A Picture Perfect, Sad, and Noisy kind of New Year

 PICTURE:  We had family pictures taken at Olde Stone the weekend before New Year's.  Matt's aunt and uncle organized a photo session for the entire Bradford family.  All the adult men were to wear black and khaki, and the women were to be in solid black.  I have lots of black in my wardrobe but had trouble with a solid black outfit that worked in the middle of winter.  Thank goodness for T.J. Maxx and their LARGE selection of black tops.  The kids could wear whatever they wanted.  I went with Christmas red on the kids and borrowed a red bubble bib necklace from a friend to accent their color.  I hope to post pictures soon.  After the photo session, we ate lunch there as well.  The kids were so well behaved and cooperative.  It made the day very easy.

Have I mentioned that we own hermit crabs?  Idk, but we do.  I was ecstatic to finally be pet-free when the kids (through my prompting) decided to let our wild-turtle go free back in the early fall, see Good-Bye Green Jill.

I got the tank all cleaned out and put away.  The kids were good with it, and I was happy to no longer have that responsibility.  Weeks earlier my dear mother, aka MeMe, had taken Karson and Elizabeth to the mall one afternoon where they saw the mall hermit crabs, you all know the ones I'm talking about.  These crabs are usually in a central location at the mall at a kiosk with lots of brightly colored containers, shells and all the goodies that go with these UH-mazing pets.  Well, one thing led to another, and viola both girls came back to MeMe's house with hermit crabs.  I think mom had planned to keep them at her house with the agreement the girls would take care of them when they came over.  This lasted a few weeks, but after fall break, mom had had enough of the crabs, and they were sent home with the girls.  Karson was ecstatic to have her crab HONEY come to our house.  Meanwhile, we had inherited another crab from Destin, Florida named TOBY (Isaac's new crab).  I got the turtle tank out of storage and created a habitat for the new crabs.  Hermit crabs truly are low maintenance pets.  However, much like the turtle, there's not much you can do with a crab besides get pinched =/.  The kids grow tired of them easily.

SAD:  We noticed a few weeks ago that Karson's crab Honey had molted.  I had no idea crabs even did this, but Karson did and told me she (the crab) was very vulnerable after molting.  Honey stayed tucked away in her shell for about two weeks.  I was doing my daily spraying of the tank (a crab's tank must stay humid and moist) on Monday when I noticed what I thought was another molted skin, possibly Toby's.  After examining it closer, I noticed it was actually Honey, Karson's crab =(.  Karson was pretty torn up about the loss of Honey.  I was sad for her.

 However, Miles was more than happy to help me with the burial.  He's the happiest mortician I know.  We placed Honey in a matchbox, and with Miles's help, we buried her in the backyard.  We still have one crab left in the tank.  I hope it doesn't meet the same demise as Honey, but I have to admit, I wouldn't be sad if it did.  AND, I don't think Miles, the undertaker, would be either.

NOISY: I am on Bridgestone Arena's email blast list and should probably unsubscribe if we ever want to save any money--HAH.  I want to see almost every show, concert and event they have.  Prior to Chrsitmas, I noticed that Monster Truck JAM would be there this weekend.  The tickets were fairly inexpensive, and I thought they would make fun Christmas gifts for the kids.  We've been to Monster Jam once before (sans Miles) when Isaac was around 2 or 3.  He LOVED Monster Trucks for the longest time, and we still have quite a collection.  I told my sister and my friend Lisa about the event, and they purchased tickets as well.

Friday night in Nashvegas and we are ready to RUMBLE!

A necessity at any Monster Jam event is proper ear protection.  We were two rows back from the action--close enough to have dirt flung on us.  It was super loud.

Miles and his buddy Samuel loving some Monster Jam.  Miles also had a school friend there.  Matt took him to see his friend during the "intermission" of the show.  He's my social butterfly and must make his rounds even in Nashville.

Snow Cone = $12, Cotton Candy = $15

Making fun memories with my adorable kids = worth every penny.

Grave Digger is the crowd favorite.  This truck comes in to the song "Bad to the Bone".  The driver crashed the truck almost immediately which was a bummer.  I wasn't sure if we'd see it again, but he made another appearance later in the show.  Everyone went WILD!  Monster Jam was the perfect end to our  New Year's and Back to School week.