Grayson's Comedic Antics

My child. Such the comedian. I just went upstairs to make sure the kids were all tucked in before I go to bed and found a note at Grayson's door that says - and I quote exactly-

Warning!

Keep Out!

No explosive diarea!

No animels!

No Jumping!

No Girls Aloud!

No Girls Toys!

Nock on the door before you come in!

P.S. or else you will be arrested.

It was just one of those late night laughs that I needed. Especially when I saw that Jessie had tried to copy him and make her own sign. It just said Waarnning - Keeeeepout (in purple crayon of course!)

On To The Next Holiday...

The long weekend is over. Part of me is glad so that the kids can get back in to their routines and quit picking on each ohter. The other part (the part has to go to work tomorrow) wants to sleep all day. The holidays are exhausting! Usually we are in Alabama for Turkey day, but this year we stayed home in Coppell. The Olivas family came over for a somewhat traditional meal. I tried not to over induldge and blow my diet. Here are a couple of our memories....

The good ol' "kids table"

Our meal consisted of Turkey, homemade dressing, corn, Jeanine's famous mashed potatoes, rolls, fresh veggies, chocolate pie, pumpkin pie, and wine - great for a diet plan!

Addyson loved the pumpkin pie and whipped cream!

Afterwards we all went outside to watch the kids, Kendall and Kiki play football in the backyard.

By 3:30 in the afternoon, it was all over. We tried to stay awake for the Cowboy game but I think I was snoozing before the end of the 1st quarter. But after a nice rest, the celebration picked back up at the Higgs house for a little Rock Band and left over food!

And the perfect ending to the exhausting day, was jumping in the hot tub on a cool night!

Despite the late night we had at Shari and David's house, Shari and I fared the crowd at Wal-Mart early Friday morning. It's funny and sad to watch people act like such idiots to save a few dollars. I could have waited until later to go, but since every 7 year old on the planet seems to be a Star Wars fan right now, I had to make sure to get there early enough to get the ultimate Star Wars gear. I did not however, go at 3:30 in the morning like my crazy sister in law did only to have a television snatched out of her hand by a grown man! I mean really! What kind of man takes a TV from a woman?? Anyway, she only came away with a scrath on her hand unlike the folks in other parts of the country who were caught in a stampede. Retail stores should have some type of accountability in this madness they create. Oh well, by the end of the day Friday I had most of my shopping completed. The rest will be done online. That is a good feeling!

Happy Thanksgiving!
Well, it's officially Thanksgiving and my family is fast asleep. Which means I get some time to finish all the last minute details before our friends arrive for lunch tomorrow (or later today, it is 1 a.m.). Right now, I kind of feel like the picture below!! I LOVE having people over, but WOW the stress of it all. My "witch doctor" told me today that she thinks I'm generally an uptight person who worries too much about things I can or can't control. She's only known me for a few weeks so I kind of felt like she had a hidden camera in my house! That being said, despite my self induced stress, I lost 3 more pounds for a total of 10 pounds since Halloween! I didn't lose any inches this time which is indicative of high cortisol levels due to stress. No kidding! However, no matter how much stress I think I have, there are folks with far more. So, I am thankful that I have a job, family, house etc. to stress about! How's that for uptight??

Let Me Brag on My Smart Kids!

I know, Jessie is only 4, but she can spell simple words like UP, TO, YOU, CAT. Everyday she comes home with something new to tell me about. Grayson LOVES to read and laughs loudly when he reads The Diary of a Wimpy Kid. For elementary aged kids, this series of books is really funny. Last night I started bed time reading with them of Bible stories. The book is called 365 Bible Stories for Children. It starts with Genesis and goes through the new testament. So, tonight I asked them to recap what we read about last night. They both started telling me about how God made the world, the animals and the clouds. Before I even finished tonight's story about the creation of Adam and Eve, Grayson started telling Jessie how Eve was going to trick Adam to eat the fruit from the tree of good and evil. I am so happy that they actually pay attention in Sunday School class!!

