Sunday, December 07, 2008

a peek into last week.

Including:
1. becoming a real Texan.
2. ways to stay warm. -and-
3. a spooky forest adventure.
Jeff has been razzed by his co-pilot on many occasions about the argument of him not being a real Texan because "Real Texans eat at Whataburger." Neither one of us has ever eaten at one, and supposedly it is a Texas rite of passage-- last week while Jeff's mom was in town we got hungry:

Everything was very:


And for the most part:

(the fried pumpkin pies are still in question)
.
But, I am not going to mention the stomach ache I was plagued with for the rest of the day after eating my monster Whataburger.
.
But, CELEBRATE because finally:

Yee haw!
.
.
In between our Texas initiation, we found time to:

And of course we had troubles with the lights, but finally we managed to work that out too.
The next evening, we ventured out into the nippity cold for the annual:
We all dressed in layers, but still found it tricky to find the secret to:
My secret included that extra long scarf I knitted last year, which I wrapped around my neck 20 times:
Josh kept his temp up by:
This also added to the:
And of course, having an extra female in the house means that there will be some:
My personal favorite way to keep warm on a cold night.
.
The next morning, we found ourselves at Applebee's for:

This started our day out right, as afterward we went on a December stroll on such a:

But this was:
The thought of this walk caused much anticipation among the younger crowd in our group.-- here's why:
We found a free resident day at our local museum and decided to check out the animatronic dinosaurs they had placed along the walking trails.
We had fun pretending to be scared, and comparing our:
Josh was not frightened at all, proving to be such a ham for the camera.
Ben,on the other hand-- kept his distance, this was:

Thanks for a lovely time Grandma! We are glad that you could come and visit us in Texas!

Friday, December 05, 2008

christmas creep from the archives.

Remember this creepy Santa from The Christmas Story movie?


Wasn't he a sight, with those expressive eyes, booming loud voice, and painted white eyebrows.

Well, looking back into our pictures-- I found that Jeff and his brother experienced the exact same Santa back in the 70's.
Same creepy eyes and painted white eyebrows. (Except this one has creepy man-bangs too.) Jeff is the baby nestled down deep into his beard-nest like a crumb that fell off his lunch break sandwich.

Those eyes, look at those eyes! Enough to scare away the shoppers on Black Friday!

Thursday, December 04, 2008

naughty notes.

I always learn the hard way about how bragging can come and bite you in the bottom.
.
Grandma is here this week and I have just not stopped talking about how my oldest is so good at school--

I should have known that as we left to pick him up yesterday afternoon that today was:

Josh ran out of the school with fear in his eyes!
I knew something was up when he said he had done something "very, very bad."

Talking in class?
Not finishing his homework?
Nope.
As I read the written words out loud (and tried not to laugh) -my mother in law announced.
"Well Josh, I'm glad to know you're normal! So--- was it worth it?!"

Tuesday, December 02, 2008

i love my husband.


and this is why!

Monday, December 01, 2008

painted holiday.

Today, we decided to go a little crazy with Christmas and throw in a little color while we were at it.
I love that Hobby Lobby had these clear glass ornaments at 50% off today for a whopping total of $1.98. Where else can you find such gems for such a low price?
I was especially pleased with Josh's:

I love the stark red against the marbled blue, silver, and black. How sophisticate.
.
And, Ben knew all of my weaknesses with his version of the:

The green and brown remind me of chocolate mint. My favorite!

Sunday, November 30, 2008

merry little christmas.

Thank you- Thank you for all of your birthday well wishes! I feel so special!
Please excuse the mess! I'm decorating the blog for Christmas!

Friday, November 28, 2008

giving thanks 2008.

We were so lucky to spend Thanksgiving with great friends. (thanks for the pumpkin Erin.)
Kirstin and I put a lot of thought into the decorations and menu. At the end, the final menu count was 18 items!We had two pumpkin pies, one pumpkin cheesecake, one cheesepie, and one chocolate cake.
Jeff took a bit of each.
And since it just happened to be my birthday:
It was a success!
Thanks for coming Kirstin and Tyler, and bring along your beautiful children and half of the feast along with you! Do you think we had enough food?

Thursday, November 27, 2008

29.

Today I am 29!
Where did the time go!
HAPPY THANKSGIVING!
Eat a slice of pie for me.

Tuesday, November 25, 2008