Update

Well, well, well... I had no idea that so many people read the blog, until I took a little break. So,... for all that have been wondering - here's our update.
I was getting ready for our very first dance competition. Well,... technically not Lexi's, but her first one on Gold, and mine as a Co-Director.
About a week before contest day, my computer crashed. Which was HORRIBLE! We had not received the final contest schedule, I still had not finished registering our solos and duet,... etc.... Luckily, my neighbor was nice enough to let me come to her house and get some work done over there. So,... our computer is STILL not fixed, only because there has been no time. And,.... I do not want to download pictures on someone else's computer. So, pics will be coming soon!
Then,... my car started giving me trouble. It is still under warranty (YAY), but there are no more Isuzu dealerships in the area - so I need to go to Waco or San Antonio. So,... again,... it still isn't fixed :(
About 3 days before contest, I was helping make these banners and posters to hang in our dressing room to help the girls stay motivated. Cooper got up from quiet time and wanted to help out. I decided it would be a good idea to cover the floor with a roll of plastic so Cooper would keep our floors clean. I opened the closet door in the living room, grabbed a roll f plastic, and my hand touched it and it was SOAKING wet~!!! What?!?!
After some investigation, I realized that the hot water heater was leaking in the garage and the water was coming into the living room closet.
Cooper and I cleaned out the closet (all of our board games are in there), and we put them in the spare bedroom.
Needless to say, Clarence has tried his very hardest to fix the hot water heater and looks like we will need to buy a new one :(

So,.... back to the day of contest... I had been SO nervous that I hadn't been sleeping good. Once we got there though, I realized that there was NOTHING in my control! I was able to relax and really enjoy the day! The girls did great, Lexi was awesome, and CP & I had a BLAST!! A BIG thank you to Suzie for being Lexi's "fake mom" - she helped get Lexi ready & I couldn't have done it without her!!

Even though there is craziness going o, it is only with material things. I am really so blessed to have everyone healthy, that Clarence has a job, that I am able to enjoy all that God has given us. Everything else will just fall into place :)

New Year's Eve

For New Years Eve, we invited Suzie over for a night of Wii & Sing Star!

We used our pretzel kit that Santa brought to make some YUMMY pretzels.

Cooper, rolling out the dough.

Lexi holding her "Lexi" pretzel that she made.

Suzie took our picture...
She told us to show off our muscles.

Lexi is star struck by her new Jonas Brothers CD.

Cooper is LOVING his huge chocolate bar - uggghhhhh..... Thanks Suzie!

Cooper barely made it to midnight.
He was SO tired, he didn't even want his sparkling grape juice.
Here, he says,
"Happy New year. Now can I go to bed?"

2008 brought lots of surprises and so many blessings!
I cannot wait to see what is in store for us in 2009.

Radio City Rockettes

Suzie, Lexi, & I all got tickets to go see the Radio City Rockettes, for Christmas.
We had dinner at Spaghetti Warehouse and then went to the show.

It was AWESOME!!!!
I would definitely go again.

Here is Lexi & I at the show.

Just some cute pictures

Mentos & Diet Coke!

Santa got the kids a "Mentos Bottle Rocket" kit!
Really?!?!?!
And, what exactly was Santa thinking?

Regardless, it really WAS fun!!

Here is Cooper. We drew straws to see who would go first, and it was him.
He was a little nervous, but with Daddy & Uncle Jon by his side, he was OK.

When he pulled the string, 7 mentos drop into a 2 liter of Diet Coke (regular ill NOT work).
Then, there is an explosion of coke.
PROBLEM: We did not realize exactly how far the Coke would shoot out and we all took off running. As of this moment, this is the best picture I have of the Coke.
It was accidentally taken as I was running away from the sticky mess!

Cortheye didn't play around -
She hauled booty!!

Cylas was good and ready!!

Then,... I remembered that my camera has video. BUMMER - I didn't get to video the other kiddos!! Maybe next time!
So: here's..... Lexi......

During clean-up, the girls were pretending to drink the after-math.

Santa Clause came!!!

Well, well, well,... Santa sure did surprise us this year!

The kids actually slept "late" - 7:24am!
That's a record for Christmas morning.
Lexi was the first to wake up (no shocker there!).

When we go into the living room, we find out that,
Santa left US a Wii!!
Woo-hoo!!!.......
The kids were SO excited -
PLUS lots of other goodies...

