Christmas Wrap Up and More

There has been so much going on around here that I almost forgot that I have a blog. But I just remembered, so bear with me as I jump from Christmas to concrete to house. My mind is going in a thousand different directions these days, so even I'm not sure how this post will turn out.

But here goes.

Last Saturday was Christmas Eve and we celebrated Christmas at my parent's house that afternoon. Every year, my kids and my nieces and nephews get together and come up with a Christmas program to put on for the family. In the past, we've heard trumpets, flutes, pianos, and singing. This year was a little more thrown together since my niece, Jennifer, (who is usually in charge of writing scripts and printing out programs for everyone) had just gotten in from college in Oklahoma and has probably had semester exams on her mind instead of who was going to play the part of Grandma in the skit when she gets ran over by a reindeer (even though everyone in the family knows this honor goes to Brandon). This year the kids sang some songs for us, and I must say, any program that includes 'I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas' is a hit in my book.

This is where I would normally insert tons of pictures of the kids doing their thing, but I actually used a REAL camera instead of just my phone and my non-technological self can't get the pictures to transfer over to my blog. I did manage to get one with my phone, and this is it:

I have GOT to figure out how to get my pictures on here.

Maybe next year.

Which I guess technically would be next week.

Maybe I could make this one of my resolutions for 2012.

Just after I get skinny.

Anyway, we opened gifts and had dinner after the program was over. And I got some really good pictures of everyone there, but it was with my real camera, and well....

That night after we got back home the boys were ready to decorate cookies for Santa. I know that some people actually make homemade cookie dough and buy all kinds of things to decorate with. And maybe next year I will put a little more thought into that, but for this year my kids had store bought cookie dough that they got to flatten and sprinkle to death.

And they couldn't have been happier about it.

Christmas morning when I got out of bed and walked into the living room, this is what I saw...

Oh my heart.

I don't know how many times Robbie slept in that chair with Aaron asleep on his chest as a baby, but this is something that hasn't happened in a very long time. It was so precious and it was my very favorite thing that happened that day.

After I wiped the tears out of my eyes, I was on to the task of making cinnamon rolls. And because I am not and have never claimed to be Betty Crocker, I broke open the can, put them on a cookie sheet, and put them in the oven. And I guess the smell of them cooking woke everyone up because my guys were salivating by the time the oven beeped.

After breakfast we opened gifts. Santa had left a note on our Christmas tree that said that his gifts could all be found outside, so we chose to open the gifts in the house before we ventured out to see what Santa had been up to.

(Again, normally I would put pictures on here of all of the paper flying and happy little faces, but again, I used my real camera...)

When we went outside, Santa had left the boys two things: a basketball goal and an air hockey table. Aaron was super excited about the basketball goal, Austin was super excited about the hockey table, and Santa was super excited about them both being on sale at Academy, so I'd say everyone did alright this year.

And now Christmas 2011 is past.

And now Christmas 2011 is past.

Yes, I meant to say that twice because I've been waiting to say that since I saw the first Christmas candy hit the shelves at WalMart just after the last of the Halloween candy was clearanced out. Not that I didn't enjoy Christmas this year, but my mind has been on the new house and buying things for it that I was just ready to focus all of my efforts (and money) into one thing again.

Which could be why some of Aaron's gifts included a shower curtain, towels, and wall hangings.

But give me a break. They were from Cabela's. For what I had to pay for that stuff every single towel should've been wrapped up individually.

Now that we've had a few days to really focus on the house, we are seeing lots of progress. Robbie is doing the electrical himself, with the help of his dad and his friend Randy. He is spending every waking moment he has at home to get light fixtures, plugs, and switches put in. I can now assemble ceiling fan blades and hand you the parts of the fan in the order it is needed. I really enjoy helping Robbie and I know the boys do too. All of us have pulled wire in this house and we've all helped out any way that we could to make this process go FASTER. The guys that work in the lighting department at Lowe's knows when Delisa is in the house because I always end up having to press the button that tells the entire store:

"SPECIAL ASSISTANCE NEEDED IN THE LIGHTING AREA
SPECIAL ASSISTANCE NEEDED IN THE LIGHTING AREA
(series of beeps)...LIGHTING AREA"

And this will repeat until the lighting man comes over and turns the voice off and thinks in his head after he sees me "oh, it's HER again".

