Happy Thanksgiving!

Hayes and Jackson watching the Aggies beat Nebraska!!
We had a wonderful Thanksgiving week, first part spent at my parents in CS, where we saw lots of friends and got to play and party. Then, we headed to Dripping Springs to my aunt's house. It was a blast to see my cousins and let my kids play with theirs.
cousin Jackson is almost 1 year old!!
We headed home that evening and arrived just in time to see the Aggies beat the Hell Outta tu! It was a nailbiter but thank goodness it ended in our favor. We needed the win, especially after the incredibly hard loss Bama had to Auburn. Ugh, that was sad. We did have a wonderful weekend filled with our little family, where we picked out our own pitiful Christmas tree and decorated our home, inside and out! We made our own turkey and dressing and ate leftover pumpkin pie! The girls are on high alert because "Santa is watching" them and Georgia isn't too sure of it..she looks around worried and then says, "NO!"
All in all it was a wonderful time of year, we even got a cold front that literally blew in within a second and we could feel the hot air turn to cold! The degrees dropped about 20 in seconds! It was crazy but a nice change!
Now it's time to try and enjoy December as it will fly by..all our weekends are already booked! And I haven't even really gave a second thought to presents.

Blood N Fire

Last weekend the girls and I attended a fun activity with a few of our MOPS friends. We got up on Saturday morning, bundled up as it was cold and windy, and headed south downtown to a part of town we don't frequent! We were taking part in a "grocery giveaway" that is done once a month for families who don't have the means to get their own groceries. Most of the people there walked and live around there.
The ministry is called Blood N Fire and helps to support families who don't have the things that we do! Our MOPS group decided to work with them as our service project for the 2nd year in a row. We gather food/toiletries/baby items for the families and take them down and help bag up and hand out the groceries on a Saturday. We also talk with the families, play with their children and pray with them as they leave with lots of groceries. Another thing they do that we have taken part of is during the week night. On Wednesdays, they have a girls' day and a boys' day where we help them with homework, play with them and feed them dinner. I haven't done that yet, but it is supposed to be fun and so rewarding!
Blood N Fire has a pretty remarkable story as how they got started..it is long but one part of the story is that a women who lived alone in the downtown area was getting meals from the people who were starting this organization. She passed away and her family gave them these 2 houses that were next door to eachother..now these 2 houses are where Blood N Fire does their ministry. They have one huge fence around the 2 properties and it has all been rebuilt, inside and out. They get churches and lots of volunteers who have added a basketball court, swingsets and playgrounds. There are picnic tables and decks for the families to come and have a safe place to hang out.
I loved taking the girls and letting them interact with the other little kids there. One little boy came up to Georgia, who was being shy sitting by herself, and he offered her a basketball and to come and play with him! It was so sweet and her face just lit up! I am so proud to be a part of such a great ministry and loved getting to take the girls so they can "help" to! I tried my best to explain to the girls what we were doing! Not sure if they understood but they did have a good time handing out the food and playing with the kids! We are hoping to do a toy drive for Christmas of just toys we have outgrown at our own houses! What a great way to make room for all the unnecessary things our lucky kids will be getting. I am hoping to take E & G with me when we hand out the toys!!

BTHO...!!

The Aggies have been doing well this season! We haven't been able to watch many games but the ones we have seen have been fun!! We had some Baylor friends over for the game this past weekend and plan to watch the Texas game with our family who went to Texas! We decided to bring out Reveille this weekend..our blow up mascot and take some pics in our Aggie gear. Georgia was terrified and wouldn't take her eyes off of him. We finally picked her up and made her touch him to see he wasn't real. She still wasn't so sure and didn't want to pose for a picture. At the end of the night Daniel brought him in the house and lit him up in the hallway..needless to say, the girls were scared..saying, "He moved! He walked inside!!"

All I know is that it's beginning to look a lot like the Wrecking Crew is back!!

Storybook Parade & Harvest Celebration

The girls' MDO has a parade every year. It is basically a way for them to get to wear their Halloween costumes to school without having to relate it to Halloween..the first year I thought it had to be a classic storybook character not a mainstream Disney one..so I dressed Emma up as a little lamb..anyways, everyone was wearing their Thomas the Train and Mickey Mouse costumes. She didn't know any better, so that was good.Hayes' scary ghost costume!!
This year I let her choose and lucky me, she wanted to be Ariel, which I had bought as a dress up costume at the end of season clearance!! My mom was nice enough to hem it up and it looked great!! She loves it!We got a costume from Grandma of a giraffe..so cute and I really wanted G to wear it..and she agreed!! YEA!! Well, the morning of the parade G must have woke up on the wrong side of the bed because she was not having it! She did not want to wear anything but a pink sleeveless top. NOPE..I couldn't let her do it! We had it out and I won!! Well, technically we tied..she didn't wear the costume to school or the pink top..but her teachers (Ms. Tonya, Ms. Kim as she lovingly refers to them) got her to put it on!! She wore it for the parade but wouldn't put the hood part on! And she didn't really participate in the singing. They sing songs they learned with hand motions in music class. Neither of my girls are destined for the bright lights..they were more like deer in head lights during the performance! It was pitiful, but I can't say much..I don't like to be in front of people either.

