2009

Hope your 2009 is merry, bright, and full of possibilities!

The Fearless Hunters

A few weeks ago, Luke took Abby on an overnight hunting trip.  They just had a ball, and they were fortunate enough to bag a trophy black buck.Here is little Miss Abs, holding the horns.  Doesn't she look so cute?
I love it - she's a very versatile young lady.  She can dance ballet and kill a deer.  Not many girls can say that.

WHEW!!!!

Boy, was THAT a whirlwind!!  Christmas came and went, all at a furious pace, and now we are left with the aftermath... new toys to find a "place" for, new clothes to find hangers for, wrapping paper and ribbons and boxes and bags EVERYWHERE, and more leftovers in the fridge than I want to eat.  It's almost enough to make me a little "scrooge-ish"... almost, but not quite! :-)

Hope your Christmas was blessed and magical.  Ours was.

And now, time to say good-bye to the old year, and welcome in Baby New Year!

Happy New Year to all!

O, Holy Night

O, Holy Night, the stars are brightly shining!

It is the night of our dear Savior's birth.

Fall on your knees,

O, hear the angel voices.

O, night, divine,

The night when Christ was born.

May you and yours have a blessed, meaningful Christmas!

Babies, Babies...

Just look what we have at our house!

Two perfect little calves.

Merry Christmas to me!!

Almost...

I ALMOST...

...hit another deer night before last.

Thank God I did not, because, if you're counting, that would have been 3 in less than a year.  

My insurance company would probably laugh and then DENY, DENY, DENY my third claim (just before dropping my coverage.)

It's no wonder my premiums have skyrocketed!

And the award goes to...

...SHELLEY, for fabulous new blog design!!  Thanks, Shel, for fixing my blog up YET AGAIN!!

Cuties

Tonight I FINALLY got my annual "kids in Christmas pajamas under the Christmas tree" photo.  It is usually one of the first photos that I take, and I often use it for my Christmas card, but not this year!  This year I had to pretty much FORCE my little darlins' into their PJ's and say thing like, "You'd better smile, or you're in BIG trouble!"  and "Act like you like your sisters!"  It was a real family bonding moment.  ;-)

Despite the drama, the results were cute.

Merry Christmas from my cuties!

Take a deep breath...

...because now I can relax and enjoy the holidays a little more.  A lot of the "craziness" ended as the week ended, and SCHOOL IS OUT!!!  Here is just a little bit of what went on this week...

Abs and Gracie had a little mini-dance recital this week.  They were pretty cute.  Here is Miss Abby with her BFF, Lainey, ready to dance.  Here are the sisters, ready to dance and look lovely.

Here are all the little girls in both classes.
Our church also had their annual Christmas Cantata, followed by Taste of FBC, which is a snack supper and "funny" talent show.  Santa usually makes an appearance here, so I was able to get a cute pic with "the big guy".

Hope your holidays are special, and SLOW, like mine are now going to be! ha ha!

OVERWHELMED

I'm completely and totally overwhelmed.

Anybody else out there feeling my pain?

This has to be the busiest week of the year.

I baked 15 loafs of banana read yesterday, 6 dozen cookies, and made 2 different types of candy.  Every child has a Christmas party at school this week, and I think I'm in charge of most of them.  We had a little dance recital tonight for the two younger girls, as well as a church meeting that I was supposed to be attending.  All of this while Hubby was on call. Fabulous.  I have a party for the kids at church tomorrow evening, and  I'm also hosting a party at my house on Thursday evening for my girlfriends.   I know it will be fun, but at the moment I'm wondering, "What the heck was I thinking?!?!?"

I used to love Christmas.

Before I was in charge of making it "magical" for everyone!

Anyone else feeling overwhelmed?

A Quick Funny...

