Ruidoso, NM

(We left Blayden with my sister (and my mom) to keep because 1) he would NOT have liked that long drive, and 2) he was sick and we felt that the colder air would have made him worse. I missed him like crazy!!!!)

Anyway, we left Christmas Eve and stayed in Abilene for the night, got up and drove the rest of the way to Ruidoso. That is a LONG drive!! We got there, checked into our cabin and took all of our luggage in, then ran to an Allsups (convient store- we don't have them here but they were everywhere else we went! LOL)to get a few groceries for the night and morning.

We barely got back to the cabin and it started to SNOW!!! It was SOO beautiful and was coming down in these thick flakes. I was so glad the boys got to see it! Here are a few pictures of them playing in the snow:

Jace was super exdcited!


Kelton all bundled up:


Daylon- look at that snow coming down!



The next morning:

SNOW ANGELS!!


Sierra Blanca Moutain (Ski Apache is on the very top) This was our view from the side of our cabin.


Wednesday morning we got up, played in the snow some (see pictures above), then went to Wal Mart for food. We actually got a little stuck on the drive back, trying to get up to our cabin. There was a pretty steep hill, and since it was covered in snow and ice, it was NOT easy to get up it! We pulled over to the side though, and just waited until it thawed some.

We then took the boys to a place called Winter Park where they have a huge tubing hill. They had a BLAST (so did Matt and I for that matter though!!) Here are a few pictures of that:

Matt and Kelton


Picture of the hill- they had 4 different things you could go down:


We went shopping on Thursday (the boys actually loved this and wanted to go more on Friday since they had some of their own money. It was actually a pleasent experience!!)

Then on Friday we got up and went Horseback riding. Daylon was a little scared at first (he's our cautious son!) but ended up LOVING it! Jace and Kelton were both led by one of the guides, and Kelton enjoyed his ride so much that he almost fell asleep on the horse! We ended up having to stop and let him on the horse with Matt for a little while. It was so funny and cute!

Anyway, here's a few pictures of us on the horses:

Kelton and Jace (on Poncho and McCree)


All of us:



There are also TONS more pictures of our trip on my Shutterfly account that you can see. Here's the link: http://mkdjkrat.shutterfly.com/action/pictures?a=67b0de21b35fd6b9c4c3

We ended up coming home a day early (we were going to stay until the 30th, then stay the night in Abilene again for a break), but I missed Blayden SOOO much. We actually drove straight through and got here on the 29th. He was excited to see us, but still not feeling great (stuffy nose and allergy junk now), so I was thrilled to be home with him again.

I like vacations and all, but it is just SO nice to be home and finally relax and get things back to normal!!!

Christmas!!

Pictures of the boys on our Christmas Eve (so actually 2 days before Christmas) ;-)



Well, since we left to go to New Mexico on Christmas Eve and just got home on Sunday (a day early- more about that in the next post), I'm just now getting the chance to post about our Christmas! We had Christmas a day early- on Christmas Eve, and just told the boys that it was Christmas. This will definitely be the last year we'll be able to do that though- Daylon was suspicious anyway!

Kelton was the first one to wake up and came in our room and got in bed with us. He layed there for a few minutes and then asked "where did all that stuff in the living room come from?" It was really cute- I guess he forgot that Santa had come. Daylon got up right after that, and then I went and woke up Jace and Blayden. Blayden was sick- allergies, ear infection, and just the crud BAD (eyes were swollen, nose was stuffy, etc, etc, etc) so he wasn't in the best mood for his first Christmas.

Anyway, I think the boys all got everything they wanted (they should at least- they got TONS of stuff!!) And I know I did!! Matt got me some Juicy Coutour perfume, Photoshop Elements (I still need to work on it- it's complicated!), 6 different Circle E Candles (my house smells SO yummy all of the time now!!), and a weather center alarm clock thing. It's pretty cool and I'm ALWAYS interested in what the weather is doing! So it was a perfect gift for me.

But.. here are some pictures of our Christmas morning:

Daylon looking at his stuff


Blayden opening up one of his gifts (with Kelton's help- kinda)


Jace REALLY wanted this thing!

Look at all that stuff!!! (And we weren't even half way done!)

More toys.... (don't ask where I put them all- I'm still not sure!)

Blayden playing in his castle (see how sick he looks?!)

My Christmas present early....

Well, Matt told me yesterday that he had an idea for a Christmas present for me (and the boys) and he wanted to tell me so I could start getting ready for it. He told me that I have a few thousand dollars to spend on going to Colorado or New Mexico or somewhere so the boys could see some snow! ;-)



So... after looking everything up and comparing prices and places that were available, we decided to go to Ruidoso, New Mexico. We'll be leaving around 1 in the morning on Christmas Eve/ early Christmas morning and we'll get there around 3 or so Christmas day. I'm a little upset about being gone from the house on Christmas, but we'll work it out somehow with presents (I figured we'll either let the boys open the gifts from us early, and then have 'Santa' come while we're gone, or we'll just tell them that Christmas Eve is actually Christmas DAY, and Santa can come a night early in our house (we have a lot of Christmas countdown things in the house so it won't be hard for me to change it or anything!!!) What do ya'll think??



