Valentine's Day and Sponge Bob

I have never been a really big fan of Valentines Day, other than an excuse to eat chocolate, so Jake and I don't really celebrate it much. This year with funds lacking, and other things going on (like me working this weekend) we decided not to do anything special.... EXCEPT Jayden for some reason has been talking about this day for a very long time. Of course he is such a lover, why would he not be into it? He made me promise to come to his party, and it was even a pizza party! They decorated cupcakes them ate them, and he had a grand time. Me being the painfully shy person I am felt like a "turd in a punch bowl". Not sure why, I just don't know many of the other parents in his class much, and I seem soooooo old. I hope they do not think that I am snotty, I am just shy. Anyway enough about me, and back to Jayden...


Jake spent all day one day making this Valentine box for Jayden, they were both so proud of it. It is made out of a cereal box, complete with a trap door in the back to get the Valentines out. Jayden wants to take it everywhere. Sponge Bob was priviledged to go out to eat chinese food with us the other night.



This is Jayden's friend Treniti, she is so cute. He has even been lucky enough to go over to her house and play.





Some of the frosting Jayden was using for his cupcake never made it onto the cupcake. A boy after his momma's own heart.

More Members of the Family

Yes, we have several of the things that you supposedly get Salmonella from, and really you can. But, you can get it from eating peanut butter, too. Since we don't eat much peanut butter at our house, we will take our chances with the turtles. With proper care of the tank and creatures, frequent cleanings, and the right "drop-ins", and some correct hand hygiene we have had them for over 6 years and NO salmonella. They are greedy hungry things, and interesting to watch. They like to stack themselves up, and find funny poistions to "sun" in. But most of all we love to watch them eat feeder gold fish. They chase them, fight over them, and devour them. It's sort of a sick passtime of ours, but a necessary staple in their diet. They need the protien and the calcium (from the bones) for the health of their shells.


This particular one, likes to balance on this rock using only one leg.

MMMexican food at MMMercados

There are a few of us from work that get together (or try to) on a regular basis, and eat mexican food. This month there happened to be 2 birthdays in the bunch, and so we decided to celebrate. Don't I have some beautiful friends? Inside and out! The thing is after I looked at these pictures, I got to thinking... I AM THE OLDEST ONE! Well, I have always said that age is a state of mind, and I will stick to that story, and also say that having young friends keeps me young. There are 3 of us that are 39 (well AO is knocking on the door anyway), and the rest are still in their 20's. Quite a group!

Amanda Peddy (one birthday girl turned 29, and just had her second baby a little over a month ago - doesn't she look great?); Angela Oefinger (otherwise known as AO); and Me.


Suzanne Gailey (such an awesome person); Holly Rozelle (otherwise known as Hollywood, and she is turning 25 this week); and Christina Burgess (who is pregnant with her 2nd, and glowing. I have honestly never seen her take a bad picture!)

Picture Tag

I was tagged in this, as bad as I don't want to post this picture, I do not want to spoil the fun, and really it could have been a really bad picture of me...

1) Choose the 4th folder where you store your pictures on your computer.


2) Select the 4th picture in the folder.


3) Explain the picture.


4) Tag 4 people to do the same.

This picture is from Jordan's camera, 10 year olds take pictures of a lot of inanimate things. I would like to try and explain the complete mess on my kitchen counter, but I can't - so I hope most of you will laugh - and not think about what a slob I could be. Really, I am not that much of a slob, we were probably gathering all the "things" around the house that were not in there home and distributing them to the kids to get them in there homes. OR I had just worked several nights in a row, Jake was exhausted and the kids or some aliens had taken over my kitchen.... make a more interesting story if you like.

I Tag... the Gaileys, Roths, Huberts, and Oxfords.

Let's see what you come up with. No cheating or editing - that's not fair.

Christmas and New Years

We had a great and blessed Christmas. My kids are spoiled rotten, and have way too many things! "Santa" brought a Wii and some games to go with it, and we have had so much fun. Jayden can almost bowl a 200 - little fart! Jake never played video games as a kid, and he was a little unsure of bringing them in the house, but he has had fun with it and loves to watch the kids play it.

We rang in the New Year quietly. We had a chance to go to a party that a coworker was having, but our babysitters baby came down with strep throat. We needed that like we need a hole in our head, so we took the kids and went to our Associate Pastors house, and had a great time. We stayed there until 3am playing games, including the newlywed game - it was hilarious, and I learned a lot about the people I go to church with. Ha ha. The kids crashed on the floor after midnight, and we had to drag them to the car when it was time to leave.

I HOPE THAT EACH AND EVERY ONE OF YOU THAT READS THIS HAS A HAPPY AND BLESSED 2009!

Jayden had his first school Christmas party this year, luckily I was off, so I could attend, and of course Jake was there, he just came over from his classroom. Mrs Graham read a story, they played "tape the ornament on the Christmas tree", ate lots of goodies, and had fun with friends.

After his party, I was able to run over to the intermediate school and catch the triplets parties (they are all in different home rooms - now don't you think that is fun). A good time was had by all. Too bad the battery went dead on my camera - poor planning on my part.

For the third year in a row, we took the kids to a nearby Christmas tree farm, go on a hayride, pick out our tree, cut it down and haul it home. We always have fun, but this year it was too warm, I think it should be cold when you are cutting and decorating a Christmas tree. I guess that comes from growing up in Wyoming. Before we left that day, I tortured the kids trying to get some good pictures for our Christmas cards - they actually had fun playing in the leaves until the ants started biting them. Gotta love Texas and those fire ants.

In early December, there was some special moon (I think it had something to do with how close it was to the earth), so Jake and the kids took the telescope out front to take a look. Jordan took these pictures and actually got a few good ones. I was at work. You know, a full moon never means good things for a Labor and Delivery nurse!

We have a lot of trees on our 2 front acres, which means we have a ton of leaves in the fall. Since we maintain the lawn on that 2 acres, we have to rake the lawn twice a year to get the leaves and pine needles off the grass. It takes forever, but thankfully Jake bought me a pull-behind sweeper for the lawnmower, and I no longer have to rake it by hand, therefore eliminating blisters. Jake rides the mower sweeping and dumping; and I burn the piles, making sure the fire does not get away from us.

Jordan and Jayden raked up a pile of leaves one day and were playing in them. It reminded me of when I was a very little kid, my cousins would rake trails in my greatgrandmas yard and we would play. This also gave me the idea of the pictures for our Christmas Cards this year. Note the chocolate all over Jayden's face.

My Parents were here for Thanksgiving, and it was great. We all went out to Jake's parents for the day, and the weather was beautiful. We saddled up the kids horse "Love" so everyone could have a ride. Jamison hardly ever gets on her, so this is a rare picture of him on a horse. He would much rather have a gun in his hands hunting squirrels.

The story behind the pig? Well, actually that is a wild hog. Jamie, our nephew and his little girl live next to Jake's parent (or across the pasture rather, and he caught this hog as a tiny baby. He penned it up, and it is tame. Let's everyone pet it and plays with the dogs. I have never seen a "calico" hog before and it was quite entertaining.

Yes, we have a strange family.

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.

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.

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.

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.