It's as if I'm hearing that voice in my sleep these days. But that's what happens when your husband is an electrician and sends you to Lowe's with only a vague idea of what you're looking for.

This is Aaron pulling wire for the garage door.

Anyway, we had our friend Jerry pour a sidewalk for us that goes from the house to the shop and the boys decided they wanted to put their names and handprints in the wet concrete. I handed Austin a stick and told him that he needed to write small and try to keep his name within about 8 inches as to not take up the entire sidewalk.

Which, now that I can reflect on that, all that sweet 6 year old heard was "get this stick and write your name" and nothing past that. When he started, he wrote a perfect 'A' and I was thinking this was going to turn out better than I thought. But by the time he got to the "i", I wasn't even sure what he was spelling anymore. This is what our sidewalk looks like now.

And I wouldn't have it any other way.  

As far as house progress...y'all, we are close. The painters will be completely finished tomorrow, as will the upstairs floor. The master bath will be completely tiled and grouted by this weekend. And by next Friday, all of the floors will be complete. The next week the applainces will be delivered and all of the other finishing work will be done within the next week or two after that.

We are so close.

I can see the finish line. I'm just hoping to not trip and fall flat on my face right before I get to it.

I will try to get pictures of the house this weekend to put up on here.

And I will also try and remember to use my phone so I can actually post them because I am not an over-achiever who wishes to fulfill a resolution for 2012 before 2011 is even over....

Christmas in Hope, 2011

We spent our day today at Robbie's parents house for our annual family Christmas get-together. We left this morning and got there in time to help get some finger foods together for lunch. Vickie (my mother-in-law) always has her house decked out from top to bottom no matter what time of the year it is, but she especially goes all out for Christmas decorating. She loves to decorate and just has a knack for it, so I couldn't resist taking a few pictures while I was there today.

This is her new elf collection. They all move and are so cute just working away.

Her mantle.

Her lighted Santa collection.

The dining room table.

Another decorated area in the dining room.

Everywhere you look, it looks like Christmas.

After we had lunch, it was time to open gifts. Between our two boys and Robbie's sister's two kids, we had paper flying. Most years I really can't think of much that I want or need when Vickie asks me what I want for Christmas, but when she asked me this year I got very specific. Specific to the point of going into Hobby Lobby and actually taking pictures of what I want and texting the pics to her.

She asked and she received.

And then after I asked, I received.

A new UNO game!

When Austin opened this castle, he said that he had been wanting it his whole life. He really meant he saw it a few weeks ago in Wal-Mart and decided he liked it, but the drama around "I've waiting my whole life for this!" was so precious.

Smurf movie! Yay!!

Vickie got the kids a sled so they'll have it for when it snows. Aaron was SO excited about this!

Another shot of the sled

Vickie got me several things that I wanted for the new house, including some pictures I wanted for Austin's room, a picture for the game room, and a sign that says LAUNDRY for my laundry room. The boys will each have their own bathroom in the new house, so she got them each a towel monogrammed in the color their bathrooms will be done in. I absolutely can't wait to get everything put up in the new house.

In fact, all of our bedrooms are painted now. So would it be weird if I went ahead and decorated the walls without any flooring or furniture in yet?

Just had that thought, but hmmm......

Back to today Delisa. Back to today.

So after we opened gifts, Austin and Brynne (my niece) played together inside while Aaron, Brett (my nephew), Randy (my BIL), and Neil (my FIL) all played ball together outside. We don't get to see Kristi (Rob's sister) very often, so it was really nice for the kids to have a chance to play together.

