Hamster obsessed

Olivia has been obsessed with hamsters for a long time. She did a great job with her pet that she got for her birthday. She was the best little hamster mom. When she accidentally killed it I thought it was best to give it some time before we got her a new one, time to really think about what she did. I caught her one night on her knees telling her heavenly father how much she missed her hamster and how sorry she was, and that she wanted him to take care of it now that it is in Heaven. I won't lie I even got teary eyed at the funeral cause I know how much she loved her pet. She truly loved Analease.
The other day she brought home this book from the school library and would just stare at the pictures and talk about how much she loved her hamster. She is getting a new one for Christmas and I can hardly contain myself and wait that long.

Addie's contribution

Decorating for Christmas and the kids wanted to help out so Addie did something creative with the fish bowl. I thought it was too cute to not document.

Thanksgiving

Ohhh Lordy. Too much fun to write about but let me see if I can sum it up quickly. Really good food (almost like it wasn't fair to have to try and cram it all in in one day). Um.. Martinellis (need I say more?) Kids got to drive around the neighborhood standing out of Grandmas sun roof. All the boys went fishing (derek and dallin came back covered in mud). Andrew and Dallin got too competitive playing PlayStation baseball with John. I watched Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallow for the first time-EPIC (i cried). Peyton laughed her ass off playing with my kids. We went around the table saying what we are Thankful for--My mom said her "butt warmer" in her car (she was serious) (now my kids think its the best joke ever. I never allow potty talk..but since Grandma mentioned it they feel immune to a consequence). John said he was thankful we welcomed him into our family (which goes to show you how sweet this guy is cause our family are a bunch of assholes). Peyton was blessed by Andrew and my dad into the church (she was a total Diva shoving their hands off her head and pushing them away.. so no one could keep a straight face or stay reverent). Becka got bit by an aggressive goose at the duck pond. Left overs of the best food. And short/sweet Goodbyes.

Preschool Pre Feast

Derek's preschool had a little pre thanksgiving feast for them the Friday before the Holiday weekend. It consisted of basic kid friendly food (smart smart teachers I tell ya) and it was for the most part as awkward as dining with the IN-Laws. The conversation was pretty dry and a few of the little girls in his class were staring me down with those evil bitchy glares that only females can pull off. No worries though I came to support Derek so in that case: Mission Accomplished!

Naughty Boy

I take a short nap and this is what I wake up to. Not the best idea since Christmas is coming so soon. Santa was almost tempted to take back one of the nice presents she bought him, that is stowed away in the attic, she was that mad. But she calmed down after a trip to Starbucks and cute new shoes from Target. Ooops!!! I meant -HE- was tempted to have the elves hold back a present but then changed his mind after a cup of hot cocoa and a good book by a crackling fire.

Dear Santa

The kids sat down and did this on their own. Pretty cute stuff. I wanted to always remember these so I decided to post.

Addie,
Life for life girl stuff. Moxie girl horse set. Kinect Pets. Walkable Pet. Shop tiger and horse.

Dallin,
Dear Santa how is Mrs. Clause? If you've seen my grades you would be proud. So for my first gift the lego Black Pearl and the lego Pirates of the Caribean game. Especially both super diaper babies and the Lego Ninjago Fire Temple.

Olivia,
Merry Christmas. Life for Life Girl. I want a hamster. I also want a toy horse. And a build a bear. And a set of clothes.

Saturday Nov 13th

We went down to San Antonio for two reason's #1-Andrew and I were running the half marathon relay. I ran the first leg and stayed with him through the finish to keep him from walking. We had fun but no pics. I never bring extra stuff to keep track of and I don't buy from brightroom photography cause its too expensive. After the race we headed straight over to my nephew Nolan's Hockey party. The kids got to go ice skating before the Hockey game started and play all kinds of games. Addie did the best she went around twice which is leaps and bounds better then she did when we visited Annette last year. Its the first Hockey game I have ever been to. Very fun to watch and very violent!

