O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree

Our Christmas tree, and Christmas stockings. Family Christmas ornament from last year.
Elizabeth's first Christmas ornament and my first Christmas ornament.

Micah's first Christmas ornament and Benjamin's first Christmas ornament.

Curtis' first Christmas ornament and our first Christmas together ornament.

Buying our Christmas tree

The best picture that I got of the three crazies! They were all about to bolt, which is why they might look a little fuzzy.
Me and sweet Ben.

When the trucks are unloaded, they sometimes still have snow on the trees! The man unloading the trucks took the kids over and let them poke at the snow.

Micah pretending to be a Christmas tree.

Elizabeth pretending to be a Christmas tree

The men were working with a chainsaw, setting up Christmas trees. They kids loved it, despite the noise.
Ta-Da!! Our Christmas tree!

The day after

What a day!

Last night, I managed to talk Christi into going shopping with me this morning. I was so excited, that I had a hard time sleeping during the night. I kept waking up, afraid I had missed my alarm or Christi's text that she was here. But I didn't! After a quick trip to McD's for coffee, we hit Target. There was a dual car DVD player that Curtis and I were wanting, and we got it! I also got several movies for the kids, all super cheap! And to make it even more pleasant, Target was not as big of a nightmare as I was anticipating. They were really on top of it!

After Target, we made our way to Toys 'R Us to be one of "those mommies". You know the kind! The mommies who shove, push, and cause problems. These are also the mommies who will stand in line for an hour to buy stuff. I'm pleased to report that we didn't cause any mischief, nor did we push anyone out of the way for a toy. However, we were the mommies who stood in line for an hour to get presents! I got Elizabeth a pink MP3 player. I know, sounds silly to get a four year old an MP3 player, but just ask Shannon about how much Elizabeth LOVE her iPod! And it was only $10!! While in line, I also was able to get boxes of diapers for $10 each!!! Amazing!! Dad, I even picked up part of your present while there.

By 8am, I was home and ready for bed. But I had three little ones who were anxious to see me. :-) Aren't I lucky?

Curtis went in to Academy at 11, we had lunch at 3 at McD's (I've been to McD's THREE times today!), and I'm exhausted!!! The kids and I did a little Christmas decorating, which was fun and stressful all at the same time. The boys only napped for an hour, which really made for a tough afternoon. They were tired, I was tired, it just wasn't the best combination. Not to mention the fact that I think everyone (including me) was ready for bed at 6! To kill some time before bedtime, the kids and I drove around looking at Christmas lights. Now Ben is down, and the big kids will follow soon!

We have a big day planned tomorrow. Somehow, Curtis managed to get tomorrow off, without asking! So we're going to pick up our Christmas tree, have a big family breakfast, and spend the rest of the day decorating and wrapping!!

This year's Thanksgiving

Here are a few pictures from our Thanksgiving. We had a great day, but really missed family. Not much longer till Christmas!!

My sweet family Alexis and Elizabeth

My boys (check out Benjamin's face. He wasn't too happy about taking a picture!)
Me and Christi. We have a picture with us by all the yummy food that we made, but Michael jumped in on that one.

Our tasty meal.

While the big kids were napping, I took this sweet picture of Benjamin.

Once we got home from the Findleys, we unloaded the kids, got them straight into bed, then Curtis headed out to finish unloading the van. At some point between trips in, an animal (we're guessing raccoon) got into the van, and ate some of our left over stuffing! Crazy!

I'm off to bed. Christi and I are going shopping tomorrow morning!!!

Thanksgivings past

2004, This was Elizabeth's first Thanksgiving. We stayed in College Station and celebrated with the Findleys.

2005, Our first Thanksgiving in our first house! Both sets of parents came, my sisters came, and the Findleys came over (for dessert, I think). I was pregnant with Micah.

2006, Thanksgiving in Oklahoma City. Micah's first Thanksgiving, and I was pregnant with Benjamin.

2007 We were in Kansas with my family. This wasn't actually taken on Thanksgiving but that weekend when we had a fire and toasted marshmallows. That night, it started to snow!

This year we are celebrating with the Findleys! We are looking forward to a nice, quiet day, reflecting on our many blessings.

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Old habits die hard.....

.... and sometimes you just need to be back with your old roommate!

New Rooms

When we found out that Benjamin was a boy, we knew that eventually, Benjamin and Micah would move into "the pink room" together. For the first seven months or so, after Benjamin was born, the boys shared the nursery. Then Micah moved into Elizabeth's room. A few months later, we painted the room blue, in preparation for the day it would be the Boy's Room.

With my Mom in town this weekend, I decided to go ahead and switch rooms! Benjamin moved in with Micah. Micah moved into Elizabeth's bed. And Elizabeth got a new bed and moved into what has always been the nursery.

