Christmas goodies, Christmas Eve, and Christmas dinner...oh my!

Christmas seems to come and go SO fast anymore-I feel like we never get to sit back and take it all in...and this year was the worst yet! On Christmas Eve-Eve Rob and I were up till 4am working on the kiddos presents from "Santa", Christmas Eve till about midnight...what happened to loading up a cart at target and them being thrilled with all of those toys? We also had to make our annual Christmas goodies for friends and neighbors, and get the house ready for all of Rob's family to come on Christmas day.

Neely making pretzel truffles

The kitchen was a disaster but we had so much fun!

Santa visited our house on Christmas Eve morning, because the kids were so good, right?! ha- no- so we could have the house in perfect order on Christmas. ( I'm a little OCD ) Santa brought Rob an XBOX 360 with Kinect--it was set up and ready to go...ignore the wires and the box holding up the Kinect-it was late and work is still left to be done.

Santa brought Neely a stage...yes a stage! Rob built a stage/bed for her during the past week. It turned out better than I could have imagined!

It looks like a daybed when the stage is up....

And easily converts to a stage when she wants to sing and dance. She was soooo excited!


Christmas day was full of cooking, cooking, and more cooking....it was so much fun having everyone over but so much work at the same time. The kids love hanging out with their cousins, although I think they have out grown the "kiddie"table....

All in all it was a great Christmas...but somehow we didn't get a single family photo! I guess we were all too busy playing, visiting, and eating to even remember. Hope all of you enjoyed your Christmas!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!!

Happy 8th Birthday Robo!

8 years ago today I was fat (HUGE), uncomfortable, cranky, nervous, excited....Rob was finally born at 9:47 pm and I didn't even see him until the next morning. He was beautiful, perfect, sweet, all I had hoped for, and all that I never even knew I wanted. I can't believe it has been EIGHT years!!! He is sweet, caring, funny, laid back....hard-working, honest, smart....I could go on and on.

I always get nostalgic on the kids birthdays. I remember what Rob and I did the day before, that morning, the next few weeks having a new baby in the house. It's not only a birthday but a day that we celebrate our "family'". Our family that changed and grew with each one of their births. We wouldn't be the same people without each of those little munchkins and I love them dearly! It's funny how what you wish for your kids before their born changes as they get older. And how that list of wishes grows and grows. I miss that sweet, fat, bald baby sometimes...but my athletic, health nut, smart kid works too : )

Happy Birthday "Wobbo" We Love You!!!!

It's been a busy month!!!!

Thanksgiving and Christmas happen all at once in Oklahoma every year....this year was more shopping than resting and visiting but Lindy (my sis-in-law) and I had a lot of fun!

This is Neely's "cool" pose. Every time I pull out the camera she pulls out the peace signs!

Look at those baby Uggs!! I hate that every time I see her she has changed sooo much! She was so funny on this visit...I could just eat her up! And Neely thinks Makenzie hung the moon--she cries every time we leave Oklahoma.

Then came Rob's birthday...I can't believe we are celebrating his 8th birthday!....

Great friends hanging out! I love these little guys! Last year when we did his first sleepover it was chaos!...I had no idea that kids could jump from a top bunk and try to catch a ceiling fan, or eat a bag of popcorn, an entire box of cookies, and 2 pitchers of koolaide in 20 minutes...but they did! This year was completely different- they played outside, played DS/Wii and we took them bowling. They are a great bunch of boys!!!!

Blowing out those 8 candles!!!!!

I always have a hard time in December enjoying the season. Usually I am so stressed out trying to go shopping, decorate, send out Christmas cards, get ready for holiday parties....as soon as Christmas is over I feel exhausted and like I didn't enjoy the busy month. So I have been shopping early, prioritizing my countless lists, and this is the next priority....

Christmas Cards!!!!

Two years ago I made a coffee table book with captions and small stories about the year that our family had. Rob had started kinder, we had built a house, taken the kids on a few big vacations...and we wanted to share that with all of our family. Our family loved the books and the kids still look at them all of the time! Shutterfly made it super easy!!! (Find these books at http://www.shutterfly.com/photo-books) So this year, when trying to pick out a Christmas card- They were my go-to site. They have so many great ones to choose from that I have had a hard time choosing. Here are some of my favorites...

You can find these cards and many more at www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationary.
Maybe this year I will get everything done and still have fun while doing it?! Soon to come- Awards pics from Rob's Championship football team!!!!

SUPER BOWL CHAMPIONS!!!!!

(favorite picture of the two of them-ever!!!!!)

