Lots of Parties, Fun in the Snow, & Very Tired!

We have had such a busy February that I am so tired & in desperate need of some R & R. The sad thing is - the month isn't over yet. Between 5 parties - yes, 5 parties and lots of snow I am one tired mommy.

Every year at this time we are extremely busy with 3 of the kids having birthdays. But this year got even crazier!

Bryce turned 9 this year! I can't believe my little boy is getting so big. He is really into Lego's so ofcourse we had to have a Lego party. He invited all his friends from school & had a blast. He got LOTS of Lego's to build.

Savanah turned 6 and invited all the girls from her class. Their are 10 girls in her kindergarten class & they ALL came. Brayden loved every minute of it with all the little girls chasing him. I think he thought it was his party too - NO just girl crazy! Savanah is really into Barbies so we had a Barbie Party. Since we needed to have it on a Friday night we did a Barbie Pajama Party. All the girls wore their PJ's & danced & had lots of fun. I don't think I have ever seen her so happy!

My man Brayden had a "Saints" party - ofcourse! He is really into football, but especially Saints football with his dad. Even before we knew they were going to the Superbowl he had planned to have a Saints Birthday Party. Worked out great for me since they were going to be in the Superbowl the next week I was able to get party supplies right here in Dallas TX for the Saints. Having 10 girls was easier than having 10 boys. Boys are SOOOOO rowdy! But Brayden had a blast!

Then we had a Superbowl Party! On Friday was Savanah's party, Saturday was Bryce's party & then Sunday the Superbowl party! 3 Parties in one weekend alot of fun but very tiring. We had a blast cheering on the Saints! WHO DAT!

It was pretty intense, at times, watching the game. But it was all worth it! Our neighbors were looking out their windows, I guess to scared to come outside, because we were so excited that we won that were all outside screaming & Bryan was running down the street screaming. It was all so exciting! We had fun watching the Saints in our Saints room!

After all that fun - we had 3 days of playing in the snow. I have never seen such cool snow in Texas. We had 8 in. in our yard. I have played in snow before, but not snow that would roll up in balls the way this did. We had sooooo much fun! Here is Savanah & our neighbor building a snow man.

Such Beautiful snow!



Bryan & the kids building lots of snow men! The first day we build the big snow man & then it kept snowing so we had to build several more!

Then we finished out our 2 weeks of craziness with a baby shower for my sister in law Mandy. And it was just in time because baby Adalynne was born this morning. I can't wait to see her!

Then Valentines! Could we fit in anymore parties & celebrations this month? I sure hope not! For Valentines I got Bryan tickets to go see the Mavericks play. So, on Wednesday we went to watch the Mavericks beat the Suns! It was alot of fun! BUT now I need some serious R & R. Calgone take me away!!!!

That's what we have been up to this month! Hope ya'll have had a great month :)

Fun in New Mexico

For Thanksgiving, this year, we didn't something different. Usually we get together with Family & have Turkey & the fixin's. But this year we decided to go to Angel Fire, New Mexico to my aunt & uncle's cabin. They have an awesome cabin, in the mountains. We had just a blast! We will definately go back to visit often.

Here is thier cabin!



We drove over to Red River, New Mexico, about 30 min. away to go sledding. We had so much fun. We were planning on going sledding 1 day & skiing another day, but since we all had so much fun we ended up sledding 2 days & decided to wait to teach the kids to ski until Sierra is a little bigger.
Since we had 3 sleds the girls all raced each other! Sierra won - I guess being the smallest her sled went faster!


Then the boys raced! Brayden won that race!



My kids LOVED the snow! We have never really lived anywhere, while we have children, were it snows much. They couldn't get enough of it. At home they hate wearing alot of cloths, but they all buddled up & stayed out as long as mommy could handle it.



The first thing Sierra did when we got to the snow was make a snow Angel. All she could talk about before we left for New Mexico was that she wanted to go to the Snowy Mountains & make a snow Angel. I guess she heard that on Dora?? And she did! As soon as she got out of the car she headed for the snow & laid down to make her Snow Angel!

The day before we left it warmed up to 55 degrees(which I guess felt warm to them since the low each day was about 10 degrees with a high of about 25 to 30), so the kids shed their coats & went out & built a fort out of fallen trees. They had so much fun they didn't want to get in the car the next day to go home. That is one thing they miss about TN is being outdoors exploring all the time. So, they were definately in their element out in nature in New Mexico.

My uncle took us to a cave, close to their house, where legend goes Billy the Kid & his gang use to hide out. It was fun exploring the cave & thinking that Billy the Kid use to hide out their!

One day while we were their we went hiking in the mountain that their cabin sits on. It was so much fun exploring. The girls gave out early & I took them back to the cabin while Bryan & the boys climbed to the top. They found deer tracks & deer poop & thought that was awesome.



