Excuse me - I need to brag...

Please excuse me!!! I have a huge need to brag!!! Brooks (baseballboy) needs to change his blog name to golf boy!!! You see - I just got a phone call to say that my 11 year old firstborn.... drum roll..... JUST HIT A HOLE IN ONE!!!! Go on over to his blog and give him some blog congrats.

Here he is with the "lucky ball"!


This is Brooks at 18 months old. He has ALWAYS loved golf.

Instead of watching Barney as a toddler, we would record PGA golf tournaments for him to watch. They mesmorized him! He would watch them for an hour at a time. And on his 2nd birthday he was given a subscription to a golf magazine - he literally stopped opening all presents and left the room to go look at the magazine. He would NOT open any more presents.

Okay - I have to post 10 things I am thankful for because I didn't do five in the last post - so I am making up for it:

1. Cousins - because my kids have so much fun with them

2. A few days off school!! We all got to sleep late and have a leisurely morning.

3. Deserts - because I love making them and eating them! Kristi - I'm trying out your chocolatey yummy desert with the brownies and pudding. And I love baking with my kids - sometimes.

4. That I have had so much monogramming business that I just have a little tiny bit to go to pay off my big huge monogramming machine!!! That is a big yay!

5. Our friends that are so good to us.

6. Our fun weekend ahead! The ranch and decorating for Christmas

7. That our kids are at fun and easy ages - all self sufficient and no teenagers yet!! :)

8. The Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade - a big tradition - we always watch it.

9. That I got my first Christmas card today - I LOVE getting Christmas cards!!! It's one of my favorite things in the whole world!

10. Jesus!!!

Gymnastics "Producer"

This makes owning a MAC with a camera worth every penny! Ellison made this tonight without us knowing. Enjoy!

Wow! Melissa Rocks!

Well here's a little sneak peak of what we got from our little picture session. I am so excited! I think Melissa rocks and am so excited that she got some great pics of the fam. If you want to see a few more click HERE to go to her awesome blog. Thank you Melissa for your sweet words about our family on your blog! 3 kids is a lot of fun and a lot of crazy all mixed in together! (as you probably know from growing up with that!)





The 5 things I am thankful for today: (once again in no particular order)

1. That I am finally home from a VERY LONG 3 DAY TRIP! I usually have very "uneventful" trips which is a very good thing. But NOT THIS ONE! I am planning on posting about this trip which I could probably make into about 3 posts it was so eventful. Stayed tuned to the life of a flight attendant! I know you are all hanging on the edge of your seat! haha!

2. That I get to go on a walking field trip to Rosa's with Brooks tomorrow (except I am driving) and that I get to go to Ellison's Thanksgiving Feast with the Roy's Rock-N-Rollers tomorrow.

3. This one is huge - I am so thankful for Ellison's teacher, Mrs. Roy because she totally ROCKS!!!!! I am serious as can be- she is the best teacher EVER! Oh we love us some Mrs. Roy!!! Because it totally takes a lot to put up with little Ellison - she just takes a little extra umph!


Mrs. Roy - now don't be throwing me under the bus and showing this blog to anyone!!!

4. blogs - because they are so fun and addicting - and such a time waster all at the same time. But I love them!

5. that I don't have to fly for 11 more days! woohoo! But tomorrow I will get my December schedule and pray that I don't have to fly Christmas!

I love my elephants!

Well it is no secret that Ellison's favorite animal in the whole wide world is an elephant. She has loved elephants - I think since the day she was born when our little friend (Meg) called her "Baby Elephant" when she came to see her in the hospital. So needless to say, she has established a collection of stuffed elephants that she sleeps with on most nights. Well it was a complete tragedy when the lice incident happened upon us. This meant that all bedding and toys must be bagged up - for a debatable 1, 2 or 4 weeks. Well - I went for the 4 week route because I was not about to have any baby lice in my baby's bed anymore!!! EVERY SINGLE DAY - she asked "How many more days until I get my elephants back???" Finally on the third week and 6th day - I gave in and daddy got them out of the attic for her. She was beside herself excited!!! So when we went up to check on her, this is what we found - her 5 favorite elephants and Ellison!

Her cute bedding is still bagged up - thus the mismatched blankets and sheets!



5 Things I'm Thankful For Today:

1. We got our family pics done and out of the way!!!! yayyyy! It was a beautiful day too! Anyway you slice it, family pictures are just a true whippin! What a relief to have that over with!

2. I am going to put a positive spin on this one. I'm thankful that my kids are healthy enough to fight like total cats and dogs.

3. I am so thankful for Ellison. She is just a true joy and so fun. I am so glad that she didn't lose her 2 front teeth before our family picture - you can wiggle them all you want now!

