More Christmas fun...

Some pictures from Deanna's house...Landry & Logan loved the Guitar Hero game! The boys all played a flag football game, too. On the way home last night Landry was telling me about the football game...he commented on how fast Max was running and that Dad runs fast, too. He was quiet for a minute and then said, "I know why boys are so fast! They don't have a uterus!" First, I apparently shared too much information about my hysterectomy this summer. But we then had a conversation about how since Mom doesn't have a uterus anymore, then I must be able to run faster now! Where in the world do boys get this stuff? So ladies, don't fret too much over not being able to run fast...just wait for a hysterectomy and everything will be fine. : )

We decided to try something other than Lego's this year...we got Landry a K'Nex...a huge 2 car roller coaster...over 1,000 pieces! I was overwhelmed just looking at all of the pieces, but as you can see Landry persevered. There are two roller coaster cars that you can race through the tracks. All I can say is wow.

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas! We are finally back...so much has happened since the summer. Our digital camera somehow disappeared over the course of house showings...we've been trying to sell since around August. So, Jason & I decided that this year our gift to each other would be a camera. So, I'll probably be the annoying take a picture of everything girl for a while!
We were at Jason's parents house yesterday...the boys had so much fun opening all of their gifts and each of them sang a solo for us. There were so many sweet moments. Mimi made the most amazing dinner and we snacked on chips & dips & cookies until we couldn't move! One of the boys' gifts from Mimi was this Star Wars tent...as you can see Elizabeth was so jealous of this gift and spent quite a bit of time enjoying the tent with Landry & Logan...

OK, this is not the best picture of mom, but I love Logan's smile in this one...it's pretty difficult to catch a natural smile from that boy! He's always being silly or doing the obvious extreme fake smile...where does he get that from?

Logan is saving us from the angry guys here...

My sweet Landry...always happy and positive, always so photogenic! He was so excited this Christmas...I could barely get him to go to sleep and then he woke up at 3am ready to see what Santa brought! Wow...thanks to Uncle Mike for passing down the Christmas morning in the middle of the night tradition!!

We had to wake Logan up this morning for the first time in years! He's usually my early riser...always gets up around 5am. But 3:00 was pushing it a little this morning for everyone but Landry. You can tell Logan was experiencing some unusual morning sleepiness feelings here!



I had two favorite gifts this morning that I wanted to share. Jason spent a lot of time working on a frame for my first published song. It turned out perfect and I love it so much! Thank you sweetheart! And this morning Landry & Logan pulled out a Star Wars bag with a gift for me & Jason that they had secretly put together. It was a card with lots of "Christmasy" pictures drawn and then it had 4 quarters and a 1 dollar bill taped (LOTS of tape : ) ) on the inside of the card. The inscription read, "To: Mom 1 dollar for you, To: Dad 1 dollar for you, too!" When we opened it Landry said he knew how hard we had been working for extra money so we could make it a great Christmas and he wanted us to have some of their money. So each of them had given us their dollar's from their banks...the only money either of them actually had at that time. Needless to say, I was in tears by the end of that sweet speech. I'm in tears writing about it right now. : ) It was such a great reminder of how the Lord wants us to give...without any expectations...giving everything we have...with no worries of where we will get our next dollar...and with a joyful heart! Thank you Landry & Logan for having such giving and joyful hearts!

Summer Surgery

Well, I'm past the three week mark now since I had surgery. I'm thankful to be looking back on the painful stuff, but looking forward to more energy soon! I am so grateful to everyone who prayed for me during this craziness! We also had so much help during this time...thanks to everyone for helping with kids and bringing food! It was almost worth the surgery just to not have to cook for a while!
The boys & I will be heading to school in less than 2 weeks! I actually have inservice next week, so everything is about to get started. I'm so excited for L & L to be able to learn around lots of kids in a safe "peanut-free" environment! There is a lot of controversy out there over modifications like this for kids with allergies. It's difficult for everyone, but I am so thankful to have a school that we can actually attend! The Lord has really blessed us with this situation...it's always easier to look back to see what He's done and how He has been carrying us through.
Hope to have more pictures soon...still looking for my camera!

Tag...you're it!

My sister Mandy "tagged" me with this post and I'm supposed to answer these questions on my blog! I think this might be a secret attempt to get me going on this blog thing again!

Two names you go by:1. Mommy 2. Mrs. B (at school)

Two things you are wearing right now:1. Khaki pants 2. Black shirt (I know...big shocker!)

