Here is Anna's attempt at Joy to the World. Too young for words, but she had some movement! Wonder who she gets that from? Anna did a great job. I didn't get video of it, but at the end she stood there and clapped for everyone and said "yeah!" She was excited to see me when I went to get her off the stage, but a little hesitant. I walked her back to where we were sitting. She didn't want to sit down. She kept pointing to the stage saying "there" and trying to get down. Basically, Anna didn't get enough of being on stage and wanted some more. We had to find a way to keep her occupied for another 20 minutes or so until Brady was up. It worked out for us, just barely. During Brady's videos you can hear Anna fussing. Isn't that was siblings are for?

Joyful Song

Brady will be an angel in his Christmas program this Thursday night. Tonight we did a little dress rehearsal in his angel outfit. I made it out of a sheet. The school provides the wings and halos. Aunt Christy is in town and can't stay for the show. He wanted to show off his singing abilities for her. He is doing another song, but I wasn't sure which one. We will have the camcorders ready Thursday night!

The roars in the background noise are Chris and Anna playing one of their silly games. They didn't know that Brady had just hopped up on the hearth and wanted to sing. I didn't have time to tell them to be quiet. Luckily I had the camera ready to record him. You can tell Chris and Anna were having fun.

Anna's complete sentence!

Mother of two, so what I do for one I must do for the other. Really though I need to blog about Anna's first sentence last night. She has been talking much more and repeating anything you say. Right now Anna is more of a one word or two kind of girl. Although she can put some hurt on her Brown Bear book, Bright Baby first words and animals books. Chris is on a hunting trip and he's the one that reads to Anna each night and puts her to bed. I was worried how Anna would do for me along with Brady. So we read Brown Bear, First Words and then Animals. I said "well it's time for night-night." she seemed very confused and kept saying "daddy, book, read, daddy, book, read, night-night." I tried explaining that daddy wasn't home and mommy read books and now it's time for night-night. she was contemplating getting in her bed or not then looked up at me. she said "daddy's not home." YEAH! at least this was the first time i remember hearing her say her own true sentence without repeating it right after us. then, she happily went off to bed.

Kids say anything...

Today I had a friend ride with me to lunch. In my passenger seat I had a jacket, some scarves and random things that had collected on the seat. I just put those things behind the seat and didn't think anything of it. This afternoon I picked up the kids as usual. Put Anna in her seat first and walked around to Brady's side to buckle him in. This afternoon the temp dropped about 30 degrees so I'm freezing waiting on Brady to put up his backpack and said "hurry up!" Brady responds with "Mom, all this stuff on the floor is ridiculous!" Astonished me says "WHAT?" He explains "this stuff on the floor, its too much, its ridiculous!" I'm just thinking, did he really use that in a sentence twice?! So I respond "it's ridiculous, huh? what does that mean?" Using lots of hand gestures and his way of telling a story he replies "you know, it's ridiculous mom. we need to clean this up." WOW! he amazes me sometimes with the things he says. my goal is to blog them more often. I have to admit, I know I don't have this exactly word-for-word the way it went down. However, my memory does remember him using the word ridiculous correctly 3 times in 3 different sentences and they were something along the lines of our little conversation above. I think tomorrow I will see how many of my 3rd graders can use the word ridiculous correctly in a sentence.

Anna's 1st haircut

Today I took Anna to the very girly Sweet and Sassy to have her first haircut. She was excited, but yet very calm. There was a group of young girls celebrating a birthday. They were playing dress up and dancing on the catwalk in the back. She loved watching them while we waited for her turn to get her haircut. When her turn came, she was such a big girl. Anna never even flinched or seemed scared at any point. I wanted them to just trim her up a bit to help fill in her hair. I was amazed at how quickly more wave and curl came out with just a few snips. When she was done, she sprayed her with the girly scented hairspray and glitter spray! Anna looked like a little lady! Now we have a formal picture from Sweet and Sassy with a small lock of hair. Anna's a big girl now!

Numero Tres is on its way!

Yes, I haven't blogged this just yet...I am pregnant with #3. I am 12 weeks and 3 days as of today and due June 5th. Brady will be 4 June 22 and Anna will be 2 January 26....Yes, that is 3 kids under the age of 4 for a short time. When we told the kids, Anna doesn't get it at all. However, when I told Brady that Mommy has a baby in her tummy he said, "why did you do that?" it was so cute. we are all excited and getting prepared!

for the night of my birthday we took the kids out to the farm in weatherford. when brady was 2, he received a John Deere tractor to drive, but this is Anna's Gator. She isn't the best driver, but her big bro does a great job. they were so cute!

