Christmas Lights Everywhere!!

The day before Christmas Eve we went down to the Trail of Lights. Paul and I haven't been since Paige was a baby so it was basically a new experience for Paige and completely new for Maddie. The lights and displays were great and the girls and I had fun ohhhing and ahhhing over all the displays and pointing out our favorite ones while Paul just made sure to keep the girls wrangled in and safe - he's the best daddy and husband I know. He's always willing to do anything for his girls and not say one thing about it. As we walked around and looked at everything we drank hot chocolate and ate funnel cake. When you come to the end of the trail there's a HUGE Christmas tree that everyone goes under and spins around. We all had a really great time and the girls loved it all (except the freezing cold) and had a pretty great time! I absolutely LOVE our family time/outings and all the new things that Paige and Maddie get to see and watching their little faces take it all in and light up is really what this is all about!

Chirstmas Tree is Up and Rockin!!

Well our tree is up and looks pretty good! The girls and I have a good time putting the lights and ornaments on the tree (with a little help from Dad in between commercials during the football game but he's such a trooper and eventually stopped watching his game to help his girls) but they're favorite part was taking turns putting water into the tree holder - too funny. We actually put our tree up awhile ago but I've just been crazy running around doing last minute shopping. I love watching Paige and Maddie doing all the things my sisters and I used to do when we were little. Family traditions are so nice and I love that I get to carry them on with my own family.

Another family tradition is making a truck-load of cookies with all the women in my family. I'll post about that later!

Girls in the Christmas Parade!!

This past weekend Paige and Maddie were in the Christmas parade here in our home town in support of their dance company. They were so excited being able to walk with their friends and hand out candy to all the people in the crowd. Paige was running around with the candy and Maddie did a great job of waving to everyone like crazy - they were so cute! I got to walk with the girls in the parade and Paul took pictures of us. It was a great time all around and just made me realize how fast both of my babies are growing up. Looking at our pictures of the parade made me so thankful for all the loves in my life.......


Me and Maddie walking in the parade together

Paige being such a big girl!

Me and my sweets

Me with the 3 loves of my life!

Sweet Sisters

Random Things That Are Annoying Me.....

When did Thanksgiving just start getting ignored? Nothing has been irritating me more lately than seeing people with Christmas lights up and trees decorated before Thanksgiving is even done and over with. Literally on Nov 1st I walked into the mall with Paige, Maddie and Paul to see Santa sitting on his chair next to the fireplace - this was the DAY AFTER HALLOWEEN!!! Holy Cow!! Of course Paul and I give eachother the look like - oh great - these girls are going to be asking for Santa pictures everytime we come to the mall. Personally, I like to wait until we're actually in the month of Dec to put up lights or our tree and it just really annoys me to see lights up when it's Nov 15 - why does it annoy me - No Idea??? but it does. Don't get me wrong - I LOVE having our house decorated and decorating the tree and doing cookies with the kids but AFTER Thanksgiving AFTER!!!!
Tom Brady also annoys me. I think it's his hair plus just his face in general. I don't know him personally and probably never will but I seriously have to change the channel when I see him. The Boston Red Sox fall into this annoying catagory as well. I'm a 'Stros fan thru and thru and believe me - I know they stink but still all these sudden Red Sox fans just make me want to vomit along with all the Cowboys fans that have suddenly shown up too.
Wreaths/Bows on the front-ends of cars. I love seeing these on front doors but on cars it just makes me feel - I don't know what.
Loud sneezes and loud nose blowing is also up there on the list. This one is basically just about my dad. Growing up, this man could cure you of hiccups by scaring you so badly with the loudest sneeze in the history of sneezes! I don't know if anyone else has ever been around an atomic sneeze but it really scares you and then irritates you. Love my dad dearly but whenever he was sneezing all of us girls made sure to let him know that it was wayyyyy too loud!
That's about all of my ranting right now. I'm watching Rocky and that movie could never irritate me and always gets me in a good mood!
More later!

