The Price Family

You cheated....yourself?!?

2010-08-04T08:19:00.008-05:00

So why is it that when we do something great....we can't wait for someone to notice and praise us. But, when life isn't going our way...we have a bad boss...or an employer that is in trouble...or the economy has affected something of value in our life....it isn't really about us? I know this may be a hard message to hear (it was for me....)! But the only person who can cheat you out of success is YOURSELF! If you have a boss that is too busy, unavailable, or even plain incompetent, you must NOT be a victim of that situation! Create your OWN expectations, set your own GOALS, and move ahead!

We have heard about goals and having goals our whole life. I would like to take it one step further from just a goal to an all out MISSION! Your own personal MISSION! Why is it MISSION CRITICAL to give your life some direction? The top five reasons you should take the time to make it formal (write it down, chart it out, create a vision board):

1. You need a guide to give your work a direction! Much of your everyday "busyness" fails to make a meaningful contribution to the life you REALLY want to have!

2. It will help you to objectify your work! Because goals are specific, they help eliminate the confusion of subjective expectations.

3. It will assert your intentions! What you think about you WILL bring about! It's amazing how well you can manage your priorities, when your priorities are clear!

4. Create a direct link to what is important. Individual goals can connect you to your ultimate mission and your life's purpose.

5. ACTION...it will SPUR you into action! Creating a dynamic tension that spurs you to take action steps toward accomplishment!

If you find that you are blaming others for your lack of progress, perhaps it is because YOU haven't initiated YOUR OWN direction. Self-leaders create and attract energy through defining their goals, their mission! If you don't take the time to do this for yourself, you are only cheating yourself! No one can do that for you!

Let's Share

2010-07-30T14:16:00.002-05:00

Hi my friends! I have been CRAZY busy lately pulling together all the different blogs, posts, etc from my different sites through the years and getting ready to launch a BRAND NEW blog site! I am so so excited about the new site! The designers are putting together the layout and linking the all new twitter and youtube channels! If you were ever a part of my Myspace community you know that a long long long time ago I shared my musings. I really enjoyed being positive and sharing that with the world. I have a friend and we were talking about the different motivational speakers that we have seen and what fun it would be to do that job! I know I know...some of you would just CRINGE to do that job! So why not? I will be adding a little bit of me in full motivational form to the new site ;-)

I have also had a lot of success in my home based business and I have learned a lot about establishing an online presence and how to drive business to your home based business. So I want to share what I have learned and that will be built out on the new site as well! If you have ever blogged you know that you are always thinking of what your "latest content" is going to be about! If you have any home based business questions that you would like to know about...send me a message and I will work on putting together a post for you!

However, most importantly....I am trying to decide the best way to incorporate a "little love" and sharing into my new blog. I would like to share web addresses or information about my friends home based businesses on my blog! We all know that it IS ABOUT WHO YOU KNOW! If you are running a home based business and no one knows about it...how can they support you? You never know when someone is looking for a certain product and would buy "from a friend" if they just KNEW that that friend had it to offer. So here is what you can do for me. Leave me a comment (on facebook if you want) and let me know what YOUR BUSINESS is! Maybe even a message with a little information. I know that several people have businesses...but instead of trying to find it...you just TELL ME! I want all my friends to know each other!

Just the other day I went to a Pampered Chef party at a friends house. I didn't think the host seemed like someone she would normally be friends with...so I asked her how she knew the host. She said that she decided she needed some new pampered chef stuff and so she wanted to host a party...so she went to the internet, googled it...and took a random stranger. That mad me sad....I KNOW someone who sells Pampered Chef that would have LOVED to host her party (and would have been awesome mind you) but she didn't know who I knew...I don't want that to happen again....."share the love" and let me know what your business is so can add it to the new site!

Pay It Forward

2010-07-15T23:02:00.003-05:00

Hi my friends and family! I have really enjoyed reading everyone's summer updates! I have really gotten good at making video's for our weightloss company! Business is starting to really take off. I am actually just hosting those videos right on the server for the sight versus Youtube. I would like to give a shout out to Rachel Jackson. If she had not introduced me to the concept of "video sharing" I might not have decided to try it for myself! So today I have done something a little odd. I made a video about resumes! ha! I know...I know...who wants to talk about resumes?!? BUT I have so many people that I am working with or mentoring that have been or are unemployed and the number one request I get is to help them with their resume. So I decided to put together my top pieces of advice and post it out to Youtube for all of you to have! It is "free" information that I hope everyone will take advantage of if you are wanting a different job or are currently unemployed and want to know what the latest tips are! So I am "paying it forward"! I took my personal time, with no reward built in for me, and I have put it out there for my colleagues, friends and family! I hope that this helps you!