I had to include this video just to showcase the fun. the pregnant looking girl throwing her bump around is not pregnant, thankfully. the big hit was the singstar game on chris' new playstation 3. it offered loads and loads of fun and laughter!

Halloween 08

brady still is not into halloween. i tried to get him to dress up, but he only wanted to wear his blue shark shirt. who knows? i even took him to the store and showed him all of the costumes and he wasn't into it. then, i took him and anna to Boo at the Zoo thinking it would spark some interest. no luck. he did ask me "why are all those people wearing masks?" so i played up the halloween thing, and he responded "mommy, i don't like that." i did buy anna a costume, but she wasn't having it either. before i could get it on, she kept saying "no, no, off, off!" she wore it about 30 seconds. it only cost me $5, so i didn't pressure her into it. she just wore a cute halloween shirt and a black bow! they had a great time trick-or-treating. we went over to our nephew Jack's house to trick-or-treat. Jack was Charlie Brown, how cute! the star of the night was the Dad of the Year that dressed up as Elmo. Anna was in awe.

WHITE TRASH BASH

WHOOP! with the help of my cousin Jamie I am now all jazzy with my new layout! thanks cuz.

chris and i have both officially turned the big 3-0! we couldn't let it go down without a great party. we had a White Trash Bash at our house. it was so much fun. everyone dressed to kill and we all nearly pee'ed in our pants several times from laughing so hard at everyone. the slatines and cheez wow (in a can) were a bigger hit than the moon pie and ding dong cake!

Busy year

wow. back in the classroom is something else. it is an adjustment being back in the classroom again after 3 years. it's been 4 years since i've taught 3rd grade. i'm having to really dust myself off to remember everything under the sun that 3rd graders need to know. i do love this grade. there is so much learning and growth that has to happen at this age.

brady and anna are doing great. getting bigger by the second. anna is starting to say more words here and there. it's so cute! she is still copying whatever her brother is doing, she has to do it too! she is even starting to immitate going potty and showing some interest. so, i am entertaining her with that idea. maybe it will pay off in the end.

chris is busy too with his job. he has found some time to head up a softball team with some of his guys and others guys that work for DRH. They are the Swamp Donkeys. LOL. Last Wednesday we were able to head out and see daddy play. Brady was glued to the fence. he watched every move they made. he really wanted to go in the dugout, but it wasn't for kids. all he can talk about is how him and daddy are going to play Tee-Ball next summer. Look out!

Today Brady started singing this song while I was changing Anna's diaper. I though it was so funny. I asked him to do it for the camera, but he wanted to wear the Pablo mask. LOL. I'm glad he cooperated and sang his heart out.

5 year anniversary

Chris and I had a wonderful time on our trip. We stayed at El Dorado Royale in the Rivera Maya area. Every meal was gourmet! I've never had treatment like that and it was worth it. Surprisingly we never had a bad meal the entire time we were there. We mostly hung out with our friends from Houston...Cliff and Julie, Kyle and Tiffani. We did go snorkeling one day. It was a lot of fun. With Dolly forming out in the ocean, we did get some rain our last 2 days. On the day we left it rained on and off all morning. I was glad it did. We went for a walk on the beach just after a rain and found some really neat shells. I brought back most of them in my carry on bag.

Chris and I did go on this trip with a 30% discount through Friends in Paradise. We ended up joining the Exotic Travel Club! I cannot believe we did it. It opens the door for us to purchase travel/vacations at wholesale prices. Not only that, any of our friends or relatives or a friend of a friend--anyone can use our discount! That's how we got our discount for this trip. If you or someone you know wants to go to Mexico, we can get you a trip booked at least 30% off what you would pay through a travel agent or something like Expedia. The El Dorado Royale, a Karisma resort, was just recently awared the "hotel of the year" and is consistently named on the list of the "most romantic resorts in the world." It truly is a wonderful place. Chris and I are excited about our trip next year. In joining the Exotic Travel Club, we will stay for a week FREE in a Casita Suite!

It was really nice being at an adults only place. By the end of the trip, we did miss our little monkeys! Our flight home was delayed by 40 mins to get home. It just seemed to take forever! The kids were great for Papaw and Marner. They had their own little vacation with them. We've really had a great summer!

forgot i had this...

Brady and Anna playing at the beach July 1, 2008

wow. it's been a while. once i can figure this out, i will do better at this. there are so many pictures and stories to share, but i will have to narrow them down. for today, i will do what i can. So...Anna turned one. My step mom coined her description perfectly, "she is like a bull in a china cabinet." That she is. Love her to death. She has absolutely no fear and must do everything her big bro does. Brady just turned 3 recently. He is such a big boy these days. They grow so fast!