Daddy/Daughter Dance 2011

This year I decided to buy tickets for K. and her Daddy to go the Valentine's Daddy/Daughter dance. After talking it over with Hubs, we decided that for this first year we would let it be just K. Next year and the following years he will take both girls.

K. was very excited to go on a real "date" with her Daddy. Especially once she got the dress and shoes with heels. A lot of her friends from school were going to be there so the excitement on Friday morning was very high.

I got home from work and got her fed. Then we had to get her ready for the dance. She got her dress and tights and shoes on and asked me to come do her hair and makeup. Not that I really could do much with her hair but we did at least brush it out. Then we put a very little bit of makeup on to make her feel extra girlie and pretty. She did look pretty cute if I say so myself. And I do, and I can because I'm her mommy and it's my blog.

Hubs had to break out the tie and get all dressed up.


We got a few pictures of them together and then they headed off to the country club to dance the night away without brothers or sisters or mom in the way.

Hubs said they danced so much he was tired. Although he mentioned that K. didn't really do so much dancing as hopping around. But it doesn't really matter since they had fun. They snacked on the food they served, I know M&M's was something that was mentioned. And then they got to pick out a balloon when the dance was over. At this point, K. did remember her little sister and grabbed her a purple balloon. She then told A. all about it and how next year they would get to go together.

I know it's a silly thing, this Daddy/Daughter dance. But I couldn't help but want to give her a chance to enjoy her Dad a bit more. After all, if they are lucky someday they will have a real sweetheart who is as wonderful a man as their Daddy. And Hubs loved it also, getting to spend more time with his girls is always fun for all of them.

Plus it gets me a chance to get a great picture like this. This alone is worth it.

We got SNOW!

The kids were very excited to get snow last week. Enough for them to play in, have snow ball fights in and build a snowman in.









Then to top it off the temperature stayed so low for the entire week that the snow didn't melt for about 3 days (although it was more ice like after that)and the snowman, well he lasted a very long 6 days before he succumbed to our typical Texas January weather.

But the kids loved it and Hubs and I tried to make it a bit more fun for them. Even though it meant getting out of the warm house, getting wet and having way more laundry than usual.




But as Hubs said...they are only little once.


He's good like that, reminding me that the small stuff isn't so important. That's it's more important to enjoy ourselves and make memories. That's why I love him so much. Well at least until he took this picture of me without any makeup on. He just doesn't see things the same way as I do.

Thanksgiving 2010

We had Thanksgiving at our house this year. Since my parents moved here we have yet to have it at their house. It just seems to work better here in keeping the kids out of our hair while we finish all the cooking. And of course once the napping starts it is much easier to send them off to play video games or something else quiet if they are at our house.

Mom and Dad arrived early Thursday morning with Z. and A. who had been having sleep overs. And then Mom and I finished up with the last of the cooking. Z. had made homemade chocolate pie at Grandmama's house while she made the pumpkin and pecan pies. He also made deviled eggs for us. He did a great job with both. I've never even made a chocolate pie from scratch so I was very impressed with his.

A before picture of the crime scene. The kids always get so excited when I break out the china and crystal. They love getting to eat at the fancy table.

We got everything and everyone settled and then I remembered my camera. I put it up on the tripod and was going to get a group shot of us no matter what. Preferably before we all looked bloated and stuffed.

So we gathered around the table and said a prayer of Thanksgiving. We are truly so blessed. We remembered those we love both near and far. Then we started to serve the food buffet style. But then I remembered we didn't have our group picture yet. So I told everyone they couldn't touch a bite of their food until I got a picture. I thought I was going to have a mutiny on my hands and as such only was able to get two pictures of everyone.


The kids were grumbling about their food getting cold and wanting pie. They didn't seem to get it when I told them the pie was cold and they always ate so slow their food got cold anyways. But I took the hint and had pity on my parents and Hubs and let them eat their hot food.

As we sat down and ate, the kids all mentioned something they were thankful for. Such simple things for the most part and a very lighthearted conversation. Until Grandmama of course. After her twenty minute dialog of all that she is thankful for we teased her mercilessly and continued eating. Hubs were particularly thankful for his 3 car garage this year since he mentioned it during his turn. I'll have to write more about that later.

