6/365

Today I had to head back to work.  :(  It wasn't too much fun.  After work Jaci's friend came home with us to have a sleepover.  It is Jaci's first time having a friend stay over.  She was so excited. 

We came home and had a tea party and then decided to go to a movie.  It was a fun night and both girls were so tired and fast asleep by 9:30.   I didn't argue with them when they said they were tired.  Of course they will probably be up bright and early, but at least we weren't up all night! 

Jackson headed out for a sleepover at one of his friends houses.  It is his first time to sleep away from home other than when he has stayed with family.  He was pretty excited. 

Tyler stayed in with Jacob and wanted to cook out steak.  This boy has the right idea!  I wish I had stayed in and had steak with them.  The weather was beautiful and perfect for cooking out.

We are looking forward to a low key weekend ahead.  I need a day or two to recover from our busy vacation!

5/365

Meet Tiana...She decided to pose for a picture today.

Jaci LOVES her fish.  Any time I walk into her room I can usually find her standing on her stool checking out her fish.  Have I mentioned that Tiana is a boy...Jaci decided that we could just change that, so in her mind Tiana is a girl!  LOL! 

Sadly the kids had to start back to school today.  It was fun having them home the past 2 weeks.  They weren't too happy about having to get out of bed this morning.  I can't blame them.  I am not too thrilled about having to go back to work tomorrow. 

Jackson especially hated having to go back to school and the homework that came with it.  Today they were running late getting to the bus and Jackson left one of his homework papers on his desk.  He has cried on and off all night and is just worried sick that he is going to have to stay after school tomorrow.  I feel bad for him.  What a harsh way to have to start back to school.  :(

4/365

I'm happy to say we all survived the big sleepover last night.  The little kids were up and ready to go around 7:30.  The big kids didn't wake up until around 8:15.  Needless to say Jackson was dragging a bit today.  He had is 9 Year WCC today.  He is 4'6" and 72 pounds.  He is in the 80% in weight and 75% for height.  He has been right around that mark since he was born so he is at least following his growth curve.  The doctor did mention that he hasn't gained any weight over the past 1.5 years.  In fact he has been losing it.  Not a huge thing because he is a good size but it is a little odd that as he has grown he hasn't gained anything. 

While I took Jackson to his appointment, the little ones stayed home with Jacob.  They were excited for me to get home, but not excited when I started pulling out backpacks and getting them ready for school tomorrow. 

I am not excited either.  Certainly not ready for them to go back.  This Christmas vacation has been so nice!

3/365

Sleepover craziness... 

It started with adding 5 boys to our bunch of kids. 

Throw in some football... 

Hot dogs and S'mores by the campfire... 

Some basketball and a little more football... 

Late night bike riding with headlights... 

 

And we ended our night with some X Box football and kinect sports. 

I would say the night was a great success.  

2/365

You might remember last year when we happened to have a string of fish deaths in our household.  As in we had 5 fish die in about a week.  The kids took it pretty hard but none more than Tyler.  He has even gone as far as to say that he would like to die and go to heaven to see his fish Huggy Bear.  (He is a bit extreme!)  The fish wasn't that great. 

After all of the fish died, Jacob and I decided that the fish didn't like the little house.  (Who could blame them!)  We told the kids that we weren't going to get them another fish while we still lived there and they eventually were OK with it.  Once we moved here we haven't had a lot of fish talk until this Christmas when Tyler got a Go Kart from Santa that didn't really work well.  He has been so bummed out over it so we decided to cheer him up and get him a fish.  He loved the plan! 

Of course the kid DRAMA that followed that decision was way over the top.  After many tears we headed home with THREE new fish.  Jackson has named his Aggie.  Jaci has named hers Tiana (she has a frog decoration in her pink tank so it is like the Princess and the Frog).  Tyler's fish is named Huggie Bear.  Yep...He named it the same thing.  Let's just hope we can keep these fish alive because if I have to hear about how bad life is because Huggie Bear has died I will probably lose my mind.

