Snow in GA

Our house geared up for snow at the end of Winter break and pulled  out every lucky snow stunt in the book to get flakes to fall from the sky.  A pre snow toast after church in celebration of purchasing our saucers only heightened the thrill of the wait. Pjs were worn inside out and we hunted down gloves and scarves--every trick in the book was rehearsed while we waited.  Sadly, all we got here in GA  was the coldest day since 1993 and very disappointed kids;( 

 But, our storm prep paid off on my birthday week later in the month. I creeped home slowly from an early preschool pick up to get Miller off the bus from an early dismissal. The roads slicked up very quickly and my 20 minute commute home turned into 45 mins. I scooted into our hood just behind the bus and picked up our next door neighbor while his mom trekked home from work. It was stressful! The kids wasted no time bundling up and playing on the block.

The kids were out of school for 3 days--oh my!  Happy noises, snow ball throwing, sledding, chasing games rang up and down our street. It was a magical first day--and then it slowly lost its newness on day 3.

Each night we hopped to a different neighbors' house for dinner. My dryer was continually running drying out socks, pants and gloves from whoever landed at our house.

Our plastic sleds were put to the test on Kiser hill. The boys exhausted themselves on the hills in our hood. 

Mr. Gregg dusted off his childhood toboggan for some more sledding fun with Grayson and Brennan. This was our first time to experience snow in our neighborhood.

Emery, Nancy Claire, and Eliza Kate snuggled up in between a saucer run. They had to be quick on their feet to dodge the speeding bullet of the big brothers zooming down the hill on sleds.

It was surprisingly a great 34th birthday being snowed in with neighbors. We couldn't drive anywhere, so it was a blessing to be able to spend the whole day with Landon, our kids and friends during the middle of what was supposed to be a busy work week. The kiddos on our block baked me a sheet cake and sang the birthday chorus. Everyone contributed a different ingredient to be able to bake the cake--I loved it! So happy that our kids got the gift of snow this winter.

Hoedown and Monster Trucks

I'm finally catching up on lots of details in our life including the neglected blog. January brought lots of family fun our way including Miller's  Hoedown dance at school.  I find it hilarious that when the  the Smilebox slideshow from the dance was posted on the school's website, our little cowgirl with pink bandana flair showed up in multiple slides and poses. She heard the loudspeaker announce photo booth, and hee hawed her way with neighborhood friends unto the haystacks for her photo memory.  Miller missed the announcement as he was too busy rehearsing all of the line dances from PE on the dance floor.

Eliza Kate and Claire are foxes in training. Our neighborhood friends rallied for the after party over dinner. Miller loves party nights like these. It's in his social DNA;)

 Now if the hoedown wasn't hee haw enough, the Monster Truck Jam surely landed us in the ranks of REDNECK for the weekend. Landon and his new boss took their sons out for an engine revving good time at the Georgia Dome.

Of course, I loved receiving photos messaged to me during the evening-- notice the background of cultural experiences that Miller drank in for the night. Miller's headphone noise cancelers were a hit and surely a necessary purchase for the enjoyment of the loud show.  He felt BIG time. Miller was talking up their adventure for a good week after their date.  This is how the Fokens enjoy a Duck Dynasty weekend of togetherness:)

It's a NEW year!

Happy New Year! We donned our festive glittered crowns to ring in 2014. Eliza Kate sported her finest of party duds. Kids change the whole New Years scene and make it much more low key event. We hosted long time friends of our family over for a casual dinner.

Yes, our Christmas decor was slow to come down this year--don't judge:)

And, ya'll know we didn't even plan to stay up until midnight. I'm much too smart to know what payback is like the next day with exhausted kiddos. The kids played on every floor with their new Christmas gifts, enjoyed legos, the wii and indoor jumping. The adults cozied up to conversation without the kids. There's really nothing better than adult conversation in the stay at home mom's life, especially after the long, lazy days of Christmas vacation.

We had a good new years blow horn blast before the evening was over. The honking of silvery horns signals another year gone by. A rich, blessed year of transitions for our family. We're so thankful for new and old friends. And, if you ask Eliza Kate--she's over the top thankful for an excuse to dress up and wear her glittery Happy New Years crown.

The adults did squeeze in a Happy New Year selfie. We coaxed the guys into sporting man bands for the occasion. 

