Other Blogs

Just so you know, I'm not the only crazy blogger in our family. I have added on the left a list of my family and friends blogs, just click and you can meet them.

Cascarone's

Jen brought the kids cascarone's to crack on Thanksgiving, but since it was soooo coooold outside, we never did them so she left them with us. I decided to let the boys crack into them in the foyer (Ron was not amuzed...)... They had so much fun.... Thanks Jen...

For those of you up North, cascarones are egg shells painted stuffed with confetti. A Mexican tradition to crack on other's heads... Fun.

This Year's TREE

Boys Just Wanna Have Fun

Just chasing the boys around today trying to get some good pics...It was a great outside play day bc the weather was sunny and high 60's...

Bee

I have a deal with Lincoln. Once he learns to write his name by himself, I will take him to see the Bee Movie. He is practicing as we speak.

Cookie's

Goal: Make 5 different Christmas cookies this year and get them in the freezer for the holidays. There, I said it, now I'm going to have to do it.

(On Christmas eve we will be hosting a party of 16 people so far.... So, I'm starting to prepare early...)

Stolen Pics

Here are pics I stole off of my sister,

Sue's memory card while she was here last week...

Sue and Steve in Florida

Nephew Matthew on the beach

Lauren holding some reptile, she also got to hold a tiger cub.

Lawson on the go cart ride while we were visiting.

Lincoln gocarting, he couldn't get enough.

My sister with the band FUEL, at the Nascar races.

Lawson swinging at the park.

This huge snake was found on my sister's FRONT PORCH. Yuck.

Lincoln and his uncle steve, Lincoln didn't realize he was a police officer I guess, he thought it was neat to see him in his uniform as he was off to work on Thanksgiving.

The boys love their La La

Ramblings

Wow, I love Cyber Monday.... It's nice to get a lot of shopping done online. And I have to say that this year, there have been some EXCELLENT sales. Free shipping, etc... And I am proud to say that I am ALMOST done with my shopping. AND I have to do both boys birthday's also. I just need a few things here and there. We do have some presents under the tree that have remained unopened and untouched. Yes, I'll post a pic of the tree soon, can't figure out the setting I need on my new camera, the pictures of the tree don 't look attractive. This is the ornament I won at the exchange.\ It was made and painted

by AUNT JEN. I love it.

Lincoln putting on the first ornament of the year. He really got into putting the ornaments on the tree this year all by himself. He put ALL of his own on...


Went to the chiropractor yesterday, my back feels so much better now. Went out last night to Grapevine Mills for Christmas shopping. Today, the boys had gymnastics classes back to back, and now Lincoln is at preschool....

Saturday Update

Today, we all went to a neighbors 3rd birthday party. Great Fun, they are great neighbors...
Then we put up the Christmas tree. I won't go into the details, but WOW what an experience. Just a little blood, 4 smashed ornaments, some tears, but we can't complain about the finished product. And marking that off our to do list. Think I can put some wrapped presents underneath, safely?? I'll have to try...

On another note, I threw my lower back out again somehow during the holiday, so I've been using the heating pad today, and hopefully get to the chiropractor Monday.
Didn't brave the after Thanksgiving sales, but purchased a lot on line and got some even better deals. Hope to make it to Toys R Us tomorrow. I have not only Christmas to buy for, but both boys have b-days within a week of Christmas!!
Love this time of year!!

Eggs

To all our Thanksgiving guests:

They hatched!!

Thanks Giving

Ron and I began cooking our Thanksgiving Feast at 6am, and we ate at around 1pm just as planned. Our family came into town from San Antonio and Houston area... They struggled in the holiday traffic: it took Jen and Mark 8 hrs to get here and it should have taken 4 1/2... Hope it was worth their while.... Sue, Matthew and Lauren came in Tues-Friday, and Mom and Herb came in for a quick trip Wed-Thurs: Mom had to be back at work at 6am for the day after Thanksgiving sales....

We feasted on a 21 lb turkey perfectly prepared by Ron, AND a honeybaked ham given to us as a gift from someone Ron works with, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoe casserole, stuffing, yeast rolls, brown sugar glazed carrots, steamed brocolli, squash casserole, deviled eggs made by Grammy, and yummy apple and pumpkin pies made by Auntie Sue Sue...

After dinner and dessert, we celebrated Matthew's 17th b-day. Then we had our annual/traditional Christmas ornament exchange. We loved the 4 ornaments we got to keep. Then we watched the movie Evan Almighty (about Noah's ark), and played charades... It was a great day. AND even it doesn't snow here on Christmas, it did SNOW here on THANKSGIVING.... just a little bit... It got down to 27 degree's overnight. Brrr Me and my Hubby...

Matthew's birthday money...

Matthew and Ron worked on hanging Christmas lights...

Brr Cold swinging outside.

