we made it

and boy do I have SO much to blog about. but I'll be brief since I have LOADS of pictures to share and still a million gadgets to figure out. in the past week, I've taken close to 400. yes, I'm crazy. I'll try to break those down.

Hunter finished up his first basketball season last Thursday. He did love it, but is ready to move on to t-ball.

Last Sunday we took our annual trip to the Zilker Trail of Lights. It was freezing and I think everyone in Austin had the same idea. I've never seen so many people there. It took us about an hour and a half to walk through, that's how packed it was. But, the boys loved it. Kreg and I each carried one of the kids on our shoulders so they could see everything.






Christmas Eve was spent baking and packing up a storm. The boys made sugar cookies for Santa and spread their Reindeer Food in the front yard. We spent the evening at my parents house enjoying a shrimp boil. The boys spent all night on the computer tracking Santa. Then they both crashed hard during midnight mass.




Jayden awoke 1st Christmas morning and we heard him head to the living room. He stopped in the entry way to play with his presents from the night before. He eventually came into our room and we asked him if Santa came. He replied, "No." We asked if he saw any presents under the tree and he replied, "no." About that time we heard Hunter barrelling down his bed and he sped into the living room. The rest is history.




While the boys played with all their toys, I finished packing so that we could head up to Aunt Kara's for Christmas day. After about 5 pit stops, we finally made it to Midlothian, thanks to TomTom. I thought it was kinda silly to have a GPS, but it sure was nice knowing when and where the next gas station was. Or how far away the next town was. Or where Target was when we wanted one on the way home.

The boys were so very excited to get to spend the night with all their cousins at Aunt Kara's house. And the fact that Dave had a wii to boot was just awesome for them. Though I didn't ever think we would get them to bed.

Kara outdid herself with a wonderful Christmas meal and homemade placemats and pillows for the boys. And I think this was one of the nicest Christmas' we'd had. I surely hope we didn't overstay our welcome ;)

On Wednesday, we headed up to the Gaylord Texan for an incredible Ice Show. Seriously, I've never seen anything like it. Granted the place was 9 degrees, so it was butt @ss cold, but it was spectacular.

GUYS, THIS IS ALL ICE:









THE ICE SLIDES:




I must admit I was skeptical of the wii, and the fun it promised, and as soon as we got home on Thursday, Justin begged me to play a game of bowling with him. I must admit, it was fun. It makes me look foward to wii fit.

Having this much time off is fun but I think going back to work is going to be extremely hard. Yesterday, we all slept in until 11 and today it was 9 before anyone climbed out of bed. Kreg heads back to work on the 2nd and the boys and I back on the 3rd. We've got to get back into some sort of routine.

Oh.....and I was pleasantly surprised to return home to seeing that my candles were featured in the Austin American Statesman Shopping Newsletter AND in The 2007 Totally Austin Gift Guide in the December issue of INsite Magazine. Holy WOW! Merry Christmas to me ;)

well........supper beckons as due the piles of crap lying around the house to be cleaned up. and I've got to somehow figure out the software for the iPod and zune. thankfully the basketball goal is up and the kids can play outside. but darn....I really want some music on my iPod.

I will post more pictures later.

Twas' 5 days before Christmas........

and I've been contemplating turning on the air conditioner. It's about 75 degrees out and the kids are playing outside in shorts, t-shirts and flip-flops. If it wasn't for the Christmas cd's and all the yummy food, being in the holiday spirit would probably be hard.

I've been knitting up a storm! I took a scarf to my MOPS Christmas exchange and to say the least, it was the biggest hit ever. The girls were fighting over it. I sold 7 that day and I've had orders out the rear. Talk about craziness. I can't keep up.

and that paired with a candle shortage isn't the greatest. I've taken over 10 dozen to one store and they could still use more. Everytime I turn around someone is asking for candles..............

it took me approx. 4 hours yesterday to get that darn laptop up. it's crazy how much crap comes preloaded on these things. then there was wireless, anti-virus, profiles, parental controls. I was ready to pull my hair out. Thank goodness I decided to set it up before Christmas and not on Christmas day. Hunter's already instructing me how to play games and download all sorts of stuff.

and finally after 6 years, I've upload the pictures from my digital camcorder. Talk about a blast from the past and how much everyone has changed. Here's just a sample:





and it's hard to believe it's been 6 years since we've been to Dallas. Kenny played and won the State 3A Football championship at Texas Stadium right about 6 years ago. so we are excited about going up to Kara's this Christmas. The boys are especially excited. To them it's another vacation!

Hunter had his Baby Jesus Birthday party at school today and I learned he's got a very, very special friend of his own. I've known about her. I could tell at football games when he would blush around her and I made a big deal about her, which I shouldn't have done. Because now if we see her out and about, he gets mad when I mention her. But it turns out at school, they are inseparable. One won't go anywhere or do anything without the other. Her mom and I were trying to get pictures of them today, but they kept acting so silly together. Her mom keeps talking about how she wants to come and watch Hunter play basketball and how she talks about him non-stop. I'm dying over here. Thank goodness they are still in Kindergarten.

