Thanksgiving Art

Here are some cute things that Zach made at school!

An Interesting Evening By The Fire

What? A fire already, you ask? :) No, it's not freezing outside yet, but this is what we HAVE to do before we set up our Christmas tree. Still confused?

It's to get rid of these suckers that like to make a home in our chimney every year! Yikes is right. Wasps!!!!! Gabe and I have lived in this house for six years now and we have this job planned out. It took a little while, but we have it. Flashlight- check, fly swatter- check, vacuum- check, matches- check, key for the gas- check, shoes on- check. Ok, we're ready. I'm sure it's hilarious to watch us and I can't believe I didn't think to blog about this last year. It's pretty funny. We get all of our supplies, make sure the kids are safe upstairs, and then we light the fireplace. It takes seconds for the wasps to start falling down. And there's literally 50-75 of them, if not more. And that's only the ones that come down, not the ones that are actually smart and fly up and away. Some burn up right away, some crawl to the back corners and slowly die, and some try to escape. That's when we come into play and have to vacuum them up or swat and kill them. Crazy, I know! Here's an up close picture of the ones in the vacuum.

We then take the canister outside to dump them and step on them to kill them. We have asked an exterminator about them before and he gave us some mumbo jumbo about covering the top of our chimney. Yeah, not sure if that would work. So if anybody has better advice, please let us know! :) Oh, the reason we have to do this before putting our tree up is because if any of the wasps escape past us, they might go into the tree and then we can't find them. This we learned about two years ago! Ha!

The kids were anxious to help Daddy get the tree out!

Zach was Daddy's little helper.

More pictures to come when everything is decorated!

A Visit To Samantha's

Last Monday, I was an awesome sister/aunt and rode with Becky to visit Sam in Sherman (about 45 minutes north of Dallas). She wanted some help decorating her apartment, and of course that's all Becky needed to hear and she was off! Lol! In case you don't know, Becky loves to decorate! We arrived at her apartment around 1pm, went to eat some lunch, did some final shopping, and then dove in to the decorating! We hung pictures, shelves (don't ask how long that took), hung curtains, rearranged the furniture, covered the couch, and made it look oh so cute. By that time, it was 7pm and Becky and I still had to drive back to my Mom's! It was definitely a long day, but well worth it! Hope you enjoy it Sammy Sue!!

Back In Business

My camera lens has made it back safely and most importantly, is working again!! And of course it was still under warranty so all I had to pay was for the shipping. I am rather impressed that it only took about a week and a half to get fixed and back to me. Just in time for the Thanksgiving and upcoming holiday pictures! YEA!! :)

To Grandma's House We Go!

Oh, it was so nice. Last weekend, my Mom was gracious enough to take both of the kids off of our hands for the night. This was the first time that the kids stayed with Grandma with Gabe and I at home. All the other times, it has been for a specific reason (like a trip, etc). They left on Sunday after lunch and I went to pick them up on Monday evening. I was a little nervous about Sophie. I didn't quite know how she would react to me staying and her leaving. She is quite attached to her Momma! But she really surprised me!! When it came time to go, Zach is telling me bye and Sophie walked over, grabbed my leg to give me a hug, and said "Bye Momma." Oh, she sounded so grown up! I couldn't believe it. And then she waved and waved from the car. It was so cute! Looks like she is ready for more trips to Grandma's house! How would you like that Mom???? :) Getting ready to leave.

Someone was obviously not in the mood for pictures.

Such a big girl! :)

This Girl Has Got It!

Did everyone else see Taylor ('our girl') win four CMA's last night?? She took home awards for Album, Music Video, Female Artist, and Entertainer of the Year!! Yea Taylor Swift (as Zach would say)!!!!!!



Zach's tribute :)
He's singing Taylor Swift's "Teardrops On My Guitar." And Sophie was singing and dancing too until she noticed that I had the camera out and she wanted to "see" what I was recording.

Between Sophie rocking me in the chair, trying to grab the camera, and it being kind of dark in the room, the video didn't turn out too well- but it's still kind of cute! :)

21 Months!

Sophie turned 21 months last Friday!! No, I didn't forget. She just doesn't make it easy to take pictures of her anymore. She is either in a mood and doesn't want her picture taken, or she wants to see what I'm taking a picture of. So, notice that I don't have any pictures to go along with this post. :)

It is amazing how much her vocabulary has grown in the last month. I can't even keep up with how many different words she is saying. And she tries to imitate a lot of words that she hears Gabe and I say. Especially when we are on the phone. She will go and grab one of her play phones and copy what she hears us say. It is too funny.

One of my favorites is now if she doesn't know an answer to something, she will shrug her shoulders and say "I don't know." I wish I could catch this on video... it is precious!!
Also, when it is a school day for Zach, she will ask me 100 times in one day where Zach and Daddy are. And I will answer her every time! But then I started turning the question around on her. And then she has to answer me. Tricky Mommy. :)

She has all of her teeth in. The last one is almost fully grown- which doesn't matter when she bites. It still hurts. Yes, she bites. She bites only me (usually), but playfully. But she has left a mark or two.