4. Our church

5. Our house

Shhh! Don't tell

So - sticking to my promise.... 5 things today that I am thankful for: once again, in no particular order

1. Sweet baby Halle Caroline! My precious middle child! You are so fun to be around and I love it when you do impressions of people. And your herkey looked awesome last night!

2. our babysitter Kaila. She is the best! We love her! And don't call me asking for her number - I'm not giving it out to ANYONE!

3. the pedicure I got today - so so thankful for that!

4. the date I'm going on with my husband tonight - can't wait :)

5. last but not least for today.... my good friend KINDRA!!! (This is where - if you had a blog, I could insert your link!!) I love you and miss you so much! My favorite thing though- is that you don't teach anymore and I can call you in the middle of the day and we can really talk! I PROMISE I AM COMING TO SEE YOU IN MIDLAND! And to all my millions of other friends who are wondering why in the world I'm not thankful for you - well I am - it's just that Kindra woke me up at 6 am with a text trying to make my top 5 things I'm thankful for!

Am I a bad mom???

Am I a bad mom because I live for the moment that my kids walk out the door to school? It is like pure bliss and tranquility. Just so peaceful. I love that moment. It might be my favorite moment of the day. Silence.... Ahhhhh.

Am I a bad mom because my kids ate "breakfast for dinner" 2 times last week?



Am I a bad mom because the much anticipated family Wii night lasted all of 5 minutes because my kids fought so much that I ended after 5 whole minutes?



In keeping with my promise to state 5 things I am thankful for in every post until Thanksgiving... In no particular order

1. I am thankful that I was able to get an appointment to have our family pictures taken for our Christmas cards. Especially since Ellison is going to lose her 2 front teeth ANY DAY. I told her that she MAY NOT wiggle them until after Sunday! Thank you Melissa! Check her out here

2. Flavored coffee creamer. I am enjoying Peppermint Mocha at the moment!

3. My awesome and cute husband!

4. Sweet Brooks - my firstborn - who is getting such a fun sense of humor and likes to joke with me.

5. That I am physically able to exercise - because if I couldn't I might be the meanest person in the world. Even if I do dread it every single day!

Guess who we got to see?

What a crazy day it was! We got up late today which meant that we had to go to late service at church. We missed Saturday night church service due to Brooks' baseball game. So we went to Bible Class, then late service which was actually great - Harvest Sunday - a wonderful guest speaker who just made you want to give millions of $$$ for the missionaries to go spread the word of Jesus throughout the world. Anyway, we walked out of church at SERIOUSLY 1:05 whew! Then off to lunch and we got home at 2:30. Then we had to hurry and get ready for the girls and I to go to gymnastics. After gymnastics the girls and I got to go to a Sip and See for this precious little thing.



This is the sweet baby that an old friend of mine adopted from Ethiopia. You can read about her story here if you have a lot of time to spare and some tears to shed - seriously. It is a great story, but it doesn't end there. This family got some gut wrenching news this week that adorable little baby Abe suffered strokes in his birthmother's womb and has some amount of brain damage. So please pray for baby Abe and the Alexander family. They are such a precious family!!! I was so glad that we got to see this sweet boy that we are praying for so hard and this sweet little mom who just seems to have it all in perspective and has it all together.



On another note - being the blog stalker that I am - I am going to copy someone that I blog stalk. Every entry that I make from now until Thanksgiving, I am going to list 5 things that I am thankful for. Actually Brooks and I are both going to be doing this on our blogs. So you can check him out here. He is password protected for obvious reasons so if you want to read his - he will have to approve you so I hope you have been good and nice to him - so he can approve you!

5 things I'm thankful for today:

1. The chocolate cake I had for desert at Chili's today. The kids were actually able to get through the meal without saying anything derogatory or without arguing, so everyone got desert! Bribery works people!

2. My iphone that I had to use today for the map application when I got lost going to the sip and see.

3. Missionaries that spread the Lord's word throughout the world. Especially because I don't think I could ever do that!

4. My new cozy polka dot pajamas that I monogrammed an "H" on at 1 am and am wearing right now!

5. The great youth program at our church that Brooks gets to be a part of! Love 24/7!

Let It Be Known

Let it be known that I think John McCain is one pretty awesome dude! And Sarah Palin ROCKS too. And with that, I will now retire the McCain/Palin 2008 off of the side of my blog.





I am just so glad that I serve a God that is in control of this whole situation! This is the day the Lord has made. I will rejoice and be glad in it!

It was a good Halloween!

Fun times... carving pumpkins...trick or treating with cousins...lots of candy! The 3 kids decided on their own this year that they would be Alvin and the Chipmunks. It was the easiest costume that I have ever had to come up with! Ellison's voice was perfect for the part!


While the rest of the fam is carving pumpkins - I am working in the sweat shop. Here is my assumed position about 75% on any given day!