Click on My Blog Title For New Posts

Hey guys! Since I've put my blog on private, you have to click on my blog in order to see my most recent posts. The new title will not show on the blog roll of other blogs. So, please check back to see if I've posted anything new :)

Thank you President Bush.

If I could have just one minute with this great man, I would simply say that on behalf of my family, thank you. Thank you for your leadership, courage, faith, wisdom, and integrity. Thank you for your humility and gentle spirit. Thank you for turning to Our Mighty God and his Word with each decision you made as our leader. Thank you for protecting us from harm and standing by our country though it may have felt that it had turned it's back on you. Thank you for being an example to my son. Welcome back to the great state of Texas. We're glad you're home.

Operation Clean Out Update #1

I'm happy to post that I have cleaned out my closet and have 8 bags of crap to give to charity. YAY! Now, I'm conquering the kitchen...wish me luck :)

Is that what I think it is?!

Ok Blogger friends, I will sum up my new mission in one simple story....

I hosted a baby shower at my house last week. While preparing for the party, one of my friends asked me if she could borrow a serving bowl. I cautiously opened my cabinet hoping that nothing embarrassing would fall out on the floor, for above this cabinet is one of many junk drawers in my lovely abode. As you may know, when you fill a drawer too full, it spills over to the cabinets below hence the rest of my story... A strong sense of relief came over me as I opened the cabinet and found no unexpected trinkets there to greet me. I cheerfully pulled out a bowl and just as I was handing it to her I saw it. The friendly visitor I had feared would appear...a tampon nestled among my white Ralph Lauren Clearwater china bowl, arms open wide as if to say, "Hey there, I've been waiting for you!". (clean and in wrapper I would like to point out) I was mortified to say the least. So the moral of my story is you know you need to clean out when you pull out a your china at a party and there is a tampon nestled inside acting as a representative for all the other pieces of crap that are infilterating your home.....

So this is my farwell for a while blogger friends. I may pop in from time to time and submit a little ditty but for the most part I am a mama on a mission....Operation: Clean out!

Christmas 2008

For those of you that don't know, I am VERY big on traditions especially when it comes to Christmas. This year was much like every other year and hopefully a lot like those to come. Although it may seem monotonous, Sam Bo is changing so fast, it's bound to spice things up!

Christmas Eve

We began this year by going to church on Christmas Eve. Afterwards, we went to my parent's house to meet up with the rest of my family. This year felt very strange because we were missing a few people. Emily came down with the dreaded stomach bug a few hours before and Matt's parents decided that after a long day, they would just stay home and prepare for the following day. We ate, hung out and let the kids play. Poor Ellison, Sam simply wouldn't leave her alone. He pulled her around by the hand the entire night. Just before going home, we put the kids in their matching pj's and my dad recited 'Twas The Night Before Christmas. He has done this for the past 43 years (since my oldest brother's first Christmas). As you can see from the pictures, this is not a calm event. It's full of loud voices, wiggly bodies and organized chaos. Afterwards, the kids sang Christmas carols. Then it was time to head home so that Santa could come and deliver the goods!

I wanted to get a good pic of Sammy in his Christmas outfit but this was about as good as it was going to get. He would simply ignore me and all of my crazy noises that I use to get him to smile until I would finally go away.

Sam and Luke playing with ornaments.

The piano was a hit this year with Sam. Most of what we did on Christmas Eve & Christmas Day was to the tune of a lovely piano serenade by my Sam.

Ellison was singing All I Want for Christmas is my Two Front Teeth :)

Christmas Morning at Home
Christmas morning was tons of fun! Sam actually kinda got the present thing this year. I'm not sure he understood that Santa was the one that brought the gifts but he knew that there were things under the tree that hadn't been there the day before and that those things were fun!

"The First Look"

Christmas at GrandRita's & PapaSteve's House
After opening gifts, we went to Matt's parent's house. We ate brunch and enjoyed our Christmas with them as well as Matt's Grandmother.

One of his quirky themes for the day was pretending like he was asleep. He would tell everyone "Night Night" and then close his eyes and fake snore.

Christmas at

NeNe & Grandad's (aka Din Din's)

House
Later, we went to my parents house to spend Christmas with them along with my brothers and their families. We stayed until bedtime and headed home.

Giving Elmo a hug.

Once again, Sam was going "Night Night" in Ellison's doll bed.

Since receiving this bean bag chair, this is a sight I have seen many, many times. (Please excuse the nasty sock. We do mop and clean....we just like to run outside and play without our shoes on)

It was a great Christmas! We are beyond blessed. I hope you had a very Merry Christmas!!!

The Decision to go Private...