Anyway, here is the cabin that we are staying at:





The deck:


The Living Room:


The View:


I'm really excited though!! I'm REALLY hoping that the girl that babysits for us, Elizabeth, decides to go with us. As far as we can tell at this resort, they do not have a child care for younger kids (they have a Ski School called the "Kiddie Korral" for Kelton and Jace, and Daylon is old enough to go to Ski School with me and Matt. (I've been skiing before, but it was when I was 15 so it's been a LONG time- and I wasn't that great at it at the time either!)

Now it's just off to get some boots, sunglasses, etc. although my MIL tells me that we should just wait for most of that stuff until we get to New Mexico and get it all at Wal Mart and it's a lot cheaper (however, since we'll be going on Christmas DAY, Wal Mart will probably be closed!!!)

Brag on Daylon

Just wanted to brag on my big boy! He's been studying VERY hard this week for his spelling test today (Friday.) There are ten regular words (stump, jump, lump, bump, hand, land, band, sand, who, & its), and then there were four bonus words. And for a first grader, those words are pretty hard- Santa, lights, reindeer, & candy cane. Well, Daylon brought his test home today and he made a 103!! He would have made a 104, but Matt and I didn't make him write out Santa with a capital 'S' so he didn't write it that way for the test and she counted it wrong. But, really, he made a 104.

I'm super proud of him and he's come SOO far this year- he's had problems reading from the get-go, we've figured out that he really needs his glasses while he is reading and at school (which he hates), and there is a chance that he MIGHT be slightly dyslexic (it's just been mentioned and he hasn't been tested on it yet- we're waiting to see if his glasses help him more.)

Anyway, for the problems that he's had, he's doing great with his reading, spelling, and school (he's GREAT in math- all of his math stuff he's made a 100 on!) and loves science stuff. Maybe he'll be more like me than Matt after all- SMART!!!!! ;-)

I love Christmas decorations!!

Well, besides that fact that it was over 85 degrees today, I'm TRYING to get into the Christmas mood!! We've decorated the house, I have candles going so it smells yummy and "Christmassy" in my home, and the boys and I baked a few Christmas goodies today. Matt is gone hunting, so it's been boring and quiet around here (yes, it can be quiet with four children- it was lovely when three of them were taking a nap today and the other was coloring in his room!) ;-)

Anyway, I thought I would share a few of my Christmas decorations around the house (well, the tree, the mantel, and the outside lights.) I tell ya, I'm bored!

Our Christmas Tree and Mantel at night


Mantel during the day

Outside at night


Outside during the evening. See how there are SIX reindeer?? A mommy, a daddy, three "big boys," and one baby one! ;-)


Our snowmen outside

Blayden laughing

I couldn't get him to laugh like he was at first- you know that deep belly laugh that is SOOO funny to listen to?!?! Jace and Kelton were rolling balls at him and he thought it was hilarious. Anyway, this is the part that I actually got (once he saw my camera he was just about done with it all though!)

Trampoline Fun!!

I put Blayden on the trampoline for the first time the other day. He thought it was SOOO funny when the boys jumped and bounced him! Anyway, here is a picture of him on it: And the video:

Christmas Tree

We decided to go to Spring, TX (outside of Houston) again this year to cut down our Christmas tree. We found this place when we lived in The Woodlands, and have gone back every year to cut down a tree except for last year. Anyway, the boys LOVE it (they have the big jumping things, Santa Clause, a little market, food, hot chocolate, a train ride, etc.)


We went last Friday (the day after Thanksgiving) because we just couldn't wait anymore. So, here are the pictures from our day (and of the tree finished).


All of us on the tractor ride that takes you out to where the trees are (it's a HUGE farm!) (And not sure what Matt was doing with his mouth there, and Matt had given Jace that horrible hat to wear- it was cold, but it looks horrible on him!!)



The boys (minus Blayden who was next to me):



Blayden all snuggled up (it really was cold!):



The tree we decided to get (yes, it's really over 10 feet tall!!):



Cutting the tree down:



The finished product:




I'll try to remember to take a picture of the tree tonight- it's beautiful with the blue lights on it and everything!! :-)

Man alive!

I didn't realize it had been QUITE so long since I wrote anything on here! It's just been crazy busy around here and I've been exhausted almost all of the time. I love the holidays, but it seems like I'm running around like a chicken with it's head cut off- I just can't catch a break.