Turkey, Gravy, Potatoes Oh My! Plus What I'm Thankful For....

I absolutely LOVE Thanksgiving!! I love this holiday and the season to come. In elem school I used to love being able to make all the pilgrim and indian clothes to wear at the parade we would have a school - of course none of that is PC now but I remember how much fun it was! The Thanksgiving Day Parade is also another tradition that I just can't do without. I'll wake up at the crack of dawn to watch that parade and then leave it on until it's over just for background noise. I also LOVE turkey and gravy but refuse to make it myself any other time of the year because it intimidates me to have to cook something so large. I have a huge family and we all get together and eat such great food and have so much fun! The girls all hang out in the kitchen talking and getting everything ready and the guys all go outside to play football before coming in to watch football on tv - yeah lots of football. Then once we've stuffed ourselves silly we all come back together the day after and eat turkey and rice with gravy - sooooo gooooooddddd - YUM!!!!


This holiday also makes me realize everything that I'm thankful and grateful for.

I'm most grateful for my family. I thank god everyday that I met and married Paul and have the most wonderful everything with him. He is the best thing that has happened to me (along with my two precious babies) and I'm so lucky to have him as my partner in not only marriage but in parenting, living, and just life in general. I love him more and more each day and I love that he loves me with all my ups and downs and has always been there for me no matter what.

Paige and Madeline - these are two of the best things I've ever done. I never understood the depth of being a parent or the love I could have for someone. These two babies rely on me and Paul for everything in life and we've been given this huge responsibility to make sure these two little people have all the love, shelter, clothing, ect that they need. I'm never prouder than when I look at these wonderful, sweet, beautiful little girls and realize how thankful I am to have them. I am more than thankful for each day I get to spend with them.

My parents and grandparents. I am who I am today because of them. My mom has helped me be the mother I am today because of her love and advice. It wasn't always a pretty relationship between us but as I've gotten older we've both realized how important we are to eachother. My grandparents are also people that I am so glad to have in my life. I'm very lucky in that I have an extremely close relationship with my grandparents and have grown up with them living right down the road from me. They are the sweetest most giving people ever. I would be lost without my mom and grandparents and love them very much.
My friends are something that I'm grateful for. I have the greatest group of friends be it people I've known since 5th grade or people I met at work and couldn't have made it thru the day if they weren't there with me.
The health of myself and my family. There are so many things that could go wrong and so many things out there that could hurt us on a daily basis and I thank my lucky stars that me, Paul, my beautiful babies, parents, grandparents ect are all just healthy and making it another day together.
I have tons to reflect on this holiday season and as we all sit around the table eating our big family meal I'll know just how lucky I am to be surrounded by the best family I could have ever hoped for!

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Baby It's Cold Outside........but for how long???

Well the cold weather finally hit us here in Texas! YEA!!! I LOVE this weather - for about 3 weeks, which is exactly enough time for me to wear some really cute wintery type clothes and enjoy the fire and that crisp air. After about 3 weeks though I realize I've been shocked by everything I touch about a million times, my hair has serious static cling, and my skin has taken on the nice pale color of no real sun exposure, but I'm enjoying the weather for now!

Since the weather has taken a dip though Paige, Maddie, and I get to enjoy HOT CHOCOLATE - YUMMMMM!!!! So we busted out the hot chocolate, marshmellows, and whip cream and all had some yummy hot chocolate that tasted so wonderful on such a cold night. Gotta drink up as much of it as we can because we never know what the weather will be like the next day!

Paiger & Maddie B enjoying their hot cocoa!

Spooktacularly Good Time!!

