Christmas Day!

Our Boppy saved the day and came to pick us up in his 4X4 pickup truck on Christmas Morning! After helping a few people along the way...we made it to Grandma & Boppy's house where we spent ALL of Christmas Day.
Santa even made a stop at their house and left goodies for everyone. We played and played and looked and looked until our heart was content and our belly's were hungry. They fixed us a HUGE Christmas Breakfast and boy was it YUMMY!
After Breakfast we opened some more gifts and played some more. Then we had scrumptous lasagna for lunch. All that food made us tired. Harper and I cuddled up for a nap and Owen & Rich rested too. Once we woke up...it was off to play in the snow!
What a super fun Christmas!!!

{Even a Family Jam Session!}

Christmas Morning!

No more dreamin' of a White Christmas...it was here! Christmas Morning we awoke to 14.1" of pure white goodness...SNOW!!! What a wonderful start to a glorious day!

{The view out of our front door on Christmas Morning!}

Harper hollered through the monitor, "MOM...DAD...I'm ready to wake up!" She usually comes into our room, but I guess she didn't want to peek at her presents. Owen was already in our room...sleeping with us. He is getting his first tooth and has been sick with a major sinus infection...so he shacked up with us. We snuggled in bed for a short minute and away we went to the living room.

Santa brought...
Harper....a guitar, a Cuttlebug scrapbook shape cutter, Hungry Hungry Hippos, a really fun cupcake set, Pixo's craft set, and tons of other projects and toys.
Owen...a basketball goal, Ball Poppin' Train, Learning and Singing Puppy Dog, a Bounce and Play Globe, and some super comfy shoes.

{Owen thought the shoes were YUMMY!}

Everyone...goodies for their stockings...even the dogs and cat!

We must have all been REALLY good this year! Thanks SANTA!

{Harper is a pretty good photographer!}

Christmas Eve...Part 2

As the winds and snow blew and blew, we began to wonder how we would make it to Christmas Eve Mass. After several minutes of contemplation...there was one little girl in our house (well...maybe two!) that would have no part of missing church in her fancy dress. So we got all dolled up, got in the car, and headed down the driveway. One small problem...the car was going nowhere! We were stuck. Finally, Richard pushed and I steered and we got it back in the garage. We called my parents, who were already at church, and Cole headed in my dad's 4X4 truck to get us.

The next part of the story goes something like this...Richard said he wanted to try again. And as I stood in the garage, I watched him (with my two children) attempt to drive out of the driveway AGAIN! Only this time...he REALLY got the car stuck! No pushing it out this time. (Richard now says this wasn't his fault because I "his voice of reason" didn't stop him!)

Cole arrived and we piled in the truck and headed off to church...with the car still stuck in the driveway. There are usually around 1200 at Christmas Eve Mass...this year there were 137!!! Father said, we were either really devout Catholics or just had really big trucks! :)

After Mass, we were all hungry and had no plans for dinner. We were all supposed to head to celebrations with other family...but those had been cancelled. So, nothing open, no food at home...Walgreen's it was. We stopped and got some frozen pizzas and pop and headed back to our house. Sometimes its the things you don't plan that are the most fun! This was truely a Christmas Eve to remember.

P.S. We even made sure to get the cookies, milk and carrots out for Santa and Reindeer! Good thing Santa flew his sleigh or he might not have ever gotten here!

Christmas Eve...Part 1

Oh the weather outside was frightful...but the fire was so delightful...
Christmas Eve morning we awoke to the sound of sleet pounding against the windows. The sleet turned to small snowflakes and those small snowflakes became extremely large. The flurries kept us in all day. But we had a great time. We baked cookies for Santa, wrapped lots of presents and even opened our presents to each other. Harper had a great time passing all of the presents out and Owen had a blast opening some of his very first presents. It was a perfect day to hang out as a family!

Richard got Harper and I matching Snuggies!

The kids got to open up their final present from Mom and Dad. When Harper opened the box, she said..."We got NOTHING!" Inside the box was a printed picture of the playhouse that Richard has been building them. We ordered the plans and he is building it from scratch. It is alomost done...but the weather kind of put a kink in the plans. I will post picutres of it when he is finished. You can get an idea from the picture Owen is holding!

Branson Christmas Trip

We loaded up the family...including my parents and headed to Branson last Friday. It was REALLY cold, but we had a great time anyways!

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Afternoon in the City!

Harper got her present from her Grandpa and Granny a little early this year. They got her two tickets to the Nutcracker Ballet. Since Harper is in dance class this year, she is in love with anything ballet. This gift was perfect for her...and for me too! :)

A week ago, on a Sunday afternoon, we met Granny & Grandpa at the Skirvin for a really "fancy" brunch. Harper loves anything fancy and being "downtown" so this was right up her alley. After we ate...her and I headed to the Civic Center. We had fantastic seats and she had a great view. If you haven't seen the Nutcracker in awhile...the first scene is of the family dancing around...but not much "ballet." Harper leans over in a not so quite voice and says..."Mom, when is it going to be over!" The older ladies around us chuckled!

