Thanksgiving

Like our trip to Plano, Thanksgiving seems to have come and gone very quickly! Unfortunately, Olivia started feeling bad that day and I didn't get to take very many pictures. We celebrated with family in Magnolia over at my aunt and uncle's house. Jacob had fun riding his bike and playing with his cousins outside.

cousin Hunter

one of the few smiles before she got sick

Olivia with her great-grandmother a.k.a. MeMe

And the past few days since Thanksgiving, both kids have been sick! It looks like tonight we may be through the worst of it so I am keeping my fingers crossed!

Trip to Plano

The kids and I left last Tuesday morning and headed north to Big D! It was a last minute trip that turned out to be crazy but fun and way too short! We wish we could have stayed another day but one night was all we could do with Thanksgiving being Thursday. We will definitely have to go back soon so we can see more family and friends that we missed this trip. I met Mandi and her crew so between the two of us, we had 5 kids and one hotel room!

Here are Jonah and Jacob in their pull-out bed that they thought was "so cool"!

And here they are wrestling around together in the room before a much needed break outside!

One of my favorite parts of the trip was taking the kids to the neighborhood I grew up in and also to my old elementary school. Mandi and I met there in Kindergarten 27 years ago so it was fun for us to take our kids back there together! (Wow that makes me feel old!) We were really looking forward to playing on the playground, but unfortunately, it is long gone and a new one has taken its place. However, the kids didn't care and still had a great time!

Jacob swinging around

Olivia having fun on the slide

Hi Cash!

Olivia loved waiting for Jacob to come down the slide

Keeping true to my luck with cameras, my battery died at the park so unfortunately I don't have any pictures from the rest of the day. But if you want to see what we did next, you can check out Danette's blog. She was gracious enough to let us stop by and play!

It was a whirlwind of a trip but I am glad we went and shared some special time with cousins and friends :)

Better Late than Never.....Halloween 2008

Since we are 4 days away from the next major holiday, I decided I better get these Halloween pictures posted quickly. I figure its better late than never! I am so glad I was finally able to load these on our computer tonight! I *hope* the camera will continue to cooperate!! Ok, now on to the pictures!

Jacob the Dragon & Olivia as a Baby Chick

Jacob showing off his wings and tail

Getting ready to go trick-or-treating with our pirate friends

the cutest chick ever!

Jacob wasn't interested in taking too many pictures (just going trick-or-treating) so here I am with Olivia as she is waving hi to the kids going by

And here are a few other random ones from the month of October in no particular order...
mommy's little "helper"

Does this even need a caption??

Olivia LOVES books! She will go sit and look at them by herself all the time!

YAY!!

I got my camera back out today and messed around with it a little bit just to give it ONE more shot and see if I could fix it. I did the same thing I have done a hundred times in the last few weeks, but for some reason tonight I had the magic touch. MY CAMERA IS WORKING AGAIN!!! That just made my day! Even though I am still hoping Santa will bring me an upgrade, this is so much better than nothing!!! WAY overdue Halloween pics to come soon!!!

What we've been up to...

Jacob had a mild tummy bug last weekend but thankfully it didn't last too long and none of the rest of us got it! Here he is holding his Dallas Cowboys football before the game last Sunday and just a few hours before he got sick! (We had no idea it was coming!)

Miss Olivia has been very active lately! And loves pushing her stroller around the house!

She also loves to play with Jacob's keyboard he got a few years ago at Christmas. I think we might have a future singer on our hands :)

Miss Mischief

Miss Mischief a.k.a. Olivia has been getting into EVERYTHING lately. I took these pictures the other day and just haven't had time to write the post. I am short on time today, so I will let the pictures tell the story...

yep......BUSTED!

Give Away!

I recently became a fan of Tip Junkie. She has great ideas or tips on all kinds of things. Right now, she is giving away tons of prizes from moms who have their own business. The contest lasts 12 days and there will be 2 winners each day. You should check it out!

In his own time...

Jacob likes to do things in his own time. Must be his stubbornness and strong will coming out, but anytime we try to "make" him do something, we get resistance. If we sit back and just wait, he will eventually do things on his own time. Like learning to ride a bike for example. Back in March, on his 4th birthday, he got a brand new bike! He was excited at first, but then the newness wore off and he really wasn't interested in riding it. That is, until last night (a mere 7 months later)!! It has been raining here all week and the kids haven't been able to play outside. So, last night, I went and pulled my car out of the garage so he could have some room to play. It was the closest thing to being outside that we were going to get! I assumed he would ride his big wheel, like he does every other day. But for whatever reason, he decided this was the night he would hop on his bike and teach himself how to ride! It wasn't long before he ran inside telling us to come and watch him. He was so proud of himself! (Forgive the quality of pics...still using my camera phone and it was dark outside)

Not to be out shined by her big brother, Olivia had to get in on the action!