Micah's side of the room. Don't you just love the car stickers for the wall? My Mom found those for the boys, and we were able to put them up last night. They go perfectly in the boy's room!

Benjamin's side of the room. When he moved out of the crib, he will go on the trundle (where Micah had been). He has a comforter that coordinates with Micah's. So cute! Right now he has a really cute fleece blanket that matches the transportation theme.

I've been squirreling away a few things that we've been given that I knew would match the boy's room (mostly stuff that my mom had found and bought!). It's little things like this airplane picture that really make the room.

While at Target, my Mom found this ADORABLE lamp. You might not be able to tell, but the pull cord has a stop sign on it! So cute! It perfectly matches the room.

And then there's poor Elizabeth. Moved out of her old room, and her old bed. As you can see from the picture below, she's really having a rough time of it!

Ha!!! She's loves having her own room, where she can have all her "fancy and fragile" things. Grandma made the transition a fun one with a trip to Target to pick out a new comforter, new sheets, and a new bed skirt. What else could this little girl want? Pink walls! That's the next step in this transition. I'm thinking that it will be sometime after the holidays!

Thanks Mom, for all your help! The rooms look really great, and I appreciate everything you did to help make them come together so well! We love you!!!

A little early.

I know, I know, tomorrow is Thanksgiving! I'm still two days early to have our Christmas blog up. But we had our Christmas pictures taken today, and they turned out so cute that I just had to go ahead and make the new blog header. One thing lead to another, and there you have it! A Christmas blog a couple days early!

Trouble!

I have so many pictures like this.... kids with stuff on their face. You turn your back for seconds, and there they go, getting into stuff! I think that they plan this kind of stuff, and just sit and wait for the right moment.

I tried to find the picture that I have of Micah, with this same shade of lipstick, but I couldn't. And goodness knows what these crazy kids would get into if I spend any more time looking for pictures, rather than keeping an eye on them!

Tag!!!

In the previous post, I was supposed to tag a few people. So, here are my tags.

Momma (this could be your blogging debut!!)
Christi (just in case there's still something I don't know about Michael)
Megan (she's still a newly wed, and likes to talk about her husband! Plus you can go to her blog and see how adorably pregnant she is.)
Hannah (I know how much Hannah loves talking about Kevin, even though their not newly weds!)
Erin ('cause I'm always looking to give her a reason to blog, even though she doesn't have any time. :-))

Curtis

Everything you might want to know about my husband:

1. Where did you meet? youth group, my junior year and his senior year of high school.

2. How long did you date? Before we got engaged, 15 month. Then we were engaged for a year.

3. How long have you been married? 8 years in December.

4. What does he say that surprises you? Every now and then he will say something completely tacky, like, "Woman, get me a beer!" or "Why haven't you done laundry yet?" I get this shocked look on my face and he just laughs. It's nice that tacky comments like that are shocking to me. He's such a sweet guy!

5. What is your favorite feature of his? His height. Does that count?

6. What is your favorite quality of his? His calmness. That is one area where we really balance each other out!

7. Does he have a nickname for you? Beautiful. I know, so sweet!

8. What is his favorite color? green

9. What is his favorite food? my homemade, hot and fresh, chocolate chip cookies with a glass of milk.

10. What is his favorite sport? baseball, followed quickly by football. And he really loves watching just about anything, especially if it is the Aggies or somehow related to the Aggies.

11. When and where did you first kiss? We had our first kiss on June 12th, at the farm where he proposed a few months later.

12. What is your favorite thing to do as a couple? go out to eat without the kids then come home to watch a movie together.

13. Do you have any children? Three. Elizabeth, 4, Micah 2 and Benjamin 18 months.

14. Does he have a hidden talent? getting a baby to fall asleep. I've called him home from work to put the boys down for naps, he's that good!

15. How old is he? just turned 30.

16. Who said "I love you" first? He did. Then I hugged him and told him, "Thank you!"

17. What is his favorite type of music? Alternative Christian

18. What do you most admire about him? I admire how much he puts up with. Life with me isn't always easy. Add the three amigos, and life is crazy! He's always very sweet, loving, kind, and most of the time patient. I really admire how he doesn't flip out in the midst of all the craziness.

19. Do you think he will read this? He's reading over my should as I type this. :-)

20. Where did you go on your first date? We started dating over the phone, he was in College Station and I was in Wichita Falls. Six weeks after a long distance relationship, he came home and we went to TCBY. Mostly we just sat in his truck and talked, and talked, and talked.... later in the day we went and saw Armageddon. We held hands for the first time. :-)

Then and Now (and some in between)

Here are a few of my favorite pictures of the boys in their matching jammies. The first two were taken a year apart. Notice how different Benjamin's head is!

