Happy Valentine's Day!

Tonight, my best girl her dad attended the Father/Daughter Dance for Valentine's Day. Julia looked lovely, Daddy looked handsome! She was very surprised and pleased with her corsage.

In the meantime, I stayed home with the boys and made Red Velvet Cupcakes - from scratch!

A Necessary Blog!

Okay, so those of you who know my oldest son know he's a pretty sharp little guy. He routinely makes observations that leave us stunned. But yesterday he said something that had both Mike and I left with our jaws hanging open.

"Jurassic Park" was on and Hayden was watching, of course. He wanted to know why the movie was called "Jurassic Park". He went on to tell us that the "tyrannosaurus rex shouldn't be in the movie because that dinosaur didn't live in the Jurassic period; he lived in the Cretaceous period".

Yeah.

Mike and I looked at each other, where I then commented that when he is looking at his many dinosaur encyclopedias, "he's obviously not just looking at the pictures".

Now if you'll excuse me, I have an appointment with President Obama on TV. He would like to sell me some pork.

Picture Website Finally Updated

YESSS!!! It took a week but I finally updated SmugMug with pictures from Hayden's birthday. Sorry it took so long.

So click over on the right for SmugMug and look in the January 09 folder.

And as an added bonus, take a sneak peak at my new baby..

Busy January

Judging by this picture, doesn't everything look peaceful at the Masters? I have actually named this picture "A Quiet Moment", because it was.... just a moment....

The first of the year always seems to catch me off guard!

Just when you feel you can heave a sigh of relief that the holidays are over, the tree is put away, the house is put back together - somewhat - and the kids are back in school....

You'd think after six years I would remember that my oldest son's birthday is two weeks after New Year's Day! Right now he is perfectly happy with what I manage to throw together at the last minute, but if I don't get my act together, he may figure it out.

Anyway, Hayden's birthday was Wednesday. I woke him up with the iPod playing "Oh, What A Night (December 1963)", one of his favorite songs. I wish I was a tech-y person, I would change the lyrics to "Late January back in 2003!" and make it sound right. He doesn't seem to mind. I brought cupcakes to school for his class. Later he told me that was his favorite part of the day. (Does he know how to work his mom or what?)

For dinner we had leftover spaghetti. Not too exciting right? Oh, you're wrong! Picky Hayden LOVES spaghetti, leftover or not. And cake! He was really excited to get his Eye Clops handheld microscope. A perfect gift for a Young Scientist (as he refers to himself daily). It's a cool little gadget! It's got a light and you simply point it at something you want to see up close and it displays on the screen. It can magnify up to 400x. I haven't had the guts to look at my living room carpet yet.... He loves it.

Yesterday we hosted his birthday party at Chuck E Cheese. Not very fond of Chuck E Cheese, although I must say, it was the first time we had ever been there at 10 AM, and it was not as crowded as it usually is. Like I said, last minute planning landed us there, but again, he didn't seem to mind. He had actually been asking, so now I've got that one out of the way - at least until Brandon asks.

We had 7 of his friends come and join us, plus his brother and sister. They ran around like crazy! I think they all had a pretty good time.

Since I have the family arriving in three hours to give a final happy birthday celebration for Hayden, I'm not sure if I will have time to post the pictures on Smugmug today, but I will try my best. Check back with me if I don't get them up right away. I'm trying so hard to keep up with it all!

Two birthday parties this weekend, and a wedding last night! We were invited to my friend Jamie's wedding. She went to school with Mike and I - and was our drum major in band. She looked beautiful and so happy! We visited with another friend, Jennifer. She is still as lovely as she was so long ago in high school. It was a fun date night for Mike and I - and even better because my sister came to babysit the kids for us. You can't beat a free babysitter, you know?

More Christmas!

Today we visited Aunt Di's house. It was lovely because Granny and Papa were there! Also, Lauren is home to visit from Washington D.C.. She brought her boyfriend Ryon as well. And Beck and Ted and the twins joined, and we had a big old fashioned Christmas.

