My Birthday Party

Thank you Jeremy for my wonderful Birthday party. I got a cocanut bra, as a hint at what my Birthday gift was. Even after looking a the itinerary I still couldn't guess.

Sorry Makayla, NO KIDS ALLOWED.

Gingerbread Houses!!!!!

I LOVE DOING GINGERBREAD HOUSES WITH KIDS!!!!!!!!

The Louisville Zoo

We had so much fun at the Zoo. The weather was prefect, there was only like 20 other people in the whole place, and we only stayed 3 hours. How much more perfect could it have been?

The funnest part of the Zoo was feeding the birds, our kids where scared to death, of course and choose not to participate. Aren't the birds beautiful?

Christmas in Kentucky

We are having so much fun in Louisville for Christmas. The first few days it was way too cold (I was thinking it was a mistake to have come here) but then it warmed up and it's been great.

Here's a few pictures from Christmas. Makayla got a skateboard from Santa, Isaac got bionicles, and Jackson got a kicking tee.

I got soooo spoiled this Christmas. I feel so unworthy. My husband got me a bike, a canon rebal digital SLR, and a trip to Cabo San Lucas:) Can you say "what?". I love each of my gifts and can't wait to use them all. THANK YOU HONEY!!

UNO

Jeremy bought uno cards the other day and the kids love it. It's nice that they're getting older and can play games.

We leave for KY on Sunday so we're going to open our gifts on Sat. before we leave. That way we don't have to pack them up.

Even when I think I'm ready for the holidays and I simplify as much as possible, it's still so stressful. I love Christmas, but it's a lot of work.

Have a very Merry Christmas!! We love you all.

We may or may not do cards this year. It's looking like time is slipping away so probably not.

ChRiStMaS !!!!!!!

I was so excited to decorate this year, because I bought a bunch of some after Christmas for this year. I remember it being a lot more stuff though. So I put it all in the front room and entry so at least one room in the home looks Christmasy.

I just got back from visiting family in Kennewick. It was so much fun. I was so sick while I was there and still am, but that aside it was nice to relax at Thanksgiving with the Family. Rochelle was looking great. And Kendall's boys are getting so big. She's such a good mom. She's always been good with kids. I had so much fun with a few of my friends from high school. They're as hot as ever and we still know how to be annoyly crazy.

We get to go to KY this year for Christmas. I'm so excited. It's been two years since we were back there. Makayla is probably the only one who remembers Grammy's place. This will be the first time since Makayla was 5 months old that all of us have been home at the same time. Do I feel a Kodak moment coming on.

HOME SWEET HOME

More Texoma Pics

More pics from the previous post. We had a lot of fun skipping rocks too. Makayla started to get the hang of it.

Hiking at Lake Texoma

I have been wanting to go hiking or something "outdoors" for a while now, so this past Saturday when we were trying to plan something to do, Chauntel suggested that we go to Lake Texoma and find something to do there. She is looking for a place for girls camp also and since it's only a little over an hour away, we packed up the van and went. We were trying to get to a certain State park in Oklahome (half of Lake Texoma is in Texas, the other half Oklahome - hence "texoma" I just figured that one out yesterday)but somehow, we just followed some signs to Lake Texoma and found Eisenhour park which was about 40 minutes closer.
WE HAD A BLAST! We wanted to find some hiking trails and go hiking together and we found some great ones. The trail that we went on followed the bank of the Lake and there were some spots that you could go off the trail a little bit and climb down the "cliffs". We even found a beach that we climbed down a pretty steep rock area only to find out that a little bit down the trail there are some steps down to it!
At first Isaac was too scared for whatever reason to even go to the trail (I did tell him before we went that I hoped to find a bear on the trail so I can fight it), but when we hit our first chance to rock climb, you couldn't stop him. He was scaling these steep climbs and just jumping all over the rocks - making me nervous and proud at the same time. Everyone had a great time. We found some walking sticks for everyone in the woods along the way that the kids used.
Isaac called hiking "traveling" and would say, "Let's travel this way now" or when it was time to go he said, "ok, let's eat in the van, then travel some more". He did not want to go.
As soon as we were leaving, the kids were already planning our next trip back.

Pumkin Patch

This is from Makayla's field trip. My friend watched Jackson so I could go and be there. I don't think I've been on any field trips with Makayla so that was nice. I went to the same place with Isaac last year with his preschool.

I had so much fun being with her and see how she is with all her friends.

Happy Halloween

I love Halloween so much. The only thing I don't like is all the candy:) I guess that's what Halloween is all about. Next year I should throw a Halloween party ,and only give out trinkets. I can't find my camera. So, no pictures from last night:( Makayla was a Southern Bell, Isaac was a Power Ranger, Jackson was a Dragon, I was a Witch, and Jeremy was straight out of the 70's "groovy baby"

If any of you all know, Jeremy has had 3 of his 4 work truck totalled in the last month and the other one had a fender bender. So, that's all of his trucks. Then when he got his new truck, his lovely, responsible wife forgot to put the emergency brake on and it rolled into the neighbor's fence behind us and bent his bumper and put a good dent in the most expensive beautiful fence in the whole neighborhood:( What luck. Jeremy's trucks are really getting hammered this month.

Isaac got his first report card this week:) I was pleased with his score and I'm so proud of how much better he's getting at everything. He really enjoys learning. I'd have to say his coloring has impressed me the most. He's really become quite a great colorer.