So we finished up with to much pie and a long afternoon of naps and football. Pretty much standard Thanksgiving tradition around any household I'm sure.

A Knight to celebrate Birthdays

We celebrated lots of birthdays from the end of Sept. to the end of Oct. So I thought it would be fun to take everyone out for dinner to Medieval Times. Grandmama and Pappy joined us of course since they were part of the birthday celebrants. (Along with Hoss and myself) I remember going to a show years ago and thought the kids would love it. But for some reason I was the only grown up who seemed to think it would be fun. But everyone went (to humour me I'm sure) and surprise surprise, everyone had fun and enjoyed it. So we donned our paper crowns and cheered on our knight. The kids loved getting to eat their dinner with their hands and really got into the show part of it all. They were super excited when "our" knight even won the tournament that night.


We went on a tour of the torture museum and I found something that I think every wife should have.

He was a good sport about it but still hasn't built me my very own one to have yet. The kids are already asking when we can go again so I'm taking that as a sign of them enjoying it. After all who can resist a paper crown, eating without silverware and sword fights.

Family Portraits

It was decided that when my brother and his family came to visit we were going to get a big group family portrait done. It's been years since we had one done and we have added a few children since the last one. The question then became where would we go to have it done and who has the patience to deal with this many of us. We decided to use our neighbor across the street. She has a photography studio set up in her home and we could get both indoor pictures taken along with some out by the lake. For those of you here in the area, she is amazing and you should check out her site.

So we got all dressed up and got to her house. We got some of each family taken and then we got some of us as a group.



We then went outside and got some by the lake.


Then she just kind of hung out and got some random ones of everyone.


They turned out great and we were all excited to get them. And the best thing besides getting all these pictures, it wasn't that much of a beating to have done.

Sweating at Six Flags

Every summer we try to go at least once to Six Flags. This summer we did it when my brother was in town. So we knew that we would be at least 11 of us going. But then my cousin Sandy and her family decided to join us as well as long as my cousin Sally's son. So we ended up with a grand total of 16 of us going to Six Flags.

We planned to get up early and be there by the time the gates opened and stay as long as we wanted. It was a very hot day and we knew we were going to be drinking lots. We planned on having a picnic lunch outside the park so we wouldn't spend a fortune on food. That worked out well since we got to sit in the shade trees and visit a bit more. Some ducks came up to us and were very aggressive in getting our food. The kids liked them until one of them got bit, then they were a little more careful.

I had to laugh because it's been a while since we saw my cousin and her family. My favourite quote of the entire day was when Sandra told us her nephew Johnny saw us all walking up to them and said "We're related to white People, how is this possible?" But once she explained how it was possible I guess it was all good.

Everyone rode the rides, even Grandmama and Pappy got in on a little action.

I was forced to ride a few roller coasters this year since I no longer had the excuse of having to stay with the baby in the stroller. I really miss those days. But for the most part, it wasn't to bad.

The big boys were able to go and do rides together and Scott, Stacey and James tried to be manly and hang with the kids. I don't think Scott and Stacey were quite as manly as James in that department though.

We got lots of pictures of us looking hot and tired and very sweaty.



My kids even got in a quick picture with Scooby but Hannah wouldn't go near that character figure to save her life.

I still don't think she goes to see Santa Claus either so I wasn't all that surprised. But it was fun to get to be all together again and see Sandra and James and the kids.

After the long day at the park, we headed home. I was told by Hannah that I was driving the cool car since I had the kids with me and all the loud music. My parents, Scott and my brother were in the boring car listening to Pappy's music. Even the kids are tired of listening to Piano by candle light and they haven't had near as much of it as us grown ups have. Rhonda gave that up for the ride home and hopped in my car. I don't think I ever told Hannah that the reason the music is so loud in my car is because I'm trying to drown out the noise of all the kids so she may not have realized it. My kids already know this and so just scream louder to be heard. But anyways, it was another fun day with the family and I enjoyed every bit of it.

My baby turns 4

Hard to believe it but my sweet baby girl turned 4 on me. She got to wear her birthday crown all day at school and was spoiled by all who saw her. Grandmama picked her up a little early from school and took her out for lunch. After that she got to go to the post office with grandmama. When she walked in they actually stopped and sang Happy Birthday to her. Not your typical postal group there.

