Better late than never

Apparently I have been quite the negligent blogger...the holidays will do that to a gal I guess, although it's probably more that I have been a bit on the lazy side. We have a pretty full holiday season as I'm sure most people do. Ours begins at Thanksgiving when Jaden's MeMaw and Poppy Joe start giving out presents. We always like to make a second trip before Christmas to finish up, somewhat because, unlike some of my sisters, I never get any shopping done before Thanksgiving and also because we just like the second Christmas trip!!!





We celebrate with some good friends sometime before Christmas and also have our family Christmas celebration since we head to the panhandle for a the BIG family celebration for the actual day. Here are a few photos of some of our Christmas celebrations.





J with some webkinz...yes she is still a BIG fan of webkinz.

She is also a big fan of Justice.

Shocker of all shockers there is actually a picture of me, so thought I would include it for a change of pace.

Joe with his autographed Jason Witten helmet.

Joe after reading his present from Jaden - 10 Reasons why You are the King. I got one called 10 Reasons why I Love You. Such sweet gifts from our wonderful little girl.

J with some Texas gear...too bad Colt got knocked out early or we would have another national championship!!!

J's new bball goal. Hopefully it will warm up enough soon to get out and play!!!

Going through her stocking Christmas morning. Luckily for her Santa found us at home Christmas morning and left J's stocking and her gift here. Our family gift was acidentally transported to the panhandle, but it was something to look forward to. This was Jaden's first Christmas to miss being with everyone, but the weather mad the decision for us that we would be staying home this year. Too bad it didn't decide a little sooner though, cause we had no food in the house Christmas day. Luckily for us we found out that Alberston's is open Christmas day...fried chicken and pumpkin pie, not exactly the turkey and dressing and all the trimmings that I was expecting at Mom's, but at least we didn't starve.

We were all a little depressed about not being with family for the actual holiday, but at least J had this to keep her entertained...the reason we were still at home was at least a fun distraction for.

She had a pretty good time building a snowman, making snow angels, and making and throwing snowballs...mostly at the fence although I did have a pretty good war with her later in the day.

We finally made it to the panhandle the next weekend for New Years Eve and got to hang out with everyone. Plus got the present Santa left for us there!!!

Thanks for the laptop Santa...we totally understand your confusion!!!

It started snowing New Years Eve while we were in the panhandle, so J got to enjoy the snow with her cousins and had plenty of targets for her snowballs!!!

And lastly...a picture of Jaden in her Christmas dress from MeMaw and Poppy Joe...turned into a New Years Eve dress!!!

We hope each and every one of you had a very Merry Christmas and are enjoying a wonderful New Year. Can't wait to do it all again next holiday season!!!

It's beginning to look alot like Christmas!!!

We could not believe it last week when we looked out the window and saw honest to goodness, real live snow falling here. We had been wearing our short sleeves all weekend long and then all of a sudden it decided to turn COLD...and it hasn't gone back to my nice mild temperatures that I am so fond of. Jaden was in heaven with this little bit of snow that we got...she had been a little jealous of some pictures of her cousins playing in the snow from the weekend. We bundled up and rushed right out to take advantage because it wouldn't be there when we got home!!!



Taking pictures while dodging snow balls is hard work.

Making snow angels is a much nicer past time...except for the changing out of the soaking wet clothes before school part!!!

Doesn't she make a pretty angle.

Thursday Sandie and Hope flew down to visit and shop and shop and hey, did I mention shop? Luckily for me they did come to do some shopping, and I am pleased to announce that I am pretty much done (except for a couple of small things) with my shopping. :)

Then we moved on to more important things...like a house that still had pumpkins in the front yard. It takes us a while to catch on that it's time to move on to the next holiday I guess. Jaden finally convinced her daddy to head up to the attic and haul down all the Christmas decorations, and she tackled her favorite job of the season...decorating the tree!!! This year she even had a little helper. They were so cute doing their job together. :)

I didn't actually hit the outside of the house until today when I got rid of the pumpkins and put the outside x-mas decorations up. We are now officially ready...except for the no presents under the tree part. As soon as I recover from all the shopping and decorating maybe I'll come up with some energy to start the wrapping!!!