Hopefully, we will get some sunshine soon and Jacob can ride around the cul-de-sac. The next step will be getting rid of the training wheels, but I don't think we will push the issue. After all, he will do it in his own time.....

Operation Christmas Child

Jacob's school participates each year in a special project called Operation Christmas Child. Each child is asked to fill a shoe box of new items such as toys, school supplies and hygiene products. The boxes are wrapped and shipped to needy children across the globe. Being the procrastinator that I am, we waited until today to get our box ready since they are due tomorrow! They have been talking about the boxes at school and Jacob was excited to get started on his. I let him do all the deciding as to who would get his box. He of course chose a boy and then out of the 3 choices for ages (2-4, 5-9, 10-14) he picked 2-4 yrs. Hmmmmm....I wonder how he came up with this choice?

We took 2 trips to the store today in order to get all the "perfect items" to fill the box. He kept picking out BIG toys like ride on cars, remote controlled jeeps, etc. He didn't quite understand that all of our items had to fit in SHOE BOX. After some gentle persuasion from yours truly, we were finally able to agree on what to get. Just to give you an idea, here are some things he picked out....slinky, Scooby Doo stickers, box of hotwheel cars, crayons, markers, Snoopy toothbrush, toothpaste and candy! I was happy to see that candy was an acceptable item and I saw this as an excellent opportunity to get rid of some of the Halloween stash that is lurking around!

Here he is carefully picking out the candy!

Filling up the box

The finished product!

All day he kept asking WHO the box was for and named every friend that he has and kept asking why he couldn't just give it to them. I kept trying to explain to him that we didn't know who exactly was going to get our box, but that God did and He would pick the right boy for our box.

We wrote a note which included our address and stuck it inside the box. We also said a prayer for the boy who will receive it. I hope doing things like this will help Jacob learn how lucky and blessed he is!

If you would like more information on this project click here.

Date with Jakey

Today Jakey and I had a date!!! We went to eat lunch together and then headed to the movies. Obviously, he got to choose which movie we saw but that was fine. I actually enjoyed it! And I especially enjoyed being able to have some one on one time with my little buddy.

Love you Bub!

P.S. I have resorted to using my camera phone for pics....it's better than nothing until Santa comes!

A special day....kinda

November 7th is a special day....well to my hubby and me at least! You see, it was this day 15 years ago, yes I said FIFTEEN that we officially became a couple! We had been dating a few weeks and decided to make things exclusive, an official relationship! Hey, it was high school, people! And we have been together ever since! Crazy, isn't it? True love is a blessing! I would love to post a picture from back then but digital cameras didn't exist! And since my own camera is broken (have I mentioned how distraught I am over that??) I will have to end without a pic. Unless I can figure out a way to get one on here or if any of my friends/relatives reading this have one to post from from WAY back when (aka 1993), please share!!

Withdrawal :(

Ok, so now that I am camera-less (yikes) I am having serious withdrawals! You don't understand.... My digital camera is usually on my kitchen counter everyday and I am constantly snapping shots of the kids. And I always take the camera wherever we go! Call it obsessed, call it boredom, call it whatever, but it is bothering me that my camera died last Saturday and I have not taken any pics ALL WEEK! It seems like a lifetime! So I have decided that I will pick some random pics that are saved on the computer from the past month or so that I haven't posted yet. I just cant' stand looking at this page with no pics. ENJOY :)

Whew, ok I feel better now!

Halloween

We had a great Halloween! Unfortunately, my camera decided to quit working yesterday so I am not able to load any pics on the computer. BIG BUMMER! But we did take some so they are at least on my memory card!! Jacob was a dragon and enjoyed wearing his fabulous costume! And I have to say that he was the one and only dragon I saw all night! Olivia was a baby chick and it turned out really cute. At first she wasn't digging the costume, but once we went outside and she was distracted by everything that was going on, she did great. We pulled her in the wagon to a few houses and then Craig took Jacob with some of the neighbors and they trick or treated around the neighborhood. The rest of us stayed put in the cul-de-sac and made our assembly line passing out candy. We have done this the last few years and it is always more fun passing out candy this way than sitting at home alone. Jacob ate so much candy that night his tummy hurt! Well, if I get my camera working again, you KNOW I will post some pics. It looks like Santa might need to bring me a new camera for Christmas! HINT HINT!!!