A couple of days ago, we watched The Sound of Music.  Kate loved it.  The next day we were getting in the car, and she said, "Oh!  We should take The Sound of Music DVD to watch!"   Grace was behind her, and she did not hear the whole statement.  All she heard was "the sound of music".  At that moment, a helicopter was passing overhead, and Grace said, "K-K, that's not the sound of music, that's the sound of helicopter!"

Oh, she is her own little party, every single day.

Christmas Parade

The girls rode in H'town's annual lighted Christmas parade over the weeknd.  They loved it, but I will admit, I've never seen a smaller parade.  There were not very many floats... It lasted about 5 minutes!!  But, it doesn't really matter, because they had fun, and isn't that all that REALLY matters?  :-)

Here is a picture of their float.  It looks pretty good, I think!
Here's Grace, very excited before the parade.  (She would rather EAT that candy than THROW it! ha ha!)
Here's Abby, ready to smile and wave.
Here's Kate, cheesing it up for the camera.
Here's Abs with her BFF, Lainey.  They are really going through life together!  So cute!
Happy Holidays!

St. Nicholas Breakfast

Saturday we took the kids to one of the local churches here in H-town for a Pancake Breakfast.  Their priest dressed up as St. Nicholas and posed for photos with all the kids.  It was cute, and provided some great photo opportunities (amazingly, I remembered my camera!)

Here are all three girls, looking pretty with St. Nick.Kate, my 1st child, and...

Abby, my second child, and...
Grace, my third child, and...
Luke, who often stands in and acts like my fourth child!  :-)

The Nutcracker -08

Last night was our little elementary school's performance of "The Nutcracker."  It was really cute.  Abby was a candy cane, and Kate was one of the dancers at the opening "party" scene.  Kate also had a singing role. We had to come home after school and get ready and be BACK at school by 5:00.  That does not SOUND challenging, but clearly I have never hot-rolled two heads of hair and applied stage make-up to two children at the same time.  Wow.  It took a LONG time!  We were just almost late.  When we got there (finally) the show was great.   I took a few photos, (surprise!  I actually remembered my camera!) so here is a quick visual for ya.  

Here is Miss Kate, after the opening dance number.  Note that she and her buddy, Taylor, have the same dress.  That's because Taylor's mom and I both LOVE a good bargain from a certain store with a red bullseye for their logo... (we call it "Tar-Jay" at my house...)
Here is Miss Abigail in the Land of the Sweets, dancing as a lovely candy cane.  
After the play, the kids went up on stage to have their pictures taken in front of the scenery.  Their Daddy bought them flowers to celebrate a great job.

Here's Abs.  She's beautiful, and I'm not a BIT biased.

Here is Katie Beth, looking WAY too grown up for my tastes...
And, finally, here is a group photo of the little performers.
No photos of the mighty Miss Grace, though... about half-way through the show, she looks at her Dad and says, "I gotta' poop.  Now."

You can't argue with a 3 year old about such things.  

When you have to go, you have to go.  

He exited quickly to find the restroom.

Luckily, the older girls had already done their parts, so at least he didn't miss them!!

A December Rarity

Some things are so rare in my world that I feel the need to document them.  This particular sight is, in fact, so rare, that it has never happened before.  I took a photo because I was still in awe that this particular event was actually occurring.It's my hand.  And it's mailing my Christmas cards on December 1st.  They are done!

CRASH!! BAM!!! BOOOOM!!!!!!!

The holidays are colliding at my house.  What do I mean?

Oh, friends.  Let me show you.

This has started to go up in my living room......but this is still sitting outside on my porch!


Help!  Thanksgiving and Christmas have collided at my house!  Something's gotta give!

Happy Thanksgiving, Y'all!

Yes, yes, I do realize that Thanksgiving was several days ago, but I have been WAY out of "bloggy" touch... We went to visit my family for a few days, and it was positively blissful, my dear friends, to be out of touch with everything.  We had a glorious holiday.  I hope that you all did the same.  We made it home safe and sound, and now it is back to the grind again tomorrow.

