Last One.....I Promise

I forgot to mention that Andrew was more excited than Sara about Santa coming. He woke me up at 12:30 a.m. and told me to get up, I told him he was crazy! He woke me up at about 1:15 a.m., 2:00 a.m., 3:30 a.m. and 4:00 a.m. I am NOT exaggerating! At 4:30 a.m. he woke me up and I told him to give me 30 more minutes, so, believe it or not at 5:00 a.m. he woke me up, Dusty up and then Sara. He called Gran and Pop to come and then Christmas began.
The kids seeing what Santa brought.

Sara checking out her DS Lite from Santa.

Andrew in his muck boots from Santa.

And finally Andrew and Sara ready to go to Gran and Pop's to open presents in their new Christmas clothes.


P.S. Yes, my son already told me I had the date wrong on my new camera. Leave it to me!

Possibly My Last Christmas Post

Santa was good to the kiddos. He brought them both exactly what they wanted. Imagine that? Andrew got his handheld PSP, muck boots, clothes from AE and a few other things. Sara got a Nintendo DS Lite, clothes, pink boots and some other things. They must have been very good!
Here's what he brought.....


And here's the aftermath of Santa and presents from mama and daddy......

Christmas......still?

I am still posting Christmas......I'm slow!
Dusty wanted me to open a present on Christmas Eve. He got me a Nikon Coolpix touch screen camera. I played with it Christmas Eve so I could know how to use it the next day. Dusty said everyone always got a toy but me so I needed a toy too. Speaking of toys, we got Dusty good this year. He usually always knows what we are getting him for Christmas. He either knows what we are buying or guesses before he opens it. This year he told me a couple of months ago that he always wanted an old fashioned gumball machine. I started looking and that's just what he got.....gum and all.

Following Tradition

It has been tradition at my granny and papas's since I was little girl that on Christmas Eve we got to pick a present to open. It was always a big deal for me and my sister to shake our presents to see which one we wanted to open. Keeping with tradition, Andrew and Sara and the other grands open a present at Gran and Pop's but my kids also get to open one at home too. As you can see, Andrew opened at set of Razorback dominos (guess what we've been doing) and Sara opened her American Doll.


Christmas is a time for family and friends. I have wonderful memories that I hold near and dear to my heart. Getting up early in the morning and seeing what Santa brought at home then heading to Granny and Papa's to open more gifts, spending the day there and eating homemade bread, candy and ham, playing with my toys, playing a game that Granny always got for all of us to play, visiting with friends that stopped by Granny's during the day to have a drink and eat some of her spread. Memorable moments, great times!!!!!
We are still making memories. I hope my kids can look back when they are my age and laugh, live and cry at great memories we have made for them.

Wonder?

You wondering where I've been?
Recovering!!
Just kidding! Well, kinda......we have been very busy! I hope your Christmas was as filled with love and happiness as ours was.
I have been cleaning a little today, trying to get things back in order. It is seeming hopeless! I had to break for a minute and then thought, "haven't done my blog all week" so this is the beginning of my Christmas posts. Sorry it's been so long.......

7:30 A.M.

That's the time I normally have to be at work and you would think we would be sleeping late on our first "official" day out of school. Well, we're not, we're leaving for Texarkana to get the Expedition fixed. TGIF, it's under warranty! You either get full blast heat or full blast air conditioning and no on or off unless you turn the car off. It can get a wee bit hot in there, too, with straight heat blowing in your face. Dusty called Thursday when it began doing this and the head mechanic told him that they fixed 3 Expeditions last week that did the same thing. Go figure, mine would HAVE to be one of the fifty jillion they made that breaks.
On a funnier (I know, it's not a word) note, we are going to go to the movies and eat out and do a little bit of last minute Christmas shopping.
I'll stop rambling now.......

AHHHHHH, the break has begun!

School is out!!!!!!!!!! WOOOOOHOOOOOOO! We are finally out for Christmas vacation. We dismissed at 2:00 today. I was outta there 30 minutes after that. Sara was wanting to go here and there and I said "NO! We are going HOME!". And that we did!
I am in my lounge pants and t-shirt and that's where I will stay. Well, until Dusty gets home at 7:00 and then we promised the kids we would eat out, which in Prescott means the Sonic, and ride around to look at Christmas lights. But I am going to take it easy and chill. Andrew got to stay home today since he had taken all his semester tests but my break begins now!!