I would ask that if you know anyone that is looking you will send them a link to the page! If I helped someone today...I did my job!

My thought for the day is "When all else seems to fail...you can always help someone else, and succeed!"

You know that I like to end my posts with what I am thankful for! Today I am so very grateful for all the mentors that have come through my life! Some of them stayed only long enough to teach me one thing and then move on. Others have become lifelong mentors and even friends! I am SO thankful for all the blessings I have achieved by becoming ALL that my mentors believed I already was! I would list them out.....but the list would be so so so long! And for that...I am thankful!!!

Are you "wishing" for something?!? Go Water the Flowers!

2010-06-03T11:59:00.002-05:00

So in preparation for summer I planted some beautiful annuals in pots on my front porch. In the back yard in pots we planted some blueberry, strawberry and raspberry plants for us and the kids (we all LOVE LOVE berries). So now that the Texas heat is kicking in I must take the time to water our pots daily or the flowers will wilt just when the sun 'thinks' about coming up! hee hee hee! Seriously....just look at my petunia's when I wait until 6 pm to water them! They will tell you!

So after taking the kids to school this morning, I stopped to water my flowers before starting my day. As I waited {patiently...tapping my foot} for each pot to fill with water {and wondering why we planted sooo many pots} I thought how this was like having a pet. You have to feed them, water them, walk them. We have avoided a new pet at all costs. I was thinking, well humpf this is like having a pet! We have to move them to mow around them, we have to fertilize them, and water them. And if I don't...they just look so sad. Then I noticed the tinest little beautiful bud opening on one of the pocket roses and thought how beautiful! I can't wait to show that to Leigh-Ann when she gets home. She loves those tight and beautiful rose buds (they are pink you know!). I decided that the joy that I get while looking at them each day, the way they make my house look special, the way the kids had so much fun picking strawberries with awe last weekend....is SSSOO definately worth the 15 mins that I have to spend watering them each morning.

And since I could not do anything but THINK while I was doing this it made me realize: The biggest difference between "wishing" for something and "having" something is often the motivation to become a doer! I read this by Og Mandino recently "Life isn't a game, is it? It's a battlefield. Instead of players and spectators, we're all soldiers, including some goldbrickers and some AWOL's! But we're all in the struggle, whether we know it or not. And the person who knows how to be motivated doesn't need any cheering section. He has motivation built in. He's not looking for that crutch that might break, a bonus that will be taxed away, he's learning motivation from within."

Instead of "wishing" for something personal and valuable to share with my children. I create it everyday in the little things that I do. Today I watered the flowers. Tonight I will be able to sit on the porch and show my children a flower blooming (children 4 and under still see the awe in this...and I LOVE that). Today I did not rush about only doing dishes, running errands, doing something a boss wanted. I took action on something that was important to me...just watering the flowers. But that ACTION will reap so many rewards.

It was just a simple thing watering the flowers today. But it made me think, I need to choose something that I "wish" for and just work towards it! Motivation and ACTION are very powerful together. Don't sit on your couch and let your life pass you by today...I want you to water your flowers too...whatever that special "little" thing is in your life!

This is going to be a most amazing summer! I am looking forward to every single day that I get to wake up and "water my flowers". I love my flowers, Lance, Leigh-Ann, Landon and Landry with all my heart. I am going to remember to "water" them too! My thought (journal take-away) is that it is 100% obvious if my flowers did not get water. It is not 100% obvious if we did not water the flowers (aka people) in our life today! If there are people in your life that make you happy...don't forget to water them! Friends add value to our life...we need to keep them alive with praise, support, and attention!

Now I am so grateful for the people in my life...I am off to schedule a few too long delayed lunches and playdates! They need some "water"!!

Am I outdated?

2010-05-25T04:00:00.006-05:00

I thought the technology of the new decade should always be something you can learn in 5 mins or less! HUMPF!!!! When did I become my parents?? I remember when I was a child the VCR came out! WOW, what an invention that was. But then there was the setting of the clock on the VCR. Once that was done you could get really fancy and set it to record at a specific time. I learned how to do that in about 2 mins. Seemed like my parents worked at it for hours and then just said "Misty, come set this thing up!"

