Preschool Field Trip

This semester in Preschool, we decided to go on a field trip every month. January, we went to the children's museum and this past month we went to a military airport to see helicopters. William's best friend, Henry, has a dad that is in the military and flies Apaches. So, he took us on the tour. We were able to sit in Black Hawks, we tried on the helmets they wear and got to see what it looked like through night vision goggles. We weren't able to sit in an Apache because the instruments are too sensitive. But, we got to see them and we also got to go to the simulator where the pilots fly in a video game type thing. The kids LOVED it. It was such a fun night and kind of something that not everyone has done. Needless to say, Matthew was bummed that he missed out.

Piercing

We've been up to a few things since we got back from Christmas and this is one of them. Notice anything different about Lily?

Let me give you a clue:

Lily and I went to the Girl Store (aka Claire's) while William was at a play date and got her ears pierced. She cried for like a half a second, but got over it once she saw herself in the mirror.

She's a girl like that. Lily has taught herself young that beauty is sometimes pain.

Lily started having an allergic reaction to the cleaner that was provided, which isn't such a huge surprise due to her sensitive skin. But it has since cleared up and we started using peroxide to clean those beautiful ears of hers.

We're getting excited because it is almost time to change them!!

Tennessee Christmas Part 4 - Misc

We did a lot while we were in Tennessee, but not even close to everything that we wanted. I wish that I taken more pictures while we were there. For instance, we went to Jennifer and Kyle's house to watch Madagascar in their awesome theater room. No pictures. The kids have talked so much about that.

But, this post is about the randomness of things going on too. Above is a picture that Christopher made on the etch-a-sketch. Yes, it's impressive, but he's also made Jesus. Now, that was something.

All the girls had fun at Christopher and Keaven's house for a girls night where they had their faces painted. I was quite impressed with Keaven's talent to do that and Lily LOVED it. Unfortunately, we were sick while we were in TN and Lily didn't sleep over due to the fact that she was up coughing every night. Sad.

This clown is a classic. Aunt Lee (my great aunt) is really great and creative. She can crochet anything. Including clowns. We got this on our visit to her house. It became a game at Mom and Dad's house to hide the clown in other people's rooms and suitcases and such. It was hilarious and always a surprise to see where this guy popped up.

The kids had a daily craft to do and they absolutely LOVED it.

We all had fun playing Grandpa's new keyboard!!

And... I just love this picture of John. It should be in a magazine and should be the start of John's successful modeling career!

Tennessee was so much fun!! After not being there for a couple of years, it was needed to see family that I haven't seen in that long and see all the places that have changed.

We're excited for Grandma and Grandpa to come and visit soon with Jamie and Katie!!

Tennessee Christmas Part 3 - Christmas Day

I'll admit that it was SUPER weird to be an adult on Christmas morning. All of a sudden, I wasn't one of the kids on the stairs. I was the parent taking pictures. What the heck?? This wasn't even too early in the morning, but obviously too early for Lily. She didn't show her face while on the stairs.

It was interesting watching my children open their gifts. Lily was one to open presents and be excited at the moment. Although, you can't really tell from these sleepy eyed pictures. She was very excited though. She got a Princess Castle from Santa and princesses to go along with it.

William, on the other hand, was one to open a present and went right to the next one. Not really a lot of excitement there. William got Knapford Station that is from Thomas from Santa. He got plenty of trains to go along with it.

They both got a lot of other things as well.

Lily was excited to get these Princess nails from Tessa.

This was the first year that we did an Ugly Christmas Sweater contest. It was HILARIOUS! We had so much fun finding all of these treasures. I originally bought the turtleneck that Matthew's wearing to go under my awesome snowman vest, but I pretty much guilted him into wearing it. It was a close call between Matthew, John, and Jamie. In these pictures, Jamie's sweater looks normal, but if you could only see the other side, you would find one short sleeve shirt. It was great.

After all the voting, Matthew won the contest. We got an awesome UT pitcher, which we use faithfully. (Thanks Krystin!)

Christmas Day was just full of family and great food. I'm so glad that we were able to make it out there this year. It has been so long since I have had a Tennessee Christmas. I loved being there.

