Lots of Holiday Happenings!!

We have been busy little bees at our house with lots of fun holiday stuff. I will catch you up with what we've been doing since I blogged about Nat's recital. The post about Jim has been the most recent, but it didn't actually fall in the "fun" catagory :)

On Dec. 6th, Matt ran his first 1 mile and Mom, Dad, and I ran another 5k. It was a long drive, but ended up being well worth it. It was a day of personal achievements for all of us! Matthew won 1st place! He ran a 6.34 mile (I think I have the time right). He didn't just run against kids, he ran against adults also!!


I amazed myself that day also by running my best time ever (to that date) and I won 1st overall woman! Crazee!! It was a hard run, but a great run! The girl I picked to chase was a fighter!!

Dad also ran his best time ever and he won 3rd place in his age group! Dad really kicked butt!!


Nat was Mom's walking buddy for this 5K and the 2 of them did great!...and had a fun time too :) Mom beat her best time ever and won 1st place in her age group!!


The money from this 5k went to this organization: cisnt.org. You can go to this website, scroll down till you see me and click on the link to "more photos" on the right. They have more pics than what we took.

That night we headed to the square for the Christmas light parade and Nat's drill team Christmas show. The girls did really good. I'll attempt to attach the video, but I warn it it's pretty dark.

So far no luck with the video...try again later...

...on to the rest of our events...

Ah, my FAVORITE time...decorating for Christmas. I absolutely love to decorate for Christmas. I love the tree, the lights, the stockings, the excitment in the kids eyes, all of it...





Last Saturday Nat, Matt, and I got up in the windy cold to go run in the Reindeer Romp 1k/5k in Justin. I was so proud of Nat and Matt just for getting up and going with me. The wind was so nasty to us, but the kids stuck it out and ran anyway. VERY proud of them. They didn't have their times posted after we ran, but they are supposed to post them on: fieldhousefitness.net. I haven't seen the results posted yet, but I'll keep checking. I think they were #184 & #185. and If I counted correctly, they were the 10th & 11th placed kids. WAY TO GO GUYS!!!



I ran my best time ever (23.39) on this day, but I don't know how I placed yet. I must say it was a bear of a run and if the lady had told me that my time was a 30.00+, I would have believed it!!!

Now about Brayden...and his LLLOOONNNGGG awaited visit with Santa. This poor baby has heard the term "...you'll have to ask Santa..." EVERY time in the past 2 months (at least) that he's asked for some toy. All the toy magazines in the house have become the "Ask Santa" books :) I joked that I'd have to rent a 30 min. time slot with what ever Santa we went to go see to accomidate his list of wants/needs :) Suprisingly enough, when I took him to have Santa pictures done...he only asked for a race car. I think he was star stuck :) It was so cute, he just stared at him and was just all giddy inside! Here's a scan of the pictures we had made (don't worry Grandparents, you'll get a copy :)).

Then, to top it off...we find out that last night Santa would be coming thru our neighborhood on a lighted fire truck. The only way this could have been any better is if it was Santa, in a fire truck, being pulled by a choo-choo train!! But this was pretty awesome. It was very chilly last night so we waited at the end of our driveway in the suburban. He was to arrive between 5:30-6pm. Brayden was beside himself everytime he saw a set of lights. Then finally at 6:10, we hear the sirens....it was SANTA!!!!!!!! Santa was riding on the back of hte lighted fire truck. The fire truck stopped in front of Brayden's house. Then Santa hopped off the truck and walked acros the street to see Brayden and give him a candy can (no, not a mispell, that's what he calls them :)). This little boy was in HEAVEN! Thank you Santa :)



This weekend we will travel to Midland to have Christmas with James and Phyllis on Saturday. Then we will head to Levelland to have Christmas with the Davidsons on Sunday. It will be a whirlwind weekend, but lots of fun. Alway so good to see everyone! Hope you all have a great weekend!

If you like what you just read, let me know....I spent a good amount of time on this one and it' always rewarding to read your comments...hint-hint ;)~~

Jim update

First off...thank you to all of you that have called to check in on Jim. It really means a lot to him and all of us!! If you haven't had a chance, give him a call, drop him an email, or stop off at his blog and say "Hey" :) He's had to stay locked down to the house (minus Friday's company Christmas party) and it's been hard for him to not get bored. He really thought that he'd be released for work and driving by Monday, but we found out at Friday's appt and he'd be off work and not driving till at least Thursday's appt. Still not sure if he'll get released at that point.

For those of you that didn't know, Jim has jacked up knees. He had a couple of surgeries on his right knee over 20 years ago, but since that time they've both really deteriorated. He had a scope done last Wed on his right knee and the doctor came back with some VERY optimistic news. Which after looking at Jim's MRI (in the days prior)...he thought Jim's only shot would be a knee replacement...and he didn't want to do that on someone his age. The scope was planned to just buy him time till he was 45-50. BUT, the scope ended up doing much more than that and we are all very excited about that. The recovery so far has been achy and frustrating for him, but each day seems to get better and better. Each night that he's able to get good sleep makes for a better day.

