Christmas Vacation Has Finally Begun....

It felt like it was never going to get here. I think that I look forward to the time off more then the visit from Santa Clause. It is amazing how your perspective changes the older you get. I am looking forward to first and most importanantly... SLEEPING IN. It is going to be great to have Gerald home more and spending time as a family.

Friday was a half a day of school for everyone. We started the day off with Mya in the bathroom with an upset stomach. (great way to start the vacation) When I told her that she wouldn't be able to go to school she was devistated. She told me that everyone was going to be having fun without her because they would not be learning anything.... it was a fun day. Today she was telling me how much she was missing her teacher Mrs. Taylor and how her teacher was probably disappointed that she wasn't there yesterday. It might be a long vacation for our little five year old.

Today we had our ward Christmas party. Last year we had an issue with Keegan not wanting to go anywhere near the big man in the red suit. I had to settle for a picture of him next to the Christmas tree. This year he waited patiently in line with all the other kids, ran up to him and sat on his lap telling him that he wanted a "lighting mcqueen" car under the tree Christmas morning. I think that he has figured out how it all works now. After visiting with Santa Clause the kids were able to decorate cookies and santa clause hats. It was lots of fun!

It's a ...........

Last week we were scheduled for an ultrasound to find out what we were having. Gerald got off work early. Jessica came and got her kids early and a really good friend Kareena volunteered to watch Mya and Keegan so that we could go to the appointment. We ended up being late for the appointment and they could not get us into the ultrasound. To say that everyone was disappointed was an understatement. Well we went home and waited it out for one more week. Today we did it all over again and this time we were on time just to wait 35 minutes in the lobby. Don't you love that they expect you to be on time to your appointment but if they are running late then it is okay? So the long awaited new is that it is a.........

BOY!!!!Now is the hard work to come to an agreement with the name. It is a good thing that we have 16 more weeks to figure that out.

Feet

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

They said that the snow scrappers were sold out in the stores by 8:00 this morning and that there was a mad rush to the store to buy warmer winter coats. The news reported it as a historic event. Two years in a row with snow and this is the earliest that they have seen it snow here in Houston since they started keeping records back in 1870. It snowed most of the day, with 1-2 inches predicted, only a few specs actually stuck. The cold front came in and with freezing temperatures there might actually be some slick roads out tonight, but I am not going to venture out to see if it is actually true. There are just too many people down here that don't know how to drive in these conditions. Schools were released early today. Mya has been asking when we were going to see snow and when I told her that there was an actual chance that it might happen today she was elated. Today I was thankful that I am not a kindergarten teacher that had to control the mahem of all the five and six year olds. On the up side, Gerald was home early!

We put up the Christmas decorations this week. Now Mya and Keegan are so excited about Christmas. I had to laugh at my mom when she said that she had to take two vacation days this week so that she could make it till Christmas vacation. She said that if she had to hear "jingle bells" one more time she was going to scream. I guess first grade teachers don't have it easy either.

Mya lost her second tooth yesterday. Does anyone else out there have light sleepers? I have decided that it is kind of hard to be a discrete toothfairy when you only have coins to offer.

So Much To Be Thankful For....

This is the couple that made all the preperations and were gracious enough to invite us over.

We had such a great thanksgiving.

#1 because I didn't have to cook and I just got to enjoy the festivities

#2 because I got to spend the holiday with great friends.

What is Thanksgiving without a kiddie table. We had two... one for the boys that was so appropriate with a cars theme and one for the girls that was a tinkerbell theme.


The missionaries. The one on the far right if from Idaho Falls, Idaho and I give him a hard time and we enjoy talking about Idaho when both of us are feeling homesick.


The yummy dessert table.

All the really good food. The turkey was one of the best turkeys that I have ever eaten and it usually isn't one of my favorite dishes at Thanksgiving.

More food!

I am just noticing that we both wore red today.... no it wasn't planned.

I have so much to be thankful for. I feel so blessed with all the the Lord has given us.

Busy and Fun Weekend

Wow! I don't think that I have done so much in one weekend. Mya had her first field trip to Old McDonalds farm on Friday. I wasn't able to attend because I had a doctors appointment that was rescheduled for that time. The doctor said that eveything is going well and the ultrasound to find out what we are having is scheduled for December the 9th. Mya had lots of fun and actually rode one of the horses. She said that she was really brave and that she wasn't scared one bit.
We started off the weekend with Bunco at our house. Ten amazing women having lots of fun. One of my best friends came and spent the night with her three children. It was so much fun to have a guest in the guest bedroom. It doesnt' get utilized like it should! To end the weekend, we were blessed to be able to attend an amazing baptism last night. It was such a bad weekend for the camera to be out of commission so you get to hear about it through my ramblings instead of letting the pictures do the talking.

