The Ride

We took a carriage ride around down town San Antonio this year. It was pretty cool. Our "driver" could have started telling us about the area a little sooner but hey it all works out right. I think the kids had lots of fun, and the carriage was huge. I guess I never really paid that close attention to see what size they are, because we all fit in one.

Christmas Day

We spent Chritmas in San Antonio this year at my parents house. It was nice to get away for a few days and have the kids spend some time with Oma and Grandpa Don. My brother even had the chance to take a few days off and come down to spend some time together with everyone, which is really nice. The kids really like Uncle Adam a lot, and just think he is too funny.

This year Isabelle was pretty excited because she got a new camera for Christmas, and just loves it. She can take pictures and videos. I think most of them are of her but hey who cares. At least if she so desires to print some of these pictures out they won't be crap.


Bear's was pretty excited to get his own Leapster, and the nice thing about his, is that he has a stylist so it makes it easier to use. He managed to cut Isa's off, but they still use both and love to play with them.


Cooper was just excited to open presents and be able to play with the siblings. I would have to say he played the most with his new building blocks. The lincon logs were a big hit with the other two but Cooper liked this legos the best.


Adam went all out and purchased Mom and Dad a river cruise vacation for ten (10) in Europe. They were so happy, mom could hardly keep from crying. I'm so envious, I think they will have a really good time. I told her to make sure they take lots of pictures, or figure out a way to hire a photographer to come along and take pictures as well. I'm sure I know of one that would go for to price of the trip. Hint, hint. No just kidding. I hope they have lots of fun, my real request was to have them bring back some wine.


Ben and I got a new kitchen table for Christmas. We have been looking for one for about eight years, and finally found the one we like. It is a bar stool heighth table, that can go from a sqaure to a circle, with a lazy susan in the middle. So exciting. I just love. That makes two furiture purchases in one year, we better slow down.

I hope you all enjoyed your holiday season and that it was filled with love and joy.

Happy Birthday Isa

Isabelle is offically 6 years old. She wanted to have a flower cake with a monkey coming out of it. I had originally planed to use her little pet shop monkey but forgot to bring it along so I had to use a paper monkey instead.


She loved it and that is all that mattered. Plus since it was a smaller cake there was not too much let over. Which is always nice, since we do a small family party on her birthday.


This year should be great, I'm not sure what all her goals will be but I do think that selling a lot of Girl Scout cookies will be one, learning to read better, and helping out around the house should be a few. We'll just have to wait and see what the year brings.

Friends Party

Isabelle had her first sleep over party with multiple friends as her birthday party this past weekend. She was so excited to do some girly stuff and spend time with her friends.
We had four little girls total and they all had a great time. It was a blast. They decorated cupcakes, watched movies, played with her toys and painted their toe nails. Cooper loved this and tried to get in on the action. Maybe next time little man.

Santa Letters

The kids were so excited to get Santa Letters in the mail from Santa himself. They could hardly believe how special they were and how Santa knew so much about what was going on in their lives. It was a real treat for them. Too bad, Mom, messed up on the information and forgot to tell Santa that we will be in San Antonio, I think they still bought it though.

Look What I did

I very rarely get to say that now a days because some other people get all the credit for making new things but I have made something fun and exciting. At least I think it is exciting, plus I learned something new.



Isabelle's name is a little long so I had to use her nickname.






I made one for each of the kids. The hard part was trying to remember where I had the camera focused so the picture could be seen by the lens. I hope you enjoy!

School Awards

Isabelle has also received her first award from school. She was awarded a ribbon for knowing all of her sight words and for being a good citizen and making good choices. I am so proud of her; she is doing so well in her crappy school. At least I know she will thrive in almost any environment. We even got a picture of her and her teacher Mrs. Bloodworth. Go Isabelle!!