Two of your favorite things to do:1. Snuggle with my boys and watch a movie 2. Take family vacations

Two things you want very badly at the moment:1. To sell our house! 2. To have fajitas at On The Border

Two favorite pets you have had/have:1. Scruffy Girl (our current crazy dog!) 2. Widdle (We "bird-sat" for a time when I was younger)

Two things you did yesterday:1. Went to the park with Mandy & family 2. Went to garage sales!
Two things you ate today:1. Frosted Flakes 2. Fajitas at Anne's new house!
Two people you last talked to:1. Mandy 2. Anne
Two things you plan on doing tomorrow:1. Errands 2. Spend "fun time" with the boys
Two longest trips taken in the last five years:1. Legoland and Disneyland in California 2. New Orleans for my brother's wedding
Two favorite holidays:1. Christmas - I love Christmas lights! 2. Thanksgiving - I love pie!
Two favorite beverages:1. Sweet Tea 2. "Pappa Coffee" (Hot Chocolate)

OK, I can't think of anyone else who actually reads my blog and also has a blog...most of my friends are "scrap-bookers". So, I'll tag whoever might be reading this and considering starting a blog...go ahead...and here's your first entry!

Legoland california (by Landry)

We were at Legoland. Each one of us taked turns holding the lightsaber.

Then I was driving a volvo car made out of
legos!

Logan and I were riding a lego horse and fight

on a target and a lego men said (oh-no not again

Boing! Hey that wasn't so bad!) We had fun on that!

This is the part when Dad and Logan and me were fighting with water

guns made out of legos! and shoot water at other people Wow! Can you

believe that? Awesome isn't it! I loved being at Legoland!

Oh and this is my lost tooth! hooray! Cool isn't it? My eyes are closed

because I think that I am looking down or maybe my eyes are a little bit small

because maybe I'm just too excited that I have my tooth loose! And my other tooth

is starting to grow. And that's another hooray!!

It's A Sad World!

Well, unfortunately we were unable to ride "It's a Small World" this time at Disneyland. The ride was closed, so we took a picture by the sign keeping us from the ride...as you can see, it's a very sad picture. But we soon recovered in the pictures below...


The boys were so excited to take pictures with the characters. Here are a few of the ones we saw...these smiles are not even staged...they were just really that excited!!

Landry & Logan giving bear hugs...

The whole family with Tigger!!
You can't see him very well, but this picture is of Landry's first roller coaster ride...by himself!! He kept asking to go alone and finally we gave in and he rode the Dragon Coaster all by himself! This was definitely much more difficult for mom than for Landry...he couldn't wait to go again!

...at Disneyland far, far away...

We're back from vacation! The weather was amazing! It was perfect the whole time we were in California...about 70 to 80 degrees and dry, and the evenings were cool. Pretty strange to folks from Texas where it's usually hot and humid...yuck! We almost took a detour on the way home toward Colorado because we could feel it getting hotter about every couple of hours in the car! We stopped in Flagstaff, Arizona on our way home and got caught in about 30 minutes of a beautiful snowstorm!! It was about 40 degrees there and we didn't want to leave! We had such a good time together. My favorite picture from the trip is the first one below. Logan did not want anything to do with the beach the whole way to California...he kept saying, "No beach Mom! The beach is closed!" So, we decided to call it "the coast" (thanks Mom for that idea) so we could get him there without too much of a problem. He started out only wanting to make sand castles with me on the sand, and then slowly we got him to try the water. By the time we were leaving, he didn't want to go. I love this picture of my boys. And the ocean was gorgeous.


Landry & Logan had a unique opportunity to become Jedi Knights at Disneyland. In this picture, Darth Vader has unexpectedly arrived (after the boys have gone through training to become Jedi's)...Logan is at the front of the line and though you can't see it in the picture, his eyes were so big! The "training class" was so realistic...and the costumes were amazing.

Here's Logan fighting the "angry guy" (Darth Maul)...he really got into it!!

And Landry takes on Darth Maul with moves only a Jedi could understand...

This was the finale of the show...Darth Vader was trying to get the kids to turn to "the dark side", but as you can see, Landry & Logan stood strong!

Dinosaur World

I've been out of things for a while again. But I give my last final exam tomorrow and so I feel like I can breathe again! This picture is Logan at "Finale Night" for our co-op classes. He was supposed to wear a dinosaur mask, and somehow ended up going as a pirate. What's funny about this picture is that this tough pirate was mesmorized by the children on stage who were using sign language with their songs! My sensitive little pirate!

Here is Landry dressed as a cowboy...he has the yellow shirt on...and his group (from a Pioneers and Patriots class) was dressed as cowboys, sitting around the campfire, and singing.

This is another adventure we went on recently...Dinosaur World in Glen Rose! There were 100 life size dinosaurs and we got to dig for fossils...it was all kinds of fun! Here is Landry & Logan inside the mouth of a dinosaur!

Logan in front of his favorite dinosaur...Triceratops!

Landry's favorite...Tyrannasauras Rex!

Humility...

