O' Christmas Tree, O' Christmas Tree..........

Well, it was a three day process, but the tree is up and decorated. We put it up on Friday. On Saturday, my stepmom, Melody, came over and put the ribbon around it, and finally, after Ella literally driving me crazy about it, we put the ornaments on it tonight. Don't tell the girls, but tomorrow, I am going to buy some new ornaments and "tweek" their decorating a little. I have never done that. I always let them decorate it with the ornaments they want and I never rearrange it, but this year I think I will. It is way past time for some new ornaments. And it is a new tree, after all. $40.00 from Big Lots! Quite the bargain, if I do say so myself. I am not all pretty and fancy about Christmas decorating, so don't think I am showing this picture of the tree thinking it is all Fabulous. I am all about a homey tree with ornaments that are meaningful. It does have several SpongeBob ornaments, afterall! We buy an ornament almost everytime we travel somewhere and that's always fun for reminiscing (?dont know how to spell that). OH- and we put up a Christmas light Cross on our fence outside. We have never done outdoor lights and I have had this vision for a cross on our fence since we moved into this house. I was thinking it would be one of those things people would drive by, then go home and call all their friends and be like, "OMG. You have to drive by that house and look at the Cross they did. It is Beau-Ti-Ful! I am so recomending them for an Orchid award or something!" BUT-only thing is---it's not that great. Not quite the vision I had. I am going to try to refine it tomorrow, also. So, no pictures of the life changing Christmas light Cross, yet. I know- you are dying to see it. Tomorrow, people! Tomorrow! OK- enough! Here are some pictures! hrk

How 'bout this Christmas ambience. You feelin it? Ella seriously couldn't leave it alone. Like having a toddler!

The girls were trying to act like reindeer.?.

All my babies *Evan & Brother, Ella & Dixie* Can you say "I look like my aunt Jenna and my dog is possessed?"

Happy Christmas decorating to all and to all a good night!

I love Thanksgiving!

What am I thankful for? All of these things!

Good times!

Good friends! Whipped cream! Aunts and cousins! Fun gals in the family!

Family basketball games!

That I am so good, I can play basketball in my black heels (no picture of that)! (LOL)

My nephews!

Sweet sisters!

My brother and Karen!

Blake saying "CHEESE!"

Close family!

My mom!

Cute dresses and photoshop! (ok, i can be a little shallow)

Edward! (like i said, shallow) All of this and so much more! God has been good to me and I am so GRATEFUL!

Hope everyone had a great holiday!

hrk

I have so much to be thankful for!

And I will tell you all of the things I am thankful for - later! Right now I'm off to bed after ringing in Thanksgiving in the NICU. Now I must sleep a few hours before it's time to FEAST! Please say a prayer for all the parents who's babies are spending the holiday in the NICU. What a difficult time it is for them. (I am most grateful for my healthy children)! And think of all the nurses that are spending their Thanksgiving taking care of the sick. (shout out to my homeys)! I love you all, whoever you are that read this! (holidays and lack of sleep make me emotional) Must sleep now.

hrk

I heart crafts!

Ok- I've been crafty. I am Ella's class homeroom mom - which means that when it's time for a party, I have to come up with a game or a craft for them to do.

So I had this idea to do a canvas with a turkey hand print, then have the kids draw on the turkey feet and face and write a little phrase at the top. What a fun keepsake! Lots of work, but oh-so-worth-it!

And since Ella was going to have one, I got the stuff out at home to have Evan make one, too.

I love them! Love them.

It obviously doesn't take much to get me excited, but how fun to have these to decorate every fall and hopefully, when they have homes of their own, they will use them!

I can be so cheesy! (cheesey?)

hrk

p.s. I also heart a hot vampire named Edward!

Movie Review.......

Ok....so most of you know I became obsessed with Twilight and the series this summer. And FINALLY, after months of waiting for the movie, Lorelei and I went to the midnight premier last night. Was it worth it? O.M.G. Loved it. It is a little cheesier than I expected, and it, of course, doesn't get to go into Edward and Bella's relationship as much as I would have liked. But, that said, I think any true Twilight fan is gonna have to love it, just because! And one final note: Anyone who doesn't think Robert Pattinson (guy playing Edward) is H-O-T is just downright CRAZY because he is SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO freakin fabulous to look at in this movie! Can't wait for you all to see it and tell me what you thought!!!!

Love to tha peeps.....hrk

In just a few short hours..........

I will be watching the movie I have been waiting anxiously for since JULY! Can't wait!!! I really can't believe that I am going to stay up until midnight, watch this movie, get home at 2am, sleep a few hours, get up and get the girls ready for school, drop them off, then work (work?/shop!) all day at Holiday Market. Can you say CRAZY? I hope it's worth it!

hrk

The Sweetest Moment.......

I captured a little moment between my girls on Sunday before church. Evan has been taking piano lessons for about a year and a half. Lately, she has been playing lots of Christmas songs, which has gotten Ella interested. Evan talked Ella into letting her give her a lesson and I was lucky enough to sneak in a video it without them noticing. Evan was so sweet and patient while teaching her and she was soooo proud of her when she had a little success with her song. I am so blessed to have two girls who love each other so much. hrk

Basketball Tryouts.......