So again, thank you all for your thoughts and prayers. That have ALL been so appreciated!!! And remember my poor bored husband when you get a free moment and give him a shout in some form or fashion :)

Have a great week :)

Nat's 1st Art Show and 3rd Christmas recital

Nat had her first ever art show weekend before last. She submitted 5-6 pieces. Most of you that have seen her work knows that they ALL deserved 1st place...or maybe that's just a Momma's prejudice :) Her sculpture placed 5th overall. And I told her that that is pretty dang good cause there was over 150 entries!! And that sculpture was the piece that she's put the most time and effort into. Here's a few pictures from the show. She wasn't too thrilled to be in the group picture, but Momma has to have her memories ;) This past Sunday Nat had her 3rd Christmas piano recital. She played Fur Elise (sp?). She did really well with a piece that was fairly difficult! We are very proud of her...as always. I have placed 2 pictures and one video...try it out, but you'll have to watch the video with your head tilted cause I forgot not to rotate the camera :( Here's the video...I hope :)

Trick or Treating 08

This year I only had 2 trick or treaters in tow. But it was okay cause Natalie was pretty excited to get to hand out candy. We didn't exactly have that option the 3 previous Halloweens. NOT too many kids trick or treating in the boonies :)

The boys got a double bonus this year since Truck or Treat was held at 2 different churches on Wed. Truck or Treat is where people fill the parking lot with their cars and trucks, decorate them up, and hand out candy...and some play games. There will also be hay rides, jump houses, hot dogs, and at one church..a band. It a nice "one stop shop" kinda set up...right up my alley :) Here's the boys (and Nat :)) on Wed...





Now two things you might not notice right away or know the story behind. #1 - click on the picture with Nat and Brayden. Now look at Nat's teeth...yep...that's right...she is Brace Face no longer :) And her teeth look beautiful!!! #2 - the story behind the Ti double g errr suit. Uhm, when we bought the suit a few months ago, we were afraid that Brayden would just be going as Brayden to Trick or Treat. He WOULD NOT put the suit on. One day I made him put it on and he cried his head off...yes, well aware I'm a bad Momma! I told him he couldn't take it off until he stopped crying. He dried it up immediately and still with a quivering lip and tears streaming out of his eyes he said "...I stopped my crying, can I take the Tigger suit off?". It was so sad :( A few days later he told me he'd wear the suit but not the head. I felt that that was a fair deal...and we still had a month till Halloween at that time, so I figured I still had time to work on him. And it worked, as you see in the pictures. Now I did have to bribe him with candy to put the head on, but I did what I had to do by jiggy :)

Now on to Halloween night...



Not sure how the weather was where you live on Halloween. We were a balmy 82! We hit about 8-10 houses and Matt was asking if we could be done and Brayden told me his head on burning :)...lol... And this was more walking than his little legs had done in a Tigger suit. He told me (as we are 2-3 blocks from the truck) "...I need you to hold me...I'm not heavy..." Poor little baby, guess he hears that a lot :( So I honored their requests.

Matt was just beside to get home ans help Nat hand out candy!


And I think this picture is a perfect example of...... SUGAR RUSH!!!!!!!!!!


Hope you all had a very Happy Halloween!

And last but definitely not least....

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO BETH AND KAY. HOPE YOU BOTH HAVE AND HAD A WONDERFUL BIRTHDAY!!!!!!!!!

And Happy Being Born Day to Colin Restel in sunny Florida :) Congrats in advance to the proud Momma and Daddy - Carrie and Guy :)

Punkins

No, not a misspelling...they are PUNKins around here...according to the midget :) Here are some pictures of the kids carving their punkins on Sunday. Daddy did Brayden's, but Brayden DID supervise :)













If you couldn't already tell, Nat's punkin is a Zombie face. Matt's is a bat sitting on top of a ghost's head, and Brayden's is a happy ghost face :)

...more Halloween pictures to come.......

**Stop by Jim's blog and tell him Hi so he doesn't get discouraged :)**

Great Game!!!

Please check out Jim's blog (see link on the right side of my blog) to read about Matt's awesome last game!! Awesome I tell ya :)

Our Jr. Doll

Natalie was in her first ever High School Football game half time "show". I put it in parenthesis since she didn't get to perform with the Eagle Dolls in their Halftime routine (as it was told to us that they would). They just stood on the sideline and watched the Eagle Dolls perform. But they did get to do the line up when the boys came back onto the field and they did the fight song dance. I think she really enjoyed it, but was a bit nervous.

Here are the "must have" pictures I took at the house before the game:



The Jr. dolls are lined up on the side line watching the Halftime show. Nat is 3rd from the left.


After the Eagle dolls were done with their performance, they lined back up with the Jr. dolls for when the boys come back onto the field. Nat is 4th from the right.


Go, Fight, Win Eagles!


Several pictures I took after this point has Nat making a funny face. Guess the smoke was getting in her eyes :)


It wasn't a huge performance, but it was still fun to watch her be a part of that. Brought back a lot of High School memories for me. And it was funny to see how some things just don't change...no matter the year, no matter the school size. The girls cheered a little, giggled and acted silly a little. Matt was at the end of the bleachers playing football with his friends. Jim and I wrestled the midget in the stands....it was a fun night :)