The littles awoke much too early anticipating breakfast, so we took our show on the road to Waffle House.  Miller loves family outings like these--we all do. A second cup of coffee perked me up to enjoy New Years Day.  Eliza Kate matched several of the waitresses in her bejeweled crown.  I did convince her to hang her party dress up for the day.

Wishing your family a wonderful start to the new year!

christmas vacation

Once the fevers, germs, and ickies left our house, we were open for business again hosting several playdates with neighborhood friends. Really, it's just a revolving door with kids upstairs and downstairs involved in all kinds of chaos. The girls usually end up playing dress up and drinking punch from tea cups. 

The boys blew off some wild energy bouncing on our new trampoline. This seriously was the best gift for Miller, especially because he is FLAT worn out after bouncing for hours at a time with friends. I love how the boys match in their red coats flipping away on each bounce. 

 

We didn't move the mansion up to the bonus room during the break. Eliza Kate and her friend "E" liked to make quick stops on their way to the basement for Barbie time. The mansion is best played with friends who can assume different princess characters. Miller's even been spotted driving cars into the garage and fixing up Barbie's house. He's a handy man in training.

These two friends invented a Nerf gun battle with discs bouncing off the net. Between dodge ball, speed skating in circles and popping popcorn with playground balls the possibilities on this new attraction are endless:)
Here's to Christmas break and our lazy days enjoying all of the blessings from Christmas. Feeling thankful for our days together!

More Christmas-- round 2

Our family spread out Christmas into two sessions this year. Santa visited us in the morning at our house with Omi and Papa, and then we loaded up the van with wrapped gifts for round 2 of our exchange over at Grandmama and Poppy's house.  

Who needs Santa when you have grandparents who gift you so richly? Between Omi and Papa's trampoline & this hoopla of an unwrapping session, we had a blessed Christmas.

He just hasn't grown out of his Matchbox car collection. He'll sit for long periods of time racing these around on the floor. He's a make and model master, too.

Poppy acted like he had no clue what this gift was from the kids. He likes to play up the whole mystery game even though there really was no way to creatively disguise a new golf umbrella beneath the Christmas wrapping.  It was either a cane of an umbrella:)

The kids like to take a front row seat to all of the action while their bursting with excitement to announce what the present is before the reveal. Keeping secrets is really hard sometimes.

It's never a chaotic scene with paper thrown in the air though. Each person gets all the attention while they are unwrapping their gift.  Since Landon and I are in the business of merging family traditions--that's a Miller family tradition.
Landon is opening a Banana Leaf silicone lid here.  You can use the covering instead of aluminum foil for use in the kitchen. The trend seems to be that Landon and Clay always receive matching kitchen gadgets. Isn't that so cute? ;)

Here is one of Eliza Kate's favorites from Uncle Clay. A Princess Play dough set got her excited. She has put her creative juices into action  molding new dresses for Belle, Aurora and Cinderella. We need lots of little hands -on crafts to sway her away from screen time. 

We bundled up in coats & Eliza Kate dazzled us all in her princess and the pop star tutu twirly outfit from Grandmama & Poppy. We headed to the backyard to watch Miller's flagship launch of his stomp rocket pad.  There just might have been an astronaut countdown. Uncle Clay gives gifts  toys that he likes to play with. The main goal was to avoid a rocket mishap in the lake. 

Those boys got the rocket flying past the roof. It drew quite a crowd on the deck overhead. When the uncle/nephew duo weren't playing Spy Gear with Nerf guns, you could find them rough housing in some part of the house. Although, we still took it easy on Miller after being sick for so long.

A Christmas dinner complete with a standing rib roast was a wonderful way to celebrate togetherness after such a busy morning. Grandmama always dresses up her table scape so beautifully.  She adds special touches to the kid's place settings. Our vintage, Christmas Coke glasses trimmed with holly from our childhood made an appearance. They weren't filled with Coke this year. But, Miller dreams of the day that soda will be in his glass for special occasions:)

Merry Christmas to all and to ALL a good night! After dinner, the littles couldn't wait to skedaddle back home to play with all of their new gifts. 

matching pjs

I'm finally taking a moment to sort through and reflect on our hundreds of pictures from Christmas. I so loved our merry, merry matching pj's this year.  Can you tell these two were bribed with candy for an under the tree Christmas morning picture? I'm thinking it's the last year we can get away with the skinny legging look for Miller:) His legs are surely a mile long and skinny. 