Hey friends! I decided to take my blog private for a couple of reasons.... I have found by looking at my LiveFigit that I have had a lot of random people looking at my blog...other countries even. If you haven't put that on your blog yet, you would be shocked to see how many people look at it that you don't know. It just kinda creeps me out. Then, I was watching TV the other day and there was a story about a child molester that was talking to this little girl about her blog. He said, "I have a blog too. I'll look at your blog and you can look at mine. We'll be 'special' friends". UGH. I would like to be able to post things about Sam without having on the back of my mind that some creepy pedophile is looking at my dear, sweet, innocent, pure baby boy in a nasty way. I feel responsible to protect him from that and frankly tired of worrying about it. Plus, I made the mistake of using my name all over the place beginning with the title. Matt was the one that asked me to put it on private. He's usually the one that is the least likely to worry about stuff like this so when he was bothered, I listened :) Heather (sis-in-law) had some people that she doesn't know post comments. One of which was some random man. It is just too creepy for me. I tried just changing my settings so that people couldn't google my name and find our blog but for some reason, they still could. I would rather just invite those i know or even friends of friends that like to read it. So if you have a friend or family member that for some crazy reason enjoys reading about my crazy family and our crazy antics, please send me their email addresses & I will be delighted to grant them access :). At least I have control over who is looking at it and not just some Joe Blow that will be on Dateline's "Catch a Predator" next week. It's sad that we have to worry about things like that but unfortunately, we do :(

Girls Night Christmas Party

The Girls~

Tracy, Me, Shoshana, Michelle, Mesha, & Melissa

Samantha, Misti, Jill, Megan & Brigette

Just before Christmas, the Girls left the kiddos with the Daddys and came to my house for a little mid-week Christmas break. Everyone brought a dish and we had a great time hanging out & eating great food. We sat around, sipped cider, chatted and shared different Christmas traditions that we did as a kid or that our new little families enjoy. None of us had toddlers tugging at our pants to get them more milk, Goldfish, or bananas. We didn't have to "enjoy" another episode of The Backyardigans or Clifford. It was very relaxed. Instead, we had an Accessory Exchange which is like the typical Santa Swap game but we all brought either fun fashion or home accessories. We had a great time! This may have to become a tradition itself! :)

I think Michelle's face speaks for all of us...we had a great time!

An Award!

The Starnes Family Blog sent me this award. It's my first blog award :) I will proudly display it!

The rules:

1. Put the logo on your blog or post.

2. Nominate at least 10 blogs which show GREAT ATTITUDE and/or GRATITUDE!

3. Be sure to link to your nominees within your post.

4. Let them know that they have received this award by commenting on their blog.

5. Share the love and link to this post and to the person from whom you received your award.

And, I award:

Coco's Cuckoo

House of House

The Aldridge Artifacts

Callihan's Island

The Daily Darst

Cooks Book

More Wine Please

All About Jackson

My Life. My Boys.

The Clay Family

I thoroughly enjoy reading your blogs and keeping up with your daily tidbits!

The Lights on Main Street

A few weeks before Christmas, Matt and I took Sam down to Grapevine Main Street to see the lights. They have a great light show to music. Also, they sprayed the grass so that it looks like it has had a dusting of snow. The entire downtown was transformed into a little Winter Wonderland. Sam loved it! He wasn't too sure about the loud music and flashing lights but he loved the deer displayed in a little booth with elves. He spotted them from afar and shouted "DEER!" and took off running. Just like his Daddy only he sweetly waves and says, "Hi Deer!" instead of shooting them, eating them and mouting them on the wall.

I've Been Tagged

I've been tagged so here it goes...

8 things I did today:
1. Worked out
2. Painted my nails and toes
3. Got Sam to take a nap!!!!! Woo Hoo!
4. Started making Crock Pot Taco Soup
5. Talked to my mom on the phone
6. Picked up the house
7. Folded clothes while watching LA Ink
8. Made a master To Do list

8 favorite restaurants *If you have ever gone to eat with Sam you know why we don't go out to eat much...see the post from the Gaylord and it should give you some idea.
1. Chipotle
2. Benihanas
3. Pei Wei
4. Any "good" tearoom
5. Krispy Kreme (Does that count?)
6. Toll House Cookie Store (What about this one?)
7. Chili's
8. La Hacienda

8 Shows I watch:
1. The Biggest Loser
2. ER
3. Scrubs
4. So You Think You Can Dance
5. Jon & Kate + 8
6. LA and/or Miami Ink
7. Friday Night Lights
8. 24

8 things I wish for:
1. To be organized all throughout the house
2. To remain motivated to work out
3. For Sam to be a better sleeper
4. For the market/economy to improve
5. For Sam and Matt to have a smidgen of an idea about how much I deeply love them
6. For everyone to have a close relationship with their mom like I have with my mom
7. For Sam to remain healthy
8. For some sort of cause or cure to be determined for Autism

8 things I look forward to:
1. Ski trip in March
2. Trying for baby #2 in the summer
3. Summer Vacation...Switzerland? Italy? Mexico? (Gotta love Edward Jones!)
4. Going to the Mavs game with my hubby on Thursday
5. Getting organized
6. Having a real conversation with Sam
7. My hair appointment on Friday (Honestly my roots are like 3" deep!)
8. My finger to have feeling again and be back to normal.

Tags: Coco, Heather, Michelle, April, Sarah, Brooks, Wendy, Melissa, Brigette, Shoshana

To all of my friends, family and fellow Blogging BFFs...

I have officially been MIA for a good while now. The last of the Christmas rush got the best of me and unfortunately left no time to blog. (The finger injury put me a bit behind on wrapping and such) Then, we left for Alabama on the 26th to visit my hubby's family. We had a great time but we did not have access to the internet. Sooooo, I am very behind with events to blog etc. I am going to officially undo all of my holiday cheer from my blog from the poll to the music to the background pic and will be posting like a maniac over the next few days :)