For Missy

I think you could fit all of your flowers and kids in this one. What do you think?

Just checking to see if Missy actually reads my blog... Love ya girl!

Mama's Christmas tree

Decorating Christmas trees normally sends me over the edge. My OCD doesn't usually allow me the enjoyment of decorating. If the ornaments and lights aren't PERFECTLY spaced I will freak out! Today we got home from Austin (after a wonderful Thanksgiving!) and the boys went to help Andy with something so I decided to get the tree set up. I got it set up, plugged in, and then started putting a few ornaments on. I figured I would flip out shortly and make Andy do the rest....which has been the way it has gone for the last 8 years! However, I never flipped out. I just kept trucking along and before you knew it the tree was decorated! Folks, this is a FIRST! I have to say I am very proud of myself! I know there are other trees out there that are better decorated but I have accomplished something big tonight! There was no screaming, no bad mood, and no cussing Christmas. It was actually a good experience and I can honestly say I am looking forward to decorating next Christmas!

Ok, I have to admit, I did consume SOME wine tonight, which made the process MUCH more enjoyable!

Happy Thanksgiving

Our family has so many things to be thankful for I couldn't possibly list them all in this post. Thank you GOD for blessing us in abundance! We are so thankful for all of our family and friends. Thank you for supporting us and believing in us. We hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Patio Furniture

Most of you know that I have wanted patio furniture in a REAL bad way since we moved into our house. We haven't been able to get any yet (too many other things we needed when we first moved in and now it's not the right season to buy it). So I made my own set up yesterday. Don't be jealous! :)

Mason's turn

Mason decorated his Christmas tree after school (well after school, the park and storytime) today. They are so excited to have their trees up. We have never decorated for Christmas before Thanksgiving. Mason asked me why we had our Christmas stuff out when we haven't even had Thanksgiving yet! My friend Missy and her boys are coming over tomorrow. Decorating comes second nature to her so I plan on soliciting her help in my Christmas decoration placement!

Mason's putting the final ornament on his tree. Looks good to me. I have to make a small confession though. After the boys left the room I did move some of the 15 ornaments placed on the lowest branches of the tree to higher branches. I just couldn't help myself!

Oh yeah, and one more ornament to finish up Alex's tree!

Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree

Next week we will have two parties at our house (Southern Living and Alex's birthday). I debated putting up our Christmas decorations before or after the parties. I decided I should put them up before. We will be in Austin for Thanksgiving so I figured I should get a head start by at least getting the Christmas bins out of the garage. Yesterday I kept Alex home from school because he wasn't feeling well. He helped me unpack the Christmas bins and we put everything out in the living room. It's still there. See pic below!

Our house is a little bigger than our last one so the decorations won't spread as far as they used to! I'm thinking about just leaving them as they are right now just piled up around the fireplace and on the floor. That way the boys can really experience them hands on! :)
This morning Alex asked if he could put his tree up in his room. I said sure and brought the tree and lights into his room. I started setting up the tree and stringing the lights and noticed Alex was no where to be seen. But, once the lights were done he was excited to hang the ornaments on his tree.

All done! Now if Mommy can just resist the urge to rearrange the ornaments for more even placement!

Now for some rambling...I thought since I sent my evite for my Southern Living party out almost a month ago it would really motivate me to get some things done around the house. As I am sitting here typing, the same projects on the list a month ago are still on the list. We leave Thursday to go to Austin for Thanksgiving. I am assuming we will be coming back Saturday so we can put up our Christmas decorations and possibly need to finish painting the half bath that we started this weekend. Here is my week next week. Monday night I have a MOPS thing, Wednesday is Alex's birthday and Thursday is MOPS in the morning then the Southern Living party that night. Looks like Tuesday I am going to be busting my butt! I work better under pressure though, no worries! So if you are coming to the SL party, have mercy on me. Don't look at my bare walls, sparse decor and possibly dirty floors. Just pour yourself a drink (I can't pour everyones!) grab a bite of food and have FUN!

