Pokemon

This boy can often be found sorting and organizing his Pokemon cards and enjoying every moment of it.

Dory Loves Christmas

Christmas Palooza

Its that time of year again....
When the boxes come out of the attic and the house is transformed into a Christmas wonderland.

Momma elf was busy cleaning, prepping and preparing for the decorating of the TREES
and was so thankful when the Sparkle elves arrived home to complete the transformation.

First step after the trees are strategically placed is to top the big tree with the Angel.

 Its always a memorable experience with these 3 (usually its a one Sparkle + Daddy job but no one could remember who did it last year)

From there, its on to the select this years themes  (9 😳) and hanging the ornaments
S'mores
M'Ms
Disney
Star Wars
Jingle Bells
Nativities
Snowmen
Garland and Twinkle
and of course our Favorite Things and Memories

And finally its time to sit back and enjoy the SPARKLE

Tis the Season to Sparkle!

Toothless

And no, its not two teeth, just one that completely cracked in half!

It's always an adventure around here.

For the Love of Llamas

Happy 36th Birthday

Not exactly ideal birthday weather...

But a perfect excuse to cuddle up with a cuppa tea and a good book.

A great start to a great year :)

Reading Bingo

Under a favorite blanket, wearing a hat....

Whatever it takes to encourage this boy to love reading :)

She did it...

Madison got her ears pierced :)

Happy Thanksgiving

Wishing you all a Happy and Blessed Thanksgiving.

There is much to be Thankful for.

This year were were blessed to have Rob's brother and his family with us for Thanksgiving...

It was a tremendous blessing to have the cousins together and to crowd around the table.

 I can't wait until next year :)

Grand Nationals

It's hard to believe the end of marching band season is here.

This weekend the band is competing in downtown Indianapolis at the BOA (Bands of America) Grand National competition.

Prelims began Thursday and ended Friday Evening. Saturday morning and afternoon are reserved for Semi Finals and Saturday evening is the Finals competition.
Its long but excited weekend of practice and performance.

Nana and I attended the Grand Nationals prelim performance Thursday evening.

 And we were excited to find out Friday night that Avon had advanced to Semi Finals Saturday.

On the bus and ready to go, here is the traditional pre-performance selfie Madison sends before each competition

 (This momma also sends a selfie back to her favorite marchers to wish them a fantastic show and to tell them I am cheering them on)

This Momma spent Saturday cheering on from the comfort of our home (grateful for technology and the ability to live stream) watching the bands perform in Semi Finals

 Avon placed 4th in Semi Finals and were headed to their final performance in the Finals competition of BOA.

Avon finished 2nd place overall at the BOA Grand Nationals Competiton 2018.
So proud of these "fish" and the hard work and dedication they put into making this show amazing.

Until next year....

E Learning

A day to stay at home and learn in your jammies with Momma.

Train them Young

Sanding his sword... just like Daddy

Semi State

Cheering on our favorite Baritone at Semi State (the last outdoor show to the year).










On to the Dome and State Finals

Happy Fall Y'all

Happy Halloween

Nemo, Dory and an Octopus...

Momma's costume.... llama socks

Hitting the neighborhood for Trick or Treating 

They even trick or treated at our own house... just to have Madison (the Octopus) answer the door

Finally it was time to come inside (to warm up) and to investigate their haul...

The smiles and memories are always the highlight of this evening for Momma (though the weeks and days leading up to it I know I can be quite a bear about the holiday). 

But the true highlight of the evening was when Lillian ran up with one of my favorite Halloween treats (mini banana taffy) and with tremendous enthusiasm said... and they are SOY- you can have them Momma (Anyone that that closely follows my journey knows that I have food and dietary restrictions which have often brought my Lillian to tears and frustration, so to see her sheer joy that there was something Momma could safely have and enjoy was just what this Momma needed) 

Until next year :) 

Fall Break Shenanigans

It was the perfect stay-cation.
Filled with a mixture of adventures, friends, and lots of fun.

There were trips to the zoo...

 Including a train ride

Time with our favorite cowboys...

A bit of fall cleaning (Another Sparkle literalist... get up there and wipe off the table)

Adventures at Target...

Yes that is Cooper pushing Madison down the aisles...

 Movie marathons... sitting in our favorite spots
Cooper loves to climb in the bucket

 Dog sitting for the neighborhood

Learning to wink

And Band competitions to cheer on our favorite baritone
Whether we were in the stands

Or watching the live steam via candle light

Whatever we did, we did together. It has been a great two weeks.