We had another baby!

So I know Jared and I have said we are done having kids, but we changed our minds. We decided to have one more. She's a labradoodle and her name is Maggie.

She's going to be a huge dog. Look how big she is already and she's only 4 months old. This will be one of the last times Raegan will be able to carry her. She already weighs 25 pounds.

I just think she's so beautiful! O.K. here's the story- Jared goes hunting a lot and has been wanting a hunting dog to take with him. I love dogs, but I don't care for the shedding so we did some research and found out that the labradoodles are great hunters and don't shed. Maggie's dad is a hunter and he weighs 65 pounds. I am scared to see her grow to that size! Now we will have 2 indoor dogs. Am I totally nuts? I promise to keep my house clean and as free of the "dog smell" as possible. If you're ever at my house and smell "dog-smell" please let me know! I'm very paranoid of having a stinky house!

Seriously, how cute is she? I just love her cute face! The whole family is already in love with her!

My humps

This is my awesome cousin, Kelly. Somehow we talked her into doing a dance for us to my favorite song. You have to listen close to hear the song (sorry). Look at how good she can dance under the "circumstances". Just watch and you'll see what I mean.

My gift to you this year! (a big laugh!)

So for pretty much every gift giving occasion(my b-day, mother's day and x-mas), Jared takes our girls to buy me a gift. He usually takes them to Macy's and tells them to pick whatever they want. And I mean ANYTHING! I typically get pajamas, perfume or kitchen stuff. The girls are always SO proud to see me open the gifts that they pick out, but I think Jared may enjoy it more than them.

This year when Jared took the girls out to get my gift, he texted me and said "I can't wait for you to open Raegan's gift" Unfortunately, that didn't prepare me for what I would open on Christmas morning. It's a REAL doosie! Take a gander: Jared said they found it in the women's sleepwear department. The tag said it was a size 10. I assumed it was a very stretchy size 10 because it looked really small. So it turns out it's a size 10 in girls. Apparently it's a dress, not a nightgown. You can only imagine my disappointment when I had to give my prized gift back to Raegan for her to wear. She wore it for 2 days straight!

BTW Sydney picked me out a huge Martha Stewart pot that I LOVE!

Christmas Day 2008

So enough of that spiritual stuff!!! Let's get to the real meaning of Christmas! The presents!

Check out that necklace that I'm sporting. Santa brought it to me and I love it! Santa is the BEST gift giver ever!

Sydney wanted a rip stick, but I think after she realized how hard it was to ride, she was disappointed in her choice. She'll learn soon, Jared's almost got it down.

Raegan got an American Girl doll. I'm pretty sure Santa debated on that one alot (because of the price), but decided in the end to go for it. Rae named her Emily and is loving her!

Luke got Thomas the Train. He was thrilled, until he saw Mason's bike and decided that was what he wanted. He has such a hard life!


The only mishap of the day is when Amelia accidentally fell in the pool while playing outside. Isn't that a sad face? Don't feel too bad, it was in the process of being heated so it wasn't too cold. Oh and to top it off she was wearing her cute new dress she had gotten for Christmas. So sad!

Christmas Eve 2008

Just a bit of warning, I have posted way to many pictures of Christmas Eve! I couldn't help it, there was so much going on and I couldn't stop taking pictures. We started of the day by making cinnamon rolls. This is one thing that Jared actually enjoys cooking with me. And thank goodness for that because they are a pain to make! That's why I only make them at Christmas time.

This is a pic with all the kids in my family. There's 7 of us. We were all here together this year. Also, my grandfather (Popo) was here with us. We weren't sure if he'd make it because he's been battling lung cancer for a while now, but he came and we loved having him around!

Rae, Bekah and Trevor laying around waiting for dinner to start.

Jason and Carrie were imitating how our dad looked in all of our family pictures growing up. Like he was in a little bit of pain. I would look the same if I had 7 kids with no more than 2 years of space in between each. I often think, what were they thinking? Anyway, it turned out great for me, I love all my brothers and sisters (and their wives and husband!)

I was glad Carrie was home for Christmas! She is working in Seattle right now.