We have our last basketball game tonight so I will leave you with a few pictures of my basketball all-star:




Mr & Mrs Claus @ the Old German Christmas


Hunter's Program


Jayden's Program

highlights and lowlights

boy have we been busy!

the kids and I have been working hard this week to make snowman poop, magic reindeer food and grinch toots. you just never know what you will get for Christmas from us ;)

Hunter had his school program Monday night and it was too precious. His classed dressed in pj's and held stuff animals and sang "Away in a Manger." If I could only figure out how to load a video........

Today was Jayden's program and party and, much to my surprise, he did GREAT! He walked into church a little unsure but as soon as he saw me and my mom, he was nothing but smiles and waves.

There is nothing cuter than listening to kids sing and dance this time of year. It melts my heart. Both of the boys school do such a great job.

Hunter is wrapping up his basketball season. Already! He only had 5 games and tomorrow night is his last. Just picture 5 year old playing ball. And we've had some high scoring games. 6-4 was the all time best. But poor little Hunter can't even reach the basket. Thank goodness Popo came and watched and got the boys a "real" basketball goal for Christmas. Hopefully next year he will be more prepared.

I was finally able to score a Wii for the boys and by that, I mean all 3 of them! I don't have any clue about this thing. All I know is that it better be worth want I went through to get it. I can't wait to see Hunter's face Christmas morning. I do hear they are coming out with yoga for the wii........but it will probably end up on the shelf next to the Dance Dance Revolution mat for playstation that we never use to work out with...................

The great part about having to spend all that time at Best Buy was that I was able to score my Gateway Laptop for $300 less than retail! Woo-hoo. But how horrible are we to not own a Dell ? Hey.....if you could get a Dell for $299, I'd be all over that.

Saturday night we took the boys to the Trail of Lights here in La Grange. It was an old timey German Christmas in a house built in the 1800's. Kreg and I really enjoyed hearing the history of the house. The boys got to see Santa, yet again.

if I could get my Christmas miracle of the boys staying well, we are going to try to go to the trail of lights in Austin.

but of course, it's that time of the year for us and both boys have hacking coughs, runny noses and sound completely miserable. I let them sleep in yesterday morning and we went to school late. Boy was Hunter mad. He told me last night, he never wants to do that again. He wants to get up and go to school. I thought it would be better to try and ward off any illness with some extra sleep.

well I have over 300 pictures on my camera to upload and the timer is going off on the oven. I'll post some pictures of our latest fun later.

Dr. Santa

Dear Santa,

I've been a good mom all year. I've fed, cleaned and cuddled my children on demand, visited the doctor's office more than my doctor and sold sixty-twocases of candy bars to raise money to plant a shade tree on the school playground. I was hoping you could spread my list out over several Christmases, since I had to write this letter with my son's red crayon, on the back of a receipt in the laundry room between cycles, and who knows when I'll find anymore free time in the next 18 years.

Here are my Christmas wishes:

I'd like a pair of legs that don't ache (in any color, except purple, which I already have) and arms that don't hurt or flap in the breeze, but are strong enough to pull my screaming child out of the candy aisle in the grocery store.

I'd also like a waist, since I lost mine somewhere in the seventh month of my last pregnancy.

If you're hauling big ticket items this year I'd like fingerprint resistant windows and a radio that only plays adult music, a television that doesn't broadcast any programs containing talking animals, and a refrigerator with a secret compartment behind the crisper where I can hide to talk on the phone.

On the practical side, I could use a talking doll that says, "Yes, Mommy" to boost my parental confidence, along with two kids who don't fight and three pairs of jeans that will zip all the way up without the use of power tools.

I could also use a recording of Tibetan monks chanting "Don't eat in the living room" and "Take your hands off your brother," because my voice seems to be just out of my children's hearing range and can only be heard by the dog.

If it's too late to find any of these products, I'd settle for enough time to brush my teeth and comb my hair in the same morning, or the luxury of eating food warmer than room temperature without it being served in a Styrofoam container.

If you don't mind, I could also use a few Christmas miracles to brighten the holiday season. Would it be too much trouble to declare ketchup a vegetable? It will clear my conscience immensely. It would be helpful if you could coerce my children to help around the house without demanding payment as if they were the bosses of an organized crime family.

Well, Santa, the buzzer on the dryer is calling and my son saw my feet under the laundry room door. I think he wants his crayon back. Have a safe trip and remember to leave your wet boots by the door and come in and dry off so you don't catch cold.

Help yourself to cookies on the table but don't eat too many or leave crumbs on the carpet.