She also now knows how to roll her eyes. I don't know if she knows exactly what she is doing, but it seems to always fit the situation. :)

Happy 21 Month Birthday Sophie!! xo

Baby's Got Her Blue Jeans On

I cannot tell you how frustrating it has been trying to find this girl some jeans that fit her!! She's usually not hard to buy for or to fit, but this definitely wasn't the case this time. I started out going to The Children's Place a while back. I chose to go here first because I bought her jeans here last year and didn't have a problem, and they are decently priced. Also, Zach has always fit into their jeans really well.
So, I buy her two pair. Size 24 months. Bring them home, try them on her, and they are huge and long!! I had to cinch the waist as far as they would go- still big. Tried her shoes on with them- still long. Got the advice to wash/shrink them, but I didn't think they would shrink THAT much to where they would actually fit her. But I try it anyway.
In the meantime, I go to Old Navy to try out their selection. First off, they are very picked over. They didn't even have a size 2t. But since the 24 months from the other store were too big, I figured I should try a smaller size- 18 months. I buy her two pair. Bring those home, try them on...they fit just right! But, almost too short. I am afraid to dry them- they will obviously shrink and then be too short! This is when the frustration starts to set in.
Next, I decide to go back to The Children's Place (different mall) and exchange the other pair for the smaller size. Bring those home, try them on...they are too short!! I couldn't believe it!! Oh my gosh! I go to get the original pair that I had washed, put those on her and guess what. They actually fit her now. With her shoes on, they are just perfect. I don't know if she grew and they shrunk that much, or what. But they work now.
So, of course, I have to go back to The Children's Place one more time to exchange the "too short" pair for a "too long" pair and I guess I will just have to shrink those too. You might think that would recognize me by now.
Is anyone tired yet?? :) Oh, and I forgot to mention that I went back to Old Navy again and checked to see if they got any more sizes in (no luck).
But now we are set.... I think. :)


For Zach: I buy him three pair from The Children's Place. He goes to get dressed for school the other day. The pair pictured above are his and they are kind of "worn" in different places on the legs. As he is about to put them on, he notices this and says, "Mommy, my jeans are ripped" totally in this tone, like "why did you buy me these? they are obviously ripped." I cracked up. I told him that they were supposed to be like that, that makes them "cool." He replies, "Oh." :)

These were too good not to blog about. I mean, it only took me like a month (maybe longer) to find my daughter some jeans, and my son is such a funny little man!

Move Over Betty Crocker!!

Check out what I cooked up (or baked up) for my sister's Fall Fiesta...
Chocolate & Vanilla cupcakes with Buttercream Icing (all homemade of course) ... mmmmm, mmmm, good! :)
Let me know if you need cupcakes for a special occasion. I love to bake!!

Nobody Puts "Baby" in the Corner

Look who doesn't sit in her highchair anymore!!!!! Baby Girl is growing up fast.
It was pretty much her idea to sit at the table (go figure). It just happened randomly one day. I guess she figured out that she could sit there just like the rest of us. She is pretty good about staying in her seat until she is done eating. I have had to separate the kids though. Sometimes they like to play/pick on each other when they are supposed to be eating. And if I get up to do something at the sink, stove, or fridge, you can guarantee that she will turn around and look to see what I am doing. It drives me nuts sometimes!! :) But other than that, she is doing really well.
She was trying to escape before I snapped the picture. I don't know why, but she doesn't always like to have her picture taken anymore. :(

Jump Around

My Dad's church has a Fall Festival/BBQ every year. I took the kids to eat and buy some brisket & ribs when they spotted the jump house. Needless to say, we spent another thirty minutes there. But they had a good time playing. I love the last picture... look at their cute, little faces as they jump!! :)

The Gang

The Gang... a Football Player, a Gladiator, Bat Girl, & Snow White! A pretty good lookin' group of kids, don't ya think?? :)

A Gladiator & Snow White... (kind of sounds like the beginning of a joke, doesn't it?)

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!!! We had a good day. My parents came to town and stayed with us. So on Saturday morning we all got up, had some breakfast and then went to Cole's first football playoff game. They ended up winning 14-13!! It was a great game with lots of excitement. Congrats Cousin Cole!!
We then all went to Mel's and had a yummy lunch. I swear that is the best Fried Chicken Salad ever!! Just writing about it makes me want to get another one. :)
After naps and resting for a while, Grandma wanted to make her famous Graveyard Cake for the kids. Well, I guess it was for all of us. The kids really enjoyed helping her make the cake. They liked putting the decorations on the top.
Everyone was coming over to our house this year, so we decided to order a pizza (or three) and then go trick or treating.
The kids were soo cute in their costumes! Zach was a Gladiator this year and Sophie was Snow White. No fuss was made about the costumes. I was afraid that Sophie wouldn't want to wear hers. She was a pro... you wouldn't think this was her first time to go trick or treating. She was a little hesitant at first (with the strangers), but after a while, she started taking the candy for herself. Haha! She didn't want to wait for them to give it to her. Hilarious!! And she pretty much walked the whole time! She did not want to be carried. Miss Independent!
Zach... well, I guess he is a little older, so he knows when things are scary. If a house had a scary entrance, door, porch, or yard, he did not want to go near it. He would just wait it out and go to the next house. But he definitely wanted MORE candy!! :)
All in all, it was a great day spent with family. We had a fun-filled day!
My sister, Becky took some pictures with her camera too, so I had put a link to Snapfish on here. You can see all the pictures from our day! Enjoy!
Click here to view photos