It's the most wonderful time of the year

and also the busiest! BUT I LOVE IT! I love Christmas! I'm not gonna lie, it bums me out that Hobby Lobby starts putting their Christmas stuff up like the day after Labor Day but I LOVE Christmas time! I love the music, the lights, the magic, all of it! And I LOVE Christmas parties! We had 2 last weekend, one this weekend, lights on Sunday, Christmas Bunco tonight and next weekend we travel to RR for Christmas with the Bettencourts!

Oh, and lets not forget the shopping! My favorite thing is BLACK FRIDAY SHOPPING! I know some people hate the crowds but they make me happy! I dread the day I am too old to do it.

Our beautiful new house looks fantastic all "dressed" for Christmas, although we are looking a little ba-hum-buggish outside because we have NOTHING. well, except for the wreath on the door. I am going to make Dustin put up 2 more wreaths and a few trees this weekend.

We are actually going to celebrate Christmas day with just our little family of 4. At first, I was so upset that we wouldn't be with our extended families but then I realized that we get to make our own traditions, the kids will wake up in their own beds and we can do exactly what we want to do.......and that may include staying in pj's all day! We will miss our family but will cherish this special time as well.

So, what are your plans for Christmas?

Kindness Hero

Kind–adjective, -er, -est.
1. of a good or benevolent nature or disposition, as a person: a kind and loving person.
2. having, showing, or proceeding from benevolence: kind words.
3. indulgent, considerate, or helpful; humane (often fol. by to ): to be kind to animals.
4. mild; gentle; clement: kind weather.
5. British Dialect . loving; affectionate.

kind·ness   
/ˈkaɪndnɪs/ Show Spelled[kahynd-nis] –noun
1. the state or quality of being kind: kindness to animals.
2. a kind act; favor: his many kindnesses to me.
3. kind behavior: I will never forget your kindness.
4. friendly feeling; liking.

Ramsey was recently selected as her classroom's "Kindness Hero". We are so very proud of her and the sweet young lady she has become. Her teacher, Ms. Cross, always has nice to things to say about her and we are amazed at how much she has matured and grown since starting kindergarten.

Walking off the stage after accepting her award:

Smiling with cutie-pie Bradley:

Smiling at school!
Ramsey----We love forever and always! Love, Mommy and Daddy

iPhone uPdate

I rarely carry my camera with me but my phone is usually around and able to capture the day-t0-day happenings for us. Enjoy!

Ramsey with her face painted from our friend Christi and Mark's "Harvest Party"

Annie in the bathtub with Bryson
BUSTED: Bryson dug into Nate's leftover birthday cake, and daddy caught him!

My 2004 Envoy hit 100,000 miles the other day....fittingly, in the Target parking lot! I love my car and I hope I can drive it a few more years!

If you are on Facebook you have probably already seen this....but I love this picture of Bryson throwing a massive tantrum in the middle of CostCo. It SO represents our outings!

More to come later, for now I am going to enjoy a nice cup of coffee on the couch...Bryson is still sleeping! :)

So Very Thankful

Now that Thanksgiving is over and my house no longer has pumpkins in it (can I get an amen!?!?, I was so sick of pumpkins) I just thought I should list a few things that I am so Thankful for this holiday season:

My best friend and husband, Dustin
My 2 precious kids
The rest of my wonderful Family (both born into and married into)
My amazing Friends
My growing Faith, in my awesome God!
My beautiful house
Ramsey's school and teacher
Bryson's school and teachers
Black Friday Sales (with my mom, sister and friends)
A clean refrigerator
The trash pick-up on Saturday
My cousins and uncle for driving in to see us
My Grammie for coming down from Amarillo
Restaurants, I'm sick of cooking
Dish gloves, my hands are so chapped
The Dollar Tree
The Magic of Christmas
The return of Trevor
The rest of the holiday season!!!!!

Wedding Weekend

We just returned from an amazing weekend in Round Rock. The wedding we attended was quite an event.....very classy......and we had so much fun dressing up and pretending we were high class socialites for a night! Plus, it was our first Jewish wedding so that made it even more fun for us. Beautiful Bride. Happy Groom. Great Food. Free Drinks!

Special thanks to Lolli and Pops for watching the kids both Saturday and Sunday nights. They had a ball hanging out with you guys and I know they are looking forward to coming back in a few weeks. Get the hot tub ready! :)

Behind Closed Doors.......

At any given moment you can walk into my house and it will be somewhat "neat". BUT, behind closed doors is another thing.....we were out-of-control unorganized around here.
so, after searching for Dustin's car keys for an HOUR, yes a full freaking hour, on Sunday night I decided I had had enough of the clutter.

here is a sample of my dirty laundry

Before:

During:

After:

Before:

After:

Hopefully the towels in this cabinet will move soon......I am planning on adding some shelving to my laundry room and putting them up there. That way, the kids have a true "craft cabinet" that all of their crap, ugh stuff, can go in.

Halloween in Pictures

These are totally out of order but here is a glimpse into our Halloween night. We had a BLAST Trick or Treating with the cousins and Dominic (one of Ramsey's boyfriends from school).

How cute was this couple who dressed up as Woody and Jesse! Fun!

This one is for my parents.......it's the whole Snoopy gang! So cute!

Bryson held his ball in one hand and his bag in the other for most of the night. He loved trick or treating!

We had 2 SWAT members with us last night so we felt safe!

This could seriously be the cutest picture EVER!

Before we headed out TorT'ing we went to 2 Halloween parties and had such a good time meeting new people and catching up with the old 'hood bunch! I am not the biggest fan of Halloween but last night may have converted me. Our neighborhood goes all out for the holiday and it was fun to see it all. The kids had a blast so that made it even more fun for all the adults. Now that it's over, it's time to start planning Thanksgiving and then CHRISTMAS!!!!!!