pre trick or treat photos

Here are some photos from this morning. I put the appliques on Shelby's skirt myself. I had a matching applique shirt to go with it but she wore it earlier this week. This was before school this morning. Also, here are some photos of the cupcakes and treats I made for Shelby's class.

madeleine's home

Last night we went to the airport to meet Lee, Theresa, AND MADELEINE!! She's such a cutie patootie!

thank you nanny and poppy charlie

Poppy Charlie came by the house yesterday and dropped off Tucker some birthday gifts. I told him we'd wait and wrap it up and give it to him at his party, but when we saw it sitting on the porch, there was just no way we could wait. "Open it!! Open it!! Open it!!"

fall festival 2008

Today, Shelby and Tucker's school had their fall festival.

disney ornaments

I recently decided that I should start collecting special ornaments for the kids. Don't get me wrong, they have tons of ornaments for them to take when they become adults. That's thanks to my mom who has a special tree for each kid with their own childrens themed related ornaments on it. Most people already do this for their kids. Me, I have not. So why not start now? This week I ordered these 2 ornaments that will represent our trip to Disney from the summer of 2007.

thomas photos

Here are some photos that we took while we went to see Thomas the Train.

tucker blows out the candle

1 year ago Tucker looked at us like we were crazy when we put cake in front of him and sang. This year he can blow out candles and sing! I made a mini birthday cake. I could only find 1 candle. Mommy dropped the ball. But technically his real birthday cake and candles will be Saturday at his party so that's when it really counts.

my baby is 2

I am so glad I have a lot going on at work today because my baby turns 2 and I could seriously cry all day. He's growing up so stinkin' fast!

my thomas review

Yesterday we drove the 8 hour round trip to see Thomas in Rusk. I'm glad we did it, but I doubt we'll do it again. I have photos to post later this week. Before we left I transferred 4 hours worth of music on to an ipod shuffle and handed it to Shelby. She was on cloud 9! She listened to HER music the entire way there and back. I think she only asked once if we were almost there. Tucker slept most of the way both times.

I was quite disappointed in the whole set up. First of all, if you saw the Jon & Kate plus 8 show where they went to see Thomas, it was not set up that way for us. There were no little roller coaster rides. I can't believe with how expensive Thomas products are and then this whole deal seemed so cheaply done. There were a few tents set up with activities. One table had some bubble sticks for kids to blow bubble. Nothing extravagent. Just those 99 cent bubbles at walmart. They had some coloring pages for the kids to color and all the crayons were broken. They had some rubber stamps for the kids to stamp pages and the stamp pads were out of ink. They had 2 moonwalk bouncers, 3 train tables, and some lego tables. And then they had a HUGE tent of Thomas toys marked up in prices. The ride on the train was about 30 minutes. It was 15 minutes one way and 15 minutes back. The view was of just woods and the train went about 20 mph. Ummm, that was it. After the ride we hit the road to head back. We stopped at Chuys in The Woodlands on the way home and had a fantastic dinner to make up for the day.

So there's my Thomas review. I'm glad we did it, but I doubt we'd ever do it again. Well, if it were down the road from us, maybe. But not an 8 hour round trip drive for it.

almost 2

3 days. 3 days and Tucker will be 2. (Insert bawling my eyes out emoticon here!)

christmas dress

This year I bought Shelby's Christmas dress early so I could be sure that I would find the dress in her size. I had Shelby try it on this afternoon and she refused to take it off for 2 hours. So I guess I did good and actually got her something she'd wear. That's become a very hard task these days.

Lee and Theresa

Lee and Theresa are officially parents! They are in Taiwan with Madeleine now! HOW COOL IS THAT?????

more jellystone park photos

Click HERE to see Jellystone Park photos.

sleepy tucker

Tucker was so exhausted from the trip, this evening he was falling asleep on the stairs before dinner. This video is too funny! (Well, in our opinion!)

jellystone park

We made it home from Jellystone Park this morning. We had a great time! We finally saw why everyone was recommending this place to us. It was much smaller than I imagined but there were plenty of activities. We stayed in the "Yogi on the Lake" cabin. This was a quite popular lake for fishing amongst all the kids. The cabin slept 8 but there's no way we would have squeezed that many people in there. First of all the shower was TINY and the hot water lasted maybe 2 minutes. There was a bedroom with a queen bed, a futon, and a loft with 2 double beds. The porch was great because it was screened in and over the lake.

