Gingerbread Houses

I invited all the neighbor kids over to decorate gingerbread houses. Luckily, I bought the kits where the house is pre-assembled. I mixed 8 batches of icing and Caleb helped divide all the candy into 8 equal groups. The children all had so much fun. The houses turned out amazing well. I'm sure they ate as much candy as they put on their houses! I think we've started a new tradition on Summertrail Court.

Countdown to Christmas

I love all types of advent calendars and countdowns to Christmas. Caleb and Carter think it's so fun to change the numbers. Since Caleb is my very organized child (he makes his bed on his own every morning, brushes his teeth, and dresses himself all before coming downstairs to see us well before time to leave for school- and, no that is not at all like me as a child) I figured he would really get into the different advent calendars.

Here is the Lego advent calendar. No explanation necessary for those of you who are at all familiar with Steve's love for Legos. Behind each numbered door is a small Lego for the boys to put together.

Here are my new placemats. I found them at the Pottery Barn outlet. It's actually quite a conversation piece at meal times for the boys. Carter likes to park all of his matchbox cars on the different squares... and then switches out who gets to be the line leader.

And here's my new favorite advent piece. I found this at the Restoration Hardware outlet. Each door is on a hinge with room behind to put little treasure inside. Everyday Caleb reminds me that on December 1 we get to open the first door. I've stuffed each one with small toys, stickers, tattoos, and candy. I still have 25 empty because I think I need to put baby Jesus in there, so closer to Christmas I'll steal him away from my nativity scene and do that.

Nikon Coolpix

Here's a picture of my new camera. There's a key next to it just to show how little it is. It really is a pocket size camera. But, it's a great quality camera. It's 8.1MP and does video & sound. It will take your pictures and even create a slide show right there on the camera. The whole back side is a screen so it's very easy to view. I would say I discovered this camera on my own, but Stewart had it and I just copied him.... or I should say my in-laws got me the same gift.

Thanksgiving Adventures.... 800 mile tour of Texas

Thanksgiving break really flew by. Steve took the whole week off, so we were able to get the house all decorated for Christmas before leaving on our tour of Texas.

We left Tuesday for Waco. Only my mom was home (since my dad works in DC right now) so we had a nice dinner out then chilled out on the farm. Wednesday morning the 5 of us went to the Mayborn Children's Museum. It is so much fun. 3 floors of children's fun and educational rooms. Next to that is the dinosaur bones. The boys were a bit timid, but soon realized the dinosaurs were in fact dead... just a bunch of bones in the earth. Papa (my dad) flew in that night. I took the boys to the airport to meet him. The Waco airport is tiny and just 10 minutes from the farm so it was a fun outing. My Mamaw, Papaw, Granny, and Aunt Karen were all at the house for dinner so we had a good pre-Thanksgiving celebration.

Thursday we got up early and hit the road for New Braunfels. We made it to Grandmother and Granddaddy's house by 11:00. Steve and Shereda met us there with the feast. Aunt Janet and Uncle Bill came as well. The boys were very well behaved. We didn't have to pull out the toys to keep them entertained. Carter ate most of his meal. Caleb ate nothing.

Here's 4 generations of Aubrey men. Benjamin Aubrey, Stephan Aubrey, Stevan Aubrey, and Caleb Aubrey. No pressure.... but if Caleb has a son I wonder what his middle name will be?

After lunch we got back in the car and drove to Spicewood (between Marble Falls and Austin) to hang out at the lake house. Once we arrived Steve and I changed into our pajama pants and sweatshirts and watched the Cowboys. Oh, that was so fun. Just to relax, enjoy the fireplace, watch some football. Nothing says Thanksgiving like watching the Cowboys put on a whoopin.

I then had the crazy idea to go to the San Marcos outlets on Friday. Shereda was totally up for it. Now, they opened at midnight, but we opted to not go when the crazies are there. Instead we left around 7:30. Once arriving you could just feel the energy. Car were everywhere... people were everywhere.... it was so cold and so fun. We hit all my favorite store. We filled up Shereda's SUV. I don't know if we could have fit another bag. We got some AMAZING deals. Everywhere was discounted to outlet prices with addition 20-50% for Black Friday and then additional 10% for being there before noon. Oh, it was my mecca. I was in heaven. Having Shereda made it all the more fun because she gets as giddy as me. Needless to say I am almost done with my shopping!

