Welcome to my world

Meet my new best friend "liquid fusion". It has met many of our ornaments already (3 today) and the ornaments have been on the tree for just 2 days. I think I'll just keep it out until the "newness" wears off...Tiny Timmy landed on our chandelier above the sink. The kids were so excited that he ate the snack they left for him (we told him he shouldn't get a snack each night or he would put on too much weight) and are anticipating the next landing. They are very clear and make sure EVERYONE in the house understands that Timmy is here and that he WILL go and report all findings. It's so cute to see the kids reminding each other!!Tonight I decided to put lights on the trees outside. The kids have been wanting me to do it for about a week now so I thought I would get started. It was hard work trying to pass the lights around the tree every time- I have tried to walk in circles but I find that to be worse since everything starts to get blurry after a few passes. After I was all done, Jerrod told me the tree looked an Italian flag! Urghh...
Later on I was blessed with a tent in my living room. (Jerrod, you asked for it...) He and the girls are going camping this next weekend and he wanted to make sure he knew how to put it up since they will be getting to the campsite close to dark. I thought "what great planning" until he laid out the tarp on my living room floor- yes, really. It sleeps 8 so you can imagine the size... Of course, everyone got in the tent and had fun pretending they were already camping.Here are a few other pics I got today- I couldn't help it...I had to share my cuties with the world! BTW- Jerrod says he is going to fix the tree and make it "right". I'll post his work and you be the judge.

Welcome to my world...

Our Elf On A Shelf

Let the fun begin! Our elf has finally appeared after spending this last year at the North Pole with the big guy that wears the red suit. We received our elf last year on the front porch- the packaging had stamps all over from all parts of the country so it was clear it had traveled far. The kids promptly named him "Tiny Timmy" and had fun finding him all over the house each morning. You see, this elf is special. He watches during the day and reports back to Santa all the good (and some not so good) events to Santa each evening. He cannot be touched or he will lose his powers so where ever Tiny Timmy lands- he must stay- no one in the house wants to be responsible for his departure!! What fun we had with him last year...I think every household should have one of these. It has changed our holiday season into a shear delight! Of course, the kids love him and Jerrod and I think it's pretty awesome too!!

Bailey, Emma and Jackson have been asking about him for weeks now. They all squealed with excitement when they woke up this morning to find him in the kitchen. Yeah!! Where will he end up tomorrow morning? It's anyone guess. You may be lucky enough to get your elf this year too! I sure hope so. If one doesn't land on your front porch, you can still purchase (adopt) one at a local store. I have found the set at Hallmark stores, gift shops and of course, online. Just type in "elf on the shelf gift set" and do a google search. It comes with a book that explains all the details and allows you space to personalize the book with the name you give your elf and the date you received him. So special. You won't be disappointed!!

The Simple Things in Life....are SWEET!

As I am sure it was the same for you, Thanksgiving day brought back a lot of memories (I think it's the time of year, too) and reminders about all that we have in this life- we are very blessed. As the day went by, I paid close attention to the happenings around me and took note of the all that I have to be thankful for.

