the end of our shoot-a-thon. It's always fun to go out and do "boy things" and it's even more fun when you can do it with good friends! Bring on the zombies!

Another Year's End

2013 has rolled in and out like a flash of lightning! This year Bobby and I had a New Year's Eve schedule that included being home by 8 and in bed by 10. I was forced to be awake at midnight only because our neighbors across the field were shooting off massive amounts of fireworks. It was like the Fourth and Disney World all combined! 

I made the kiddos pose for end of the year pictures just because. Elaina wanted to pose with G because most of the time she insists that he's her "best brother"......until he strays from doing exactly what she wants. Then he's no longer the best brother and it's one of the others. 

Grant moved to a new room this year only to decide by year's end that he actually just really likes sleeping with Cade. And, Cade, who begged him not to go in the first place is a more than welcoming host. I also heard through the grapevine that G is the "ladies man" at school. And the best part? He has no idea. He's just rollin' with that spiked hair and is none the wiser. Let's keep it that way. Humble and cute are always a good combo:)

2013 brought a stellar start to middle school for Cade. It also brought the label  of "instigator" since we've noticed that things are generally calm and running smoothly until he walks in the room. Then there's fighting and crying amongst all....except for him. He's a sneaky fella but we're on to him now. As of the end of 2013 I can still take this boy down with a foot sweep and tackle him to the floor. 2014 may be a different story if he decides to grow. Instigator or not, I love this kid.

Rhett. Future lawyer or any other profession that requires arguing. He's spent a lot of time practicing that in 2013. Despite arguing, he's the King Snuggler in our house. I hope I get to spend twice as much time snuggling with this kid in 2014 because it makes my heart happy. 

And last but not least, Elaina.....oh, Lordy someone help me. Cute as the cutest button you ever did see but 2013 brought age 3 and age 3 always wears.me.out. Nice kids usually return around age 4 and I'm looking forward to that in 2014! Right now she is Ms. I wantwhatiwantwheniwantit. And she wan't it now or yesterday, whichever is sooner. 2013 also brought swimming and gymnastics to her world and watching her do those things is so precious. 

I'm so glad the Lord saw fit to give us another entire year together. My prayer is that he grants us at least 80 more. As 2013 slides out my goals for 2014 are pretty simple: Pray more and meal plan. I think those are attainable! Goodbye, 2013. You've been good to us and we hate to see you go! It's time to welcome baby new year and all that she has to offer! 

Baker Christmas

Schedules worked out this year for our Baker Family Christmas to be on Christmas Day. It was nice to have a reason to put off cleaning up the wrapping mess at home for another day! We headed over and, as usual, Dad had a big scavenger hunt planned. I didn't get to photograph like normal because I was a participant and I was running like mad trying to help Cade get to his clues! Cade and Elaina both won a grand prize of m&m's and a target gift card. 

Pile o' peeps after hustling in the hunt:

In an after dinner game Elaina got a fake mustache and she thought she looked just like grandpa! Ha! Twins:)

Mom read us a children's storybook version of the story of Jesus's birth. 

And then it was time for presents! 

The boys racked up this year scoring some awesome remote control boats from Aunt Tracie and Uncle Jared.

Elaina got everything she ever wanted when she got an Elsa dress and Elsa barbie doll! 

Plus the sweetest little book!

 Jared got some prints for his office....hey! He said he wanted a picture of a liver! (And just so you don't miss him, there's Grant- Mr. "I don't want to be in any pictures!"- he WAS at Christmas:)

 My Daddy-o

and two of my most favorite people:)

A Christmas Day picture of all the gals:

Tracie and I were trying to get a sister pic but someone was all cute and photobombed us! 

 Ahh.... there we go! What about that new hair color Tracie's sporting? I like it! 

 We wrapped up a great Christmas with family. I love nothing more! The next morning, despite the cold, these 3 were working their boats. Pretty cool! 

Christmas Morning!

This year our Christmas tree was a little janky. I put it up and only half of the lights worked. So, I strung some extra lights on it to mask the problem. It was golden for about a week and then something blew and we only had a couple sections of lights. Oh well. It was too late to be buying a new tree and redecorating so we just embraced it. Santa dropped off a few gifts even though it was poorly lit:)

The kids were all piled in one bed waiting for the moment they were allowed to run downstairs.

We read the bible story, sang Happy Birthday to Jesus, said a prayer of thanksgiving and then they were off! 

A few nights before Christmas we were eating dinner when Elaina, out of the blue, puts her finger to her lips and said, "SHHHH. It's a seeeecret." I said, 

"What's a secret?" and she said, "there's a baby crib in your closet and it's a surprise, so shhhh." So, because I'm an awesome mom I told her it wasn't for her, it was for Amelia and that she shouldn't tell her about it. She put her head down on the table and cried. What a pity... But, look! I made it all better just a few days later!  

Bony Marony and Grant both got just what they wanted but never in a million years thought they'd get....ipad minis.

Stocking loot:

Cade is a money collector so that's what he got this year. I never thought it'd be so hard to buy for an 11 year old but it was! He's saving money to buy a car.....he IS his father's child! 

Along with his ipad, Grant got a video game he'd been wanting. 

And, my favorite present of all at Christmas. Straight out of his piggy bank and stuck right in my stocking. I love that kid!