Winter Retreat

This past weekend we spent time at Camp Cho-Yeh with our church youth for their Winter Retreat. Kids from 6th to 12th grade all boarded yellow dogs (buses) at the church Friday evening to head towards the camp located in the woods in Livingston. Shane stayed in the cabin with a few other leaders and the 6th grade boys while I stayed in the cabin with a few other leaders and the 7th grade girls. The weather was cold and overcast for the majority of our weekend stay, but everyone had a great time playing, worshiping and learning more about the Lord.

Caught a picture right before dinner with my boy.

There is just something special about watching
a group of kids worshiping the Lord.

Aside from watching the kiddos worship, I think my favorite thing was the Nana and Papa Dance Extravaganza. Some of the kids (and adults) dressed up as grandma's and grandpa's and danced the night away at the silent disco. Casen loves to dance so it was no surprise that he spent all night on the dance floor. Camden, on the other hand, is not my dancer so I was rather surprised that he spent the majority of the night on the dance floor as well. 

Everyone packing up to leave

The whole group!

We all enjoyed going to the retreat, adults included. Shane and the boys are looking forward to returning to Camp Cho-Yeh in June as the youth group heads back for summer camp. 

It Has Been Awhile

Because I use this as my boys baby book, I can't go without documenting the loss of another tooth. Generally Casen is pretty good at losing the same teeth on each side of his mouth within a close amount of time, however that did not prove to be the case this go around. The last time he lost a tooth was 3 months ago in October and today he finally lost the matching tooth.

Christmas 2023

Our Christmas break involved lots of food and family with a little illness thrown in for good measure. Despite Casen having fever for almost a week (which I am sure was the flu) we all enjoyed the break from school and work.

Camden and I decorated cookies together without the help of Casen who had a slight fever. While he was not excited that he had fever, he was not the least bit sad that he was not able to decorate cookies since it is not one of his favorite things to do. 

The Key family decided to celebrate Christmas together on Christmas Eve. Luckily, when we woke up, Casen was feeling great and was fever free. So, we started off our morning with the whole family attending the Christmas Eve service at our church. 

The Key Family

After church, we headed over to Melissa's to eat a great lunch of  Italian food from Adriatic Cafe and then opened presents. 

Dad received several different types
of bourbon.

Casen has become a Longhorn fan
and was excited to receive a hoodie

You know they are an officially an adult
when they request an iron skillet

New AirPods 

New AirPod Pros

Mom got lots of her favorites,
including her favorite coffee. :)

A new headset for Camden.

We then played a game mom brought for us all to play. It was definitely harder than we all thought it would be.

After the game I noticed that Casen was starting to dwindle. We went ahead and headed home in preparation for Santa's visit as well as Christmas with Shane's family the next day. Once we got home, I had Casen check his temperature again and unfortunately he had one. UGH!!!! I medicated him and sent him to bed in hopes of him feeling better in the morning.

The Alabama tree

Santa left gifts (which I think will 
most likely be the last time he does so).

Stockings!

Their stockings contained lottery tickets,
combs, chocolate covered cherries, Axe
body spray and a Robux giftcard

Just like last year, Camden was the only
lottery ticket winner, winning $2. I guess we will
all be returning to work after the first of the year.

Santa brought Casen the custom
glove he designed

Nina received a new necklace

Size 11 for my 11 year old

Nina and Camden were excited 
about his new socks ;)

LANK - Let All Naysayers Know

A new blanket to keep me
nice and warm.

A shifter to go with the steering wheel
Santa brought (which I failed to get
a pic of Camden with it)

Due to Casen having fever, Shane's family debated whether they should come or not, which I completely understood. Fortunately they decided to come and we all enjoyed enchiladas from our favorite local Mexican restaurant. I did a poor job of taking pictures of anyone but the boys but Shane's parents, his sister and her husband, his Uncle Ira and my parents all enjoyed the day.

Malachi's new baseball necklaces

Spongebob Airpod case

The Hood family

On Tuesday, Mom and I did some after Christmas shopping and were shocked at the lack of crowds. We didn't even see lines of people returning merchandise. It was really odd. I enjoyed my parents staying with us and was sad to see them go on Wednesday.

Casen finally broke his fever on Thursday, but not after he lost 7 pounds and developed a nasty cough. Once he became ill, he started sleeping in until ~11:00am, which is so unlike him. He is my early riser (generally 7:00am) however since being sick, he just hasn't seem to bounce back very fast. He did go and pop fireworks for a few hours on New Years Eve with some friends and has since gone to speed and agility, but is still working to get back to his normal self. Hopefully, he will be good to go once school starts back on January 8th. 

Poor guy did a lot of sleeping

We are looking forward to what the 2024 will bring for the boys and our family. Praying for a happy and healthy year. No doubt there will be lots of sports and hopefully some travel!