Well today I decided I wanted to upload my first You Tube video. Now mind you that You Tube has been around forever (it seems) and even a 5 year old has probably uploaded video's. But I just spent (well I won't tell you how long...but toooo long) just trying to figure out how to add a header page so that my friends and family knew what the video was and then created my You Tube account. So my friends and family you will be able to see my daughters end of year performance in her school play very soon (after I upload it to my new "channel")!

Although I have never uploaded a video, it should be noted that my four year old can manuever You Tube on my iPhone without me! So our video, to be posted soon, is her Spanish School class doing a cute little song and she even has a "lead" kind of spot :) She has had such a breakthrough with her bilingual abilities in just the last few weeks! Now she can just rattle away at me...and I have NO CLUE what she is saying :)

Enjoy the video...we enjoyed the show!

Finding my authentic self

2010-05-09T22:11:00.004-05:00

Wow, it has been over a year since I blogged! That is what having a third child, giving you three under four years old will do for you! It has been a crazy wild ride. Today is May 9th and it is Mother's Day. So for me this has been quite a week. My birthday was on the 4th, makes me the big 3-6...it is official I am now on the downhill slide and closer to 40 than to 30! Those of you who knew me at 30 knew I had this amazing meltdown (life crisis) feeling like my life was ALL about Corporate America and I never knew when I was going to have children. Wow how just a little time changes life! Now I have NO current Corporate America (yes I am now one of the millions of laid-off workers in America) in my life, but I have this amazing family!

I have reflected today on where I am, where I have been and where I may be going. Throughout my life I have always found a peace in writing. I think now is the time that I need to find that peace again, be quite with myself, and just listen. Trying to determine what path is right for me next, I need to listen to my innerself and to the world around me to hear and see where I need to go. So I invite you, on my journey, if you want to go....

This is going to be MY YEAR. I now have three small babies so in Eat, Pray, Love discovery style I can not LEAVE my current reality to find my destiny (although some days that seems sssoooo beautiful in thought...any mother knows that the thought of being ALL ALONE for just a little bound sounds so NICE). I am going to have to find it in the everday journey that is here with me every day. So today I revive my blog, and recommit myself to myself! Happy Mother's Day!

Below you can see the beatiful Fruit Basket I got for Mother's Day!

Lance, Landon, and Leigh-Ann bringing me my surprise!

Definately Not Cut out to be a Single Parent!

2009-04-10T14:21:00.005-05:00

So just a brief update, I took the kids to the park to meet up with "the Mommy's" and participate in an Easter Egg Hunt. I thought what the heck, I will take both of them with me! It is the park, we will have a good time! Oh crazy, crazy me! What was I thinking?!? hee hee hee All in all we did have a good time, but they have such different abilities right now, I was worried that they were going to knock their teeth out, while at opposite ends of the slides! Leigh-Ann is all about the big slides and the fun monkey bars now! Landon also wants to slide, and climb, and do it himself! So he needs to be on the smaller playsets! So trying to keep an eye on both of them and make sure no one ran off with them (which would be almost impossible surrounded by so many friends) made me sort of frantic. My lesson learned was that it was a good thing that I am not a single parent and do not usually have to brave the park alone (with two children under the age of 3!!!). I promptly called Lance as we left the park to let him know how much we loved and appreciated him, and to drive very careful on his way home from the park. I informed him that if anything happened to him, his children might not get to go back to park until they were pre-teens! Unless of course, Gramps and Big Mom want to come back and take them again.....ahhhhh Grandparents!!!! Such a beautiful thing!!!

So here are some pics of our egg hunt and our time together at the park!

Here is Landon! I had to carry the basket and follow him around. But once he had his hands full he didn't really see the need to "gather" more bounty!

Here is Leigh-Ann with the bigger kids getting some eggs too!

Landon had almost as much fun trying to go up the slide the wrong way as he did going down the slide!

Here is Landon going back up the stairs...so he can go back down the slide....so he can go back up the stairs....so he can go back down the slide.......where is sissy?!? Oh wait....he doesn't care.....back up the stairs.....

Oh there is Leigh-Ann.....climbing like a monkey all over the play area....for just a little bit Mommy conned her to playing on the "baby" play area with Landon!

