My birthday!

I had a REALLY GREAT birthday!! My mom was here, so that made it even extra special!!

Here is the fam!! Cooper wasn't too happy at this moment, but I made him take the picture anyways because, it was "MY birthday!". Lexi made me a super cute big envelope full of handmade notes and things! VERY sweet!!













My friend Lora surprised me BIG time and drove up here from Austin!! That was awesome!

Here is Mom with my YUMMY Tiramasu Cheesecake from Cheesecake Factory!! I made a good wish!!

My friend, Suzie, came over too. But, she told me if I put another picture of her on the blog, she wouldn't take me to the Bangles concert!! So,... I can't do it!

Bridget came over for a little bit as well! We had lots of fun with her too!

Joyce came over late that night to play "Sing Star"!

Thanks to everyone for the well-wishes!

Christmas with Grandma Cissy

Well,... we tried to work it out to spend Christmas with both of my parents, but, unfortunetely, it just didn't work out!! My mom came to Round Rock to work on a BIG prop, and my dad had to work. I was videotaping and Clarence took the pictures. Here are the kids opening their new, FUN gifts!






Cooper was VERY excited about a new Thomas the Train tracks and "washer".











Lexi is now ful-filled with her "Sharpay" doll.












Here is Cooper being silly and pretending to "pass out" because he just saw his new video game!

Lexi was THRILLED about her new Hannah Montana stage!

They got lots of great things!! Later that night, we played "Sing Star" with Grandma Cissy! It was a fun night had by all!

YES,... we did the wish bone VERY late this year!! Cooper was sick during Thanksgiving, then Lexi, then Cooper, then Lexi's sugery.... so, I just never got a time when they were both well enough to do it. And,.... I was so sick of looking at that crusty bone on my kitch counter, I didn't even bother to brush Lexi's hair before taking it!! "Mom of the Year!"








It took some time to convince Cooper to actually touch the bone!
















Making a wish....

I missedthe moment when they broke it, because they didn't let me count to 3, so I thought I'd put in a picture of Cricket instead :)

Jake's wedding

My friend, Jake, got married to a fabulous girl, Christina, recently! They wedding was beautiful, and the bride was gorgeous!! Everything was picture perfect - but WAY better than the pictures I took!! Here they are wlking down the aisle!






















Here's some high school friends of mine, Ryan & Angie.

Here is Jeannie - we were on the dance team together and also had a crusade to "Save the Whales & Dolphins"!

There were lots of other high school friends there -

it was great getting to see all of them and catch up!

Going out before my birthday

Clarence wanted to take me out to dinner for my birthday. We invited our friends, Darlene & Brian to join us. Here we are at 219West - a GREAT and very hip restaurant. I think we were the oldest ones there, but it was very cool!

It was VERY cold and after dinner, we decided to go to 6th street for a little bit. We decided to ride on one of those carts that is being pulled by a man on a bike. So,... the 4 of us loaded up, they gals sat on the guys laps and we took off! Looking back, I feel kind of bad for the bike driver. The wind was blowing so hard! I think this picture is hilarious!






First stop,.... Dirty Dog - Clarence's cousin's bar.
Here they are after seeing each other.













Later we went to Pure - AGAIN... the OLDEST ones there!! I actually ran into 2 girls I knew - they are MUCH younger and COOLER than me! So,... we HAD to take a picture!

Lexi's pics from Rockport

I was looking through Lexi's camera and found these CUTE pictures from there trip to Rockport! Grandma Cissy & Big Daddy took Lexi, Cooper, & Cylas on a vacation.

Here are the boys in their "Rockport Pirate" t-shirts! Aren't they cute?

Cutie Patootie....

CHEESE!!!!

Look at Lexi and the view!

Lexi's funny Pics!

I found these funny pictures that were on Lexi's camera and had to post them!

Here is Cooper jumping on the bed!

Kind of wondering where I was and who had the idea to jump on the bed?

Cooper being goofy!

Hmmmm.... NOT too sure what is going on here....

Lexi is deep in thought, I guess....

Having trouble breaking into the popcorn can. For some reason I thought this was pretty funny!




The kids are definitely goofballs - I canNOT imagine where that came from!!

val stays!

while i was looking at the ear piercing pics, i found even more:

here is the pup - cricket....

with baby....

we had valerie for a few days! having a 5th grader WAS an adjustment,..... WOW!! it really opened my eyes.... but in a great way!

she was SO sweet and helpful!

lexi....

Lexi & Lori's Date

So,.... remember from the Christmas blog that Lexi got a gift card to Claire's to get her ears pierced? So,.... it was the BIG day!! Lexi was very nervous - SOOOOOOOOOO nervous, that I had to remind her that she did NOT HAVE to get her ears pierced, but could spend the $40 (YES - that's RIGHT - $40!!!!) on other stuff.

But,.... she was "in it to win it"!

