Where do I begin....

I started this entry last week but got as far as downloading the pictures and then ran out of time. So now I have two weeks of catching up to do and I don't know where to begin. Let's see... why don't I just start at the beginning, duh. Savanna wrapped up soccer on November 22 and she loved playing and can't wait to play next year. She wasn't very aggressive on the field so the coach put her at goalie where she did well and loved it. This last game was the coldest game and the wind made it even worse, but Savanna stuck it out and ended up with chapped cheeks and lips. At the end, the coach passed out these great dog tag necklaces with a soccer ball on them and their name and year engraved on them. He also had cookies made with their team name (Americans) written on them. I truly feel we had the best coach - he was such an encourager and worked so well with all the kids. We presented him with a picture of the team and had the kids sign their names around the matting of the frame so that he would have something to keep and remember them by. It was a good end to a great season. They only lost one game and tied in another.

Savanna trying to stay warm.

Receiving her necklace from the coach. Yeah!

On Sunday, the 23rd, we celebrated Rody's birthday at BK. He invited all the kids from his class at school and they all had a blast playing on the playground. I am so glad the weather was so much warmer than the day before!! I can't believe he is 8 now. I have really gotten to know Rody's personality by taking him to school for the past 2 years, and he is definately all boy. He has the biggest imagination and I always find myself wondering where he comes up with some of his stories. He and Savanna spend a lot of time together, so I occassionally have to break up fights and arguments. They act more like brother and sister than cousins - it's special and I look foward to watching Rody continue to grow and change over the years.

On Tuesday before Thankgiving, Savanna had her class Thanksgiving party at snack time. I love to see all the crafts they make - the Indian hats, pine cone turkeys, bead necklaces, etc.

On Wednesday after work, we all met out at Mom and Dad's. Dad's sister and her husband (Aunt Debbie & Uncle Richard) came in from Oklahoma. We visited with them and then left the kids to stay with Mom and Dad or Penni and Todd who live up the road. Every year we set up at the Lufkin Horse Sale. The first few years we would stay and have Thanksgiving lunch and then leave to drive 31/2 hours to set up, but now it has gotten to where Jody packs and brings so much that we leave Thankgiving morning. To give you an idea of how much stuff he brought this time - we didn't get everything set up until 3 o'clock Friday morning and then had to be back out there at 8. Needless to say, it was a tiring weekend and I am still trying to recover. Now we are getting ready for our end of year tack and saddle auction. Every year we try to reduce our inventory so that we don't have to pay so many taxes. In advertising for it and making posters to post up, we took pictures and I've posted a picture of what the inside of our trailer looks like.

Do you ever have weeks where you're busy but you really can't remember what you were busy doing? That's kinda how it's been around our house. Between soccer, church, and family, I can't keep up. I do remember attending a beautiful wedding a couple of weeks ago. We really did enjoyed ourselves! The weather, the food, the atmosphere, the ceremony - everything about it was so beautiful. And it was so great being with family. The Jaggers have raised three wonderful children - 2 daughters and a son. Jill and Jaci both worked and helped us out in the store while they went to school and it was so great getting to know them. They are Jody's second or third cousins. Jody's mom and their mom are first cousins, so that makes them third, right? Anyway, Jaci is expecting her first child with her husband, Michael. And Jill is now married. It just doesn't seem right - these kids are growing up way too fast or maybe I should say I'm getting old too fast. Below are some pictures of Jill and Craig's special day. While the bridesmaids were walking in she played the Rascal Flatts song Here and it is one of my favorites now (I added my playlist back on so hopefully it's playing right now). It's funny because now when we are in the car and it comes on, Savanna will immediately say, "This is the song from Jill's wedding." I guess it made an impression on her. Hope all has a great weekend. This Saturday, Savanna plays her last soccer game for the season so I should have pictures from that next week sometime.


Terry and Tina walking Jill down. Jill was such a beautiful bride!

BreAnna took a little rest before the ceremony started.

Shane sat by Uncle Mark for awhile and then found Daddy's hat under the chair. While he was putting it on, I snapped a shot and got the result below and had to laugh out loud when I saw it. He's so funny and loves to wear hats.

DeAnna was busy with Rody and his last football game, so I kept Bre and got her ready and met them at the wedding. I let her bring one of Savanna's dolls from home, but had no idea it talked loudly until right in the middle of the ceremony. Oops. Shhhhh baby.

Wasn't the cake beautiful?

Instead of a groom's cake, Craig wanted groom's pies. There was all kinds - chocolate, caramel, coconut.... It was served with milk! ... oh my, so good!

Savanna stopped running around long enough for me to get this cute pic.