The newspaper predicted over a quarter of a million people were going to be at the San Marcos outlets for Black Friday shopping. Oh, it was wild... but so worth it!

We made it back to the lake house in time to see Texas lose to the Aggies. We managed to make a fun evening out of it anyway by celebrating my birthday. I got a new, tiny digital camera... perfect for keeping in my pocket. I'm so glad to have it!!

Saturday morning we got up early and drove back to Waco. Steve and I did some shopping at Baylor and then he took me to a jewelry store to pick out a new watch for my birthday. My current watch lost it's knob so I have been unable to turn it back one hour since the time change. :-)

Saturday night, Steve and I went to watch the Baylor men play basketball. I just love watching basketball. My parents gave us their tickets and kept the boys. Not a bad deal, huh?

Sunday morning we got up and drove back to Highland Village. Now, I am unpacking and getting caught up on life. I was just giddy the whole drive home. It's now birthday season and Christmas season... truly the most wonderful time of the year.... and a very expensive time for my husband!

Black Friday Ads

Hey Everyone - I learned something new: http://www.bfads.net/

This is a compilation of all the ads for the shopping that starts on Friday. You may already know about this, but I thought it was pretty cool. It's a great way to compare various ads while looking at only one site.

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Santa Visit

I know. Seems early to visit Santa. But, I'm not sure the next time the 4 of us will be at the mall together before Christmas is over. I'm just glad to not have to come out on the weekends and fight the lines. Notice the shorts and t-shirts. Only in Texas is it 80+ degrees when visiting Santa.

Let's Go to the Movies!

The 4 of us went to the movies today. This is a first for us. Steve and I just refuse to take our kids out to eat or to the movies until they are old enough to sit there and behave themselves. I don't want to be stressed when I'm suppose to be enjoying myself. Well, we certainly had a good time. Bee Movie was funny and kept the boys' attention the entire time. Caleb was just quoting lines as soon as he heard them. Wonder where he gets that from? Carter was just mesmerized. (I have attempted taking Carter to the movies before, but he got up and down and talked and made noise... it was just a frustrating experience) This time he just sat and watched with occasional whispering to me.

Oh, it was so fun. And, just before going in we decided to walk down the mall to see if Santa was there. We had not planned on visiting him, but figured this might be the best time to go now that Caleb is in school every day. Lucky for us he was sitting there in his big red chair just waiting for someone to visit him. The boys just got wide eyed and hopped into his lap. Certainly our easiest visit yet. Caleb asked for a cool pirate ship (cool being the important word) and the Ratatouille Gameboy game. Carter also wants the Ratatouille game (surprise, surprise- he wants just what brother wants) and a big, big truck. Hmmmm.... hope Santa knows exactly what he's picturing in his 3 year old mind. The boys smiled easily for the camera and waved goodbye. CHECK- I can mark this one off my list of things to do.

Copy Mom

OK, I had a weird moment today. I'm at school making copies for the K teachers and I'm sent back to years ago when I was teaching....

I remember seeing the copy mom standing at the machine without a care in the world as I'm trying to knock out 2 hours worth of work in my 40 minute conference period. I just longed for the time when I could just stay at home and nonchalantly come up the my child's school whenever to help out. I vowed to be the best copy mom, read-aloud mom, non-helicopter parent there was. Who would have guessed the time home with my first baby has come and gone so quickly. I can remember my working days so clearly and now I'm up at school making copies for MY KINDERGARTENER. 5 years went by way too fast.

I'm hot and I'm tired...