Misc. Pics

Here is another bubble bath shot of the boys. They love playing in the bubbles.

Here is a moth that Andy saw last weekend in Del Rio. I love all of the colors.

And now for the weekend rambling....Mason had his first experience Saturday morning seeing a deer get shot, skinned, etc. (I don't know all of the details, by choice!) Mason thought it was the coolest thing ever. He was so excited. Then this afternoon he went with Andy to butcher some turkeys. I called to check on him and he said he was fine and didn't want to come home. He is a big hunter already. I am glad he enjoys doing that with his daddy. Meanwhile, Alex doesn't show much interest in it so we have had lots of 1x1 time coloring, doing puzzles, playing playdough, reading books, playing balloon catch, etc. Andy and I hung out with Natalie and Harper last night which is always a great time. It's nice to have adult time every now and then! Our half bath has texture on the walls now. Yippee! Now we just need to paint it! Alex and Andy are not feeling well. Alex has a bad cough and lots of drainage he has been on the nebulizer every 4 hours. He is such an old pro at it now. We can read books & do puzzles while getting a breathing treatment. We have come a long way from the days where it took 3 of us to hold him down! It's almost Thanksgiving! I can't wait to see my extended family and eat WAY too much food!

Proud Parents

As I opened Mason's folder Friday afternoon I was literally moved to tears. There was a piece of paper in there that validated our months of hard work. I haven't blogged about this before so let me start from the beginning...
Last year Mason did not learn anything in Kindergarten. He wasn't required to read or write. As long as he didn't get in trouble in class and played nicely with the other kids he could pass to 1st grade. Sure there were assessments done to determine his move to 1st but let's just say there may have been some data integrity issues (not just with him, but every kid in his class). Andy and I knew he should be reading by 1st grade so we made our summer goal teaching Mason how to read. Needless to say, this summer was more than chaotic for us with a move to an apartment, then a move to a new city. By the end of the summer Mason was reading Go, Dog, Go by himself and Andy and I thought, goal accomplished! We still knew he would probably be behind but we weren't sure just how much.
October 12th I had my first parent teacher conference with Mason's teacher. There I found out he was at a level 2 in reading and by Christmas he needed to be at a level 7/8. I was told that he would have to work really hard otherwise there was a chance he wouldn't be able to move on to 2nd grade. At that moment I felt like someone kicked me in the gut. I actually had a hard time breathing and it was everything I could do to keep from crying. I tried not to act too surprised and was able to finish the conference. I didn't even make it to my car before I was sobbing. I could barely relay the news to Andy. My mom was in town watching the boys so I called her and told her I couldn't come home yet. I parked in a grocery store parking lot for almost an hour. I was SOOO mad at his kindergarten teacher. I wondered if there were 19 other parents sitting in a parking lot crying because their kids are behind in 1st grade. Then I starting thinking about the 20 new kids in her class this year. It wasn't fair. Then with the help of Andy, my mom and his mom I got myself together and put a plan in place. My child WILL go to second grade. He WILL catch up with his class. It's just a matter of how hard we have to work to get there. There is no doubt he will get there. So that afternoon we worked for over an hour with phonics, flashcards, games, reading, etc. Everyday since then we have worked just as hard.
Mason was selected at the beginning of the year (after some initial assessments) to participate in a reading program called HOST (Helping One Student at a Time). At first I felt bad that he was being pulled out of the mainstream for help. But that feeling only lasted a matter of minutes. I knew he needed this and not every child who needs this program is selected. I can't say enough great things about HOST. This program and the people that are involved are amazing. Above all else, they give Mason encouragement and confidence. They love him and he loves them. They make him feel like he is on top of the world. He feels special every time he goes to HOST. This program is made up mostly of volunteers. Volunteers from the community, from the high school, from higher grades in his school, parents, etc. If it wasn't for these people dedicating their time to my child, we wouldn't be where we are today. Thank you HOST for all you do. It's an invaluable program.
This leads me to the reason for the post. Yesterday in Mason's folder we received the paper below. It says "Your child is performing ON level in their guided reading group." By the end of the 2nd 6 weeks the kids should be reading at a level 5-6 and Mason is reading at a level 5-6. WHOOOO HOOOOO! Mason has had two report cards with all A's and B's and continuously gets 100's on his spelling and vocabulary tests. I can't say enough how proud I am of him. I help him, his teacher helps him and HOST helps him but what it really comes down to is Mason is a hard worker. He is a smart kid. He tries harder than anyone I know. He wants to do well. And with that attitude how can you not? I will take that attitude over an A any day. We will still continue to work hard everyday to stay on the path we are on. But I can't tell you what an amazing feeling it was to see this paper.

