Howdy Partner!

Last week the kids' school had Cowboy day. Being the frugal person that I am, I'm not one to go all out on an outfit that they'll only wear once. So in the past years Benjamin has only worn jeans and a bandanna, which is really all the school requests that you do. However, this year, thanks to cousin Andrew, we had the entire ensemble for cowboy day for Benjamin! Poor Savannah, sorry honey, a bandanna and a Johnny Cash t-shirt will have to work for you. She's still cute as a button though! Yeehaw!

Stomach Bugs......

The stomach bug has won. Benjamin gathered up his favorite animals (and his trash can) and waved the white flag. Bedtime came super early yesterday....at 5pm! Poor guy. Thankfully today he is feeling tons better BUT we found Savannah sleeping in her own vomit last night at 12:30. Not only that, she has a cold and 2 ear infections. Breaks my heart! I wonder who's next? David or me?

There's a First Time for Everything!

Savannah's first ponytail! Okay, I know it's kind of puny but it was pretty exciting to me. Yay!

What a Night!

Last night we were awoken three times in the middle of the night. All I have to say is this: "Excuse me, Mr. Home Alarm System People, setting our alarm off at 2:30 in the morning just because our battery is going low on our touch pads is ludicrous!" Yes, at 2:30 A.M. our alarm system starts going off because of a low battery. The company calls and informs of such status at, let me repeat this, 2:30 in the morning. Crazy, absolutely crazy. The representative starts explaining to me how to change the battery. Excuse me "Mr. Alert, Sweet, I Sleep During the Day and Awake at Night, or want to be Vampire"......but we were all sound asleep with sleeping kids, couldn't that have waited just a few more hours? It was actually kind of funny and looking back at the whole situation I'm laughing about it now.

Anyway, the first time we were awoken was at 12:30am from a call from work. That's the nature of our work, we're on call 24/7. The third time was after we had all fallen asleep from the Alarm System call. Savannah woke up all in sorts. Not sure what was going on with that but she eventually went back to sleep.

Let's pray tonight is quiet.....ALL NIGHT LONG!

Princess Savannah

Princess Savannah. "I must wear my bow AND my tiara at the same time even with my pj's...so CHEEEEEEESE!"

The Future's so Bright, I Gotta Wear Shades!

Our cool girl...she loves sunglasses. Benjamin....not so much, well, until Savannah starts getting attention for wearing them then Ben gets jealous and will actually put them on. Yes, yes, I'm bad....sometimes I DO work the jealousy angle to get what I want!

Dude, look at me! I'm kewl!

















Me too, me too! (Mr. Jealous pants)

It's the Small Things.....

This is going to be the dorkiest post ever but I have found a little somethin' that has made my life so much easier and has made me so happy (yes, iced coffees you still make the list but...). It's called Lemi Shine. You see, for the past few months our dishwasher has been leaving an ugly film on our dishes. It was caked on and I couldn't even scrub it off. I had tried everything - more Jet Dry, using less detergent, and even actually pulling my dishes out before the dry cycle and drying them by hand. Nothing was working until I came across a miracle product called Lemi Shine. This stuff is truly unbelievable. With no extra work from me it removed all the film and left all of my dishes sparkling. It's amazing, just amazing. I've had it for over 2 weeks now and it still makes me smile. I love it when something so unexpected happens and it makes life brighter!

Pajama Day

It was pajama day at school on Tuesday. It was so cool not to have to get the kids dressed. Talk about saving some time! Just feed 'em, brush their teeth and hair, stick a bow on Savannah, put their shoes on, and off we went!

Snow Day!

January 9th, 2011

Benjamin catching snowflakes on his tongue.

















Cheese!












Snow bunny.

Bring on the Wrinkles

There's a line in an Indigo Girls song that says "with every lesson learned a line upon your beautiful face". I love that line. For the most part, I don't mind all the lines appearing on my face. I do admit there are times that I stand in front of the mirror and pull my skin taunt around the eyes to see how I'd look without them but there is a part of me that's proud of them. With time and experience (and God) wisdom is gained. Those wrinkles are evidence of it. So I wake up with another new wrinkle, so be it. The saying goes that two things are for certain, death and taxes. Well, I say three - death, taxes, and wrinkles. It's going to happen to all of us. I'm living, learning, and loving NOW and appreciate each day the Lord has given me, no matter what I look like so bring on the wrinkles.

A quote from Charles Dickens:
“Father Time is not always a hard parent, and, though he tarries for none of his children, often lays his hand lightly upon those who have used him well; making them old men and women inexorably enough, but leaving their hearts and spirits young and in full vigor. With such people the gray head is but the impression of the old fellow's hand in giving them his blessing, and every wrinkle but a notch in the quiet calendar of a well-spent life.”

Another one I like, not sure who said it though:
"When you smile you give yourself good wrinkles. Have you ever looked at somebody who smiles all the time? They have a face that tells you that they are happy. They have a face that is full of happiness. And unless you are a miserable fool you will look at them and smile yourself. Nevermind trying to hide all those wrinkles, just smile more and try and grow some of the good wrinkles on yourself."

Christmas 2010

Christmas came and went. What a blur! We had a good time though. We spent Christmas Eve and Christmas day at our house with my mom and dad. Between scooters, motorized 4-wheelers, and tons of musical instruments I think the kids are set for a while! On Christmas day the kids and I never even got out of our pj's. Love those kind of days! We ended the gift unwrapping with our traditional egg and ham casserole. The next week we went to spend some time with David's parents. I think I gained 10 pounds in the 3 days we were there....so much good food and candy that I could not resist.

Mom and me....and Heidi and Frederick.












The McKinneys















Benjamin said that along with the cookies and milk we left for Santa that Santa would want some tortilla chips too. He was right! Santa ate it all up!












Diggin' in!












My dad....yes, even engineers can be amused by a simple light up toy....or we were just really boring to hang out with....












At Grandma Nancy and Granddaddy's house - Savannah was super excited about the piano Grandma Nancy and Granddaddy got her.












Benjamin was excited about his Toy Story inflatable chair.












A little bedtime story with Granddaddy.

First Christmas Concert

Benjamin participated in his first Christmas recital a couple of weeks ago. Little guy did a great job, well, from what we could see! The room was so crowded we could barely see him. Big disappointment but we're proud of our man, especially because he was able to stand in one place for so long....15 minutes! For such a hyper guy like him, that's a long time!

He's at the far left and in between the man and the woman with the purple coat.