WHITE. PARTY OF FIVE.: 2011 Summary

Man, I have not blogged at all in 2011! Impressive, but not in a good way. Seeing that my last post was pretty much a year ago exactly, is so sad. Last December I decided to go back to school and the majority of my free time has gone to reading textbooks (snooze).....an exciting adventure, none-the-less. For the sake of keeping some record in one post, I will give a run down of what we have been up to!
Starting today and working my way backward....
I finished my last final tonight, so I thought I'd get started again.

I finally got my camera out to take pictures of my sweet kids in front of the Christmas tree (before the ornaments shift anymore- courtesy of little hands). This first picture I owe to Pinterest- We got our house with a double sided fireplace, which we love, but it has our floor tile surrounding it (which we're not fans of). One day we will wrap the entire wall in rock work, but for now my wonderful and crafty hubby built a simple and beautiful mantel in about 2 hours. Stained and hung (impressive, right?). The simple chalk board above was and idea I saw on Pinterest and I got it for under ten bucks - (thank you hobby lobby- I love you so!) I had so many sparkly Christmas decorations, it added the perfect simplicity to the stockings and bay leaf garland.

After 10 Christmases of real trees, I gave up and bought a pre-lit Christmas tree! I love real, but couldn't get my trees to survive from the day after Thanksgiving to Christmas day (they ended up looking like they were about to spontaneously combust).

Here are my three little cutie pies/stinkers!

I got to take Mia to Disney on Ice and it was such a fun little date with my friend Ashlee and her daughter, who's Mia's age.

My Little Mac Buddy turned the BIG 3!!! He had a donut "cake" since he loves them so much. He is such a busy little guy- he is hilarious too! Right now he is really into Batman/Superman and monster jam trucks. I was dreading potty training him so I waited til after Disney World and he was so easy! He only had a few accidents, I'm amazed at how well he has done!!

Here is my sweet little monkey boy, Sloaney!

Here are Mia and Mac all hopped up on sugar, after a busy night of trick or treating!

My Mia Girl turned 5! She got her first "friend" party and it was a blast!

My parents took us to Disneyworld and we had the best time ever! It was one jam packed week of crazy fun! We are trying to make plans to go back- ASAP! (well, once the boys are a little bigger) It was truly the trip of a lifetime.1

I turned 30! It seems old, but I DO have 3 kids and have been married 9 years, I guess it's not that hard to believe. I'm thinkin' my 30's are gonna be even better....

My sweet Grandma passed away. I will miss her, but I'm happy she get's to be with her sweetheart, finally. I'm so glad I got to see her quite a bit over the last year. She was an amazing woman and someone I could always turn to.

My dear friend, Holly and her wonderful boys came and stayed a few days with us! We had such a blast! We got to spend some quality time together, but it just wasn't enough.

Holly asked me if I wanted to do a half marathon with her and the Stephenson Family, in memory of her husband/my friend growing up, Trevor. I'm so glad that I did! I went from anti-runner to finisher (not fast- that's for sure). I enjoy making time to get in a 5 mile run, enough to drop an arm and a leg on a new jogger (early Christmas present).