My little boy is growing up. I couldn't be more proud of him. Can you tell?!

Baby Reagan's 2nd Bday

This past weekend we attending Reagan's 2nd birthday party. Even though she is turning two pretty soon the boys still call her Baby Reagan. She is definitely not a baby anymore. She is so independent and sweet. She has incredible manners already and has the cutest personality. Thank you Stacey and Bodie for inviting us to Ray's party. It was great to see everyone.
Reagan had a Dora themed birthday party. Dora, Dora, Dora the explorer! I had that song in my head for at least 12 hours after the party! :) Here is Ray sneaking a lick of icing before singing Happy Birthday.

Yum, that was GOOD!

Princess Reagan

The crowd singing Happy Birthday

Getting ready to blow out the candle

Great job!

Time to dig in!

Then it was time to bounce in the Dora bounce house!

Look how tall Mason looks here! And I can't believe how much Tara's daughter Kyra has grown too. She is going to be tall like her mama!

Mason and Ray taking a break!

Reagan had never been in a bounce house before and she did a fantastic job keeping her balance and bouncing with the big kids!

Veteran's Day

I was looking for a poem to post on my blog in reference to Veteran's Day. I found a bunch I liked but the more I thought about it, I think the most important thing we can say to Veteran's today is THANK YOU!! Each Veteran gave something different to ensure we have the freedoms we have today. So thank you to each and every one of you for ALL that you did to allow us the freedom to choose. Thank you to my dad for serving our country as a Marine. Thank you to my Father-in-Law, a purple heart recipient, for serving our country in the Army. A personal thank you to all of my relatives and friends for proudly serving our country. Thank you to all of those who have served or are serving that I don't know. You don't know me, but you fought/fight for my freedoms. Thank you!!
I used to work with a man at Dell (who has now passed away) who was career military. He began working at Dell after retiring from the military. Each Veteran's day Dell would host an event to celebrate and honor Veterans. After one of the events I went up to him and shook his hand and just said "Thank you". His eyes welled up a little and he stood up a little taller and said "You are welcome." It was so simple, but meant so much. So make sure you tell the Veteran's in your life "Thank you" today!

Opening weekend (deer)

Sunset over Lake Sommerville. BEAUTIFUL!!!

Andy took the boys through one of the parks at Lake Sommerville yesterday and they saw a TON of deer and a beautiful sunset. Wish I had been there with them!

This morning Andy took the boys hunting. This was Alex's first hunting trip. The morning started off at 4:45am! I got up with Andy to help get the boys dressed and out the door on time. Alex was VERY hard to wake up but he finally got moving. I wasn't sure if he was more excited about hunting or the stop for donuts before hunting! Mason woke right up and was ready to go. He is an old pro at this now! They guys were out the door by 5:10 and I was wide awake. So I enjoyed a quiet morning of drinking coffee and reading the paper....wow, I am getting old! Then it was off to the garage sale at my in-laws. We had a garage sale Friday and Saturday. We did pretty well considering we sold mostly small items. We made enough to go get a rug for our front living room. I really like it! But of course now I need to change out the throw pillows on the couch! Each room in our house is still a work in progress! Some bigger projects than others!

So the result of the hunting trip you ask? As the guys were about to pull out of our driveway they saw 2 deer on our neighbors land. They saw one deer from the blind. They could have all piled in our bed and watched for deer from our patio door! But it was the experience that mattered most!