We rented a golf cart to get around. It was quite fun riding around in it off the paths. We went to the petting zoo and fed the animals. We went to the water park twice. We went on a hayride, where Santa was the driver, and went to a magical field and planted pumpkin seeds. The next morning we went back and found our magical seeds turned into pumpkins. The kids were able to paint pictures, ceramics and their pumpkins. There was a costume contest, monster mash dance, halloween parade, and trick or treating. They also had a park that we went to several times along with miniture golf. Shelby and Lonnie also fished quite a bit. Shelby caught 3 fish! Oh, and then they had movies at dusk for the kids. It was great!

On Friday, Yogi Bear showed up at our cabin (on a golf cart) with a huge balloon bouquet from my parents for mine and Lonnie's 10 year anniversary. It was too sweet!

Here's another fish Shelby caught!
Here's the great water park! It was super shallow!

I took a TON of photos so I'm going to put them all in a shutterfly album link for those that want to see ALL the stuff we did. I definitely give this place a thumbs up!

10 years

Can you believe 10 years ago today Lonnie and I got married???

jellystone park

Tomorrow we leave for Jellystone Park. We've heard so many wonderful things about this place. Shelby is beyond excited! We will not be roughing it in a tent. Nooooo thank you!! We will be staying in a "Yogi on the Lake" cabin. We are all packed and ready to go.

tuckered out tucker

This bed business is not going well. Tucker still refuses to sleep in his bed. He's been falling asleep in our bed and we move him to his bed and then a few hours later he's back up and in our bed. Now he's falling asleep during class since he's not getting enough sleep. We've already gated him in (which he climbed over) and put child proof knobs on the door (which he can still open). The last step is to put a new door knob on his door that locks. I do not want to do this. But I don't know how much choice I have unless I want him to sleep with us....which I do not. With Shelby we just gated her in and she would throw herself on the floor and cry. But after 3 days, she was over it and in her bed. Why can't he do that????

nakey in the pink shoes

Watch out! Naked boy in his sister's crocs.

19 more days

19 more days and Tucker turns TWO! (insert bawling my eyes out emoticon here). We are doing his birthday party this year at Jump N Jungle. Unfortunately they had some flooding during Hurricane Ike but they will reopen in time for the party. YAY! I am SO SAD that my baby is turning 2, but I have to admit, I LOVE LOVE LOVE planning a birthday party with a theme. Tucker's birthday theme this year will be Thomas the Train. Tucker LOVES trains. We are taking the kiddos to Day Out with Thomas the weekend before his birthday in Rusk. For his birthday invitations I had "tickets" made up. Aren't these so cute!

And then I ordered some Thomas the Train whistles (parents are gonna love me!) and some Thomas mylar balloons. I will tie down the balloons with the whistles. This way it'll be great decoration and a great party favor for the kiddos to take home.

shelby singing

This will make you crack up laughing! I promise!

tucker and the big boy bed

This is what's happening now that Tucker's crib has been converted to the toddler bed. I usually let Shelby sleep downstairs with me on nights that Lonnie works. But with 2 in my bed, well, this just isn't working. Today I bought knob covers to try and keep Tucker in his room since he scaled the gate that I had in his doorway. Little stinker figured out how to open the door with the knob cover. UGH!!!

sunday chores

This is the only chore I can get the kids to do willingly without whining or running away. I can't wait until they can fold laundry and do the dishes!!!

new bikes

Lonnie and I got the kiddos new bikes last night. Shelby's reaction was priceless. It was similar to the Rose Petal Cottage video reaction. She said it was "perfect". I took them for bike rides this morning and it was a lot easier said than done. Shelby did fine, but Tucker, well, that's another story. We need to teach him to pedal. He HATED having to wear a helmet. I had to push him the entire way. We have a lot of practice ahead of us before our trip.

slacker

Wow, I've really slacked off this week. I'm sorry for those that follow daily. October is here and it's a busy month for us. We are booked every weekend this month. I can't believe Tucker will be TWO this month. (enter sappy crying mother icon here)

Today Lonnie took Tucker to Deer Park to see a parade that was nothing but fire trucks, police cars, and ambulances. Hello!! Can you say cloud 9 for Tucker??? LOL While Lonnie took Tucker there I took Shelby to see the new Beverly Hills Chihuahua movie. Cheesy, yet cute.

Tonight Buffy is coming over to babysit and Lonnie and I are going out to dinner and to buy the kiddos bikes. Real bikes. Not just the radio flyer trikes. We are going to Jelly Stone Park in 2 weeks and we want to bring bikes. They are going to be so excited when we come home with bikes for them!