Here she is before. Check out the "untouched" ears". She's looking good, but a little nervous.

Now, we are getting down to business. Time to draw the dots on the ears!

Ohhhhh..... it's getting serious!!

Does she look nervous to you - HECK YA!!!!!

The dots looked good after a few times and now time for the "gun"! Unfortunately, there was only one person working the shift, which means : 1 EAR AT A TIME!!!! BUMMER!

Ear number one:

Oh..... it hurt! NO tears (shocking), but she had to take a "break" and "breathe"! I don't think she had actually taken a breath in the past 5 minutes - I know I hadn't!!

Now,.... she's PROUD, EXCITED, and ready to go for the next ear!


She did GREAT!!!



After it's all said and done, here is the assistant manager (who was FABULOUS!!!!) and who did the piercing!!

And,.... one more pic - outside the store!

Off to Starbucks - not ONLY did Lexi do GREAT, but I REALLY needed some caffeine and now OFF to run errands and go to lunch!! Whhheeeeeeee......

Cooper's Trip to the Museum

Cooper got a special "date day" with his Daddy, and they went to the Children's Museum.

From what we can recall, this would be his very first trip there.

Which, DOES make us feel a little bad, considering Lexi had been 1,000 times by the time she was 3!! "Parents of the Year!!"

I sit here looking at these pictures while Clarence and Cooper are both sleeping. I would LOVE to ask for a funny story or explanation, but cannot at this moment. So,.... instead of waiting for a convenient time that we can get together to talk about the blog, I will just make up my own story-line. So,.... this is what it LOOKS like to me of what happened:

Cooper had a GREAT time at the Children's Museum! They had this really cool train table - which is pretty darn close to the one we have here, but he doesn't play with OURS! He was having SO much fun, that he really didn't like it when other kids came to play.

Oh,.... the joys of a 3 year old!

After MUCH convincing and bribery, Clarence convinced Cooper to crawl in this tube. Yes,.... it isn't harmful and YES, you can see thru it, but Cooper is a chicken:

& he does NOT play those games!!

I think it was the ball that was the final convincer!!

Here, I think, Clarence just told him how "proud" he was of him and promised him a mountain of chocolate and a pony! Oh wait,.... he is deathly scared of large animals..... BUT he IS MY child and loves chocolate,..... so,.... MAYBE a chocolate pony!?!?!


Here is Cooper in the choo-choo room. Hmmmm..... a 3 year-old boy and trains,.....
There is nothing else to say!

Cooper loved driving the big bus! I wonder how many old ladies he pretended to run over. Just kidding, BUT I am SURE that there were SOME type of crashing noises going on!

I mean,.... we can't even ride in the car buggies at HEB without those!!

The boys had a great day out!! After the museum, they went on a tour of Central Market (guided by Clarence, himself), and played on the playscape and ate lunch there.

They had a GREAT day!!

Christmas/New Year's with Suzie

With Suzie traveling and Lexi's surgery, we were FINALLY able to get together for Christmas. She even got to come spend New Year's Eve with us! Clarence had to work the next day, so we were going to keep it low-key.

It was perfect!!

Cooper was SO excited to get a new pair of "big boy" sheets for his new bed!

Lexi was giddy when she got an i-tunes gift card!

I know Suzie doesn't enjoy getting her picture taken, but... we had to have proof she was here!

Clarence is cheesin' because he got some yummy pretzels!

Look how cute my new martini glasses are!!



And,.... of course, we ended up playing "Sing Star"! BIG shocker there!!!
Here's Lexi.... she is getting SO good!

And,... Suzie got the honor of being put up here, too! Her and Clarence's goal was to try and beat previous records set by me and our neighbor!

They succeeded in some,... so IT IS ON!

It was a GREAT night!!

Cooper gets a BIG boy bed!!

When I saw Cooper's feet hanging off the edge of his toddler bed, I first wondered "when that happened", and then realized he probably needed to

move on up to a twin bed!

He got to take quite time in the middle bedroom, and Clarence, Lexi, & I got to work putting it together! When he finally got to see it, he was SO excited!!

We didn't think the "big boy bed" through all the way, and once it got put up,

i wondered....

what sheets we were going to use. I went into our linen closet....

ahhh yes,.... star war sheets!

We are pretty sure that they came from Clarence and Herman when they were younger. I just hadn't put much thought into them, since Lexi is in LOVE with her butterfly and Hannah Montana sheets! Whew.... we saved the day!

He climbed on his new bed and LOVED on his new pillows that Grandma Cissy & Big Daddy had gotten him.

They both wanted to hang out on his bed. They talked, played, and laughed.

It was VERY unusual!

And,... yes,.... they even fell asleep. Except, I think that there MIGHT just be some faking about that, not too sure!!

Ahhhh.... the pleasures of life: a new bad, cool sheets, and fluffy pillows!

THAT'S what I'm talking about!!