Thanksgiving Break starts NOW!

 

WooHoo, bring on the Turkey!

a quiet Easter Sunday

After church and lunch I got out my Canon camera on this Easter Sunday.  I was so excited to capture some photos of all four of us with the auto timer, but they were awful.  I'm thankful for the pictures I did capture of all four of my babies.  I think Gary and I are emotionally drained from the events of the weekend and upcoming funeral for his mom tomorrow.  Sometimes its fun to lose myself in the camera and I have some really awesome subjects to focus on!

Lily was happy to give her best side smile.

Daisy wasn't feeling dainty today.  She decided to get a huge mouthful of grass and I managed to snap a shot of it falling out of her mouth.

Then she rolled over and I got a nostril shot!  She's a mess y'all.  

Lily wouldn't leave her rawhide alone the rest of the day.  She and Daisy fought over it and played chase though the yard.  Every single day we fall move and more in love with our new backyard here in Texas.  I can't wait to see what blooms pop up.  I see so many fun leaves greening up!  I know I will have several rose bushes and many many irises.  Did I spell it right?  Iris? More than one iris?  Anyway, I'll post my backyard pictures this spring!  I'm excited.

Happy Easter!!

tiny baker

Layla loves to cook and be in the kitchen with me.

She decided to bake cupcakes!  She did everything all by herself with help from Hayden.  He's a great helper and he puts up with Layla's bossy attitude.  

She made tie-dyed cupcakes and decorated them including added a filling.  She's fancy and pretty good as a baker.  She's going to do big things in the kitchen this summer.  I'll have her cooking dinner for us every night! ;)

She even made a few double stacked cupcakes and the green and yellow cupcakes are Baylor cupcakes.

Yummy yummy!

soccer soccer and more soccer

Oh me, oh my.  It was a wild day of soccer.  Hayden scored 3 goals and played awesome, but they played the hardest team they have played this season.  It was great to see them play a really hard team, because they worked harder and fought to try to come back.

It was a chilly 34 degrees at 8:30 when we showed up for Hayden's game.  Brrrrr.  We thought wow, is this Ohio or Georgia?!? 

Layla is on the right in this picture with her pony tail flying!  She played her heart out also, but their team lost as well.  They also played a really talented team.  

Layla played defense almost the entire game.  She played so hard and kept that ball away from a really tall and really good offensive player on the other team.  It was a fun and exciting day of soccer!

family golf day ~ single sentence saturday

We had a wonderful day yesterday golfing as a family!!

Happy July, their birthday month!!

Gosh I love these two munchkins.  

No one told me when they were born they would age.  I thought they would stay three years old forever. 

I love each of their personalities.  I love hearing their thoughts and opinions. 

I hope I'm not messing them up with my demands for a somewhat clean house.  

I hope they really do like my cooking. 

I hope when I retire they won't be embarrassed of the huge RV that will park in front of their houses to babysit my grandchildren. 

I hope they enjoy me as much as I enjoy them.  I get frustrated with them and they get frustrated with me too, but I hope we can still grow up together! 

ready, set, go...

This girl got her impressions and x-rays today.

She's on her way to getting an expander, braces and a retainer.

It's officially time for momma to get a J.O.B! 

In all seriousness, she did great.  She was worried and a tad nervous about the molds, but she did just fine!  I'm so glad I get to log her process.  I wish I could remember my whole braces and retainer process as a teenager, but I just can't.  Things have changed so much since I was a child.  It's crazy different, but I'm trusting in the process!  

Cheeeeessssseeeee!

Blizzard Bags

I think we missed about 12 days of school due to the winter weather this year.  12 days of no learning = days added onto the end of the school year.  Yucky huh?

Enter the blizzard bag.  It's a folder for Layla and a gallon size baggie for Hayden.  It is filled with worksheets and activities for the kids to complete and it will equal a day of classwork.

At first it seemed like a pain in the butt, but the kids loved it!  They sat down this morning and did almost the entire workload.  They had fun and helped one another.  I sat between them with a cup of coffee and offered my assistance when needed.  It was a fun lazy Saturday morning activity until we got the the P.E. part.

Yes, there was even a physical education worksheet.  It was so cute to watch them stretch their muscles as they do in P.E. class.  There were activities like 'run in place for 3 minutes' and 'how may push-ups can you do in one minute.  It was a fun pick me up activity for after they did their classwork.

Each kiddo has a few more worksheets to complete and hopefully we'll finish tomorrow so they can turn them in on Monday.  The work isn't due for 10 days, but I think we'll be better off getting it done while the weather is still a bit chilly.  When warmer temperatures show up we'll be outside every single day!  We are thrilled to have spring SUN!

can we go back to school? please?

The kids are home again today for another snow day.  

I think they are super bored and I know I am ready for them to get back to learning!!

Today we did chores and homework and they really didn't complain too much.  The windows are clean and the leather couch got scrubbed really well.  Layla wrote her spelling words and Hayden wanted to write his numbers.  He wrote them all the way to 105.  

