Beat the hell outta t.u.

Happy Thanksgiving! I hope you have a great day with your families, full of love, laughter and thankfulness. Oh, and also a little butt-kicking by the Aggies. Gig 'em!

A blast from the past

I'm not embarrassed to say that my first love was a boy by the name of Joey McIntyre. He was from a little musical group that you might have heard of, New Kids on the Block. I was obsessed with them. Obsessed! My sister, Karen, and I had posters of them (along with my other true love, Kirk Cameron) all over our bedroom. I have been giddy ever since they got back together. I downloaded their new CD on iTunes. My husband thinks I'm nuts.

In browsing around on iTunes today, I found their old, cheese-tastic Christmas album, with such hits as Funky, Funky Xmas and Merry, Merry Christmas, which begins with the lyrics "Peace to the world from the New Kids on the Block, we are here". Genius! I believe the old tape we had was Karen's, so I haven't had a copy of it in over a decade. (Yes, tape. For those of you under 30, that is the antiquated device we used to listen to music before the invention of CDs. On another day, I'll explain how we used to tape hours worth of the radio, on the off-chance that we'd get a song we liked on there.) Since I didn't steal her tape (just like I didn't steal her Mariah Carey Christmas tape, even though she accused me of doing so) I downloaded it and have been laughing nonstop all morning! I feel like I'm back in junior high!
They sure did age well, didn't they. Sigh. I think I still might have a little crush on Joey.

Happy Fall, Y'all!

One of the best things about moving from Texas to the midwest is that we actually have seasons. In Texas, there is pre-summer, summer, kinda' like summer and Christmas (where you sometimes wear shorts and flip flops). Seeing leaves change colors and wearing sweaters has been a change for us! As wimpy as our family is about being cold, the leaves have been a huge hit with the kids (and us). We have one huge tree in our yard that seemed to drop all of it's leaves overnight. The kids thought that was the perfect opportunity to make the biggest pile of leaves in the whole entire world (or at least it felt like it when we were raking them all)!

They all helped out, even though we didn't have enough kid-sized rakes. Snow shovels and small brooms work just as well, right?

What good is having the biggest pile of leaves if you can't jump in them? Sure, it made a little more work for Mom when it came time to bag them all, but the girls thought it was especially fun. Owen watched from a safe distance.

We've since had our first snow flurries already. I never thought I'd say this, but I wish it could be a balmy 40 degrees for a little longer (before the days like today with 10 degree wind-chill factors)! Happy Fall, Y'all!

Another one bites the dust

I posted too soon. Now Karen is sick, too. I think I'd better stock up on chicken noodle soup and pepto.

A house full of sick-wicks!

I'm trying not to breathe in the air here. Something's going around, and I don't want it! It started with Hannah. Kinda' puny. Vomit coming out. Stuff coming out the other end. It moved on to Owen. It's still lingering there. My mom has a sore throat and the chills along with a headache. Oh, I pray that it stays away from me (we're sharing a bed while they're here). Before bed, my nephew Alex complained of a hurting tummy. If we all survive this, it will be a miracle!

My favorite 4-year-old

Today is Hannah's 4th birthday. The day that she leaves being my favorite 3-year-old in the whole world and becomes my favorite 4-year-old (by the time Owen is 3 or 4, she'll be at another stage, just like Meg).

Kevin is still out-of-town, so we didn't do a big birthday party yet. He doesn't want to be left out! Today was a school day for Hannah, and we took cupcakes to her class to celebrate. Mrs. Heather and Mrs. Kathy made the day a lot of fun, tailoring a lot of stuff to the number 4 for her! I don't know what was more fun, though. Sharing our yummy cupcakes with the class, being the "special" one or having Mom watch part of their classtime!

Since my mom, Karen & the boys are still here, we also partied with the family and Janis (our next-door-neighbor, who my kids ADORE)! After supper, Janis came over for more cupcakes and a few gifts.

I can't believe that my sweet Hannah-belle is already 4! She's always been such a little peanut (and still is) that she doesn't seem to change. I guess it doesn't matter, though. She'll always be my sweet little baby girl!

Complete and utter chaos!

My mom and older sister came to visit while Kevin is out of the country for work. My sister has 2 boys, ages 2 and 3. Along with my crew (6 1/2, 4 & 20 months) that makes for a LOT of kids in the house! If I ever, ever start longing to have another child, stop me. Remind me that it's more running/screaming/fighting going on. Karen and I keep telling each other, "See...this is why I don't have 5 kids"! If anyone out there has 5 (or more!), my hat's off to you. You are a rock star!

They might look like a calm managable group...

But looks can be deceiving...

If my kids went into politics...

Their platform would be all about the environment, of course.

"Conserve water! Drink chocolate milk!"

Hannah's already an old pro at the baby-kissing, hand shaking thing (especially when used for a photo op).

Seems like a solid campaign. What could stop them? Surely not any scandalous pictures or anything.

Or a pesky brownie batter or spray cool-whip addiction (they can quit any time they want)?

At least they're always looking out for you! Vote today!

Giving it the old college try!

I've decided to join the millions of others and start a blog. You are about to enter our family's exciting world of diapers, Cinderella, homework and out-of-town guests! Enjoy, and don't mind my messy house...I'm obviously neglecting it since I'm here!