Happy Late Thanksgiving

There is so much in this wonderful life that I have that I am thankful for that it would take a while to list it all. God has truly blessed me. I am most thankful for my family though. For Joe and Jaden, my parents, brothers, sisters, nieces and nephews. I am also thankful for the second family I got when I married Joey. They have taken me in like I was one of their own. This year for Thanksgiving we drove up to Oklahoma to spend the day with them. I am also thankful that they are close enough for a one day visit since I usually have to work the Wed. before and the Fri. after Thanksgiving. It was a great day filled with tons of great food, football, family and fun...the four F's!!! Jaden made this little guy her friend from the start, his name is Snickers!!!



The kids all had a great time together. This year we had Thanksgiving at one of the cousins homes and they had tons for the kids to do. We saw them when it was time to eat and out the windows. Thankfully it was a beautiful day, and they took full advantage of it!!! There was a trampoline, tree house, basketball goal, bikes, scooters and plenty of trails for J to perfect her driving skills...they had a 4 wheeler and an ATV which she took full advantage of.

Mykah looks a little scared...if any of J's driving ability comes from her mamma I'd be scared too!!! Thankfully there were no accidents to report. Jaden was a little sad when we had to leave, she is already plotting to take a change of clothes next year and stay even if I have to come home and work.

Joey was excited to get this gift from his parents.

I thought it was so cute...even if it did have OU stuff all over it. You can plug it in and it lights up and everything. A little of his excitement wore off when J and I got this...

These are so adorable...thanks so much Sandra and Joe. We had a great time with all of you!!!

A whirlwind

Since we got back from Oklahoma almost two weeks ago we have been going like crazy. Jaden had a soccer scrimmage Tues. and a game Thurs. night. Friday night her school had their annual fund raiser...MavFest - so after I picked her up from ESD we came home, changed and headed back up to the school. Jaden's favorite part of MavFest was the rock wall they had this year. She made it all the way to the top!!! She decided the line for the mechanical bull was too long. I was one of the volunteer parents. Luckily for me J and a few of her friends decided to help me out. I couldn't have done it without them!!!



After we got home from MavFest we hung out with the neighbors and waited for some family to roll into town. Mom, Rebecca and her kids showed up Friday night and Angie and her gang came by Saturday. The kids had a good time hanging out together.

There were dog piles and silly string and a trip to Going Bonkers throughout the day Saturday. There was also some shopping and of course another soccer game. No pictures from Bonkers...if you want good pictures there you have to crawl through with the kids. I was more in the sit at a table and talk with Mom and Rebecca mode.

After everyone went home on Sunday Jaden and I had a fun day of cleaning, laundry and grocery buying, well not fun but guess someone had to do it.

Monday Jaden had a well check at her doctors office. Her doctor discovered what she thought might be scoliosis. Joey is taking J to get an x-ray of her spine on Friday, and we will hopefully get some news back about that next week sometime...thanks for all the prayers everyone is saying for a good outcome!!!

Tuesday...what else, another soccer game. All this rain has made for a busy end of the soccer season:)

Today I went to Jaden's awards assembly at her school. I can't believe it is already the end of the second 6 weeks. Here is a picture of her on stage getting either her honor roll ribbon or perfect attendance...not sure which one, but they were both not very good pictures. My camera is not a fan of the lighting in the cafeteria.

Here's a picture of Jaden looking around to make sure I showed up!!!

No rest coming our way anytime soon either. Soccer games to finish up the season on Sat. and Sun. this weekend along with a basketball clinic on Sat. If you don't hear from me this weekend, now you'll know why!!!

