Christmas 2010

Christmas was a complete success this year. We stayed within our budget and didn't go crazy on nonsense stuff. I thought it went well. The boys Aunt and Uncle visited them first to get the unwrapping underway. The boys took forever to go to bed but finally Santa emerge and took care of business. Gavin got an awesome train.

And Roy got a SUPER FAST remote control big wheel.

The boys gave their dad a new cross for his necklace.

It didn't take long for the boys to fly through all their presents and we headed over to Grammie's house. Gavin brought over his new F-150 so he could take his cousins for a ride. I am not sure how Rocco didn't fall out.

We finally got them inside for a quick picture before the REAL Santa showed up.

Rounds and Rounds of toys came their way. These kids really must think they have died and gone to heaven at Grammie and Poppy's house. She really treats them like royalty. The kids all got their very own bean bag chairs. The adults like these the most. All of us were talking about how comfortable for our aching bodies.

Gavin and Jillian were discussing life's solutions!!!

Finally we ended up at our favorite neighbors for some yummy dinner. It was so nice of them to include us with their family. After dinner, Bill and I did some tamale making. I will say I am terrible!!!! They are cooked and in our fridge...... I think I will be testing them tonight!!

Great Wolf Lodge

The lobby was decked out for Christmas. It put me right in the Xmas spirit! At the main diner we got our own wolf ears.

We stole them from the boys!!

We headed out to the indoor water park and I will say it was by far the BEST vacation we have taken the boys on.

Yes, I am hiding my growing belly behind the boys. So smart....

The hotel had so many fun things to do. Roy's favorite thing was Magiquest which is basically a Harry Potter Scavenger Hunt throughout the whole hotel. It kept the kids busy for hours. The catch was you were not allowed to use the elevators at all. WOW!!! Did I do some climbing. I had to rest and Roy would run up to the other floors and come back down and check in. :) Here is the boys checking in on the screen to see their "status" and what else they needed to collect.

And here is what greats you as you walk in to the park...

And if you stand there long enough, you will be hit with a huge bucket of water.

These slides were a blast. Roy loved the green one and Gavin loved the orange one. MAMA loved the ALL!!!!

Finally I asked a lady to take the family shot on our way out the door.

I recommend this vacation to any family with kids that LOVE the water!!

Attempt at Gingerbread Houses!

We had a slumber party at our house so my sister and brother-in-law could enjoy a Xmas party so we decided to take a crack at making gingerbread houses. We were completely unsuccessful. These faces started out happy but once the icing wouldn't hold the houses they quickly became disinterested.

But we tried to make it work but in the end we gave up.

But aren't these faces just soooo cute.

Kids slept like champs but Roy ended up in our bed. How does that happen? The oldest kid ends up in our bed. I just knew Jillian would find her way over but she slept great. The kids played and played and wore us out.

Hopefully they had a little bit of fun!!

Sorry for the lack of Posts!!

We have been super busy lately. I found out I was pregnant in November and I think I have remained in complete shock. I am very excited but I am the type of person that gets sooooo nervous. I worry about everything. Everybody has been awesome towards me though. I went on an ACTS retreat and loved it. Bill went on team for an ACTS retreat so we are really on cloud 9 lately. Business has been good but a very stressful time for Bill and I. Hopefully one day we can breathe again and life will go on. The boys are doing great in school and growing up. Xmas should be a blast for them this year. We are headed to the Great Wolfe Lodge before Xmas and we are really looking forward to treating the boys to lots of fun. I will do better on my posting...PROMISE!!

Happy Halloween!!

Mom and Dad and Aunt Sherry came by to see the boys before they headed out. We got the boys dressed and they were ready to go. Here is the cutest fireman that I have ever seen. And here is Roy in his Zombie costume.

We set up shop with the neighbors to hand out candy.

The biggest surprise of the night was all the attention that Roy got for his scary Zombie costume. Everyone loved it and one lady even stopped him to take a picture of his costume. You never know.....

Struggling Longhorns

Our family has been die hard Texas fans since my sister went to school up there. My mom bought us all tickets to attend last Saturday's game against Baylor. We left at 3:00 and the game wasn't until 6:00. On the way to our seats, Ashley freaks out and wants to take the kids pictures with the cheerleaders. Roy wouldn't so it but I do Gavin to do it. I think he had no idea what to think but I think he is blushing. We got to our seats with 20 minutes to spare. It took us forever to get to our seats. But the UT band came out and put on a great pre-game performance.
Then the boys came out and that is the extent of it. They played terrible and are just not having a good season. But it is hard to have a bad time at a UT game with the whole family. Bill and I thought our seats were great. Sis and I....
My family.....

2010 Devine Acres

We met my grandma AKA GG at the local Dairy Queen on Sunday. The boys brought her flowers and her face lit up when they gave them to her. She must have said Thank You about a hundred times. That made me extremely happy that we could make her day. The boys really like her and enjoy getting to see her. Photo Shoots are extremely difficult these days but I do my best.

We eventually took this pumpkin home. Roy is wanting to draw and make a scene on the pumpkin this year.

PAN>Rocco is about the hardest toddler to get to cooporate. We did our best but we just couldn't get it altogether.

Gavin spent most of the day at the trike track. These bikes must have been at the perfect size and weight for Gavin because he was blowing by everyone. He went again and again and again.

The best part for the kids in the mining. They have so much fun seeing what neat and interesting rocks they find. Everyone is trying to open the bags up for the impatient kiddos.

As Grammie and I was sitting in the shade, Grammie caught this sweet picture of the boys.

National Night Out

Our church gave us a challenge to go out and meet your neighbors. Bill and I have taken this challenge very seriously and we constantly are trying to see what nice things we can do for other people. We thought that we could really knock the ball out of the park by hosting our streets National Night Out. We went to Sam's and bought 60 hot dogs and buns, a 50 pack of chips and some other misc items. Gavin and I went around last Thursday and knocked on each door and invited everyone to come to our house on Tuesday.

Tuesday came and my dogs totally knew that something weird was happening. Mudge kept running around like crazy and finally went and hid behind our pillows. HILARIOUS!! I find animals so interesting when they can "sense" something is going on. Bill got the pit going and the people came. I think we hosted around 30 people. Everyone had such a nice time. My mom and dad came over as well.

Even though we did not have the boys, all the neighborhood kids came and hung out and played games.

Bill even did a few hot sausages. That seemed to be the absolute hit!

Bill and I both thought it was a complete success. We are going to continue to think of nice things to do. I will keep you posted.

Camping

We decided to go camping this past weekend because the weather was so inviting. We found a nice spot at Canyon Lake. We set up camp and began fishing. The boys pulled in a few bass in the pier. Roy got into it but Gavin was more in to throwing rocks to scare the fish away. I am not sure if Gavin was telling me he was two and now he is four or if he was telling me peace out but never the less he made me laugh.

Roy began to get frustrated because the fish weren't jumping on his hook so I went down and one cast and got a fish to jump on. This is the only way I got them to smile with me!

Finally, after Ashley's volleyball game Uncle Matt and Aunt Lisa joined in for the fun. The boys had a blast hanging out with them.

Ashley even fished.

For whatever reason after the first night I put the camera away. Dang it!! We still had fun. Lots of boat and wave runners. Gavin was obsessed with riding the wave runner and became quite the dare devil. John and Lisa also came which is a super plus because every time we'd ask for something that we forgot they were right there.

100 Years

Gavin and I met my family at their church for their 100th year of existence. I have a bunch of pictures of the kids playing in the moon bounce. I just had to share because they just look SOOOOO happy!!!