Gingerbread Challenge 12.13.07

Tera challenged us to make a gingerbread house this year. We decorated a gingerbread house but Tom Thumb (gocery store) made it for us. The kids loved decorating. Gavin said that is was funner than riding bikes. Sam got way into it making the fence and snowman. He aslo dusted our m&m grass with powdered sugar to represent our Texas snow that doesn't even cover our yard. Thanks for the challenge Tera, we had fun.

Dora 12.13.07

My kids just love to watch Dora. I don't think they will be able to speak spanish any time soon, but Dora gives me a little bit of peace and quiet each day. Although, they do occationally yell spanish words and "Swiper no swiping." Rene'e has also picked up the phrase, "Oh man!" Which can be pretty fun when used at the right moment. Thank goodness for our DVR and they can watch Dora on demand.

Heard Natural Science Museum 12.08.07

We took the kids to see the Heard Natural Science Museum's Dinosaur alive exhibit. The dinosaurs were life size, except the two bigest, moved, and made sounds. The kids really enjoyed it. Sam dressed the kids that day, so that explains Rene'e's hair and outfit.

Trey

Trey has been diagnosed with bacterial myositis (an inflammation of muscle tissues as the result of a bacterial infection) and a bacterial bronchitis. He has to stay in the hospital for the rest of the week to get his IV antibiotics and they he will be able to go home. There should not be any lasting effects of his illness. Thank you for all your prayers.

Cousin Sleepover & Trey 's in the Hospital

We have spent a lot of time at Alycia's this week. Gavin, Rene'e, Blake, and Sydney all sleep in the same room while we are here. They usually take about two hours to finally get to sleep. I couldn't resist taking this picture on Tuesday night. We slept here on Monday and Tuesday. Then I went home on Wednesday. On Wednesday evening, Trey went into the hospital with leg pain and a fever. I came back down here on Thursday and will go home tonight becasue Nick's mom is now here with Blake and Sydney. Trey is on IV antibiotics but hasn't gotten any better. They don't know how long he is going to be in the hopital and the doctors aren't sure what is wrong with him, so please keep him in your prayers.

Birthday Girl

Here is our three year old birthday girl. We celbrated at Alycia's house this year so Sam wouldn't have to commute so far and we could have more time together as a family. Plus, if you add three cousins and have two siblings, it is an instant party. Rene'e requested dinner at McDonalds and all the kids had fun playing there. She didn't seem to mind the big hole in her cake.

Let Them Eat Cake

I really enjoy making beautiful cakes for my children's birthdays. I spent a good amount of time decorating this cake on Sunday night, even though we had a showing at 9am the following morning. When I came into Alycia's kitchen and saw this huge chunck missing, I immediatly thought it was one of the kids, but with further inspection, I found frosting on the fur under Jinx's mouth. I could have killed him. We still ate the non slobbered on cake.

Birthday Pankcake

This is one of the birthday traditions from my family. Sam thought of adding food coloring to the number. Rene'e wouldn't let me cut up her three though. I had to cut around it.

Trying for a nice photo 10.2.07

I wanted to get a pretty picture of Rene'e in her Christmas dress. This is what I was able to get and Gavin wanted his picture taken too.

Pony Time 10.1.07

As an early birthday pressent to Rene'e, we took her, and of course Gavin, to ride a pony at the Frisco Horse Farm. Rene'e just loved it. She is an animal lover and loves horses the most. I loved watching Sam run around leading a pony because Rene'e wanted the pony to trot.

Oh Christmas Tree 11.30.07

Since we know we will be in our house for Christmas, we got our decorations up. The kids love to help decorate the tree. Thank goodness for shatterproof ornaments. The house looks so much more like a home with the decorations up. It has felt sterile since we have been showing it.

Weekend in Austin 11.24.07

We spent a weekend with Sam's older brother, Christian, and his family. Gavin and Rene'e were thrilled to find three new cousins, Bennette, Emma, and Cooper. It had been three years since we saw them and it was our first time meeting Cooper. Cooper is seven months younger than Carter, but was a little bigger than him. Sam and Christian spent a day visiting their brother, John, at basic training in San Antonio. Tera and I had fun designing her future scraproom and talking about our upcoming Scrapbook Camp (CKU) in June.

