Double the Fun!

Congratulations to our sweet friends... The Boyd Family on the additions to their family! Originally the plan was to get 1 cute puppy but looks like they changed their minds...

Can't wait to meet them in person! Let me know what y'all decide to name them!!

The kids are ecstatic! You can tell!!

Hotel For Dogs Party!!

This weekend we headed out to Flower Mound to celebrate Doggy Style! LOL LOL LOL

Well... let me explain, all the kids were to bring their stuffed dogs to Riley's 'Hotel for Dogs' party! Jillian brought 2 dogs-- a little stuffed beagle named "Berry" and the Giant stuffed dog named "Charlie"!!

They had to sign in at the Guest Desk and they were given special ribbon collars!

It was so creative and cute... the staircase banisters were covered with stuffed dogs hanging in purses-- like conveyor belts-- I haven't seen the movie yet but I guess that's a part of it!

The kids played all kinds of games with their dogs... They went on a sniffing hunt where they were to find dog biscuit shaped sugar cookies in plastic baggies that were hidden around the living room!

They played a version of Musical Chairs but instead of chairs it was with the Twister Mat -- If the spinner landed on the color that your dog landed on... then your dog had to go to the "DOG POUND" aka laundry basket!

Lastly, The kids put on a Dog Show! It was hilarious! All the dogs did tricks! Jillian's trick was... "I'm gonna close my eyes and count to 13 and when I open my eyes my dog is going to STAY" so...while she was counting to the magical number of 13 (LOL) somebody moved her dog across the floor! When she finished the count and opened her eyes... HER MOUTH dropped and her eyes Bugged out-- like "What happened?" LOL It was a riot but the 'fun-ness' of the the day probably doesn't come through on the blog as much as actually being there!

This was the grand finale trick with ALL the dogs and dog owners-- they made a pyramid and as you can see-- Charlie was the base of the pyramid!!
It was a blast for the kids!

I love being creative at bday parties--

My favorite party that we have thrown was Jordan's 10th birthday where we had a "FEAR FACTOR" party complete with rolling dice to see how many frog eyes (aka green olives) you had to eat! I locked the girls in a giant dog kennel with a bowl of keys- I used a stopwatch to see how quickly they could escape by finding the right key and unlocking and getting out of the cage! and the Physical challenge was running across a field carrying ice cubes in your arms to fill up a bucket-- you had to keep running back and forth til it you filled your bucket! and this was a timed event as well-- The person who had the combined time that was the least amount won $20.00 CASH! LOL

That was a fun memory-- just had to sneak it in so that someday Jordan can remember it! :)

Unusual Day

No...not talking about the icy cold weather--

Last Wednesday, Jillian had "Unusual" Day at school as she learned about the Letter U!

They had an UnBirthday Party, participated in an indoor Unbrella Parade!

And she came home singing this weird song about...Uncle Ugly wearing his Underwear!

Taking a cue from Andrea...:) I will now name my photos..
I call these photos... Umbrellas in Chaos! LOL

They went everywhere in the church... down to the Pastor's offices and to all the classrooms! It was really cute!

To The Opera...

Today Josh and I went to the Opera with the entire 4th grade!

This is Josh with his Football pals/fellow classmates...Brandon and Preston! They are both the coaches sons...hence Brandon is the Quarterback and Preston is the Wide Receiver! LOL

It was really cool-- It was a Shakespearean Opera about Queen Elizabeth.

Josh dozed for a spell but maybe it was because the seats were so comfy! They rocked way back!

The whole audience was just schools!

The teachers warned the kids not to "hoot and holler" as it was a classical performance and that kind of cheering was inappropriate...

The first thing Josh did was put his hands above his head and clap and "whoohoo"! LOL:)

so.. I had to give him a little elbow jab to quit and he looked at me in dismay and said..."WHAT?"

LOL -- We had a great time together today.

Yea! Sophia!!

This year at school, Jordan made a new friend!

Sophia!

We really like her! The girls are pretty inseparable as during the 1st semester at school they had 3 class periods together including choir & the 4th class period or 'home room' so to speak!