Saturday was the "draft" for the Girls Club basketball league. As it turns out, Ella is going to play basketball, afterall. We had her tryout at 8:30 and Evan's at 11:30. They were the cutest. Evan was nervous, though she would never admit it. Ella actually made her basket, and Evan had to take two shots (a layup and a free throw) and she didn't make them but she came close. Their new coaches called later on Saturday and Evan actually already had practice last night. I was really proud of how hard she tried and how well she listened to the coach. Now that she has had practice, we kindof know what we need to work on (everything). I think she's going to have a lot of fun. Ella has practice tonight. She is obsessed already. She watched Evan's practice intently and when we got home she bugged me for an hour, making me practice the different types of passes and practice "gaurding her". Here are the video's of their tryout.

hrk

Sleepovers and Slumber Party's.........

Oh....my little girls are growing up. Tonight, Evan is at her very first slumber party. There were around 10 girls going. (That mom is much braver than me!) She was so excited and when I dropped her off it was all squealing and giggling and craziness. Before I took her, I tried to casually tell her that slumber party's can get a little catty and she needed to just be nice to everyone, no matter what. We will see how it goes. Since she was going away for the night, I figured it was the perfect time to let Ella have her little friend, Hannah, spend the night. They are the cutest ever. It is so entertaining to just sit and listen to two 5 year old girls chat. We took them to El Zarape and to get their nails painted. Right now they are hard at work making posters to give to their teacher as a gift. Too Cute.

hrk

Daddy's Girls and Yummy food........

Evan spent the afternoon in hunting with Brad. Is this the picture of a true daddy's girl, or what?And in honor of all this cool weather, we made some homemade chex mix. YUMMY!

hrk

Love these girlys!

Basketball!?!

So, Evan is going to play basketball this year. She has never played a sport before, so it should be interesting. Who knows, she may be fabulous. We went to a free clinic tonight at the girls club. Well, let's just say she isn't fabulous yet, but I have no doubt, she can get there! Don't think for one second that Ella was going to sit on the bleachers and watch this clinic. She couldn't stand it, so out she went to participate in the clinic in her dress and leggings. Too cute!

This is So Cute....

A Moment in History......

Wow. What an amazing time this is for our country! Some will see this as a time of hope and happiness, some will be afraid of what may come, but anyway you look at it, this moment will be in the text books someday.

When I went to vote yesterday, I took the girls with me, anticipating that this would happen. I am so glad I did, because I know now it will add to the impact that this election will have on their lives. They were very interested in how it all works, so I used the electronic voting screen so that they could see it all, and at the end, we all three hit the vote symbol together. It seemed to make them feel like they were more a part of it all.

When they woke up this morning, I told them that Barack Obama won the election. They both seemed distraught, "Oh no! What will happen now? What if he won't say the pledge?"

It is amazing how they take in everything we say and the things that the media says, and how passionately they take on the views of their parents. After listening to people rant and rave about Obama for months, they seemed actually worried about the outcome of the election. While I want my kids to understand what Presidential elections mean, and the importance of voting, I do not want my girls to be worried about this.

I tried to explain to them that the President, alone, does not lead this country. I explained that there is a House and a Senate that keep the President in check. And I told them that I'm sure Barack Obama will do his best to make our country proud.

I did not vote for Obama, but I can't help but feel excited about the fact that our country has made such a huge stride during this election. I know that there are still plenty of racist people and I have heard that there are even still active KKK groups, but maybe by having an African American as our president, some of those people will be able to internalize the truth....that all men are created equally.

hrk

How 'bout those Hogs!

Woo Pig Sooie!!!! Saturday, Brad took Evan and our nephews, Tyler and Andrew, to the game. Ella went with her friend, Dru. Everyone had a great time. Always makes it better when we win!.........hrk

Dorothy and the Power Ranger

Whew. What a fun and crazy night. We started at the Euper Lane Halloween Carnival and were there from 5-8, then headed off to a hayride around the neighborhoods with Evan's friend Grant and a bunch of other kids. The girls had a blast and we were all ehaxusted by the end of the night..........hrk

Dorothy with a Nerd (Grant). Cambell, Hannah, Ella, and Lane. Dorothy and Hannah Montana (Berkley).

OMG. This was hillarious. Ms. Penix, the principal, as Dorothy. I couldn't stop staring at her. She said that she went to Howard Elementary yesterday dressed like that and the ladies over there said, "Oh, nuh-uh, when you come over here you aren't Dorothy, you're Doreatha."

Each class did some sort of art project to sell at the silent auction, Ella's did paintings of food. She picked a lollipop to paint. Go figure. Isn't it the cutest? Only cost me $30.00! In Evan's class, we painted adirondack chairs and put the kids thumb prints on them, then one of the mom's turned the thumb prints into Garfields (because that is the class theme). We purchased these as a class to give to the teacher for Christmas.

Ready for the Hayride.