60?!?! and 2!

January 2, 2010 we cleberated my mom's 60th birthday. Her actual birthday is on the 6th and yes I know, she doesn't look 60! We (Brancent, Jared, Patty and I) planned a surprise lunch in her honor. Ok it was really Patty and I. The guys showed up, brought the boys and looked nice so they did their part. It was so much fun planning and getting everything together. We celebrated at Napoli's in downtown Amarillo. Such.good.Italian. Patty made flower arragnments for the table that were perfect. My aunt and uncle from Portales came up and best of all my mom got to have all her grandkids together which is rare. My mom is the absolute best. She is always willing to help me out of whatever "overextending" bind I've gotten myself in. Not to mention her willingness to take care of Jacob everyday. She is my mom, but also my friend. I hope someday I can radiate with love like you do (and Noni too :) Hope you had a wonderful birthday mom, WE LOVE YOU!

That same day we went and celebrated Jax's (my best friend's son) 2nd birthday. He is 4 months older than Jacob and so stinkin cute and smart. Poor Jaxs was not sure what to think about all those kids in his house touching his toys. Happy Birthday Jaxs!

                                                 

                                                                                      

Christmas 2009

I have commendered my parents laptop and have a goal of posting 3 seperate post in 24 hours.Will see how that goes.
Christmas Eve we spent at home then Christmas day went to my parent's house. Jared, Patty, Simon and Mark were suppose to come Christmas Eve night, but because of the weather got stuck in Lubbock. We didn't think we would get to see them at all, but they showed up Christmas day around noon. It took them about three and a half hours to get to Amarillo when it normally takes two.  I knew they were coming, but mom and dad didn't so it was a fun surprise. They rest of the day was spent on Wayne's Christmas present (which he gave to himself) the Wii. I have video of a certain grandma in her sweat pants doing the hula hoop on the wii, with the video having been shot from behind...however, since I value my life you will not be seeing it on here! Everyone looked like an idiot playing, it was a lot of fun. Brancent left Christmas morning to go hunting with his dad and nephew. They were going to his friend Jesse's house near Austin and ran into weather so it was a long day for him. He did kill a deer and his nephew killed a wild hog. Brancent has made some amazing deer jerky. It didn't last very long!
Katie flew in December 27. We had Christmas with Brancent's family on the 28th. It's always funny to see how Jacob reacts when he sees Katie. When he first saw her he acted shy and then later when she was sitting in the floor he ran and gave her a long big hug. Luckily my camera was nearby...

Katie is so silly. One day I heard her making funny noises and Jacob came running down the hall and grabbed my leg and pointed to his room. He was smiling, but looked a little unsure. I went to his room where he and Katie had been playing and saw the monster...

HA! She gets an A+ for creativity! She is a very good big sister. For New Years we went to Nelva and Wayne's house for a Wii marathon. After Jacob went to bed Katie, Brancent and I went to Starbucks for some "just the 3 of us" time. We all got several Starbucks gift cards and we put them to good use the week she was here.It amazes me how much Katie changed in the 6 years I have known her. The little girl I loved before I meet her is becoming a young women. Boys are normally the topic of choice, she keeps me on my toes!

 Jacob was not really into opening the gifts as much as we thought he would be. Once something was opened his interest peaked. We had to go get him from his room where he was playing a few times so he could come see his gifts. It was funny, but I think next year will be a whole different story.

The picture in the middle of Katie laughing was when she got her Christmas gift from her baby brother. Jacob got her a Jacob (from New Moon, AKA Taylor Lautner) pillow case, cause he's a cutie ya know! I told Katie since she drooled over him she might as well drool on him in her sleep!

Loving Sunday Afternoons

I have a very long Christmas post to put up, but I just had to blog about my favorite Sunday afternoons. We get home from lunch and Jacob and Brancent take a nap. I look at the Sunday ads...in peace. Sometimes I read a magazine, plan the menu for the week, maybe do a little blogging. I'm convinced God invinted nap times more for momma's than kiddos. I was working on the blog and getting blog advice from Libby via text when I heard a small voice "Momma". I went to get Jacob and came back to the couch and laptop thinking I could finish a few things before he really woke up. At the moment I have child and lap top in hand and Jacob has dozed back off. Ahhhh, love Sunday afternoons!

That being said, after the heart attack I had last night I could use a moment of quite. Jacob had gone to bed and Brancent and I sat down to watch a movie. I once again had the laptop checking email and heard a thud. Previously in the day Jacob had been climbing on everything, table, chairs, bed, toys. He wanted to play in his bed and the next thing I knew he was leaning over the rail trying to climb out. So needless to say when I heard the thud that evening I knew what it was and my heart fell to my stomach. I couldn't even say anything or move. I looked at Brancent and when he saw my expression he took off running to Jacob's room. He found Jacob on all fours, not crying or upset, Brancent picked him up and Jacob asked for me. I was not far behind. His bed was then stripped of everything except the blanket. No glow worm, no elephant, no fox in soxs. Now we have to decide to get a crib tent, switch to a toddler bed, or leave him in the crib and see what happens. A momma's heart can only take so much!

I must go. Typing with my one free hand is getting tedious. But what's a post without a picture!?!?!

I got smiley points for letting Jacob lick the mashed potatoes off the spatula last night. I'm cool like that :)

PS My spell check is MIA so yeah, that's my excuse

Thanksgiving 2009

So, I'm a bit behind. The holidays set me back but now time for a little catch up! We had such a blast Thanksgiving. Katie was with us which always makes things more lively. Plus the addition of a furry house guest whom we found, and then found a home for made for a great time. Katie had to fly into Lubbock so we got to hang out awhile with Uncle Jared, Aunt Patty, cousin Simon and Mark. Simon and Katie spent some time at the mud room and created some masterpieces. Katie painted a mug and Simon a dog. They had fun and would have loved to have stayed and painted more.

We spent Thanksgiving day with Brancent's and my side of the family so to say we were stuffed would be an understatement.
Brancent, Katie, myself and Katie's friend Tori went to see a WT basketball game the day after Thanksgiving. This is when I realized I have failed her in the art of basketball when she saw them lined up for a free throw, our conversation went something like this:
K- "Ha, what are they doing? They look funny standing like that?"
M- "What? He's shooting a free throw."
K- Blank stare
M- "Someone got fouled"
K- "Huh?"
M- (Explanation of free throw, foul, the concept of being ready to rebound (explain rebound) and the trouble you get into when you don't "stand funny")
K- "Oh....huh. This is kind of weird and boring. Oh well"
Katie turns to chat with Tori and I turn to tell Brancent I have failed Katie in the way of basketball.
It could be worse right! Despite it all we enjoyed the game and WT won.

During the weekend we put up the Christmas tree together and made a gingerbread house before Katie had to head back to Austin. I had never really made one before and although it was not structurally sound it was still tastey. In the process we discovered Jacob liked gumdrops, which Katie and I hate so he was allowed to eat several. As you can see from the pictures (thanks to Brancent for taking them-my hands were a bit sticky) we had a lot of fun and probably gained a cavity....or two.

I have SO much to give thanks for....

PS I stole the cute collage idea from Libby so I must give her credit. Her's are super fancy. I still can't get mine right but I'm still trying. Libby's computer IQ jumped a bazillion when she became a Bonjour. HA Love ya Lib!