Bitty baby got all matchy matchy with the littles too this year.  I deleted the shot where Miller and Eliza Kate are playfully holding baby by her arms as if she's a wishbone. Poor bitty baby! And, I'm half laughing at Miller's criss cross arms standing like he's a busting out a Christmas rap.

Next year, I foresee a complete matching pj's family? Here's to the 365 day challenge of talking Landon into that proposition:) 

Merry Christmas

After dose 3 of Tamiflu on Christmas morning, Miller was fever free and acting normal. What a huge relief and present to our family! The kids slept until 7:30 and they waited until Joy to the World was all cued up for their departure to the hung stockings on the stairs waiting to be opened. 

It wasn't long until the kiddos raced into the living room and spotted Santa's special deliveries. There were squeals of delight all captured on film. It is such a magical experience. A doll house for Eliza Kate with a Princess and the Popstar singing Barbie. She literally is two dolls in one. With the push of a button she belts out "Here I Am" .  The surprise gift was a Mega Mansion wooden doll house with an elevator. Now, all of EK's barbies have a home in our playroom. This was a labor of love for Santa to assemble. The dollhouse was too big to fir in front of the tree so it found it's home in the corner of our living room. How did it ever squeeze down the chimney? A mystery for sure!

Santa brought Miller a 20 inch bike. He quickly outgrew his first bike this year as we would sing "Big boy on a Little Bike". He specifically asked for a green Mountain bike. And, Santa delivered one with all kinds of gears. He's riding it with the seat all the way down in the lowest position so there's room to grow.

Omi and Papa opened gifts with us. We all take turns opening one gift at a time.

Santa brought Skylanders SWAP force for the Wii. This was his second Santa gift that was unwrapped. In our house, Santa doesn't wrap his gifts from the sleigh, They are set out by the fireplace if they fit. 

The new Skylanders figures can be mismatched with bodies and heads to create your own character. Miller is excited to start trading and swapping figures with our neighborhood friends. They visit each other's houses with their characters:)

Miller picked out a Tortilla Making Taco bowl set for Landon:) They now have a new project together in the kitchen.

Then we tackled all of the wrapped gifts from us. A Cinderella doll was oohed and ahhed over. 

I love Eliza Kate's body language in this photo asking Miller, "What could it be?"

He opened an LED spin flyer to use inside or outside. We'll see if it marks up the basement ceiling & then I'll give it approval for use inside:)

This was Miller's most talked about request this year. I think part of him was disappointed that it wasn't sitting out from Santa. Now, Santa can't steal all of the gifting glory around here. He unwrapped a Lego Train set with a remote control. I love the look of sheer joy on his face as he opened one of his favorite gifts. It's fun to have a project with directions on Christmas day. And, he's really quite the lego master these days at 6 years old. 

There were lots of little girly gifts that EK loved. It was the year of princess and Melissa and Doug crafts. She is our arts and crafts dressed up princess lover after all. We are in a wonderful age of all things girly.

We cleaned up Christmas and enjoyed a traditional Foken's' Christmas breakfast of yummy chocolate and vanilla filled pastries called Pandulce. The kids played with their new toys and we slowly enjoyed our new treasures. The kids didn't anticipate any more surprises left to discover.  Landon announced a final outside gift. We got all bundled up in mittens, hats, and coats to unveil the last outside surprise. 

 Omi and Papa spoiled the kids with a new trampoline! Now, our Santa had time to assemble the entire trampoline on Christmas Eve ( pinched fingers from the springs and all). The finishing touches of the spring pads and net covering were left for a warmer day:) We did let the kids jump in the very middle in the brutal cold for about 5 minutes! 

A funny side story involved the trampoline sitting out in our backyard for all of Christmas Eve. We made sure the kiddos stayed away from the windows on the back of the house in order not to ruin the surprise. We knew this gift would be a little tricky to keep a mystery.

What was wonderful Christmas morning surprise! Miller was made to get  out all of his energy out on a trampoline.

 Giggles and laughter quickly took over our back yard. We quickly knew this was the winner gift. It was a highly discussed present in our home. I wasn't sure if I was ready to break out of "safety mom" mode to patrol the trampoline on playdates. But, trampolines are made so much more safely today than the trampolines of my childhood. Anyone remember landing on the springs?

Merry Christmas to all! With two healthy children, we felt blessed to share in togetherness on this day celebrating the birth of Jesus and the gift of family.