*WARNING*...Picture Overload!!!

Happy New Year! I hope your holidays were wonderful! Here are some highlights of our Christmas and a a few of our favorite things...

Family: My parents arrived the day after Christmas and are still blessing us with their presence! :)

Good Food: we enjoyed dining out with the whole gang...

with just the adults...

and some fine home cooking (if I do say so myself) ...

On New Year's Eve we enjoyed our families favorite dessert...Root Beer Floats!

Good Times: Santa brought our family Rock Band 2... even Grandpa rocked out with us!

...not to mention, Dave got to go to the range several times and embark on one of his very favorite pass times!

Carter was thrilled when Grandpa took him and his buddy, Brock, to the high school to play football on the "real" field (equipped with astro-turf and everything).

Surprises: Dave got me a digital photo frame...how cool is that?

...and he got me a camel back backpack...did I mention I am going to do a triathlon this spring? That will surely help (and I think I'll need all the help I can get)!

The kiddos were thrilled to get a new trampoline net (as on Thanksgiving day they ripped a huge hole in the net sending 4 children onto the ground below, dog pile style...it was not a pretty sight!)

Lauren was happy to finally have a reading chair for her room. The webkinz clothes were a bonus!

Carter loved his new football...

and Taylor looked cute in her new mittens and such (believe it or not, we do need these in Texas occasionally!)

Homemade Gifts always rank at the top of our list. Dave's mom made us this beautiful quilt. Isn't it divine? I LOVE IT!!!

Carter made me this trivet at scouts!

And I made Dave a cover for his re-loader (a funny looking contraption he uses to reload bullets making his favorite pass time more affordable) so it wouldn't get dusty and dirty in the garage.

But MOST of all, we enjoyed EACH OTHER!

Here's to another great year!

Merry Christmas from our house....

......to yours

Twas the Night Before Christmas...

Gingerbread Houses

The Countdown is on...three more days! YIPEE!!!

"Freckle Freaks"

Lauren was sad after school today because she said that everyone at school makes fun of her freckles. Carter said, "It's okay Lauren, all my friends call me freckle freak and even made up a song. I just dance and act like it's funny because if you have freckles, that makes you funny." That seemed to cheer her up. So, here's a shout out to all the "Freckle Freaks" out there...you know who you are! :)

It's Monday!

SO, this is how my morning started off....

Yep, as I was backing out of the garage to go do my crossing guard job (need I mention that it was 32 degrees outside with a windchill of 17 degrees) I hit the side of the garage door with my mirror. Lovely. At least the kids weren't in the car at that moment or they may have learned a new word or two. :) Happy Monday Y'all!

Girl's Weekend...

My friend Lynn and I left Friday afternoon and went to Bastrop, TX (about an hour from our homes) to stay at the Hyatt Lost Pines Resort (http://lostpines.hyatt.com/). We had a grand ol' time. We enjoyed dining out, roasting smores by the fire pit, movies, working out, rock climbing, zip lining, and a leisurely afternoon at the spa. Oh, and did I mention my 60 minute massage? It doesn't get much better than that! I loved the resort and want to take my family back one of these days. Here are some pictures from our weekend...

Breakfast Saturday morning...

Waiting on the bus to go rock climbing and zip lining...

Ready for our adventure...

Lynn and Halli trying to climb~it really is harder than it looks!

Halli...

Lynn Zip Lining...

Halli Zip Lining...

Taylor's Band Concert...

Tonight was Taylor's first band concert and it was awesome! I gained a new respect for her when she had to teach me how to play Jingle Bells on her oboe. The reasoning was that the best way to learn, is to teach. So, they had to teach one of their parents how to play a song on their instrument...then, all the parents got to play Jingle Bells at the concert together! It was pretty funny.

Ms. Gonzales (Taylor's band teacher) & Taylor

Here's a video of Taylor and the other oboe artists playing their little piece....

Here they're playing Up on the Housetop...

This is The Hannukah Song...

Twas' the days before Christmas...

...when I decorated my house,

not a creature was stirring....
not even Maggie!

The stockings were hung by the chimney with care,

In hopes that St. Nicolas soon would be there.

The children were nestled all snug in MY bed...

...while visions of Christmas Break dance in their heads;

Now, can I settle my brain for a very LONG nap?

Orderly Conduct

I think we often love traits of others that we do not possess. One thing I love about Dave is that he is so orderly and neat. When I do things, I'm a bit more half-hazard and messy! ( I think I got that from my dad. *grin*) I clean up nicely but tend to be less "graceful" than he. Tonight I had to run Taylor to Young Women's and my blueberry muffins were still cooking so I asked Dave if he would take them out of the oven for me when the timer went off.

This is what I found when I got home...

Isn't that cute? He lined them up in neat, tidy, rows! I LOVE IT! I just smiled to myself and thought, "Yep, one of the many reasons I love him!" Cause when I do it, I just dump them out of the pan and they lay where they land....

Breaking the Wishbone!

First you must make a wish, then you PULL...

And the winner is...

...and she definitely DID NOT gloat! ;)