The "Radio" and Celebrating Baby J

I am seriously frustrated with myself and the lack of blog posts so I know you must be too!  These pictures have been uploaded for a while just waiting for my commentary.  Oh well.  Here goes...

We took the kids to the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo again this year!   They kept calling the Rodeo, the "Radio" hence the title.  We had a day filled with family fun!  My sweet boys are so photogenic and patient with me taking their picture All.The.Time!

They had an exhibit just like Little Hands on the Farm at the State Fair of Texas where you pretend to be a farmer!  The boys loved it, especially "selling" their goods for a snack!

Here they are posing with the real cows before "milking" the pretend cows inside the barn!

They worked up an appetite, so afterwards they shared a corn dog with Daddy!  You can't go to a carnival and not eat carnival food!

The petting zoo was a big hit too, especially the baby kangaroo!  Here J is hoping up and down like a kangaroo!

I love seeing all the brand new baby animals at the birthing center!  This is always my favorite part!

Mommy with her boys before checking out the cars and tractors!

Thumbs up for the Houston Livestock Show and "Radio"!

On a completely different note except for the connection of boyness.  I got the privilege of co-hosting a baby shower for my sweet friend Alissa during the same weekend.  She is having a baby boy named Jason next week!  His big sister Sophie is one of our little J's favorite friends too!  She is so sweet and will be an amazing big sister!  

She takes such good care of her baby dolls, so we know she will do great with their baby J!

I had so much fun making this diaper cake for Alissa!  I am just itching to host another baby shower so I can make another one!  Congrats Franklins and we can't wait to meet baby J in just a few short days!

Our "snow" day in pictures

So, Houstonians are a bit nuts. Heaven help us but if there is snow in the forecast we all lose our minds! Well there was snow in the forecast for today so everything shut down in preparation for the approaching Winter Storm of 2011. Well, we woke up to some ice and unfortunate car accidents from ice on the roads, but no snow. I think it important to say that I am one of those "better safe than sorry" people, so I am grateful for all the cautions that were taken.

The boys were a bit disappointed, but it really didn't faze them much. I was the total opposite when I was a kid. I would have freaked out, so I had a plan for how to handle the boys' disappointment. We talked about how weathermen make guesses or predictions, but only God knows.

Angel's teacher had given them a homework assignment to make a snowman. I asked Jeff this morning what we should do about it. He suggested we make one out of paper. Later he told me he was kidding, but he should know better than to kid like that with this COM (Craft Obsessed Momma)! I cut out the shapes and the boys glued it all together and decorated it. I taught them to draw snowflakes by telling them to make a letter "x" and then Jesus' cross over top. Who knew that explanation would work, but it did?!

Proud Angel with his snowman

This next picture is not my favorite of J, but I added it to show you the bright and sun shinny day out the window! Poor Mr. Weatherman! I know you are feeling defensive today, but thanks for the extra day with all of my sweet boys!

Here's a better picture showcasing J's snowman and his precious smile!

We made paper snowflakes too. I helped the boys fold them and then they each decided what shapes they wanted where. I had to do the cutting because child safety scissors just wouldn't cut it, literally. Our snowflakes turned out a bit more colorful than the real deal too. The boys got to see that each snowflake was different and we talked about how God makes each person unique and special just like snowflakes! It was "snow" much fun sans the actual snow!

Christmas Crafts and Activities

Let's not talk about how behind in blogging I am, okay? Thanks! The holidays came and then sickness hit me hard, and then hello 1/11/2011. That's all I have to say about that.

Anyway, I thought we'd start the series of Christmas/New Year's posts with a look back at Christmas crafts and activities we did in 2009....We made cookies at Gran's with cousin Clayton, made ornaments and picture holders at church and school, made teacher's gifts and a family gingerbread house.

This year we kept it simple, but still had some fun making crafts and baking while the boys were out of school for the holidays.
We baked cookies and decorated them.
We made some to share with Santa and saved most of them for us! What can I say? Sweets are kind of our thing!
We made snowflake ornaments with modge podge and tissue paper. PS: I cut up way too much tissue paper! I put it in a zip lock to save and will have to find some other craft to use it for!


They turned out really cute and we put their picture inside. I also put the year and their names for posterity sake. Alas, I forgot to take a finished product picture and now they are all packed up until next year! I love ya'll but not enough to dig through those boxes!

I made this cool Christmas card holder I found on my friend, Erin's blog.

It is made out of these really ugly burner covers which were beautified with scrapbook paper, modge podge, hot glue and ribbon. It took me way longer to find the burner covers than it did to do the rest of the project! Seriously, I went to 5 stores for this $5 item, but it was worth it! I am looking forward to using it for years to come!

Keep your eye out for tons more holiday posts to come. I have to make up for my 2 week hiatus. I know, you're welcome!