Cooper got a Webkinz.

The girls still have their sleepy eyes.

Cylas was surprised with their Playstation & his new Power Rangers game.

This was our Christmas dinner.
Grandma Cissy worked SO hard & it was REALLY GREAT!

We had some of Big Daddy's relatives pay us a surprise visit.
It was SO nice -

And, later that night, you KNOW we busted out the Wii!
Big Daddy got to try bowling.

Lexi had to show him exactly how to throw a strike.

We had a GREAT day!
A LOT of work went into it, but it was well worth it.

It's Christmas-time!!!!

We had SO much fun at Big Daddy's & Grandma Cissy's!!
It is GREAT to have a bunch of kids around - it really brings the Christmas Spirit out in ALL of us!!

While there:

Cylas made sugar cookies,



















We played with some friends,













We went caroling,


















We loved on each other,

















Cooper made sugar cookies,



















We buried Lexi in the leaves,



















Lexi & Cortheye raked the leaves,

















Cooper & Cylas & Big Daddy got haircuts,










Lexi & Cortheye got silly while making sugar cookies,















Got dressed in cute jammies & drank hot cocoa,



















Lexi got a new Hannah Montana game!,



















Cooper got an mp3 player,






















Sat out food for the reindeer,







Threw the reindeer food WAY out in the yard!,

It was AWESOME!
The kids had SO much fun!!
We ALL did!

Christmas memories

We have a group of friends that we ALWAYS make gingerbread houses with.
We have ever since Lexi was 2!!

Our friend also has an elf!!
Aren't they all so cute!

Aunt Dee Dee taught us how to make reindeer food - SO much fun!

This year, instead of buying a gingerbread kit, we used an idea from one of friends, Paula (THANKS!), and we built ours out of recycled boxes, hot glue, graham crackers, & candy.
We LOVED it - the kids REALLY got to use their imaginations!


Here is Cooper's - he DID get tired of doing it after an hour, so I finished it for him.

The REALLY bad news is that we got really rushed (this was the day we were going out of town), and I did not get a picture of Lexi & her house :(
I even had intentions of taking them to my parents' house and taking pictures there.
But,... it just didn't happen!

The Elves are at it Again....

One morning, we woke up to find that the elves, Sally & Patrick, had decided to have a party with ALL of the kids stuffed animals!!!
There were candy wrappers ALL over the place - Sally had even gotten into MY fudge!

I thought the elves were supposed to be watching MY kids, making sure they got on Santa's "Nice" list! Hhhmmmmm......

Herman, Leah, & Davey

Clarence's brother, Herman, is stationed oversees with the Army. Currently he is in Iraq & his wife, Leah & her son, Davey, are in Germany.
We received their Christmas gift box and were SO excited to open it!


Lexi got a brand new i-pod!
Here she is in SHOCK!!

Which, just so happened to be PERFECT, b/c hers had broken a couple of weeks before that and I was not able to fix it. A couple of nights before, she had written a letter to Santa asking for one. I was kind of nervous,... so, it was quite a surprise for her!!



Like every other 4 year-old boy, Cooper is in LOVE with Wall-E. So, he was SO excited to get a Wall-E remote control robot!! I think his face says it all!

Clarence & I were given these beautiful Christmas wine glasses.
They are AWESOME!!

A HUGE Thank You to Herman, Leah, & Davey...
We LOVE it!!

Christmas with Granny & Grand-daddy

Since we were going to my parents house for Christmas, we got to celebrate early with Clarence's parents, Granny & Grand-daddy.

For dinner we had a YUMMY pork tenderloin cooked by Grand-daddy, mashed potatoes,
corn, & some cookies.
And,... of course there was PRESENTS!!!!

The highlights were:

Lexi got a new suitcase. Hers was too "baby-ish" (according to her).

After opening his new Lightning McQueen sleeping bag, Cooper says,
"We are going CAMPING!!"
Uuggghhhhh.... we'll have to see about that.

"Journey to the Center of the Earth" DVD -
if you haven't seen it - it's a GOOD one!

Cooper got a new Iron Man T-shirt.
He is making his "Iron Man Face".

Unfortunately, I did not get any pics with Granny & Grand-daddy... Sorry!
With any holiday, it was a little hectic, but SO much fun!!