Andrew's Trip

Andrew went on the yearly December trip to Dallas this past weekend for Christmas at Bob and Pam's. He hasn't missed a one since he was born.
He and Jessica and the boys went to the museum on Sunday. They also went to the King Tut exhibit. Andrew thought that was awesome! I knew he would, gold and wealth are right up his alley! I saw the same exhibit when I was about his age in Houston. Here are a few pictures Jessica took.....
Andrew outside the museum.

Bob with his Christmas present from Andrew.

Andrew and Sebastian in a prism tunnel.

Maybe Pam will forgive Dusty, Sara and I for staying home this year.

Oops.....Valarie's First Ever Error

And only Kristi caught it.......if I had one of those fancy blog spots like The Pioneer Woman, I would give her a great prize for finding it. That's because, and you all know this, I did it on purpose....to see if you all were paying attention. Kristi wins!
I said in the previous blog, as I am bragging about how pretty I think my kids are, that "Andrew almost never takes a good picture" when I intended to say Andrew almost never takes a bad picture. And he doesn't, never takes a bad picture, that is. They are always good, especially the serious ones.
Remember it people, it was Valarie's first ever error, that I really did on purpose to give away an imaginary prize......HAHAHA

P.S. If you have never checked out The Pioneer Woman's blog that is in my favorites, you should, it is addictive. I love it!!

Finally.......Christmas Pictures

Between our busy schedules and the rainy weather, I finally got my Christmas pictures taken. I took quite and few but was very pleased with what I got. Of course, it wouldn't have anything to do with the 2 gorgeous subjects I have to work with. One(Andrew) who is very photogenic and almost never takes a good picture and the other who is as photogenic she just cooperates when she is in the mood for posing.


It got kinda cold, we all, including me, got kinda moody before the shoot was over. This is one of my favs of Sara, it is so her!

A Good Weekend

Andrew is finally feeling better. He has been sick all week and missed 3 days of school. He was tested for strep throat but that wasn't it. Just an infected and irritated throat the doc said. He did his homework today and has been up playing around. I'm glad, he was feeling pretty cruddy!
I read Twilight this weekend. I really liked it! Now I'm gonna have to get the others. I want to see the movie too, even though everyone says it is not like the book. It never is, is it?

Ya Gotta Love Her

She LOVES pink! We call her "Sassy" and she answers to it. She's sweet, smart, artistic, kind, a bit daring, loves school and her friends, really wants to help wrap Christmas presents for Andrew and promises not to tell, easy to love and very demanding.......she's telling me I still haven't gotten her some Cheetos and Dr. Pepper. She's..............SARA! She picked out the Christmas background. It was her "first choice" and "you should always stick with your first choice". And who would have thought it but it is pink! She's a joy and we love her very much!

Do You See A Pattern Here?

We are getting quite the Arkansas Razorback ornament and Christmas decoration collections. Most of them are Andrew's.
First, is the 2008 Razorback ornament from The Danbury Mint. This one is Andrew's.

Here is a frosted Razorback snowman ball from 2005. Of course, it is Andrew's.

Andrew's pretty bright red HOG ball!

Another Danbury Mint ornament from 2007.....Andrew's too.

Another one you say? Yes, Sara had to have one this year, too. She very proud of her second Arkansas Razorback ornament.

Keep going.......look at the post below.......I had too many pictures for one post......

More?????

More of our favs....
We begin with the Arkansas Razorback basketball ornament. Andrew got this a couple of years ago from Bob and Pam.

Next is Sara's Razorback cheerleader bear from Dusty and I.

Andrew got a Razorback football player bear at the same time.

Bob and Pam gave Andrew this Santa sporting a Arkansas Raborback sweater. He loved it!

Dusty bought this Razorback and snowmen tree shirt last year on sale after Christmas. Cute, huh?

This is just the beginning of our collection. Andrew plans to get plenty more where these came from.
WOO PIG SOOIE!

Christmas Time Is Here

We got our tree up Saturday night. It took us until Sunday afternoon to get it decorated. Dusty always puts it together and fluffs it then the kids put the decorations on as I take them out of the boxes. Sara likes hers to be in little bunches and Andrew puts his at the top so Sara won't bother them. It's fun. If you could see everything up close you would understand. I love it to be like they like it. It makes me smile! Quite nights in the living room with just the lights twinkling are my favorite......wait did I say QUITE? Well, maybe not so quite but it makes for great memories!