What a Wonderful Christmas We Had

What an awesome Christmas we had this year... The magic of it was all there! I took down my Christmas decor today and I have to admit it's depressing. I get the blues every year when Christmas is over, it's my favorite time of year. I contemplated leaving my decorations up all year :) My house is naked without them! Another Christmas of memories with the kids... the photos I'm posting is our annual Christmas Eve photo. The kids get new pj's every Christmas Eve and I take there picture in front of the fireplace where they leave cookies n milk for Santa. This year Madelyn was so exhausted she just sat there and screamed/cried and finally threw herself to the floor. It's a memory!!!!! I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas!

Mallory's 9th Birthday Dinner at Shogun's

We always celebrate Mallory's Birthday early when she has a party, so we usually take her out to dinner on her actual birthday. We went to Shoguns this past Saturday night and she enjoyed a nice dinner along with their infamous Pineapple Boat and Birthday serenade. Aftwards we took the kids to see Santa and Madelyn wouldn't have anything to do with him and clung to me like a monkey! ha!

Mallory's "American Girl" 9th Birthday!!

Every year Mallory's birthday always falls near Thanksgiving (November 27th), so we usually have to have her party about a week early. This past weekend we celebrated Mallory turning 9!! She loves American Girl Dolls and has been begging for the 2011 Doll all year. So, we through her an American Girl Tea Party and much to Mallory's surprise, Kanani, was the centerpiece on her birthday table. She squealed with excitement and the big hug and "I love you, Mom" made the money spent on her worth while!! ;)

Nine of Mallory's friends gathered at our home for a fantasticly fun lunch time tea party, complete with Mallory's favorite foods. Grilled Cheese Sandwiches, Sausage Balls, Cheese Puffs, Casa Ole Green & Red Sauce, Popcorn and Homemade Hot Cider. (Mallory planned this fabulous menu). Her choice of cake was cookie cake and I made some cake pops. Mallory enjoyed opening lots of great things from American Girl Julie pjs to houseshoes, to new handbags and dolls.

HAPPY 9th BIRTHDAY, SWEET MALLORY!!!

Madelyn Turns 2!!!!!!!!!!

Sweet Maddie Mae turned 2 on November 3rd!! We celebrated this past Friday night and I have never seen Madelyn so excited. She was unsure what to do with the gifts at first, but after the first two she was getting the hang of it. Her expressions were priceless!! Every one of them was animated with joy and squealing!!

Happy Birthday, Madelyn!!!

Halloween 2011

We had an awesome Halloween this year trick or treating in our neighborhood!! Mallory was a cute My Lil Pony, Mason a Power Ranger and Madelyn was a fluffy Pink Poodle! Toward the end of the night Madelyn got out of her stroller and enjoyed going to a few houses. They would open the door and she would hold her bucket up. It didn't take her long to catch on!

Homemade Pumpkin Cake Pops

I absolutely enjoy making Cake Balls and also Cake Ball Pops! I made these adorable little Pumpkin Cake Pops for the kids to take to school as a Halloween Treat!!! They were time consuming, splitting in up into 2 days, but all together start to finish I think it only took 3 hours to dip, decorate with faces and wrap in clear wrappers with bows!! I think the kids will all love them!

Mallory Tunnel Cats & Whitehouse Homecoming

This past Friday night Mallory had her turn at doing Tunnel Cats for the second year in a row for EXCELLENT Classroom Behavior!! Little did we know that it was also Whitehouse Homecoming that night. So after finding that out at 9:30 in the morning my mission for the day in between everything else I had to do was to find her a mum to wear becuase I would hate for her to show up and be the only there without one :) So, after several stores I finally found a shabby one at Michaels, the very last one they had!! I brought it home after paying nearly $35 for it and plugged in my hot glue gun to spruce it up a bit!! It's turned out so cute when I was done. Complete with a feather boa, her name and lots more black ribbon added!!! SHE LOVED IT!! After all of that she was only 4 of about 100 kids doing Tunnel Cats that had one, but it was well worth her having it just to see her smile!!

Mason Karate at Health Fair

Mason's Karate Instructor had a booth set up at the Health Fair today and he asked if Mason could come and help him demonstrate some of the martial arts skills that he has learned. So, Mason was absolutely thrilled to miss school for about an hour this morning. I took some video clips and I'm so proud of how much he has learned since this past February in Karate!! He was quite the little crowd pleaser today! Enjoy the clips!

~Moms Birthday Weekend~

My sister, my sister n law and I treated my mom to a fabulous 50th Birthday weekend in Fredericksburg, TX a week ago. We rented a quaint early 1900's house that was beautiful yet full of ghostly creepiness!! We shopped and ate at fun little restaurants and just simply had a blast!

Mason & Tunnel Cats

Mason was chosen to run with the 2nd Grade from Brown Elementary at the Whitehouse Wildcats Friday night Football game 2 weeks ago. Only 4 or so were chosen from his class for EXCELLENT Classroom Behavior!! WAY TO GO, MASON!

Me and My Beautiful Girls

First Day of School 2011

Well, don't they look just so excited to be starting school today with their forced smiles and all!!! Mallory started 3rd Grade today and Mason began 2nd Grade. They both said that they were not nervous, but the timid way they walked into their classrooms said it all.

I wasn't able to get any pictures of Madelyn becuase in the process of taking pictures of the kids she fell on the sidewalk and busted her lip. It was all over from there!!!