OK, so what's up with the 80+ degree weather. Seriously, I'm annoyed. How on earth can we hear Christmas songs on the radio while sweating in t-shirt and shorts in my hot car? I'm trying to pick out music for next month to sing in church and it's impossible to get in the holiday spirit with this blasted heat.
I think I'm just really ready for a break... in a big way. I'm just worn down. My choir sang this last weekend, which sucked a lot of energy out of me the week before. I just knocked out my piano lessons (I teach 8 in 2 days) and have all next week off- YEAH! Don't get me wrong- love teaching them. I'm just ready to kick back and watch Oprah for a change. My calendar has been unusually full. I did finish puppy school, so that's one less thing to do. But, I am up at Caleb's school a lot- don't know how it happens, but there's always something going on. We had book fair today. I'm copy mom tomorrow. Last Saturday was fall festival. I think you could be involved everyday at Heritage if you wanted to. That's a good thing and a bad thing.
I guess, in general I thought life got easier once you get the kids in school... but it's busier than ever. AHHHH! I thought I'd have so much more time because of school and I took on all these other things. Oh, yeah... Beth Moore.... I'm so behind this week.
But, my house is clean... only because I had everyone over for Bunko last night!
This is life. I am ready for Thanksgiving. I am most thankful for having a week off from stuff. And, I'd be more thankful if it could actually get below 70 degrees. I heard the weatherman saying the cool air was coming.... bring it on!

Baby, it's dark outside...

I'm driving home from Costco with my neighbor yesterday and the sun is setting.... it's barely after 5:00! It seems to me that it's much darker this year as compared to last. Did we set back 2 hours instead of 1? It's throwing everything off for me. I begin to wonder why I'm not hungry or if it's time for the kids to go down for the night.... I'm just thrown off by the sun lately. Our boys use to play outside until almost 8:00. Now, it's too dark to be out past 5:30 or 6:00. Seems like it's just time to hibernate for the winter.

How do you shop?

I just met my friend Kim for a late dinner and impromptu shopping at my new stores. (I like to claim all of the new stores in Highland Village as mine since I've had to deal with the noise from construction and now the traffic jams.)

Anyway, while we were browsing she mentioned that she did most of her shopping online. That prompts my newest poll question. For me, I love going to the stores... hunting the bargain, hearing the Christmas music, carrying all the bags... it's a big experience. But I know Steve just sits at the computer, gets it all ordered, and then tells me not to look when the delivery man comes. So, what's your style of Christmas shopping?

Fall Festival

Heritage Elementary had their fall festival today. It was at the Flower Mound Pumpkin Patch. All the pumpkins were gone, but they still had all the bounce houses. Then we had lots of games set up... football toss, sack race, hair painting, etc. The boys had lots of fun. We saw Mrs. Larkin there with her family. Caleb was too shy to go up and say hi, but she found him anyway and made him hug her.

You had to buy tickets for all the games and food. They also had a raffle going... $1 a ticket. I bought 10. The prizes were really cool- 4 Dallas Stars tickets, $100 gift card to Stride Rite, a birthday party at WinKids. So, guess how excited I was to learn my name had been drawn!? And I won the birthday party to WinKids. Some of you don't know what that is or the value, so let me tell you. WinKids is this huge building where they have gymnastics classes as well as swimming, martial arts, music, all kinds of stuff. Their birthday parties cost $250! So, looks like one of my boys will be having a really nice birthday next year.

Our Graduate

Well, it's a miracle. She graduated. Elfy finished puppy school. Overall I would give her a C in the class. She did have nearly perfect attendance (missed only once) and mastered just 3 of the 10 or so things we were suppose to learn. I would say much of the lack of progress is due to the trainer. Poor Elfy wouldn't get that much training time at home. What can I say? I'm currently training a 5 and 3 year old as well. And, I can't just go put them in the crate when I'm unhappy with them.

Here's Elfy (the one not sitting nicely) with Lady, Michelle's puppy. We took this at graduation. They are best buds in class. They are only 1 week apart in age.

At our class on Thursday the puppies each got a bowl of dog-friendly ice cream and treat. Then we all took turns wearing the graduation cap for the photo-op. Well, just before it was Elfy's turn she went to the middle of the room and took a big crap. Guess it's only fitting how we ended our time at puppy school. And, yes, you can thank me for not posting a picture of that.

November 6, 1999- We're Married!

Thanks for a great 8 years! Glad you've survived! Happy Anniversary, Stevan!

We're Engaged!- November 5, 1998

9 years ago tonight I was touring Sydney after spending weeks student teaching in Brisbane. Steve came out to spend the week with me. We took a harbour night cruise under the famous bridge and around the opera house. Then we got off the boat and stood outside the opera house taking in the views.

