Security!

Okay, so I've been nudged a little by some friends on protecting my family by adding an extra step to be able to read our blog. Previously, anyone could get on and search our name and find our blog easily. Now, you'll have to be "invited" to view it by emailing me for me to "approve" you. It sounds terrible to have to do, like we're some part of an elite group that only the chosen ones can view. But, it's safest for the kids. For instance, one friend of mine knew of 2 different people that were "hacked" and had fake Facebook accounts created for them, with pictures of their family and all....all of which, someone got from their blogs. Scary! Also, another friend of mine is a police man's wife and she said I was crazy to start a blog in the beginning just for the fact that I was putting our family out there. I try not to think about the bad things that can happen, but when we live in a world like we do and I've been warned a couple of times, I figure I'd better start listening before something does happen. As a side note, the signature on our email has our blog address on it, inviting you to pop by and see what we've been up to, and Marty ALWAYS forgets that it's there and sends emails to anyone and everyone without deleting it.

Hopefully you all understand the need for this and keep following along this journey with us. I'm sorry I haven't been better at posting on here like I should. I've gotten caught up in work, house work, and Twilight! I promise to be better this summer when things slow down a little! :) Love you all!

My Personal Papparazzi

So, yes, I've been MIA lately but have good reason. We are getting ready to list our house for sale and hopefully move in the next couple of months a little further north of us to a "newer" home with better schools. We've been busy as worker bees trying to de-clutter (me) and home improvements (marty). A list of a few of the things we've been doing: new countertops in the kitchen, new paint throughout the house (including the ceilings), new tile backsplash in kitchen, till the front and back yards, make new flowerbeds out front, lay sod (this Sunday that will happen), new mailbox, de-clutter, de-clutter, de-clutter, new carpet to come soon, oh yeah, and did I mention de-clutter?!?! So, we've been working on little "projects" during our days off and evenings, so I apologize for being a little out-of-the-loop lately. All this, while trying to keep up our jobs, friendships, and entertain our kiddos too. It's been fun! :)

During these times, we've left the camera handy to take some before and afters, to be posted when all is complete! Well, little miss Madeline found that she wanted to try some picture taking herself. She's surprised me with a few of them, how good they are. I apologize for the scared look on my face...she called my name, and that was me looking over at her! It was funny, so I went ahead and posted it. It's been neat to see life from her point of view. She may have a future in paparazzi...she was pretty quick at pointing and clicking....all the while, calling out everyone's names!!!!! Gees!!

There's a cute one of Marty's mom, "Mimm," and her poor dog, Maggie, who Maddie caught peeking in the window. There's also a few of our friend, Bob, who came over to measure our counter tops. Our poor dogs, Roman and Moses, are often her target too. Moses doesn't like to look at the camera though, so Roman tends to get more pics taken of him. And of course, baby brother is always a favorite target!!! Oh yeah, and the toaster. Nice!

New Years Eve

Okay, so here are a few pics from New Years Eve at our friends house. There was a huge crowd and the kids had a blast! We stayed up way too late that night, but I guess that's what you do that one night a year, right? We played Guitar Hero on their new Wii they got for Christmas....which was soooo much fun! I laughed so hard watching Marty, who is rhythmically challenged, bouncing while playing the guitar! He just bobbed up and down the whole time! Don't have a pic of that, but wish I did!
There's a pic of the whole gang right before midnight. Also, there's some pics of Maddie and her girlfriends. And Isaac playing with some strings from a pom pom. He sat and played with those for quite awhile.
After this post, I can finally post some stuff from this year! :)

Christmas....better late than never :)

Okay, so I'm just now getting to posting our Christmas pics, but had a couple of cute ones, so I thought I'd go ahead and do it. We had a great Christmas, with the kids full of excitement. It was neat to experience it through their eyes. This was the first year that Madeline was really into it.
Last year, we started a tradition with the kids of having a birthday party for Jesus with friends a couple of days before Christmas. We go to my friend, Kimberly's house and she tells the story of Jesus' birth while acting it out with help from the Fisher Price nativity set. The kids get really into it and sit quietly waiting to sing happy birthday and eat birthday cake. Here's some photos from that day:



The night before Christmas, we went in the front yard and sprinkled "reindeer food" on the front lawn. It was a mixture of oatmeal and purple glitter. Madeline was so excited to do that....she couldn't wait for the reindeer to come. She was happy about reindeer coming, but didn't want Santa anywhere near the house. She kept telling me he didn't need to come and that she didn't want him to come in her house while we were sleeping. I have to admit, that does sound a little ooogy, if you think about it. I assured her, it was okay and that she wouldn't even hear him or see him. This made me seriously rethink our Santa beliefs in this house, but I gave it a go, for this year at least.


