Grand Champions!!

This past Saturday we traveled to the Jacksonville Veteran's Memorial Arena to watch Ashlyn in her first competition this year. The BCHS Wildcats did not disappoint.


The team behind Ashlyn and her team

Molly, Callie, Karli, Camryn, Leah and Chey

The name of the competition

Ryan, the choreographer of the stunts, waiting for the team to start

Ashlyn's favorite - Heel Stretch

Pyramid

Kick-Double

Dedra, Ashlyn, Jena, Chelsey, Taytum, Rachel, and Katie

Ashlyn and Brooklyn

Ashlyn and Coach Dedra

Ashlyn and the other girls from the BCHS Competition team walked away with the title of Grand Champions. There was only one team that they competed directly against, Fleming Island High School, but their score was the highest out of all 8 school teams that competed in the Jamfest Competition. What a way to start the competition season! Their next scheduled competition is scheduled for March in Tallahassee. Hopefully they can keep up their winning streak!

Some Favorite Christmas Memories

We had a great time with friends and family in December. Here are some of our favorite memories....
The Crews and Carey Family

The Crews and Kerce Family

The Cushman Crew

Daddy (Uncle David) reading the Christmas story from the Bible.

All the grandchildren on the Cushman side. How sad poor Lexi is!!

Lexi loved the sunglasses she found in her purse from Nannie.

Hayden with new spy gear to compete his special missions.

Construction man Zade cheesing for the camera.

Molly, Leah, Hayden, Zade and Ashlyn at Mimi's. (Love that smile, Zade!)

Leah opening a gift from Daddy early.

Molly before she opened her special gift from Daddy.

Ashlyn opening her special gift from Dad. Wow, a bar of soap from the hotel!! What a good sport!

I can't even begin to explain. He's our favorite guy!

Ashlyn was surprised with an ipod from Santa.

Molly's biggest surprise! A cell phone that she's gone text crazy with.

Leah's surprise LPS (Littlest Pet Shop) that she had been asking for.

Mama and Daddy

Mimi in Leah's papasan chair. So comfy!

Wii for Chrismas! This is what we saw lots of. :) He's really trying to pay attention to Molly showing him the burn on her arm, just a little distracted.

Christmas in Florida

Leah was so excited to make this gingerbread house!

She thought that she was going to make one at school, because her sisters did when they were in 3rd grade. She was quite disappointed that she didn't, so...

Leah and Daddy made one at home. They had a good time building and decorating the house (and eating the candy!) If you've never made one of these gingerbread houses, it's very time consuming, because you have to wait between each section of the project for the icing to dry. Since we live in Florida and missed out on the "White Christmas" we had been dreaming of, Leah passed the time by jumping on the trampoline with the water hose to keep cool. :)

She came through the house every so often to check on the progress and add a little to her masterpiece.

The end result was worth every bit of the wait though. Good job, Leah!

It's December

Our front door at night...

The front of the house from the driveway

We still need the inflatable snowman in the front yard. :) (Molly and Leah want inflatable yard decorations, while Ashlyn and I think they are on the tacky side) but, I've come to the conclusion that they are only little once, so we'll have the inflatables. (Maybe just one)

I'm so excited that the Christmas season is here! We were able to spend Thanksgiving in Tampa with my sister-in-law and her family, and also found out that I'm going to be an aunt again. How fun to have another baby in the family! When we came back home, we got our Christmas decorations out and started filling our home with signs of the season. Here are a few pictures of the things we have completed so far. I forgot how much work it is, but it's well worth it in the end.

Leslie's tree...

Next is our family Christmas tree. It has the ornaments we've accumulated through the past 16 years. Some are from the girls when they were little, some are from an ornament exchange group that I was in years ago, and some are from The Franklin Mercantile, a local shop that specializes in unique, handmade ornaments that can be personalized. It's so fun to reminisce as we place them on the tree.

Don't you love the fireplace full of poinsettias instead of wood??? (we miss our fires!)

These are on top of the kitchen cabinets...

This time of year makes me especially thankful for family and friends, and also the real meaning of Christmas, our Saviour's birth. We have a lot of activities coming up with the adult choir and children's choir at church. Molly's Sunday School class also has plans to make fruit baskets for some of the widows in the church. Her class did the same thing last year and were so well received and blessed that they want to do it again. Hopefully we'll be able to experience many wonderful memories this Christmas, and keep in mind the true reason that we celebrate.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

Leah's Trophy

YOU MIGHT BE A REDNECK IF.......







YOUR EIGHT YEAR OLD DAUGHTER HAS KILLED A DEER!








Al may not have any boys, but he's got some sharp shootin' girls. Leah killed her first deer tonight. This week is anterless deer season, so he was hoping that the girls would be able to kill a doe this week. Al and Leah went to the farm in Lulu and came home with this cow-horned spike. When Leah called to tell me, she was so excited! She told me that the horns were about 3-4 inches long. Al says they are 10, and she shot it with a 243 rifle from about 60-70 yards away. It is really cold tonight, the temperature is supposed to go down into the 20's. I guess that had the deer really moving around. Way to go on your first deer, Leah!





Beware, this video is not for the squeamish!

Ed or Stan???

Is this our head coach, Stan, or is it Edward Norton??? Stan is a good friend that loves God and offers his time to spend teaching our kids about Jesus and His love for us. We get a kick out of teasing him about his uncharcteristically similar looks with the famous movie star. We were sitting in the stands supporting our AWANA kids and noticed this lady in front of us following Stan around with her camera. By the time I put the camera on her, it was about her 4th taping. (Scary, huh??) Stan said that there were actually people coming up to him and asking if he was Norton. If you would like to see the similarities, go to http://www.edward-norton.org/ Thanks for the laughs, Stan!!!

AWANA Olympics

Josh with his "snack bag"

The proud 1st place teams!!!

The silly 1st place teams!!!

The balloon relay

The dedicated fans. GO BLUE!!!

Olivia, our youngest supporter, here to cheer on her big brother, Blane.

Some of our teams before the olympics started