Then: November 2007

Now: November 2008

(Check out the post below for some other pictures from tonight's picture taking session)

And some in between!!

January 2008

February 2008

Other funny pictures

Look at those cheese balls! Check out Benjamin's chin. It met the driveway this morning. You should see the inside of his lip. Ouch!
Elizabeth is never one to miss out on the action.

Not sure what they are doing here. Maybe telling us to think? Or get a brain (wink, wink, Daddy!)Where's Micah?

There he is!

For Great-Grandma

This evening, while I was combing Benjamin's hair, he told me, "no!" and swatted the comb away. I geared up for a fight, but he simply spit on his hand, rubbed his hand across his hair, and let me finish.

Yay for Mommy Spit! (or Benjamin spit)

And then what?

Elizabeth: I'm hungry
Momma: We're going to eat lunch soon.
E: I'm too hungry to wait!
M: Than eat an apple. ALL the apple!
E: And if I don't eat all the apple?
M: Then I will pinch your head off.

I then walk out to the garage to get wrapping paper. I'm followed by a little voice, which asks, "Really? You can get my whole head off? Because my bones are pretty strong, and it might be hard. And then what? What would happen to my head?"

I laughed, reassured her that her bones were indeed to strong for me to pinch off, and that her head would remain in place.

In other BIG news, we are going to a bowling birthday party today! I know. Such exciting things are too wonderful! At least they are when you're 2 and 4 and have never been bowling before. I hope to post some bowling pictures later today. I know, again with the excitement! It's huge!!

Sometimes

Sometimes, right in the middle of a really bad parenting day, you get sweetness like this.....

And thank goodness for those moments!! Right when I was about box my kids up and send them to Kansas, Elizabeth sat and read a book to Micah. And not just any book, one of Micah's books. So sweet, and shockingly unselfish.

And then there's that ham of child that I have in Benjamin. He cracks me up!

I'm so thankful that God blesses me with little moments like these through the roughest days.

Potty Train

This evening, Micah had a little accident, which is not that big of a deal for me. That's just life at this stage of the game. But for Elizabeth, it was a major ordeal! It boiled down to her being worried that the accident was because Micah was sick. I assured her that Micah was fine, and that it was, "just part of potty training." To which Micah quickly responded, "Yeah, I'm a potty train!"

(Found this while searching for a funny image to go with Potty Train. Chugga, chugga, pooo-pooooooooo! And no, we don't want this book for Christmas!)

Praying

What a gift prayer is! To think that we can come into the presence of our Heavenly Father, and even when I don't have words, even when I have stumbled and sinned, yet again, He welcomes me into His presence through prayer. Praise God for this rich blessing and gift! So often the task of parenting overwhelms me. I look at the enormity of the task, and feel completely incapable, which of course is what I am. But that's not where God leaves me. He leads me into prayer, a time to commune with my Savior, and to pray for my children. I find myself in prayer so often through out the day now that I'm a mom. After reading a blog, I was convicted to be more deliberate in my prayers, especially the prayers that I pray for my children. The author of the blog, a mom, prays seven prayers over her daughters through the day. 7 prayers a day, 7 days a week. 7X7. Click on the button above to read the original post. When you see the above button on my side bar, let it serve as a reminder to all of us to be in prayer for our children. Our task is great, but our Savior is even greater!

Can you find the prettiest little girl?

Here's Elizabeth's class picture from tap. I thought it turned out pretty cute! I told her, "Elizabeth, I think you are the prettiest little girl in your class!" She informed me that it was just because another little girl didn't come any more. :-)

Lost at Wal Mart

On Monday, I went to Wal Mart. While we were there, we lost the following items. If you happen to be at Wal Mart, and see these items, please return them to their rightful owners.

Benjamin's blue pacy.

One of Benjamin's shoes. Yeah, just one!

My little, pink, notebook.

I also lost my mind, and my sanity. Don't' have a picture of those things, they tend to like to run and hide most of the time, so it's hard to capture them.

Also, while we were at Wal Mart, we broke a shopping cart. Maybe that's about when I lost my mind and sanity!

Welcome Jackson Lee!

I had the huge privilege of getting to meet the newest member of our church family today, Thomas Jackson. Jackson was born this morning. Here are a few shots of the handsome little guy, and just a few of the people who already love him so much. Me, Ashlee (looking amazing and beautiful for just having given birth 13 hours earlier!) Jackson and Jamison.
The proud papa, Jackson and Norval.

Congratulations Matt, Ashlee, and Gracie Mae!!! Thank you for already sharing your little guys with us. We love you all so much!