Ghost of Christmas PAST

I was looking at some old pictures the other day and found this one and just started laughing, when we lived in Idaho our neighbor somehow got a Santa suit. Haley, my neighbor came over with her kids and her hubby Ty dressed up and came around the back in the snow with bells. Lynlee and her little boy were only 3 and scared to death of him!! So Billy decided to show them how it's done and sat on Santa's lap and told him everything he wanted.

Traditions

We are headed up to Utah on Friday so it seems like we have been try to cram a bunch of Christmas thing in before we leave, last weekend we decorated our Gingerbread house. I love when it's Christmas time and its 80 degrees outside so all the frosting is running down the sides of the house. The girls had fun and it turned out cute!

McKenna's Birthday

I have no idea how a year has gone by since this little one was born, but it did and we had to celebrate. Just a few friends and family for cake and ice cream. McKenna is such a sweet heart, always happy and so fun to have in our family.

Enjoyed the cake!! Happy Birthday baby girl!

Saying Goodbye

Best Friends from the beginning!

We had a really rough week dealing with the lice and then our dog Max passed away. He was just one of those great dogs people talk about. He was great with the kids, always very loyal and just loved to be with us. He got sick over the weekend, last week and just never got better, the vet wasn't really sure what he had, but thought he had a major GI infection or a tumor/blockage. He just went downhill so fast, that we had no choice but to put him to sleep, which was heartbreaking for are whole family, I cried, Billy cried, Lynlee cried, and Regan cried.





The worst has also been are other dog Gus, has lost his best friend and older brother, and just doesn't know what to do. He's never been alone before and just roams around the house and the backyard looking for Max. So SAD!! Billy and I got Max, right after we got married so he has been with us through everything, all the kids being born and moving a bunch of times. He was a great friend and we will miss him in our family.

Swimming at the lake.

Making a Lynlee Sandwich.

Camping at Fish Lake

Nit-Wits

Horrible, Awful, the worst thing ever....We all got LICE!!! My head itches just thinking about it. We've been dealing with it for about a week now, and I think with one more treatment and head checks for months, we will be rid of it. Lynlee's school has had a major outbreak of it so I'm sure she got it there. But it is awful, washing everything, stuffed animals in quarantine for three weeks, using that shampoo, and picking out all those eggs.

I had a friend ask, "what can I do?"
My response, "Nothing, STAY AWAY, and pray for US!!!"

Are battle weapons: The shampoo dried my scalp out so bad it made it itch worse than the bugs. I had to treat the baby too, and there was no way I was putting that stuff on her head, so I found a natural oil to use and it worked great.

Heather & Scott's Wedding

Over the weekend Billy's oldest brother got married to a friend of mine down here in Texas. We had 10 people from Billy's family staying here, it was a FULL house!! We all had a great time laughing a eating way too much food.

Heather looked beautiful at it was a gorgeous day at the Temple. So happy for them!!

Andrew and Megan's baby Aubrey, she is so cute.

And my own three rug-rats and the matching dresses I made, props to me!

Halloween 2010

We had another fun Halloween this year, Friday we did the Trunk-or-Treat at the church, where Billy ran around scaring all the little kids and the missionaries used the baby to get candy for themselves. Then on Halloween night we went around the neighborhood with some friends.

Lynlee saving the day as SUPERGIRL!!

Regan-the Princess
McKenna-the Frog

Happy Halloween!!

Regan's Halloween Party

So I'm a little behind on blogging, here's some catch up. Regan had a Halloween party at dance, they ate lunch and did a dance to the Monster Mash, she is so cute!!

Happenings This Week

It seems like are weeks go by so fast because we are so busy, and the weekends go by even faster. But this week I was able to capture a few Kodak moments. This baby loves to eat!! After most meals she has enjoyed, a simple wet paper towel is useless, so we have to strip her down and hose her off.

All clean and huggable again!!

Lynlee falls for peer pressure all the time, which is good sometimes, not so good others. But she saw a couple of her friends riding their bikes home from school with no training wheels. We came home took hers off, and away she went. She probably could have done it months ago. Now she thinks we are going to let her ride her bike everywhere, and by herself.

Not-so Extreme Door Makeover

Before:

After:

We want to buy a new front door, maybe something with glass but doors are expensive, well really everything is expensive!! But a quart of chocolate brown paint and some vinyl lettering, and it turned out pretty good. Now all we need is so serious color, almost time for some fall flower planting!

How far can $20 Go

This morning I went garage saleing with my neighbor, I don't claim to be a pro but I do have some skills, this is all the stuff I scored today:
Bike seat for the baby-$5
Hello Kitty Scooter-$2
DVDs-2 for $1
Pink Cowgirl Boots-$2
Reusable Bag-$1
Fall Tablecloth-$4

Grand Total-$15 there were a few things I wish I had bought but I was pooped by 9:00 so we just decided to head home. One of my favorite things is the prices people put on things, like this house where I bought the cute reusable bag had these really nice Pottery Barn selves for sale $30 each!! Are you crazy, I understand you have lots of money and can shop at Pottery Barn, but I just rolled up in my 1997 Jeep in my PJ's with a wade of one dollar bills, this is a garage sale lady!!