Okay, they aren't geniuses, but pretty darn close!

National Sales Meeting - San Diego

What a Week!

November 13 is where it all started. I can't even begin to describe the chaos of our lives lately. It's my own fault for not saying 'no' to things. But why should I? It's all about making memories right?? Keep in mind, this is all in the midst of a full time job with ARKRAY and dealing with some very high maintenance customers! You will catch a glimpse in to our lives as you view the pics below. But first, here is the calendar of events in summary...

November 13 - CAbi party at Beth's house (6 pm) then on to Leslie's for another CAbi party (6:30). Jennifer turned 40 that day, so at 7 pm I raced on over to Portobello's for her birthday party. There are no pics to document the fun that night because my very SELFISH friend Caroline refuses to send me a picture!
November 14 - Silpada Jewlery party at my house -Girls Night Out.
November 15 - Rosemond's 30th birthday party at Daddy Jack's! Welcome to your 30's Ro!
November 16 - Hopped on a plane to San Diego for a few days for our National Sales Meeting.
November 19 - Return home to be locked out of my house because Kendall is playing basketball at the YMCA. I sat alone on the sidewalk, in the dark until Jeanine came to my rescue.
November 20- Thankgiving lunch at Wilson, Dad and Lad cake bake competition for cub scouts, Literacy Night at Wilson, Thanksgiving Feast at Primrose.
November 21 - Crashed my car and had an anxiety attack.
November 22 - Slept all day trying to recover from the trauma of the previous day, then on to watch OU beat Texas Tech.
Which brings me to now. After I catch you all up on our lives, I'm going to take another nap!

Girls Night at my house - Chitra, Cathy and me

Me and Carrie
Model those jewels, Jenn!

I'm so glad Donna came, haven't seen her in forever!

Michelle, Stacy, Me, Darla and Cathy

This happened sometime while I was in San Diego. Jessie fell at school over a chair and hit a table! Something always happens when I am out of town!

Thanksgiving lunch with Grayson at school

Grayson decorates his 'snake cake' for the cub scout competition

Not too bad! He came up with the idea himself and picked out a red fruit roll up for the tongue.

Who's cleaning this up?

Family Literacy night. The book focus was The Tale of Despereaux by Kate DiCamillo

Jessie with her teachers at the Primrose feast Thursday night.

And now, what you've all been waiting for...my crashed up car! I'm thankful to God, no one was hurt. I hit a curb and a tree and kept on going. I turned around to tell Grayson to leave Jessie alone when I hit the curb on the right, over compensated with the wheel, "scraped" the tree and kept going. Cleary, I did not think it was that bad. That is until I pulled up in front of the elementary shcool where they were having a turkey drive and all the dads from the dad's club were standing outside laughing and questioning what happened. I looked at them like a crazy person and said "what?, it's only a scratch"! Well they obviously think I'm just another dumb, blonde, woman driver! I felt like a complete idiot. Well, I realized the severity of the damage when I got to Primrose and got out of the car. That's where the anxiety attack set in! Then I had to go to the lady's house where I hit the tree and apologize to her for hitting the tree as I cleaned up the pieces of my car out of the street. How humiliating. I don't think I have ever been so embarrased in my life! You can't even tell the tree was hit!

Praise God we are okay and I have had my most humiliating moment, so what else do I have to worry about??

It's Fall Y'all

This is the Japanese Maple tree in my front yard. It reminds me of how much I love fall! This time year feels cozy to me. I love planning for Christmas and curling up with Kendall and the kids in a warm blanket on the couch. I love the colors that autumn represents. I think God was feeling ultra creative when he made this season!

We watched the 'Bama/LSU game at X's and O's in Southlake with our friends Paul and Melissa. They are Louisiana natives and have lived here for 2 years. We were one of the first couples they met when they got here and it has taken us this long to actually all go out together! It was worth the wait. We had a great time with them cheering on our teams. Kiki and Jeaninie joined us for the Texas Tech game - we ended up staying at this place for 8 hours!! For you non-football fans - BAMA WON!