Just as we were walking down the steps, he stopped me, dropped to one knee and asked me to marry him. He shocked me- so much so that I just laughed at him. Well, I ended up saying "yes" after I asked him if he was serious. Later I realized that men don't travel half way around the world with a diamond ring and put themselves in such a vulnerable position as a joke. So, yes, he was serious.

What an amazing proposal! I love you, Stevan!

Caroline

My youngest neice is staying at my house for a few days with my mom. Andy and Emily are staying at the Gaylord Texan for a convention so my mom came up to watch Caroline here and keep Carter while I go have fun with Emily. Here she is tonight after getting a bath. So cute!

My Tennis Star

I wouldn't say I come from an athletic family, but I am proud to say the two youngest cousins have become the athletes of the Gorham family. Emily just walked on to the Kansas University tennis team- Go Jayhawks! Her brother, my youngest cousin, is on the varsity tennis team at Boerne High School as a freshman.

This weekend Uncle Dan, Aunt Kathryn, and Mark stayed with us while he played in a tournament in Plano. It was great fun getting to watch him play. He's very good- at least in my opinion. It's much tougher to watch a match without the score showing at the bottom of the TV. Dan and Kathryn kept me informed throughout. It's a quiet sport so I let the boys stay back with Steve. Mark won his first 2 matches and then lost in a very close match to close out one long Saturday.

We all had great fun and I hope they come stay with us more often. Go Mark!!

Happy Birthday

Happy Birthday, Daddy! You are the best father a girl could have! Have fun with Andy, Emily, and baby Caroline. It's BU Homecoming weekend and I'm sure we'll lose as usual, but Sic 'Em Bears anyway.

And now that we've had your birthday, it means mine is only one month away! :-)

Something New...

I went to a friend's birthday party last night (Happy Birthday, Randi) and we all to a soldering class. This is completely out of my comfort zone. I know nothing about soldering or how to make jewelry. A few of my friend's already knew what to do, so this was so exciting to learn a new skill. I was completely unprepared for the night, so Kim printed my picture and Cheryl printed my word. All I did was show up and participate. Look what I made.

Front

Back

Fundraising Trophy

Caleb came home from school with a principal's award and trophy from the Heritage Jog-a-thon. Apparently he was the top fundraiser. We're getting bits and pieces out of him about the whole thing. I think Mrs. Nikkel, the principal, gave him the trophy during morning announcements (on TV) along with a few other kids. He was very excited. I guess fundraising runs in the genes.

Sorting the Candy

Caleb has always sorted his Halloween candy. He won't eat it; just organizes it. After trick or treating on Wednesday he didn't even go through his stash, so I began to wonder if he's changed his ways. Well, yesterday I was up in his room putting away clothes and found this on the floor:






So, it seems he's still into sorting. I think he was organizing by color this time and didn't quite finish before getting distacted. I think the only thing he's eaten is plain M&Ms. Other than that he just carries it from room to room, dumps it out, organizes it, then carries it to the next room. I can tell you this non-interest in actually eating the candy did not come from me!

Fundraising for '08

I've decided to do the Breast Cancer 3Day next year. So, it's never to early to fundraise, right?

3 days, 60 miles, $2200.

We got new neighbors who decided to throw away all their once-used moving boxes. I called up Lori and we decided to haul them off to the 1/2 price box store and sell them. We had no idea what we could get for them, but surely in the name of Susan G Komen we could get something. We stuffed her beat up suburban as full as we could get it. We even took all the bundles of wrapping paper.

Nice ride, Lori.

Dumpster diving really does pay off.

Is this really safe?

So, she went to the 1/2 price box store and ended up getting just over $56 for all of it. Not bad for about 2 hours work. And we didn't even break a sweat because the weather was so nice.

Did you know we made as much off the paper as the boxes? We got 25 cents a pound for the paper, which totaled up to $27 in paper alone! Who knew!

So, I've officially completed my first fundraising project. Go team FROG!

Oh, Carter!

I forgot to post the funniest moment of trick or treating last night....

Carter walked up to one house by himself- the older kids had already come and gone and the younger ones were just about to get there. So, the door was wide open. He stood right at the entrance and yelled to the people inside,

"Hey, I want some!"

I think most parents would rather their kids say, "Trick or Treat" but my child wanted to get straight to the point.