Why not 3 days ago!?!

Just a minute ago I heard my dog Izzy getting into something. Since she is one of our resident vacuums I didn't do much, I figure she'd clean up something I had missed. Then I heard her come out closer to me and crunch something. I again figure I missed one of the wagon wheel pasta I served recently and was glad she found it.
30 seconds later I hear her in the pantry and hear wrappers crunching so I went over and closed the door, culprit inside. It got quiet so I opened it and as she walked out I found and open candy cane wrapper on the floor! We had a whole box of mini candy canes on the floor because I figured they were safe since they hadn't been opened. . . . well Izzy love peppermint so I am finding out.
My question is, why couldn't she have found the candy canes 3 days ago when she was sick to her stomach? It might have helped for goodness sake! Instead I am left with 2 puke spots and a half eaten box of candy canes!

Pinewood Derby!

Saturday Jacob's cub scout pack had there pinewood derby. For those that are unsure about what this is, they received a kit from there cub scout pack which contained a block of wood, wheels and axles. They (and their dads) were to make a car following some regulations. Saturday was the day the pack raced them. This was of course Jacob (and Aaron's) first attempt, but Jacob had the 4th fastest car in the entire PACK! There wasn't a trophy for that BUT there was one for 3rd place in his den! So that is the trophy he received!

"Lightning" is the one in the middle

This was the "winner's circle" the 4 best cars raced for the grand champion. Jacob came in 4th here, and the winner was the green car which was also from his den.

Midland Welcomes George W. Bush home!

Yesterday the kids and I went to Midland's Welcome Home Rally for G.W. or "Gdub" as Aaron calls him. We waited for 5 hours with around 30,000 others! There were musicians and some other entertainment so it went by relatively fast. I am thankful we had the opportunity, I was trying to stress the historical value to my kids. Not sure if they grabbed hold though, this morning Maddy asked "When is another President going to come to Midland" when I tried to clarify that GW wasn't the president when he came she said, " I know! But went is another president that isn't the president anymore going to come to Midland?" I smiled and said, "Probably not ever that is why I wanted to make sure we went yesterday." I hope it sticks with both my kids. The whole day was fun and different.

As we waited in line to get into the plaza people from Monster Energy Drinks were there and handing out free Monster cans. So I broke down and told Jake it was his chance to try it. He is always wanting to try energy drinks and I always say NO!

Finally a little after 4:30 GW's plane flew over

And a little after 5 (it takes awhile to go from the Midland Airport to downtown) he arrived and spoke! All in all, it was a great experience!

Christmas and Everything After

A few days before Christmas Jake and Maddy split a Gingerbread house and decorated it.

Christmas Eve my sister, her boyfriend and my kids all made lots of cookies (which were eaten in 3 days!)

We had an early dinner and went to our Christmas Eve service at church

Then came home and let the "OPENING" begin!

Christmas morning we opened our Santa presents and stockings. Yes even the dogs got presents! Then we just hung out, well, I cooked but it was fun. I had a 5 foot dish washer to keep me company (my mom) we had a good time.

My family left the weekend after Christmas. The kids and I enjoyed our week off, we played with friends and ate the gingerbread house (yuck)

New Year's Eve we watched the movie Elf as a family and then put the kids to bed and just hung out and went to bed at 12:15. . . much like most families/parents I am sure.

Christmas is Coming!

Well it's the day before Christmas Eve! I had decided that this year I just had to make tamales. I needed to try it, and see if I could do it! They turned out OK, but next time I will probably change a few things. I haven't decided yet if that will be next year or tomorrow!

My sister had a wonderful idea, she and her boyfriend took the kids shopping for presents for everyone! And they are also going to get more stuff for cookies. . . which will be another post later today :D . . . maybe. . .

Here they are about to go on their expidition! Buddy and Linc are BRAVE, very brave

Christmas Light Tradition

It has become a tradition to put the kids to bed early one night in December and then 10 minutes later rush in and tell them that we are going to look at Christmas lights! This is fun for all 4 of us, the kids love the surprise and think it's funny to go to the car in pajamas and no shoes; and we think it's fun to surprise them. We take hot chocolate and this year we had glasses that you put on and it makes every light a star or snowflake. So this was our Friday Night on the town.

The Beginning of our journey

The end of our journey!

Maddy's Christmas program

Last Sunday the Pre-K/Kindergarten classes at our church sang a few songs during the service. Maddy actually had a part and sang Away in a Manger with 3 other girls. I did get a video, but not of the whole song, since my main objective was to take the pictures. Aaron did get a full video of the program so we'll have that. I asked my mom if I should even bother posting a video of part of the song, and she said I should. . . so here you go!