Of course Kendall has a chicken wing in his hand!

Cover Girl

We got Jessie's mock magazine cover in the mail this week from her photo shoot with Dallas Child Model Search. She hasn't been chosen for an add but she hasn't been eliminated either. Her friend Abby got a call back and gets to go for more shots tomorrow. We wish her the best of luck! I wish I could upload the photo to post, but the image is too big. Even if I say so myself, she looks adorable in it. She would make a great magazine model!!

My New Journey

Whoo hooo! I started a new weight loss regimen last Friday. As most of you know, my weight is a very touchy subject for me. I guess what jump started it was being at my friend Wendy's house a couple of weeks ago and her showing me pictures of us on the beach in high school and college. Although I know I will never look like that again, I figured it was time to get serious about dropping some pounds or continue to buy bigger jeans every year - and that is not an option. I've made some significant changes in my diet (going back to more natural foods), started exercising even more and joined the Coppell Wellness Program (I call it my witch doctor). The hardest has been giving up Diet Coke. Even though there are no calories in it, the artificial sweeteners can trick your body into thinking you are consuming sugar making it harder to burn fat. Typically, I drink 8 diet cokes a day, so this is big stuff for me! Of course Diet Coke sales may plummet now! Water is my new best friend. So, I went for my first weigh in today - that's where the whoo hooo part comes in. I've lost 5 pounds and 7 inches in 7 days!! Wish me luck and I will keep posting my progress!

I Just Need to Vent...

I cannot even begin to express the feelings I have right now about Barack Obama being elected President. So far all of the poles aren't counted, but according to CNN, he's the one. I'm disappointed that the majority of this country really feels like he can make a positive change. I really hope I am wrong, but I seriously doubt it. I usually embrace change. I like the excitement of it. But not this change. Upper middle class will feel the effects the most, which I guess is why I am so distraught. It's disgusting to think he wants to 'spread the wealth'. Kendall and I work hard for our money and quite frankly I think everyone should. Obama on the other hand is okay with taking from those who have it and giving to those who don't (and those who don't want to work for it). I am sad that the most historic election so far of my lifetime has come to this. I am sad for my children who too will feel the effects. I am scared that the core values of this country will change and not for the better. All of that being said, I must have faith that this is God's plan and that our country and it's hard working citizens will be okay.

Get Your Guns Up!!

I want to give a big shout out to all my Texas Tech friends out there for that incredible game against Texas last night! Wow! What a game!! Because of the upset, 'Bama has moved to the #1 spot. ROLL TIDE. Now, if we can make it through next week against LSU, I will be one happy gal!!

Rockin' Out

More good times with Rock Band 2 at Shari and David's house!

I don't know how the kids slept through this!

Trunk or Treat at FBC Coppell

Instead of our annual neighborhood soiree, we participated in the church 'trunk or treat'. The parking lot was full of decorated cars, inflatable jump houses, crazy characters and lots of candy! I think there were at least 400 kids there!

These 2 need to be chained!

Daddy and Hannah Montana passed out candy. Jessie was so cute. If kids didn't stop at our car to get candy, she would chase them down and drop candy in their buckets! She even gave away all the candy she had received!
Tow- Mater from Lightning McQueen

The McCrary's came as the Flintstones!!!

Our trunk...

Wiped out after a long night watching Haunted Mansion. Surprisingly, not on a sugar high after all the candy and cookies!

Primrose Costume Parade

When we arrived at Primrose this morning there were SEVERAL mini pumpkins all over the ground (obviously from the magical pumpkin seeds that were planted yesterday). The kids had a party and costume parade this afternoon.

Jessie with Sophie the Fairy Princess
Jessie with Miss Ashley (Batgirl)