Just checkin' my "me-mail" mom!!

Here's sweet little Emily chilling in my chair with MY computer. And, NO, she did not have permission!!!!!!!!!! When I came into the living room and saw her with my computer I said, "Emily--what are you doing?" She just grinned, not looking up from the computer, and said, "I'm checkin' my "me-mail." I couldn't do anything but laugh. Gracie used to say the same thing when she was small. I took a few pics of Emily and then took my computer away from the toot. (Please ignore how dirty her face is. She had just gotten through eating lunch. I promise that I do bathe my children!!)

Teach me Grandpa

I love this pic of my dad showing Emily how to use the shovel. Too sweet!

Like father, like daughter...

I walked into the living room tonight and found Kris and Gracie engulfed in their games. Notice Kris' headphones---hilarious!!!! They both take the gaming thing very serious.

Itsy Bitsy Spider

Emily found her a partner at Grandma's (cousin Jacob) to do the Itsy Bitsy Spider with. So cute!! Emily loves Jacob. We went to my mom's house yesterday, and the first thing she said when she walked in the door was, "Where's Jacob?"

Can I cry now?????????????

I was going through some pics of Gracie this morning. I came across one of her and her cousin Beth from about a year and a half ago. Then I was looking at one taken at mom's house the other day. They are not babies anymore. Gracie and Beth are now two very precious girls. I'm so excited to see them grow into young ladies, but it does sadden me a bit that they are no longer baby girls.

The most wonderful co-workers and friends...

I LOVE my first grade team!!!!!!!! They are the most amazing co-workers/friends a girl could ask for. We got to dress up as Christmas trees this week---SO fun. (Don't we look beautiful??) In the picture with me is Stephanie. I don't know what I'll do if she ever leaves---I'll probably need therapy.

My Christmas present to my team was dinner at Olive Garden. We had such a nice dinner. After dinner they suprised me with a gift certificate to a spa in College Station for a massage and pedicure. Too sweet!!

I could go on and on about my wonderful team, but I've been up since five this morning so I am going to bed!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Christmas Fun!

Tonight we had so much fun making Christmas "treasures" with the girls. We began by making our cinnamon ornaments. (Mixing applesauce and cinnamon together.) The girls had so much fun playing with the dough, and then creating their masterpieces!! Emily thought it was a little yucky, so she decided to make a couple of ornaments and then color.

After the ornaments were made (well, in the process of drying) we made Christmas playdough. Gracie really enjoyed this. She was such a big help!!! She really liked adding the glitter--the girl is not shy with the glitter bottle!!!!! We ended up making four batches-enough for my kiddos at school to have a bag each. Gracie also insisted on making Grandma and Beth some bags too. I'm sure Grandma will be so thrilled!!! LOL

Kris and I had so much fun making all of these Christmas treasures with our sweet girls tonight. They are just growing up way too fast!!!!!

7 GREAT things about Kris!!!!!

Today is our 7th Anniversary. Woo-hoo!!! Kris is in Dallas so that kinda stinks, but he did bring me Subway for lunch today before he left. YUMMY!!

Here's a list of 7 wonderful things about my husband (in no particular order). Of course, there's more--but I'll add those as the years go by.....

1. He makes the best chicken soup in the whole wide world!!!!

2. He makes me laugh A LOT--Dorky things, but the kind of things that make me laugh.

3. He takes VERY good care of Gracie, Emily and myself.

4. He's not embarassed to buy any "girl necessities" from the store.

5. He's got the biggest heart---the most caring man I have ever met.

6. He'll always go and get me a chocolate sundae when I'm having a craving, no matter when it is.

7. He is so much fun to go shopping with--he just has to get a cookie from the Great American Cookie Company!!

Branson

We're back from Branson and we had a BLAST!!! The girls were wonderful and none of us were ready to come home!

Here's what we did:

Sunday-drove to Oklahoma to stay the night--had a nice dinner with the fam.

Monday- finished driving to Missouri. Once we got there we went to the coolest mall ever!!! It was outside on the river, and the weather was absolutely beautiful. Mom and Dad introduced us to a restaurant called "Shorty Smalls"---very yummy!!!! We then drove to our condo--see the pics below--words can't describe how AWESOME it was!!!

