My Birthday, Thanksgiving, and Black Friday

My 29th Birthday!

On Monday the 24th I turned 29. My day started out at 5:30 in the morning when my Bro and his family arrived from Tennessee. It was a crazy day of trying to get things done, working at the YMCA and hanging out with my brother and his wife and kids. My awesome friends suprised me by taking me out to dinner at Olive Garden, and we had tons of fun- as always. When I arrived home my family was waiting for me with Cake and presents.

I am not a huge "cake" fan so they decided to pick up this little gem at Dairy Queen.
This may be the ugliest cake I have ever gotten, it sure beats all of the turkey cakes by far. I will be sending me submission to one of my favorite blogs- Cakewrecks.

The black frosting was not fun to try to clean off of the kids, but it was a yummy cake!

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Thanksgiving Day

Dave and my brother Ken started the day off with a Turkey Bowl football game with a bunch of guys from church. Carrie and I decided to take the kids to watch them for a while.

After the Turkey Bowl we decided to play some football with the kids.

Then the kids had a great time playing at the park, it was such a nice day!

So, Thanksgiving dinner didn't quite turn out like I had planned. The day before my heating element in my oven decided to break and catch on fire.......nice! That isn't one of those parts you can go to the store and get, apparently you have to order it. So, plans changed and we ended up having it at my moms house. Things were a little crazy with 9 kids and 8 adults in a small home, which is why I didn't get any pictures- I never really do on Thanksgiving. It turned out to be a great day with family and great food, especially dessert. My brother left that night and we were so sad to see him go but we were so grateful to have them for 4 days.


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Black Friday

I decided to get a little crazy this year and get up at 3:00 in the morning to shop with the other crazies in McKinney. I went with 4 other friends and it was an experience. We went to Walmart at 4:15 to get a head start on the 5a.m. sale and I couldn't believe how intense so many people were about getting a good deal. I thought I was going to witness a couple of brawls over electronics, good thing I wasn't trying to get any of those big ticket items. We followed Wal-mart with Target and then headed to Sam's Club for some free breakfast and then we were off to Walgreens and CVS for a little coupon shopping. We scored a lot of loot, so much that we could hardly pack everything into Yvette's Yukon.

Prego Tiarre took full advantage of the automated carts, 8 months pregnant and trying to battle her way through crazy shoppers- that was the way to go. We were only dissappointed that they didn't go faster, that could have helped us out a ton.

I have always avoided black friday because I hate crowds and I like sleep but it was a blast going with friends. I will definitely be doing it again next year.

This past weekend we braved the cold weather and set out on a camping trip with some friends. We went to one of our usual spots at Lake Ray Roberts. I thought that since we were not camping during the summer and would not need eletricity for fans, that we could camp in one of the more primitive sites. Little did I know that primitive meant you had to hike into your spot- what the *@! Luckily, they had one site left in an area that didn't require hiking so we changed our reservation and camped there. The site was awesome, it was nestled back in the trees and had tons and tons of room for the kids to play. The best part is that it fit all 4 tents and there was still room for more. I think it has been decided that there will be no more summer camping trips, it is just way too hot! Even though it was cold, it was so nice to sit by the fire and sip hot cocoa all night. Suprisingly, we slept pretty well all snuggled into tons of blankets- I think it was like 40 degrees. The kids had a great time-they love camping, and I think all of the adults had a pretty great time as well.

The kids love playing in the tent!

Cyndi and Aprille cleaning up after breakfast

This is how we kept the kids under control:)

Tigerthon

On Friday Addyson ran in the annual Tigerthon at her elementary school. Every year the students at the school run laps to raise money. Last year I didn't watch her run because I guess I didn't know that I could. This year Addyson asked me to come and watch her run so I was definitely there with Ethan and Paige in tow. As Ethan and I waited on the sides for her to make her 1st lap, I could tell that she was looking for us. When she saw us standing there, she was so happy and excited! I sadly had to leave after only 15 minutes of watching her because I had to go to a training in Dallas. I DID NOT want to go, I felt so terrible about leaving when I knew how happy she was to have us there supporting her. Although most of the work that I do does not interfere with my kids activities and time with them, this was one of those moments when I wish that I could just be strictly a stay at home mom. She did a great job and ran 8 laps! I am so proud of her, I think that is 2 miles? She was up really late the night before at a soccer party so when I got home later that night she was sooo tired!

These pictures were taken courtesy of my friend Holly, I forgot my camera in my car. Thanks Holly!!

Go Addyson!!!

Election 08'

So, since this is sort of my journal, I have felt it necessary to journal this past election because it is pretty historic. Even though I am happy that we have come to a place where an African American can be elected I am not happy that it had to be him, the most liberal politician there is. I am not going to go into my feelings on the subject because I just may go off and possibly say something that may offend someone. So, I will simply say Heaven help us all ya'll, pray, pray, pray!

Another Halloween is gone:(

I love this time of year, one holiday after another, and more and more memories created with our kids. The First celebration..... Halloween! Our Halloween festivities always include pumpking carving. This was Paige's first year of really getting in on the action and she liked it!

Mmmmm...... pumpkin guts
Of all my kids, Ethan is the one who doesn't really like to get his hands dirty. He thought pulling out the pumpkin guts was pretty gross. Isn't is supposed to be the other way around, with the girls thinking it is gross??
Ethan picked the angry face for his pumpkin. I actually wanted to try pumpkin carving this year(Dave usually does it) and this is how mine turned out. Not bad for a beginner.

Addyson picked the witch face, I let Dave carve that one since it was a little more difficult. We all think that he did a great job.

In my attempt to fill the kids belly's with some healthy food before the sugar fest began I made this spread. My efforts were wasted though, because they hardly ate a thing! Oh well, at least I tried! I will probably save myself the trouble next year!

On our way to the trunk-or-treat at the church, Paige saw my bowl full of candy, and did not waste any time pumping herself full of good stuff.

Ethan as Darth Vader

Paige as an elephant. This was Addyson's costume when she was a baby- so I saved myself some money and re-used it. Halloweens here in Texas are a bit different from Oregon. She probably cooked in this costume with our 80 degree weather. She wore this costume the other night at our YMCA fall festival and everyone kept calling her a boy. Of course this annoyed me, so I put a bow by her ear.

The traditional "sitting and eating our candy shot" that we get of them every year.

If you can't tell Addyson was a witch. However I don't think that she wore her hat all night long!

After the trunk-or-treat we went back home and did some trick-or-treating in our neighborhood. We have the best street for trick-or-treating right next to us. One lady was handing out full size candy bars and she gave each of my kids 2, including Paige. Another lady was handing out $1 store gifts. All they have to do is go down that street and their bags are pretty full, and with good stuff. Ethan was happy with what he got and wanted to go home, but Addyson was not ready to stop. Dave took Ethan and Paige home and Addy and I kept going. This is the first year that she has been so into it, I loved it. I remember the days when I used to go trick-or-treating for hours, to get as much candy as I could. We walked for quite a while, until her bag was filled to the top. The problem now is what the heck do I do with all that candy? She isn't eating all of that!! I may have to hide some away for Christmas. It was another great Halloween, it is so great remembering the holidays when you were a kids and now getting to see the joy that it creates in your own children! So fun!