Christmas Vacation

making a gingerbread house!!!

tim and trav walking along the beach

by one of the pretty winter scene's in the hotel-- see what adam is holding! in front of the beau rivage in biloxi, ms adam's home state

this captured adam's personality!!!

our house is still trying to unpack, do laundry and keep up with everything - so here's a sample of our vacation moments. i'll post more details of our trip this week :)


---------------- oh before we left- we had a quick visit with dad and linda! i mean it was QUICK! we were outhte door and they came in with more presents! thank you pete, bobby & liz and dad & linda for the presents! they were on their way to lake charles, la for some fun :)
ok, so after a few days of rental car issues- for another, post another day- we hit the road friday around 10am and headed to biloxi. tim booked us a water view room at the beau rivage hotel and casino- it was amazingly beautiful! by the time we got there it was just about 8pm- more rental car company issues-and this thick fog had rolled in. so no gulf was in view from our room, lol! oh well. we changed and headed downstairs to the lobby/casino/restaurants and had a great dinner at the buffet. everyone had exactly what they wanted- trav had been asking for pizza and pasta ALL day and that's what he got. cayley was more excited about the fancy desserts, adam brought his own apple to dinner, and tim ate the kids weight in crab legs, lol! adam found the crab legs irresistible- not to eat, but to play with. he ended up carrying a CLAW around after dinner while we looked at the shops and the hotel christmas decor. you can see him holding it in one of the pics!!!
we have to go back and stay during the spring/summer! the pool was so pretty! tim and i took turns the next early morning to play some slots- lost it all, but had fun.
we left for florida the next morning and the fog had lifted! our saturday drive was a breeze! made a quick stop at the florida state welcome center- got some fun maps and info packets- the kids loved that- and a cup of fresh florida orange juice- YUM! kids should not play with big state maps in the back seat- LOL - and got to my in laws and relaxed!

sunday- ginger bread house day! that was a blast! tim and his sister teri worked on the structure and the kids did most of the decorating. - and sampling of the decorations as well.

monday we drove around panama city beach - like tourists visiting in the wrong season, lol! there's an open mall called pier park- where we shopped, did a mirror maze, a laser beam challenge game, cayley & i got hair cuts, and we had lunch at red brick pizza. --oh and dessert at marble slab- haven't been there in sooo long!

then we drove along the beach and hopped out for some quick pics- while the sun was shining! adam wasn 't feeling well and was sleeping in the car- poor little guy!

tuesday- tim, cayley and his mom ran some errands and ate lunch at po folks!!! anyone remember po folks restaurant??? well, it was THE place for my family to go when i was little- after every award ceremony, school function, good grades on report cards, you name it - it was time to celebrate with chicken fried steak and strawberry shortcake at po folks! tim brought me a dessert- which was good, but they make it different now after 18 years- he's a sweetie and brought me one of the old games i use to play there!! i'm bringing it to sa for the shower :)

wednesday- christmas eve! we went to the BEACH! the clouds did roll back in and the wind picked up, but there was no stopping some texas kids from playing the the turquoise water! ok- i didn't let them play too long though. long enough for them to have fun, get some pics and then have to clean them up!!! we cleaned up just in time for a christmas eve dinner at outback! what a great end to a busy day :) the food was super and the dessert was awesome! it was a huge slice of nutter butter pie! after dinner i was ready for a quiet evening. the boys had littletrouble falling asleep, while cayley was so excited about santa's arrival- it took her a little longer to dream of sugar plums. we put out a christmas cupcake- for a change of pace-reindeer food, and milk and left a note. we were in bed and sounds asleep not long after the kids- long day!

thursday- christmas day! santa did a great job! he brought cayley & trav each a nintendo ds and games! they love it :) grandma tami, grandpa chuck, aunt teri and great grandma betty all got the kids some really fun stuff! too much to name and 1/2 still packed in the garage- they did too much for us as well. thank you guys for having us! we shared a huge meal with turkey, ham, stufing, and on and on! super good!

it took me so long to finish this post- so i'll have more when the kids go back to school on wedensday. and now our adam is 4!

This Weekend

This weekend will be filled with cookie making, Christmas movie watching, nap taking, and snowflake crafts! oh and Tim's bday cake is to be baked on Sunday :)
There will probably be some laundry done in between and the dishes are never done, but they are always there. no tv shows or computer games for the kids-- it will be Christmas movies and music all weekend....breakfast for dinner, pizza night, hot cocoa....fun mom is here!!!
Tim's out of town on a deer hunt till Sunday...so mommy will be coffee'ed up asap.

I'm trying anyway....keep ya posted.

Whoa! Snow!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Yes! it really snowed here last night. the kids had so much fun-- mommy and daddy did too!!! it's 9:35am and there's still lots of snow on the ground- slowly melting away, but still there. amazing! God sure can throw us some curve balls like random snowy nights in texas..... His work is beautiful :)

Cayley's Penguin Debut

Make a Smilebox greeting

i tried to get a little video....she spoke so loud and clear. so proud of our cayley!

December is making my head spin!

i know there are tons of moms with tons more things to do....but gosh- it seems like each day there is something important to do, rememeber to do (or at least remember not to forget!). with 2 in school- there is always a project or activity- all good things! i just pray that i keep up and organized. christmas shopping this year has been relatively easy...can't go into details...but it's going well. trav came home with a family project to decorate this ornament for his class tree. so "lett" in cherrios and trix and sweet tarts to color it up a little. he liked doing this! and they all snacked as we glued!

i have to get cookies made soon! we did a small batch of chocolate chip this weekend- they have mostly been gobbled up with hot chocolate while we watched christmas movies on saturday night! so more have to be made :) and i have to have my "abuelita" hot chocolate!

i have made list of things i have to do and need to pack for florida, and hope to cross some things off this week. oh! tim's birthday is one week away!!!! i need to make a special birthday dessert for him...i'll start searching the web today. hummmmm, maybe a black forest cake? i don't know! tim's bday kicks off the birtday season around here! there's him, baby jesus ;) adam, then trav (oh and stella!!!) & ben in feb, one dad in march, cayley, pat,& linda in april- then i think a break till june. and that's just of the top of my head. i know there's more.

today: finish my grocery list, a couple loads of weekend laundry, work on my coupon binder, and think about starting on the kids rooms- not sure why they have to take everything out of every where?! but they do......throwing on the "twilight" soundtrack- good music for cleaning!

for real :)

on the mend

i am such a dork and reading"new moon" again. just read that they are hoping to get this movie out in 2010.

but feeling way better than i was yesterday! and getting excited about our florida holiday- 18 more days!

cayley started her own blog! the link is in my list over here--->

happy we are having spaghetti and italian sausage for dinner- like i said....dorkiness...

It's Been A LONG 2 Weeks

well, for about 2 weeks now- everyone in my house has been sick at least once. first some kind of stomach thing going around, now the head colds! i am at the brink of exhaustion right now- but we all had a wellness break for a couple of days last week- so thanksgiving was amazing! thank you family for coming to our home and sharing your time with us! it was such a blessing to have each of you here. we all pull things together so well :)

since we won't be here at home for christmas- i'm not putting our tree up and only put out a few decorations in the house. the kids are looking forward to spending the holiday in florida- so look out tami :) we'll be there soon!

tim took me out to the movies- saw "twilight"! not as good as the book- but pretty good- tim liked it too. i could go on and on- but i won't about it.

cayley has a school christmas program this friday and then again on tuesday- so i'll get some pics and video up asap. got some christmas shopping done this weekend and will hopefully finish this week- most have to be mailed this year- and i don't want to be late!

Make a Smilebox slideshow