Two at last

That's right Cooper is now offically a todler, and is here to make sure you all know it. He is so much fun, we just love to have him around he makes the day all worth while. Although he is trying to grow up too fast, becasue he really wants to hang with the big kids, so cute.


We just had a small party to celbrate his birthday, and I think he really enjoyed all the attention and friends who came to play. I made him a lego cake for his special day. I'm not sure why I decide I can do these things when obviously my talents lie elsewhere. Oh well for my crap job of icing a cake it came out pretty well. I really should get some cake icing spatuals I think that would help. And maybe a larger freezer. Either way it tasted good and it was all gone by the end of passing out the cake.



These are what I think some of Cooper's goals will be for this year:

1. Ride a bike/run bike
2. Potty Train
3. Learn Colors
4. Learn Shapes
5. Grow up more quickly than what Mom would like

Here are a few more images from his big day, as celebrated with friends and family.

Cookie Time

That's right people it is time for Girl Scout cookies. Isabelle is so excited to be selling cookies this year she can hardly wait to get out on the mean streets and sell away. Now if the weather would work out a little better we might actually be able to get that done.


We waited in line for what seemed like hours to pick up cookies. No more pre-orders here, we get cookies now. I'm not sure if I like this plan because you get 12 cases of cookies and they are the same as everyone else, no substitutions.


We just need to be able to go out and sell, sell, sell. So if you or anybody you know would like to purchase some delicious girl scout cookies please let us know.

The Project

One of the many projects that I wanted to have completed during the holiday break was cleaning out my closet under the stairs. With Ben's help, ok so mostly Ben, we managed to get it cleaned up and organized. I can now get in there and not have to step over fourty-five items to find the game I am looking for.


It is so nice to have a place for everything, I can hardly tell you. And let me tell you there was a lot of crap in the this closet, considering how big it is, I was amazed.

All of my photography props are put away nicely and are easy to get to. The games are well organized and you can actually see their names. Plus you can even walk into the closet without having to step over one item, so nice.


Now to finish work on my garden I will be all set.

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?