Then we all loaded up and went out to a fish restaurant for dinner to finish off our day. The kids were laughing and had all of us laughing at dinner tonight. I love that these four kids get along so well despite the fact that they really only see each other a few times a year.

Austin, Brynne, Aaron, and Brett and The Fish Bowl

Before this week started, I had only bought two gifts. One for Aaron and one for Austin. I end this week with my boys gifts completely bought and mostly wrapped, which is a good thing because my kids are now home with me for the next 17 days (not that I'm counting down the days already), so there will be no more shopping alone anytime soon for me.

Wait, did I just say that I'm NOT counting down the days until my kids go back to school? Because that is possibly not completely the whole truth.

Possibly.

Lots of House Pics

This post is for all of you that say I don't post enough pictures of the new house:

This is the built-ins in the game room. The kids will have their own TV in here for their gaming systems.

This is Aaron's room. We have one wall done in a rough oak and put some old tin (from Robbie's grandma's old fence) around the bottom of the other walls. The lighting was really bad when I took this pic, but I love this room.

This is the living room. There is a built-in place for our TV and a cabinet for my scrapbooks on either side.

This is the finished towel rack in the master bath. I love the stain on it and can't wait to roll up some pretty towels to put in it.

Robbie has his own (much needed) gun closet. Dennis Salisbury custom built the gun rack for Robbie's guns.

This is the laundry room. They have started staining the cabinets in here.

The Formica has been put on the laundry room counter tops. I have a desk in here that is just for scrapbooking, and another that is for a computer and paperwork. It is a very multi-functional room.

This is Austin's favorite thing. The laundry chute.

And another pic of the laundry chute...

This is some of cabinet doors that have been stained and are drying.

The biggest change in the past week has been the stairs being finished.

It's so hard to look in a book and pick out stair parts not knowing at all what it will look like when finished.

But I'm really happy with it.

And I know it will look even better after the painter's get the stair treads stained and the walls painted.

I've had several people ask me how far we live now from the new house. Well, Robbie found us on the google map and it was an updated picture, so here it is.  The new house is the biggest building in the picture and right behind that you can see a little bit of blue that looks a lot like the top of a railroad train car. That would be the house we're living in right now. So when I say we are just a few feet from the house we are building, I really mean it.

As far as when we will actually be moving into the house. Who knows? I've given up on trying to guess a date. All I can say is that we will be moving in after it is finished.

And that will be a good day.

Oh Christmas Tree

Christmas is this month. I don't even know how that happened. I feel like I've spent the last month holding on to a rope that's being pulled by a running horse named Time and digging my heels in the ground is not slowing him down at all. I have been refusing to believe that we won't be in the new house in time for me to be able to put up more than one Christmas tree, decorate the mantle and stairway, and put up lights outside. I feel like this trailer house is busting at the seams and the last thing I have wanted to do is drag all of my Christmas stuff in here.


Why?! Why can't Christmas wait until I'm ready for it??!!

So Tuesday night I let the boys talk me into getting the tree out of the shop. Decorating for Christmas is normally one of my favorite times of the year. I have snowbabies, snow villages, several trees, and cute little Christmas things for all around the house. When we went out to get the tree, I announced that I was only going to put up the tree and stockings, and the tree would only have ribbons and balls on it. Austin talked me into getting the train out that goes around the bottom of the tree, and I felt like I needed to at least do that since I wouldn't be putting all of my Hallmark ornaments on that he likes to play with.

After moving two 4-wheelers, moving the ladder a few times, and deciding which tree we would be putting up, we ended up just getting a few boxes that I very reluctantly brought into the house.

And those boxes sat there all day Wednesday. Maybe because I thought by some miraculous turn of events the new house would suddenly get finished and I would have the go-ahead to decorate like I really wanted to.


But that didn't happen.