A Day in OK

We went to Oklahoma over the weekend to celebrate our October b-days and Halloween with MeMaw and Poppy Joe. Our soccer game was cancelled on Sat. so we got an early start and made a day of it, although we'll be making up for all the missed soccer games this weekend and next...5 games crammed into these two weekends (4 of them make-up games). We had a great time on our trip and were glad we had the chance to go. Here are a few photos of our adventures in Oklahoma!!!



Jaden getting her b-day loot from MeMaw and Poppy Joe.

A little thank you hug for Poppy Joe.

George was there too...can't forget about George who thinks this is his chair and that he can sit in it like any regular person would.

George wondering who this girl is who's invading his space.

Logan and Rikki stopped by for a visit too. Logan thought J's new hat from MeMaw was pretty cool.

Jaden in her vampire outfit ready to do some trick-or-treating.

We hit Granny Mildred up for some candy!!!

Jaden, Rikki and I hit the haunted house...it was inside an old funeral home and was pretty creepy. I don't think J is a fan of haunted houses anymore!!!

Jaden modeling her new outfit from MeMaw and Poppy Joe...they know just what a little girl likes!!!

The weekend

I'm still trying to figure out where all my time is going. I don't know where it all is...just know I don't have it anymore. We should have pretty much the same schedule as last year, but for some reason this year seems much more rushed and hurried and stressful than last year. We seem to be eating out all the time and just running from one place to the next...well not actually running...that's another thing I am finding a hard time fitting into my schedule. I think I only made it onto the treadmill twice last week, although I can't actually even remember if that's correct or not. This weekend there was no break for us either. We bought a new HDTV on Thurs. night and spent Fri. night moving furniture and such and trying to figure out how it would look best in our living room. What we had wasn't working, so Joe and I headed out to look for something else. We didn't find anything, so I went back out Sat. morning to check a few other places...nothing really jumped out at me.



Then it was time for soccer. They let us play on the soggy fields since they have run out of dates for makeup games. Jaden had a big asthma attack toward the end of the first half. Since the parents are required to sit on the other side of the field this year, I had to run through all the mud to get over to help. Luckily her inhaler worked quickly. She even went back into the game in the second half, although her coach put her in as a defender to give her a bit of a break!!!



Here are a few pictures from the game.

She plays with her tongue out a lot!!!

She was pretty disgusting after the game. Feel sorry for those football parents who have to deal with the muddy clothes a lot more. Joey told her she would have to ride in the back of his truck. She didn't think this was a very good idea!!! Luckily he had a towel in there, so after taking off her shoes, she was allowed to get in.

After the game we grabbed some food on the run and then headed out to meet some friends at the pumpkin patch. We went on the train ride, hit the bounce houses and face painting and just had a good time hanging out with everyone!!!

Joe met up with us afterward...OU was playing after all and he couldn't miss that to hang out at a pumpkin patch...for dinner and drinks with everyone. Then we went looking for the TV stand/ mount again. Still no luck, but I did find one that we got on Sunday, so by about 7:00 Sunday night we finally had everything up and running and in its place and enough time to grill out some steaks...yeah eating at home...before the next wave of storms rolled in to make sure we would stay on the soggy side!!!

Happy B-day Jaden

Happy birthday to my sweet baby girl...who isn't such a baby anymore. My little girl is 9 today, and I am so proud of the person she is becoming. She is so kind and sweet and just a fun person to be around. Hopefully all of these qualities just continue to grow in her!!!

She had a party with her cousins last weekend in Amarillo and had a great time. Tony and Sam took her out last night for some shopping at Justice and dinner wherever she wanted...Chili's of course. Today I took her shopping...the cash and gift cards she has gotten so far were burning a hole in her little pocket. Hopefully she has had a great day today. I'm about to cook her a b-day dinner...to be followed up by cheesecake, her favorite!!!

A special thanks to Angie for taking some time out last Sunday to take some new pictures for me. They are all great!!!