Merry Christmas

The Mom Song

I saw this tonight and just LOVED it! It's for all you Moms out there. Enjoy!!!!!



The Mom Song from Northland Video on Vimeo.

Girls Luncheon & Nutcracker

Last weekend, we had our First and hopefully, annual, Girls Luncheon. Mom, her daughters, daughter in law and 5 granddaughters got together at the Country Club for a Holiday lunch. All of the little girls got lots of attention from the other ladies eating in the dining room, especially Megan, in her little Santa pantsuit.

I think it was the first time we've all been together, just the 9 of us, for anything. We had the best time, and the girls thought it was really special.

It was also really nice to have a day out with my daughters. We put on Miley Cyrus music and rocked out while getting ready together. Yes, there was dancing around in our underwear involved! Ashley got to wear a little "makeup" and Laurie wore very little pink lipstick. It is a special memory for me, and hopefully for them also. Maybe next year we will add painting our fingernails to our girl time.

After lunch, we ran over to Granny's to spend a few minutes with her. Laurie always acts shy when we get there. But by the time we were ready to leave, she was all about giving Granny lots of Hugs. It was very sweet.

Shelly, her girls and Ashley & I went to see the Ballet Forte Performance of the Nutcracker. If you don't want to drive to downtown Houston to see HBT, come see the Ballet Forte performance. They are a professional company who delivered an amazing performance, much more spectacular than my expectations.

I was really moved watching the Nutcracker this year. It made me want to sign back up for a Ballet class and dig my old pointe shoes out of the closet. Ashley had a little trouble sitting still in the beginning, but soon fell in love with the Ballet. I'm not sure if was the dancing, the story, the costumes, or the specialness of the day, but she is ready to go see another one.

After the performance, all dancers came out to the Lobby for autograph signing. Ashley was a little hesistant at first, but soon, she and Cameron learned how to get to the front of the crowd to get the autograph of their favorites.

It was truly a wonderful day that I'd love to make an Annual event!

Political Spark & Sushi

I had the pleasure of attending a reception for my newly elected Congressman - Pete Olsen a few weeks ago. I have to say, after this long political season, then attending this reception really re-sparked my interest in politics. I know, you're thinking - there wasn't a spark before? If that was no spark, what in the world will I be like with a spark? I know that I'm a political junkie. But usually that is restricted to discussing with my family and a few friends and reading and writing on the internet. It's been many years since I'd been to a political event and talked with activist type people. It was very interesting and exciting to be in a room with people who were interested in the same type of politics I am.

After meeting our new Congressman, I am hopeful that he will be a strong needed Conservative for our district. He appears to be a good addition to the Houston area and Texas Delegation, which I think will be a very strong, influential delegation in the new Congress.

After the political event, we picked up the kids and went for sushi dinner. While the kids had already eaten dinner, Laurie and Daniel had a great time trying to eat their sushi rolls with chopsticks. Ashley had a great time with her chopsticks also, but it involved picking up lemon wedges.

The best part of the dinner was Daniel and Leah playing tic-tac-toe and Nana teaching Ashley how to play Hangman. Remember that game? Guess the letters to spell the word before you get a complete hangman drawn? She had the best time learning that!

Turkey Day Report

I'm a little late with our Turkey Day Report.

It was a great day with lots of friends and family enjoying food and more food at our house. We had all of the Jones, Turners, Caddells, and most of the Henley Family (Shelly & her group were in Dallas for the Holiday.) Truly, it was wonderful to have so many here to celebrate with us.

Once again, Brian cooked a wonderful Turkey that everyone enjoyed. The best part I think has to be all the great desserts! There were so many, it was hard to eat a piece of each of them, and you really wanted to eat all of them because they were so very good.

Here is a slide show of our pictures! Here's looking forward to next years' Turkey Day! One of my favorite holidays.

I know it is after the fact, but below is a Thanksgiving Day Prayer that I love and want to save for next year. Thanks for Lisa Hendey over at CatholicMom.com for posting it.

