Hi, family, friends and complete strangers who read my blog.  Thanks for checking in with us to watch our family grow.  Thank you for understanding when I am sleep deprived and have forty-five typos/misspellings in a post.  Thank you for sending me an email or text when I haven't posted in a week just to check on us (I think it's thoughtful and I'm glad you care).  Thank you for loving our family.  Or even if you're just reading out of boredom, glad I could help put you to sleep.  I welcome your comments anytime you would like to remark on a post.
If you would like to continue to follow us in 2015, go to pettyspad2015.blogspot.com
Wishing you all love and happiness in 2015.
-Ashley

Helping make muffins for breakfast...

It was freezing cold out this morning, but Jett wanted to go out (only for a few minutes) to hit a few golf balls...

Judd was being very sweet and playing with Jaide.  She was holding his hand and walking around with him.  They sat on the bench on the stair landing and looked out the window for awhile, then went upstairs to play.  He is a good big brother.

Clint grilled steak for our carnivores for supper.  We haven't had steak in quite awhile, so the kids were very happy.  It was very, very cold out, so I'm thankful Clint was still willing to go out and grill.

Pictures after baths/showers...
(I bribed them to sit still with the gummy worms they got for Christmas from Gigi)

It's hard to believe 2014 has come to an end.  These 5 people make me happy and crazy and I look forward to another year with them.  I'm so thankful God put their Daddy and I together and that He chose me to be their Momma.

I have yelled WAY TOO MUCH the past 2 days.  The kids have been "being kids" and haven't been obeying very well.  At the end of the day, it's nice to be able to relax and snuggle them and have some peaceful time with them.

Stacy and the kids came down yesterday afternoon and had a sleepover.  It was a good time.  The kids had fun drawing with Aunt Stacy...

The kids are enjoying playing with their legos and k'nex that they got for Christmas.  I helped the boys build these airplanes that they've really liked playing with.

Random thoughts for the day:
-I have eaten enough cookies, cake, sweets, etc in the last 2 weeks to sustain a normal person the whole year.  I have a problem.
-I love how Jaide loves to have her head snuggled right next to my neck when I rock her to sleep.

Clint said, "I think this is my favorite day of the year."  I asked him if it was because 1) Christmas was over and 2) he hasn't started calving yet.  He said, "No, because now I don't have to hear Christmas music again until next December."  Such a scrooge.

We enjoyed spending the day at home.  We stayed in our pajamas most of the day. 
The kids had fun playing with their new toys.  I wanted to find a more constructive outlet for the kids shooting their nerf bow/crossbow/guns (so they will stop shooting each other) so I drew a target for each of them and taped it to their ceilings so they can shoot it from their top bunk bed.

bullseye

 After supper, we snuggled and watched a movie.

Clint is getting sick, so he was happy to just sit and snuggle too.

For the last 16 years (since Clint and I have been together) we have spent Christmas Eve with the Dixson's and Christmas Day with the Petty's.  This year was no different.  We've had 2 fun-filled days of family time, yummy food and presents.  We are blessed.

the 5 boys being boys

Jett was so, so, so, so excited to get a crossbow

Sloan was excited to get the "girl legos" she was wanting

Jaide loved opening presents and was screaming with excitement

Jaide was eating shrimp as fast as Clint would feed it to her

The kids were excited to wake up this morning and see that there were presents for them under the tree.  They said, "Santa even knew how to spell my name."  This may make us sound like bad parents, but this is the first year we have bought the kids presents for Christmas morning.  The past few years, they have been little enough that they haven't cared at all about it, but this year I thought it would be nice for them to have a present to open when they woke up on Christmas morning.  It made me so happy to see their excitement.  We got each of the kids one toy and a blanket.  We got the boys each a transformer and Sloan got a Nerf bow and arrow and Saige got a Nerf gun.  I had all of Clint and my sports t-shirts made into a blanket for each of the kids.  I think they turned out great.  The kids had no interest in them, but I think they'll like them when they get bigger.

The kids got up early enough that there wasn't much light coming in the windows so we had to turn the dining room light on.  And you can see that we still have a blanket fort set up in the living room.

The girls love their "lipstick" that they got yesterday from Ray and Pat.  They have been applying then reapplying then reapplying.

 We went over to Larry and Diane's mid-morning.

Saige and Sloan helping Papa Larry mix the pitchers of koolaid

Again, this kid eating more shrimp