The following weekend we attended the churches' Harvest Celebration, where they have booths of games and food and fun and candy. It was great weather and I braved it by myself since Daniel was in MS bow hunting..at least he got a deer!! Hayes was a little Monster (thanks to Natalie and Toodge)!Emmaline has quite the arm on her..she throws with her left hand but writes with her right! Georgia throws real hard but with not much aim!
We made it around to most all the booths, played the games, got candy and left with smiles on our faces! It is so nice that the churches offer those trunk or treats for a safe and free place for families to go! The girls dressed up in something else..Emmaline was a bumble bee and Georgia was Cinderella..
loved this booth (Fruit of the Spirit Basket Toss)
face painting was definitely the highlight!
I love fall!

Happy Birthday Toodge!!

I can't believe it but my little baby brother is 25 today!! Wow..he is old, so that means I am really old! YIKES! We were lucky enough to get to celebrate with him and Natalie and his friends in New Orleans last weekend! He was lucky enough to win all kinds of money at craps at Harrah's! It was a lot of fun getting to see them and get to hang out! We love you, Toodge and it makes me so happy when the girls include "Uncle Toodge" in their prayers! :) Hope you have a great weekend celebration and we will see you soon at Thanksgiving!!

Orange you glad Halloween is over!?!

Don't get me wrong..we love a good holiday around here..especially one with candy and dressing up as the way to go, but there was just so much going on..I am way behind on my posts!this pic sums up how the girls felt about cleaning out the pumpkin goo! Georgia was all for it until she saw how Emmaline reacted! Yipee!!
this is my life!
accessorize much?!my handsome little man is so easygoing..just like me and not his crazy father!

painting pumpkins & licking lollipopsmy own little pumpkin-head! :)

Hayes Bryant is 2 months

Hayes is a joy! He is happy most of the time and cuddly and sweet. He is fairly easily soothed and is starting to smile all the time! The girls love when he gives them a big slobbery smile! He has good control over his head and is starting to coo.
Hayes is in size 2 diapers and most 0-3 months clothes are too small, 3 months seem to fit best. His sleeping habits are about the same..sleeps well during the day and on the go. At night he sleeps ok, but still wakes up at least 2 times. He is getting faster at eating and then goes back to bed in his bassinet without many problems.

He usually goes every other day with BMs and definitely still doesn't like a dirty diaper. He loves his baths and doesn't mind getting his clothes changed anymore. He likes his carseat pretty well and usually falls asleep. He doesn't seem to care about his paci much. I guessed he weighed around 14 pounds but found out he weighs 13.8 lbs. and is 24 inches. He is in the 90th and 95th % for those. His head circumference is 39.8 cm and and is in the 50th %. We love Mr. Hayes and his big blue eyes and blonde hair!

N'awlins

We had an awesome time in the Big Easy this past weekend. After dropping off the little ladies with Grandma & Grandpa in Houston, we arrived in time for an awesome lunch at the Acme Oyster House. We stopped in to try a famous Pimm's cup which was good and sweet! It was great to have Aunt Jennie come down to see everyone, especially because Michael (my older brother) proposed to Rachel!! They are looking at a destination wedding February 2012..so there is time to save money and find a place for all 3 of my kids to stay! We were also there to celebrate my little brother's 25th birthday! He won $1400 at the craps table..lucky birthday boy!! It was a lot of fun to get to go out at night while my parents watched Hayes for us. We went to the Bourbon Cowboy and watched people ride the mechanical bull. On our way back to the room we ate a Lucky Dog from a street vendor! YUM! Hayes did great all weekend and would just sleep and look around in his stroller. The weather was perfect but a little windy at times!
Everyone but Daniel, Hayes and I went to the LSU v. Bama game on Saturday,we hung out on Bourbon, watched football all day and ate practically every 2 hours - like Hayes!
That Saturday night, after a tough Bama loss, we left Hayes with my parents and headed to Harrahs and lost some money..Luckily we didn't stay too long and we went to get Hurricanes and sing along at Pat O'Briens.It was so much fun at the piano bar there..I had forgotten how much I like doing things like that! We ate Krystal's around 2 am and got a little sleep before our LONG drive home the next day. Thank goodness for the time change, but it was still a rough Sunday drive! We did make time to eat at Fezzo's. It was great to see the girls and hear about how much fun they had at "Chunky Cheese"!
Huge Thanks to Grandma & Grandpa (Daniel's parents) for watching the girls and also to my parents for watching Hayes and for inviting us to N'awlins! It was a wonderful fall vacation!!