Race for the Cure 2010

Saturday we did the Race for the Cure in downtown Houston, it was crazy. There were over 30,000 people there. We cheated and only walked about a mile, we had to hurry home to catch Conference and about a block after the start the kids started complaining they were already tired.

Breast Cancer is a horrible disease that has affected many people including our family, we miss Billy's mom, Dianne so much and even though we never got a chance to meet her, we love her and love hearing stories about her, from Billy.

The post-race picture after a fierce finish, Billy and Lynlee ran and she fell and skinned her knee, and did not want to be in the picture. It was another awesome experience and we hope and pray they find a cure soon!!

Mid Autumn Festival

Our neighborhood is very diverse, and there are lots of different cultures we have learned about. Some Mandarin families put together a party for the Mid Autumn Festival, it is the beginning of Fall and the day when you can see the Moon the clearest, I think? But they did have a bounce house, and food, which we are all about celebrating. They had Chinese Lanterns and all the kids did a light parade around the lake with a dragons head at the front. And we tired some Moon Cake which was strange but still good, Regan spit it out in my hand which I think offended a few people.

The Moon in all it's glory, it really did look amazing, but my awesome camera just didn't do it justice.

Regan Ballerina

Regan started tap/ballet a few weeks ago, Lynlee is doing gymnastics this year, but Regs told me she wanted to be a ballerina. Here she is the first day, and check out those adorable leg-warmers, made by me!! So far she loves it and I love watching her in class.

Cute Family

Oh some many years ago when I was in Young Women's we used to sit around gabbing about the "cute families," in the ward. You know the families you say, "their kids are so cute." Well obviously I'm totally bias and think my kids are the cutest, funniest, smartest things every to walk the planet, but the other day a lady at church and I were talking and she told me, my daughter and some of the other girls think your family is the cutest!! Yes, what an awesome full circle moment. In all my vain-ness I want to get some sort of trophy made to put on the mantle, this is a victory.

A Few Projects

Billy was on vacation for 3 WEEKS!! He had a honey-do list with about 100 things on it and I think he crossed off 3 maybe 4. But oh well 3 is better than nothing, and we had a great time just hanging out and doing nothing.

This little rocking chair I found next to a dumpster when I was out running errands, when I got it out of the car Billy said, "what did you bring home now." I caught a picture just as he started painting it, but it was just some beat up old wood, and with a 3 dollar can of purple spray paint (I let Regan pick the color).

WAH-LA: I just wish we had three, they are always fighting over who gets to sit in it while watching TV. But they love it!! McKenna's not so sure about it in this picture.

Next was the hallway in between the girl's room, so boring and bare. I thought about some pictures of the family but we have so many family picture walls, then I saw this idea on another blog and I loved it.

Some moulding and painted close-pins, the girls think it is the greatest thing, a whole wall of their artwork. And it frees up my fridge, they love to change the pictures and thankfully no more "Why did you throw that picture in the garbage mom?" (Riped my heart and they were catching on that I always blamed dad, even when he wasn't home)

I think it needs a saying above it, probably in vinyl. I was thinking IMAGINE & CREATE, what do you think? Now back to that TO DO List that keeps getting longer.

Good-bye Summer

I know everyone up North is so sad to say goodbye to summer by not me, I'm so ready for some nice 80 degree weather so we can actually go play outside without dying of heat stroke. Labor Day this past weekend we did have to say goodbye to the pool, that I am sad about, because we still have another month of the heat and humidity left. I love our pool, so kid friendly and just around the corner. Here are some shots of our last visit this summer.
They swim for a 2 minutes and then the "daddy throw me," starts and they never get tired of it.
Lynlee became a pretty good swimmer this year and can swim across the entire pool by herself, Regan is independent with her water muscles on and McKenna was happy to sit in her little water chair. Good Times.

Preschool

I was already in mourning from Lynlee starting school, then this little girl had the nerve to start preschool. Well not offically just a Joy School type thing with some other ladies in the ward. But she was so excited with her giant backpack and her pencil box already to go. Its every Thursday and she went yesterday for the first time and had a great time.

Back to School

Well we survived the first week of school, barely. Lynlee is loving the 1st grade, she loves her teacher, Mrs. Brock and tells me how beautiful she is all the time. She was so excited the first day and really didn't want me to even take her, when did she get this big, but I told her I needed a picture. She had this outfit picked out for weeks.
Over the summer Lynlee was in the summer reading program through the library, she had to read 20 books by herself, she finished her 20 books probably in July, but we just barely remembered to go to the library to get her trophy. She is a really good reader and I can't believe she learned in Kindergarten, when I was in school, Kindergarten was finger-painting and dress-up.

Of course Regan needed her picture taken too, she will be starting a rotating preschool with some other kids in the ward next week, she is so excited, we got her backpack, pencil box, and crayons all ready to go. Regan also starts tap/ballet and Lynlee gymnastics next week, once Girl Scouts starts up again, I think we have something going on every night of the week. CRAZY!!