Tennessee Christmas Part 2

Christmas Eve was a busy day in the Neely household. Or, technically, a busy night. Being the first year that we have been back to Tennessee for Christmas, this is the first year that we experienced the newer traditions. Growing up, we would always spend Christmas Eve at my Dad's Mom's house - Grandmother- and then spend Christmas Day with my Mom's Mom - Grandmama. With time and age things have changed and it was so fun to be involved in the newer Christmas traditions. The first picture is of the Nativity:

I'm pretty sure that Lily and Tessa were Wise Men. Raven was a sheep. John took on the noble role of Joseph. Serenity was Mary. Breanna was an angel. Isabel was the donkey. And Isaac was the shepherd. William, however, decided not to participate. Boo! The story of Christ's birth was told and we all sang Christmas songs that pertained to the story. It was so fun and adorable to watch.

I can't remember why Lily was making that sad face. But, I had to put it on here because I thought it was funny.

Then, the night moved on with the traditional "Feeding the Reindeer" with bags of dry oatmeal and glitter. We do this so that the reindeer can have a snack while Santa is busy giving presents inside. Every year, we end up seeing Rudolph in the backyard scouting things out before Santa arrives. It's a kid favorite.


Thanks to Jamie, the kids were busy with a craft at least once a day. From Santa faces, to Christmas trees, to cookies to leave for Santa. They decorated the cookies on Christmas Eve to leave them out that night.


These were the cousins at Grandma and Grandpa's house on Christmas Eve in their pjs getting ready for bed.

For the Barbie Lover

Did you know that Barbie and Ken broke up?

Evidently they did... like 6 years ago! There are articles everywhere about it.

This year, Ken decided to try and win Barbie back by having his picture with sayings all over Times Square in New York. On the jumbo tron, billboards, etc. My personal favorite saying is, "We may be plastic, but our love it real." Barbie gave her answer on Valentine's Day. Mom, I thought you would love this.

Well Played, Mattel.

Tennessee Christmas Part 1

I have decided to catch up on what we were up to when we went to Tennessee for Christmas. We were there for a week and an extra day because we were snowed in a little. But, we had so much fun being there with my family and being back in the house I grew up in and my children were babies in.

Of course, I had to post what William was looking forward to the very most. Golfing with Grandpa. Anytime we are with Grandpa, William wants to golf with him. Knowing that this would happen, we packed William's driver so that he could play. It wasn't too cold yet, so they took advantage of the opportunity to hit some golf balls. William loved it and didn't want to quit. Bobcat Strikes Again.

Don't worry, Lily loved being outside in the wide open backyard. She played with some cousins and attempted golf for a second before she just did her own thing. So Lily.

Happy Love Day!

Only 6 Years?

No, we haven't been married for 6 years yet, but I always like to celebrate the day that Matthew and I met. I think it's because it's the day before Valentine's Day. For the past six years, Valentine's Day has been one of my favorite holidays because I met Matthew. And, to prove even more that I'm a nerd, this year the date of February 13 falls on a Sunday, the exact day of the week we met. Obsessed much? Well, I can't help it. I love that guy.

This is a picture of us a few weeks after starting to date.

Up and Running

HELLO!! We are finally back online and absolutely loving it. The first thing we did with our new internet usage? Used one of our iTunes gift cards. Yeah, we're music fans. And, yeah, for the past couple of weeks, we've been making a list of songs that we've been wanting to buy like The Black Key's "Tighten Up". Recommend it!
Anyway, I have a lot of catching up to do from the last couple months and am eager to jump back into the blogging life. William and Lily are doing great. They've been taking care of me the past few days while Matthew's been at work and school because I've had a pretty nasty cold. Matthew's doing beautifully in school and is excited to graduate with his generals this year!! Woohoo! I'm pretty sure we're all excited about that. And I'm working on changing up the look of our blog. I guess we'll see what it ends up like!! We'll have pictures up soon of our adventures to Tennessee and some things that have been happening around here. I'm excited for Valentine's day and I hope I can post what I really want to. It's all a matter of figuring out how to do it. But... I'm just rambling. I haven't been on here for 2 months.. what do you expect??