Christmas Village

The first year that we were married, Shane gave me my first Christmas village piece and every year since, he gives me another piece. I cheated a little a couple of years ago and bought some extra trees and little park pieces, but everything else has been added on every year. I have always loved the village, but each year the kids seem to like it more and more. This year, they could hardly wait to put it up and Gibson and Hayden have climbed up on chairs to look at it every day. Gibson also makes sure to  turn on all of the little lights every day and is very proud of himself. I appreciate it because it reminds me of how much my husband loves me.

This is Gibson's favorite piece.

This was this year's new addition. The kids love that she skates by herself.

Here are the boys checking out the village...

Blessing in Disguise

Because of our work schedules, it is not easy for our family to take a vacation. So, for Christmas break, Shane took off extra time and we had planned a trip to Ruidoso for a family vacation. We were going to leave Christmas day and spend 3 days in the mountains. Two days before Christmas, Shane came down with some horrible flu virus and it quickly began spreading to the kids. At first we were all a little disappointed, but the cancelled trip turned out to be a blessing in disguise. For the first time in a very long time, we have stayed home and enjoyed each other's company and just relaxed! Besides the throwing up and frequent visits to the toilet by various members of the family, it really has been pretty great.

My poor babies! Look at those little, flushed cheeks :(

Merry Christmas!

I hope that everyone had a merry Christmas! I know that we did! On Christmas Eve, we always go to Mimi's house to open gifts with Shane's side of the family that all live in Fort Worth. This year was no different and we headed over to her house in the early evening. Three hours later, we finished up and headed home. I have no pictures, so imagine lots of loud relatives and even louder children running around and trying to outdo each other in the noise level... My kids knocked over three FULL drinks onto the carpet, (Landry poured one of them all down her front and ran around naked because the last time that she had an accident, I forgot to put a new shirt in the bag), choked on some chips and spilled cracker crumbs everywhere! It was a time to remember!:) Thank you Mimi for your hospitality.

When we finished with all of that excitement we headed back to the house and started all of our Christmas Eve traditions. We read 'Twas the Night Before Christmas, decorated our Santa cookies, put out the milk (with a green straw from Gibson), made sure the reindeer had their carrots and then headed off to bed. Thankfully, with all of the excitement, by this time it was pretty late and the kids went straight to sleep.

Decorating our cookies...

The delectable treats left for Santa...

The next morning, Grace was the first out of bed and the rest tumbled after her pretty quickly. Grace got a bike from Santa and she told us later that as she was running through the living room to our room that she saw it and started to cry! Hayden got a tricycle from Santa, Landry was brought a rocking horse that she couldn't be less impressed with and Gibson got the Legos that he had asked for. Gibson, I think, was half shocked that he got anything. He told us later that their were, "no rocks!" (One of the little girls in his class at school told him that he was going to get a rock for Christmas and I think that he thought that she had a direct line to Santa.) 

Gibson with his Legos, just like Uncle Tom!

 

Here's the bike and the rest of the loot!

 

Hayden could hardly wait to jump on his new tricycle!

After we opened our family gifts, Shane's brother and sisters, parents and their kids came to our house and we had a huge Christmas again! Our extended family is getting huge! The cousins all had a great time playing together.

Jaimi with Pampa and Memaw from San Antonio.

Terry and Kelly

Landry talked on the phone the whole time

Grace with Cole and Corbin

I couldn't get all of them in the picture. Landry wasn't cooperating. Look how cute Hayden and Gibson look together!

SHE made me do it!!

I sent my older two children to lie down for their nap. They were both really quiet and everything seemed normal. As I walked into the room to check on them, Gibson looked at me from the bed with a horrified look on his face. Grace refused eye contact. They were watching TV! I said, "What are you doing?!" Grace tried to be nonchalant, "What?" I looked at Gibson and said, "You know what I'm talking about, don't you?" He nodded his head and then violently pointed at Grace and said, "This was her idea! She did it!" So much for closing ranks and defending each other. Maybe they will learn that one later...

Blisters Part II

Well, I have had several requests to finish off this story with Shane's response, so here goes:

G: Do you have any blisters, Dad?