Last night we took the kids trick-or-treating and had a blast! Paige was a Pink Lady from Grease (she learned the Pledge and everything) and Maddie was the sweetest little Genie I've ever seen! We went all around our neighborhood and got tons of candy plus the ton of candy we had to give out to the kids coming to the door - so I think we'll be OK on chocolate for longer than I'd like to think about. The girls looked so cute in their costumes - which I had no hand in making, just buying, but I did do the hair and make-up so contributing counts ;) Paul and I walked and walked with the girls and just enjoyed them running up to doors and yelling Trick-or-Treat! Gotta start planning the costumes for next year - Maddie's already running ideas past me!

Hot Roller Queen!

Maddie's into sponge rollers and Paige has turned into the Hot-Roller Queen! I used to hot-roll my hair literally everyday when I was in school (when I still had beautiful, thick hair pre-children) and now Paige has been asking for the hot-rollers. Unfortunately Paige's hair holds a curl for about 15 mins before it starts to fall, but for those 15 mins it looks absolutely wonderful!

Paiger the Hot-Roller Queen...


This child loves cheesing and making silly faces for the camera...

My Sweet Baby

Maddie has really gotten into having sponge rollers in her hair lately. I used to love getting my hair sponge-rolled - even with all the pain of trying to sleep while lying flat on my back the whole night so I didn't mess up any rollers and have my hair fall out. Paige is getting into the hot-rollers but Maddie is still totally a sponge head! Looking at these girls growing and having me do their hair to look super cute before school makes me so teary-eyed - I can't handle all of this growing up because it seems like it's going by too fast!

I never thought I'd love rolling 2 little girls hair so much or have the patience to do it but I'd never trade it for anything!

My little sponge-head!

Pumpkin Picking Time!!

We Bopped Bopped Bopped Bopped to the Top!! High School Musical....

High School Musical......

We went, we saw, we danced, we sang - a pretty good time was had by all! Me, Paige, Maddie, my mom Leslie, Aunt Michelle and cousins Parker & Lauren all went to see the show. The first half of the show was a little slow and of course we all knew what was going to happen because we've seen it on TV a million times but the second half was really fun! The cast comes out in the audience and danced with the kids in the aisles and Paige & Maddie got to dance with one of the main people so they loved that and danced all over the place. I spent way too much money on t-shirts, cds, High School Musical journals, little tote bags, and everything else you can imagine - BUT - to see them dancing and singing and just enjoying the show so much was worth it! So when High School Musical 2 comes to the stage I'm fully prepared for how much they'll love it!

PS - I've listened to the High School Musical 2 cd all the way thru more times than I can count - seriously! Little secret though - I actually enjoy most of the songs and me and my crazy girls turn up the volumn, open the sunroof, and just sing at the top of our lungs - good memories of how crazy my babies are!

High School Musical Here We Come!

We're on our way tomorrow to see HSM (or High School Musical for you not in the know). Me, the girls, my mom, and my aunt & her 2 kids will be enjoying the lovely dancing and singing of the traveling show tomorrow afternoon. I'll be spending tons of money on useless junk I'm sure will just end up in the toy box only to be resold at a garage sale for 1/80th of what I spent on it and stuffing our faces with popcorn, hotdogs, and big pretzels (ok so the face stuffing with big pretzels will be all me) but Paige and Maddie are so EXCITED they can barely contain themselves. Hopefully I can take a camera in to get their faces during the show but we'll see. Sadly, I too know every single word to every single song on not only HSM but HSM 2. Excited stuff over here. I'll make sure to post when we get back about how the show went. :)

Ahhhh, to be a kid again....

My mom recently bought Paige and Maddie bubble guns (about the 3rd pair of guns for them) and the girls were just dying to go outside and shoot bubbles everywhere! Watching them twirl around in the bubbles makes me realize how much fun the simplest things were when I was little. It was 100 degrees out but they just loved spinning, chasing, and giggling with those bubbles! Precious moments.....

Fantasy Football Widow.....

