So, this post is totally backwards. January is first and December is last, so be aware.

 Grandpa Nowell sent Kandon an Alabama Championship hat and a dollar because he bet grandpa that Alabama would win. It was a sucker bet but thanks grandpa.

 Cliff used spare wood from the deck to build a stand for the humungous tv we still own. No it is not a huge wide screen tv,  but it isn't a flat screen. It weighs at least 70 pounds and was given to us when Grandpa E. came for Kandon's birth in 2003 and couldn't stand watching tv on our little tv. So they went out and bought one without checking to see if it would fit our old tv center. Of course it didn't and for a few years it was on top of the entertainment center, but anyways. I was grateful for the great job he did and the white paint made it look even better. It is a hefty thing, but at it is home made. Now I wish he would get on to the basement shelves or patio furniture with the spare wood, but that will be a few months too or never. We will see.

 We invited some friends over for games to celebrate Cliff's b-day and watch the Ala/ND game. The party was fun and of course we won, but I guess I just felt like uhh I stayed up past midnight for that game. Anyways. It was his dream match up and to be on his birthday wonderful, wish it was a little more exciting of a game but hey. Can't have it all even on your birthday.

 So the kids were thoroughly happy to have snow when we returned from Florida. They played and played and well mom usually took pics from inside. It's cold out there. Anyways. The kids made quick use of the stairs as they enjoyed sledding down them. They even built a bump ramp at the bottom. Cliff just had to try it. Needless to say his back hurt during his party and he was so sore afterwards, but he had a good time.

 The kids prepared for dad's arrival in the back yard by stocking up on snowballs. Kilee really enjoyed her super bomb.

 Kandon, Uncle Bryan, and Uncle Daylyn worked on the pinewood derby car. We are so proud and thankful for their help. He called it the super penguin. Doesn't it look great with paint. The men joked it looked just like a boys body part before paint. Needless to say mommy didn't show it to anyone before it was painted. We sure appreciate uncles helping since we were in Florida and they were staying with Aiti and GPa for a few days while we spent time with Kilee at her auditions.

 The Super Penguin barely weighed 2.6 oz so it took a lot of convincing for him to tape quarters to his work of art again. I apologized, but it was all we could do. His car lost all races but one. But he took it great. It was definately an experience to remember.

 So our trip back from Florida and family looked like this. All space was taken up. Cliff wasn't too happy, but hey he made it fit and we made it back safe. Yes, Kilee's expression was what she looked like most of the time if she wasn't watching a movie or sleeping. Yes she was cramped in a car with her brothers, but hey. Life goes on and she made it. They were all sports. Hallelujah we don't have to go anywhere for a while.

 Daddy was a trooper too. He even let mom drive for a while. Until he was awakened by mom yelling at the kidos, but hey. All went well until a traffic jam that lasted  one and a half hours because people were crawling past a construction site. Three lanes went into two and that was it. AAHHHH.. That is all i'm going to say about that. At least we had enough gas.

 We all had a fun time shooting different guns off at Gpa Nowell's. We didn't always hit the bottle or target, but it was mostly fun. We found out some kids have trigger happy hands. They learned about different sized bullets and how to properly hold a gun. Thanks for the fun. Ammo isn't cheap and after driving to several stores to find out they were all out, we pawned some from good old GPa. Thanks.

 One of their favorite memories was riding on the back of the truck. No laws in the woods. Woo Hoo.

 Oh they had been begging for days to ride the four wheeler. GPA finally gave in and went oh so fast. I just had a hard time watching and waiting and praying they didn't hit something in the woods or fly off the back.

 We played a lot of swap and spoons. Our hands hurt, but we sure enjoyed seeing cousins oh so grown up. We hadn't seen them in six or so years and sprout up they both did. They had so much fun tromping through the woods with JD and Lacey.  I was worried, but JD assured me the snakes are not out in winter. Oh am I over protective or what. I did let them shoot guns. Go me.