Tuesday- Gracie went to see Mo Bandy (not sure how to spell his name???) with mom and dad. It was a two hour show, as most of the shows are. Mom and Dad said she did very well, and she told us she really enjoyed the music of Mo Bandy. Grandpa and Grandma were SO proud!!! That night we all went to see the Presleys. Another great show!!! Emily LOVED the music. She danced during the whole show. Again, grandma and grandpa were so thrilled that the girls loved the kind of music they truly enjoy.

Wednesday: Off to Siver Dollar City--an amusement park. We knew Gracie would love it--she loves roller coasters and basically any kind of ride she can get on. We found out that Emily is the same way! No, she didn't ride any roller coasters, but she did ride other things that I didn't ride!! Thank goodness Grandpa was there to ride with her!! I did ride one ride with her (thinking it was a "baby" ride) but I soon realized it went really FAST!! Needless to say, Emily loved it more than I did. In fact, she cried when the ride stopped!!! Hilarious. Kris and Dad took the girls on a boat type ride that swung high in the air (see pic). When that one stopped Emily got VERY upset!! LOL

Thursday: Thanksgiving!!! We had a wonderful Thanksgiving with my mom and dad. It was such a calm, relaxing day--and even though we weren't at mom's house she still added her special touch to everything. Dad cooked chili and Mom fixed a turkey for the girls. It was delicious!! We had all the trimmings and some AWESOME desserts. And, of course, we watched the Cowboy game! That night we went to 50's at the Hop. VERY cool!! Gracie got to go on the stage and do the hand jive. She already knew how to do it, so she was very excited!

Friday: We drove home--the whole way. 12 hours!!! The girls were AMAZING!!!! Not one bit of whining!!! Kris and I were so proud of them. They are truly the most precious things--we are very blessed to have them.

All in all---Branson rocks!!!!!!!!!!! We're so fortunate that we got to spend such a nice Thanksgiving with my family at such a beautiful place. We couldn't have imagined it any better!

Happy 50th Day!!!!

So, today was our 50th day of school. And what did we do at John C. Webb Elementary??? Well, we dressed like they did in the 1950's. It was SOOO much fun, and we all had a blast dressing up. We just can't wait til the 100th day so we can dress like were 100!!

Best Friends

This is a picture of Gracie and her best friend, Jenna. They came to visit me in my classroom on Friday because they were a little sad and needed to see me. I know, pathetic!! They stayed for a little while and helped my class carve our pumpkin. Then they felt ALL better!!! Amazing isn't it?? LOL

Hilarious!!!!

Gracie's and Emily got these glasses for Halloween from their sweet friend, Autumn. Kris and I thought they looked hilarious in them!!!

Halloween 2008

We hope you all had a fun, safe Halloween. Gracie and Emily both dressed as Minnie Mouse this year. (Gracie's idea!!! They looked SO cute, if I say so myself!!!!

Pumpkins!!!

We took the girls to pick out their pumpkins today at a little pumpkin patch in College Station. Gracie was very picky about which pumpkin she was going to choose. Emily thought it was amusing to throw the pumpkins. We explained to her that they are pretty pumpkins---not balls!!! They both ended up choosing two, and Emily HAD to take hers to bed with her tonight. Luckily she picked two small ones! Gracie picked a small one for home and a big one to take to school next week. Her class is doing some activities with their pumpkins on Halloween. What fun!

Check out these shirts...

Three blogs in one day. That's like a miracle for me!!!!!!

Anyway, check out these shirts I tie-dyed for my kids to wear to the Oil Ranch. I was pretty impressed---I figured they would come out all funky looking, but they didn't!!! WOO-HOO!!!!

Way to go Gracie!!

Here's a pic of Gracie on the day she received her i-Pod!!!

Emily's Favorite Things

Emily loves Curious George, and even more she LOVES stickers. She and George sat and played with stickers for 45 minutes the other day. Emily is such a sweet and funny little girl!!!!

Kindergarten Program

Our school website has a slide show of the Kindergarten Program. You'll see Gracie in the first few slides with her friend Jenna.

Here's the website: http://npc.navasotaisd.org/home.aspx

Gracie came in fourth place in the PTO membership drive. She won an IPOD. I will try to post pics this weekend.

And so it begins.....