I have my life back

BEFORE




AFTER






Oh, I am so happy to be able to cook a meal, send my kids upstairs to play, and not have dust on EVERYTHING. I love my new floors, but it is so hard to have work done. I feel like my life is completely out of sorts.

Putting the kids to work

We are getting new tile!!!! We picked out our tile yesterday and it will be installed this week!!! So we're going to try and take out the old tile on our own, to save a little money. The kids are loving it. It's fun so far but we're not too far into it yet. We may be willing to pay someone after a few days of work.

It's been awhile since Isaac has been blogged in his underwear, so here it goes...

We love it when our kids perform for us and the camera. We're so proud of Isaac and his hula skills.

Just Doing My Part

I walked into the bank the other day and there was quite a line. Luckily for me though, there was a bowl of Dum Dum suckers on the table that the line wrapped around. It brought back memories as a kid of going to the doctor and after your shot at least Dr. Churney or Collier would pull out the box of Dum Dums and I'd seek out the Root Beer flavor sucker and it'd make it all better. So I dug through the bowl and to my great enjoyment, I had a root beer Dum Dum.
Now, there were probably 7 people waiting in line and no one had a sucker. So I stood there just as happy as Chauntel is watching a Mary Kate and Ashley movie. But then the lady behind me, after noticing how happy that the sucker made me, dug through and got her one too. And she was then happy. But then one by one everyone else started to dig through and get one also. It was awesome!! It made me happy that they were finding such joy in getting their suckers. People coming in line after us weren't thinking twice about just grabbing one while they waited since everyone in line already had one too. One old guy with hearing aids took careful consideration as to which Dum Dum was going to make him the happiest and I think he made the right decision because he had the look after his choice that only comes when you've got the perfect Dum Dum flavor for the day.
So, just doing my part to spread cheer in this part of the kingdom. Sometimes you have to pull someone from a burning building (or hop in a car at a red light that just almost killed many and pull their keys out of the ignition and keep them from him till the police get there - ask me about that one some time) and other times it's just having the courage to go ahead and take one of those candies from the bowls at the bank. Next time you see one, go ahead and take one. The person in front of you wanted to, but didn't for some reason, and the person behind you is already eyeing the one they want but isn't sure if they are going to or not. Seeing you enjoy your freebie will make them want to be as happy as you are. You could even do as my brother, Mike, and make requests for the candy bowl.

TaGgeD

I've been tagged by my beautiful sister, Bailey. This is my fourth picture in my fourth file in My Pictures. This picture is of the Fourth of July at the Carter's community pool at High Meadows Ranch. It was so beautiful there. Thanks again for letting us come and visit. I tag Niki Carter, Jessica Montano, Melinda Najera, and Christie Hall.(on second thought Jessica probably won't be on my blog anytime soon, so I tag Brittany Haine) No Cheating. Fourth file, fourth picture, in your picture file.

I think I see new floors in my very near future:) Our kitchen tile is doing some funky cracking and popping up. It's probably our foundation, which is not going to be fun. However the end results will be new tile!

Isaac had a baseball game last night. He does so great at bat, but when it comes to playing in the field, he has no focus. He's the kid that plays in the grass and dirt as the ball rolls past him. Whatever, it's only his first season.

me and my buddy

I have to say with school starting, my new calling, and Jeremy's new calling I feel like life is crazy one minute and too slow the next. Jackson and I are loving our time together. I love having him home with me all day by ourselves. I have him home for three years. I think we're going to be best buds, for the next couple of years. We go to the gym, we go shopping, we go to playgroup, and on bike rides. It's so wonderful. I guess that's what it would be like to just have one. Jackson is so sweet, however he is getting Isaac's little temper. He got put in time out at the gym two days in a row and has been hitting in nursery at church the last two weeks. When I try to give him the business he just smiles, hugs me, and says "sorry mom sorry". I don't know how to show him how serious I am. He so darn adorable.

Ahhh, the Bus Stop

The Bus Stop. It brings back a lot of memories. I can remember days at the bus stop with Jason down on Peach tree Ave. There was this tree that would shed some pine cone type things and we'd play baseball in the street until the bus would come. The greatest days were when the bus wouldn't show up for an hour or more. It was always great walking into school really late - OR EVEN BETTER was when there was a substitute bus driver that didn't know the route. This one time the sub. driver was counting on us to tell them where to go, and we took her to places we or her had never seen. We just kept saying, "Yeah, go left. Another left. Now go for like 10 minutes." It was great.
So Chauntel thought it would be so great if the kids would ride the bus that comes just down the street to school so she wouldn't have to take them anymore. Isaac was down with it from the get go. Chauntel took him the bus stop, he just hopped on without looking back. Kayla, no way. So after a few days of Isaac telling Kayla how cool it was riding the bus, she finally said she would. So the first few pictures are of us excited at the bus stop. Kayla was all smiles and excited too. Then the bus came. Isaac, the man of all men, just hopped on. Kayla clung to Chauntel like Uncle Mike to a grilled cheese. (Either Uncle Mike) So in an effort to not let this opportunity pass, I grabbed Kayla's little hand and gently persuaded her to get on the bus all the while she was pulling away telling me "NO! NO!". I got her on and she found Isaac and dove into his seat with him. The bus was full of kids and some were asking if this was her first time on the bus. I told them that it was and that everyone should say "Welcome Makayla" and in unison they all welcomed her. It was great. The joys of the bus will now be passed on to my kids. The days ahead of rude jokes, learning things that they never would have at home, hearing words that are only on the movies; wait a minute. I'll probably regret this day when at the dinner table I hear "Is #%!@ a bad word?" (Melissa)