The women at bunco wanted me to post the recipie that I used to make Pumpkin Cheesecake. I am kind of ashamed to post it because then they will know just how little time spend in the kitchen. So..... here is a super good cheesecake that is also really super easy. This recipie makes 2 cheesecakes.
First off, I buy the graham cracker crust. (everytime that I try to make one it always ends up so crumbly one big mess)
2 cream cheese bars
2 tsp milk (you can a little more milk if it isn't as creamy as you would like)
2tsp sugar
Beat cream cheese, milk, and sugar in a medium bowl. Pour mixture into pie crust and set in fridge.
2 pkg of pumpkin holiday spice pudding.
3 1/2 cups milk
Mix together pudding and milk for 3 minutes. Pour over the cream cheese mixture and let set for 1 hour.

Trick or Treat

This was the first year that we have officially taken the kids trick or treating. We have gotten away with it because of all of the other activities that we go to and because Mya and Keegan didn't know what they were missing out on. Now that Mya is in Kindergarten I have a teacher to thank for informing her just what she was missing out on. She kept asking when we were going trick or treating today. Some friends invited us a hay ride around the neighborhood and had a good time even though it was a little nippy outside. THANKS MATT AND APRIL! There were a couple of times where Keegan and Mya were scared of the haunted houses or the adults that had dressed up in scarier costumes (I hope that we didn't traumatize them, I guess we'll see if they have nightmares tonight).

Yesterday was Mya's Halloween party. They decorated pumpkin sugar cookies, played pass the pumpkin, and made halloween necklaces. It was kind of disappointing that the Crosby kindergarten outlawed witches and devils as costumes because "they are too scary." However, Mya was excited that she got to ware her costume all day long and she came home and told Gerald that she got 100 candy to bring home.

I am so thankful to have all the festivities over with! I am Halloween'd out!

Ward Halloween Party

Mya and Keegan had tons of fun tonight at the ward Halloween party. There were lots of people, lots of games, lots of candy, and lots of fun. Mya has wanted to be a witch for a long time now. There were tons of witches at the party. I counted 15 of them. Keegan kept telling Mya that witches were scary and that he wanted to be a ghost so that he could be scary like Mya. I talked him into a pirate. He was so excited when I told him that he could pack his sword around. Both of them have really gotten into the dress-up game and so it was fun this year because they were both into character. Keegan went around saying "I matey" and Mya went around cackling like a witch.

The Festivities Begin

October is always full of fun things to do. Yesterday we went and supported Atascosita in the fall festival carnival. You could tell that they put in a lot of work. They had a petting zoo, and a camel that you could ride that both Mya and Keegan chickened out on. They had all the typical carnival games with soda pop toss, cake walk, face painting, baloons and a haunted house. (If only they could of had better music) the live band was loud and off key.It was a good way to kill an afternoon instead of sitting at home and wrestling with the kids until Gerald got home from the bank.

This was one of Mya's favorite booths... The ASL group at the school put together a wax hands where you could mold any sign that you wanted into a wax sculpture that you could take home. Mya thought that it was too hot at first but she wanted to prove to Aiden how brave she was. After it was all over she turned to me and stated, " I didn't cry mom, even though it was hot."

The petting Zoo. They had food to feed the animals and Keegan Callahan ate it. We laughed about his green tongue and he just kept saying that it tasted really gross. It was kind of confusing because they had put the food into an ice cream cone and I guess it looked appealing to him. I think that he is going to take a second thought next time we offer him people food in an ice cream cone.

Another Mya Post

Yes, we have another child. It just seems like there is more going on in Mya's little world then in Keegan's right now.


Yesterday Deedra came and did makeovers for both Mya and I. I had to take a picture of Mya so that you can see that she truly does get the full treatment and that it is a serious undertaking when it comes to doing her hair. Here she is, sitting under the dryer with curlers in her hair getting her fingernails and toenails painted. She was so disappointed when I sent her to school on Friday morning with just a ponytail and barretts to hold back the loose hair. She is such a princess.

Mya Lost Her First Tooth

On Sunday Mya came and asked me what was wrong with her tooth. Upon examination I told her that it was going to fall out to make room for her big girl teeth. She has been patiently waiting and wiggling it in hopes that it would fall out. Today Keegan and I met Mya for lunch and took her some McDonalds. While we were eating she pulled something out of her mouth and asked what it was. I told her that it was the tooth that she had been waiting for. She had to tell all her friends that were sitting around us and then she got to put her name on the tooth chart in the classroom. She was asking at 5:00 if we could have dinner so that she could go to bed early because the toothfairy doesn't come until you are asleep. I don't think that quarters will cut it like they did when I was five. I was talking to some of the kids in Mya's class that had already lost teeth and couldn't believe that amount of money that they got. There are a lot of expectations of the easter bunny, the toothfairy, and santa clause. I have a deeper appreciation for all that my parents did for me to make all those times special.