The tree is up!

We spent about an hour deciding where to put our Christmas tree up in our new house.  I think we found a great spot.  I have a big sectional ordered for the great room so it might have to move next year but I'm loving where it is right now.  Might need a new tree next year too, seeing as how about a 1/4 of our lights are out!

I finally have a mantle I can hang my stockings on!  Our old house had this weird lip that wouldn't accommodate stocking holders.  I'm beyond excited to have some now!

 And finally, in the home building process we never managed to pick out a fireplace insert.  The Hubs and I went and looked at them last July but the store in town was overbooked and wouldn't be able to get to us for a few months.  We sort of forgot about it and never ordered anything.  Now we have this big gaping hole that we MUST DO SOMETHING ABOUT! Anyway, my sweet husband (after listening to my nagging) made me a fire (out of poster board and construction paper). How dorky are we???

We lie to our children for fun

That's right, we lie to our children for fun.

Which means that BUDDY IS BACK!

 I could have KILLED two or three of the ladies in the "beauty parlor" Tuesday when my kids were getting a haircut.  They deemed it necessary to have a conversation about Elf on the Shelf IN FRONT of my kids. My death stare eventually thwarted them from continuing their convo.  I'm not ready to burst any bubbles around here.  My 9 and 7 year olds (and 2 year old) are definitely still believers in Santa, Buddy the Elf, and all things Christmas.  Let's keep it that way!!!

Be Nice!

Lollipop loves him so much she writes him notes daily and leaves him treats.

 Happy Thanksgiving from our crazy family to yours!

Thankful, in their words

I am one blessed and proud momma! Happy Thanksgiving!

Lollipop:

  I am thankful for my family because they have special talents.  My mom's talent is cooking thats why she makes the most delicious dinners ever!  My dads is catching a ball.  He's the world champion!  Mine is balancing a book on my head.  My family has hearts like no one else.  I love my family.  My brothers is saying vunoogis (she said she made this word up because it was funny) and my sisters

 is art. Those are my family talents! And my other talent is shine!

My Boy:

 I am grateful for my parents. They love me and I love them back.  They keep me safe and care for me. And they make me happy. They also mean nearly everything to me. I Love them so much

 And I don't ever want them to leave. Thank you God for my parent.

 I see God's goodness in nature.  It is nice and if full of animals. There are also forest with trees and flowers. They are pretty and the trees make oxygen. Nature makes me feel happy. Thank

 you God for nature.

 I am grateful for friends. They play with me and talk with me. They make me feel good some of my friends are Will, Daniel, and Brady. They are all great friends. I usually play with Brady and Daniel but

 I still play four square with Will sometimes. Friends help each other and that's what I love about them thank you God, for friends.

 I am grateful for soldiers. They protect us. Without soldiers we wouldn't enjoy the freedom we have today. Soldiers are important. They help us have freedom. We need to respect soldiers because of their importance. We are lucky to have soldiers.

They help America. Soldiers make me feel protected. Thank you God, for soldiers.

Sunrise

In our old house we had a nice big window in our breakfast nook. However, the view was of...the side of our neighbors house.  Nowadays we get to look at this every morning:

I can't think of a better way to have breakfast and start our day than looking at that!

Feeling so grateful and blessed.  I know what I'm thankful for this year!

A Few Phone Pics

Here are my phone pics from the last week!

My Boy was acolyte in chapel at school last week.  He's getting so darn big.

Not a fan of the doctor's office.

We went to San Antonio last weekend and "tried" to swim in the heated pool.  We made it about 30 minutes.  It might be the only time ever that the girls get to swim in this pool alone :).

Customer in training at Whole Foods.  I do see the irony of her being in the wine section :).

This is why she doesn't get to pick my shoes.

We made cupcakes for Lollipop's class. Today is Mickey Mouse's birthday!

Translation: Mommy, can we go see Wreck it Ralph tomorrow?

October Recap

October was a super fun and very busy month for us! Here is a recap of what has been going on in our lives:

Two weeks before her birthday she had her first party with the family (my in-laws were gone for her bday):

 Do you know how many times you have to light a candle with six grandchildren? (if you answered six--you are correct!)

 Little Miss Sassy Pants has quite the personality.  She is so much fun and we love her to pieces.  She is a verbal wonder and cracks us up daily with all the wonderful things she has to tell us.

 Her favorite thing to do is climb (which is not a new revelation).  She discovered our Halloween candy jar and its been a month long battle to keep her out of it.

 She also discovered where I hide keep the markers. I still find myself alarmed to walk into a room and find her on top of some place I've never seen her before. She scares me to pieces!

 Happily, she occasionally sits on the floor (after she has removed the couch cushions to sit on).

My biggest baby girl turned 7!  I can't believe it!  I love her faces as she unwraps gifts.  She is the most expressive child I've ever seen!

We had a birthday party at our local frozen yogurt shop.  Easiest birthday party ever!

And last but not least, HALLOWEEN! I'm Lollipop's classroom mom and ran the party.  I'm so sad that I hardly got any pictures because I was so busy running all the games.

This is an awful picture but here we are for our Halloween party.  We are Mavis from the movie Hotel Transylvania and Lance Armstrong (holding his urine sample).

 The cutest Minnie Mouse Ever!

My little angel and Percy Jackson

 Minnie Mouse crashed on our way to big brother's party (and managed to sleep for an hour in a room full of crazy kids)

 Love this kid.

 To show my son that is totally cool to be a book-nerd (because he got it from me) I dressed up as Katniss Everdeen from the Hunger Games.

 Love his mad scientist teacher!

 My son was declared the mummy wrapping champion of third grade!

 We did the donut challenge at Lollipop's party and it was hilarious! I wish I had pics of the other games!  Boo!

What an angel!

This is such a happy time for us and I'm loving every minute of it!