TeXaS is a BiG StAtE

Well we made it back after a lllooooonnnnnnnngggggg ole drive across the great state of Texas. We went to Arizona for Thanksgiving to visit all of Dave's family and had an amazing time-- I will blog all the pics and video fun as soon as I am less tired--LOL
As we passed back into Texas the sign reads "Welcome to Texas/Drive Friendly" Our family tradition is to sing Deep in the Heart of Texas--We disturbed our dog Daisy with all of the clapping as she was resting so nicely on my lap--
Dave is the MAN--he drove the entire trip, however, I did offer to help but he kept insisting he was fine. Our van was THE BOMB--it made travelling so much nicer.
ANYHOW-- hopefully I will feel up to blogging all the festivities of our Thanksgiving trip tomorrow.
Adios for now.

Feeling a bit of Stress

I'm feeling some stress- There is always so much to do it seems-- I am always behind on laundry- ALWAYS clean clothes that need to be folded and put away-ALWAYS dirty clothes in the hamper piling up and piling up-- I look around and there is so much deep cleaning to do but it seems that the only cleaning I ever do is the same stuff-- just the surface clutter that builds daily-- I am in need of a "chore chart" and the energy to enforce the chore duties when my children complain and moan!
I am feeling stress to BLOG MORE-- So much happens in our little family and it hard for me to keep up with the blog these days-- I want to- I really do but for some reason I am just wiped out at the end of the day and blogging our lives or my thoughts hasn't been happening lately!
For instance...
Thinking about my upcoming week makes me tired! Working Monday and Wednesday-- and The much anticipated birth of Hannah Hope Hughes is this Wednesday--so I get to meet her that evening! Then it's up to visit big brother Luke on Thursday! Josh has his end of season Panther Party Thursday evening and then Daisy our dog is being spayed Friday early a.m.! I am to drop her off at 7:30 and pick her up at 3pm in McKinney!--This will make for a crazy busy 'getting to school and picking up from school' routine on that Friday-- Also, Jilly has a Thanksgiving Program and Feast on Friday morning beginning at 9:00am! AND it's Jordan's 12th Birthday Friday!! SO--she has festivities planned for that evening--BUT she has her final Volleyball game that night!-- PLUS we are going out of town to visit family so I must launder and organize all week long in order to leave out Monday! ahhhhhhhh (sigh) I guess I should go to bed so I can tackle my week!
I'll leave you with some fun pictures from when Jillian and I went to the Pumpkin Patch with her pre-school-- We went on Halloween day--so...as you can see-- I am WAY behind on the blog updates-- This is Jillian and the little goat that LOVED HER and that SHE LOVED BACK! She ran out of food to feed it but it kept licking her-- She asked me if she could kiss it! I said no but that she could hug it--so she did through the fencing as it licked her face! ughh! :)
This is THE ONE! We still have it on our fireplace!
We rode on a "Hay Ride" around a little pond! This is Jillian with her 2 teachers!

It was a fun day at the Owen's Farm!
This is Jillian hugging the goat!

Panther Football Season Over

Josh had an awesome season of running hard...blocking hard...playing hard! We finished 3rd in our division and made it to the playoffs! Today was a tough day for Josh and his team-mates--In the final 10 seconds we scored a touchdown that brought us to 12 points--The other team had 13!--SO...it was exciting and passionate but we lost when we failed to get the extra point-- Josh and some of the other players took it hard and hung their heads in defeat. I saw Josh's eyes wet and red!

WE ARE SO VERY PROUD OF JOSH AND HIS DESIRE TO DO HIS VERY BEST!!

He is such a good boy -- This was Josh's 1st season of playing football...

--BUT NOT HIS LAST--

NEXT YEAR WE ARE GONNA GO! FIGHT! WIN!!!

And props to Auntie Aner for the professional pic of Josh above! She had him grunting and growling and all pumped up when she snapped this photo!! LOL

Picture Day

Today we got to go visit Aunt Aner to take our Annual Christmas Pictures! It is always so fun to be together but our time together is always so scheduled and short--we need just a "hang out" day of nothing planned but playing around at the park and relaxing with little Luke--and in the VERY NEAR future... Little Hannah!!

Here are the kids saying their Goodbyes with Aunt Aner-- and Jordan feeling Hannah move around!!

NOW-- Josh HEARS Hannah!! I swear he said-- "I heard something!!"

Well--each year our annual photo shoot gets more phenomenal!! Andrea is such a TALENTED PHOTOGRAPHER!! Glad she is our Aunt! LOL I don't want to show too many as it would spoil our Christmas Card!
Here is a little teaser...

I can't help but brag! Our Kids ARE SO BEAUTIFUL!!
Thanks Aner! These pictures and our time together doing our 'annual photo shoots' are priceless now and forever!

Having a little fun!

WHAT??? A TIE-- I tried it 3 times by changing up the pics (trying to gain an edge)-- But the result was the same each time even when I changed the photos! Here is one of the other attempts to "win"! LOL

Happy Haunting of a Halloween!

Imagine you are in a foggy eery maze with giant spiders hanging from the tree branches above you and scary music is all you hear...AND YOU COME ACROSS THIS SCENE!!!

Well...This is what you'd do... RUN! RUN! RUN! This is little Jillian and Natasha escaping the terror! LOL

We had so much fun playing characters in a our very own Haunted House!! Dave may have had too much fun! LOL This year Dawn and Shay were the master planners and builders of a Haunted Maze complete with moving walls, fog, strobe lights, moving giant spiders, and lots of spooks (teenager kind and middle aged men kind!!! LOL
Here is Dave! aka Crazy Jason Mask Killer!

Here is Shay! aka Spooky/Creepy almost invisible guy with a voice changer box that sounds so scary! (what Nightmares are made from for sure!)

Here is Jeff! Hockey player Scary guy with a mask that actually looks like it's got blood running down it!! so gross!
It was a great fun-- The best part for me was watching Dave get 'into character' and be an awesome actor! LOL Here is some fun video...

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

FINALLY-- The kids...
Josh had many costumes of the night--1st he was a Mummy Zombie but soon lost all his toilet paper! LOL then...he changed into the "Maleficent" costume and he was concerned because he was playing a "she"-- Then he changed into a Haunted House Worker complete with a scary mask and fake meat cleaver!
Jillian was a S C A R Y witch-- The weeks leading to up to Halloween were torturous for poor Jillian-- she couldn't decide on a costume...it either wasn't "scary enough" or "not girly enough" so at the 11th hour--she chose to get the best of both worlds-- A witch with a cute dress but a scary painted face!
Jordan was a Pumpkin--she wore the actual Pumpkin Costume that I wore when I was a senior in high school-- (Miss Penny handed it down to us this year along with a bunch of other cute costumes that she didn't need anymore!) She had fun TALL SOCKS that were Pumpkin Fall colors! She changed later in the night into the black Maleficent robe as she and her friend Casie (Betty Rubble from the Flinestones) were the Front entrance workers to the Haunted Maze!
Here are the snapshots from the night...