Kids at holiday in the park

The boys and Liza on the mine train
The group

Leighton and Liza on the Judge roy

Steven and Debbie on the Judge Roy

Jackson and UncleMike on the Judge Roy

Waiting in line for a ride

Steven was concentrating on something else.

This year the kids got to go to holiday in the park for the first time. Vicki was lucky enough to get free tickets from work and since i had to work she took the kids. They had such a great time. We were so thankful that they had the opportunity to do something so fun. Now dont worry. Vicki didnt take 3 kids to six flags by herself. Mike Bannister went with her and she met up with her friend Liza so there were 3 adults and 3 kids. It worked out perfect. It also makes me a little sad cause you can tell that they are all growing up so fast. They are even tall enough to ride ALL the rides and would you believe that they all three rode the Judge Roy Scream. So Big!

Some old stuff. Christmas at fair park

In Santa's Sleigh

This is how you make snowmen in Texas...SHAVED ICE!!

All the kids with The gingerbread man

With Rudolph

The Boys in front of the octopus

Ok here I am once again updating my blog. Well trying to catch up actually. There is alot to do so i will do my best.

This iswhen we had the bright idea to go to the Christmas celebration at Fair Park with our friends Brandon and Krystie and Steven Kennedy and his son Jackson. Yes i said Fair Park. It wasnt too bad at first. IT wasnt too great either. Then it started to get a little scarey and after the shooting we got out of there as fast as possible. We did get some cute pictures first though and the kids thank goodness had no idea what was going on so they had a good time. Next year i think we will stay a little closer to home.

Baby its cold outside

Hey guys, I am posting this from the lovely cold state of Michigan. Yes i am in michigan and let me tell you it is COLD!!!! I woke up this morning to -12 degrees. I think we might get to 0 today. WOOHOO. But hey that is great for snowmobiling which i am hoping to get my dad out in a little while. Anyway back to the reason i am here. My dear sweet great grandmother who i think everyone in our HUGE family was close to passed away on wednesday morning. She lived to be 92 and had such a GREAT amazing life. I only hope to live the life she did. Up until 6 weeks ago she was driving herself to mass and shopping in her caddy. She was so self sufficient. Anyway. We will be honoring her and her life saturday. She was so loved by all 16 grandchildren, 39 great grandchildren and 22 great great grandchildren.

On more positive note. Leighton was in the spelling bee yesterday and did GREAT!! She passed all the second grade words and they had to move on to 5rd grade words. She didnt win but came in like 4th place so we are so proud of her. She is such joy to us.

Please keep andy in your prayers this weekend. He has the kids al by himself. Well with the help of friends.

FRUSTRATED!!

So i know i am behind on posting and i have so much to talk about and pics to post. Unfortunatly i have NO energy. Christmas Eve i went to the dr because i felt horrible. Diagnosis then was bronchitus, tonsilitus and sinus infection. Treatment...Antibiotics and cough meds. By sunday night i was feeling aweful again so i stayed in bed most of monday and my poor kids had to entertain themselves. Went back to the dr Tuesday where i was given my new diagnosis. Strep throat and a blood test confirmed MONO!! Well this certainly explains alot. Treatment...That is the fun part. I fgot a stonger antibiotic for the strep along with a mouth rinse that numbs my throat so i can atleast eat as for the mono....Well there is nothing they can do except let it run its course. This usually takes about a month. I felt a little better new years day but then yeasterday it hit like a ton of bricks and i have been laid up ever since. The muscle pain and heachaches is the absolute worse i think. I can handle the sore throat for the most part. I guess i just have to really stay in bed. Poor kids dont understand what is going on and they just want me to be the mom i usually am. Please pray that my month is shorter than expected and i make a quick full recovery. I am really feeling like i am not going to make it right now. Just sick and tired of being TIRED and SICK!!!!

3 days till christmas

Well friends and family...We only have 3 more days till Christmas. I guess it is at this final stretch that my emotions start getting confusing. I am so excited for Christmas. The children are growing up so fast and are really understand the true reason why we celebrate December 25th. Don't get me wrong they are still super excited about the presents but they are 5 and 7 and i have to say i am a little excited about that as well. This is just such a magical time of the year. Not only Christmas but the beginning of a new year with new challenges and new victories. Then i remember that while i will be with Andy and the kids and his family (my family now as well) i will not be with my family. I think that is the hardest thing. You would think that after 8 years of this i would be used to it but sadly i am not. I know that when i go to call my mom and dad Christmas morning i will have to fight back the tears as to not make them sad and that will be OK. My parents and my brother in Houston will always be in our hearts even if we cant be with them for the holidays. I know that i will see them all soon. I guess it just make me sad. SO friends and family that i cannot be with the lovely holiday season please know that WE LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH. I hope that you have a wonderful holiday season filled with magical moments and happy thoughts and many blessings from above.

Love always,
Andy, Kirsten, Leighton, Steven, and Jackson

our elf family

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Where Have I Been!!!!!!!!!!

It has been a BUSY 5 weeks since my last blog. SOrry about that. After halloween things just got busy. We had to finish up all of our sports. Leightons fotball team made it to the playoffs where we had to play 3 games and finished the week before thanksgiving. Of course all our playoff games were away games in weatherford and Brock which is about 10 miles past weatherford. Ha ha ha. The boys finished T-ball on November 10th. They all did so great this year and we are looking forward to soccer and t-ball starting again in February but we are enjoying the sports free life for these couple of months. Andy and i have been working on cultivating new friendships that we have started with families in Alvarado. We have met some really awesome people with some really great kids. It is nice when you all have children around the same age and they all get along really well. This year was a big year for me. I decided that i wanted to host Thanksgiving Dinner at our house this year. This is a tradition i plan on keeping. Everything went really nicely. We had mostly friends over and it was so nice. There were 20 people there and we loved every minute. The weekend after thanksgiving was a dreaded one for me. I turned the BIG 3-0 on november 30th. We had a little party at home with friends on saturday and it was fun. I really enjoyed celbrating that time with our friends. Then on sunday Gene and vicki took me out to diner at razoos. I had to do the dreaded dance but hey we got free dessert out of it. Well that is all i can remember right now. I am sure there is more so i will have to repost later. Thanks for taking time to read this. We miss all our family that is away and cant wait to see you soon. Here are some pics over the last few weeks

My birthday at RaZOOS

Thanksgiving

CHeer extravaganza

Look at her high kick

Last game. We were freezing

Go Seminoles

Brotherly Love

Wrestling