It's Big, but at least it's getting used!

When my parents bought the see-saw for the kids 2 Christmas' ago we thought that we would leave it inside just for the winter then put it outside. When it got warmer we rationalized that they used it more inside that they would if we put it outside. So we left it in for another winter. When spring came again and they used it less frequently we were going to put it outside again, even though it was a crowd favorite when small guests came. But then I mentioned that if we moved it that it would leave a big empty space that would need to be filled with a large and expensive piece of furniture. Gabe did not like that idea so we let it stay. Now Reyse has decided she is big enough for it and is on it all the time. She looks little but she holds on real tight!

It got Payge back on it too! She loves to make her laugh on it, and show off like sitting backwards!

Gingerbread House!

So Monday night I had such a great idea, as soon as the girls got home from school we would decorate our gingerbread house, cut out the sugar cookies, and have our favorite kielbasa soup and fresh from the oven rolls! It was really cold outside and was suppose to rain, which would mean Baylee's soccer practice would get cancelled and everybody would be home for the night. YEAH!

So we started the gingerbread house right away, except that I bought this kit about two years ago. After warming up the frosting that comes with it nine times we finally gave up and I made frosting. Then my first frosting bag had holes in in and so I moved all the frosting into another bag, then all my tips were not cooperating. Finally I got it working and started frosting it for them. Gabe checked to see it they cancelled Baylee's practice. They didn't and were moving it up half an hour. In all my struggles with the gingerbread house I got the soup started late and Gabe and Baylee couldn't even eat. The cookies remain in dough form in my fridge and my perfect family evening a bust. Why does nothing work out the way I plan, EVER!!

The final product looks pretty good but the kids discovered that two year old candy isn't very good, and can break your teeth. I actually like it because nobody will dismantle it before Christmas!

Christmas is here!!

As I have been perusing my friends blogs, I love that everyone is putting pictures of their Christmas decorations up. I never get to see what every ones houses look like all prettied up, so I decided since no one but my parents(every other year) come for Christmas I would put a few of mine up as well.

My camera decided to be blurry again but this is the outside of the house. I am pretty positive that this is it for the lights on the outside, Gabe said he was going to put up some on part of the roof but I am not going to hold my breath. My multicolored bushes will have to do!

Our fireplace is running out of room for stockings, especially when Grammy and Papa Bear visit!

When we first moved here(in March) we went garage saling. We found this pre-lit tree for $40. It fits perfect in the front room windows. I would love to set up my old tree in the gameroom for a kid tree, they can decorate, but with Reyse I can only protect one tree.

Thanksgiving Feast!!

I seem to like working backwards with the pictures that is, Gabe's Dad and Step mom Judy came to our house this year for Thanksgiving. We were really excited. I am not the most experienced Thanksgiving dinner maker. My mom is usually here to run the show and I just do as I am told. This year it was all up to me. Judy was a huge help, I am a terribly messy cook and she cleaned up behind me all week. I brined the turkey( which is to soak it in a salt and sugar mixture in ice cold water over night). The turkey was so moist it was really good. Next, I made cornbread stuffing from scratch, it was good but a little strong on the sage for me, my mom told me later that sage cooks strong (good to know now). Homemade gravy, Delicious! Mashed potatoes, and homemade bread. I definitely had some glitches in the preparation but it all came out really good.

This was the aftermath of the Feast!

The before picture, only 2 hours behind schedule!

You might think you were looking at the picture after we had dinner and were full, but this was actually before dinner, I guess the Football game was a little boring!

Heck with the pumpkin pie just give me a can of whipped cream!

Tayt's turn!

Open wide Payge!

The kids in their new outfits from Grandma and Papa! Thanks for coming, we loved having you here. We miss you!

Reyse and Papa Simon BFF!!

My pictures are again out of order, but my computer won't allow me to cut and paste. So, we will begin backwards. From the very first day of Gabe's parents arrival Reyse gravitated to Gabe's dad like a fish to water. They were inseparable the entire week. It was CRAZY! She would jump from me to him in a heartbeat. Run past both Gabe and I straight to him. She would try to hit anyone that tried to take her away from her Papa!

This is a picture of the day they were leaving and she was crying because he had to go and was giving her to me( thanks alot). I think he picked her up and told her goodbye several times.

This is where she sat 90% of the day on his lap. She even obeyed his commands! He would tell her to give Judy a mean face when she wanted to hold her and Reyse would. I think Judy got more than a few slaps when she would get to close to Reyse's Papa. Reyse doesn't like to share!
This is when we went to the Zoo, they had just gotten in the night before and already she was attached at the hip to him!

What a cute couple!!