They have celebrated their birthdays together and spent literally 100's of hours texting! LOL

Sadly, Sophia and her mom relocated to San Antonio over Christmas Break! Poor Jordan has grieved this tremendously as they really are fun friends together! The good part for Dave and I is that we love this girl- she is smart and just a good girl!

It's a Happy Day for Jordan today...Sophia and her mom are in town to obtain a few of their things for just a few hours today!

SO...they are hanging out LIVE in person-- not via email, instant messenger, or texting!
I can see this is possibly the beginning of a lifelong friendship...like unto some blessed friendships that I enjoy... :)

Gosh...seems like yesterday my little girl was toddling around & I was the center of HER world! No longer that is the case... I guess that makes me grieve a bit!

She is growing up so fast... lots of changes have already come! It's hard to adjust my mothering style from 'your my little girl!' to 'your my young woman'!

I love Jordan so much-- and seeing her light up and be so happy with her good friend Sophia today was a joy to me!

Please pray that I can be a better Mom to my babies! :)

New Year's Traditions!

Well here it is almost 11 days into 2009 and I'm just getting around to blogging our New Years Eve fun! It is a night we look forward to all year long because we spend it with our best friends...The Miller and Boyd Families! Tish always cooks a Gourmet feast for the Adults while the kids munch on...well kid food! LOL
This year the kids had a buffet choice of either chicken strips (reg or buffalo), hot dog, with baked potato!
Tisha's baked potatoes are famous in our family-- Jordan constantly raves at both Tish and Dawn's culinary skills which by doing so seems to knock mine! but that's okay because now Dave has taken up interest in becoming our family Chef and that's fine by me! oh and apparently there is no need to puncture holes or wrap in tin foil when you bake potatoes-- I never knew!
So...Every year it goes like this... We arrive early afternoon & munch on veggies and ranch dip and chips and Dawn's homemade salsa! We feed the kids first and then we sit down for a wonderful meal with great friends. We have lots of laughs and reminiscing!
Here we are getting ready to enjoy our giant Steaks smothered in Mushrooms, baked potatoes, steamed asparagus and tomato feta cheese salad! It's our 'tradition' meal!
OH--This is Dave's and My BEFORE PICTURE--note the back fat and double chins! We're on a 12 week program to meet our health goals!
Here is beautiful Dawn and handsome Shay!
Here is squinty Jeff and Gorgeous Tish!

STEAK

Tomato Feta Salad

Dawn's CUP CAKE DELIGHTS!

Dawn's CHOCOLATE CHIP DESSERT TRAY perfectly arranged! :) LOL

There is always a New Years Eve dance at church for the 14 and up girls! Here is Sam, Britt, & Libby! Don't they look great?
AND then let the fun begin... We played Cards and Dominoes while the kids watched movies, played Wii, and there was DRESS-UP!
There was lots of teasing Jeff about his "man card" as he likes the show Mamma Mia--
Jillian and Natasha had a ball playing dress up! Note there are no pics of Tasha in the dress up clothes as they were too small and not appropriate for the blog! LOL

You go Girl!

She's a DIVA!

And a Princess!

Well- we ate so much and drank too much Dr. Pepper and Big Red...At midnight we all drank sparkling Apple Cider and counted down with the kids! Josh and Jilly said that the countdown celebration was their favorite part of the night, while Jordan is utter heaven being with Casie and Savannah-- I tend to agree with Jordan...The Amazing Friends are the best part of the night!
I grabbed my camera too late--I missed the countdown but I filmed just after midnight so you can see the scene...kids dancing and lots of laughing and goofing!

The New "Deb's Daily"

I'm quitting the "Twitter"! Today it wasn't working properly-- sometimes weirdo strangers start being followers of me and it is just not a good way to report my life anymore... So.. I created on my sidebar-- "Deb's Daily" where I will say what's happening on that day or what's on my mind. I guess I'm kind being a copycat to Andrea as she puts her little 'daily planner' in the same spot!

Today was a doozy!