1/365

Eeek...I got so busy today taking down all of our Christmas decorations that I almost forgot that I had big blogging plans this year.  The little ones were already peacefully tucked into their beds and had been sound asleep for about 1.5 hours.  Thankfully they stayed asleep when I snuck into their rooms to catch them snuggled in with their babies and stuffed animals. 

There was a lot of drama in our house today as I cleared out Jaci's room this morning.  I took 3 full trash bags out of there of things to donate/sell/throw away.  She handled it pretty well but once the boys saw what was going on they panicked.  Tyler assured me that ALL of his animals were well loved and he couldn't part with any of them.  I suppose that is why flat frog (who was Jackson's absolute favorite as a baby) was snuggling up with him tonight. 

Jackson was still up going back and forth between the Cowboys game and playing his xbox.  He was very torn between the 2 tonight. 

As I mentioned earlier, we took down all of our Christmas decorations today.  I always hate when we go back to regular decorations.  They are just so boring.  Once Christmas is over and I have to take them down I am so ready for Spring to get here.  I hate to wish the months away like that but January is always such a blah month.  I did enjoy a last bit of Christmas cheer by having a cup of White Hot Chocolate tonight!  It is fabulous!  My mom stuffed them in our stockings this year and they are to die for!  I do get to look forward to Gale coming up to see me this month and a trip to my mom's house for my nephew Rhett's birthday party.  I think Jacob's parent's are even planning a trip in this month so we should stay busy.

Hope you all had a wonderful first day of 2012!

12.31.11 Reflections on 2011

Clearly I have been a complete blog failure this past year.  I really had the best of intentions, but I haven't made it a priority like I did the year I posted every day.  I am sad that I don't have all of the little details posted on here.  It is so much fun to look back on them.  Like tonight for instance...we were talking about going and having another Kinect bowling challenge and Jaci blurted out, "You don't want to come and take a piece of this!"  I do love all of their cute little sayings.  I am going to attempt to do the 365 Photo challenge again in 2012.  Maybe it will just be an every other year thing.  :)

Looking back on our year I am just a little sad to see it coming to a close.  This has been a pretty amazing year and as I sit here tonight I can't help but feel so blessed at how far we have come in a year.  Last year I was just grasping for anything to get me through and this year has been less about survival and more about making a life here.

(Last day at the little house!)

I feel so blessed that we have a home here.  OUR home.  A place where we are making memories and working to make it the place we have dreamed of.

(Baking Christmas Cookies!)

(Our Christmas Tree 2011)

I feel so blessed  that this year my children are thriving here.  The love where we are at.  They love their school.  They love the friendships they are developing.  They love having their own rooms.  :)

(The boys at the Aggie game Sept. 2011)

(Kindergarten Scarecrows 2011)

I feel so blessed that Jacob and I have been able to relax and enjoy each other a little more this year.  The stresses of the previous year took a toll on us, but this year we found happiness just sitting on our front porch in a rocking chair talking to eachother.  (Usually while waiting to move the water on the grass.)  It is exactly how I had invisioned us spending our time here.

I feel so blessed that our families are all doing well this year and that we have been able to spend time with them.  We have loved having family and friends come and stay with us this year.  I missed that last year.  We simply didn't have room for anyone in the little house, but here we have plenty of room for everyone.  It is wonderful.  We also welcomed my sweet nephew to the family this year.  It is so nice to have a baby around to snuggle again.

(My grandparents visiting from Nebraska.)

(Sweet baby Reed!)
I feel so blessed that my friends and I have managed to maintain our friendships dispite the distance between us.  True friends are rare and I know how lucky I am to have the people I have in my life.  I also feel so blessed to be creating new friendships here.  It is so nice to feel like I am finally making some wonderful connections with wonderful people.

In 2011 I have been blessed beyond belief!

I look forward to seeing (and hopefully documenting) what 2012 has in store for us!