But, in the "Thanksgiving" theme, I thought I'd write  quick list of things for which I am infinitely thankful...

1.  My family.  Every stinkin' one of them.

2.  My friends.  Every stinkin' one of them. 

3.  My home.  I do love it, ad I can't wait to get in my own bed.

4.  My God.  (Who makes all the above possible.)

Happy Sunday!

I'm BAAAAACK...

.....and I'm tired.  We had a great time on our "girly" trip, but boy was it exhausting.  We came home through Waco, where our church's music minister was having his conducting recital.  Our little church's choir sang, and they sounded SO GOOD.  Katie was one of the leaders for one of the responsive readings, and I must say, she did so well!  I was so proud...

Anyway, today it's back to the grind.  Time to do the laundry so I can re-pack it all by Wednesday so we can go to Mom and Dad's for Thanksgiving!!

Happy Monday!

Thursday Musings

Today I was privileged to substitute for the Elementary Librarian.  What fun!  That is a great job... the kid-o's WANT to be in there, they are excited about books and reading, and, if they ever misbehave, you can just give them a stern look and tell them to go back to class.  Brilliant!!  I loved it.  She has asked me to sub for her again in a few weeks, and I can't wait!

On a totally different note, this weekend is our annual "Girly" weekend for the ole' H-town girls.  I am so excited to get to go and hang out with my girls this weekend!  We are going to a REAL city, and we are going to stay in a hotel and eat out every meal, and SHOP A LOT.  I'm hoping to make a serious dent in the Christmas shopping list!  NO CHILDREN OR HUSBANDS are allowed.  Hubby has to work this weekend, so the ever-fabulous Ju-Ju is taking over my home and children for the weekend.  She has told me repeatedly to be VERY CAREFUL, because, though she loves my children dearly, she does NOT want to raise them!  She says being the much-adored babysitter / surrogate grandmother is much more her speed! ha ha!  Anyway, much thanks to Ju-Ju for allowing me a bit of freedom this weekend.  Seriously, y'all, I CAN'T WAIT!

Happy Thursday!

TAG, I'm it!

My friend, Lisa, tagged me to do a post about Hubby, so here we go!

EVERYTHING YOU MIGHT WANT TO KNOW ABOUT MY HUSBAND!

1.  Where did you meet?  We met at a friend's apartment - this was all carefully orchestrated by my roommate, Tracie, who had decided that we should meet.  Actually, this was our "official" introduction, though we HAD met before - he just doesn't remember it!  I was going to a fraternity function with one of Luke's frat brothers, who introduced us briefly by the fountain at Baylor.  I remember the meeting... he does not!  (Of course, I will never let him live this down! ha ha!)

2.  How long did you date.  We dated for about a year before getting engaged, and then about another 6 months before we married.

3.  How long have you been married?  14.5 years

4.  What does he say that surprises you?  YES.  (No matter what I want to do, if I REALLY want to do it, he supports me.)

5.  What is your favorite feature of his?  His arms.

6.  What is your favorite quality of his?  His loyalty and his determination.

7.  Does he have a nickname for you?  Bets

8.  What is his favorite color?  royal blue, maybe?  or green?

9.  What is his favorite food?  Salmon 

10.  What is his favorite sport?  To watch would be football.  To play would probably be triathlon.

11.  When and where did you first kiss?  In my apartment

12.  What is your favorite thing to do as a couple?  Probably going out to dinner.  We also love to travel, but we don't get to go very often...

13.  Do you have any children?  Yes, three lovely daughters.

14.  Does he have a hidden talent?  Pogo stick.  (Just kidding... I don't know if any of his talents are "hidden", but he is pretty great athlete.)

15.  How old is he?  37

16.  Who said "I love you" first?  I think we said it at the same time... it was kinda mutual.

17.  What is his favorite type of music?  His taste is like mine... pretty eclectic.  He likes rock to work out with, and country for easy listening.

