End of the Year Clean Out

I have a ton of pics in my phone, and I am not sure which ones I have posted or not. So sorry if you have seen these. And apparently I focus my picture taking on 2 major topics:  sleeping and dogs.  And sometimes those 2 topics combine.

Jacob has spent a lot of time during his 8 years of life looking for a 4 leaf clover, to no avail. Well, finally, this year he found one.

Jacob had a friend spend the night, and we decided we would camp in the backyard.  That translated into no sleep.  So here is Jacob the next day ;)

Drinking from his souvenir cruise cup!! BTW, these cups only had alcoholic beverages in them. I asked a waiter if I could buy them with coke or something for the kids.  No. You can't. What?? So I bought 2 alcoholic beverages, enjoyed them, and the kids got the cups :)

Maggie just makes me laugh.

 Snuggled.

Melissa and Nicole, I know you don't know anything about this, but my child doesn't sleep much at night, which sometimes results in random-unwelcome- naps in the car.   I couldn't resist the drool.

For some reason I have always taken pics of flowers Jon buys me.  

Gonzo enjoying the fire.

So I had an awesome idea for a shirt for my dad for Christmas (and a code for a free t-shirt from vistaprint).  I tried to design it, that design quickly got shot down by Michael.  He came up with the overall idea for the new design but realized we needed photoshop, which we don't have, so we emailed it all to Keith.  He then finished the design up for us and emailed it back so I could order the shirt.  So Dad will be truly getting a gift from ALL of us :)

 We were trying to decide how we wanted them...

 The finished product.  I can't wait!

Look at how Gonzo is sitting on the chair.

Out in the sunshine one day, legs spread (so the warm deck would warm his belly??)

Jon's grandmother made several quilts, and his mom gave them out to the siblings a long time ago (before I came along).  I had never seen Jon's quilt, and Jon's mom actually thought that Pam had used it to line the inside of a toy box, thereby destroying it.  I walked into Hallie and Josh's house one day and saw this on their couch.  I commented, "this looks like a quilt a family member made...was it someone in your family Josh?"  Hallie said, "no, that's the quilt that Grandmother's mom made and gave to Daddy.  Wasn't I supposed to get it?"  Jon and his mom were quite happy with my discovery.  See, being nosy pays off ;)

Jacob wanted me to buy a costume that cost around $50.  I said no.  I found a long-sleeved t-shirt that had bones on it, so that the wearer looked like a skeleton.  Plus it glowed in the dark.  Plus it was on the clearance rack at Children's Place AND I had a 30% off coupon.  We bought face makeup and black hairspray.  He was really into it.  Until the night of Halloween when he decided that he was embarrassed to not have a "real" costume  (my skeleton idea is exactly what a REAL costume used to consist of...but I digress).  So he put on his football uniform.  I took the makeup back, and he wears the t-shirt to sleep in. Awesome.

More sleeping, but look at that boy of mine. Sigh.

A friend had a Star Wars bday party.  His mom took a bunch of her husband's old white t-shirts, died them brown, and cut them down the middle.  Next she bought some cheap material to make waist ties = instant Jedi robes.  For the light sabers, she took pool noodles, cut them in half, and used black electrical tape on the end. 

This girl used to live in a chicken coop. Seriously. Now she sleeps ON our bed, submerged IN fluff. 

Cutie doing some make up work.

Random stick in the backpack at the end of the day...

 Random rock also found in the backpack at the end of the day. 

Eating Fafa's/Grandfodder's birthday Rendevouz ribs.

Jon and Jacob on the roof at Sonic.

Thanksgiving meal from Olive Garden for our employees who had to work.  We figured they would eat traditional Thanksgiving food before or after their shifts at home, so we went a different route with lasagna, fettuccine alfredo, salad and bread.  And then for dessert they got cookies, cake pops, and brownies.

 One day during track season, all three of us fell and scraped some part of our bodies.  Two of the people in the picture were actually doing something athletic when it happened...

Bob's trophies.  The tallest one is from Karate, the other one in the back is from track, and the two in the front are football.

Jacob had a bad day at school one day (courtesy of a drama bully) and faked a stomach ache so he would get sent home.  I took him shopping, which he likes now (in small doses, when it's for him).  This is one of the shirts he picked out. 

All done! Now I can delete them all from my phone :)