GNO

A fun GNO at Kings!  Too bad I had to leave early.  Or maybe it was good after I heard about how certain girls felt the next morning.

Lenisa, Kim, Alyson, me, Adrienne, Heidi and Debbie

Football Fanatics

Our house loves football season, especially some Saints and Tigers!

Cheering on the Saints

Prepartying before the tigers "played" in the national  championship game.  I almost thought we were going to have to send coop to counseling after that dismal performance.

F. L.

Forever Lazy.  This is how I was greeted after coming home from work one night.  And yes, Brad was doing "the wave".  Brad bought the FL as a joke, when he saw it in the checkout line at Walmart.  Unfortunately, he loved it.  So for a good 6 weeks, the first thing I heard in the morning was....zzzzzziiiipppppp....while he donned his smurf suit. The first thing I saw after work.  Packed in suitcases when we traveled.  That Forever Lazy was Forever Busy!

Who are these crazy people?

These are just a few random pics from our crazy, everyday life. 

This was just after bath and Coop came in "trying" to rap

So everynight after bath, it is a struggle to get the streakers to get dressed. 

The boys tried rock wall climbing at Zoe's birthday party.

Millie at her best.  This is her silent protest at Kohls while we were shopping.  If things weren't quite up to her satisfaction, she would just lay down, not looking up, as if she were asleep.  That all stopped last month, now she just screams and yells.

this really deserves its own post.....

Happy New Years

The Cook's and Thompson's came to Arkansas to ring in 2012.  We cooked and ate and played and shopped and ate some more.  It was really sweet of them to make the trip because I was on call for work. 

Carter, Camille, Caroline, Cooper, Graydon, Brady

I love how even Mike has a sippy cup:o

Since Brad was a few minutes delayed giving me my 2012 kiss, I captured the moment for Mike and Lauren, Leslie and Chris.

99% Happy, 1% Sad

I've always said that my job is 99% happy, but the 1% sad is REALLY SAD.   Well, that 1% is an understatement as of late.  I just returned from attending a visitation for a sweet, God Loving, beautiful, Healthy thirty-one year old mother.  Jeanie Payne died of breast cancer that was diagnosed about a year ago.  She has two beautiful baby girls,ages 1 and 3.  And just a few weeks back, the funeral for sweet Stella Rose.  She was just 2 1/2 years old last fall, when she was diagnosed with brain/spinal cancer.  I truly loved and prayed for that baby (before she was even concieved).

These sad, sad events have really made my hyper-aware of how precious time is with my husband, children.  I truly just feel so guilty alot of the time because I feel too blessed (if that even makes sense).  These families have really taught me to be more prayerful and to not let there spirits' die.  One thing I do know, is that I will ALWAYS remain hopeful because my sweet bestie Lauren did beat the odds and is a 5 year survivor from brain cancer. 

Christmas 2011

After Christmas Eve service at church, we baked cookies. We set those out for Santa with some milk and carrots for the reindeer. Camille kept biting the carrot, chewing it up and spitting it out on the floor!

One excited Christmas monkey!

Wow were these boys excited to see that Santa brought them footballs, light sabers, hot wheels, and the most anticipated of all....new Mario games for their Nintendo DS. It felt truly magical to watch them get sooo excited; that is until they tried to insert the games into the Nintendo device and it wouldn't fit. Oh goodness. sadness. despair. but no crying by the boys (almost crying from momma, but none from the boys). You see, before Santa was sent his list, I had checked with the video game clerk that these new "3D" games could work in the regular "2D" version of Nintendo. The front of the box says "works in 2D and 3D", but I clarified this b/c I thought it strange from a marketing standpoint that it would work in both. So I was sad, but proud of them for handling it so well. They just couldn't believe that Santa could have gotten this wrong.

On Christmas afternoon, we went to Heber and stayed at cabin that night. I happened by Walmart at 5 am to see if they had any Nintendo 3DS gaming systems and was wishing the Target in Conway had a similar sign posted a few weeks back. Anyways, Santa delivered two new 3DS to the cabin and left a note saying they had fallen out of the sleigh! Santa redeemed!!!!

The twelve days of Christmas

Well, not really the 12 days of Xmas, but this post refers to the celebrations we had in the weeks preceeding Christmas. This picture above is our new tree skirt made by Bevy's (I "won" it at a silent auction for Circle of Friends)

Brady sitting on Santa's lap at Montesorri Party.

Our elf on the shelf, Elfie Frost, sure made a mess with our coffee one morning.

I just love this pic of Camille. It is particularly difficult to get her to wear smocked clothing, so it make this even sweeter! I just love the beautiful red hue that is coming out in her hair and her gorgeous blue eyes.

2011 Gingerbread House compliments of Coop and Brady

These 2 shots are from me taking boys to deliver the Hot Wheels they collected from friends for patients at ACH. This is our second year to do this and it was a great experience b/c they actually "got it" this year. We choose to bring Hot Wheels since this was the one thing that made Cooper smile when he had exams, blood work, and surgery at ACH. One time, a volunteer had just helped us get back from a procedure and Coop (under the effects of Morphine) mumbled, "I need a car". That sweet old man came back about 2 hours later with a Hot Wheels for Coop and said he had searched all the toy boxes until he finally found that one! It was even more touching that we got to give a special friend a hug and that Cooper was sooo excited the train was named Stella!

Love this pic! Taken on the playground at ACH with the capital in the background lit up with Christmas lights.

OMG!!! The elf struck again while the kids were sleeping and painted the kids' noses red like Rudolf!

Schindall Family Christmas

A few days before Christmas, my family from Shreveport and Frisco came in town.

Family tradition for all kids to get picture taken on the couch with their first present!

All the grandkids piled on top of Grandma and Grandpa

2011 Santa Party

We had our annual Santa party with some old and new friends. It was alot of fun to have such a strong group of believers.

Poor Carson, but HILARIOUS PICTURE!

Cooper tried to be Mr Funny, cracking jokes with Santa, telling him he was going to leave him onion flavored cookies. I loved it because Santa quickly corrected him and said there was only room for one comedian in this group!

I wasn't certain how Camille would react with Santa, but she recognized that Santa=presents and timidly walked up to him. She sat attentively and listened to all he had to say.

Millie hamming it up with the man in the red suit!

Brady, Brady, Brady. Santa worked really hard to make certain that specific transformer toy was there for you. What a joy to see you so happy!

Somehow I missed the family pic of the Smiths, but here is Avery and Ainsley. They are so sugar sweet, I wish they were old enough to babysit!

All the kids listening to stories and awaiting their turn.

The Lamberts

The Fish Family

Us...the Johnson's

The Nash family

The Russell family