Matt's been working a lot and trying to start up another end of his business (a retail center that sells swimming pool supplies, spas, etc) and so he's been so super busy with that. I love my kids, but having them CONSTANTLY is getting to me! And when they are at MDO, it seems like I have about an hour to myself and that's usually spent grocery shopping or doing things that just have to be done (although I did go to Old Navy and buy a LOT of clothes on Thursday for myself and Daylon! LOL)

Anyway, I'm just going a little bonkers. We have a dinner date tonight with some neighbor friends of ours and I am REALLY looking forward to that! (And then a Christmas party thing with the same neighbor friends on Tuesday night! And then MAYBE going out again on Friday for a friends birthday!) ;-) I just really need it right now though.

Alright... I've been on this computer for the last hour and a half doing homework for my online class (finally FINISHED!!! Now I just need to study for my final that is going to be next week sometime). So I'd better get off and spend some time with the boys or cleaning up or something productive around here.

No more kiddos.... ever!

Well, no more kids for us! Matt got his Vesectomy done yesterday (Friday) at the Dr's office. It took about an hour, which is a little longer than normal. Apparently, the Dr. was having problems getting everything completely numbed up down there- Matt said it HURT!

Anyway, he's doing good today, just sore (obviously) and has been keeping frozen peas on him for the last two days (they work really well because they don't melt and get water everywhere!) He's actually out looking at a few locations for his new business he wants to start up (he wants to open a retail shop for pool chemicals and spas, etc, here in town) with a friend of his that's going to go into the business with him. I think he's stupid for getting out and doing it right now and if he ends up with huge balls because of this, it will NOT be my fault! LOL

But... I'm a little sad to know that I will NEVER (okay, more than likely never unless I ever get remarried- which seems really unlikely!) have another baby. It's just hard to know that, ya know? I mean, I 've known it, but now it's kind of official or something. So it's been a hard two days for me (on top of keeping up with all of the boys and helping Matt out when I can, I'm just super emotional about this and have been kind of taking it out on Matt.) Ugg! I'm very happy with our FOUR boys, but I love being pregnant and having kids around. I'm probably nuts (because there are days when the boys are driving me bonkers and I would willingly sell them to the circus) but I still hate knowing that we are DONE.

Okay... that's it for us right now though. Matt should be home soon, and I need to get going and help Blayden out. He's trying to walk with his little push walker and he's stuck next to a wall. ;-)

The boys sand box & Gunner

I finally got around to taking pictures of the boys in their sand box Matt and I made for them. They LOVE it (Blayden had just fallen in a hole and gotten sand all over his face so he wasn't too thrilled at the moment!)

Blayden


Daylon


Kelton


Jace


See how big it is?!?


Handsome boy!



And our BIG puppy, Gunner!! You can't really tell from this picture at all- but he's getting huge. And he's not even 6 months old yet! (Isn't he beautiful though?!)



Okay, I went really quick to take a few more pictures of Gunner so I could show you guys how big he really is! (Just ignore the mess in Jace and Kelton's room- the boys are playing "fort" in there and it's a disaster!) He is the BEST dog ever with the boys though- Blayden is "his" baby and he's so good and sweet with him (except for an ocasional wack in the head with his tail!) But Blayden (and the boys for that matter) can crawl all over him and he just sits there and looks at them. He's awesome!

Laying down next to Kelton


Next to Kelton

Yesterday in Houston

Since Matt was out of town this weekend, my babysitter and I (have I said lately how much I LOVE my babysitter?!?!?) decided to take the boys to Houston. We had plans to stay the night too (which the boys love to stay in hotels so were super excited) but decided not to. I wanted my own bed- I was so tired!

Anyway, we took them to then Houston Zoo, which was okay, but there were SO many people there (the weather was awesome, so I guess that had a lot to do with it!) It actually took us 30 minutes just to find a parking spot to go! Anyway, here are a few pictures of that:

That giraffe was so cool and was pretty close to us!


This giraffe was REALLY young- like born in the last week! SOOO cute!


And this is the mama giraffe- she saw the boys and kept looking at them- really neat!!




I love giraffes- I think they are one of my favorite animals at the zoo!



And then we went to the Downtown Aquarium. We had never been and it was SOO cool! We went on a train ride through out the park, which was awesome. They have a shark tunnel and you are surrounded by sharks- above you, around you, etc. It was SOOO cool! They also have a really neat aquarium thing set up with tons of fish and awesome decor- it was SO much nicer than the zoo! The white tigers they had were really beautiful as well, and the boys thought that was awesome (still not quite sure what the white tigers had to do with an aquarium, but whatever- it was still cool!) LOL

Here are the pictures from that though:

Us on the train ride


Jace (was sitting in front of me with Elizabeth)


The HUGE ferris wheel they have there (viewed from the train)


SHARKS!!! :-)






You can't see it very well, but there is a HUGE python behind the boys!


White tigers- SO beautiful!! (sorry, not a very good picture!)



They thought this was pretty cool!


Blayden watching the fish at the resteraunt