S: Sure, I have some blisters. Go ask your mom to show you her blisters!

(Then in honor of Meet The Parents)

S: I have nipples, Jack, can you milk me?

Blisters

Gibson came in just a few minutes ago, right before bed. He was fresh from his bath and had on underwear, but not a shirt. The conversation with Dad went like this:

(Touching his chest and looking down)

G: Dad I think that I have a blister.

D: Really? Where is it?

G: (Touching his nipples) Well, I think that there is one here and one here... Do you have any blisters?

Merry Christmas!

I was going to send out a photo card with our family picture. Obviously, none of you have received one, so pretend that this is it! Merry Christmas!

Trip to San Antonio

We made a very quick trip to San Antonio last weekend. We had a good time seeing family that we haven't seen since last February. Grace played an enormous amount of UNO and wore everyone else out with it as well. Kelly and Adam were both really good sports.

There is a tree in the backyard that the kids played on for the majority of the time that we were there. Gibson ripped a shirt and pair of pants that couldn't be repaired. He is all boy, isn't he? Notice the black eye in all of it's glory... As it was healing, the blood draining blacked the other one as well.

Pampaw had a really good time with the boys. I think that book was read around 100 times.

Gracie got her turn in the tree, too.

Great friends

We have such great friends! A while back I called Ashley and told here that I needed my carpets shampooed. Then of course we planned a day for her and the girls to come from Stephenville and bring her carpet cleaner. Shane, of course, thought that we were both crazy, and Ashley even more than me, since she would drive all the way to Fort Worth to shampoo carpets. That's what I call a great friend! Our kids had a great time playing while we talked and worked.

June trying to get on the trampoline.

The big kids: Gibson, Grace and Blair

What a month!

I have been on a long hiatus. This time of the year for a music teacher is VERY hectic! In addition to Thanksgiving, I have put together and presented 4 programs with one more on the way, one extremely huge fundraiser, Gracie's science fair project and have tried to keep up with the rest of our family this month. It's been busy!

Thanksgiving week was terrific! We got a WHOLE week off from school and we had a blast! We headed to the farm on Monday and spent the whole day and night with Grandma and Grandpa. The kids had so much fun! In fact, Gibson came in just a few minutes ago asking when we were going to the farm again. 

The first stop was to see the chickens. Gibson and Hayden got a huge kick out of chasing the chickens around the pen. (I don't remember Mom and Dad ever letting us do that!:)

They rode goats... Hayden kept saying, "Whoa! Whoa!"

Landry had someone tote her around at all times. Grandpa was happy to oblige.

Grace followed Aunt Judith everywhere. I think that she was happy to see us go:)

The kids climbed all over the tractor. Landry could only get as high as the bottom of the wheel without help. She was a little disappointed. She spent the whole time chasing the big kids wanting to do everything they were doing.

Grandma and Grandpa planned a craft. The kids made gourd bird houses. Grandpa cut holes in the front of the gourds for the door and the kids had lots of fun and big messes painting them.

Landry finally found something that she could do. We turned around and she had emptied an entire box of Kleenex.

We had a great time with Grandma and Grandpa and the kids can hardly wait to head back out to the farm.

After Cisco, we headed to Brownwood to see Memaw Mize. We had a good visit. Late Tuesday afternoon, we took the kids to the park that is around the corner from Memaw's house. Gibson was on the merry-go-round and decided that he wanted off. Instead of saying, "Please let me off," he just let go. This was the result.

It immediately looked like this. We (keep in mind that I was freaking out, more like Shane) checked to make sure that his vision was not damaged, the bones around the eye were in place, he didn't have a concussion, and fluid was not coming from the eye. (The pediatrician said that was all we could do, along with motrin.) He cried more about the ice pack that we were trying to put on his eye than he did about the injury. He was back on the playground 15 minutes later. I asked him, "Gibson does it hurt?" He answered in his most macho voice, "It only hurts when I smile..."

By the next morning, his eye was completely swollen shut. At first, (because he is the most vain child I know) he wouldn't let me take his picture until I told him that he looked like a pirate. Then he was happy to pose!