Well, Gracie has completed nine weeks of Kindergarten, and she is turning into such a big girl. In the past two months she has:

• Been to her first slumber party, where they went and wrapped houses and spray painted the neighbor's dog.
• Got her ears pierced. She begged Kris and I to let her do this, and she is SO proud of her new earrings.
• Participated in the Kindergarten PTO Program, and got to say the Pledge of Allegiance in front of 200+ people with her friend Jenna.
• Learned what a fundraiser is!!!! Our school is raising money for PTO right now, and Gracie is in second place. (She's earned 120.oo so far!!!!) It ends on Friday!
• Joined competitive cheerleading. I really wanted her to stay in tap and ballet, but she just didn't enjoy it. So, Miss Lee Ann (her coach) talked me into putting her into competitive cheerleading. Gracie LOVES it!!! She had to practice for 7 hours in one weekend, and loved every minute of it. She was sad when it was over. And, you should have seen how excited she got when we were ordering he uniform, shoes, make-up, etc. this past weekend!!!

And Kris has learned in the last nine weeks that:

• two little boys in Gracie's class "adore" her. You wouldn't believe the amount of flowers she gets!! LOL I think it's so precious, but Kris constantly reminds Gracie that she can't have a boyfriend until she's 25!!

Emily and her booger!

So, the other night Gracie, Emily and I headed to Sonic after Gracie's cheerleading class. As we were sitting in the car waiting on our food Emily kept saying, "here you go mommy." I just ignored it the first few times because I couldn't see anything in her hand. Then I thought, it's probably one of her smiley face stickers (small and round). Well, she did hand me something small and round, though it wasn't a sticker. It was a stinkin' booger!!! GROSS!!! I came to the conclusion that it was better that she gave it to me rather than eat it as her appetizer!! I know, even more GROSS!!!! Lesson learned: always have kleenex and hand sanitizer in the car. Praise God that I did!!!

Meet the Teacher

Gracie had her first "Meet the Teacher" night on Tuesday. She was SO excited about meeting her kindergarten teacher, Mrs. Cox.

Need someone to discipline your children? We can provide help.

And the help's name is Emily LaBlue. She may only be 23 months, but she can do some discipline. Let me ellaborate----The other afternoon Gracie talked back to Kris. Yes, our sweet little girl talked backed to her daddy. A rare occasion. Anyway, Kris got on to her and told her how talking back was disrespectful and all that good stuff. And basically just told her that talking back was a big no, no. Well, Gracie then went to sit in Emily's room to watch something on Emily's tv. Well, Emily decided that Kris didn't "do enough." So, she took the discipline of our five year old into her own hands. She went to her doorway, knowing that Gracie was in her room, and looked at Gracie and said, "NO, NO!!!" and then closed the door, leaving Gracie alone in the room. Kris was about to pass out from laughter. Gracie did get a little mad at her, but then she laughed. Emily is a hoot!!! There's not a day that the girl doesn't do something to make us laugh.

A daughter, a niece, and the day I almost peed my pants!

In July, Beth, my sweet niece, came to stay with my mom and dad (grandma and grandpa) for the week. On one of those days I took Gracie and Beth to the movies, to eat, and to get their nails done. I had a blast, but the most memorable moment for me was at the nail salon. I was getting a pedicure and the girls were sitting at a table waiting for their nails to dry. Beth was on one side, Gracie on the other. You know--where you sit when they are doing your nails. Gracie was on the "manicurist" side. Beth was the one being manicured. Get that picture in your head. It's very important. They begin by just chatting with each other--so sweet. Well, then they decided to pretend they worked there. Also, this is a small salon and there were only two other ladies there. As they pretended to play I notice they were using "accents." Yes, accents, and it was HILARIOUS. Don't worry--no one got offended. They laughed and told me how precious they were, and to this day the lady still asks me EVERYTIME I go "Why you not bring your niece?" The girls left a lasting impression. Now I will provide a glimpse of the conversation---remember, they were using "accents."

Gracie: "Aw...you want you nails done today???

Beth: "yes, thank you."

switched roles

Beth: "What color you want.. We have lots of colors"

Gracie: "I want red, pink, purple, blue, and green."

Beth (when finished): "Aw...you like it, nodding her head."

switched roles

Gracie: "You want flower today?"

Beth: "Yes, that is very pretty."

Gracie: "Thank you. It costs you 20 80 dollars."

Oh, I do love these girls!!!!!!!

Are we cool or what?

So, it seems that blogging is a pretty cool thing to do. And since we are so cool, we obviously had to start our own blog. LOL!!! We'll see how it goes!!!!