We just wrapped up a long weekend that included the MLK Celebration for our school district. The event is on a Saturday each year, and I had Ellie tag along with me again this year.  She does such a great job sitting still and watching the performances. Unfortunately, we had an unexpected death in our church and lost "Gangster Granny."  We love her so much and just think the world of Larry, Kim and the girls.  It was a tough loss for our entire Mayberry community.  We went to visitation on Sunday morning and then Ellie and I went back to the church to help serve the meal following the funeral.  She is learning from so many amazing women about what it means to be the hands and feet of Jesus, and I am so grateful for the ladies who pour into her. We left straight from the church to meet our boys at the gym because it was our first weekend of winter conditioning for baseball.  Spring will be here before we know it! Of course I didn't get a sing...

Monday was a crazy busy day with work, basketball practice, getting new tires and our Mammoth Spirit Night!  Because of all the busyness, we weren't able to get there right on time, but some of our awesome families held down the fort for us! I'm not sure just yet how we faired with the money, but any little bit helps.  I know I've said it a thousand times, but this group of boys have such a special spirit about them.  The don't give up...ever.  They have a natural "fight" in them.  Together, they are something wonderful! We appreciate the support of our community.  The boys are excited about the spring season and night's like this one help make it possible.  Thanks to everyone who came out.  We're less than a week away from kicking off our first practice!!

My kids have the worst teeth, and I don't think it's just had oral hygiene.  They seriously have the worst luck with "sugar bugs" or cavities for anyone who doesn't have young kids in the home.  I took Eli in today for have one of his cavities filled and it took forever because they just kept finding little areas of concern. In case you're wondering just how long we were there, just observe Ellie's body language in the photo above verse the photo below.  Haha!  She was totally D-O-N-E!!  But ya'll, they were so good.  Like really, really good.  Eli normally flips out anytime he has a medical procedure but he was super chill.  Of course the "happy gas" probably contributed to that.  The sweetest moment of the day came when we got the new of more cavities.  Ellie was so concerned.  She climbed up into the chair with Eli, put her arm around his neck and kept patting his back.  How sweet is that? Ther...

After several short work weeks, five days back into the routine was refreshing...and long!  Ha! In keeping with our typical pace, we had a weekend full of activities and kicked it all off with a birthday party for our baseball buddy, Logan.  Mason had already left when I remembered to take a picture, so I hate that he's not in it.  Nonetheless, it was good to see some of our boys back together.  We start winter conditioning (aka hitting practice) again next Sunday.  I can't wait! Saturday started off with some basketball.  Our team is still undefeated, but barely.  We played a rough game and things got heated.  I know I can get "right" with some hollering during a baseball game, but I'm over it as soon as we leave.  I could care less about basketball, so it was interesting to sit back and enjoy the chaos.   After the game we ran by Sam's because Eric needs two new tires thanks to stupid roofing nails.  If yo...

We were finally able to celebrate the Christmas with my family a week AFTER New Year.  It's so hard having both of our families so far away, especially during the holidays.  But like they say," absence makes the heart grown fonder," or something like that.  HA! As with previous years, we had a basketball game on Saturday morning.  As soon as it was over, we hit the road for Lexington. The kids did awesome controlling their excitement about getting new presents.  I mean it's almost three hours in the car trying to be quiet in a confined space while anticipating the new toys!! I did a terrible job getting pictures of the whole present opening process, but the kids were so excited.  They loved giving and receiving gifts with their cousins, and I must say that Eric and I racked up in that department too! We brought some games and had the best time playing Monopoly, Pictopia, and Bean Doozled with my siblings.  The highlight though ...

A little tidbit about my kids is that they aren't big "screen" people.  We don't have to be hardcore strict with them about their devices because they just aren't that interested.  I see their over-usage tendencies when we travel, have several consecutive days at home, or they are our of their element at someone else's house or something.  Otherwise, it's just not a major issue.  In fact, they both have TVs in their bedroom because the only time they really watch them is at night before bed. Unfortunately, over the winter break they developed some bad habits with the television.  Eli has always wanted it on for white noise and goes to sleep with it on in the background. But recently, he kinda started to act panicky if he didn't hear it or if we turned it off before we was asleep.  Ellie has always watched a few minutes of something and turned the tv off when she was ready, but that wasn't happening over the break either.  After one ...

Because we live out of town, we end up traveling every single holiday with the exception of Easter and Christmas.  We stay home for Easter and for Christmas we invite everyone to our house, but only Eric's family comes because mine stay in Lexington. To keep things fair, we typically travel as a family on Memorial Day or Labor Day and spend the other one in Lexington with my family.  July 4th is with Eric's parents and extended family on the farm, and we alternate Thanksgiving and New Years.  If we are in Lexington on Thanksgiving, we go to Marion for New Years and visa-versa.  It's a great setup and this year, we were in Marion.  Eric and I both had to work after Christmas, so the kids went home with his parents.  It worked well because we got some work done around the house and a nice little date night. Friday after work, we headed out of town and had the most peaceful ride. Ha! We slept in on Saturday and had a lazy day before heading to...

Happy 2019, everyone!! I can't even believe that I am writing that.  They tell you "time flies," but you really can't comprehend it until you wake up and realize you've been at this whole married with children  thing for 10 years.  That's a decade, people. It's just crazy! So...2019... I have taken a long and inconsistent break from blogging, so one of my main goals this year is to get back into the habit of regularly documenting our life.  I prefer blogging over other social media outlets because it's more personal and not so "in your face." When scrolling through your feed on Facebook or Instagram, you just can't avoid certain things. It seems that everyone either wants to show off their perfect homes, perfect children, perfect vacations, perfect lives, or they want to stir drama, give opinions, and talk politics. I couldn't give two hoots about any of those things, or at least what someone I met 15 years ago in a study ...