We are really close and I miss having her close by!

After our traditional steak dinner, we got ready for the kids to act out the nativity.

Luke was one of the 3 kings. He took his part very seriously and did a great job!

Syd and Rae were angels. They were so cute.

Best part of the show- Jason was the donkey. His performance brought tears to my eyes!

Along with the Nativity, we do a little talent show. My mom, Carianne and her 3 kids all play the violin or viola and they performed a really cute show! I enjoy hearing them play!
The kids all got to open their Christmas jammies.

I guess I didn't manage to get any pics of the boys. Dang it!

Annual Hayride

So we go out every year on a hay ride to look at Christmas lights. It's something that the kids really look forward to. With the Houston weather being so finicky, we were very lucky that it was a cold night. So we all got hot chocolate and sat close together to stay warm. This is Rebecca, her daughter(Callie), Lydia and Raegan.

Carolyn- thanks for letting Raegan and Callie cuddle up with you! That was really cute seeing you with those girls!

This is one of the trailers and it's full. Carolyn's son just got back from his 2 year mission in Argentina so we were lucky to have many of his friends join us.

I know I'm such a bad mom! Look at the color of my sons hat. Yes, it is pink. I couldn't find his hat anywhere before we left so I had to grab Sydney's extra one. Sorry Luke, you can yell at me when you get older. I'll understand.

The cute couple Rebecca and Edwin.

The boys: my bro-Jay, Johnnie and J

I know: AAAAWWWW, we're so cute! Although, I had a hard time getting J to keep his tongue in his mouth. I was trying to get a cute kissing picture and he was trying to make everyone laugh. Anyway, it looks like I got the money shot. Thanks babe!

Lydia, me and Rebecca.

Details on kids pics

I've had a couple questions asked about my kids pictures that I hung.

They are mounted on a foam board (done by the photo lab). The size is 20x24 inches. I wanted it to be almost square and that dimension was as close to square as I could get. I hung them on an empty wall in my living room.

To hang them, I just went and bought a thing from Hobby Lobby in the framing department. It's just a plastic thing with a sticky side. Sorry, I don't know what to call it. I hope that answers your questions. Let me know if have any more.

Check that off the list

Doesn't it feel good to finally finish something you've been meaning to do!? Well, that is exactly what I did today. I've had these beautiful pictures of my kids blown up and ready to be hung for several months, but I've just let them sit and wait until today. I just love looking at these pictures! Part of the reason it took me so long to get them hung is debating whether or not I should frame them. Today I decided I wanted to get this checked off my list and so the decision was made for me and here they are! Love Them!

Jenny took these pictures of my kids back at Easter. Thanks again for ALL you do, Jenny! I love you!!!!

(If you'd like to know, they're 20x24)

Ugly Christmas Sweaters

Rebecca hosted the funniest Christmas party ever. It was a wear the most tacky Christmas sweater that you can find. I think Rebecca won. Check out her shoulder pads made of ribbons! You've got to love Christmas sweaters. They are so festive and FUN to make fun of!

Funny Story- before the party I needed an ugly sweater so I called my mom hoping she had an old one. She called me later and informed me that she did have one, but that is was not ugly- it was cute.

My initial response was yeah right, mom. There's no such thing as a "cute" Christmas sweater. So anyway, I went to check it out and sure enough, it was not a cute one. Well, it was cute in a dorky way. Unfortunately, I don't have a good pic of it. My friend Jenny ended up wearing it and I wore Rebecca's neighbors sweater. Mom- I love you!!! (Jenni- I love you for loving these beauties!)

Hands down best part of the night!!! Just keep reading:
Kelli bringing her husband, Brian, to the party, not knowing that it was for the ladies. Seriously, we all got the biggest kick out of that! He walked into this big room full of girls and is like "where's all the guys". It all clicked and we all started cracking up. We all actually wanted him to stay, but he was not going to let that happen! Thanks for the awesome entertainment Brian!

BTW: I've known Brian and Kelli since I was a kid. They were great friends of mine all growing up and they still are. Love you guys!