I'm loving sitting beside them while we watch movies and they play Mindcraft.  I've been wearing out pinterest!  I've discovered many new recipes and crafting ideas.  I also pinned a workout or two and did them.  Having them home isn't so bad, but I just know they need to get their learn on.  School is cool!

Us lately. A random update.

Fall is setting in here in Ohio and I couldn't be happier.  

I seriously don't know if I can be talked into EVER moving back to Texas.  It's just so hot there and I am spoiled by these AMAZING temperatures.  This to me is the perfect weather.  High of 72 and low of 50 at night.  I'm in my happy place with these fall temps.

Every now and then a huge group of leaves will fall from the trees in our yard.  I just assumed they would all fall off all at once, but they randomly fall and the kids giggle as the leaves hit their faces. 

Speaking of random....it's been awhile since I've written a random post.  

I'm pretty good at posting our day to day lives, but the random posts take a few extra minutes.  I've been so busy since the start of school and sadly I've put posting to our blog on the back burner.

Monday nights Layla has soccer practice, Tuesday night she takes a tumbling and hip hop class.  Wednesday nights are our free night to relax and catch up.  Thursday night Hayden has soccer practice and Layla practices with the girls traveling soccer team.  Friday nights we usually hang with friends and then the weekend is just whatever. This Sunday we begin fall soccer games.  It seems like we never stop, but we are all happy and loving our schedule.  

Gary is keeping super busy with work.  His travel schedule is about to slow down, but he's been going non-stop.  He is loving his job and it seems to be going great.  He found a position that fits him perfectly and although it is stressful at times he loves it.  I'm so happy he loves what he does.

Hayden is loving kindergarten.  He's learning lots of stuff, including ABC's and 123's.  He is learning how to treat others and hopefully one day he will be able to tell me is friends names.  He can't remember names just like his daddy.  His imagination is certainly growing, as he loves to tell 'tall-tales.'  He can make up some pretty far fetched stories and sometimes I have to wonder what is true and what is imaginary.  His soccer skills are progressing very well.  All summer he practiced his golf swing, and now as often as he can he is outside kicking the soccer ball.

Layla is doing great in Third grade.  She isn't digging math, but loves science, social studies and really loves reading and writing stories. Her spelling skills are awesome.  She takes after Gary when it comes to spelling.  I'm a terrible speller.  She loves dance and I'm shocked by her drive for soccer.  As I mentioned earlier, she was asked to practice with the girls travel team.  I think she was blown away by how good some of the girls are.  I thought she'd be intimidated by them, heck, I was.  She wants to get better and she loves to learn.  After just one practice we could tell a difference in her skills.  I hope she decides to stick with it, but I'm not forcing her to do anything she doesn't want to.  We might gently nudge her, but I want her to be happy and do soccer because she really wants to.

I am adjusting to having both kids in school.  I felt like I'd have so much time to just sit around and eat bon-bons, but I don't.  I'm busier than ever.  If my people would just stop wearing clothes my job would be 50 times easier.  I'm drowning in laundry 85 percent of the time.  I'm trying to go to Zumba/Boot Camp three mornings a week.  It puts me in a great mood and I'm so happy to be able to go.  Also this fall I've finally gotten things done for me, doctor, dentist and hair appointments...you know just stuff us moms sometimes put off in the summertime.  

Daisy and Lily are loving this weather.  They run and play and wrestle in the backyard.  The cooler weather makes them frisky.  Lily has escaped from our yard many times lately.  She is letting the PetSafe in-ground fence shock her and then she busts through it to chase squirrels.  She's run away too many times lately.  She is literally in the dog house.  She ran into a wooded area behind our house on Monday and scraped her paw pretty badly.  That slowed her down for a day or two, but now she is ready to explore again.  I went to Lowe's and got the 'stubborn dog' collar and now she is a little easier to keep around.  I hate to make her wear it, but seriously, we live right beside a road.  She will get hurt really bad if she gets too far away from home.

After living here almost a year, I think we are all over the initial shock of living in a new town.  We are all thriving and loving small town life.  We defiantly like the house we are living in much better than our house downtown.  Sometimes I miss walking to school with some of our downtown buddies, but all in all we are much happier having a big yard to run and play in.

Sadly our house in Texas still hasn't sold.  It is under contract and we where thrilled to be signing on the dotted line to sell it for good this next week....UNTIL...the inspector didn't turn the water BACK off after the buyers inspection.  A vacant house shouldn't have water turned on in my opinion.  The refrigerator malfunctioned/leaked and water damaged the entire house.  The mistake wasn't caught for about 10 days.  You can imagine water leaking into a hot house in Texas for that long.  

So yea, we are dealing with that crap.  It's a hot mess.  I'm so over the homeowner experience; it is not the American dream in my opinion.  UGH!  One of these days we will be free from that house.  I'm choosing to stay positive when it comes to that topic.  I can easily cry a river if I let myself.  I just can't believe we have so many memories there, but it is causing us so many problems.  