Thanksgiving 2010 + a Flashback to Thanksgiving 2009

I feel like so many of us have already moved onto Christmas that it seems sort of silly to post about Thanksgiving. But it is still November for another day, so I think I am writing just in time. If you are one of those readers who mainly just scans our blog for pictures, please be sure to scroll all the way down for a collage of our first Thanksgiving (2009).

Of course, we had a ton to be thankful for this year, namely our sweet boys and their adoption finalizing just before Thanksgiving! Our precious Angel said it best here:

Just in case you can't read his writing, although it is much improved since this time last year, I will type it out:

1. Dad 2. Mom 3. house 4. dog Harvey 5. cat Snowflake 6. family 7. God

Soon he'll grasp the order, but for now he has all the important ones listed! It shocked me when I saw this....such amazing wisdom for his 7 short years! As adults we could take a lesson from his little grateful heart!

Wednesday everyone was home from school and I decided to take full advantage of my time with the boys while Daddy worked. We met up with my BFF, Jenny and her little girl, Ariana at Chick-Fil-A for lunch and some play time. Then we all went back to our house and made turkey shirts for all 3 of our little turkeys! Jenny saw the ones we made last year and loved them so I invited her to join us and make one for Ari.

Jenny was super excited to make it on the blog! I mean we are famous now, so who can blame her! HA! Here is Johnny posing with his future mother-in-law, Jenny!
We definitely benefited from Jenny's experience as a preschool teacher as she had developed a super secret short cut for tracing tiny hands! The mommas did most of the work as the project required a lot of cutting and ironing. In the meantime, the kids were happy to play together. It took a long time, but the end result was worth it! Jenny told me when Ariana wore her onesie on Thanksgiving, she proudly poked her little tummy out and pointed when asked where her turkey was! SO cute! I am happy to get my little girl fix from this sweetheart!
Our little guys were super handsome in their turkey shirts too! I am still glad I chose material over paint this year, even though it took longer and was a bit more work! I think they held up better too. If you want to try this project, I used this step by step tutorial from Treasures for Tots. I omitted the rick rack legs and used the boys' feet for the body, but otherwise I totally copied her idea! This year I even ironed on their names too since we are official!
My little turkeys got quite a few compliments on their shirts at the parade downtown. Here Jeff and Johnny are waiting for the parade to start. J had to be held up to see due to the crazed woman in front of us who brought a chair to sit in, but stood up and waved her hands every time a float came. She was trying to catch something, anything, free being thrown from the floats. Really, lady, I don't get it. You are grown, the whistles, candy, etc are for the kids. Whatever. I am fine with my little guys not blowing that crazy loud whistle all day or adding to their increasing sugar consumption.
These two were my favorite floats. I love the giant turkey and the kids were thrilled to see Santa for the first time this year!
After the parade we went to my parents' (Gran and Poppa D) house for a traditional Thanksgiving meal. Here is our family picture we took before lunch. I totally made the boys change shirts to eat so they wouldn't get their shirts messy.
It worked because they still looked great for the Uptown Christmas Tree lighting that night.
Angel was a little scared to be on Jeff's shoulders, but Johnny was dancing on mine. They are so different in that way. Johnny is a daredevil to the max and Angel would much rather have his feet firmly on the ground. But really, who can blame him?
It started raining during the event, but it didn't stop Santa and Mrs. Claus from making an appearance to flip the switch and start the firework's display.
We really enjoyed the Christmas Tree lighting and may make it a tradition. I LOVE white twinkle lights, but I love them even more when my boys are posing in front of them!

Saturday and Sunday we spent time with Jeff's parents (Meme and Papa) at their house. The boys helped Papa harvest pecans and loved every minute of it! They earned us 10 lbs. of pecans too! Yum!

As promised, here is a collage of our Thanksgiving last year. Sweet Ariana is in last year's collage too. She is in the bottom left corner with her betrothed, Johnny! Whew! I am glad to have done our Thanksgiving post, so now we can decorate for Christmas! I just love this time of year!

Simple Teacher Gift Solution

Another challenge of being a new mom has arrived at the Albus' house in the form of teachers' gifts! I probably wouldn't have even thought of it if my sweet sister hadn't casually mentioned it one day while we were chatting on the phone. Thanks Sarah for the reminder! I quickly went to my most reliable mommy saving tool these days-the internet- for a craft idea of something the kids and I could make together! Family Fun Magazine (also my sister's suggestion) has a ton of great ideas, but I settled on this one. The mug holds ingredients for a personal size cupcake made in the mug with the use of a microwave and a couple liquid ingredients. The boys helped scoop the ingredients and put them in the bags. My favorite part is that the teachers that love on our boys every day get a gift hand made by them!

I added a Starbucks gift card and they came with these sweet knit envelopes which really spiced up the simple wrapping job! I hope the teachers enjoy them as much as we do!