Cookies for Santa

Today the kids and I baked up some cookies for Santa. Lexi has been waiting for weeks for this. We made him some chocolate chips cookies. Here are the kids waiting for them to bake.

Wow...what a week!

This has been one of those intersting weeks where you don't know what is going to happen until it happens.

Our week started at 3:30 a.m. on Monday when Bracken woke up throwing up. The hardest part about a 2-year-old being sick is that they don't understand why you won't feed them or give them their cup of milk while they watch Curious George. Let's just say it was tantrum after tantrum.


As the day went on I thought he was doing better. He finally sat up and ate some stuff.

Then he was bouncing off the walls.



Well 5 minutes later he threw up again!!!!

Lexi did get to play in the snow on Monday. It lasted all of 5 minutes, but she had fun. Playing in the snow takes longer to get dressed and undressed than you really can play in the snow.

On Monday night, Lexi was having a hard time going to bed, so I let her come down and lay in the spare bed while I worked. (She claims she was scared upstairs...as if she doesn't sleep up there every night). She came into my office and had a blanket on her head. I could see some short bangs sticking out the front so I pulled her blanket off and SHE HAD CUT HER HAIR!!! We have been growing it out for 2 years and how is it like a mullet "business in the front, party in the back." Okay so not that dramatic, but it definitely will need some help. I definitely overreacted (come on Cam, it's just hair!), hence the sad face in the pictures. (I apologized after!)





Then Wednesday morning I walk into the family room to see that Bracken (after 3 weeks of the tree being up) finally realized that the ornaments are glass and they are fun to smash to pieces. Needless to say, over half of my ornaments are gone!



Then on Friday morning Lexi woke up at 1:00 a.m. throwing up.

Well it is only noon on Friday, so the week isn't even over yet, but let's hope the rest of today and the weekend are without incident.

Goodbye to a Friend

Today we had to say goodbye to out little dog, Jazzy. We got Jazzy when Lexi was only 6 months old. She has been a member of our family and my kids just love her. Jazzy was one of the first words Bracken ever said. Lexi and Bracken love to chase her around the house and play with her. She was such a sweet little dog. Today she was hit and killed by a car in front of our house. She will be greatly missed in our family. Lexi is really sad, but she has her collar and tag hanging on a peg in her room now. She really loves her puppy. When she was 18 months old the only way we could get her to smile for her Christmas picture was to put Jazzy on her lap. She loved to take Jazzy for walks and we had to make a rule of no leash on in the house or else that poor dog would have been hooked to Lexi 24 hours a day. When she first learned to ride her bike she used to hook Jazzy's leash to the handle bars and just ride back and forth with her. They were the best of friends. I don't know that I have ever seen Lexi understand death like she did today. She sobbed the most mournful tears I have ever seen a 4-year-old cry. She has been planning Jazzy's 5th birthday party that she was going to have next month. I have never been an animal lover, but this dog was so much more than an animal to us. We love her and will miss her.

One Little, Two Little, Three Little Indians...

Today was the Thanskgiving party at Preschool. A few weeks ago my sister, Carli got all excited because the kids were supposed to dress up like an indian or pilgrim for the party. She went and made Tyeson an indian costume that was so cute! I didn't have the time or the want to make Lexi one, but the closer it got the more I wanted to and then my mom talked me into it. We went and bought the stuff for it and my dear, sweet mother ended up making it for her. It turned out darling. Well then my mom and Carli started feeling bad that Wyatt didn't have one. (For those of you who don't know who Wyatt is--he makes many appearances here on my blog--he is just a cute little boy that is Carli's neighbor. She watches him three days a week and I watch him two days a week. He is pretty much just family. He has gone to Chuck E. Cheese with us...twice. He calls my mom Grandma T just like the other kids. SHHH...don't tell him he really isn't a part of our family, it would crush him!) Anyway, so my mom went and bought the stuff and made Wyatt an indian costume too. Here are our three little indians.

I can finally leave the house!

Okay, so I know that I am a tight wad, but I HATE to spend money to fill up my truck. When it comes to driving I avoid doing it at all costs. I will run all of my errands in one trip or stay home...either way, I drive as little as possible. NOT ANYMORE! The good old days are back. Gas prices are always a hot topic with me and my sister (she drives a gas hog too!) At its highest point my truck took $110 to fill up. Are you kidding me? Who could afford that? Well the other day it took under $50 to fill my whole tank up. This is awesome. I have been to my moms like three times this week and I don't even have a heart attack when I have to drive there. It is awesome. The lowest I ever remember gas being since I could drive was $0.88/gallon. I am hold out for that! :-) Yeah right, I will just be happy with $1.87/gallon and hope like crazy it stays there.

New Pictures of the Kids

Don't Forget the Lexi

Yesterday while Lexi was eating breakfast I started making a shopping list. I was asking her things we needed and she reminded me that we needed a new hair brush. I added it to my list of things and we were done. Well later I went back to my list to see that she had added another item to the bottom of my list...

Apparently she wants to make sure I don't forget about her!!!

More Halloween...

