Blake the PreTeen

 Blake is 12....and officially our PRETEEN!!!! Happy Birthday, buddy!!! I am so proud of Blake and everything that he has accomplished in his 12 years. He is honestly my sunshine and makes mom life so easy!!! 

Blake's 12 Year Old Report...

• He weighs about 85ish pounds and is almost as tall as me!!! 
• He is currently getting a A's and one B in school
• He continues to play basketball, baseball, and flag football...and plays the piano.
• He adores Kinsley and I think she adores him even more. 
• Blake is a GREAT friend and kid. He honestly has a heart of gold in all that he does. SO CARING!
• He loves playing video games in his free time - specifically Maden these days. 
• He is still just as energetic as ever! Haha. 

...and he is getting a really big surprise this birthday!!! 

Blake has been begging us for a phone for about the last 6 months. We made him prove to us that he could handle middle school and all the responsibility that comes with school and sports. He has accepted the challenge and done SO well with juggling all the things. He has balanced his life so well and done a great job with maintaining his grades, being a great family member and friend, and balanced his sports. What more could we ask of him?!?! So he gets surprised with a phone on this birthday!!! 

We also threw a birthday party for Blake a couple of days after his actual birthday. We did a family birthday party on his birthday and a friend party a few days later. The friend party was at this place called the Par-Tee Shack. It has an awesome indoor putt-putt place where you get to do these extreme putt-putt holes. It was so cool and perfect for these guys that like a challenge!!! :) 

Sports & Learning

 This month is pretty chill for us, so it doesn't look like there will be too many posts for January! We sadly have not gotten any snow yet.... and it doesn't look like we will any time soon. That is such a disappointment. I want one BIG snow - where we are drinking hot chocolate and playing in the snow all day. There is still time... maybe?!?! 

Anyway, we are just grinding with basketball and school work. That is about it on repeat. :) Waiting on some snow.... PRETTY PLEASE! :) 

Ball, learn, repeat! These kiddos are getting so grown! 

Welcome 2024

 Hello, 2024!!! We are excited about a new year. Honestly, we are still in a little shock that it is a new year. What happened to the last year? Time is flying and her are still in full blast from the holidays and sports and school....few! There is so much going on this year. 

To be honest, we did not set any real New Years Resolutions. Is that bad? That sounds bad! I think we are just excited to continue our adventures and fun and stay on the same track, because things are going so well. 

Big things for this upcoming year: 

Kinsley - She will start full time PreK in August. That will be a big change for her, going to school 5 days a week. We also know that will mean big gains for all of her learning and development! She will do great! 

Blake - Blake is trying track manager out during 6th grade (When they can't play school sports yet). We will see if he likes it and wants to add that to his sports list next year. He has also been doing GREAT in 6th grade so far and we want to continue all the good things! 

Sarah- I am personally so excited about so me great vacations we have coming up this year. I am all about the memories on vacation! I am also gearing up for some big changes at work. I hope to take on Dept Chair in August!!! Fingers crossed that all falls into place. That would be huge for my career. 

Joyner- I know Joyner is excited for normal work day focus to resume in August. His Daddy Daycare days will mostly be over. I know he will miss Kinsley a lot, but I also know he will be excited to put his focus bag into work and do a great job there! He is also just excited for all of our adventures. I mean really - he just goes with the flow! Haha. 

Treat us well, 2024! We need a good year! 

2023 Recap

 Looking back on 2023...

This year was personally a very hard year for me because I lost Memommy (my person in this world), but looking back over the year, we did have a lot of fun as well. We also accomplished a lot as a family, even if it wasn't our original plan/goals. Lets see how we did... 

2023 Goals: 

• This year as a family we have a few simple goals...
• Blake wants to become better at football 
• Blake played tackle football this year!!! He did  great. He is still trying to decide if football will be a sport in his future, but he had a blast trying something new. I am proud of him for getting out of his comfort zone and chasing dreams! 
• Blake will be conquering a huge transition to middle school
• So far so good... we are almost halfway done with 6th grade and he is killing it! He is getting all A's and B's (only in Math). He is staying on top of his work and doing a great job with the transition! 
• Kinsley plans to learn more words and maybe take a dance or gymnastics class! 
• Kinsley has absolutely come out of her shell. She is starting to talk full sentences and repeat all kinds of words. She is such a fun and energetic toddler. Sass, too! 
• Joyner and I want to start up a little candle business on the side. 
• Ok, we did NOT do the candle business. Instead Yard Party fell into our laps and we couldn't be happier! Who knew we would be successful small business owners at the end of this year! Eeekkk! 
• And overall as a family we want to try to travel more this year! 
• We did travel more - Joyner and I went to Asheville and the family went to Atlanta, the beach, and the lake! We have already planned more trips for 2024 and I can't wait! 

It has been a year for sure!! We are excited to end on a good note and welcome in the adventures of 2024! The best is yet to come! 

Chinese Lantern Festival

 December is full of traditions... even after Christmas is over. This year we went to the Chinese Lantern Festival again and we brought along my dad and Heather. We love this event, but this year wasn't my favorite theme. The colors were a little more muted and it had this ice/traditional theme. I liked last years aquative theme much better. It was still fun though!!! 

Christmas Morning

 The Christmas Morning looks are always amazing... but this Christmas Eve look was pretty cute as well. These two are SO excited about Christmas!!!

This year Kinsley got a kitchen. She LOVES helping me cook/bake and now she is having a blast cooking away at all hours of the day. She also got a baby doll, a doctors set, a Spidey set, and a cool castle tent.

Blake got a new room set up (more preteen approved now), along with a name sign, games, a 49ers water bottle, and a a Christian McCaffery bobble head. He was pretty thrilled! It is weird because the older they get the smaller the gifts get in size. Haha. 

Joyner and I got exercise equipment - we are trying to make 2024 our comeback year and year of youth! HAHA!   

Christmas Lights

 Hillridge Farm was our place for Christmas lights once again. This year Kinsley was REALLY into the Christmas lights. We all dressed up in our fun Christmas gear and had a blast driving through the Christmas Lights.I almost wish we did it one more time... maybe next year!