Attempting Family Photos

Believe it or not, this is the best of of all of us. It's tough to get everyone looking where they are supposed to and smiling at the same time.

I'm not liking this picture, but I'm adding it anyway. Most of you know, I've been working my tail end of at the gym since August. I still look like the backside of a bus...but there are improvements...

There Is No Laser In Rock, Paper, Scissors...Is There?

Today, while running errands with me, Brennan and Ella were playing rock, paper, scissors. You know the one. I'm listening to them, but not really listening, when all the sudden I hear Ella say, "Well laser burns paper!"

Halloween 2009

Did we celebrate Halloween early this year? It certainly crept up on me! Since my middle name lately has been "Procrastination" the kids' costumes were purchased and put together Friday night. Usually, I am the type of mom who pieces together costumes, but not this year. Anna was a skeleton, Ella was a witch and Brennan was some Bakugan character...all courtesy of Target and Walmart. Even so, they were cute as can be and so excited about the day. Brennan woke up Saturday morning and immediately wanted to wear his costume and started asking when it would be time to go at about 7:00 A.M.

Saturday morning the kids were playing outside when our sweet neighbors called them over. Not only did they have a new puppy to show the kids, but they also wanted to carve pumpkins with them. The kids had such a fun time carving their pumpkins with the exception of Ella not enjoying reaching into the pumpkin to get all the "stuff" out of the inside. She's my, "I don't like to get dirty," girl.

This year, we were invited again to join the Lange family and their neighborhood in their annual Halloween Hayride. We went last year for the first time and had a wonderful time. Ella also had a friend who gave us an invitation to their family's Halloween get together. Decisions had to be made. Although I hated to separate our family that night, I agreed to let Ella go to her friend's party while Anna, Brennan and I headed out to Sugar Mill.

For the kids, the day seemed like an eternity of waiting, but when the time finally arrived, we all got ready and headed out for some fun. One of Anna's friends joined us that night so we picked her up. After that we dropped Ella off at her friend's house. Then we were off for our hotdogs and hayride.

The tight-knit neighborhood is set just outside city limits. After visiting a bit with everyone and letting the kids run around and play for a few, we loaded up the trailers and started the hayride. This experience is quite possibly the best way to trick or treat...at least for the parent. Parents sit on the bales of hay, driver stops at intervals, kids run and scatter like little ants up and down the driveways and then race back to the trailers. This goes on for a good 3 to 3 1/2 hours. You can imagine the exhaustion that the kids feel about half way through.

Other than it freezing (not really freezing but we felt like it was even at 58 degrees) it was a close to perfect night. As soon as we got home, I turned on the fireplace, the kids got ready for bed and set up a pallet on the floor in front of the fireplace. Within minutes they were all three asleep. The kids had a fabulous time. And that's what it's all about.

One Week Later

It was Brennan's turn at Ridemakerz. Anyone who knows this handsome little devil, knows that he tried his level best to keep from breaking out into a smile. During this event, it was tough for him. He had such a good time and loves his new ride.

Happy Unbirthday to Anna

Anna's birthday is in March. Less than a month after Jon passed away, Anna had her 8th birthday. I was in no frame of mind to plan and execute a party. Sweetly, Anna understood this and agreed to wait till summer when things were less stressful. Sadly, they weren't much less stressful and I talked her into waiting some more. Normally, Anna is not a patient child, but for whatever reason, she was patient in this situation. Embarrassingly, I found myself a year later, making excuses to wait until summer for Anna's 9th birthday party. Summer came and went. Finally, I was just embarrassed of myself and decided to make something happy for Anna's birthday, even though it meant doing it in September, 6 months after I postponed her second year of parties.

One Friday night in September, Anna, along with two of her close friends from school, her little sister, her cousin and myself, headed to Pearland for an evening of unbirthday fun. Where was Brennan you ask? He was with his Nana, sick with the flu. Poor baby, but how could I have postponed again? The show had to go on.

Our first stop was the food court. The girls couldn't have possibly chosen the same restaurants, right? That would have made life too easy for me...haha. But it was okay, I certainly didn't mind and they enjoyed eating, visiting and playing together.

Quick meal and then it was off to the main event...RIDEMAKERZ! If you know about Build-A-Bear, you can grasp the idea of Ridemakerz. This very cool store, is a place where you go and get to Build-A-Car. The girls had a fabulous time picking out their make, model, color of car, wheels, and rims. After that, they started putting the cars together. When the cars were all put together and the remote controls had been added in, the girls decorated their cars with stickers. Once stickers were added, there were 5 newly made cars zooming around the store as I was checking out. All I could think about was how much fun Brennan would have had and I determined right then that I would be bringing him back as soon as he was feeling up to it. I toyed with the idea of just putting a car together for him, but making it is more than half the fun. I couldn't take that away from him.

From Ridemakerz, we all headed to the food court for some Dip-N-Dots. Only one of the girls chose birthday cake as their flavor, but they all had a taste of that one. Again, there was more visiting, eating and playing around, along with a mess or two.

By this time, the mall was winding down and it was time for us to head out. Before heading back home, we had to stop off at my sister's house to drop off my niece. The girls were chopping at the bit to drive their cars some more, so I parked in a court close to my sister's house and gave them about 5 or 10 minutes to drive them underneath the street lights. There was so much squealing and giggling that I thought the neighbors might be irritated with us, but there weren't any complaints.

We loaded back up and headed home. The guests were all going to spend the night, but when we found out Brennan had the flu, we chose not to share that love. All the girls got dropped back home and my girls and I rushed over to pick up Brennan. I brought him a key and told him about my plans to take him there as soon as he was feeling better. His response..."I feel better right now!" Again, poor baby, but his sisters were sweet enough to allow him a ton of driving time with their new Ridemakerz cars.

Isn't it still true that it's better late than never? Happy Unbirthday to Anna!

Bedtime Surprise

One evening, the kids had gotten to bed at a decent time, and I was able to take a hot bath and relax for a few minutes. After I got through and was ready for bed, this is what was laying on my pillow. So sweet.

Exhaustion

Although this is a picture of Ella after her first full week of kindergarten, it depicts exactly the way everyone at our house felt Friday night. It was a good week, but it was exhausting. Let the "Rat Race" begin!