Yesterday morning after I took the boys to school, I sat on the couch for a solid hour accepting the fact that it is now December and time to decorate and working out in my head how I needed to rearrange the living room in order for the tree to fit. By around 9:15, I forced myself to get up and start moving everything around. I moved the couch to the opposite wall, moved the TV to a different wall (which included an entire hour of sorting out cords), and cleaning and vacuuming constantly as things were being moved.

Other than stopping for about 15 minutes to eat a bowl of cereal around noon, I was non-stop. I wanted the tree to be in front of the window and wasn't going to stop until it was done. By 2:00 I realized that I was still in my pajamas and probably needed to stop and shower before picking the kids up from school. I had the furniture moved and the tree up, so much progress had been made.

Today as I sit here blogging, I can say that I'm glad that I finally embraced the fact that Christmas is coming whether I like it or not. I actually really like the way my living room looks now and wish I would've arranged it like this a long time ago. And even though I didn't get out my ornaments for the tree this year, it still looks pretty and somehow makes me happier just by being in the house. My boys spent hours last night playing with the train that is around the bottom of the tree, so that extra thing totally paid off already.

I don't think I meant for this entire post to just be about putting up the Christmas tree, but it seems I have succeeded in providing every detail of the process.

On a completely different note, yesterday we were at a gas station and Austin saw a man digging in the trash for cans. He asked me what the man was doing and I told him that he was getting coke cans so that he can recycle them and get money for them. Then he preceded to tell me that that is what he wants to be when he grows up. I said "really, you want to dig in the trash for cans when you grow up?" He said "Yep. Sure do. It's cool that he's taking them to be recycled."


Wow.

Through my eyes I'm seeing a (possibly) homeless man trying to get enough money to buy his next bottle of whiskey. Through a 6-year old's eyes, he saw a man that was doing good for the environment by wanting to recycle.


I'm so glad that God gave me these beautiful children that let me view things through the eyes of a child daily. Reality is only your perception.

Thanksgiving 2011

Thanksgiving is always a busy time for us around here. It was so busy for us this year that I got lost somewhere between the turkey and the cake balls, but I found my way again after a 'normal' day yesterday with the kids back to school and Robbie back to work.

We've seen a lot of family over the past few days. On Thursday, we started at my in-laws house in Hope where we had our first Thanksgiving meal. Robbie's parents, his sister, Kristi, and her family were all there. We had a yummy meal for which I made red velvet cake balls and Mississippi Mud cake. And I am happy to report that I finally discovered the secret to a beautiful cake ball, so they may be making their appearance more often from me. Not that I'll be making them daily now, but if you invite me to something, I'll be the one in charge of the cake balls.

Who knew a pretty cake ball could bring such self-satisfaction?

Aaron, Brynne, Austin, and Brett

Soon after we finished eating, we went just outside of Hope where my mom's side of the family were. A lot of the people that go to that Thanksgiving are people I only get to see once a year, so while we are there I try to make my rounds and talk to the ones that I don't see often.

Ok, y'all know how your mouth says something before your brain approves it? That happened to me when I was talking to my cousin, Rhonda. I've known Rhonda my entire life, but she lives in the Houston area so I really only see her once, maybe twice a year. And every time I've ever seen her she is with her beautiful mother, Joan. I was well aware of the fact that she is married, and has been for a long time, but I don't remember ever meeting him. So when Rhonda introduced her husband to me, my mouth talked before my brain thought and this is what came out, "This is your husband? I've never pictured you with a man!"

Why didn't I just say "nice to meet you"? I did not mean to imply anything with that, other than I've never seen her with anyone but her mom, but it just didn't come out that way. Anyway, Jay, if you are reading this, IT WAS NICE TO MEET YOU! Not sure if I ever got around to saying that!