Only we forgot to do the traditional kid chant of "WE WANT THE PRESENTS!" in front of the tree. We just kind of dove in!

It was great to get to see all of my family and visit with Granny, Papa and Lauren. I posted all of the pictures on smugmug (link is to the right) but I'm sharing a couple here.

....and I still haven't taken my tree down yet....

Whew... we made it!

It seems like it just started, but Christmas is actually over!

As usual, December kicked off with Clara's Tea. The event where Julia and I get to dress up and go to a tea party - just for girls! We get to enjoy some finger foods and sweet desserts at fancy tables, and then watch a story book performance of the Nutcracker. In this feature, the story of The Nutcracker is read while the dancers give brief dancing performances. Afterward, the girls are able to get autographs from all of the dancers. We were lucky to have Julia's best friend Megan and our friend Marissa go with us. Neither of them had ever been before, so we were happy to introduce them to the tradition. I took lots and lots of pictures!

Although I covered this topic in my last post, it snowed in Sugar Land the following week! It was a huge deal, and the kids are still talking about it. It amazes me to hear all of the stories from everyone about the inches of snow they got! Even though our snow didn't stick enough to pile up it was still very exciting to us.

The next weekend was the actual Nutcracker performance. Our babysitter, Kelly, danced Snow Queen this year. It was so exciting to see her dance the part, and she did such a great job! Julia brought her some roses.

We hosted a party at our house the same weekend for Mike's staff at the Wellness Center. We had a lovely weekend with his group and their spouses and children. We got our chocolate fountain going - which was a huge hit with the kids. The party concluded with a fairly polite White Elephant game!

We spent Christmas Eve at Michael's parents house. It was so nice to eat a yummy rib roast dinner, visit with our family - including James and Maly - and introduce them all to the "A Christmas Story" marathon on TBS. Yes, I know! They had never seen it! My favorite part is still when Ralphie says the bad word while helping "The Old Man" change the tire...

Unbelievably, we had to wake the kids up on Christmas morning! And we only did this because we had to get the show on the road since we were hosting the family at our house on Christmas Day. We had such a good time watching the kids tear into their gifts.

My mother's family came over mid-day for the Christmas celebration. I made the turkey this year, and it turned out very well. I put it in a brine mixture for 14 hours, and it really did make it a nice juicy turkey! Aunt Theresa stayed late with us and we played Boom Blocks on the Wii. Brandon never did get a nap, so he crashed - in the middle of the playroom floor - by 6:30 pm!

I'm so tickled about the response from my Christmas cards this year! Each year I get very busy at work since it is benefit season, and I've found it hard to find the time - or be creative - when it comes to my annual greeting, so this year I called in for help. Michael's cousin, Diane, runs a printing business in Idaho, and I loved her cards last year so much that I decided to hire her - in August! I sent the pictures and the text, and she sent me proofs. The cards were shipped, so all I had to do was stuff the envelopes and mail them! I started getting lots of positive feedback immediately. So I must give a shout out to Diane. THANK YOU!

I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas! We've counted our blessings this year and look forward to a wonderful 2009. I took lots and lots of pictures this season, so if you'd like to check them out, click on the link on the right side of my blog. (You may have to scroll up a little!)

Weather That Can Only Be Seen In Texas

Hello. It's snowing.

I think that phrase, next to "it's just not humid enough" is something you don't regularly hear 'round these parts.

BUT IT'S SNOWING!

I had to run an errand for work today, and as hectic as it was, I couldn't resist sticking my tongue out like a kid to catch a snowflake!

And what a sight to see driving up to pick up Julia and Hayden from the District Extended Day. Each and every kid was outside near the bike racks, running frantically in circles - yes, tongues sticking out - enjoying this white stuff! I know the teachers were loving it, because the kids were literally entertaining themselves.

To think it was 78 degrees yesterday evening, and our house was stifling hot. When I got home I opened both the front and back doors to get some cool air, as the cold front was just starting to come through. Needless to say, I didn't have them open all that long...

And we will be back in the mid seventies by the weekend.

As the post title says - Only In Texas!!!!