Getting ready....

So excited we can hardly stand it!  Its December 23 and we are all filled with so much of anticipation!  I wish that we would bottle up these next few days.  The excitement, the happiness, the thrill of surprise, the hugs and the gratitude are all feelings I would love to hold onto all year long.

We have so much to be thankful for this year and I hope that I can learn to convey that to our children even more.  We have been able to hang in there despite the rough economy and our job situations.  We always have food on our table and more than enough clothes to keep us warm.  We have wonderful family and friends who love us and take care of us.  And we have a great home with wonderful neighbors and the kids attend a school with a caring and loving staff.

Though there are times that we wish we could do more and have more money and be able to pay off bills - but if we stop and think about it....we have all we need and are so very fortunate.

Bring on the Christmas Joy!  We are more than ready for it!  I just hope it goes by slowly!

Holiday fun....

I could not have had a better day....shopping with mom, baked cookies with JoJo while watching Polar Express and Santa Paws, Christmas pasta for dinner and Frosty the Snowman on TV for dessert!  It was a day to just do stuff with my family....and I realize how little I do this.  I spend my days doing laundry, cleaning up, doing work, answering phone calls and emails and running errands.  I don't take nearly enough time to hang out with my kids and husband.  I don't take enough time to just BE with them.  BE myself and not the mom or business owner or PTA vice pres or cheer coach.  I wear so many hats that I rarely go WITHOUT a hat!  I would like to be able to take off my other hats and just be a mom and friend and family member.  This will be my new years resolution this year.  I may not be able to do these things often but I hope to be able to do it on the weekends.  I will work hard during the week but I want to focus on family at night and during the weekends.  Life is passing me by and I'm not able to enjoy it fully because I'm too busy.

So, after today's Holiday events....I learned a lesson and had a wonderful time with my kiddos.

Pictures from Monica

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LEGO BEDROOM

We did it!  We finally redid the boys room!  I had this idea months ago and did quite a bit of research on the internet to find what kind of ideas I could pull together for a cool Lego room!  My mom, of course, got excited about it too so that just put me into motion!  We bought paint, some brushes and wen to town!  For some reason, my mom enjoys painting....so more power to her!

We painted and then I shopped!  New bedding for the boys and a new rug and then we made the "accessories" for the walls too.  My mom made curtains because I couldn't find exactly what I wanted.  

I had so much fun!  My creative brain really went to work!  I would LOVE to redo my bedroom and the front game room too but maybe next summer.....

JoJo and Tatum Staying Cool

JoJo has a good friend Tatum.  She is Carolyn's granddaughter and when she comes to visit- she heads straight to our house to play with the boys.  In fact, if we leave the door unlocked, she'll just walk right in!  She is a sweet girl and LOVES JoJo!  They could play for hours!  This one summer day, it was too hot to do much but they wanted to jump on the trampoline!  After doing that for a few minutes and realizing how hot it was- they moved their play time to a little pool under the trampoline so they could cool off!  

TP Brothers strike again

For weeks, the boys have been bugging me to go tp-ing.  They keep asking and I keep putting them off.  This is totally my fault because I allowed it to happen the first time a few months ago and now I will never live it down.

So I gave in....Jonathan was at the point of begging so I finally asked him WHO we would TP.  He immediately come up with the idea to TP Greg and Lisa.  How could I say no....it was a safe place, we could clean it up afterwards and we could go early and still get to bed on time!

So we did it!  They had a great time!  Jojo had no idea what to do but was just excited to be a part of it!

Suns Camp

As we do every year, the boys went to the Phoenix Suns basketball camp!  Jacob complains about going, but in reality, I think he enjoys playing with friends and eating candy and snacks at the snackbar!  

Both boys had a great time and JoJo can't wait until he can go!  However, as long as he is still scared of the "Monkey", he won't be doing this camp!  :-)