7 days til Santa comes......

Christmas cannot get here soon enough! I am so ready to see the boys open their gifts and see Brady's reaction Christmas morning when he sees what Santa brought for him. Until then I have been busy with pre-Christmas festivities. This is a picture from Brady's school party. The kids were singing Christmas carols. Well, some kids were. Brady and his friend Seth weren't having any of that. Brady kept that expression the entire time. *sigh*

Haley came over this week to help me bake goodies for Jeff's clients. I decided to do cookies and cake balls. We also gave them a container of chocolate just in case our stuff was not edible. ;) We tried a new technique for decorating the cookies. We painted a glaze on the cookies before we popped them in the oven. It was a long process but we had a good time.

Doesn't this look more like a 6 legged octopus than a snowflake?

Haley took it a little far with this one!

Ah, cake balls. This was my first and last time to ever do them. How PW and Bakerella can make them look so nice and not messy I'll never know.....


Jeff and I delivered them all and no one has been hospitalized! Yet.

Tonight we are going on a hay ride to see Christmas lights and we have Christmas celebrations with both my dad's side of the family and my mother's side of the family this weekend. Yay for Christmas!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas.....

My big day finally came and went. I drove up last Thursday to Austin. Mal and I headed to Bookpeople to get our wristbands to meet Ree Drummond. It was a very funny experience for me. I was star struck. It was ridiculous. Mal and I had fun, it was good to see her and Alvin and we had a champagne toast to her engagement. Woo wee Mal!

Nice to meet you too Ree!

I woke up Friday morning at the crack of dawn and headed home. I drove home thru snow and sleet and the moment I walked in the door I had 15 minutes to pack my bag to leave again. We grabbed our kiddos from school and then headed to the farm. We drove thru some beautiful snow covered towns but the farm was not one of those places. It was FREEZING though. Jeez I want summer back. Please hurry. I miss flip flops and sweating.

Haley and I baked cookies and we let everyone help us decorate them.



Saturday night Lola, Brady, Austin, Terah, and myself headed to Palestine to ride The Polar Express. We went to the North Pole and met Santa. The kids enjoyed hot chocolate and cookies on the trip. Santa gave all of the kids a bell. It was very fun.

Stay warm everyone!

Thanksgiving

We had a wonderful looong week at the farm. Brady and I left Monday night and Jeff and Austin came up after Austin's school dismissed Tuesday. I did a lot of reading and eating. I made a french silk pie from scratch that was so yummy. I took the boys in my car and rode around the property and we took a lot of pictures. I needed some of them together for our Christmas card and some are definitely frame worthy. Here are some of the out takes....you'll have to wait to get my beautiful card in the mail to see the final pictures we chose.

Brady loves holding the babies in our family. He tells me all the time he wants a baby sister or a baby brother, it's starting to weird me out. lol

I can't post without giving some Cate love.

Last night after Brady came home we went to the Dayton Volunteer Fire Dept. where they were selling Christmas trees and the boys picked out this beautiful tree. My living room smells so yummy right now. I am still not satisfied with the decorations, I have another trip or two to make to Target and I'll be good.

Tomorrow Kaci and I have a shopping spree planned and Thursday it's off to Austin for me. PW here I come!! I CANNOT wait to meet her. I'll have a special post dedicated to her after the book signing. I hope she lets me move in with her after it's over. (I am aware of my issues.)

I am taking to boys to the Polar Express this weekend where we'll take the train to the North Pole, they are gonna love it!

Until next week....

Austin's surprise party...

Brace yourself for this one. There are lots of pictures to see.

We surprised Austin with a birthday party Sunday. He was very shocked to see the large crowd of people standing outside when he rounded the corner. He was embarrassed, it was rather cute.

We had the Reptile Wrangler come to the house and she brought all sorts reptiles for the kids to hold and learn about. They played games, beat the heck out of two pinatas, played more games, had some cupcakes, and then played more games. It was a very fun day and Austin was thrilled to say the least!

This is how we all felt once everyone finally left!

Next up.....Mississippi this weekend for a wedding and some Jeff and Kati time, woo!!

Fall

Halloween has come and gone and Thanksgiving is just around the corner! I cannot wait for dressing and pie. YUM. As always we have been going non stop. Football is over and Soccer will be before long. We are heading out of town next weekend for my cousin's wedding in Mississippi. Jeff and I have never been to Biloxi so we are going to make a mini vaca out of it. If you need me I'll be at the roulette wheel. Please don't bother me unless it's urgent.

Happy birthday Austin! (Nov. 9)

I woke up this morning....

....and Brady was 10 years old. WTF. He is growing way too fast.

Things that make you go mmmm....

Welcome to the world Cate. You are magnificent and I want to eat you up. Get ready to be SPOILED rotten by this family. We are beyond excited to finally buy pink.

P.S. You are a fatty.

Coming soon.....

Brady will start playing soccer at the YMCA in two weeks. He is super excited. Yesterday we bought him some soccer cleats, shin guards, and a new soccer ball. As soon as we got home we tried it all on (we need socks, his are large enough for Jeff's feet) and headed outside to play. He is the most serious soccer player I've ever known!

Hopefully he will be a good team player and wont give me too much trouble on the field. My boy is a ball hog for sure.