The Squirrel Hunter

Watch out squirrels!  He's an expert marksman.  Since the freeze hasn't killed our peppers yet, I want to keep them growing...and my man will make sure you don't eat them before we can!

Christmas Cheer

If we are at home, our tradition is to decorate for Christmas the day after Thanksgiving.  This was the first time in 14 Christmases that Mike got down all the Christmas decorations from the attic without me asking!  I just might have gone a little overboard with my enthusiasm when I realized what he was doing.  I hugged him really big and said, "I've waited our whole marriage for you to be excited about decorating for Christmas!!"  He said, "I got them down. That's it."  lol.  BUT....he then headed outside and hung up all the lights on the house!!  I think he now loves decorating for Christmas...he just isn't ready to admit it.

Everyone else was more than happy to express their enthusiasm about decorating!  It's amazing how fast it can go when everyone is helping!  Grandma Brown, Grammy, Brody, and Barrett helped me with all the inside decor.  We had everything decorated and all the tubs back in the attic by dinner time!  It was awesome!!

Barrett loved helping with the tree.  We've had the same tree since 1999 and it's held up great!  The branches have letters on them which tell you which level they go at on the trunk of the tree.  Barrett did a Christmas cheer as he put each limb in the correct pile.  "K!  You got your K you got your K!" for every branch he'd dance across the kitchen announcing the letter of the branch and then put it in the correct pile.  It was hilarious!  He had us all laughing.

After decorating, we took Grandma on a drive so that she could see Cowboy Stadium and the Ballpark at Arlington.  Then we went to dinner at Abuelo's.  After dinner we drove around to look at Christmas lights.  The boys were super excited to turn the corner and see our house all lit up!  It most definitely is "the most wonderful time of the year"!  

 

GG's Family Thanksgiving

The Saturday after Thanksgiving (November 24th) we had a family gathering with Namaw's side of the family at Daddy Steve and Namaw's house. I didn't take many candid shots, but I did get some group shots. I set the camera up in front of their house and then everyone came out for the annual family picture time.

GG with all her grandkids and great-grandkids

Ron & Jan's family

Daddy Steve & Namaw's family 

Now this picture is a strange one!  Someone came up with the idea to have everyone who "chose" to come into this family in one picture....meaning they're not blood relatives of GG.  Not sure what we'd ever do with this picture....it's not like we'll all print it off and frame it?  I guess it'll be forever memorialized in my blog book ;)  Below are: Cindy (Jon's wife), Cara (Josh's girlfriend), Ann (Tyler's wife), Ron (Jan's husband), Mike (my husband), Steve (Joan's husband), Matt (Julie's husband), and Audria (Caleb's wife)

 

Grandma came for Thanksgiving!!!!

 

 

 

 

Temple Thanksgiving

 

 

 

 

 

After School Surprise

Brody said, "Axton is a WAY better surprise than a toy or a piece of candy!" Barrett and I surprised Brody by bringing Axton with us to pick B up from school :)

Great Wolf Lodge Staycation

 

 

 

 

 

Breakfast with Books

Today was "Breakfast with Books" at the book fair at Brody's school.  They had donuts and juice for the moms and kids while they shopped for books.  I let Barrett and Brody each pick out a book to buy.  As we left Brody at school and headed back out to our bike to go home, I noticed that Barrett hadn't eaten his donut...and he LOVES donuts.  When I asked why he said, "Because I'm saving it!  I'm gonna eat it all the way home and it's gonna be gooooood!!" 

Great Season Boys!

I downloaded these pictures from our team shutterfly site....since I didn't take my camera to the boys end of season parties.  They had a great season and are excited to be playing for Coach Dan and the Marlins again in the Spring! 

 

 

Ancient Treasures in Mom's Desk

Caleb & Tyler....we're in trouble!!!!

Mom just found a stack of coupons that we made for her as gifts when we were little kids!  She asked if I was gonna be at work Friday so she could cash in these two coupons that I gave her.... 

 

I'm guessing we were in elementary school when we made these.  Check out the kind of paper that Tyler used (remember the printer paper that you had to tear the edges off after printing?) and... well... his spelling is lacking just a little.  I think he meant to give her a free lawn mowing, free garage cleaning, and free "anything"!  Yikes!  Wonder what she'll cash that in for now that you have more than "money you borrowed from me" to your name!  (Yes...at this age you probably had your name on the chalkboard in my room..."Tyler owes me $5" or something close to that! lol)

 

Caleb is the one who should be the most worried.  He actually wrote "Expires: Never" on his coupons to Mom!!!!  I like how he also wrote "From: Her favorite son, Caleb"...and in cursive!  I'm not sure I'd recognize this was from Caleb unless he'd written his name...I don't recall ever seeing him write in cursive!!

Forest in the middle of the City

The other day I took Barrett to the park so we could go on a hike.  I love that my phone has a camera on it so that I can capture these moments and save them!  Simple times like these are so special...and will probably be forgotten if I don't record them.  I had so much fun hiking through the forest with my little guy!

We found "guns" aka sticks and put on our tough faces... 

 

Barrett was my navigator and lead explorer. 

The trees have finally began turning here and it's beautiful!  

 

Back at the playground, Barrett wanted to climb this rock structure.  He remembered some picture I took of Brody on top of the rock a few years ago and asked me to take the same picture of him so he could show Brody.  I really cherish times like this...

 

 

Play Date over the Phone

Sometimes technology makes my heart so happy!!

Itty Bitty Carts!

After Brody's Thanksgiving program, we went to Tom Thumb to get a few groceries.  Brody wanted to use the little cart (we thought we were only buying a bag of flour).  Just so happened A&W Cream Soda (Mike's current fav) and a few other things were on sale.  The little cart was to heavy for Brody to push.  I couldn't help but snap a pic of Mike pushing this itty bitty cart as we were leaving the store!

Brody's K Thanksgiving Program/Party

 

Riding to School

He looked too cute this morning!! I just had to take a picture :)
Brody at the school bike rack...