18.  What do you most admire about him?  He is a FANTASTIC daddy!  His daughters absolutely idolize him, and I think he is doing a great job showing them a fine example of the type of wonderful, godly man that they should be looking for when they grow up.

19.  Do you think he will read this?  No, not unless I show it to him!

20.  Where did you go on your first date?  We went on a date to Austin, where we went to a winery, had a fantastic dinner at the Oasis restaurant overlooking Lake Travis, and then finished off the evening on 6th Street.  I'm pretty sure that was our first "date", even though we had been "hanging out" in bigger groups of friends for a few weeks before that.

OK - now that's probably just TOO much information! ha ha

Now it's my turn to TAG people, so I tag Shelley, Amy, and Kristi!  Have fun, girls!

Congratulations, Luke!

Fabulous Hubby finished his 1/2 marathon in 1 hour and 50 minutes!  Way to go!

Luke's Big Race

Tomorrow Luke is running a Half-Marathon in San Antonio.  (This photo obviously isn't him in San Antonio... this is from a triathlon that he did a few months back, but it was the only picture I had of him running!)Good luck, babe.  Hope you do very well.

And, just another quick "funny" from the mighty Miss Grace...

Luke was getting ready to leave earlier to go to San Antonio, and his conversation with Grace went something like this:

L:  Bye, Sweetheart!

G:  Where are you going, Daddy?

L:  I'm off to San Antone.

G:   I want to go to Santa's home!!!!

L:  *** uncontrolled laughter ******

Gracie Lou-Lou

Today I had some errands to run, and Miss Gracie went with me.  They weren't really fun errands, but they did require going to a larger town, which, in the past, has not been so fun with the littlest member of the family.

This was not the case today.  We had fun.She talked NON STOP, Y'ALL!!  I mean, non stop... to the point that people in stores and in check-out lines would get cracked up and laugh out loud and comment on her unbelievable adorableness  (is "adorableness a word?  I don't even know.)

The conversations went like this:

Grace:  Mom!  Why can't I ring THAT bell?

Mom:  Because that bell is only to be rung if you need help, and we are already being helped.

G:  Is that like a rule or something?

*******

G:  Mom?  Is that a snake?  (Note:  We were at Pet*Smart buying dog food, and they DID, in fact, have snakes for sale.  Gross.)

M:  Yes, I do believe those are snakes.

G:  Can we have one?

M:  No.

G:  Why not?

M:  I don't like snakes and you will never, never, be allowed to have one.

G:  I think I'm gonna' ask my Daddy...

**********

G:  Mom!  Mom!  We learned the hamster dance in school!  Watch me!!  (At this point she broke into a wiggly, shakin', rockin' little dance.  Right there in the aisle.  Then, in mid dance, she "Froze", and then said, in a little whispery voice, "That's called the FREEZE.")

***********

G:  Mom!  Look at the Santas!  Is Santa coming soon?

M:  Yes, after Thanksgiving.

G:  Is Thanksgiving today?

M:  No, Thanksgiving is in about 2 weeks.

G:  And then it's Christmas?

M:  No, Christmas is at the end of December.

G:  Oh.  Is that tomorrow?

M:  No, baby, it's in DECEMBER.

G:  When is REMEMBER?

M:  *** laughter***

***************

G:  I need to go potty.

M:  Can you hold it just a minute?  I don't know where the potty is.

G:  I don't think that would be a be a very good idea.

***************

Trust me, the list goes on.  We don't even have time or room for all the awesome-ness that was "Grace-Speak" today!!  

This was "The Good Stuff" that I just pray I won't forget... (especially on those days when I'm NOT thinking she's so cute and funny! ha ha)

The Fearless Huntress

As you may know, we have no sons.  Three beautiful daughters we have been blessed with, but that Y chromosome is hard to come by in our family.  So, on occasion, one of our girls will humor Hubby and do something "manly" with him.  This weekend, Miss Abs decided she wanted to go deer hunting with her Dad and PaPaw (also known as my Dad.)  They suited her all up in camo clothes, and off they went.  She DOES look pretty cute, even in camo!When they got to the woods, Luke put Miss Abs up in his tree stand, and then he sat on the ground under a fallen tree where he could see her.  (PaPaw opted for another stand some distance away.)