Halloween 08 and Weekend Update

I have some catching up to do. Let's see - on Halloween I was able to get off a little early and rush home to get Shane ready to be a spider. And thanks to Aunt Dee for getting Savanna ready to be Hannah Montana. Then we were off - everything after that seems to be a blurr. Grandma had called during the week and wanted the kids to come trick or treating at her house, but informed us that her door would be locked at 7 o'clock sharp. So Jody, me and Shane met DeAnna, Rody, BreAnna, and Savanna at Grandma's right after I got Shane ready. But first, I had to get some pictures of him in his cute costume. He loved all the arms he had. Before this people would ask what he was going to be for Halloween and he would say "Spiderman". I don't think he knew the difference because he was so excited.

At Grandma's, I had to get a picture of the 4 cousins. Aren't they so cute? Rody was a knight and BreAnna was Snow White.

After Grandma's, we rush to see Granny up on the square in Mt. Vernon. It's a ten minute drive and Savanna fell asleep on the way. She was already worn out and we had barely gotten started. Granny is involved with the Genealogy Society located there and all the businesses on the square were passing out candy to all the kiddos.


We probably would have stayed there in Mt. Vernon this year but Pam and Randal were having their last Halloween party in Sulphur Springs. Pam has started a new job in McKinney and they will be moving there soon. I am so sad :( but trying to stay positive - I know we will still get to see them often. We had a good time at the party even though we were a little late. We had hot dogs and it was hard getting the kids to eat because they wanted to join in on the games and play. They did the limbo and had a pinata. After that, we trick or treated in the neighborhood behind them. This was the first year that Shane could really keep up and participate. He was so funny. He ran everywhere and never slowed down or got tired. On the way home, we stopped at some neighbors who still had their porch lights on around our neck of the woods. Once we got home, it was hard to get the kids to bed - they were so wired.

Saturday morning Savanna had a soccer game at 9 and then we were able to go to Rody's flag football game. Those boys really get into it and have a great time.

BreAnna with her Daddy.

On Sunday we went over to Mom and Dad's and got together with all the fam to celebrate adult birthdays. In the past, we would get together pretty regular and celebrate them, but with every one's schedules it has been pretty hard. So we celebrated Mom's (9-25), Jody's (9-17), Randall's (9-11), Todd's (10-15), and Penni's (11-2). We had taco soup, mexican corn bread and a great homemade cake all made by Mom (she's the best).

Penni is three years older than me and we had to share a room with each other growing up until Pam moved off to college. So needless to say, we spent a lot of time getting on each others nerves. We fought like sisters will do, but we had a lot of good times that I will always cherish.

I meant to write Friday and wish her a happy birthday for Sunday, but ran out of time. Sorry, Penni, I hope you had a great birthday. Love you.

On the way home from Mom and Dad's, Savanna got her hands on my camera and got snap happy and I decided to just let her go with it since we now live in a digital age and I could just simply hit delete later. Below are some of the ones she took. She actually takes pictures better than I do.

Savanna and Elli Kate got into some sparkling makeup before we left.

The Tooth Fairy Returns

Savanna was avoiding us pulling her second tooth. With the first one, there was no complaining and she was eager to have it pulled. I had previously scheduled a dentist appointment for her on Wednesday afternoon and was hoping that the dentist might have some luck in pulling it, but when I picked her up from school, someone else had beat me to it. She and another girl in class accidently bumped heads and Savanna said her tooth landed on her tongue. I am so glad she didn't swallow it. How weird was that? - so funny.

When we were at our last sale in Lufkin there was a vendor there that had some of the cutest western baby and kids stuff (a little pricey, but so cute) like baby bedding, diaper bags, clothes, rain boots, lamp shades, nap mats, etc. And she had these cute tooth fairy pillows that had little books to record when they loose their teeth and fairy dust to sprinkle around. I got Savanna a pink one and Shane a red one for when he starts to loose teeth.