 While at Disney with our cousins. Uncle Daylyn got in one day, our only day at the pool, and through Kowen. He had so much fun even though his pants rarely stayed up. They also enjoyed soaking Uncle Bryan with squirt guns from Aiti. Ezra was the best at it. It started small, but then soaked they were.

 When Kandon got in trouble at Unviersal Studios, I made him do push ups as usual. Hayden had to get down and try girl push ups because she didn't know how. It seemed fun to her.

 Oh, my little man. He is at the age where he hates taking pics, so this was a rare moment he was still.

This video of the men, Bryan, Daylyn, Cliff, and I think Kandon is where Uncle Day almost through up. They were going for a speed record I guess. They are the Yellow cup going faster than all others. They eventually put their hands up. So I guess it was successful that no one threw up and everyone had a good time.

 We couldn't leave Universal without eating at Hard Rock. No we didn't get a t-shirt, but a pic will have to do.

 We managed to get Aiti and GPa on the kids rollercoaster. Can you imagine over an hour wait for this little coaster. Needless to say we took advantage of the grandparents can take kids up short line. What we didn't know until after they got in line was that it was suppose to be after parents had already waited in the long line and they just were jumping back in for a second ride. Oh well. Thanks.

 We managed to catch the light parade at the Magic Kingdom on our way out. Yeah, It was what mom wanted to do, but no one else. They later enjoyed it, but it was hard to dwell on it with the mad dash to the car with all the crowds.  Christmas in Disney is lovely, but oh so not worth the wait in lines. Don't do it!

 We met these guys at Hollywood Studios and the kiddos in the back got to duel with Darth Vader for a minute. It was nice. Of course Kilee was reluctant, but then enjoyed it. She had a robe too small for her, but wore it well.

 The whole fun of going to Disney involves taking pics with characters. Because of the crowds and long lines we were in a rush a lot, but during the rare downtime I tried and tried to get Kowen to take a picture with pluto or goofy or even buzz light year. Did he? Did he? No, the little stinker refused. This is another rare pic. Oh, will have to go off my memories. What few there still are. He was a trooper most of the time. We  did carry him some. And we was a whopping 47 inches. Too bad a few of the good rides were 48 inches. But mom wasn't going to let him miss out, so she sent dad off to get napkins from the bathroom and put them in his shoes. He made it on to Harry Potter, The mummy, and another at Universal for our craftiness and his shoes didn't come off either. Yes, I did teach my kid to work the system, but I prefer crafty at this moment. Inspirational even. Using my intellect. I could go on like this for a while, but in the end all went well. He couldn't ride all of them, I mean there was a limit to my intellect. Yes, I admit. Stilts were not an option for the 51 in and 56 in rides. Oh well.

 Thanks Grandpa E. what a wonderful Christmas present to be together in Disney.

 Oh the Tower of Terror. Yes, that was fun. Kowen screamed all the way down and up and down and up.  It was so hilarious. Cliff taped it so maybe if I ever get his phone stuff downloaded that I can add it. Or maybe just a whole other post with lots more pics.

 We did a whole lot of walking and yes our feet were killing us by 5pm. We got up at 6am and would be at the parks by 8am. However, mom's plan of staying til 10 or later to ride and ride and ride when the lines were small did not happen. The rest of the family were pooped and wanted to go back to the hotel. Oh well. Cliff was also a trooper carrying that hefty red back pack with snacks, changes of clothes, and anything else we could cram into it.

 Ok, and before we went to Disney. Cliff, Kilee, and I stayed and watched Kilee audition at the Dolphin Hotel. She was among thousands of kids. She got 14 call backs. Which just means 14 companies wanted to get to know her better and see if she was able to move to LA or NYC or just plain interested in her.

 This is dad's oh man more money to spend face.

 Here is Kilee with her Honorary Mention trophy. There were the top 3 and then 7 Honorary mentions. She heard her name and out of the chair she ran. I had to say congrats as she whizzed down the isle. She was so happy for that little plastic trophy.

