CCP Singalong

Canyon Creek Preschool had their annual Christmas singlalong yesterday. The kids did great and I am sure all the parents enjoyed it. Brody took a picture with Santa, but once again this year, Jaden would not sit on Santa's lap. He did get closer, and he didn't cry, so I guess he is making progress. I even tried to get his BF Abby to sit with him and it still didn't work. Oh well, their is always next year!

LAST YEAR

THIS YEAR this is as close as he got! :)

Walking & Dancing

This is the only short video I could find of Brody walking. Notice how he is all smiles until he sees me, and then he starts fake whining and dramatically throws himself down. He is such a stinker.

CCP Christmas Party

Ornament Exchange

Me & Debbie

I absolutely love working at Canyon Creek Preschool. The ladies I work with are all so wonderful, sweet and fun. We had our Tacky Sweater Christmas Party this week, and it was great! My camera died soon after I got to the party, so I did not capture a picture of the Tacky Sweater winner, but let me just tell you it was hilarious. There were several top contenders who really went all out for the contest. My sweater and reindeer headband did not even put me in the running, and my sweater jingled when I walked. ha! We also brought our favorite recipe to share, and had a white elephant ornament exchange. It was tons of fun, I can't wait for next year!

Not a fan

So last week the weather man said we were going to have snow. I was so excited. I kept looking out the window waiting for snowflakes. It finally started snowing, right after I put Brody down for a nap. I hurriedly got Jaden and I dressed to go outside and play in the snow, thinking he would think it was really cool. This is the face I got. Not impressed. You can't really see the snow in the picture because it melted when it hit the ground, but it was really snowing. He did eventually run around and try to catch snowflakes in his mouth, but what he really wanted to do was play in the mud. Go figure!

Only in Texas

Ok, so maybe babies in other states each pork ribs too, but not ones from Rudy's.

Brody changing the TV

Brody is walking now. He will only walk when he is not thinking about it and will take 7-15 steps. I have seen him walk half way across the backyard chasing a ball. He still prefers to crawl, probably because it is faster, which is fine by me. He prefers to stand most of the time now, and at my parents house he found the remote, stood up and pointed it at the TV. We thought this was hilarious.

Turkey Day

1 Chronicles 29:13
"Now, our God, we give you thanks, and praise your glorious name."

We have so much to be Thankful for I can not even list it all here, but know that we Thank God everyday for all of our blessings. This year my family hosted us for Thanksgiving. The little boys and I spent a week in my hometown. I am very Thankful for Grandma & PaPa and the time we get to spend with them. We had Thanksgiving dinner at my aunt Kathy's house.

For some reason, the women are always in the kitchen,
and the men are always in the den ( watching football)

Our family - minus Sam & Jessica who were at the UT/ Aggie game

Papa & Jaden fixing cousin Abby's tractor

Brody helping himself to Thanksgiving dinner
The beautiful table
My parents have had so much rain the lakes (water holes) on the ranch are full
Josh, Brody, Duke & Tigger chillaxin on the porch
My dad's garage of toys

Mastery of the sippy

Mom you can get rid of my bottles now, I've got this sippy cup thing down

Halloween Highlights

Here are our Halloween highlights! Sam & Jessica came in town to visit and we all had a great time. Except for the fact that Brody is teething and was a little cranky. We went to Debbie & Casey's house for their annual Halloween party, followed by trick or treating in the neighborhood. This picture is of one of the scary neighbors. Almost all of the kids bolted when he answered the door, but Jaden didn't even flinch. He just wanted candy. Brave little boy. Sweet Brody
The Dragon and the Pumpkin

When Jaden walked his tail wiggled, it was cute

Mommy & the Pumpkin

On Sunday we went to a park and fed the ducks, and ate 5 guys burgers & fries. Yum!
Uncle Sam
The Bibler's
So much fun!
Thanks Jess & Sam for sending me your pictures and for coming to visit this weekend. We had such a great time and I know the kids enjoyed their time with you!

A little dose of my daily joy

Pumpkin Patch Festival

Throwing hay is soo much fun when you are 3!
Jaden, Abby & Connor

1st attempt to get a group picture, why do they make it so difficult?

2nd attempt, notice how neither of them will look at the camera!

They had pony rides, and Jaden said he wanted Brody to go first. By the time Brody was done, Jaden was off to the next activity with Connor so he didn't ride the pony.

After the festival we went to Boat House Grill for lunch. They put a playscape in, so the big boys had tons of fun playing while we waited for lunch. On the way home Jaden wanted to ride in Brody's carseat, (which is the same as his, but faces backwards) so I let him. Pick your battles right? His feet were crammed into his chest, and the straps were so tight he could barely move, but when we got home, he said, "Mommy I want to ride in Brody's seat all the time". To which I thought "whatever you are silly", but I answered him, " We'll see". Brody enjoyed Jaden's seat so much he decided to take a little nap in it. I love the open mouth.

Fire Truck Visits the Preschool

This is my preschool class this year. They are a fun lively bunch and Lisa and I are having a great time with them. Last week the Fire Department came to visit us. The kids got to go inside of the truck and talk to real fire fighters. They loved it! Jaden and Brody got to see it too with their classes.

Finger licking good

Brody has been eating more table food lately, mostly because he hates baby food. He has never really liked it and he would much rather eat whatever we are eating. He also would rather feed himself than let me feed him. So last night we had meatloaf and mashed potatoes. I got an excellent meatloaf recipe from Josh's Grandma and it is the only recipe I use. In fact, I hated meatloaf until I tried this recipe. Josh's Grandma passed away when I was pregnant with Jaden. It makes me sad that she will never get to meet our boys. But every time I cook with one of her recipes, I feel like a little of her is with us. We love and miss you Grandma.

What am I using the wrong end of the spoon?
Maybe I will just use my fingers instead of the spoon

Aw, much better, I'll just put the spoon down now

And since I did not have a blog when Jaden was little, here he is eating mashed potatoes around Brody's age.

No spoon, all fingers

YUMMY

New Floors

After Jaden's birthday party last weekend, my parents loaded up both kids and took them to the river for a week. I missed my babies a great deal, but the dirty carpet in my house was driving me nuts. I scrubbed it soooo many times with my little green steam machine, only to see the same spots reappear a few days after being cleaned. So I had a brilliant idea, rip out the carpets and stain the concrete. This was the cheapest way to get my floors done. So Josh and I geared up and got to work. And boy did we work work work. I am really happy with the results and I think all of the work was totally worth it. Josh and I worked great together and had some good quality bonding time by taking on such a big project.

This is what the floor looked like after lots of scrubbing and it still had lots of scrubbing to be done.
We went to Home Depot and talked to a "professional" there. He sent us home with several of the wrong products, and we ended up going to Home Depot 4 different times. The cement had TONS of paint on it and we found it very difficult to get off, even with the acid paint stripper stuff. By the end of the 3rd day of scrubbing, we pulled the pressure washer out of the garage and used it on the floors. Josh power washed and I sucked up all of the water with a wet vac. I know what you are thinking, FUN FUN FUN! I am not even going to pretend that it was fun or easy because it definitely was not. But I do think there is a certain pride that comes from working hard and doing a project yourself. I am very proud of us.

This was the first day. Josh had to do some work and I was getting anxious about all the work ahead, so I ripped up the dining room by myself and pulled out all of the carpet tacking.

This is what the floor looked like after we etched it, which it the last step before staining

First coat of stain

And finished look with all of our furniture back in

View from the dining room

It is hard to tell from the pictures, but the floor does have a great marbleized textured look. We did all of this in 6 days and for $300. And just like that NO more dirty carpet!