Doesn't he look fierce?! He was most excited about going to school to show all of his friends.

After Brownwood, we headed back to our house for Thanksgiving day. Aunt Miriam came and stayed through Saturday. Shane had gotten tickets to the Cowboys/Seahawks game Thanksgiving day so we were here this year for the holiday. We had a great meal and were joined by Aunt Miriam, Uncle Noah, and Aunt Esther. The next morning we girls (including Grace) got up at 4 am and headed out for our traditional Black Friday shopping. It really was a fantastic week!

NASA

Grace informed me in the car today that she had just read an article that NASA has found an alien on the outside of the solar system. They have taken a picture and it is completely official. For clarification, she reiterated that this was "NASA, the space people, not the car parts."

"Baby Book"

Hayden refuses to call Landry "Landry". He always refers to Landry as "Baby." We have tried to get him to say her name numerous times and he always goes back to plain old "Baby." Funny thing is that she answers to it. Anyway, tonight Landry was about to get into something and I said, "Landry Brooke!" Hayden quickly echoed, "Baby Book!" I guess that we have graduated to something beyond just "Baby."

The injustices of childhood...

Grace has been so ticked since I picked her up from school today! Evidently, they had a sub in their class today and the kids were so mistreated. Several boys in the back were talking while the rest of the kids were reading quietly. The sub had had enough and she punished the whole class by making everyone write 20 sentences.  

"I will not talk. I will not talk when the teacher says to stop."

She has been extremely indignant all evening. She informed me earlier that she wanted to "march up to that sub and tell her that she shouldn't punish the whole class! She should only punish the boys that were talking, not everyone else!"

Oh my gosh!

(I've been told that I need to expand this story!) Gibson has been "getting" other people by goosing them. (Mainly teachers at my school. Very humiliating!) I was trying to explain why we don't "get" people like that, and he wasn't thinking that I really knew what I was talking about. When Shane got home, he started the conversation off:

S: Gibson, some people think of their bottoms as their "privates". We can't touch other people's privates.

G: Oh.

S: Gibby, where are your privates?

G: Well, I left them at school!

S: (Trying not to laugh) Well, that's a good place for them!

How do you respond to that!?

Trick or Treat

I felt like such a jerk this Halloween! Shane and I had been discussing what we were going to do and making sure that we had the kids costumes covered. We had talked about our plans using terms such as "we." For a little background, every year Shane is a part of a large event called Scaredy Cats that is held at LaGrave Field where the Fort Worth Cats play. It is usually hosted by the Hi-Kids organization that is based out of Greenbriar and Shane works a booth. Because of all of our little ones, this was the first year that I was actually going to attend. In the past, we have always sent the older two with Dad. Well anyway, when I got off work on Friday, I called Shane to find out what time he was going to be at the house and what the game plan was going to be. He started telling me where I should take the kids first and then what time to take them out to LaGrave Field. I immediately started to get upset because I hadn't realized that I was doing the whole trick or treat thing by myself. (How, I don't know since from the background I just gave you, he obviously works at it every year!) After I snapped at him and then calmed myself down, we got all ready for our Halloween fun. We trick or treated a couple of houses and then went out to the ball field. When we got out there, I realized that Shane wasn't running a booth, he was running the whole event! This was a huge event with tons of bounce houses, live music, games, and of course lots of candy. The evening even ended with a huge fireworks show!

All together, there were over 4,000 people at the field for the event. Here I am fussing because I have to take the kids by myself... I didn't feel like a very good wife after that! 

Anyway, other than my selfish tantrum, we had a great night and the kids had a blast!

Grace was Little Red Riding Hood. Originally, Gibson was going to be the Big Bad Wolf, but at the last minute decided to go with Buzz Lightyear again this year. Hayden refused to pose with them in this picture... 

He wanted his own... He realized for the first time this year that he was dressing up as something. He kept looking at himself and then at the Woody doll he was holding in his hand and saying, "I Woody!"

Here we are with our most favorite candy in the entire world: a sucker!