Ramblings

Yesterday morning I called the Brenham Clinic to try to get Mason a doctor's appt. He said he felt like he was swallowing gumballs when he swallowed. To my surprise they could see him at 3:20 yesterday. We get there a little after 3:00. Thank goodness we were early because they informed me they just transitioned to a new system and they needed me to fill out all new paperwork on both kids (10 papers total)! After completing the paperwork we get to the pediatric waiting room where it is FULL!!! We are about #12 in line (WITH an appt.) Two hours later we finally get to see the doctor. Seriously! I guess we made a little progress because the first time we went to see the doctor we waiting 3 hours! The result was Mason has tonsillitis. He has been a trooper. He rarely complains and hasn't missed any school. The antibiotics are starting to work so he should be back to normal in no time.
This morning I signed up to be a Southern Living at Home Consultant. Yes I did. I know this may be shocking to some, but I actually think it is a great way to meet people. It's a great way to get people together and maybe even make a little money on the side. I ordered my "starter kit" today which comes with product that I can display at my first party. So you can see first hand what the product is like. It's great stuff. I am hoping to have my "launch" party the end of Nov or beginning of Dec so we can get the product in before Christmas. Stay tuned for the evite. If you live in Brenham and I know your name, you are invited! (wink, wink!) If you are not familiar with their products check out the website. www.southernlivingathome.com
This weekend Jeanell and Amy are having a garage sale so I spent the week getting more "inventory" ready to sell in their garage sale. I hope to sell enough stuff to by a larger rug for our front living area. I am ready for the garage sale to be over so I can focus on my next 3 large projects. 1- Alex's birthday party. 2- My Southern Living party. 3- Texture and paint our front bathroom. Of course there are a million other projects on the "to-do" list as well but those are my top 3 right now. Thanksgiving will be here before we know it and then Christmas! Have I done ANY Christmas shopping?! NOPE! I need to get on that as well. I think that's enough rambling for me tonight. Until next time....

Cub-O-Ree

Before I get into Cub-O-Ree I have to start out with what we did Friday night. Friday night we all dressed up (first time all 4 of us have ever dressed up for Halloween) and attended at Halloween party at Andy's aunt and uncle's house. All of the extended family was there and we had TONS of great food. Andy's aunt Laura really put a lot of time and effort into planning this party, complete with a haunted house. Everyone had a great time. The boys ended up going to bed pretty late so we let them sleep in somewhat Saturday morning. We were supposed to be at the Boy Scout Halloween party at 9am but we ended up getting there at 10. Boy Scouts from around the region came to Camp Happy Hollow to participate in Cub-O-Ree. It was an all day event packed full of activities. When we got there we registered and received a schedule for the day. We followed Mason's pack around attending various activities. We started out going through a Haunted House, then we went to a BB gun range and shot the BB gun. Other activities included making goo, singing songs, venturing through a nature trail, making a snake with beads, and lots of fun games. The boys had a blast. The moms and dads were tired by the end! At one of the stations we saw a fox. It was strange to see it so close to the crowd. Probably not a good sign!

Mason making his snake with beads.
The boys listening closely to a lesson about "Leave no trace".

Mason packing his goodies around. He found a stick to carry the buckets so he could shift the weight on his shoulder. It made the load lighter. Smart boy!

BB gun range

Bean bag toss outside of the haunted house.

Halloween

Isn't this the cutest clown and pirate you've ever seen?! Ok, maybe I am a little biased! Halloween day we spent at Camp Happy Hollow with the Cub Scouts/Boy Scouts. We got there at 10am and left a little before 4:00. That made for a long day. So our plans to go trick or treating with a group of friends changed to going by ourselves in Granna and Grandpa's neighborhood. The boys had their chance to ring people's doorbell, say "trick or treat" and get candy. What else do ya need, right?! After trick or treating they went to sleep at Granna and Grandpa's so Andy and I could go to Harper and Natalie's house for football, awesome food, and a great time with friends.

The first house of the night.

Checking out the loot.