Crazy Weekend

This past weekend we were home only to sleep in our beds. It was one of those weekends where it seems to fly by because you are out busy doing stuff. Anyway, Jody left for a show in Ft. Worth on Thursday and Ashlyn came to stay with us Friday and Saturday night because Pam & Randal went out of town. Mom & Dad kept Anna and Avery. Well, Saturday morning we all got up and got ready for Savanna's soccer game at 9am. It was very hectic trying to get all three ready without Jody there to help out, but we made it. Next, we drove to Sulphur Springs to Mom & Dad's, had lunch, then on to Leonard to see Hayden play football which got started later than scheduled. We went back to Mom & Dad's to eat supper and hang out a little while all the kids played. On the way home, I needed to stop for gas so I stopped at Wal-mart to wait in line for $1.949 a gallon gas. It only took $27 to fill up!! I just couldn't believe it - I never imagined that it would go that low again. After waiting for gas and driving home, we pulled into the drive at 9pm and when I turned around all three kiddos were asleep. Needless to say, they didn't get a bath so we had to wake up early Sunday for that and then get ready for bible class and church. Of course, we were late, but I'm just glad we made it. We sat on the back row for church and left a little early because I had to drive back to Sulphur Springs and meet up with Mom & Dad, Randal's parents, and Penni (Todd was out of town too) at Pizza Inn and drop off Ashlyn to Randal's parents because Pam & Randal wouldn't be back until Monday afternoon and Ashlyn had school. (Is anyone lost yet? - I am) Randal's mom (Katie) had promised to take the girls to see High School Musical 3 so my daughter has to throw a fit to go see it too. Katie was so sweet and said that Savanna was no problem and she was more than welcome to go. So, (take a breath) Shane and I left for a wedding shower in Mt. Vernon @ 2pm and had a great time seeing everyone there. We then left from there around 3pm and drove back to Sulphur Springs to pick up Savanna (good thing I only paid $1.94 a gallon for my gas - haha) . But wait, we still had one more stop. At the shower, Granny had asked that we stop by and visit Uncle Royce (her brother) and her Aunt Maud in the assisted living home in Mt. Vernon. I am so glad we did - they were happy to see the kids. I plan on stopping in more often. On this day, we pulled into the drive at around 5pm. After that, I tried to pick up the house, get some laundry done, kids fed, bathed and put to bed. And then I fell asleep waiting for Jody to come in from Ft. Worth (which was at midnight). What a whirlwind of a weekend! I am hoping for a more calmer, stay at home weekend this week - probably won't happen.

I have a great husband.....

who has a great secretary (Thanks Sherry!) who planned a great overnight trip to Jefferson. Jody did have the idea but he had to have a little help in getting it planned. He wanted it to be a surprise for me, but he should know that I hate surprises and I will stop at nothing to find out. I know I sound mean, but I just can't help myself- I have to know. Anyway, we left out Saturday afternoon around 2 and arrived in Jefferson at the bed and breakfast at around 3:30. Jody said they had a hard time finding a room since there was a Big Foot convention in town that weekend. Sorry if some of you believe in Big Foot sightings and such but we just had to laugh - I just couldn't imagine people sitting around talking about Big Foot all weekend. So, the bed and breakfast room that was left wasn't the best (was an older home that they plan to remodel) but for one night it was fine. In the room was a beautiful bouquet of roses that Jody had them leave for me. (ahhhh)

We walked around town until supper time. It is such a wonderful, historical town and I have never seen so many antique stores in my entire life. If we would have had the kids with us, I know one of them would have probably broken something. For supper, we drove back up the road and ate at a steakhouse that we saw on the way down. The food was great, but we had to rush back because Jody had scheduled a carriage ride for us to take around the town. (ahhhh)

The woman driving was so sweet. Her horse was Ned and she asked if we wanted her to talk and give us a tour of the houses and buildings as we drove by or if we wanted a quiet romantic ride. We threw romance out the window and opted for the history lesson. We both love hearing about the history of things and this tour did not disappoint - was very interesting.

We slept in the next morning which was so nice and then went walking around the town again. Then we ate at a neat hamburger place that allowed their customers to write on dollar bills and staple them to the wall, ceiling or where ever you could find a place. Since it is so hard to find time around New Years to celebrate our anniversary, we treated this trip as our celebration of 9 years of marriage, so we put our names, the date, and our 9th anniversary with a shout out to Savanna and Shane on the dollar and stapled it on the rail where we were sitting. So if you ever go into the Hamburger Store in Jefferson, TX you will have to look for our dollar. (ha ha) Our lives stay so busy that even though it was a short trip, it was so great to get away with Jody and have some alone time with him. Thanks, Jody - you're the best!

Fall Bash

Shane goes to a great daycare and last year they had their first Fall Bash where they had different game booths, good food, and a hay ride. This past Friday was the date for this years bash and the kids had a great time. Of course, they loved the bounce house the best.



Shane, Savanna, & Ashlyn

Savanna

Rody

Shane on the pony ride.


I usually don't have time to decorate our yard or porch for the seasons, but last Christmas I made time and I really had fun doing it and the kids loved it. So after Jody and the kids carved a pumpkin this weekend, we put this together on the porch. I thought it turned out cute. We bought a light at Lowes to go in the pumpkin and it changes into different colors other that a white light. The kids love it. I like the face they picked out this year - they did a really good job. And can you believe that Savanna, not Shane, liked pulling out the insides. I guess Shane thought it felt too slimy.