She had grandmama make her cake for her. It was her favorite chocolate of course.

I had to get a picture of my big 4 year old with her mom and dad and grandparents.






Then she got down to the business of presents. With her brothers and sister encouraging her, it didn't take to long for her to get through them. She loved them all of course. That's just how she is. But she really likes her big girl Hello Kitty scooter alot.


She is such a sweet little girl and such a blessing. I am so proud to have her for my daughter.

Spring Break Fun

It's been Spring Break this week. So I decided to take a few days off from work to be home with the kids. They spent the first two days with Grandmama and Pappy so they were already a bit spoiled. But it worked out well since the three youngest had all been sick the last week and a half. So once we got them on the way back to being healthy we were able to start in on a little bit of fun.

Z. got invited to go camping with one of his baseball teammates so he was gone for the first part of the week. It was great for me, he got to sleep in a tent and camp and I got to sleep in a bed and not freeze. He had fun but he admitted it was a bit to cold still.

We went bowling later in the week and met up with some friends for that fun. Then Z. went off for another sleepover and a Stars game. K. went for a sleepover at Grandmama's house and Hoss had a friend over for a sleepover. So lots of shuffling around of kids later and everyone had a good time.







We went and celebrated a friends birthday party. The location was at a church which had converted it's old sanctuary into a playzone area for kids. With a bounce house,play scape, and dress up area and small climing wall. A. spent most the time playing dress up it seemed but she liked the play scape as well.


Hoss had a good time until Elmo tried to eat his head...





We finished out the week with a day of shopping and ice skating. Z. hadn't been ice skating since we lived in Finland. He didn't remember any of it so had to relearn it but had fun. Hoss took a while but finally got it and was enjoying himself (although his pants were wet from the ice) and K. took to it like crazy. She was going fast and enjoyed it but for some reason insisted on holding on to mine or Hubs hand most the time. A. did not care much for it. She would go around once and then want to sit down. She was ready to take off her skates much sooner than everyone else. But she was a troooper and waited patiently until we were all done.







We finished out the day by stopping for popcorn and going to the Skatepark and watched all those boys in there doing wild and crazy tricks on their skateboards, skates and scooters. All I can say is thank goodness none of my boys are into skateboarding. No way would I want them doing that.

Tommorow is technically the last day of Spring Break but we don't have anything planned for it. The temps have dropped and it's snowing again so I may just pack the kids up and take them to the movies tommorow. Then after that it's back to school and work until summer vacation.

What happened to Fall

I've been a bad bad blogger. But I've been a very busy mommy so I will use that as my excuse. So here is a very brief update on all that has happened since summer ended.

We had our first day of school. K. joined Hoss at the elementary school. Z. is off to Middle School now and my youngest A. is at preschool 3 days a week. They all seem to like it but don't like the homework. Does that ever change?

We had Hoss's 7th birthday party in October and it was a lot of fun with friends and family.

We visited the Pumpkin Patch and had all kinds of fun there. Although it was so muddy this year we didn't stay and play as long as we normally do. Can't really say that I minded that part of it to much though.


I even remembered to get in one of the pictures that Z. took this year. It doesn't happen that often so I thought I'd post it even though I don't like the way I look in it. But do we ever really? But the fact that both Hubs and I are in it is a rarity and worth posting about.

That naturally led us into Halloween where I was fortunate to have two Snow Whites, a vampire and a Ninja. I kid you not, Z. came home with over 7 pounds of candy all by himself. I didn't weigh the other kids bags since I was in a state of sugar induced coma by then.

In between all that we had 2 soccer teams and 2 baseball teams we were having practices and games for. I spent a lot of time at fields all across North Texas. It's slowed down a bit now and I'm very grateful for the break.

We had Thanksgiving at our home this year but since I was so busy cooking, I forgot to get any pictures. Just imagine all of us stuffing ourselves silly and then taking naps during the Cowboy game and that was us.

So now that brings us to December and all the busy things that come along with it.

Seems like a brief and silly summary of what is technically a third of the year but sadly that is it. Hopefully life will not get so crazy and I won't be so lazy as to stay away from blogging more often.