Girl Scouts

Isabelle is officially a Girl Scout. I know I have posted this before but now it really is true, she just had her investiture ceremony for her troop and has been pinned as a Daisy Girl Scout. I am so excited. She is so excited. She has even earned her Center for her Daisy Petal and her first Petal. Yea, go Isabelle. I am so proud of her, and can hardly wait to watch her go through her years in Girl Scouts.


Oh yea, let us know how many boxes of Girl Scout cookies you are going to buy. They will be here in January.

The Rockets

Since the Rangers went to the World Series Penny got everyone a shirt.

Penny and her boyfriend Rob decided to get the kids rockets for Christmas. So one day we had to a paint the rockets, and then decorate them before we sent them into the air. The kids all had a blast painting their rockets in their color of choice and were almost too excited to let them dry. With much urging from parents the drying time was waited through and some how they managed well.

Everyone with their rockets before launch.

Once they were decorated all up the kids finally got a chance to launch their rockets. They were all very excited about this and could hardly wait their turn. Upon threat of death they all waited and tried to catch their own rockets as they fell from the sky.

Bear's Rocket going up.

It was a lot of fun to watch the kids get so excited about thier rocket flight. Cooper even got to shoot off his own rocket. I'm not sure what he thought about it but he just knew it was a big kid thing to do.


Isabelle's rocket lost it's top and so she only got to shoot off hers once. There was an extra rocket that they let her do a second time since hers was no more. Over all it was a lot of fun and the kids loved every minute of the rocket event.

Turkey Day

This is how big our table is for Thanksgiving, there was talk of having to move a group of diners into the living room to form a "T" or maybe a "L" I guess next year we'll have to see who is all coming. There were a few people missing and Charity is having a baby, so there will be at least a few more chairs needed.


After we ate dinner the kids were all excited and for somereason Penny thought I was a great idea to decorate cookies. Of course the kids loved it and had a blast, so it was not too bad, just a little messy. I even think that some of the cookies made it into a tray for later. Now that right there is a huge acomplishment.

I really want to put in more pictures but blogger is not being nice to my computer, maybe later.

Thanksgiving

The kids readying for Cops and Robbers.

The kids had so much fun playing with the cousins for a whole week. I sure do wish we all lived just a little closer, they all play so well together and have such a great time.

Mason, Noah and Jeremiah check out the competition.

Morgan organized the little kids in all sorts of games, which of course they all loved. I think that these kids all think that Morgan is one of the best big cousin's ever.

I know I'm a big kid, I know I'm a big kid.

And of course we had lots of food to eat, projects to complete and games to be played. Here are just a few pictures of the wildness that went on with those crazy kids.

Who wants to run under next, wait you're laying on the parachute.

So close

It's time to go pick kids up from school, so I am going around and getting the little boys ready to leave, I have Geno changed and in the car. Now to go get Cooper, I open his door and look towards his bed. Not there, so I look over to the empty of a matterss crib, not there either. I turn towards his dresser, there he is asleep on the pillow. I could not believe that he managed to sleep there the entire time and not fall off, so of course I had to run back down stairs and get the camera. He was pretty much out of it since he hardly even moved when I came back up to snap this picture. Sorry it does not show the dresser well but I had a shorter lens and was in a time crunch, after all he could fall off at any moment. You can see a picture of the dresser here. Too crazy!

This all was after Bear scared me to death this morning. I went to the restroom and since it was around 5:45am I decided I would crawl back into bed until it was a little later. Now I did not turn on any lights and must have been thinking very loudly, because I did not hear him come down. I put my hand on the bed and there is something there, so I think don't panick, but then it reaches out and touches me. I scream, and Bear is like, Mom, Mom it's just me. Once my heart calmed back down we had a little snuggle and then started our day.