This was something I had to document because it was so funny. She hated to be away from him at all, and he was always to happy to scoop her up and hug her all day!! He never got tired of showering her with attention! She misses you Papa, good thing she can't talk!

Day at the Zoo!!

Gabes dad and step mom came down for Thanksgiving. Were very excited because this was their first visit since we moved all the way to Texas. Tuesday we decided to go to the Dallas Zoo. It was a lot of fun and the kids have been dying to go! We couldn't get Reyse away from the Elephants. When we would call her, she just turned and gave us this dirty look!

All the girls when we first enter the park! I couldn't persuade Simon and Judy to get in the picture.


Every formation of any kind the girls had to climb!

We had a great time at the Zoo, It is small enough to enjoy in half a day!

Baylee's Birthday Party!

I am playing a little catch up, last Friday Baylee had her party and we had about nine girls come. A much better number than Taytum's party. My pictures are out of order but that will have to do.

Baylee got lots of great presents from her friends!

Gabe stayed and helped with this one, he felt a little sorry for me but I'll take it! He dished out ice cream and definitely got in the spirit!
Reyse the little beggar!

Baylee wanted frosted brownies instead of cake, sounds good to me !

Happy Birthday TAYTE!!

Friday was Tayte's 7th birthday. I let her open her present in the morning thinking that she could wear it to school, but after she opened it she informed me that today was P.E., but she loved the dress, it was very Tayte. She also got butterfly earrings that she really wanted!

Tayte's dinner request was pancakes and eggs with stuff in them(peppers, mushrooms, ham, and cheese). She also got a cookie cake brought into school so we skipped the cake thing at night. My kids are still very happy with their Halloween candy.
Her birthday party was Saturday 5-9. I told her last year that next year she could have a big party at the house because the baby would be bigger and I would be able to control it. Tayte did not forget! She invited 18 girls. I figured they surely wouldn't all be able to come. I was right only 13 came. It was still more than enough. Gabe got the green light to leave after he picked up the pizza for me, that was around 6:30. Baylee was a BIG help but she decided it was to much for her and went to her friends across the street, that was around 7:30. I thought that is fine I can do this. Then Taytum decided she wanted to paint nails! That is where things started to unravel. When you have that many girls painting each other nails and then messing up and I have to fix it, the rest are running around unsupervised! They decided that there was a kidnapper on the roof and that ensued PANIC, or just a reason for 13 girls to run around a house screaming at the to top of their lungs. a couple of girls came telling me that someone was trying to call 911. That was enough!! Everyone got called into the living room, was told that it wasn't fun to joke like that and I would get in BIG trouble if that happened, and everyone would have to go home. They got the idea real quick and everyone decided to be good! We finished presents and a very nice mother decided to show up early to see if I needed any help.

By 9:00 every one went home Poor Reyse got into her quiet bed(that was definitely to much for a 1 year old), and I fell to the couch! I have found that I like to learn things the hard way, I definitely learned my lesson here, and will scale it down next year. But I was glad Tayte got her BIG birthday party all to her self.

Notice that the cake and I refer to Taytum as Tayte. Well, she thought people including adults were calling her Tay-dum. Which they weren't that is just what it sounds like when you say her name fast. So, she insists on being called Tayte now!

Reyse got Stitches!

Tuesday morning Reyse was holding one of my plastic water cups with a straw and walking around. She tripped over my foot and came down right on the cup, split her lip open. I took her over to a friend of mine who is a nurse to make sure that she needed to go to the Hospital. She said it would be best. So off to the Emergency room we went. The doctor said that she needed one little stitch in her lip so that she won't have much of a scar. They wrapped her up in this thing called a papoose so she couldn't move. It was horrible to watch and had a hard time not crying. She came home and slept all afternoon. She goes back on Mon. to get the stitch out.

We did pretty good to get to the fourth kid for our first emergency room, and stitches!

Baylee got home from school and FREAKED OUT!! She cried off and on the rest of the day every time Reyse would take a misstep thinking that she would brake the stitch. It is healing nicely and hasn't bothered her at all after the first day.

This is the day it happened after we got home from the hospital, as you can see the tears are gone and she was back to smiling!

Happy Birthday Baylee!!!

On Monday Baylee turned 9 years old. I told her I would make her favorite coffee cake for breakfast in the morning. I set my alarm for 6:30 to have plenty of time. I was awoken the next morning at 7:30 to Baylee asking,"Is my cake cooking?" umm sorry honey, my alarm didn't go off. After close inspection someone had been playing with it and had turned down the sound. "I promise tomorrow." I set my alarm for the next morning,and it went off, I made the whole thing and just had the crumb topping left when I realized I was out of brown sugar! Baylee finally got her coffee cake but it wasn't until Wed. morning!