While we were their we rode 4-wheelers all day everyday. We had such a blast riding 4-wheelers & exploring the mountain roads. It was so beautiful their & definately made us miss the mountains in TN! They had 2 4-wheelers and since the kids are so small we were able to fit all the girls on 1 and all the boys on 1. I just had to remind Bryan a few times to be careful with my boys on his. It was hard to tame the daredevil in him, but he handled it pretty well.

Bryan with the boys!

We are so thankful to my aunt & uncle who let us come stay in their cabin for Thanksgiving! We had such an amazing time together. Nothing like just exploring & spending time together as a family with out all the other distractions of life (like a phone). Our cellphones didn't work their so we just spent all day everyday together enjoy all that nature had to offer in New Mexico.

I know this way past Thanksgiving, but wanted to share our week with you! I hope ya'll all had an awesome Thanksgiving & were able to spend quality time together. I am so thankful for my wonderful husband, that I love so much & our 4 beautiful children!

Last Day!

Well, today was my LAST day at work! Yeah! I loved being in the office & working with Bryan, but my house & kids were starting to suffer. SO, we hired this awesome girl named Staci to work in our office full time. And the bonus is she is related to us and she does an awesome job. I'm excited that Bryan's sister is going to be working with him now & I can come home and be with Sierra, clean my house, workout, run errands, go to the grocery store, and then I can have more time in the afternoon with my kids. When we get back from vacation in a week, Staci will start full time. Can you tell I am really excited!
I have to say I don't know how moms work, cook, clean, shop, and take care of their kids. It was SOOOO hard - I was always tired and felt like I was missing out on time with my kids because when they were home was the only time I had to take care of all my other responsiblities too. So, I am coming home to be what I am suppose to be - A MOM!

Sierra & the Pumpkin Patch

Sierra & I went with her pre-K class to the BIG ORGANGE PUMPKIN PATCH! They had a lot of fun things for us to do! I loved all the fall signs that they have. I have really gotten into painting yard signs, so I took alot of pictures of the ones they made for ideas. But enough about me, Sierra had a blast & I loved being their with her!

We rode on a hayride to the pumpkin patch, and then got to pick out a pumpkin. Going in November their were only little pumpkins left, but she didn't mind. Alot of Kindergarden classes went in October so they must have taken the BIG ones.

Sierra loved playing in this tree. And I loved taking candid shots of her. I really like this photography thing. I loved her little dress. It had fall leaves on it & the shirt had different colored leaves all over it. She is such a cutie!

She climbed up on this tractor & I just had to take her picture. I took so many pictures of her playing & exploring that she finally got tired of it. There are sooo many of them, but decided to only post a few.

When you first came in to the farm they had Longhorn & goats for you to feed. She didn't like feeding the cows, they made her nervous. But as you can see she loved feeding the goats. She would just giggle when the goats would eat out of her hand. She thought it felt funny! And I love to hear her giggle! Her giggle is like sunshine to me. And you gotta love that sweet smile!

I'm thankful that I got to spend this day with her. We had a blast! Her being the youngest she hasn't gotten much time with mommy ALL ALONE! Thanks Sierra for letting me share this day with you.

Ardis Halloween

We had alot of fun celebrating Halloween at our house. We always decorate our house inside & out. I forgot to add the photo's :( Then for FHE right before Halloween we carve our pumpkins. We LOVE doing this. The kids each pick out a pumpkin & decide how they want it to look. Bryan and I then help them, when & if they need it. They ALWAYS want help getting the guts out because they all think it is gross.


Savanah saying CHEESE! She is deciding how she wants her pumpkin.



Bryce wanted a New Orleans Saints pumpkin. This is what he & Bryan cut out.

Brayden also wanted to do a Football theme. The boys are really getting into Football with Bryan.

Sierra wanted a ghost. We all had alot of fun carving the pumpkins.


Here is our finished product. Savanah is the only one that went with the Traditional pumpkin. The boys represented our favorite football teams, The Texas Longhorns & The New Orlean Saints!




Bryan and I went to a costume party at our friends house & had alot of fun. Bryan went as Wimpy Hulk. I also wanted to go as a Marvel character, but they make them so immodest. So, I went as a Pink Lady instead.

Sierra wanted to be a Rock Star! (She got the idea from Savanah) She wasn't so sure about the sparkly eye shadow, so the picture didn't turn out to great, but this is the only one where I got the full outfit. Sorry Sierra!

Savanah came up with the Rock Star idea. So she of course picked Pink so Sierra had to go as a Purple Rock Star. They looked really cute. When I fixed their hair they got upset with me & told me I made their hair freaky, so I had to tame it down a bit. I guess they don't really understand how a Rock Star wears their hair.

Since Bryce loves Lego Star Wars he decided to go as someone from Star Wars. He stays away from costumes that require your face being painted or a hat. He loves the simple ones, which is definately his personality.