SNOW!!!

Anyone that has ever lived in Houston knows that in order for snow to fall from the sky there, a miracle must take place. And that is exactly what happened! A couple days ago, we had the most beautiful snow I've ever seen! Way better than that fluffy stuff in Colorado or Utah!

It wasn't quite cold enough that day for it to stick to the ground, but we were lucky enough to see if be captured on our trampoline. Seriously that was SO exciting because we never get anything like that! It really felt like Christmas!

The only thing that made me sad was the girls were at their tutoring class so they missed it. They did see it that night, but it was dark and therefore not the same.

Check this out!!! This is my mom and dad's house. I love seeing all her Christmas decorations! It's where I got all my ideas from. Of all her beautiful decor, the stockings are my favorite! She has one for all her 7 kids, their 5 spouses and her 12 grand kids (and one for her and my dad) which brings the grand total to 27. Isn't it just a beauty to behold!

I really like how her tree has big things on it like:
this bear and:

this old stocking of my dad's. My grandmother made stockings for all her kids and grand kids and we used them up until a couple of years ago. I used to love looking at all of them, actually I still do!

RAEGAN'S PARTY:

It was at a pottery painting store. Check out all the pottery in the background. It was a little nerve racking to have Lukie in there!

I love how all the girls all decided to pick the same doggy to paint!

Rebecca likes to use her time wisely so she decided to paint a couple ornaments for her tree. You did such a good job Rebecca!
Even J got in on the action when I asked him to paint me a snowman. He's got the tongue out and everything. That's some serious concentration! How do you know if your husband really loves you? See if he'll paint you a snowman. Thanks honey!

This is a picture from Rae's birthday. We came in to sing to her and found all three of them in bed together(Lukie always goes to their room when he wakes up). How cute! And the girls both wanted to put up lights in their room so we let them.

Happy 7th B-day Raegan!

My sweet little Raegan has gotten one year older. She turned 7 yesterday. We are going to be celebrating tomorrow. But, don't worry she was sure lucky yesterday because J went and got her b-day donuts in the morning! That was a special treat because he had to leave at 6:15 in order to get them off to school in time (and J does not like to wake up early! but, he's such a good dad.) Then, I stopped be her lunch at school and brought her a big cupcake and she loved that! And to top it off she got McDonald's for dinner (who else hates McDonald's?) As, a kid I never understood why my mom wouldn't want to go eat there because I thought it was so delicious. And Rebecca DON"T even bring up the fact that I'll eat a movie hotdog!

I love you Raegan!

Moving explanation

Leslie brought to my attention that I can't drop a moving bomb shell without an explanation. I do apologize! Here is the story...Jared, among many other things, is a real estate agent and because of that he is constantly looking on the MLS for good deals in are area. We love our neighborhood and school, but we don't love our house. We really like it, but J and I both have things about it that bug us. For me it's the low ceilings, small pantry and laundry room. J's issues are with the small back yard and garage.

A smoking deal of a house came up for sale as a foreclosure in Riverstone. J took me to see it and I fell in love! It was just what I wanted in every way, but unfortunately we were outbid and didn't get it. I'm pretty sure it didn't work out because it had a pool and when we told J's mom that she told us that she would pray for us not to get it because that would make her too nervous. Thanks a lot Teresa!

That is my story. We will continue our search for the perfect house and I'll keep you updated. Keep in mind we've been looking for 2 years so we are quite picky which means it won't happen easily for us.

Finally Finished

I finally got around to putting up my tree today. I've been holding off because there was a possibility that we were going to move, but after I found out today that it wasn't going to happen, I quickly got out my tree! I've gotta start off with my big huge bow. I also stick in some greenery sticks and berries on the top.
Then some smaller bows (I guess that looks pretty big too)

Help from the kids hanging on the ornaments gives it the perfect touch.

And that is it!

P.S. Allieblog- I got your comment regarding the garland and I'd be happy to get you some, but I don't know who you are!(Well, I'm sure I know you , but just not by your blog name) I'm sorry!!! Call me or comment again and tell me your name.