Dallin is learning

When my dad is in football season so is Dallin. It makes my dad too busy to make it to one of Dallin's games and Dallin too busy to make it to one of grandpa's games. This Sat Dallin's season was over and my dad had one more game to coach so we made it a point to go show our support. More importantly my dad wanted to teach Dallin a few things. He is very lucky to have my dad on his side cause most coaches in youth sports are just dads/football fans which doesn't always make a good coach. This is his 5th season and he never learns much so my dad got him a pass to go down on the field. Each and every play he got to see bigger kids do it and see how to do it right. The team they were playing are very very good. The Houston area is a very competitive in football they have huge stadiums and enormous amounts of money to throw at football. Most people that are not from Texas are shocked at how nice the facilities are and how the community treats the football coaches like Gods. The school my dad is at is a little different. After hurricane Katrina a bunch of student athletes moved to the Houston area from New Orleans. Well the bigger nicer high schools tried to stay with the best athletes so they split school boundaries and my dad's high school kind of got what was left over. Which is great for my dad...he loves working with young boys and showing them how to grow and develop character. But it was hard for me to watch. Some of his players come from very rough environments so some of the parents were drunk and screaming and yelling obscene things at the coaching staff. Even worse they were embarrassing their sons out there playing hard. Some of the things these men were yelling were so cruel and wrong I wanted to back hand them. Yet my dad and the other coaches stayed calm and kept teaching and encouraging the players. Life is not simple or easy and 90% of what makes it so hard is dealing with people and trying to manage relationships. I love that Dallin got to see that aspect as well cause its prevalent in this sport. These boys will see that no matter who or where they came from they can become the kind of change they want in life. I can't tell you how many times I have been in some random public place and had ex players of my dad come up and tell me what a difference he made in their life. I am so proud to be his daughter words can't express. My kids love him to death.

Andrew and Dallin talking about the play that just happened

This is the cops trying to calm down one of the parents ;(

my dad ignoring the man

still trying to ignore the angry mob

Dallin was scared but Andrew was talking him through it.

Derek's Art

Now that Derek is in pre school he comes home 3 days a week with a folder full of fun art projects. I don't know if most moms share my sentiment but I love everything so much that I want to keep it forever! Feeling like I can somehow hold onto how cute he is at this age if I hoard all his belongings. However having watched the TLC show "Hoarding Buried Alive" I snap out of it in a flash and let it sit stuck to the fridge for a few days then trash it. I do take a digital pic of my favorites and that doesn't take up too much space or clutter up my home. I wanted to post these two just for memory sake on my blog. Love his work. To me its worth millions

Halloween 2011

Carnival Party

Derek and my niece Peyton have birthdays 3 days apart. And given they are so close to Halloween we figured it would be fun to have a carnival. The idea was to do it every year so when we started planning we went all out thinking most of the booths would be used over and over again. It was soo so so so much fun. Every single adult and child had so much fun. It was hard having the older kids stay at their booth and not want to go play but that was the only downside. Each kid got tickets at the start to buy candy and games. And there were no limits or rules to how often you could play and how many prizes you could win. We seriously had one kid at the fishing booth for over 20 min. Fishing up a storm.

The Balloon Lady

I had to do a seperate post for her cause she was the bomb! She does really good face painting and her balloon creations are like nothing I have ever seen. She makes these cute little bug braclets for babies....and her swords have the coolest handles. I mean she killed it. A big hit!!

The Slide

Yes! The slide gets its very OWN post because it was the BOMB!! If you go to a community fair or carnival you often pay and then wait forever in line with some drab ornery worker telling you to wait and then you can go down feel the rush the wind in your face and its over. Well these kids got to go over and over and over again. We had it rented out for over 5 hours and every single min was sooo worth it. My mom even went down it!

Dessert

After the fun at Chuck E Cheese we went to Applebees for birthday desserts. I love their Maple Butter Blondie and kids like their chocolate lava cake. Plus they came out and sang your typical lame food chain restaurant type birthday song for Peyton and Derek. Did I mention their birthdays are like 3 days apart. Who could ask for more??


I think I will name this picture Cleavage

Chucky E Cheese

Just know that we went to Chuck E Cheese as is our custom and we had a blast!! This night of of brought to you by Aunt Net.