Here's my list:
1. My husband rocks. He is a caring and loving husband that tries very hard to make our family happy and works extra hard to make me feel special. It's the little things. Like the other day, he went with a friend to a shop on Harwin (a totally cheesy, cheap and sometimes "hot" shopping area in Houston) and he brought me back this totally cool (and very fake) Chanel watch. He didn't know if I would like it, but he bought it anyway- turns out it is just perfect with a ceramic band and diamonds galore. Yes- bling, bling! I am thrilled it is fake and I will have a ball wearing it this season, but I am especially happy that he thought about me that day. Thanks, Jerrod! You rock.
2. Fun times at home. It's awesome when you sit back and see the simplicities of life through your child. It really is so simple for them- I should take notes more often and enjoy this wonderful life that I have. Some of the things I noticed: wagon rides can make anyone smile and hair fly, "raspberries" are neat when you finally notice what's really going on, the floor makes a great play ground when you spread your furniture out, and laundry baskets have more than one purpose and scoot nicely on tile floors. I also learned to "accept" the tree as it is...decorated by my children. They are proud of their tree and so am I!3. New family. Lainey Katherine is five months old ALREADY and cute as a button. Check her out- and our Olivia Claire will be here soon. My SIL, Carey, looks like she is about to POP and I just love it! Super cute. What a blessing they are!
4. Our children's determination. Each one of them is determined to do something- even when we tell them it doesn't work that way or they can't do it. It's just what children do- push the limits so they can see for themselves. As much as it aggravates us (and it does!), it is their drive that we should admire. With such minor offenses, we should really sit back and look at things less seriously. For instance, Jackson was determined to open up every one's soda cans and determined to take his Iron Man ornament off the tree so that he can play with it (Santa, please?). Emma and Bailey were determined to get their wish list together so that Santa will know what to bring them...even if it is all while we are trying to get out the door to see family. Teague was determined to get into every chair he could find yesterday. He made everyone around him CRAZY (really) as I tried to keep him off the TABLE tops. Chairs?!! Seriously? Oh, and a walker that belongs to Lainey- he tried that too. Soda cans, ornaments, wish lists at the worst time, and chairs- now, really...if it could only stay this minor, we would be set!5. My family- immediate and extended. I am thankful for each of them! What can I say?
6. Most importantly-Our Lord and Savior. How awesome is it that He died for me and you? Oh, and the right to worship Him in this wonderful country that we live in?! Pretty awesome. I am thankful that I have found Him and our family is able to have a relationship with Him. As the Christmas season approaches, I hope I see very few "X MAS" signs and my children know and understand the reason for the season. They will see "gifts" no doubt, but I hope they will remember the meaning behind the gifts this season and see the "real" GIFT they have received. That's my prayer- and Teague helped me say it!

Playing Outside ROX

We finally got some nice cool weather in Sugar Land. I thought I would try to get Christmas lights on the trees outside since the weather is cooperating, but Teague had other plans. He ran everywhere and tripped several times. He even scratched his chin, his forehead, his nose and busted his lip! Poor little guy...all while dealing with a stuffy nose. We had to strip him at the door and place him directly into the tub when he came inside...and the clothes had to hit the washer. Here's a shot of his battle wounds. Can you say, "4th child?!!!"
Oh, and Bailey's friends think this blog rocks (or "rox!" as they say)!! They were diligently practicing a hip hop dance for me with full intentions of me videoing them and posting it on the blog. They have it ALMOST perfect...so watch for it soon!!

Emma has discovered joke books at her library. She checks one out each week and has even become inspired to write some of her own. She thinks this one is funny (and I think it's quite appropriate for this time of year):

Why did the turkey cross the road?? Because he didn't want to be a chicken!

Memories

This weekend the girls were invited to go their friends farm outside of Nacogdoches, TX. They always look forward to going since they get their friends all to themselves and they get to enjoy going four wheelin' and seeing the farm animals. Jerrod and I enjoyed having a (as Jackson would say it) "3 boy and 1 girl weekend". Jackson is into this counting thing right now as he pays close attention to the number of girls and the number of boys in our family at various times- it especially happens when someone is gone or several are gone as it was this weekend. He enjoyed being the center of attention and since Teague typically is- it was no different for him. We had fun just hanging around the house and making memories together. Jackson loves to be tickled- he said to us this morning, "which one of you want to tickle me?" as if it wasn't his idea- so cute. Of course, we tickled him to pieces and he was begging us to stop. I don't think he knew what was coming his way- 4 hands tickling him all over!! He had to catch his breathe. WHEWW!

Jackson was constantly close by one of us since his best play buddy was gone-Emma. He constantly asked Jerrod to play this and to play that- Jerrod was a good sport about it and played most of the day inbetween football games and helping me. After playing all day, Jerrod said to me, "I really miss Emma about right now.".