OK, the picture actually has nothing to do with what I'm writing about today, but this picture of Caleb (Mandy's little boy) was so adorable I couldn't resist! I wanted to share a humbling story with you...last night when the boys were going to bed I was talking with Landry about some things. He asked how to spell a word and I told him how to spell it. He then asked me if I had ever been in a spelling bee. I told him that I had and the first one I actually won in 6th grade, but then they sent me to the next level and I missed my first word! Well, he was really excited that I had won a spelling bee, but then asked what word I had missed in the other one. So, I told him it was the word "snippet", not thinking he would even really care. So, he replies, "Oh, snippet! I know...S-N-I-P-P-E-T... Snippet!" Well, you can imagine how ridiculous I felt that I had been outspelled by a first grader. Such humbling moments I seem to have so very often!!

Caleb after taking everything off of my refrigerator...I love the look of, "Oh, no! I didn't do anything!"

More Snow Pictures...

Landry throwing a snowball across the street in our "Great Snowball Fight" that we have in Texas each...hmmm...decade?

Logan making a snow angel...he really enjoyed the snow ball fight, too!

For some reason, our front yard at one point became the neighborhood kids snowball fight arena...it was quite interesting for a while! This picture is after the snowball fight, you can tell because all of the snow has been trampled through so much! All of the kids that stayed after the snowball fight decided to build a snowman.

Landry posing while building the snowman. What a fun day! Now we're off to eat some homemade sugar cookies (with icing and sprinkles, of course)!

Merry Christmas! (from Logan)

Merry Christmas! Logan looked out at the amazing accumulation of snow here and is insisting that it must be Christmas. We've had a fun day watching Scruffy in the backyard running around chasing the snowflakes and we've been catching snowflakes with our tongues! Also, Landry had an exciting event happen this morning...he lost one of his top teeth! He couldn't wait for me to take a picture and put it on the blog! So, Merry Christmas everyone!

Two toothless boys!

The Sleepover

This weekend we had our first sleepover...Landry invited his friend Cole to come stay with us and we had so much fun! We built a tent/fort (it actually ended up being all kinds of things throughout the evening) and the boys slept there. We played with lots of legos, ate pizza, and watched some cool movies until everyone collapsed in exhaustion! It was a great time...thanks for coming Cole! What a fun way to start the weekend!

Rebel Attack - Chapter 2 (Final Chapter)

The attack continues...

"Aaaaagh! Please, don't hurt me!" (rebel friend)

"You don't know the power of the dark side." (Darth Vader)

"Guys, go get them! Go, go, go!" (storm troopers)

"Yikes!" (C3PO)

"Take her away!" (Darth Vader)

"Yes, sir!" (storm troopers)

"I don't know who these guys are and they're white and I don't know what to do!" (Princess Leah)

"Whew!" (C3PO)

"ooooeeeeum!" , meaning 'that's a close one' (R2D2)

The End

Rebel attack - chapter 1 (by Landry)

First Landry was off to the playroom making a lego star wars for the blog.

And i thought that i could make the lego people talk right by the picture.

"uh oh" (rebel). "Go!" (Darth Vader) "Yes, sir!" (storm trooper)

"Yikes!" (Princess Leah)

"What should we do your highness?" (rebel friend)

"Yes!" (storm troopers)

"Oh, no! We're dead!" (rebel troopers)

To be continued...

Today we celebrated a birthday to...hmmm...ourselves? We had fun making cakes and decorating with sprinkles and icing! We even sang "Happy Birthday" to ourselves and blew out candles! It was fun to make up a reason to eat cake. : )

Surgery Success!

Well, Logan had "more permanent" ear tubes put in yesterday. Everyone at the hospital was so efficient and friendly...we couldn't have asked for a better situation! Logan did so great and Landry was such a good helper, allowing Logan to play the Nintendo DS all day and helping Dad go get movies at the Library and Blockbuster to keep Logan sitting down after we got back home! I am so thankful to everyone who prayed for Logan. The surgery went well and he is already back to "normal". : ) Hopefully we'll see some improvements really soon in his hearing and comprehension!

A day at the symphony...

Being "cool" at the symphony!

Playing at the Arboretum...

Hmmm...I wonder if this how it was really done? Hannah is working hard!

Relaxing by the waterfall...

This week we had a really fun field trip. We were able to go with some friends to listen to the Dallas Symphony Orchestra. We had great seats just above the orchestra where we all got to see exactly what happens with each instrument. It was a show for kids and I must say, it was very well done! Landry & Logan had so much fun with their friends at the show and afterwards we went on a picnic at the Dallas Arboretum. What a fun place that is, too! We played hard all morning and afternoon and it was certainly difficult for me to go to work that night...all I really wanted to do was curl up in a hammock at the Arboretum! : ) What a beautiful reminder today was of the blessing of friendships and all of the amazing things He has made! Thank you, Lord, for these moments with our children!