Lawson and Godmother, Sue Sue (can you say hat hair??)

Lauren and Lincoln enjoying the feast...

Jen and Mark

Mom and Herb

Turkey

HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO OUR FAMILY AND FRIENDS. Today, we will be thankful for you!!
All the family is here, and we are preparing a huge feast....

My Career

A lot of you don't know who I was or what I did prior to being a "mommy". I actually did have a career!! And it was an important one!! I got my undergraduate degree in Sociology/Psychology. Then I went back to get my Masters Degree. My MA is in Education and Counseling. Then I went and got my LPC which stands for Licensed Professional Counselor. I am licensed through the state of Texas. I still maintain my license by taking yearly continuing education (on line now), because someday I will be back to counseling.
For a majority of my career, I worked at Roy Maas Youth Alternatives. I worked there for 8 years total in different capacities. But the last five years I worked at a residential treatment center called Maas Cabin. I worked out in Boerne at a place called Meadowlands, which is a country "ranch" like setting for both boys and girls ages 6-18. They all lived in different cabins based on their needs. The cabin I worked at was a girls cabin of 12. They were the "highest" level, meaning they were the one's who required the most help. These girls lived here at the cabin until they were stable enough to go to a foster home, and some of the girls just lived there until they were 18. The girls were placed by the state because they were taken away from their parents permanently, mostly for neglect and abuse. My office was in there cabin, and I provide all the individual and group therapy, among many other things including going to all their court cases. Since the girls did not have parents, I did a lot of things that a parent would do like parent/teacher meetings at the school, taking them places they needed to go, but mostly just helping them get through their situations. As you can see, this was a very rewarding job, however emotionally stressful. I think about the girls all the time: wondering what ever happened to them and if they are safe. I got attached to a lot of the residents, after spending so much time with them.
Well, my sister had emailed a news clip from RMYA from San Antonio and it just brought back a lot of memories.
You can go to this link to see where I worked. Go to "programs" on the top, then click on the left to residential treatment centers, and you will see my cabin: Maas Cabin. I still try to stop by when I am in San Antonio, and still keep in touch of some of my co workers. What a great opportunity this was for me!!! This is what I was doing when Ron and I met, and I worked at Maas Cabin until the DAY BEFORE Lincoln was born..... Then we moved away...
Working for this organization was not just a career, it was also a family. I had some great mentors (Anita and Bart), who I probably need to call and just say Thanks.... But, I think they know how I feel...
http://www.rmya.org/

Sesame Street

For those of you that grew up watching Sesame Street, or are watching it now with your kiddo's, here is an interesting artical from NY Times.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/18/magazine/18wwln-medium-t.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1

Last of the ICE pics

OK, Darla just sent me some more cute pics of ICE, so I'll post these then I'll be done... Tomorrow Lincoln has gymnastics camp from 9-12 so Lawson and I will spend some quality time together and start preparing for our Thanksgiving visitors who will start coming in tomorrow...
Friends.... Emily and Lincoln
The whole group: Maddie, Emily, Ryan, Lincoln, and Lucky

Lincoln and Ashley (Emily's big sis).

Lincoln, Emily, and Ashley...

Ice Ice Baby

Lincoln with Cara's kiddo's: the twins and baby Tori...
Cute Emily... We celebrated her 5th bday....

Lincoln's choice of riding... Under the stroller as they played peek a boo while I pushed them, what a sight.

Lincoln ICE Slide

Turn to the side to watch Lincoln going down the ICE Slide...

Lawson coming down the ICE slide

WEEEEE.... Lawson was getting stuck this time on the way down...

The Group

Here is a pic on the way out of ICE of Most our Group. Lawson is crying b/c he was cold I think....

Nanny, here is a picture of me and the boys for you....

The best part was the ice slide, and I got some video's...

Coats

This is what they looked like in there. They give you these WARM down parka's to wear, it's below zero in there. Lawson has never experienced cold like that, but he kept trying to take off his jacket....

ICE

Click here to see the ICE exhibit we went to today. It was absolutely amazing... And Cold!! The boys loved it. Check out the video clip on the right side of this website to see what we did, and I will post some pictures later.
We met our friends Darla, Ashly, Emily and Cara, Tori, Ryan and Maddie...

http://www.gaylordhotels.com/gaylordtexan/ICE.cfm

Young Lincoln

Here is an old Christmas pic of Lincoln when he was just under 2, exactly Lawson's age..... They look so different now, it's surprising when I look back and see how much similarity there is...

ZOO Pic

The giraffe is for you Aunt Jen.... We liked the elephants.... Some faves of the day were the zoo train ride, the monkeys, giraffe, elephants, BATS, kids barn play area, cotton candy, lunch at Pappasito's afterwords, and best of all the 3 hour nap for everyone afterwords: 3:30-6:30pm.... Nice...