 While we waited for Kilee to audition, we were able to watch some singing and dancing competetors. Boy were there some not so good ones. But along came songs that they enjoyed singing to and mom kept trying to hush them but the requests went on deaf ears.

 There was a lot of waiting and sitting and walking and standing during our week there. We got to know one spot in the hallway very well.

 This was Hayden, no not a boy she got to know, he was an old competetor that has now gone on to be on the Parenthood, and be the voice to the prince in Sophia the First. Mom thought he was very cute and that Kilee should go meet him since he was always sitting at the gift desk alone. Not too long after this pic we saw him walking around with several blonde girls in tow. Oh she could have been a groupie blonde follower.

 Kilee also got to meet with Good Luck Charlie star Eric Allan Kramer. She was so excited, yet autographed picture is still in the bag and wrinkled. Oh well.

 It was a crazy trip.

 I told you this was all backwards. On our way to Florida with Kilee, I dropped the boys off at Aiti's, recouperated from my 13 hr drive with the kiddos, and got to see Granny and PawPaw before we headed off again. Then a week later everyone joined us at Disney for a week of fun. It was great to see everyone and do a little bit of Christmas fun making cookies and food, and Ginerbread houses. Not lavish houses, but they stood up and had candy on them. Yes, I call that a gingerbread house made of graham crackers. It was hard trying to stay with the no milk candy for Ezra. Kilee ignored most all of her intolerances and did pretty well. She stayed away from eggs, had some problems with pork, and some unknowns, but is doing much better. Hallelujah, although mom thinks her problems are returning, we are enjoying a bit of relaxed eating.

 Oh, we are still having some fun with boxes, boxes, boxes, everywhere. Here we were watching a moving in the basement and Kowen fell asleep holding the dog. Yes, there is no dog in his arms now, but I swear there was one. Oh, so cute.

 Kilee had her birthday party at the beginning of December. She did lots of things that I can't even remember. However we did obviously try and make balloon animals, unfortunately almost everyone popped. So much for the dollar store game. This dog was by one of the girls. It is sad to say I couldn't make one without popping it. So much for the magic touch.

 Another fun activity was popping balloons to see if they had the winning prize. It turned out harder for some.  What was hilarious is obvious. No, she was not the only one that grew a pair. They laughed and laughed. The popping turned into a wrestling jump, falling to the floor flop, and all over dangerous stomping game. I had to limit their choices of popping styles to sitting, which didn't help the growth idea.

 Kowen has been playing basketball this season. Kandon was too until we got his schedule and every single game was on Sunday. Oh the horror, I just can't even tell ya. To sign up for basketball that says Friday games and to get told oh no. Ahh. But he took it well and understood. Kowen is tied for shortest player. He has no idea how to play, but it sure was fun to watch him practically hug the person he guarded. At least that person didn't get the ball, but they weren't too happy. He hasn't scored any points but has stolen or shot a few times, but he keeps going and we are proud of him. He is a soccer boy and mom just wanted him to try. Thanks bud. We will stick to what you want.

 I found Mrs. Bella laying this way. Crazy dog.

 In trying to find out what seafood Kilee could have, she was thoroughly surprised to get crab for her birthday. It didn't have any flavoring at all, just boiled, but Kandon and Kilee chowed down. Well, after mom cracked most of the legs--AHH I hate crab. Kowen and I had something different, but I can't remember what it was. He probably had a hot dog.

 This was our lowly tree I put up. Poor tree never had a present under it because we left on the 13th for Alabama and Florida. But I had to at least set one up. Kandon enjoyed carrying the box up the stairs on his shoulders and taking it down. He loved showing mom his muscles. Hey, at least I got that in during the crazy month of December.

 The kids auditioned for Audition America in the mall. They did great and performed in front of a two tier crowd. Wonderful job guys. They all got contracts, but mom isn't sure she will do it or if the company is legit. Anyways, lots of love to the kiddos for all their hard work and bravery.