Our life group

We love our Life Group from our church! Our Life Group meets on Friday nights (not always every Friday) and has Bible study, fellowship, and most of all, our friends! While Shane was out of town, our leader's family invited us over to their house for dinner. Just so happened, that several of the husbands were out of town that night for various reasons, so all of the wives got together with the kids. We had a great time carving pumpkins, and the kids wore themselves out before bedtime.

Hayden and Gibson both painted their pumpkins. Although, when we got home Gibson was very hurt that we didn't carve his as well as paint it. He had gotten a little confused about what we were doing, so we carved his later.

Here is Grace, Mia and Hayden with our finished product.

Love

It is an exciting thing to watch your child fall in love. Grace has become completely consumed with gymnastics. I knew that it was happening. Every piece of furniture in our house has been converted into some sort of equipment for her practice. Every moment spent on the trampoline is used to learn new and better flips and stunts. The hall and any open space in the house is for her cartwheels, round offs, back bends, head stands, hand stands,  and the list goes on. Tuesdays and Thursdays are her favorite days because she has 2 hour practices immediately after school. She is furious with me if I am late leaving the school because of choir practice or anything else having to do with the students. Even after all of that, I still didn't realize just how devoted she is to her sport. This last week, our school hosted a Trunk or Treat on a Thursday night. In the past, this has been one of her favorite events and I thought that this year would be no different. I gave her the choice to skip gymnastics for Trunk or Treat, thinking that she would. She immediately informed me that she had to go to the gym and that she wouldn't be skipping. After my surprise, I said, "no problem!" She later told her coach, "I had to be here! Don't we have a meet in a couple of weeks?!" It's exciting to see her make mature decisions with thoughts to the future and not just what is exciting and fun for the present moment.

Grace and one of her team mates.

Pumpkins galore!

Our family loves the fall! I personally love all the colors - oranges, reds, deep browns and purples. The chill that is in the air is a welcome relief from overwhelming summers. The kids enjoy the newness of being at school and the prospect of the coming year. For Shane, football is a huge part of that love... We took the kids to a local farmer's market for lunch and then took some pictures with the pumpkins as well as getting some produce while we were there. You would never know from this picture that Gibson, within the hour, had fallen off of a bench while we were waiting for Dad to bring us our lunch, and cracked his head on the floor. I thought that we were about to leave for the emergency room, it was so hard! He immediately had a knot the size of a golf ball on the back of his head...

Hayden had a blast running around and finding the stems on all of the pumpkins.

Grace did an excellent job posing. She has her "picture" smile on...

Landry was not at all impressed and was ready to go!

The end of the circus - I promise...

Gibson had to have his picture with the clown, Zero. Grace, who has barely gotten over her debilitating fear of clowns, was no where to be found...

Gibson was ready to go after intermission and didn't make it home before he passed out!

Circus part II

I was trying to get all of my pictures to upload to my blog and they were having a hard time. Here were the rest of them. 

Gib and Grace also rode a camel. Gibson kept asking, "What is that thing?!"  Grace said it was a little bumpy...

Since Big Terry is a Shriner, he got us into the circus for free. Thanks Pa!

I have a couple more pictures, but Blogger is not letting me load them! The kids had a great time and I had a wonderful time watching them enjoy the show so much. Sometimes as an adult, I forget how new and exciting everything is for them as a little kid. Gibson saw his first camel ever, and they both can now say that they have ridden an elephant.

Circus, Circus, Circus!

While Shane is out of town on his annual tour of conferences, I took the older two kids to the Shriner's Circus this afternoon. Hayden and Landry stayed home since the circus happened during their naptime. We had lots of fun and this circus was great! We went to the Barnum and Bailey circus a few years ago and I was not very impressed. This circus had all kinds of stuff. The acts were fast paced and exciting including the high wire act, motorcycles, elephants, a guy who could fold himself into a tiny box, gymnasts, trapeze artists and a husband/wife team that performed (I don't know what to call it...) arial gymnastics (?) on ropes and long pieces of fabric. The kids had a great time.

They got to ride the elephant. Gibson kept saying, "I never got to ride a elephant before!"