Friday December 20

This morning Memphis found Max and Jax right away!  They were hiding in a big glass present.
And today is my last of school for about a week in a half.  I am in much need of a small break!  And ready to spend some quality time with my family!!!!!

When Memphis finds these elves he jumps up and down and gets so excited that he found them!!!  He is a hoot!

Ginger Bread House Making

Last night we thought we would make the Ginger Bread House that Max and Jax brought us.
The boys had so much fun.  I was a little worried about Memphis but he loved helping.  Each boy got to decorate their own side of the roof.  Oh so much fun to watch them and we didn't even make too big of a mess.

Memphis' roof is the top left and Noah's is the top right!  Oh we had so much FUN!

Wednesday December 18

This morning those elves were just "slinkying" around! 
Noah couldn't believe that they found a Harley Slinky!

Tuesday December 17

Max and Jax got caught by Mickey and Donald!  I have a feeling Max and Jax were trying to take the Christmas Trees (little debbie treats) but thankfully Mickey and Donald were there to save the day!

Monday December 16

This morning I found Max and Jax with a gift for Noah and Memphis.  They must have thought enough goofing around and time to let the boys goof around with building a ginger bread house!

Sunday December 15

This morning we woke up to a mess of Christmas lights that were all over our living room!  I thought Max and Jax were a little silly with the green milk, but they topped this with their decorating skills! 
Noah and Memphis LOVED it this morning when they came down and saw the lights.  Their smiles were the highlight of my morning!

Noah enjoying Max and Jax's decorating!

Max hanging the lights

Jax also hanging some lights!

Saturday December 14

Today it took us a while to find Max and Jax and Noah was very nervous about this.  We looked all through the house and couldn't find them anywhere.  So I told Noah lets make breakfast and then we would look again!  I asked Noah to please get the butter out of the fridge for me and all I hear is, "Oh Jenny you have to see this!"
And to my surprise, Max and Jax were both sitting in the fridge with green milk they had made!  Noah tried the milk and said it tasted the same a white milk!
Those silly elves!

Friday December 13

Memphis found Max and Jax right away.  It looks like they were reading a new book that they got for Noah and Memphis. 

Thursday December 12

This morning Max and Jax were hanging onto the wine rack.  Gosh are they trying to tell me to open a bottle of wine?  (I hope so!!!)
Anyway, Memphis and I went looking for them this morning and he found them immediately! 

Tuesday Night December 10

Tonight Noah had his 3rd Grade Music Concert!  He did a great job of singing and dancing.  My gosh they did a lot of moving.  I decided that I should have been a music teacher with all of the dancing she did (no wonder she was so skinny)!  Only problem, I can't carry a tune if my life depended on it.  So I will stick with being an At-Risk Teacher...good place for me!
Anyway, back to Noah's concert, it was a great concert and it was nice to see Noah dancing and singing.  I forgot to bring my camera, so we had to use our phone.  And I didn't have a real steady hand last night so some of the pictures are not the best.  But at least I was able to get a few!

Noah singing and dancing!

At the end of the concert, Noah got to go and choose someone to come up and dance with him.  Well he wanted Memphis to come but he wouldn't, so instead he got all of his cousins that were there to go up with him!  Zach was a little leary at first but he soon warmed up and was a dancing machine!

Thank you Zach, Tony, Chris, and Sara for coming last night!  You can see by the look of Memphis he was wanting to run not be held!  And let me tell you he ran and ran last night!

Tuesday December 10

This morning Max and Jax were hanging out on the Christmas Tree!  Today they delivered new shirts to the boys!  Noah tells me this morning, "Jenny, I think Jax got Memphis' shirt wrong!"  I say, "Really why is that?" Noah, "well Memphis really does more damage at times than being Santa's helper!" (Memphis' shirt says Santa's Littler Helper)
The things Noah thinks of makes me giggle! 

Monday December 9

Max and Jax have been out and about this weekend.  They must know when Noah isn't with us because they tend to hide where Memphis will find them.  But I have a feeling they will be gearing as Noah will be with us quite a bit this week! 

Just hanging out!  Memphis spotted Max right away!  Jax was on the other side and I forgot to grab a picture! 

This morning I found them both here! 

Saturday December 7

Tonight we had two Christmas Parties!  My friend Ashley was hosting hers and then my friend Ed from work was having his party too!
We had a great time at each one and I am so thankful that I am so many great people in our lives!  I wish I could have stayed longer at Ashley's party but I knew if I did I would be craving her potato soup that is so DELICIOUS!  I love her potato soup and I had to pass on it because I know I can't control myself. 
Ed's party was great!  We got to see lots of friends and Randy connected with some of his old high school teachers!  All in all we had a great night out!

So glad that I got to spend a little bit of time with you!  Maybe one of these days we can do a night of dinner and catching up!  Hey look at Leanne photo bombing us in the back with her eating her soup!  HA!

My lovely ladies from work, well minus Audrey!  (Me, Steph, Audrey, Sue) 

Family Picture

So I totally spaced off taking a picture of Max and Jax this morning (I promise I will when I get home today)!
Instead of a Max and Jax you get to see our family pictures we had taken.  They turned out pretty good especially since Memphis was being a huge pain.  He was not thrilled about not getting a nap and then having to take pictures!

These are just a couple, but I LOVE them!

Don't they both look so grown up?

