Busy Weekend...

It was a busy weekend in our house this past weekend. Last week, Madeline took part in a cheer clinic put on by our local high school cheer and pom squads. She had a great time. During the week they learned a cheer and dance. They then got to present what they had learned during the week at halftime of the football game Friday night. She was super excited that LOTS of people would be watching her. I tried to video her but there were so many girls out on the field and with all the turns, leaps, kicks, jumps, etc it was impossible to record her so instead here are a few still shots of my beautiful girl.

The dance they learned was to Justin Bieber's "Baby, Baby" song. Hence why her shirt says "Bieber fever" on it.

Here you can see Madeline (back of her) talking to one of the pom girls.

Saturday was GAME DAY!! OSU (Oklahoma State vs. Texas Tech). Lucky for us it was televised. We had my in laws over to watch the game and we grilled some hot dogs. I made a 7 layer dip , deviled eggs, and rice crispy treats (girls request) for dessert. My mother in law brought over a yummy chocolate chip cheesecake. Im not a big cheesecake fan (it's a texture thing) but it was pretty good I have to say.

This picture isn't from this weekend's game but I had to show you how cute our OSU family is. This is from a home game we went to early in the season. GO POKES!! We are 6-0, 2-0 in conference play. Next week is Homecoming week at Oklahoma State which is a VERY big deal. OSU is known for their homecoming festivities.

Sunday, we celebrated my birthday. Let's just say, for some reason this year was a hard one for me. I only turned 35 but I think it's because I'm on that back hill slide towards 40. UGH!! My sweet family let me sleep in (we missed church), brought me a donut in bed and let me be lazy all morning. In the afternoon we went to have a late lunch with my parents at their house.

We then took the girls to the Pumpkin Patch. They were so excited. It was a really neat place. They had lots for the kids to do. There was a petting zoo where you could pet and feed the animals, we got to watch a pig race, took lots of pictures, went through the corn field maze, the hay bale maze, went on a hayride, and lastly, we picked out our perfect pumpkins which our now decorating our front porch and flower beds. Needless to say, we were very dirty and went straight to the shower when we got home. Enjoy our trip to the pumpkin patch,

Our family before going into the pumpkin patch!!

The girls riding the "tire horses".

Silly Macy. I don't know why but she thinks she has to "pose" for EVERY picture.

My sweet Madeline. Isn't she beautiful?

The girls at the beginning. Again, Macy is posing!

Madeline feeding the baby goat.

I think this was Macy's favorite part. However, she was a little stingy with her food. The goat would put its nose in her cup to get food and if it got ONE piece, it was done. HA!!

Petting the soft bunnies.

This must have been the "pose" for the day.

Madeline is my TALL child.

The girls found their way through the hay maze. They were SO excited. I think they thought we might be stuck in there forever.

Hubs and the girls going through the corn maze.

The girls were trying to decide which way to go.

The corn maze. We were "lost" in the there for about 30 minutes.

Waiting on the hay ride (dust ride) to begin.

Posing with the Peanut characters.

We had a BLAST!! Love this time of year. Happy Fall Y'all

Show Us Your life-Office

This week it was Show Us Your Life-Office at Kelly's Korner. When we bought our house it didn't have an office in it but it did have a formal dining which we NEVER use. We had one at our house in Texas and never used it so we talked with the builder about how we could transform that room into a study because we DO use it. He said it would be a very easy fix. Looking at the room now you can not tell it was ever different.

You can see in the picture above the BEFORE picture. Just to the left of the front door (where the column is) is what was the formal dining.

Here's another look. Our one concern about closing it in and converting it into an office was that we'd lose some of the sunlight in the room and the entry way would not be large enough.

The construction had began. It was looking good.

The entry way was still big enough and open. We are about ready to move in.

Of course, we've since moved in (2 months ago) and we love our office. The AFTER:

The entry way (side view)

Looking into one side of the office.

Looking into the office from the living room.

Remember this was just a big open space? They added two walls, two french doors, and a transom window. I love it!!

So there you have it our office. Can't wait to see all the others.

Show Us Your life-Kitchen

It's Friday which means its Show Us Your Life-Kitchen edition from Kelly's Korner. I LOVE my kitchen in our new house. It's one of the deciding factors for me. It's big, has TONS of storage, and is easy to cook in..

I still have some decorating to do in here but it will come. Hope you enjoy.

The Dining area that opens to the living room.