Heavenly Father,
This is the day set aside to give you thanks for your surpassing goodness to human beings. You have created us in your own image and set us over your wonderful creation. You chose a people to be your own and to carry your message of salvation to all people. You carried out your redemption in Jesus, your Son, and his saving fruits are passed on to every generation to all who believe that by his death and resurrection Jesus has given them a new freedom in his Spirit. Let me give you proper thanks for your blessings – those that I am aware of as well as those that I habitually take for granted. And let me learn to use them according to your will.
Amen

Birthdays, Birthdays

This year, while on vacation in Mexico, Brian and I decided to simplify the Birthday season this year. So, with Ashley & Daniel's blessing, we planned a joint birthday party for the two of them, while still celebrating each of them on their actual birthday.

Due to it being Thanksgiving week, there was no school on Daniel's birthday. When I asked him what he wanted to do, he said, "go to the Zoo!" That's my boy! Nana joined the 4 of us at the zoo for the day, enjoying great weather and seeing lots of animals.

The week prior, I did come have lunch with Daniel at school. He really enjoyed having me in the class.

That night, Brian and I hosted our parents over to the house to celebrate Daniel's birthday. We all enjoyed a nice evening, complete with chocolate cake.

Almost 2 weeks later, the kids had their joint birthday party at Bounce U. They each were able to invite friends from school, which made for a full house at the jumpy place.

Grandmommy & Aunt Flora once again made the most wonderful cakes!

The cakes got lots of Ooohs and Aaahs from the other parents. And to top it off, they tasted as good as they looked.

Daniel & Ashley each took a turn having "Happy Birthday" sung to them so they could blow out their candles.

Birdie just couldn't handle all the excitement of the day and took a little snooze before playing.

To celebrate Ashley's birthday a few days later, Daniel and I had lunch with her at school. And that night, the 5 of us had dinner at Ashley's choice of restuarant - Hacienda. While we didn't make another cake (we had plenty left over at home) to celebrate, Ashley did wear a sombrero while the wait staff sung Happy Birthday to her at dinner.

Rather than being really anxious about the Birthday season this year, we found it rather enjoyable. I think our future holds more joint birthday parties, if the kids agree!

Christmas Cutie

As you may remember from an earlier post, I decided to create a Christmas outfit for Laurie. Well, I finished, but was more involved than I thought. And now that it is finished only a week before Christmas, she's going to wear it every day from now until Christmas. I'm only kidding, well, sort of kidding.

Feel the Force

Just a funny moment from our house last night...

Sew Cute

This summer, at our Girl Craft Weekend, I started working on embellished pants for Laurie. Well, after several months, I've finished that pair of pants AND finally finished my second pair w/a shirt. I can't wait till tomorrow to put them on Laurie and see how they look.

First, this is the pair of jeans I made this summer at Girls Craft Weekend. I've yet to make a shirt to match, but that's ok, since the jeans won't fit Birdie until sometime in Spring.

Up close picture

This is the shirt and jeans that I finished tonight. Luckily, this one should fit her right now.

Now I have an idea for another pair for Christmas. I'm just not sure I can get them done BEFORE Christmas! Tomorrow maybe???

** Update **

Here is a picture of Laurie wearing the outfit. Not the best picture of the Bird, but you can see the outfit. It looked great on.

End of Soccer Season

Yes, it's November, and that means Fall Soccer Season has come to a close. Yeah! Oops, did I say that outloud?

This was Daniel's rookie season and he did Awesome! Watching him play was fun and exciting, probably because the boy was really really happy out there playing. He scored anywhere from 2-7 times per game and found himself outrunning most of his teammates. Many times when he would score, he would turn around immediately and hold up fingers to show us how many goals he had that day. He honestly couldn't tell you if his team won or lost, just how he did that day. The best word to describe him playing was Joy. That what he felt and what he exudes on the field. We really can't wait for the boy to play again in the Spring, and neither can he.

