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Saturday, December 6, 2008

A few other members of the family.

Here is our newest addiction, I mean addition to the family. Macie. She is so sweet, and proving to be smart. I feel that she will replace my beloved Golden that disappeared 5 years ago. Macie was an anniversary present from Jake and the kids. I can not believe that we have been married 13 years. Time flies when you are having fun!




The donkeys are good at keeping the grass ate down on our back acre. They also start braying when someone or something comes into the back yard or the back acre, so they have been good at keeping critters away from our chickens.


Our silky chickens are my favorite to watch. Jake bought me these white silkies this fall, and they come running to me.

Sunday, November 30, 2008

Upwards Basketball



Jessica played Upwards Basketball this fall, and had a lot of fun. Upwards is a Christian based group that does several sports. They have a short bible lesson at each practice, and during half time of each game. The teams are split evenly, and each child has the same opportunity to play the same amount of time in each game. During practice the coaches are able to given individual time to each player to build on the skills of the game, and I saw Jess learn how to handle the ball better and become more aggressive on the court. It was a great experience for her.

Thursday, October 30, 2008

Dressed up for the Fall Festival

The kids are getting to wear their costumes twice this year. Here they are dressed up to go to the Fall Festival at the intermediate school, and then on the 31st they will get to wear them to our church's Festival. I was glad to be off at least one evening they were dressing up, so I could get some pictures and enjoy them.


There is a new Sheriff in town, and he is packing some heat. I learned something about Jayden this evening. He saw about 5 little girls from his class, called them all by name and gave them ALL hugs. One little girls mom said, "So, this is Jayden, the little boy that all the little girls like so much." Haha, I told Jake we will probably be beating girls off with a stick in a few years.


A snow angel. I reminded her throughout the evening how crooked her halo was. LOL She did not think it was funny.


Jordan really wanted this beautiful asian princess costume, but I could not find it in her size. She went back online to find something else, and she decided on Mary. I think that says a lot about her personality.


Going B-A-N-A-N-A-S.


This was also red ribbon week, which is an antidrug campaign. One day the elementary school got to have pirate day. Since Jayden wore out his pirate costume from last year, and all that was left was the hat, we drew on his face. He was very proud of that curly mustache. One day was 60's day, and there are some great pictures of Jake as a hippie, but I will have to get the camera card from the teacher that Jake works with to get the pic's.

Pumpkin Decorating

Texas has such unpredictable weather this time of year, it does not make for lasting carved pumkins. You can carve them, and just a few days later they are molding and smelling. So, we decided that this year we were going to decorate them. The kids had some ideas, and I went and gathered up some craft items, and we went to work. Now, please keep in mind, I am the least crafty/creative person I know, and patience is not one of my finer points; but this is what we came up with. Plus a few burns from the hot glue gun, and a huge mess on the kitchen table. Jake kept his distance, and did not lift a finger, but he did compliment me on how patient I actually was throughout the process. Then the morning of the Fall Festival at the intermediate school, I drove them to town and carried them in one by one. The PTO leader laughed and asked if I was ever going to stop bringing in more pumpkins.


Jayden and his pirate (imagine that). He complained the most when trying to cut out the sword he drew, he wanted SILENCE so he could concentrate.



Jessica and her Brownsboro Bear Cheerleader. Cutting and gluing all those squares of felt for the skirt took FOREVER. Then she tried to use pipe cleaners for the hair, and it was not working well, so I sacrafised my mop head and we cut her some bangs.


Jordan and her Angel to match her personality. It took us a while to figure out how to make those wings stand up, but we managed.


Jamison's turtle got Honorable Mention in the contest at school. He was proud that we could come up with a turtle. When he was picking his pumkin, he was looking for the shortes roundest one he could find.


Oh! Wait! That is not a pumpkin, that is Garfield in his Halloween costume. I can not believe he sat still for a few pictures. The kids were laughing hysterically.