Looking in from the hall way

Looking from the hallway to the left side of the kitchen. The cutout looks into the living room.

View if standing in the dinette area.

Another view standing the dinette area.

So there you have it, our lovely kitchen. Can't wait to see all the others.

JASPER!!

Enough said....

Ha. I love this small town in south east Texas. It is beautiful driving into town as you make your way through the Angelina National Forest. I didn't get a picture because I was driving and Hubs was too tired to get the camera out. Trust me, it's beautiful.

We took off on Thursday morning earlier than we intended. I think we were all so stinking excited to see our dear friends, that none of us could sleep. We were on our way with smiles, snacks, and drinks to get us through the LONG 8 hours ahead of us. It all went downhill FAST!! We got about 1 hour from our house when going down the highway at 75 mph our front passenger side tire BLEW!!! Talk about scary, I was horrified. Now if you know myself or Hubs then you know that neither of us know NOTHING about cars. Hubs has changed a flat before, in our garage with the help of our neighbor (who we were on our way to see). Now here we are on the side of the highway, loaded down with luggage and our two precious girls. We are about 1.5 feet off the highway. Not much room which made Hubs even all the more nervous. You see and hear about people running into the back of cars on the highway so our adrenaline was running high while we read in the auto manual how to change a flat tire. Oh and I forgot to mention that my lovely oldest child who has tons of FEARS and HIG ANXIETY is FREAKING out inside the car. (not helping us). My youngest child thinks this is all pretty cool. We finally get the jack out from under the seat, get the spare tire down, and start loosening the lug nuts. Let me remind you that this whole process has taken us about 25 minutes. Finally, by God's doing a trucker stops on the OPPOSITE side of the highway, crosses over to see if we needed help. Thankfully he did because we couldn't get the tire off. He had to run back across the highway to grab a hammer out of his truck. Im praying that this man doesn't get hit running across all 4 lanes of this popular traveled highway. We finally get the tire off, spare on, and put all the "tools" away. We're finally back on the road.

We had planned on stopping by and checking on our house in Keller but then decided it would be more important to stop and get a new tire just in case we should blow another we would have our spare. We spent another hour waiting for TWO new tires to be put on. We are running WAY behind schedule and I don't like it at all.

Thankfully the rest of our drive (last 5 hours) was uneventful and smooth. We finally made it to our friends house and everyone was beyond excited.

Madeline and Rachel seeing each other for the first time. In the background is Hubs and Mark.

We unloaded the car and decided to go eat. Well, all the girls did. The boys stayed and watched the OSU vs. A&M game. It was SO good to see Kristie and catch up. I really miss her.

We stuck around the house for the rest of the night. Friday, we got up and went shopping, had lunch, and took the kids out to swim and ride the golf cart while the men went to play golf. It was a beautiful day. Friday night was football night. Colby (their son) plays for the varsity team.

Girls ready to cheer on the Bulldogs!!

Our Best Friends!!

Our Family!! Go Bulldogs!!

Scoreboard before the game. We wont show the end result!!

Go #20!!

Saturday we got up and went to the Fall Festival in town. Mind you this is a very small town and it took us longer to drive to the festival than it did to walk around it. There were booths of people selling crafts, companies advertising, food, and a few games for the kids. The girls loved the DARE car.

Posing with the DARE car.

That afternoon we went to watch Rachel cheer on her football team. They were so cute and she did a great job.

Go Bulldogs, GO!!

Rachel after the game!

Once the game was over we convinced the guys that since we had the kids the past 2 days that it was their turn to keep them and we (Kristie, her oldest Kaleigh, and her sister Kim) were going to Lufkin (closest town with a mall) to shop. We had a great time. We laughed a lot and got lots of good buys. It was nice to just get to hang out. However, I knew that Sunday was just a few short hours away and it was going to be time to say our goodbyes. I had been looking forward to going to Jasper for a month and at the same time dreaded having to say those goodbyes again. The first time was hard enough.

Sunday came and we packed and loaded the car. It was time!!! We put it off for as long as we could but then with LOTS of tears, long hugs, and lots of I LOVE YOU'S we said goodbye and vouched that we'd see each other in December or January. I don't know if I can make it that long. I told Hubs on the way down there that I really didn't like there being EIGHT hours between us and his reply was me either but it makes it harder for us to just get in and drive here. I would trade the hurt of saying goodbye 100 times for the fabulous time we had together.

So that was our trip to South East Texas. Till next time.