However, a mere minutes later...the ballet started! She was mesmerized. We had a great time just us girls hanging out!!!

Here Comes Santa Claus...

Tonight was the BIG night...
We loaded up the fam and headed to the mall to meet with the Jolly Ol' Man himself. Harper was ecstatic...she was so excited to tell Santa want she wanted for Christmas this year. She said she told him all of the things on her list and he asked her if she had been nice to her brother and had been helping her mommy! She said with excitement..."Mom, he even asked about you?" :)
It was a toss-up with Owen. Richard and I were placing bets on whether or not he would cry. But...he takes after his sister. He was all SMILES for Santa! He stared at him for what seemed like 5 minutes before he would look towards the camera.
Christmas is truly the most MAGICAL time of year!!!

BIG Boy Bath!

Owen has officially moved to the BIG bathtub with Harper! We got Harper's old bath seat down from the attic and he LOVES it. She might just love it even more because she now has a playmate in the bathtub. The first time took a little getting used to...she "accidentially" poured an entire cup of water over his head. He just blinked (alot) and went back to sucking on the toys. He didn't mind the water in his eyes at all. Owen is just getting to be so much fun! They are both getting to be so much fun together!!!

Super {HEROES}

About a week ago, Richard and Harper were playing in the playroom while Owen and I were cleaning up the kitchen. And next thing I knew, they were "flying" around the house in the disguise of Super Heroes! Apparently Harper picked this up from the boys in her class at school! :)

Pretty soon, Harper was no longer satisified with two heroes...the whole family had to join in. So all 4 of us got outfitted in our "uniforms" and away we went. Zooming around...making all kinds of silly noises. Oh, the games we think of when it is COLD outside!

Thanksgiving 2009

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Date Night

Harper loves to eat at "fancy" restaurants and she has been asking to go to the "horsey" restaurant for some time now. Last Saturday night, we loaded up the fam and headed to P.F. Chang's for a DATE! She was so excited to get to use chopsticks to eat her food. She had honey chicken and ate every bit of it. She also had some of Richard and I's noodles and rice too. And to top the evening off...we had the Great Wall of Chocolate (cake) for desert. She was sooo full at the end of the evening.

Such a Big Boy!

Just a few cute pics of Owen! Over the past two weeks he has perfected the art of sitting up. He is not quite a Weeble...he does wobble and fall down. But, he is getting sturdier as the days progress. And...this boy can eat!

He eats:

Breakfast: 1 jar of Rice Cereal with Applesauce

Lunch: 1 jar of Veggies and 1/2 jar of Fruit

Snack: 2 Baby Mum-Mums

Dinner: 1 jar of Veggies/Meal and 1 container of YoBaby Yogurt

And about 25 ounces of formula inbetween!

He better weigh more at his next doctor visit!

Family Pics!

WooHoo for Angel Porch Photography! A few Saturdays ago, we got our family pictures taken and had so much fun. It was so much fun to be outside in the awesome weather...having fun as a family. Harper loves Miss Angel and played photographer for many days following our session. I am in love with all of the pics! You can stop by her blog for a look at some more.

Taking it to New Heights!

So...who knew this whole school administrator thing would be this stressful! Today I got to take an outing with some of our kids to the local Ropes Course. I brought along my camera becuase I love to take pictures. But I had another plan...the camera would be my shield. I am deathly afraid of HEIGHTS...I mean AFRAID!!! I tried a ropes course once in college, but I couldn't get past the first log. I figured if I was taking pictures, no one would ask about me not getting on the course.

Boy...was I wrong. Don't think for a minute that a bunch of 15 year olds (most of which I have suspended or given detention to at some point this year) would buy my camera excuse! They were having no part of that. So...as my mind raced for another excuse, I quickly found myself "harnessed" up and ready to go. Fear set in...but didn't last for long. The kids were shouting from below..."You can do it Mrs. B!" I DID IT! I made it through the middle portion of the course (I'll save the highest part for next year!) and took the zipline down!
Let's just say today I learned...this whole school administrator thing is a BLAST!!!!
I'm Just "Doing What I Love and Loving What I Do!"

Little Bo Peep has found her sheep!

We had a wonderful Halloween Week! Wednesday night we kept with tradition and went to the Zoo. We went with our friends and all of the kids had a great time Trick or Treating through the Zoo. Owen was a trooper. It was much past his bedtime, but he smiled at everyone we met. He eventually feel asleep in my arms as we made our way back to the car. Thursday night, we went the high school to Trick or Treat the Halls. We met up with some of our other friends and again...had a great time and got even more candy!

I had to take advantage of the fact that my kids are young and they don't care that they are dressed alike. I couldn't resist this lamp costume and Harper loved the idea of being Little Bo Peep. They actually learned the nursery rhyme in her Pre-K class earlier this year. My mom made her costume and Harper was excited she got to pick out the fabric. She actually got to wear the costume 3 times, because the kids got to wear their costumes to school on Friday. I got to go to her school party on Friday morning and it was so fun to see her interacting with the class. This was a fantastic Halloween!