On a lighter note,

Football season is in full swing and it is so fun to cheer for our Texas teams while watching our friends here cheer for their favorite teams nearby.  Baylor plays West Virginia and that game should be super fun to watch with some of our friends who love WVU.  All my buddies are trying to convert me to Buckeyes fan, but I can't do it.  I can't wear red.

I'm excited for football nights with friends and bonfires roasting marshmallows.  I think burning a pumpkin candle while cooking dinner tonight put me over the edge when it comes to fall.  I'm really enjoying having my windows open here in the house.  Having my windows open in Texas was a favorite thing, but we only got to do it for a few days.  It seems like it was always too hot to open the windows.  Anyway, I'm loving the fresh air and it defiantly puts me in a  great mood.  I love waking up and adding an extra blanket in the middle of the night!

Bring on the chilly weather and all things fall and winter, especially soups and chili!!  Hopefully I'll find time to try some new recipes and post them.  Nothing makes me happier than cooking and taking pictures of my food!!

wordless wednesday ~ heart melters

Ice day!

The city schools were closed today due to a passing ice storm. I really don't think school should have been cancelled, but obviously I am not the decision maker for the school.






This morning I happened to capture this picture of my four sweeties. They may be sitting on the kitchen floor in miss-matched pj's, but I'll always love this memory!! They are all looking at the camera.

This afternoon we ventured out and went to the mall. It was a fun afternoon and the roads were very clear. The kids and I had a fun time with friends having lunch and shipping!

Gary is back from another week of travel and I am thankful we have a healthy weekend ahead. This time last weekend was not fun for any of us.

Happy weekend!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

28 degrees, tacos & a box...

The kids got Christmas gifts from Aunt Susan back home.  They love the gifts and have been playing with them, but they have spent an equal amount of time playing with the box.  Boxes are cool!!  Pusshhhhh!

Today I did something I don't think I would have done in Texas.  I walked Layla to school this morning and it was 18 degrees.  Then at noon-ish I walked Hayden to school and the temperature was 28 degrees.  We'd barely go outside in Texas if the weather is this cold.  In Texas the kids can't play outside at recess if it is less than 40 degrees.  Guess what the temp is here?!?  20 degrees.  The kids can play outside as long as it is above 20 degrees.  We are getting adjusted to the  weather and 28 didn't seem that cold.  My ears where cold and that is about it.  I need to wear more hats.  I don't want hat head, but I hate when my ears freeze.  What do you put on your ears to keep them warm? 

Have I told y'all about baked tacos?  I made them again tonight.  Some of my twitter girls tweeted about them.  I also saw them on Pinterest.  I was scared to make them because I thought the shells would be soggy.  HELLO...they are not soggy.  They are the best thing you'll ever eat.  I really feel like I already posted about these, but I can't find the post.  This is one thing I don't mind over-sharing!

I brown beef and add taco seasoning.  I made homemade refried beans.  Then I just put beans and meat in the shells and top with cheese and bake for 10 or so minutes.  The kids love them and the adults do too!  So you should make them!

I sure do love these little bundled up munchkins!!

Christmas 2012

We had a great Christmas day!  We all stayed in our pajamas all day long and before we went to bed we changed into clean pajamas.  It was so fun for the kids to be here and play with their new toys all day long.  We got 3 new Wii games and so Gary and I had fun too.  I love playing games as a family, but they usually laugh at me because I get so mad when I lose.

Here are the kiddos right before we headed downstairs for the day.

I just love seeing their happy faces....

until they get downstairs and see their gifts.

Hayden said, BUT I WANTED A REAL GUITAR. 

The boy was SO mad until he heard the guitar being played.  Then we was good with it and hasn't set it down since!

Layla was thrilled with her Furby.  I named it Snowflake.  She still calls it Furby.

Hayden loves his rockin' cool guitar.

Layla got a bear-ish looking animal.  It's an inkoo and you can color it and the ink is washable.  She has colored it twice and I have washed it twice.  It really is cool.  She loves this thing.  She loves it even more that she can change it's look.

Layla is showing Hayden how his laptop works.

Hayden loves all his gifts, but LOVES his wallet with attached chain.

He the wallet/chain concept a Disney Channel show and has been asking for one for weeks.  It is the cutest thing when he asks me to hook it to his pajamas.  haha!  He makes me laugh.

Layla was an awesome helper in the kitchen.

We made monkey bread.  It was a great Christmas Day breakfast served with eggs and bacon.

Gary surprised me with a new Keurig!  We have a regular coffee maker, but I have been asking for a Keurig for months.  We had Christmas coffee all day long!

I'm sorta thankful for a fun day of playing with toys and video games.  I am feeling terrible and can't seem to kick this cold.  I'm hoping I'll feel better soon!

Merry Christmas!!