Monday, October 27, 2008

Our First Ever Costume Party

Jake and I were invited to my friend Christina inlaws house for a costume party, and we decided to go. I will have to say, it was a lot of fun. Christina's mother-in-law loves to entertain, and she has this party every year. We have been to their house for Easter and for Cason's first birthday party, and they are wonderful people. We thought for a long time about what to be... have you ever tried to find tasteful costumes for adults? The decision was indians, and my costume was still a little racey for me. I am not used to going out in public with so little on me. I ended up wearing leggings under the dress because I was afraid it was just too short. I think we turned out pretty good, and we won 4th place! Some other friends Mike and Angela Oefinger also came, and we all had a blast. There was a little karaoke, a little dancing, and a whole lot of socializing and laughing. I must say that Cameron really does have a great family. Many thanks to the Burgess' for inviting us into their home and making us so welcome.






Christina always makes their costumes. She made these 2 days before the party. Her baby bump is just starting to show, but I don't think I ever got a good picture of it.


Mike and Angela were trailer trash, LOL. They crack me up, and played up the part well. I could not get over the blacked out teeth - it was weird to look at. I need to get a picture of the real AO (Angela) because she has short curly red/auburn hair in real life, and this looks nothing like her. I almost did not recognize her.



Angela, Christina, and I posing for a pic.

The Pumpkin Patch

We decided to go out to Moore Farms this year and pick our own pumkins, and our friends The Burgess' joined us. We had a lot of fun, there was a farm animal area where you take a dried out ear of corn crank it through a "thing" and get the corn off the cob then feed it to the animals, there was a hayride out to the pumpkin field, a cornfiel maze, and a lot of warm sunshine. It was warmer that day than we thought is was going to be, and there was a lot of complaining about the long sleeves that I put my kids in. Over all it was fun, and we are glad we did it. Take a minute to watch the slide show!




This is such a sweet picture. Jayden had gone into the cornfield maze with his siblings and freaked out. He was telling Jake about it.




The results of a long and warm day.

Something about me!

Well, I just decided to put a few pictures of me on here, and say a little bit about me. I often wonder, if I were not listening, how would people describe me. I really have no idea. I think I know how I would like to be described, but who knows if that is how I come across. I am working hard at becoming a softer, kinder, gentler mother and wife with more patience. Having more faith and trust in God, and depending on Him for things is a sought after goal of mine. I am also working on not letting others actions affect me in a negative way.

I am: A God loving Christian woman actively seeking to build this area of my life, BUSY - always, a hard worker, a nurturer and a peace maker, a grouch when I first wake up, a little crazy - in a fun way at times, and did I say busy?

Over the past few years I have worked (sometimes harder than others) at losing weight. I woke up one day, and it hurt to tie my shoes. I thought - OH MY, I have young kids that I have to keep up with, and they need a healthy active mother. So, I made a decision to do it. It is not an easy journey, and I take a detour every now and then, but the overall results are great. I have lost a total of 65lbs, I still have about 20 more to go to get to my goal weight, but I will get there. So, here are a few pictures of me.


I used this picture recently for my Myspace page (yes, I caved in), and have received a lot of compliments


After having kids, losing a lot of hair each time, and it coming back curly, I have not had straight hair in a long time. I recently straighened it, and this is what it looked like. Jamison thought I had a wig on. LOL


I think I meant to download a different picture, but anyway here is Jayden's rabbit.


Jayden and I having a little fun!

A Birthday Party

Jamison's friend, Jared had a birthday party at Fire Mountain, and Jamison had a blast. There is all kinds of things to do there, and we had never been before. I would imagine that Jamison will be asking to go back again. There are 2 gocart tracks (one for big kids and one for small), bumper boats, mini-golf, an old mixer (a carnival ride), and a large arcade. Of course Jamison spent most of his time on the gocarts, and in the arcade, but he really enjoyed the bumper boats also.


Jared wanted guitar hero as his them, and his mom had this cake made at our favorite bakery. It was good!