Football ended on Saturday with a bang!!!! We made it through the playoffs and had the super bowl (championship) game on Saturday. Our team has a fantastic group of parents. And the majority of moms are all great friends so we probably got a little too excited and thought this would be the perfect time to put our creative minds to full power! We had rally rags and flags (thanks to Sherri), jingle-bell noise makers, signs, T-shirts....and a pep rally!!!! After a week of planning and stressing we had a pep rally in the elementary school gym for our boys. The cheerleaders for the league attended as did the high school and JV cheerleaders, the dance team, the Mascot, and a high school senior player even gave a pep talk. It was perfect!...now don't get me wrong- it was no high school pep rally but for a bunch of moms who haven't done anything like this in quite awhile-it was fantastic! We even had a slide show with "the Boys of Fall" song to end the rally with pictures from the entire season! (thanks nikki-it was amazing) I think most of us arrived at the field on Saturday with knots in our stomach and were holding back tears of joy as we watched our little guys take the field. The game was exciting, stressful, and most of all-a perfect example of TEAM work. It took every last one of those players and coaches to win that game!!! The boys came off the field so excited to have won...35-13!!!! I looked at Robo and he wasn't smiling-he was just watching everyone around him...I asked if he was ok and he said, "yeah-I just can't believe it's over". All of the build-up, practice, and hard work was done-and he didn't know what was next. Soon he was over the sadness and celebration began. I think we took about a million pictures. Big Rob couldn't even give a speech to the boys because he was crying...I know-your thinking really? they are only 7 and 8 years old...but it was perfect, it was amazing, it was a memory I will NEVER forget!!! The boys on that team have made great friends and I hope they continue to play "as a team" for the many years to come!!!!

Goofy kids-I think they were pretty tired of pictures at this point! : )

Dr Jekyll and MRS. Hyde

I remember being sooo excited about having a baby girl...a princess...a shopping buddy....a cheerleader....however, lately I have had a rebellious, out of control, UFC fighter. That's right- UFC fighter! She has always been an independent, strong-willed, quick-witted little princess (diva is more like it) but on Tuesday she turned into MRS.HYDE.
I got to school to pick her up from the after-school program and the teacher said, "She has been in quite a bit of trouble today. Could you please sign this paper because if she continues she will no longer be allowed to participate in this program." Holy crap!!! I instantly felt my face get red and my mind was racing with all of the thoughts of what could have happened. I turned to Neely and asked what she did...she simply said, "I punched a girl in the face. She only bled for a minute." OMG!!!! I froze- What do you say? What do you do? My first reaction- what child and is she ok? 2nd reaction-How do I handle this? What is a reasonable punishment for Neely? I apologized to the teacher, walked Neely to the car, and counted to 10 about 20 times!!! We went straight to football practice from there so I didn't even get to talk to Rob until dinner about 7 pm that night. We made Neely recount the story in her words... basically the girl told Neely that she had make-up in her backpack, Neely asked to use some, the girl said she was just joking, Neely said don't lie to me and punched her in the face. Where is the nearest boarding school and what did I fail to do as a parent for her to think this is reasonable?! After a longgggg talk, many privileges revoked, and no TV she is starting to come around. The princess, fun-loving, baby girl has turned into a "mean girl". My worst nightmare!!! I want her to be a good person, good friend, one who will stand up for her friends, and do things right. Not the girl who everyone avoids making eye contact with and who thinks they can get what they want by pushing everyone else around. We have spent a lot of time together this last week talking about what being a "big girl" means, responsibilities, and expectations. I hope and pray that this is a one time occurrence because if not- we are seriously forking out some dough for boarding school!

HALLOWEEN!!!!!

A ninja (again) and a mermaid....so I'm not a very creative mom this year!?

We had the annual Buffalo Gap Elementary Fall Festival on the 23rd. The kids had a blast! Trick-or-treating this year was in Lawn with a bunch of kiddos and friends. We rode on a trailer all over Lawn! It was great-the kids bailed off at each house while we got to sit on the hay and enjoy the great weather!!! Thanks to the Cadjews for having us over! We can't wait until next year!!!!

The boys are ready for some candy!

The hay-ride! Just about impossible to get them all looking at the same camera!!!

WORLD SERIES!!!!!

Last Friday, October 22, Rob surprised me with World Series game 3 tickets for my birthday!!!! Could I have asked for anything better?!!!! It was an amazing experience to say the least!! After a longgggg week- we needed some chill time with each other.

Our week began on Monday with a small accident involving a cow and my Sequoia...yes...a cow! And no-I wasn't driving-Rob was! Between arguing with insurances, trying to get a rental, taking mine to the shop, having sick kiddos, etc. It was a terrible week! We just kept telling ourselves- we can make it to Saturday, we can make it to Saturday!!!! The Sequoia is now in the shop, I have a rental (that feels like a micro machine) and the cow owners insurance is paying. So all is well on this Monday!!!

Back to the World Series.....I thought that the ALCS game we went to had an amazing vibe but this game had an indescribable feeling!!! There were people EVERYWHERE! There were more people at this game then ever before at Rangers stadium....54,000+ Rob and I had a blast! We stayed with some old friends that night and were up way too late catching up and telling old stories-laughing till we had tears rolling. It was a great weekend all around...one that we totally needed! Thank you Rob- best birthday present EVER!!!!