Then their is Brayden man. He is so much like his dad. He doesn't think it is dressing up if you don't paint your face. Speaking of, when I went as a Pink Lady I wanted Bryan to go as a character from Grease also. He told me that it wasn't dressing up enough. If you don't have paint all over you & your hair a different color it isn't dressing up enough. Like Father like Son! He made an Awesome Rock Man!



I couldn't resist grabbing the camera & taking a picture of the girls. They looked so cute sitting at the bar talking about their night & all their candy. Priceless!


So, for our trunk or treat I went as a Sailor. This is my best friend Cristina! I was excited about this costume because my sister made this costume for me when I was 23. You can't tell from the top but the pants were really tight (bell bottoms) when they were made 12 years ago and they still fit. Plus it was cold that night.


Deuce went as a Bee. Doesn't he look cute! My friend and I went to Old Navy's $2 Halloween Sale & got it for $2. I wasn't planning on dressing him up, even though the kids kept begging me too. But when I found it for $2 I couldn't pass it up.

So, on Halloween Bryan decided that he wanted to go as Don King. He had been growing his hair out & it usually will frow out but it wouldn't that night. So, I'm not sure what he was. He picked up the girls mic & started acting goofy, image that!

Anyway, A fun time was had by all!

Hope you guys had a Happy Halloween too!

School Project

Bryce came home 2 weeks ago with his first BIG assignment. His instructions were to pick out a book, read it, write a book report on it & THEN to take a pumpkin & turn it into the main character of the book. His first thought was TRANSFORMERS. NO! Even as creative as Bryan & I, I thought that one might be a tad hard to do. Plus not fun to write a book report on a book about Transformers. SO, we went looking through our bookshelf for a book that Bryce would love. And we came across a book about a Turtle. For anyone that knows Bryce, you know how he LOVES Turtles. So, this was a perfect fit I thought. Plus the Turtle in the book was way cute & I knew right away how we could turn our pumpkin into a Turtle.
SO, Bryce read his book, wrote his report & then made his pumpkin. YES, he did most of the work. I guided, bought something we used for the head & bought a hat, and then helped with the hot glue because he didn't like it burning his fingers, but he painted & drew and it looks Awesome. He LOVES it, & I think it is the cutest thing I have ever seen.

SO, Here it is:
Bryce's Book Report, titled: RED, RED, RED

He is so proud of it, as he should be. He did awesome!


I love this view. Doesn't he have a cute face!


You can't see his face as much in this view, but you can see his shirt & pants. Yes, in this story the turtle wears a green & white stripped shirt & orange pants. He wears a white hat with a red stripe.



Really, I can't get over how cute it turned out. Would you believe we used a fake mango from Hobby Lobby for his head. The stem of the pumpkin is his neck & I just put a whole in the mango & glued it on.



Bryce used construction paper to make the marking on his back. The only instructions for the pumpkin were to not cute or puncture the pumpkin. They don't want them going bad at the school.

When we were finished Bryce loved it soooooo much that he said he wanted to keep it forever. At first I told him we would always have pictures of it. That wasn't quite good enough though. So then I came up with a brillant plan. I am going to buy one of those fake pumpkins and we will paint it & then take everything off this pumpkin & put it on our fake pumpkin when he brings it back home. Then he can have it forever.

This was such a fun project. I am glad that I got to share this with Bryce! I love Bryce's artistic talents, he just ahh's me all the time.

Hope you enjoyed our little project. I knew family especially would enjoy seeing what Bryce created!

My Big Boy Deuce!

My Big Boy Deuce is 11 months old now! He weighs in at a BIG 50 lbs. Isn't he a cutie! Well, I know some people don't find bulldogs cute, but I think he is adorable. I just love that face! Everytime I look at him I just smile!

The kids just love him! Don't MY Boys look cute!

After our walk each day, Deuce & the kids love to play frisbee or ball. The kids throw his frisbee and he chases after it. It is funny what dogs & kids love to do. I think all 5 of them could play this for hours. And I love watching them. Forget mom joining in, its hard enough for them to take turns with 4 people much less a 5th. Oh well, I love just watching them.

Deuce in action! Or posing for the camera???

Poor Deuce - he has not enjoyed the kids being at school ALL day & me at work. He has acted out ALOT & I was afraid I was going to have to find him a new family that could spend more time with him, but my heart is attached to him. So, instead we are trying to take him for a walk several times a day, which is helping. Plus we have a trainer that is going to come & work with all of us.

Deuce's birthday is coming up next month on November 22nd! I can't believe he is going to be 1! My baby is growing up. JK. We meet a girl bulldog, named Sophie, the other day & they are wanting to breed her soon. Her & Deuce would make cute babies. She has a red head & white body, the complete opposite of Deuce. I'll keep you posted!