We spent the rest of today decorating for Christmas. I know, it's early! But I want to be able to enjoy it since it takes so much work to get it up. I thought I would be able to add it to the fall decorations I already had up and then, just take that down on Friday, but I just couldn't do it. Once I got started, all the fall stuff came down and went into boxes until next year. Our house is officially decorated for Christmas. With the decorations, we decided to move the furniture around in the family room. We are really trying to put a tree in there- it hasn't worked out the last few years because we thought it was too crowded. I think this year we figured out how to make it work. It is amazing how different your house feels when you change the furniture around- it really makes a difference!! Are loving it!

I did some shopping last year at the "after Christmas" sales. I found a foto tree (that's how it's spelled) and I thought it would be a great center piece with all the kids Christmas pictures hanging on it. It required me to pull out old pictures of the kids today. Jerrod and I just couldn't believe how the kids have changed. It really brought up a lot of the memories that we have been able to make with our family. The girls have changed so much and it's great to see pictures of them when they were still so small. The boys have really changed too. Jackson is a "little man" now and is slowly (but surely) losing his baby tendencies. And Teague is so different from this time last year. I am including a picture of this tree and some of my favorite "older" photos of the little ones. I'll hope you will stop by and see us sometime this holiday season so that you can see the foto tree in person! You'll find all kinds of "old" photos and some new ones too!

Wow! More?

Last night we got to see Bailey singing her heart out at her 4th grade program at Campbell. She looked so beautiful and did a great job dancing in front of a large crowd. The Veteran's Day program was very special- there wasn't a dry eye in the building. I am so proud of Bailey and her school for putting on such a great program.

This morning I was blessed to hear a woman speak about a project she has been involved with for the last 25 years. You see, Carolyn Tarver is 71 years young and lost her ONLY son 25 years ago. Of course, she wanted to die herself, but instead of "dying" she decided to "live" her life. She said she would have rather lived 17 years with her son, Stan, than to "die" living without him. So she did. She started Project SMILE in his honor. As she told her story, there wasn't a dry eye in the room. I thought at one point I was going to start making noises while crying. I think Oprah calls it the "ugly cry". Anyway, you know what I am talking about. I couldn't imagine losing 1 of my children- I always tell Jerrod that he would have to bury me too because I just couldn't deal with it. Here Carolyn stands in front of me, spending her time "doing" for others after losing her only son and all in his memory. Awesome! I'll remember this morning for a long time...I am sure of it.

Then, I come home and get the mail. In this mail, I find this letter. I started crying again. How good can one person have it?!! I have it so good.

Can you see it?

Pure joy. I am blessed to see this daily. Need I ask for more??

Jumpin',Slidin' and Manners

We got a new place that we can spend some free time at in Sugar Land. It's called Stomping Grounds and is wonderful for little ones. The boys and I met our friends, the Hill's, there today for some fun. It is pure heaven for boys!

Can I just tell you that my two boys ran so much they were sweating?! Teague couldn't even sit still for a group photo. Jackson crawled through tunnels, climbed on nets, and slid down slides. He and Cavett had a ball. Teague found everything very interesting. He wanted me to push him to the top of the slide so he could slide down over and over again. Those slides were fast! He would slide so fast that he would end up on his back when he landed, but he still wanted to do it over and over again. Then, he just wanted to "wonder" around. He kept following the maintenance man and the cleaning lady around the place. He found them to be fascinating. He even helped the cleaning lady and he and Kendrick had fun banging on tables together. It was just like we always hear, you buy a toy for a baby and they want to play with the box. And when they got home, they fell fast asleep. What a fun day it was!

Tonight I discovered the girls making charts to earn points for their manners. I don't know why this came up, but this was all Emma's idea and Bailey went right along with it. I took pictures of their charts for evidence. Evidence that they HAVE been taught to use their manners- even when they choose not to at times! These are classic...I especially love Bailey's where it says, "coming (instead of wait)" - which means she does hear me when I ask her to come here!!! Now, look closely at Emma's: "coming now- (when your mom ses come here- notice the pattern here) and nice metting u". These are definitely going in the girls treasure boxes. They will just laugh their heads off some day!!