She is testing out the little slide....Landon is heading back to the stairs......

And up the monkey bars again....

All smiles.....we are having a good time....

I must have been too happy!

2009-04-09T13:19:00.004-05:00

So I was in such a good mood yesterday...I was buzzing around the kitchen cooking dinner...and planning all the things I was going to finish last night after the kids were in bed (still unpacking/organizing). Then as I was heating the glaze for the ham, the doorbell rang. I thought it would be the sprinkler guy (who has been a no show for two weeks and was supposed to be here yesterday)...but instead it was a Trugreen sales guy...who would NOT quit talking even after I told him we had already hired someone. Finally I politely told him dinner was probably burning, I had to go. Turns out the glaze DID burn UGH!!!! Then I went to push that out of the way and grab the ham out of the oven. As I was placing the ham on the stove, something went wrong. I don't know if I fell first and then split the juice or if I split the juice then slipped in it.....either way...the result was scalding hot grease water ALL down my legs and bare feet. Lance came in and took care of me and rubbed it down with aloe and cream after I soaked it in a cool bath. All in all it is going to be ok....but I have a few mild burns that will probably take a few days to heal.

So after that the night was kinda shot. So much for my great mood. Then the lawn guys did come for their weekly time to mow the grass. Seems that I have the dinner time slot. The mow around 6:00 to 6:30...what is up with that?!? Leigh-Ann was fascinated with watching them work out the window. I thought, what are we teaching our kids, she knows that Lupe will clean the house and change her sheets and that some strange team of guys come and mow the grass while we sit at dinner and see them out the window. I don't know if the value of manual labor is being taught very well in our house.

Had my monthly doctor's appointment this morning, all is good with the growing baby! So we are just moving to July. I had however gained 5 lbs since my last visit! UGH....need to keep an eye on that. I am thinking about taking up Prenatal Yoga. My friend Margaret went to the gym like 26 days last month...I am thinking that I could use a teensy weensy bit of physical activity in my life (but not 26 days worth!). My next appt is the testing for the gestational diabetes (ummmm the yummy orange drink...not) and my shot of Rhogam for being Rh-. So that appoinment will not be too nice. Good thing after my burn incident that wasn't today!

Also, thought I would share some pics with you. In effort to be a good working full time Mommy I took some time to go have a Mommy Daughter thing with Leigh-Ann. We went to the "Doll Store" and did some shopping and then on to a Dolly Tea Party! We went to the American Girl store and I let Leigh-Ann pick a bitty baby and then we went to the Bitty Baby Tea Party!

As you can see, we ended with with TWO Bitty Babies instead of just one! They actually came as a part of the Bitty Twin Set. She had to have two girls...I really thought she would want a girl and a boy...but that wasn't the case.

Here are all the girls listening to story time and participating in some games together.

Now taking some time to color our placemat. You will also notice that the blonde baby has now changed clothes! We bought a couple of outfits before the party fot the dolls...and this one needed to wear one right now!

See that tounge hanging out while she colors? I don't know who she gets that from ?!? ha ha ha

All smiles...she is REALLY enjoying her time....she just loves baby dolls!

Snack time came. Fresh strawberry (they had some strawberry jam inside...YUMMY) muffins and even fresh strawberries! And lemonade, of course!

Each doll had to have some dedicated attention and an opportunity to share in the snack!

Leigh-Ann and Mommy checking out The Big Pink Chair in the party room before we left!

We had a great time! We will have to come back for some of the other Bitty Baby events!

A New Day!

2009-04-08T16:48:00.000-05:00

O.k. o.k. I have fallen off the wagon. For quite a while I had a Myspace blog. Although I did not blog daily, I did blog fairly frequently. Then I had friends/family that did not have Myspace, but some of them had an independent blog. So I decided to start a second blog (this blogsite) to update people specifically about the children. Then with life and the kids I found two blogs to be time consuming and instead of blogging to one or the other….I sort of let both blogs just sort of fall off the radar screen.

But lately I have started to realize how cathartic it was to me to blog and I miss that. So I have decided to go back to blogging and I am going to try and be more consistent with that. Only this time I am only going to maintain one “thought stream” and I am going to merge it all together. So this will no longer be dedicated just to what the kids did today, but more about where I am in my life today. Hopefully you will find that you want to read along from time to time, maybe even give me advice…..