Thanksgiving

We spent Thanksgiving at Alycia's house with her family and Nick's parents. I got to bring homemade candy, stuffing, and sweet potatoes. I had to follow a strickt recipe for the sweet potatoes though. We had a great time and the kids enjoyed playing with their cousins as usual.

Family Photo Fiasco 11.17.07

Our neighbor Cory took our family Christmas photo for us again this year. Rene'e ruined every one. This was my favorite one the she messed up. The one we are going to send out isn't so bad but you will laugh when you see her.

Sweet Carter 11.17.07

Here is our sweet Carter. He is alread 14months old. He can now crawl up and down the stairs and pulls himself up to furniture. He made it to 17 lbs! He is still working with Early Childhood Intervention and is doing well. I feed him 5 oz. of whole milk mixed with 1 oz. of whipping cream. Doesn't that sound yummy?

New House

We got good news on our D.R. Horton house. Their sales woman is not going to market our house because she has two others of the same floor plan. She told our realtor just to let her know when our house sells and we will set a date for closing.

Update on House

Our buyers were not able to sell their house and they were not able to meet our lease to own requirements, so we will not be moving in December. We are hoping to find another buyer or have the previous buyers sell their house. My realtor is talking to D.R. Horton about the house we had under contract, so I am not sure what will happen with that. We are under contingent contract, so we won't lose our earnest money.

Buyer Backout

The buyers for our house are backing out. They had a contingent contract which we accepted because we thought that a relocation company was going to buy there house. The relocation company decided not to buy there house, so the buyer cannot buy our home. They lowered the price by $20,000 to try to sell before closing and want to look at a lease to own but nothing is for sure right now. Our house is now back on the market. Luckily Sam has off on Friday and can help me get ready for showings again. We are really disappointed and hope that we are still able to buy our house in Fort Worth.

On a positive note, Sam likes his new job. He has an hour and a half commute each way, but the work is interesting to him.

Camera Surprises

Because of all the packing, I haven't been taking too many pictures. I took my camera to my sister's on Sunday, to upload some pictures onto the blog and I found the two of Rene'e and Gavin on the camera. I guess Sam couldn't resist when he went in to check on them before going to bed. I took the one of Carter. He had a great time playing in the toy box.

The packing is going well. Alycia came up to help me this week. It is going a lot faster since I got rid of so much when we left Maryland. We have only been here for 18 months, so we haven't aquired too much junk.

We went to our new ward on Sunday to scout out some moving help. It is a big ward that has a lot of people our age. There are also a lot of families that live in our neighborhood. It is always hard to start fresh in a new ward, but I am sure we will be really happy there.

Carter learned to clap. Sam starts his new job tomorrow. Gavin is still enjoying his twice a week preschool. Rene'e still carries her stuffed tigger everywhere. I just finished the last Harry Potter. I know I am really behind the rest of you but I have been really busy the last few months and Joi made me read Stephenie Meyers books first, which are really good. Vampires. Who would have thought. Anyway. Until I find another moment, I hope all is well.

Last Game for the Tanks

Gavin's last game of the season did not start off very well. He was messing with the lock on the stroller and cut him finger pretty bad. He was bleeding and crying, so he didn't play the first half. He was still pretty sad when he went in the game but his attitude changed quickly when he scored his very first goal. I took the above picture right after he scored. We were really proud of him and he is still talking about his goal.

Soccer Party

Gavin's end of season soccer party was on Thursday. We had a BBQ at the team mom's house. I made the cake. As you can tell from the picture, Gavin was thrilled to get a trophy.

Trick-or-Treat

I took the kids Trick-or-Treating this year. Gavin and Rene'e were so excited. They were running from house to house. Carter was content, for the hour we were out, sitting in the stroller. Carter experienced fun sized candy bars for the first time and loved them! Rene'e was thrilled to get so much candy. Gavin even got some black goo from our next door neighbors. I got bit by a neighborhood dog. I don't think I made out as well as the kids.

39 Days

We move in 39 days! Gavin wanted to know so I counted for him and now I am all stressed out about packing up this whole house. At least I am not pregnant this time.