They sat and waited, and sure enough, out came some deer.  They were watching the deer, and honestly, Luke confessed there was no way he was shooting one - it was just too much trouble! But, Abs didn't know that, and was having a great time out in the nice weather watching the deer frolic beneath her.  Luke said all of a sudden she got really still and had a horrible, terrified look on her face.   She was pointing to the side of her, in the tree, and mouthing something to him.  (However, being the good little huntress, she wasn't speaking aloud... that would scare away the deer!)  Luke said she kept getting more animated and more frantic, to the point that he actually thought she might jump.  So, he got up and scared away all the deer, and ran up to the tree.  She got down, and he asked her what was wrong.  She said, "Dad, there was this squirrel, and he was LOOKING at me.  He wouldn't stop staring at me!  I was afraid he was going to jump on me!" Forget deer, hogs, snakes, coyotes, or any other scary woodland animal... we were worried about THE SQUIRREL.

Dangerous squirrels out there, people.  Be warned.  They have nuts stored for the winter, and they will defend them!

:-)

Halloween Revisited

The evening after Halloween, we had a really fun "Mini" Halloween party out at the farm.  My in laws planned it, along with the help of our resident "Super Uncle", Matt.  All of Luke's siblings and their spouses came, along with all their kids.  Matt even brought out his girlfriend, Leslie, to join in on the festivities.  Counting everyone, there were 19 of us.  Wow.  We have really grown in the 15 years since I've joined the family!!!

We started the evening with a great brisket dinner.  Then all the kids ran off to put their costumes on again and get ready to trick-or-treat, farm style.  This meant that there would be an adult stationed at various places on the farm with candy and little trinkets to hand out.  Gran was in the house, Matt and Leslie were in the carport, Luke was in the barn, and Grandad was in the shed.  After all the candy gathering, we met at the old sistern for a bon fire and marshmallow roasting.

Here is a picture of the kids sitting on the farm house porch, ready to get started.  Jake, the dog, does NOT want to get left out!Here are the kids at their first stop, the front door of the house.  Their Gran was all dressed up in a long gray wig, overalls, and a bonnet.  She looked so funny!


Here are the kids coming up to the fire after trick-or-treating.  They are ready for the marshmallows!
There was just a little candy to be eaten, even by the youngest of our clan.  Baby Beth LIKED the candy!  (Is she not the cutest?  I want to gobble her up!)
Here is Claire, who looks so much like my girls that she could BE mine.  
Here is Luke (also known as "The Sheik"), along with "Granny Bumpkins", holding up "Batgirl".  There were some pretty great treats in that chest!  And, the chest made great creaking noises when you open it up.
Katie particularly enjoyed the marshmallows.
Here's Abs, a.k.a. the Cute Kitty, sitting on her Daddy's lap at the camp fire.
Here are my sister-in-laws, Sara and Sarah, with their sons, Luke and Colin.  The boys were also big fans of the marshmallows!  Check out the extra on Colin's face!  Cute!!

Here's Leslie, holding Batgirl.  We thought Leslie's glasses kinda looked like Batgirl's mask!
We had such a good time!  Happy Belated Halloween!!  :-)

Snaggle Tooth

If Abby loses any more teeth, I'm not sure how she's going to eat.  Just look.Last week she lost the second top tooth while eating an apple, and she swallowed it.  We had to leave the tooth fairy a note. Luckily, the tooth fairy was understanding, and still left a little cash.

Tonight she lost the bottom tooth there.  She didn't swallow it, but she did lose it before bed time.  

That tooth fairy is getting another note tonight, and we are hoping she is patient and understanding, and also that she has a good sense of humor!