Recently I had not been in the best mental place. Work has been very stressful as we have had a lot of layoffs in the recent months and the stress and pressure is really high. So working full time in a pressure cooker environment blended with two children under the age of three, and then now being pregnant! I think the exhaustion and stress started to put me in a negative place more often than a positive place. Recently I realized that I was missing the “passion” the all out fire that made me feel alive and start each day kicking ass and taking names. I believe that “passion” is what has made me “successful” up to this point in my life. Where did the passion go? Did I use it up, wear it out, let someone else have it?!? I don’t know, but it just felt like I let myself get on the treadmill. I have to tell you that I DO NOT find the treadmill to be the equivalent of biking through the mountains! Just kinda felt like a rat in the rat race going through the motions. Don’t get me wrong, I had good moments. The kids could do something to just melt my heart and make me smile, I would have a great meeting or accomplishment at the office…but IN GENERAL I felt like I was waiting for something to be better.

I didn’t like it. I like to feel energized, excited, happy, PASSIONATE! So I started trying to figure out how to get back to the basics. I realized that I had let Rule #1 that my Dad taught me as a kid go out the window. He told me that, You have to like yourself before anyone else can like you. He must have said that a million times. At the end of the day, I got it, the message was self-respect. How can you expect the world to respect you if you do not respect yourself? I had lost, among other things, the most basic thing, self respect. I let my boss bully it out of me. I let the Mommy’s who stay at home make me feel like I missed “special chances” with my children. And so on. There are no shortage of opinions directed at you all the time. Connecting with others attitudes of judgement, hostility, anxiety, was my new energy flow, my level of respect both for myself and for them. Negativity is low respect. I am not a low respect person…although I was starting to have a lot of that negativity in my life. So I have chosen to plug back into the positives in my life. And with that I have found more and more self-respect again. I feel PASSIONATE again, I mean really passionate about life. It feels good!

I recently read a quote by Gerald Jampolsky “When I am able to resist the temptation to judge others, I can see them as teachers of forgiveness in my life, reminding me that I can only have peace of mind when I forgive rather than judge.” So I have been finding some peace in letting the judgements go and focusing on the positive things in my life!

In my Myspace blog I always concluded with what I was grateful for. I am going to try to add that consistently here now. I am grateful that I have found some peace and passion again. I am grateful that there are things in my life to be passionate about and that I have such a loving and supportive family and group of friends in my journey through life. I learn so much from them and I can only hope that when they need me, I will be able to give them as much as they have given me!

1st Day at Disney World

2009-02-17T13:31:00.006-06:00

Well we made the flight to Disney World with no major issues! Woo Hoo! Landon slept for all but about 45 mins of the flight...so that made it REALLY easy! Leigh-Ann just played with her toys and looked out the window and was as happy as could be! The first day was basically a travel day. We stayed at the Wilderness Lodge up by the Magic Kingdom and we took the Disney Express to get there from the airport. So we got checked in and changed the kids into clean clothes and headed over to our dinner reservation at the Grand Floridian hotel. We took the ferry from our hotel over to Magic Kingdom and then took the monorail over to the Grand Floridian. I had booked us a Character Dinner at 1900 Park Fair. Dinner with Cinderella! This was on Sunday which was Leigh-Ann's actual birthday! So she spent her birthday dinenr with Cinderella! Jeez....if that is what you get at 3, what is there to look forward to now?!? hee hee hee

We had to wait 45 mins on our dinner reservation...so that was not too impressive. And where we were sitting it took the characters a while to make it around to our table. However, all in all, I was glad that we did this, because if we hadn't she wouldn't have seen this characters....we didn't seem them (other than shows or parades) any other time in the park!

You can see they gave Leigh-Ann a crown that said Happy Birthday! Check out dinner our first night:

Here is Leigh-Ann and Lady Tremaine (Cinderella's mean step mother!) She played the part very well!

Here she is singing Leigh-Ann's autograph book. Each page has a place for the autograph and then a place to insert a picture! Leigh-Ann was very excited to get her book signed!

Here is Leigh-Ann and Anastasia, one of Cinderella's mean step sisters!

Leigh-Ann got really good at making sure she had her book when she saw a character!

Leigh-Ann and Drizella! They all played their parts very well! It was cute.

Here is Leigh-Ann and Prince Charming! She did not want to pose with him, so I offered to pose with her so she would have a picture with her autograph! I guess it is a good thing she is not crazy about the boys yet....how long can I hope that will last?!?