Thursday December 5

This morning Jax was found having an emergency surgery as there was a little accident the night before.  But I am glad that Max and some of his helpers were there to help out...whew!!
And it looks like Jax is all put together so no worries and it looks like he will have a speedy recovery!

Wednesday December 4

This morning we found Max and Jax riding the Monster Trucks over the little hot wheels!  These two elves bring so many smiles to the faces of Noah and Memphis.  Today they each got a new mustang hot wheel.  Noah immediately put his away so that Memphis couldn't get a hold of it.  Any more Noah does not always take the hot wheel out of the package because he wants to keep his collection in top condition!  And of course Memphis couldn't wait to play with his car. 

Tuesday December 3

Today Max and Jax brought donuts for the boys to share.  Noah had to take his bag of donuts with him to Grandpa's house and share with him and Memphis had to take his to Karen's house and share with all of the kids there!  They were both happy that they got donuts this morning.  Memphis did eat about 3 of them before we even got to Karen's house!

Monday December 2

Today Max and Jax brought Christmas plates for Noah and Memphis. 

Sunday December 1

Today Max and Jax were found all tied up on the crane with Goofy driving!
Memphis thought that this was hilarious!

Saturday November 30

Just hanging around!

Friday November 29

Today Max and Jax were found coloring on our pictures of the boys!

Max and Jax

On Thanksgiving Day Max and Jax (our elves arrived)! 
We found them on our front door!  Crazy!  They had a letter that they got from Sticks!  Now you might ask who is Sticks?  Well Sticks is Riggins' elf.  Riggins just got Sticks and Sticks happens to be Pixie's brother (Pixie is Jaycee's elf) and now Riggins has one.  So what does this have to do with Max and Jax.  Well, Sticks was introduced in a letter to Memphis and Noah and explained to them that Sticks is Pixie's brother and that Max and Jax also happen to be Pixie and Sticks cousins!  Noah and Memphis also got the elf story dvd with their letter from Sticks! 
Noah was beyond excited to see that Max and Jax arrived!  He had been waiting for weeks for them to arrive.  He would get up each morning asking if the rascals had arrived yet! HA!

Thanksgiving

Today we celebrated Thanksgiving.  We spent our lunch at the Legion with Randy's family.  It was a great feast with LOTS of potatoes.  We had about 35 pounds of potatoes, next year we will have a sign up sheet!  But the food was wonderful! 
After lunch, we headed home to start our dinner for my side of the family coming over.  It was so nice to have everyone over at our house and not have to travel.
Thank you to everyone for coming over and enjoying the great food we had!
Thanksgiving was tough without having Grandpa Hanson, Grandma Palmer and Nan.  But I know they were all there and that Christmas will feel the same not having them with us!

Messy Face + Full Belly= A Good Thanksgiving Dinner!

Everyone relaxing after bellies are full

And we tend to get a little wild and crazy!  Or maybe it is only when Tony is around!  HA!

Tuesday November 26

Today we are thankful for Grandma Palmer.  Now let me tell you she was an awesome lady.  Randy would tell me story after story about his grandma and how much he loved going to her house and staying the night with her.  Randy was so thrilled that Noah was able to spend the night too with her and have the fun that he always did!  A lot of his best memories are with her.
She was one who TRULY knew the meaning of family.  Family always came first to her.  This was so evident at the holidays.  Christmas time we would all cram pack into her house and the smile on her face when each family entered is what I will always remember.  She had a way of making you feel like you were the only one there.  I know that she is missed by everyone in my family but we talk about you often so the boys will always remember.  We love you Grandma (Great Grandma)!

Monday November 25

Today I am so thankful for the times I got to spend with Nan.  She was truly so much fun to be with and I always enjoyed spending time with my grandma (Nan).  Days leading up to me visiting or her coming to visit I would get so excited.  Her and I would spend our time laughing, playing games, enjoying a glass or two of wine (or more) and just spending time together!  I got my sense of direction from her, my mom and aunt have no clue as if they are going north or south and there were a few times that Nan and I would set these two up just to see if they knew which way we were going...they rarely did know!  Nan, I miss you so much each day.  Noah misses you and I wish Memphis would have gotten the chance to know you better but trust me he will know who you are and what a cornerstone you are to our family!  I know that you will always be with us making sure that we live life to the fullest as I know that is what you always tried to do!

How we always ended up taking pictures like this, I don't know, but I do know that it makes me smile!

Love you more!

Saturday November 23

Today I am so thankful for Emma!  She has been so a blessing to our family.  She is always wanting to play with the kids.  The kids are always wanting Emma's attention and she is almost always willing to give it to them!  She is such a smart and beautiful girl, enjoys school, her friends and playing sports. 
We love you Emma Lou!

Friday November 22

Today I am so thankful for all of the time I got to spend with my Grandpa Bill.  I know I have said in previous posts what a special man he was.  But he was always there for me.  He gave me a place to live when I thought my world was pretty up side down.  His house, was my home.  Every time I left his house to head back to college he would always have a tear in his eye when we were saying goodbye and of course every time I drove away I would have plenty of tears in my eyes.
This man, never missed a game of mine in high school and in college he even got to travel with Dad down to Arizona to watch me play in the National Tournament.
He was always so proud of all of us.  He kept on his fridge all of the newspaper clippings that Tyler and I were in.  Well I should say not all but the ones where we were the highlighted athlete of the week or about the small article about me at Kirkwood playing softball and the honors I received. 
He was the best Grandpa in the WORLD.  I miss you and grandma each day!