The Monday before Halloween we went with my sister to a block party. It was so much fun. The kids had a blast going from one booth to the next. They had cookies to decorate, a fish pond, a scientist's laboratory, ring toss, and hay rides. In the middle of the cul-de-sac they had set up a maze with straw bales. It was a lot of fun and the kids really enjoyed it.

Bracken as Squirt from 'Finding Nemo.' (Yes, he had two costumes--he was a dragon on Halloween.) He pretty much just stays in the stroller because otherwise he is nothing but trouble.

Dash from the Incredibles (Dylan), Barbie Cheerleader (Lexi), and Buzz Lightyear (Tyeson).

The kids in the "Haunted Straw Maze."

Bracken, Me, and Lexi at the dinner

Me and Brackie

Halloween 2008

We had a fun Halloween this past week. It seems like Halloween was a week long this year. It started on Monday and didn't end until Saturday!!! The kids sure had fun and got a lot of candy.

Lexi went as Barbie Cheerleader and Bracken went as a Dragon. (What makes Lexi a "Barbie" cheerleader you ask? Well nothing more than the fact she wanted to be a Barbie for Halloween and we had a cheerleading costume already. I convinced her that she was Barbie Cheerleader, which she enthusiastically agreed to!!! Phew, worked out good for me.)

Our fellow Trick or Treaters. Jackson, Morgann, Lexi, and Jakin.

Morgann the Chinese Warrior Princess (or something like that) and Barbie Cheerleader.

We sure had fun!!!!

More of what we have been up to...

It has been incredibly too long with lots in between since I posted any pictures. So I apologize in advance, but here is another post of just random events in the past couple of weeks.

Soccer is over for the fall, and we had a blast. Lexi really likes it and is starting to get the hang of what to do, but most important of all...she looks darling in her little uniform. (She is #4)

Last week was another school field trip. We went the Punkinaze. Lexi's favorite thing was the HUGE slide they had out front. She would have rather done without the corn maze and just gone down that all day. Bracken, on the other hand, did not love it. Carli sent him down once and it scared him, which suprised me because he is such a daredevil. He was having a whiny day though, too. They got to dig in the corn kernals and find some candy. Lexi and Wyatt had a hayday getting themselves lost in the corn maze. It was a fun trip!

Lexi the Rock Star

Bracken's New Trick

Fun things we have been up to

It has been a while since I posted anything and there have been just some random fun things along the way...here they are!

While I was working one day Lexi and Bracken had a "picnic." They had gotten out all of the mixing bowls and poured goldfish crackers into them. Lexi then proceeded to pour in her koolaid, salt, sugar, ritz crackers, and sour cream and onion potato chips. She was completely offended that I wouldn't taste it as she came to me with a goopy mess on a spoon. She did convince Bracken to try some, but he spit it out, which made me glad I didn't try it! The dog, howver, did like it.





Lexi had a field trip to the Nature Center last week. It was kinda cold, but we had a good time.







Sunday it snowed and Lexi was so excited. We went to Grandma's for dinner and spent some fun time with the family.
Me and my nephew Jordan
Lexi in the snow
Me and my nephew Jackson
Gotta love sisters

What will we do with them?

If you think a 4-year-old can think up some pretty weird stuff...think of the stuff TWO 4-year-olds can think up. I swear it is like if one of them is being good the other one is thinking up things to wreck, and then they switch spots! Today Wyatt and Lexi were coloring their pumpkins with markers, well I think they got confused that their face is NOT a pumpkin...

Where did the time go?

Time flies by way too quickly. I swear it was yesterday that Lexi and Tye were just a year or two old. Now look at them...they are kids...not babies, but kids. How cute are they?

Blog Name Change

As many of you can tell...I have changed my blog name. After talking to many people I have realized that it is really not safe to have my last name on here with the types of things I blog about. It may be paranoid, but hey...better safe than sorry huh. Anyway, I didn't realize when I changed the name that it would delete all the blogs that I had previously saved, therefore I will need to rebuild my friend list. I am going to try to do that some tonight, but if I have missed you, PLEASE, just send me a quick message so that I make sure and get everyone back that I had. Hopefully I can figure them all out.

Okay. I think I am up and running. I just added a whole bunch of people (I'm sure more will come up). I messaged all of you with the new address and then realized how "dramatic" the message sounded. "For safety's sake"...just for the record, there are no safety issues right now. :-) I didn't mean it to sound so urgent. It is something I have wanted to do for a while. I blog about a lot of personal things and places that are close to my home and when it comes to my kids I should be a litte safer. Anyway, HAPPY BLOGGING!

Riding Time

Lexi had a doctor's appointment this morning so we were out at my parents' this afternoon. My little cowboy (cowboy boots and all) wanted to go out and ride. So Dad went out and saddled up Shiloh for him. He sure did have a good time. Lexi is a pro at riding, but little Scooter hasn't got much riding time in...until today. (I even got some good riding in, too!)


Getting Shiloh ready




Bracken's first real ride


Look at the color changes--I LOVE FALL!




Me and Bracken