FINALLY! Cinderella!!!! Oh how Leigh-Ann loves Cinderella!

Oh, I digress.....for those who did not see the pictures...Leigh-Ann was Cinderellla for Halloween. Which she picked ALL BY HERSELF! So she absolutely adores Cinderella!

More of our little princess!
And don't forget "baby Yoda!"
She really looks after him ....she is a good big sister and he is such a sweet boy!!!!!!

More on our Disney Trip coming up!!!!!!

Leigh-Ann turns 3!!!!

2009-02-14T21:36:00.000-06:00

O.K. O.K. I know I know...everyone has gotten on to me for starting this blog and not updating consistently! Not that is counts...but for the first time in 15 years...I didn't get my Christmas cards out on time! As a matter of fact I STILL haven't sent them! And call me crazy but I think I will send them next week! :-) Better late than never right! I would just say wait until next year..but I have pics to send out..so they will have to get done! But life has been CONSTANT since the first week of December! So I will fast forward this post to about a week ago! Leigh-Ann turned 3 years old on February 7th! 3?!? Can you believe it! Where does the time go? We had a party for her and her friends (a 3 year old has friends?!?) at Pump-It-Up (she LOVES it there) on Saturday! Then on her birthday, Sunday we flew to Orlando! We spent 5 days at Disney World! Which, if you haven't heard we moved two weeks before her birthday to a house about 10 miles from our other house! So shouldn't everyone take a week long vacation, right after taking a week off work to move! So with a house full of boxes STILL, we set off for Disney World! More on that in the next post!

So back to the birthday party! We had a wonderful party and I thought I would share some of the pictures with you!

Here is Leigh-Ann and Aunt I-Ya! I forgot to tell Aunt I-Ya that socks were required to jump! Oooopsss! So to be able to get in and hang out in the actual bounce houses she had to wear my socks! Hee hee hee...teach her to show up in her flip flops!

Here is Landon and Daddy enjoying the bounce houses too! Landon got to do the slides and many of the jump sections...he had a GREAT time too! Man did he have a good nap afterwards!

Leigh-Ann enjoying one of the many slides!

Leigh-Ann and I-Ya sliding together!

Leigh-Ann and Devin coming down together!

When we were trying to decide a party theme Leigh-Ann just kept saying, it has to be PINK!!!! So I brought home some different party plates and she picked Ariel! Now the cake was another issue! It was supposed to have Ariel sitting in the ocean....but oceans are blue...not PINK! So we had to alter it to fit our needs! ;-)

Here are most of the kids (I think we lost one or two to the potty or somewhere) at the party. Leigh-Ann was so glad all her friends came!

Here she is scoping out that cake....licking her lips and planning her wish!

Blowing out the candles! And we didn't even practice that..she just knew what to do!

And FINALLY enjoying the cake and having a good time!!!!!

STILL Sick

2008-12-08T22:16:00.000-06:00

O.K. So I need to post some photos...but life is hectic....so that will have to wait. Landon is STILL sick. I kept him home from school again today. We were supposed to go to a Christmas party with the Mommy's Group....but he just wasn't up for it. He slept in my arms a good part of the day. Except for the time that he had a total poopy blowout because of the diahrea....what a mess...and full outfit change. That was around lunch. This has unfortunately become a regular occurence. Then around 3:30 he woke up and threw up ALL over me. Then while in the bathroom trying to figure out how to strip us both down for a bath without making an even bigger mess....I am on my hands and knees....and found myself staring eye to eye with a Gecko! Yep, you heard me a LIZARD in my bathroom! Well I got the mess all over the place looking for something...anything to trap him with! I finally found a cup and a jar of peanut butter. So I trapped him under the cup, with the peanut butter on top. He was only about 4 inches from the tub. And I was careful to keep Landon and I away from the cup and we took our bath. We kept the cup there until Lance came home. Which I can say, I at least did not murder the poor Gecko.. Although he had no air holes he made it just fine and Lance released him back to the Wilderness of our great backyard! I am afraid Landon will have to stay home again tomorrow...he still hasn't eaten. I will follow up with an update later!