On Christmas morning, Madeline came and woke us up and we went and got Isaac up and went into the living room to open presents. I decided we needed to start another tradition of the kids only receiving 3 gifts each from Santa, just as the wise men brought Jesus 3 gifts. I heard this through a friend at church, and thought it was a wonderful way to tie Santa back to Jesus. Of course, they were both fine with this and didn't even realize they only had 3 gifts. Maddie had asked Santa for cowgirl boots, a jump rope, and kid scissors. Isaac got a Fisher Price Noah's ark set, a leap frog drum, and a leap from radio. Madeline didn't like her cowgirl boots, but we managed to get a picture of her in them before we took them back. She's such a silly goose. Isaac was happy with his new toys and got busy playing with them right away.



My parents came over and Marty's mom too, so they could give the kids their gifts. My mom and Madeline have been cooking together a lot lately, so they got Madeline an apron and chef's hat with her name on it. Also, they gave her a huge cupcake making set and Paula Deen's kids cookbook. Starting her young! Here she is in her apron and hat. Too cute!

Sweet and Sassy

Right before Christmas, my mom and I took Maddie to get her hair cut and ears pierced, per her request....well, the ear piercing at least! She's been asking me about wearing earrings lately, so I asked her if she wanted her ears pierced so she could, and she said she did, so off we went. I didn't bother to tell her it would hurt, otherwise, she'd never do it. That's the reason I went until I was 18 to get my own done. I didn't want her to be the same way...chicken!
We took her to Sweet and Sassy, one of the coolest places for a little girl to go! They have a runway that you can dress up and walk down, there's a little shop at the front with cute girlie things, and they do what a typical salon/spa provides. So, while we waited for the haircut, they painted her nails for free. So nice! I truly think this was her favorite part! Silly girl. She LOVES to have her nails done. Then, she got her hair cut, in a cute little wedge style. Then, off to the chair of doom...I mean chair for ear piercing. :) She sat very still while the young lady marked her ears with a dot. Maddie thought that was all it was to get her ears done. She smiled with pride, as you'll see in the pics below! I told her she was not done yet. She sat very still for the first one, then, wait....AAAHHHH!!!!! She screamed and jumped out of that chair and ran! I grabbed her quickly, sat her in my lap and held her still for the second one. No way was she getting out of there with just one ear pierced!!!!! She cried for a few seconds and then was fine. Now, she gladly shows everyone her new earrings! I was so proud of her. She's my big girl!

Christmas Eve with the Halls

Okay, so I know I'm a little behind in blogging, but have been busy with getting back to school, putting Christmas decorations away and getting on track for the new year. Also, I have so much to blog about that has happened in the last couple of weeks that I have let myself get overwhelmed with thinking about blogging it all. I know, silly! Anyhow, I thought I'd go ahead and put up Christmas eve. We were invited to our friend's family festivities. It was so much fun and we were so grateful they let us join in. Maddie did really well at standing by and not jumping in to open up her friend's presents, as hard as it was for her not to have anything to open for herself. She was cute about getting excited for her best friend, Kayla though. Everytime Kayla would open something and hold it up, Maddie would sigh and clap and get so proud of Kayla. It was really sweet and made me feel good as her mommy seeing how mature she was taking it all. Then, Kayla and her brother, Brayden got one big present from their grandparents. And as they were opening it, Maddie got so excited and yelled, "It's a wagon!" Cracked me up!!! She was so happy for them to get a wagon. She looked at me and said, "we have a wagon too."
Maddie also LOVED Kayla's uncle Greg. He was really good at playing with the girls and keeping them entertained. Maddie kept calling him "uncle Fred" though, for some weird reason! The whole family thought that was pretty funny and have since adopted his new name...uncle fred...when referring to him.
Our friends and their family have a tradition of opening Christmas crackers too. They were kind enough to share with us. Each of them has a silly tissue paper crown, so you'll see us wearing them in the pictures below. Enjoy!

ICE

This year during this holiday season has been especially fun. Since Madeline is a little older and more aware of all the celebrations, my parents wanted to try something new this year. This outing was one on the agenda. Maybe next year we'll get to some of the others on the list. It's so fun trying new things!

We went to the ICE Exhibit at the Gaylord Texan this past weekend. What an experience! The Gaylord Texan is a hotel/conference center in Grapevine that is apparently made by the same people that made the Opryland Hotel in Tennessee. It's HUGE..and beautiful. There's a whole covered atrium area in the middle that is decorated to the hilt for Christmas. While we were making our way to the ICE Exhibit, we saw the man above walking through the crowd. It was funny to see the people stop and watch as he walked by.

The ICE Exhibit is in the Convention Center there and is a whole display made entirely of ice! They actually give you parkas to walk through it. It takes about 20 minutes to get through on a normal day, but seeing as we went the last Sunday before Christmas......to say the least, it was a tad crowded!!! We were told it was 4 degrees Farenheit in there!!! Maddie looked so cute in her little parka. She waddled around like a little penguin. So cute!

These are just some pics we got while going through the exhibit.




This was the largest angel I've ever seen!

And, to all our surprise, they had this as the last scene before you leave:

AMAZING!!!!
Merry CHRISTmas to all and to all a good night!!!