I had planned on making one of her favorite dinners, she decided on frijole casserole, go figure. I had to find it so ironic as we ate dinner that night, I informed her that when I was a few months pregnant with her I took a trip to Oregon with my parents. I was still feeling a little nausea, but when we arrived at the timeshare I asked my Mom (begged) if she would make me frijole casserole! It was exactly what my tender stomach needed. Maybe their is something to be said for what the mother eats so does the baby. She also loves tuna fish with potato chips on it, which is all I ate for three months with her. FUNNY!!

NINE!!

DIG IN BAYLEE!

I took Baylee in a cookie cake for her school class so we didn't do a dessert at night just the dinner, she was fine with that since she has decided she doesn't like cake!

I kept asking Baylee, "What do you want for your birthday?" All she would tell me is, No clothes, no Cd's, no movies, no shoes, no toys. GREAT!!

On her birthday we told her she was getting her present after dinner, she kept asking, "what is it," Gabe told her, "Guess!" "Is it a recipe book?" "What, why would you want a recipe book?" "So I can write down all of Mom's recipes." We were both shocked! I wish I would of known since I have an old one in my cupboard I don't use. I get plenty of "I hate this, can I have something else," or "Why do we always have to have this." But I am glad to see that they do appreciate some of the hard work that goes into feeding this family.

She ended up getting a gift card to Target!

We played games that night as of her request, Heads Up 7up, and Scream! Scream is where you sit in a circle with your head down until one person counts to 3, then everyone looks up at the same time and if you and another person looking at each other you SCREAM! After a person screams three times your out! Our favorite Family Home Evening Game!

Trinidad Girls UNDEAFEATED!!

So the Recreation soccer games are at an end. This was the first season for Baylee's age bracket to count the scores and get 1st, 2nd, or 3rd place trophies, before they would just get participation trophies. Well, Baylee's team (Lady Cats) got first place. They were undefeated. An enormous reason they were was because of Baylee. The coach called her there secret weapon, and she was!! As soon as they put her up front nobody could stop her! A coach from the other team we were playing was screaming at his girls, "There's only one of her and four of you!" I tried not to chuckle, but it really was amazing. On Saturday I was a standing far from the field watching when a mom from a team we played the week before walked up from behind me and was asking who was playing. I told her and she asked if The Lady Cats were winning,(not knowing who's team I was on). I said yes, but not by much. As she watched for another minute, she commented on number 17(Baylee's number). She said," That number 17 is amazing, nobody can stop her, I can't believe how good she is!" I then informed her that that was my daughter. It was pretty funny! I really am proud of Baylee she has really committed to her practices and her team, if you come for a visit make sure it's during soccer season.

Her select team came in 3rd, and she did awesome there as well, there doing playoffs right now, so I guess it doesn't quite feel over yet. She was the only one on that team to score at least 1 goal in EVERY game. She ended up being the leading scorer for both her teams!

Payge's season was great as well, she scored quite a few goals and helped out her team allot. She can't wait until it starts again in February. They ended up being undefeated as well (8-0).

Payge's and Baylee's team will most likely not be undefeated next season because they rearrange the brackets, so we are relishing in this amazing season for both girls.

GO TRINIDADS!!

Halloween Time!

Halloween was lots of fun but always busy right up to the end, I couldn't keep the girls together for a picture before they bolted for the door, so the pictures are as we go.

Reyse's costume was last minute and was something that someone gave us years ago but it ended up working.

This one was a very weird affect but the only one I had with her whole body in the picture. I didn't let her walk to the doors much because she wouldn't leave the candy bowls alone, even though her hands were full, besides she was very content to sit in the stroller and have her sucker. She got alot of compliments!!

Baylee ended up being a Victorian Vampire, and Payge was a cute cowgirl!

Hannah Montana. I couldn't see what I was taking a picture of in the dark, but she had very cute Hannah Montana boots that her Nana and Papa sent her. I even got her fake eyelashes!
Payge and her friend Madison. They wore out about half way through.

Baylee protecting all her candy. It is great with the girls getting older, Baylee and Taytum can run from house to house and Payge has to stay with Mom. I walked in the middle of the street so the girls could weave back and forth.

The girls and their loot!

Our good friends and use to be neighbors came with us, they did our neighborhood with us then we went over to their ritzier neighborhood for round two.

It was Gabe's turn this year to stay home and pass out candy while I took the girls. He said we got lots of compliments from people that their kids couldn't wait to come to the house on the corner with the BIG WITCH, and all the decorations.