Kids Update

2008-12-06T22:09:00.000-06:00

I will try to post some pics.....maybe tomorrow.... Leigh-Ann and I went to Chuckee Cheese today for one of her friends birthday parties. We thought Landon was getting better too, but we had a set back tonight. He threw up his bottle about 5:30 (we thought it was just a burp followed by his milk). But then he ate his supper and an hour later threw it up everywhere and was clearly not feeling well. Also seems like he is moving into a "cold". So we will have to see how he does.

Home with Sick Kiddo's

2008-12-05T16:19:00.000-06:00

Alrighty..just trying to be consistent. I do plan to blog..I need to post the ICE pictures and information from Landon's 9 month checkup. However, both kids are home sick today. Lance had to stay home and help me take care of them. Poor Landon was sick and dryheaving every 2o mins. for hours last night until we decided it wasn't getting better and I took him to the Kids ER type place. They gave him a pill under his tounge to stop the vomitting (thank god). But it has been a busy and hard day...I will post more later!

Cowboys and Thanksgiving Day!!!

2008-12-04T14:05:00.001-06:00

As most you know we went to the Football game on Thanksgiving Day and watched the Cowboys kick some Seahawk..........

First began the tailgaiting! Here is Lana and Brook watching the guys get everything ready! You can see Lances new tailgaiting Cowboys Grill! I assume this means that we will be doing much more tailgaiting in the future! I actually have liked when we went tailgaiting and everyone else had to pack the grilling goodies :-)

Here's Honey and Daddy excited to walk over to the stadium!

Walking to the stadium...from our parking...far far away :-) But there was definately farther!

All Smiles before heading into the stadium. We ate early and headed in early so that we could check it out and not feel rushed! Below is my mother in law, father in law, niece Brook, my awesome husband Lance and his sister Lana and her husband Cory!

Yep, got in an to our seats and we are just checking it all out!

Turkey day was even celebrated on the Big Screen!

I told Lance...I didn't know they did Yoga before they started!

Lana spied them first! The Jonas brothers were in a box just right near our seats. It wasn't long before everyone was turning to check them out and they were leaning out and waving to the crowd. I thought the teenage girl behind me was going to start crying!

And the Cheerleaders...an awesome part of any Cowboys game! They make me wish I had been born coordinated....it looks so......graceful!!!

Some fans take their job very very seriously...I think more seriously than they may take their day job! This guys whole upper body was painted blue...all but that place where his entire back was covered in a massive Cowboys tattoo!

Then the game was over....and we won by a landslide! See...everyone is STILL smiling! Woo Hoo! We had a great time!

Tomorrow I will try to get our pictures of our visit to ICE posted! This was Leigh-Ann's 2nd year to go!

Thanksgiving at the Spanish School!

2008-12-03T05:25:00.001-06:00

Grandma uploaded a pic of her and her apron to her Myspace page!!!! Thanks Grandma! I just LOVE Myspace! So below you can see Grandma in the same Apron Leigh-Ann and Landon made! Cute Cute!!!!

As most of you know, Leigh-Ann is attending a Spanish Immersion (they only speak Spanish...no English) school on Tuesdays and Thursdays (the other days she still goes to Creme). Well they had a Thanksgiving Feast as you can see!

They had made hats at school of little pilgrims and Indians! They were too too cute! In the picture below on the far left you can see one of Leigh-Anns teachers, Paulina. She has to be one of the nicest teachers we have ever had!

I signed up to bring the kids a dessert. I actually intended to cook something (no really....I WAS going to cook!) but then with the craziness getting ready for the holiday at home I just ran out of time. So instead I bought cookies from Celebrity Cafe (OMG you just have to LOVE that place!!!). Excellent place to get ALL kinds of foods! But I knew they would have BEAUTIFUL cookies for the holidays....and they did!

Check out the Turkey! That one was my favorite!

And the Pilgrim....that one is Leigh-Ann's favorite!

And I bought a few extra so that we could have some at home.....here is Leigh-Ann eating ANOTHER Pilgrim!!!!

Turkey Hand Print Aprons!

2008-12-01T21:29:00.000-06:00

Well, I have sooooo much catching up to do on the Blog Page! I have been travelling like crazy this last month (a week in Chicago, 4 days in Scottsdale, 3 days in New York) and then there was Thanksgiving. So when you are on the road every week, and the pictures are all at home...you get behind on blogging. But I will try to update each day this week and get caught up! So we will cover last weeks Thanksgiving Festivities! We recently went over to a playdate with some of the other Mommy's and learned how to make a Turkey Hand Print Apron!