And I have to say, I'm glad this happened with Rhonda and not someone else because she is just as crazy as I am, which is why I love her. :)

On Thursday night we went to my brother, Johnny's house where we had dinner and then Robbie, Luke, Kaulyn, and I played a game of nerts. Luckily I didn't say anything stupid like I did earlier that day.

Or at least I don't think I did.

On Friday, my birth mom and her husband came to our house, along with my sister, Reva, and her family. Friday was a beautiful day so we spent a lot of it outside on the dock talking and watching the kids throw rocks in the pond. The boys rode 4-wheelers and played ball. And Marty even spent some time building a special little place for our outside dog to have more shelter since it's getting colder outside. It was so nice to get to spend a day with all of them. I only wish it could happen more.

On Saturday, we went to my parents house to celebrate Thanksgiving with my dad's side of the family. The only other time of the year that we get together with that side of the family at their house is on Easter, which may explain why Austin walked around carrying a basket of Easter eggs, begging people to hide them for him.

All of my parents grand kids: Kaleb, Austin, Jennifer, Brandon, Luke, Aaron, and Kaulyn

Dude. Wrong holiday.

But I do understand that hunting eggs is fun and should be done more than once a year. Who can blame the kid?

When we got back into town on Saturday night, we went to Best Buy to get some TV's for the new house (that we will eventually move in to a some point within the next few months). We already had 4 bar stools that we bought at Kohl's, and with the TV's in the car with us too, we barely had room left for the boys.

Unfortunately the people at Best Buy do not allow you to leave your kids at the store if you buy too much, so we had to find a way to squeeze them into the car with us and all of the boxes. And I'm glad we did, because HOW CUTE ARE THEY?!

I will try to post some house pics later this week. Our cabinet/trim guys are almost finished, and the painters have already started with the caulking and pre-paint work. We're getting there. Slowly. But we are going to get there.

And because my nephew, Luke, is so hard to get a picture of, I had to include this one. On Wednesday for Austin's birthday, my mom and I took all of the kids to eat lunch at McDonald's and then went to the movies to see Happy Feet 2 (which I actually fell asleep in). I was impressed that my niece, Jennifer, was able to get this picture of Luke in McDonald's.

Well done, Jennifer. I know this was not an easy task.

To Austin, on your 6th

Dear Austin,


I just can't believe that you are 6 years old today. You have been such a blessing in my life from the day you got here. Daddy and I really didn't think that we were going to be able to have another child after we had Aaron, but you were prayed for so much that God decided to bless us with you.

You are, and have always been, so fun to be around. I love that you just say what's on your mind. Here are just a few things that you've said that made me smile:

• To Grandma: "I didn't know your hair would blow in the wind!"
• To the lady at the bank that had just said a word that you are not allowed to say "My momma says that's a bad word, so you shouldn't say it".
• To me while shopping in the mall: 

Me: "Austin you are driving me crazy"
You: No mom, you are driving ME crazy"
Me: "Oh really?"
You:" Let's just call it a tie"

• To a lady waiting on an elevator at the doctors office:

You: "So did you see the doctor today?"
Her: "Yes, I did."
You: "Is everything ok?"
Her: "Yes, I think everything will be fine."
 (elevator comes and lady gets on)
You: "Have a good day!"
Her (smiling): "You too!"

• To me while riding 4-wheelers:

You: "momma, I want to take a rocket ship to heaven so I can see God"
Me: "You can't get to God in a rocket ship. You have to live like God wants you to and when you die you get to see Him"
You: "Well, that's not very awesome. I think I'm gonna have to ask daddy about that."

• A lot of times at dinner in the evenings you ask everyone, "so how was your day today?"
• When you used to take naps I would lay down with you and you would say,"so what do you want to talk about today?"
• Last week you opened my car door for me and I didn't say thank you and you said "And what do you say??"

One of my favorite things about you is your outgoing personality. You love everyone you meet, and everyone that is your age is instantly your best friend. I think it's really neat that before school every morning you go out to the new house and tell all of the house workers good morning, and when you get home from school they all ask you about your day and ask if you stayed on green. You can carry on a conversation with anyone at anytime. You have a very pure and trusting heart. You are not afraid of much at all.