3-day Walk

Nothing can replace the feelings, thoughts and emotions a person experiences on the 3-Day walk. I was struck on Day 1 how everybody walking has a different story, and a different reason for why they chose this journey. No two stories are alike, some walkers were survivors the others are those who are also affected but not always noticed. Granted breast cancer affects more women than men, there are mew who can contract the disease as well. I'm sure the majority of the men walking were affected by this disease because their wife, mother, sister or aunt had breast cancer. That should not diminish the importance of their why. I just think it is great to see men out on the course walking among all the women. You can read my why here if you missed it before.


I was so excited about my 3-day journey, having walking eight (8) years ago, I was ready for this adventure to begin. I had met my fundraising goal and was ready to walk. The first day we started out North of Dallas and walked a little over 19 miles to camp, located in Farmers Branch. Those last three miles on day one seemed to go on forever. After arriving at camp we regrouped, took showers and ate dinner, which I had two helpings of. So yummy!


Day 2 was even longer. We did over 21 miles all around the Metroplex. By the time we got back to camp my feet hurt, I'm pretty sure I did not drink enough in the afternoon and I was of course hungry. The best thing though was the fact that my family was at camp right when we walked onto the grounds. It was great to see all their faces. The kids, Ben and my parents. It made me want to cry, but my feet hurt too much for me to do that. Once we were rested and had blown up and placed our new air mattress in the tent we made our way to dinner. Tonight we had stuffed protabello mushrooms, they were so good, I really wanted more, but abstained tonight. After drinking two more 20 oz containers of Gatorade and water I was still not up to top form but I figured a good nights rest would help. Except that I had to pee in the middle of the night, it was much better than the first. I wish I had thought of an air mattress to begin with.


Day 3 was great! The final stretch, just 15 miles today, since they bused us to the start of the day. We were off and saw great cheering crowds all along the way. The show of support from friends and family of all the walkers was just great. Each of our families made an appearance at one point or another along the route. It was pretty cool because we walked along some of Dallas's favored locations. We jetted through the last pit stop, picked up food, drinks and peed, all very important. Then we were off for the last two miles to the Cotton Bowl. As we wound our way through downtown Dallas and Deep Ellum each step made us feel one step closer to the end.


We walked every single mile of this year's 3-Day and it felt great. I thought for a moment that I would need to take a sweep van on day 2 but managed to make it in, all the way. With over 2,400 walkers our 3-day raised over 7 million dollars, in the fight against breast cancer. I can hardly wait to do it all over again next year, maybe as crew or a walker again. Who wants to join me?

Happy Halloween

Our Halloween Crew, or at least part of them.

Cooper going for the candy.

A very scary Cat.

I want to suck your blood.

I think this pirate is still sleepy.

The World Series

The Texas Rangers have finally made it to the world series, for the frist time ever in franchise history. Ben was so excited, I'm sure if we could have made it possible, he would have liked to have flown out to Cali for the frist two games. Instead he went to games 3 and 4 at home and then graciously gave up his seat for Isabelle to go to game 5. Game three he said was amazing the Rangers played well and gave it their best for thier first game with home field advantage. The fans would not even leave the stadium afterwards they were all so excited. Then on Halloween night he abandoned us once more to go to the game where they lost. Monday rolls around and Isabelle gets her chance to go to a post season game, where she had so much fun, even though the Rangers lost. She apparently cried all the way to the car, she was so upset with the turn out of the events. I think it will defiently be an experiece she will never forget. Who knows maybe next year they will do it again.

5K Run

Bernie, Ben's Dad, just completed his first 5K race this past weekend and I think he did a great job. He has been training for six months and has lost over 75 pounds since a year ago. What a great achievement! Today he really wanted to run in this 5K that we usually just do the family fun run, that is one mile. This year we all ran the race together. He was able to get across the finish line in 35 minutes, way to go Bernie. I did manage to take a picture but since I was running it is not very good.


Even the kids ran, and did a great job, Isabelle would have finished with us but she kept going back and forth between Bernie and I and Ben, and then she fell down. She made it in with Bear, Penny and the dogs.

Bear says come on Isabelle.