a fun sunday

After church and lunch today we made our way to town to get some bird food. We decided to stop by and do some bowling! Matthew has been fascinated with bowling on the Wii so why not let him try it our for real.

It was kind of weird because the bowling alley was dark. They had black lights and such but no actual lighting. I think next time I would like a bowling alley with some lights! But none the less we had fun. We bowled a game and a half in our hour time. On the 1st full game Jeff won, followed by Matt then I was last! I didn't even knock down 1 pin until the 4th frame but I did get a strike on the last!


Jeff was being all pro bowler with his perfect form!





He wanted to do it all by himself








finally getting some help from dad





And a few shots on our trip to town and back


my favorite bald knob in the background!


an icy tree


ice on the road cut

Let it snow Let it snow Let it snow

Friday it started to snow! And it snowed and snowed and snowed!















And on Saturday afternoon it snowed some more! But we went to do some sledding at Granny and Pappy's house anyways!














Saturday was also Jeff's actual birthday! Happy 33rd birthday!

The rest of the pictures are on Facebook! Blogger is being slow to upload so I just put a few on here!

an early birthday celebration

Thursday evening we had the family over for an impromptu birthday dinner for Jeff. His birthday is Saturday but since we are in the midst of some snow and such it wouldn't have been possible for everyone to be here.

It was kind of funny because we made plans via texting that afternoon so I just figured I wouldn't say anything to Jeff and let it be a surprise. So he gets home and about the time I say "oh by the way, everyone is coming for dinner", the back door opens with the 1st of our guests! LOL Perfect timing!

Aunt Al made the cake and for that reason the weather was super important since she lives a little ways away. She has become quite the little cake lady and when she asked about making Jeff a cake I was super excited! Here is the cake! The top half is chocolate cake and the bottom half is french vanilla and it was yummmmmy!

Ready to blow out the candles

The 1st go round, Matt was upset cause he didn't get them blown out.


So we lit them and tried again


Then he decided to run his finger through the icing


But Aunt Al got him after the 2nd go round!


Abbye and Kirby


Wii playing


Matt demonstrating how the monster trucks flipped over

our feathered house guest

My mother had called the other night saying she found a bird that was local and wanted us to look at him. So sure why not. So Tuesday me and Matt go take a look at this bird. To make a long story short, we came home with the bird that afternoon as well!

He stayed in his cage that evening as we didn't want him to be too stressed and we knew he wasn't used to kids and such even though he is tame and very sweet.

It wasn't until Wednesday morning that I opened his cage and let him come out on his own time. And it didn't take him long before he was out and on top of his cage.






Matt really wanted to play with him so we took a little spoon with peanut butter on it to him so Matt could hold the spoon and get him used to him. And before no time he was coming to us, even going to Matt and sitting on his shoulder! And Matt just loved it!

an amazing speech visit

On Monday we had our 1st speech visit since mid-December! I couldn't wait for Ms Amy to see and hear all the new things that Matt has been up too. It has really been like opening a faucet, once words started coming, there has been no stopping him!

So when we get there he started the visit very shy. I think this is in part due to having a new intern helping out in there and he had never met her. So here it's been a month and then there is a new person, so he wasn't too sure about it.

So they started with their flash cards and Matt did amazing! He was talking and pronouncing like a pro! It was so cool! Ms Amy was close to tears a time or two. She just couldn't believe it. So they continued through the sets and even advanced 4 sets beyond where he was at last visit. It was so cool! She said that he actually passed the goals that we had planned out for the entire year! Wahoooo! They then played some Lightning McQueen bingo which he loved. And it was then that he showed off his sentence abilities. He played against Ms Susan and he won! He even corrected them when they would mispronounce or not know who the cars characters were on the sheet!

Then he told them "I win now we play beans". Which playing in the bucket of beans is his favorite! The funniest part was when he got to the puzzle piece with the pigs on it. He said "a pig" and then he glanced at it and said "no its 2 pigs". She couldn't believe he knew the plural version! hahahahaha

It was the coolest thing to see how shocked and surprised and overjoyed with the advances he has made with his speech. I couldn't have asked for a more perfect way to come back after the holidays!

our weekend

Saturday we met Stephanie and Riley at Chuck E Cheese for some fun and games! And to catch up since we haven't hung out since I went and took pictures before Christmas!


Riley and his favorite game


the boys racing each other





trying his hand at the whack a shark game


Riley getting some help shooting hoops


Matt finally tried the horse


And I think he kind of liked it!


Then it started getting crowded so we took the boys to play at the little play area.








they ran around and climbed like monkeys! Then being Sat afternoon, it started to get crowded as well so we were ready for a special cookie treat and then time to head home.


On Sunday we changed it up a bit and instead of eating Mexican after church we went Chinese! Yummmmm Then back to church for evening services and some car playing in the pews.


Then it was time for the PreK-6th grade devotional! There was some games and songs and bible verses recited followed by pizza and lots of desserts! It was tons of fun!


playing a game