And now I'm off to look through the pantry for soft foods...

I think Miss Abs is going to need them! :-)

Halloween Photos

I told you that the Halloween photos would be entertaining you for a long time to come.  So, here we go.

This is Kate and Abs Trick-or-Treating on the square.  Ms. Misty was both girls' Kindergarten teacher, and she was dressed as a bumblebee.  Too funny!  They just had to have a pic with her.This is a pic of all 9 grandkids Trick-or-Treating around the H-Town square.  Aren't they sweet?

Here are our kids with the Denver kids, before everyone else arrived.
This is the "official" Halloween 2009 costume shot.  Abby was a kitty cat, Grace was Batgirl, and Kate was a Candy Corn Witch.
The big girls got to wear costumes to school, but they had to be a story book character costume.  Kate wanted to wear her witch dress, so she hunted around and found a book that matched her costume. However, Abs REALLY wanted to do this one particular book, called "One Good Pup."  She just loves the dog in that story, and you know me, anything to encourage reading!!!  So, I made her a pup costume for school.  She was super cute (note the REAL doggie collar around her neck!!)
More photos to come later - we had an AWESOME Halloween party on Saturday night out at the family farm!!!

Happy Belated Halloween!!

Oh, Yeah...

Oh, BTW, did you know that there is a little thing called A NATIONAL ELECTION going on today?

DID YOU REMEMBER TO VOTE?!?!?!?!?!?

If not, WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?!?!?!?  THIS ONE IS IMPORTANT, PEOPLE!!

Go.  Vote.  Now.

Thank you.

Hello...

HELLO?!?!?!?!  (tap. tap. tap.)  Hello?  Is anyone there?

Oh, YES!  I am here, but have been a little distracted...

We had a little "mini" family reunion with Luke's side of the family this past week.

All 9 cousins were together for 3 days, which included a great deal of trick-or-treating and massive amounts of candy.

Oh, yes, it did.

The "crew" of family from Denver were lucky enough to get to stay in town for a full week, which was a blessing.  We don't get to see them often enough, and we had so much fun.

We have just had us a BIG ole' time, and I have many lovely pictures, which I will be uploading to the trusty old blog (just as soon as I find the cord to my camera.)

Halloween pictures will be entertaining you for weeks to come, I am sure.

Good to see you again, internet-y people!!  How have you been?

Kate "TRI's" Hard

Today Katie completed her first triathlon.  She ran in the "Trick-or-Treat Tri" up in the DFW area.  She did great!  I was just so proud of her... she didn't let anything stop her.  It wasn't always smooth, because the chain fell off her bike and she had to get some help to get it back on.  But, that's just how things go sometimes, and she didn't let it get her down.

Because blogger is crazy, it loaded these photos in TOTALLY random order... oh, well.  I'll try to explain what is going on in each picture.

Here she is, crossing the finish line under the balloon arch.
Here she is running toward the track to complete the last loop of the run.  (Notice how she's carrying her visor... it kept falling off, so she just carried it.  When she saw us waiting on the track, she just threw it over to us!)

Here she is in the transition area after the swim, getting ready for the bike portion.  We didn't get any pictures of her during the bike, because she was out on the course for awhile (because of the chain problems).  By the time we realized she had been gone for too long and went out looking for her, she rode up.  Oh well... 
Ready to swim... Note the body marking there... she's #129!
Here she is, taking a deep breath on that swim portion!!
Jumping in, ready to swim.
I thin this picture is so cute... Kate's friend, Lauren, did the Tri with her, and they were so excited, so excited, and then as the "start time" inched ever-so close, the began to get really nervous.  You can just SEE the nerves on their little faces!!!
Here they are before the race, showing off their body markings.
A big congrats to Kate and Lauren for completing their first Tri!!  They both said they just can't WAIT to do another one!!  Way to go girls.  I am just so proud of you!!