Well, it's official, I'm a widow - at least for the next few months and only Thursdays thru Sundays. It's not like I didn't know that football season wasn't coming. I even get excited that football is starting. I love on Monday nights when the song starts up - Are you ready for some football? A Monday night party! When I was little we'd hear it come on while my dad was watching it and all run in there and start singing (dorky little kids what can I say) and now when Paul has it on I find myself doing the same thing :) Now the added element of fantasy football comes into play. I'll admit I also enjoy fantasy football. It's great when Paul's team is winning and complete sadness and anger when it's not. I get just as angry as he does because I help him set his line-up sometime, and if someone that I picked doesn't do well I'm not a happy camper. I'm a seriously competitive person and I'm married to an equally competitive guy. Paul and I have no problem wanting to take down a ref at a childs soccer game (we wouldnt but jeez they make me mad)! So, if people aren't over at our house Paul is at someone else's house or some sports bar and if he happens to be at home with just me and the kids and a game's on WATCH OUT!!! Do Not walk in front of the TV, Do Not accidentally sit on the remote and change the channel, Do Not make any noise - ok he's not that bad, but the girls and I won't know our sweet, wonderful Paul/Dad 4 out of 7 days of the week. I guess I can deal with being a Fantasy Football Widow for a few months because the rest of the year he gives us all his attention!

Us at the Eagles/Cowboys game in PA -

A Funny Little Thing Called Love

I don't know about other people but I love to celebrate the day that Paul and I became boyfriend/girlfriend! Am I the only girl that does this? Certainly not. I'm sure most guys think it's stupid and couldn't care but I think it's sweet to remember back when all you could think about was the next time you would see that person. Not that I don't still feel the same way. But it was a time when it was just us, no kids, no pressure, no day-to-day stress, just me and Paul hanging out and having the best time! It's funny how it all happened. One minute I'm dancing with a friend at a club and the next second I turn around and BAM!! There he is - with the hottest spikey hair I'd ever seen and looking soooo cute in a blue button down shirt that just looked so right on him. It was just basically over from there. Skip to Sept 7th, we'd just gone out to eat and had a great time and we're sitting in his car (which we could do for hours - making out most of the time) when the hey let's make this official talk comes up. It was so awkward and just odd, but it was like - of course! It felt so right from the second Paul and I met that it was just ridiculous. To look back over the 9 years we've been together it's just been amazing. Some people probably thought we'd never make it - and we did a lot of things backwards, and some of the stuff we've been through I'm sure you would've had to see it to believe it but I wouldn't have traded one second of it for anything else. Does he drive me nuts sometimes, of course - but I know that I drive him completely insane too, but my heart still goes all crazy when I see him come home from work and I still love just being next to him. I love what a great father he's turned out to be and I love what a great husband he's been to me. So to Paul, thanks for putting up with me through all the good and bad for the last 9 yrs. Going to that dance club was the best decision I ever made!

Sadness & Happiness all in one....

It's not like I didn't know it was coming. I've had plenty of time to prepare myself. I just didn't expect it to be this hard ecspecially since I've been through it once already. Kindergarten - apparently it isn't any easier dropping off your baby when you've already had the drama and trama of dropping off your first child. My super-sweet monkey-baby (we've called her that basically since birth because she hangs and climbs on any and everything) tiny petit little 5 year old started Kindergarten today. I started crying last night as we were doing her "homework" - yes homework before school even started!! We had to trace the outline of our hands so Maddie could show off her family.


I was so proud of my girls though. Maddie held up very well - no crying or hanging on. She seemed a little timid at first, but she's like that pretty much with everything. I was busy holding in my tears and snapping a million pictures. Paige is a pro at the first day of school thing but I was still teary-eyed dropping her off at her classroom.







I just still can't believe that my baby is in Kindergarten!! It's just unbelievable that everything has gone by so fast. Pretty soon Paige will be in High School and Maddie will be in Jr High - not ready!!! I've been crying off and on since we dropped them off, but it will make picking them up that much sweeter this afternoon!

We made it back in one piece!