Meagan (Jared's sister) flying by on the gocart track.



Jared waiting to get going.


Jamison anticpating the fun of racing.


Having a blast splashing each other on the bumper boats.

Ending September



This picture was the day of Homecoming, and spirit day. The girls have their first mums (courtesy of my friend Suzanne), and they wore them to school. Jayden was not having a great morning, and was none too thrilled about having his picture taken. I can not remember what is was that he was actually pouting about.

We made it through the threat of Hurricaine Ike without a scratch. A little wind and a lot of rain. Not even any visitors. We did have a lot of evacuees show up at the hospital.

Wednesday, September 17, 2008

Our Furry Feline Friends

Most of you know, that we have 14 million animals around here. Here are our cats that are actually pets. We have 3 more "outside cats" that are tame, but not really ones that we interact with much. They are just good to kill mice and other rodents.

Jamison's cat "Garfield" enjoying the first fall breeze.



"Ollie" Jordan's cat snoozing at the foot of our bed.



"Midnight", bet you can't guess which one she is. The stray that Jake let Jessica keep. And "Silky" something that Jake let Jordan drag home because it was scrawny and scraggly. Well, you can tell she is now well fed. I have banished both of these cats to the yard, and they frequently sleep together on this door mat at the back door. I refuse to let anyone bring anymore animals into the house.

Cool and the Gang

This week is Homecoming Week in Brownsboro, and everyday the kids wear or do something different. Today is crazy hat day, and tomorrow is sunglasses day, so Jake took the kids to the dollar store and bought them all sunglasses. Last night just before dusk, they were out in the front of the house riding Jamison's gocart. They think they are pretty cool. Of course Jayden will pose for anything.


Yes, his shirt does say "Don't you wish your mommy was hot like mine". LOL

Saturday, September 6, 2008

Jamison Evan Griffin

Well, it has been a while since I have posted anything. I guess that comes with working 5 12hr shifts in a row, then playing catch-up with all other things. I have made a post about all the kids except Jamison. So, here it is. Jamison is such a sweet boy, so affectionate. He loves to have his back scratched. As you can see in the pictures, he has killer dimples. He is going to be a lady killer with them. For now he does not like girls, which is fine with me, so that can wait... for now.






Jamison loves fishing, he would go fishing every day if it were possible. He also loves turtles. In fact, we have 2 tanks with turtles in them. Some of the older ones we have had for over 5 years. They have pretty long life spans, so when he leaves home he will be taking them with him. His other interests are his go cart that he paid $50 for at a garage sale, anything outdoors, collecting knives, and he love to watch Myth Busters, If These Walls Could Talk, How It's Made, and anything to do with forensics.



This is Jamison's cat "Garfield". He is a huge cat, and loves to play in boxes like this one in the hallway.


Jamison is a good student, he does not like anything to do with Language Arts, but he loves Science and is really good at math. He is our diabetic, so we keep a close eye on him, but he would like for us to just leave him alone. Typical boy.

Wednesday, August 27, 2008

The First Day of School Ends with a Surprise

Everyone actually got up without a fight, and got ready for school on the first day. We let the triplets pick out their own clothes for the first day, and I had to bite my tongue. In my quest to let them "grow up a little", letting them make choiced that won't hurt them is a step. So, this year they are independant in making clothes choices. (As long as the clothes fit, and it is tasteful.) Picture day may be a different story.


That afternoon after everyone came home, I had just gotten back from walking 3 miles and was hearing about everyone's day, there was a knock at the door. It was Grandma Jenny and Grandpa Griffin. We were very suprised, as they don't get out much, especially this far (they live about 35-40 miles from here). But after a Dr appointment in Tyler, they stopped and picked up pizza, and brought it over for dinner on their way home.

Jayden and Grandma Jenny in her very blond wig.


Jordan will always be Grandma's girl, because they are so much alike.


Jamison and Grandpa.


Jessica gets a big hug from Grandpa Griffin.