On the opposite end of the spectrum was Ashley. This was her 6th soccer season and probably her last. While she really liked practice, she has stopped enjoying playing the game. She had moments of greatness, but overall, it was a battle to get her dressed for a game every week. For us, it is sad. Ashley is not a bad player, she is fast and has good ball handling skills. For her, it is all in her head. No longer is she the standout player who scores 8 goals a game, now all the girls are good. Some are really good. Ashley just doesn't like it. She wants to be the best, the fastest, score the most goals. Its been a difficult adjustment for her to work her way through the middle of the pack. So, rather than fight it another season, she will move on to another sport or interest. She took tennis lessons last Summer, so maybe we'll go back to that. But swim team starts again in April, and she still has dance classes every week, so maybe we'll just enjoy one less practice a week to attend.

We have lots of great memories of Ashley playing these last 2 1/2 years. I can't wait to see what she wants to try next!

Keeping them busy

What do you do in a store to keep your little kids busy and out of trouble? Here is a good example of what we do while the 6 yr old is getting a haircut.

Give your 4 yr old the camera!

The video's a little looney, but hey, that's us!

Phi Mu Legacy

A few weeks ago, I took Ashley with me to a Phi Mu Homecoming brunch for both Alumnae and Collegians at U of Houston. It was her first introduction to Phi Mu and she loved it. Her favorite part were the sorority colors! Pink and White. Once she discovered our colors were Pink and White, she decided we had to wear pink - rather than UH's Red & White for Homecoming.

Ashley was a big hit. All the girls thought she was adorable and Ashley had a ball checking out every inch of the sorority house.

We had a great time seeing the Collegians, some Alumnae and the house. The best part was introducing Ashley as a legacy and an added bonus was UH winning the football game!

When Bayou Oaks at University of Houston was being built in 2003, Brian and I purchased several personalized bricks to help out the Phi Mu housing fund. This was Ashley's first trip to Greek Row at Bayou Oaks, so her first opportunity to see her brick. It says, "Ashley Lynn Jones - Phi Mu Legacy". Don't you just love the picture?

ABC's

Here is a video I took today of Birdie singing the ABC's



Two things - first, that is a UH Cougar head on her cheek (temporary tattoo that stayed on about 4 days) and second, what she says at the very end of the video is "More, please."

Bowling Anyone?

We attended a BOWLING birthday party today! It was such a blast! Even Laurie got a chance to bowl. She absolutely loved it.

Daniel really liked to help Laurie when it was her turn.



We can't wait to go back as a family for more fun!

Preschool & CDO Pictures

The younger two came home from school this week with their school pictures.
Aren't they adorable?

Guess What We're Starting?

Yes, it's that time again. The little potty has come out of the closet and has found its way to the living room floor. Laurie has no problem wanting to sit on it, but she has yet to put anything in the potty. We're waiting for that Aha! moment when she gets its purpose.
The cutest thing is that Ashley is really working with her on it. This morning, I came into the room and Ashley had taken Laurie's diaper off and had her sitting there in her nightgown. She didn't go, but there was Ashley talking to her like a little Mommy.

About mid-morning, Daniel had taken her diaper off and was encouraging her to go on the potty while they were watching Dora. They're both really getting into it. Hopefully, Laurie will catch the excitement. If not yet, then she'll get it once she finds out what she gets when she puts something in the potty. (We've always given little marshmellows for #1 and a dum-dum for #2).

We've taken the first step, so I guess we are on our way. The end of diapers is finally in sight!

10th Anniversary Trip

At the end of October, Brian and I, along with David & Leah, spent 5 days in Playa del Carmen Mexico to celebrate our 10th Anniversary. We stayed for the second time at a wonderful luxury, adults only, resort on the beach. El Dorado Royale. What a trip! Excellent accomodations, amenities, and wonderful food! We did hit the gym a few times to work off all the amazing meals, but it actually just allowed us to eat more.

Usually on the last day of a trip away from kids and home, we are ready to get back, but not this time. We both really enjoyed the relaxed nature of sitting on the beach or at the pool for 5 days. Not even the rainy weather could bring our spirits down. Is it too soon to plan another trip?