Kids and paint everywhere! Oh what fun! We are sooo grateful that Margaret hosted this for us! Leigh-Ann really had a great time! She even told me she had "new friends!" Here she is just before putting her hand print down! She LOVES to make handprints!

We brought it home and added Landon's footprints as "pumpkins"! We made one for Grandma, one for Mommy and Leigh-Ann has one too! Here is Leigh-Ann modeling Grandma's apron before we put it in the mail to her!

Leigh-Ann and Mommy showing off the Apron! Mommy cheated and bought iron-on letters! The other Mommy's with pretty hand writing just wrote theirs on!

Leigh-Ann was sooo proud!

We finished it at home the weekend before Thanksgiving! It was kinda cool...so we have broken out the boots! So you just have to check out Leigh-Ann's little boots I got at the Gap! They are sooo cute! Her top even has a necklace built in/attached to it. It is very cute!

More updates coming soon!

First Annual Christmas Plate

2008-11-14T12:14:00.000-06:00

Well I am about a week behind on this post! But it has been a crazy time! Last week Leigh-Ann and I went with some other Mommy's and Kiddo's to make some Christmas pottery! Talk about hoping a bunch of 2 year olds don't pull the pottery off the shelf! But we had a really good time!!! Leigh-Ann made a Christmas plate using her foot print and both hand prints to make a reindeer. I am thinking of starting a Christmas tradition and that the new custom plate each year can be used for cookies for Santa! When we get the plate back (don't expect Picasso from me and Leigh-Ann :-) ) I will post a pic!

So here she is with a brown foot just after making her footprint on the plate!

Here we are after making a handprint!

Mommy is working on the details of the plate and Leigh-Ann is paiting a stocking for the tree! The poor thing is made up of EVERY color in the paint pallet (ALL mixed together by the time she was done!!!).
Here is Shar working on her frame.
And the rest of the gang painting too!
We came home and had some fun with Landon! He has that tounge hanging out when he is serious about moving around the living room!
Leigh-Ann "cooking" in the kitchen!
Me, try to figure out how to go up the stairs?!? Oh, no way!!!!

Amazing Election Day!

2008-11-04T19:49:00.000-06:00

O.K. I have been meaning to start a family blog for quite some time....so what better day than TODAY! Sieze the day, right?!? I actually have quite a few things from the last several weeks that I would like to share, and will be going back to do that...but I thought I would start from the actual workings of today. So I plan to keep my myspace blog. My myspace blog is a place that is more like journaling. My deeper (and well sometimes shallow) thoughts and musings. I would really like this site to be a running commentary on everyday life for our extended friends and family to keep up with us!

So it is election day! Lance actually went and early voted last week, but I was in Scottsdale on business all week, and did not get that chance. So I got up at 5:00 am today and got ready early so that Leigh-Ann and I could be at the polls when they opened! I explained to her that we were going to VOTE for the President of the United States of America. Once I explained that we lived in America, she was excited to repeat all the information! Hee hee hee. I really feel passionate about this election! It is a history making event, no matter who gets elected! Between the VP and President, there will be a minority, no matter who gets elected. I never thought this day was so close! I assumed I would see it in my lifetime...but I did not realize we were ready for it now! And I want my children to know that it is important to be involved in your community, your society. I want to know that this is a part of living in America. A very special opportunity to live in a society that allows them the right to participate in the process. There are many countries still today that it is not the case. So for Leigh-Ann's scrapbook, I took her to the polls. She will always have a rememberance of where she was on this election! And she will know I thought it was important for her to go! I planned for all of us to go together, but I could not manage Landon alone with Leigh-Ann. So see below for our first blog pictures!!!

Our official polling location in Precinct 14 in Plano, TX.

She is soooo excited to "vote"!

Here she is with today's Dallas News! Noting that we are living in Dallas, Texas (well actually Plano) and it has the headline. I intend for her and Landon to get tomorrow's paper with the headline of whoever is the winner!

Me and Leigh-Ann preparing to cast our vote!

Leigh-Ann with Mommy's "vote" in the background....hey....No peaking!!!!

The official polling signage!

Ahhh....we are done early! Next stop....all American Mickey D's! I told her if she waited patiently in the line, we would go play before school! We had a WHOLE HOUR to play before she went to the Spanish Schoolhouse!!!!

What an amazing day! Now we wait to see who becomes the President of the United States!