Our family vacation was a blast! Mexico was great! It was a little scary with the kids going on the plane for the first time - but that was me being freaked not them. They thought it was great! We actually ended up missing our flight and got put on the next flight an hour later. Paul was in some major trouble because we're blaming him for us missing the flight, but we got upgraded to first class at no charge!!! It was so nice. We usually fly coach and I'm not sure I can ever go back. Serious pampering in first class and the kids were in love with EVERYTHING!! Of course, then they were asking if we'd be riding first class back home - no sorry kids :( Other than missing our flight everything else went smooth - we swam with the dolphins, ate and ate and ate, drank a ton of margaritas (us not the kids) and all of us have awesome tans!! So glad we took our first official family vacation!

What Were We Thinking???

We will soon be on our first official family vacation! Normally, Paul and I go on a vacation once maybe twice a year, and leave the kiddos at home. This year we've decided to take the kids - not sure what we were thinking. Don't get me wrong - I love my two girls like nothing else - but vacation for me and Paul is a reconnect time, alone time, drinky time, and relaxing time. We've gone on "mini-vacations" tons. Seaworld, Zoo, Padre, ect....... This is getting on a plane, and being in a different country for several days. It should be lots of fun and they do have a kids club there - it just won't be Mommy/Daddy time. Oh well, it'll be an experience and great memories with our Paige and Maddie!! This will be their first plane ride and since I'm an awful flyer that should be an experience as well. All in all, I'm very excited!!! Although, there's a lot to be said for all-inclusive and a kids club! Paul and I will be hitting the beach with the endless drinks (while the kids are watched of course) ;)


Maddie at the beach in July :)


Paige at the beach :)

I'm Addicted

To Top Chef. Is anyone else just crazy about this show?? It reruns about 12 times a day, and no matter how many times I've seen the episode I will sit and watch it everytime. I tend to do that with certain shows though. I could sit and watch Roseanne, Designing Women, and The Golden Girls a million times a day - it drives Paul CRAZYYYY!!!! It seems that this gene has been passed down to Paige & Maddie too. Those two can watch the same 4 episodes of Hannah Montana, The Suite Life of Zach & Cody, and Raven from the Disney Channel and it drives me CRAZYYY - but oh well - can't get too upset about it because I do the exact same thing. Final episode will be on soon and that means a full day of nothing but Top Chef episodes - YEA!!!!

Giving it a Go!

As a newly re-minted Stay-At-Home Mom I need something to do with all of my "free-time", besides watching/entertaining my 2 girls. When I say newly re-minted at-home Mom I mean I've been down the with the kids 24/7 road before. The first time it was with my oldest daughter, Paige. My wonderful husband, Paul gave me the chance to stay home and be with her for all of her firsts. It was a great 16 months, but I soon realized I needed adult interaction on an 8-5 basis. Paige went off to daycare and I went to work. Maddie came along a few years later and was in daycare when she was pretty young. Personally, daycare was the best - not only for me but for them too. They learned sharing, the alphabet, made good friends, were potty-trained there, and got all the energy out while running around at daycare. Whenever I've expressed how much I loved the kids in daycare I've gotten the looks - you know the Oh, youd rather send your child to daycare so you don't have to deal with it and I stay with my kids all day so I'm instantly a better mother than you kind of looks. Anyway - I love them very much but daycare probably helped me keep my sanity. Now I'm back at home trying hard to be the ultimate domestic diva but seriously - I'm not very domestic. I do love spending time with my family and all that jazz, but the whole having a spotlessly clean and unlived in looking house - NOT HAPPENING!! That's why I consider myself a Semi-Domestic Diva. If you asked Paul it would just be a Diva period but I completely disagree with that one ;)

I love reading other peoples blogs so I figured if I loved to read them maybe writing one wouldn't be so bad! Hopefully I'll keep up with it and not just toss it to the side, but due to my busy life of being a Semi-Dom you never know!