Yours Always,
MOM

...P.S. One more thing...you can cancel all my requests if you can keep my children young enough to believe in Santa.

the craziness of life.......

sit back, grab a snack and don't say you weren't WARNED that this blog will be long and ugly.

when you start your morning off with your electricity going out in the middle of you blowing drying your hair, your whole day just becomes a cluster-f. kids screaming for waffles and pancakes, trying to pee in the dark, things just weren't pretty.

and I feel so petty bitchin' about frivolous things, when there are people who have things so much worse. If you don't keep up with my friend Amy over at Chunkyrhino, please keep her and her family in your thoughts and prayers. Her dad had to have a Quadruple Bypass last week and I'm sure any thoughts or prayers on him pulling through would be much appreciated. Love ya Ames!

so most of you probably cringed yourself last week hearing Jay was on steroids and neb treatments. most of you know about the fun of 'roid rage. I've been dealing with it for 5 years now and remember dealing with it growing up with Kenny. it's something I'm accustomed to. but I tell you, there's always something that comes along that blows my mind. it's when Hunter wrote H's all over my walls and furniture. it's when both boys smashed a whole bag of purple grapes onto my floor. it's when the boys cut the blinds apart. oh....the list goes on. and now we get to add when Jayden colored Hunter's new wooden desk completely with a purple crayon. where was I, you ask? making dinner and listening to Hunter read. I had NO idea Jay had a crayon in his possession. and I can't get mad because I know the poor child just didn't know what to do with himself. so all last week became watching Jay like a hawk.

The weekend couldn't get here fast enough. but it went down the drain quick enough. Friday night Justin asked me to swing by my parents house to pick up his dog, "Rocky." No problem. Just as we pulled into town, the smell started lingering. yes, Rocky took the liberty of pooping all on the back floor of my car. poop like he hasn't pooped all day. Justin got left to clean that up.

Saturday morning was a bit of a rush. Hunter had basketball practice at 11:00 and we had to leave home by 12:30 to make it to Yoakum for a wedding. needless to say, we didn't leave until 1:00 and were rushing to get there in time and not be late. and we did make it to the church with about 10 minutes to spare. just as we turned to park, Hunter started throwing up. and not just a little either. I made a mad dash to the church for house keys. thankfully 5 of my aunts live in Yoakum. we rush to Aunt Jane's and spend an hour, cleaning and washing the car and carseat. the good news was that Hunter was completely fine. nothing but a case of being car sick. which reads NO more playing Nintendo or leapsters in the car for a while.

after Rocky and then Hunter, my car smells TERRIFIC!

the wedding reception was nice and lovely, but Kreg and I were beyond exhausted and we headed home early.

mom and I had planned to do some shopping in Austin on Sunday.

we have this German/Czech/Catholic tradition of St. Nick visiting on the night of the 5th and fills your stocking. well Hunter needs new pj's for his school program and this was the perfect stocking gift. except for the fact that I was pretty much out of luck finding something in La Grange. so I had to make it to Austin and I really wanted to jump start some shopping already.

after much debate, Kreg and I did decide to get Hunter a Wii. okay......so Kreg pulled the fact that he wanted one too. anywho, I was out to nab one at Best Buy. which sounds like a good plan, right? so I march into Best Buy and tell the friendly little sales associate, I needed a Wii please. and the kid laughed at me. I just looked at him. He asked if I was serious. Yeah, I have no better way to spend my Sunday. He proceeded to tell me that they didn't have any so I asked when they would be getting more. He said they received 83 this morning and they were already all gone before the store opened. I asked did all the employees buy one or what. He said, No, people started lining up at 11:30 the night before to be able to get one. There were more than 83 people in line this morning. WHAT THE HELL? I'm not doing that crap again. just when I thought I had everything figured out...............................

and if people insist on buying you something for Christmas, don't you think they should at least bother to ask you what you would like. I know that will take the fun out of things but neither Kreg nor I have too many wants and definitely not any needs but we are both tired of getting stuff from people that don't even bother to try and get you something that could be of use. and I've tried telling people to NOT get my anything and then they end up getting offended. why can't people be respectable of your wishes? there's nothing worse than someone telling you they've already put their time, efforts, thoughts into other gifts and they just don't want to take the time to deal with even bothering to ask you if there's something they could get you that would mean something or help out. they want to give you their leftovers and want you to feel pitty for them because they feel they've over exhausted themselves buying a bunch of other gifts. then please listen when I say to not do anything for me. be respectable of my wishes.

I know......I'm off on a rampage, but I'm sick to death of the emphasis put on presents/gifts this time of the year and the way it's dealt with. Kreg and I've taken a cold hard look at what we want to change about this holiday for us and our kids. We aren't Grinches or Scrooges. We just want to reject what we consider to be the wastefulness and stress of the season. And it's really hard when people won't consider our feeling on the subject and just think about themselves.........

I'd better get off my soapbox.

Here's a few pictures from the weekend:

it's impossible to get a good picture with this many of us (and 1/2 of us were missing):

the infmaous Aunts and Uncles (back row) and my great aunts and uncles