You love your brother and would do anything in the world for him. If Aaron has a friend over at the house, you think you are just as big as they are and try to hang out with them. And if they won't let you in the room with them, you will sit outside and listen to them. You just want to be close and be as involved as you can.

You do really well with any changes that come your way, which is the complete opposite as your brother. You do really well with just going with the flow and you somehow seem to have a way about you that can turn even bad situations fun in some way.

I have loved watching you grow for the last 6 years and I can't wait to see what the future holds for you. I know you will do great things! I love you so very much, Austin Lane.

Deer, A Day with Aaron, and Soccer

Yesterday the deer on our deer camera from a few months ago went from this:

To this:

And I wish I could say that a member of my family was responsible for filling up the freezer on this one, but I can't. This deer has had everyone in the area talking for years, but no one has been able to get him. But yesterday he messed up (probably by thinking more about a doe than his own life) and stepped right into the line of fire for my sweet neighbor, Joey. And even though it would've been awesome for Aaron to have been the one to get him, I'm really glad that someone we know got him. I know his family will have MANY good meals out of that one!

Yesterday was a busy day of house errands for me, but it was actually enjoyable because Aaron and I got to spend the day alone together. Austin had school, but Aaron was exempt from having to go to school this week because of how well he did on his Benchmark test last year. Aaron made my usual, mundane day of errands really fun. He loves looking at trucks and if it's a Ford, he guesses if it is a 150, 250, etc. So we played that while we were in the car (which was a large part of the day) and we also had a contest on who could find the most vehicles of the color of our choosing. He chose red and I chose black. He won, but in all fairness, I was having to actually watch the road and pay attention to my driving while he was turned completely around looking for red cars. I also made a deal with him that he could hit me on my arm every time he saw a yellow car. Ok, what is up with all the yellow cars? I had to end that game because bruising was starting to set in.

It rained on and off all day yesterday so by the time we got back home, Aaron was ready to hop on his 4-wheeler and go mudding. He wasn't out there for 10 minutes before he was back in telling me that he was stuck and needed help. And like a good mother, Delisa was there. (Now I have the State Farm jingle stuck in my head.) Anyway, I am happy to say that Aaron and I worked together, in the rain, to use the wench and get his 4-wheeler out and going again. Everyday I am amazed at how grown up and resourceful my Aaron is. He knew exactly what had to be done to get that 4-wheeler out and knew that he would need my help to do it safely. Even though nothing great happened to us yesterday, it was such a good day because Aaron and I had a rare, precious day alone together.

Aaron working on wench hook

We made it out! Time to unhook the wench.

On a completely different note, soccer season ended a few weeks ago, and I am so proud of both of my boys. Aaron's team moved up to U12 this year, which meant they were playing with some new rules and some bigger boys. Our last game determined what place we were in for the year, and since we won it, we ended up getting first place overall in his division. Our coach has taught these boys to play with dignity and respect over the last few years, and they always come out on top because of it.

Aaron with Coach Jeff and his 1st place trophy

Aaron has a 'team' of great coaches: Caleb, Jacob, Jeff, and Josh

The team with their 1st place trophies

Overall, I'm really not sure how Austin's team did because in the 5 and 6 year old division, you're just having a good day if your child is aware of which goal is theirs and that they are kicking it in the right direction. I will say this about Austin, though. He made major improvements over the past few months, and in the last several games he scored lots of goals for their team. Every time he would score he would look over at me and I would give him a thumbs up and he'd give it right back and grin from ear to ear. He knew he had done well and had pride in himself because of it.

Austin's team, The Raptors: Austin, Heath, Hudson, Greyson, Blaze, and Seth

Austin at Chuck E Cheese with his coach, Marshall Wood

Oh how I love these boys!