phone stalkers

check this out. It is really cool, but also a little scary. I can see how it could be beneficial like when you have kids that you are worried about etc, but in cases of stalkers it could really be a nightmare!!

hat girl

Molly has decided she LOVES hats. She will go searching through the house to find a hat, any hat will do. Last Wednesday night Molly insisted on wearing Sam's knit winter hat. It was not cold out, and I guess I had forgotten it was on (since she wears it all the time). We were rushing around to get to church and when I took her to the nursery one of her caretakers looked at me a little puzzled and asked if the weather had changed a lot colder. I too, was a little confused, then I took a good look at my daughter and realized she still had that silly hat on. (and yes, she screamed bloody murder when I removed it) Here are just a few that I was able to get a picture of...

the hat that matches her coat

Sam's baseball cap

baseball cap along with cowboy hat

straw hat

cowboy hat

fire hat

She even enjoys wearing a grocery bag--- too bad she won't wear the cute hats that match her dresses, or a hat when we go out into the sunshine to help protect that pretty little porcelin skin of hers!!!well, had to get the hat "master" Sam in here too-- he has on 4 hats!!! wonder where she gets it?!

Do you see what see?

Yes, she is whining, yes, she has food all over her face, yes, her fingers are in her mouth... But these are nothing new, this is what I see all day long during waking hours. What I want you to see is that beautiful CHIPPED tooth. Who knows how is happened.

just because

This is the basket that holds all of the ELMOs that reside in our home. Apparently Molly thought it looked like a comfortable place to enjoy a cracker or two
She knows the drill pretty well, whenever she sees the camera she starts chanting "cheese" and "cheese burger" You can tell she is saying it in the picture above

Look at Mars TONIGHT...

If you look up at the sky tonight, you may notice a bright spot next to the moon. Take a good look now, because this planet won't be as clear again until 2012.

cakes divine

here they are folks... some of my master pieces (well, works in progress I suppose) Here is the fun clown cake
Molly found it, and I guess enjoyed itThe present cake (fondant) Boy oh boy, do I LOVE fondant. it is so cool and fun to work with, kind of like edible play dough--in more ways than 1-- have you ever tasted that stuff? NASTY!! (this was my first time to taste it, YUCK!) I think I shall always consider this edible play dough. But I do want to use it as it is so fun! and you can make a ton of stuff with it! so cool.
and here it is ladies and gentleman... the final--a 2 layer cake. We ended up taking course 1 and course 3. It was a lot of fun, but does take a lot of time and energy (2 things of which I am a little short on) Our instructor mentioned that in order to get this down we need to practice, practice, practice. Maybe I will one of these days, but for now, I will have to utilize my mediocre skills. Melissa and I got our instructor to allow us to share the duties of the final cake (excellent idea Melissa!!!) she baked the top, I baked the bottom. We both made the roses, she made the pink, I made the purples. Anyone ready to get married now? just let me know and I can bake you a lopsided cake with scrunched up rose petals!!!

why do I try?

My goal:
To obtain photo of children together and both smiling. doesn't sound very difficult does it?!

My results (after several days of trying):

and the winner is....You mean this is the best you can do?! (yeah, I said that too)Molly got the memo, Sam did not

Have I mentioned Sam has learned to cross his eyes? This was the day he started

I guess Molly thought, "well, if Sam is going to be goofy in these pictures I may as well leave"Per mommy's request... "Sam why don't you hold Molly and smile" Molly not on board with this oneSam attempting to do what is asked of him, Molly, well she wants NO part in itDay 3... they always say that 3rd time is the charm right?! --- what do you say?!Molly had the audacity to "steal" the all important diaper wipe from Sam. (thus causing a complete melt down)After this, I put the camera away and thought "this is why I pay the professionals, guess I better make an appointment"

Birthday part 2

I think this was the first birthday that Sam really "caught on" what it was all about. He was looking forward to it for days. We had the count down going and that seemed to help. He woke up VERY early on Sat. When I got him up, the first thing he asked was "is today my birthday?" After I answered, he started singing the Happy Birthday song to himself. He ran downstairs and saw his cake on the table. He was excited to see it, but wanted to know where mickey was!! (you see, all my son talks about is trains. He LOVES trains, eats, breathes, and sleeps trains. He will stare at the train page in the toy catalog forever. I wanted to do something different for his birthday theme since I did trains last year, but nothing else seemed to fit. Now, fast forward to about 2 days before his birthday. Sam has discovered a new Mickey mouse puzzle that he likes. I ask him what kind of cake he wants for his birthday --- knowing full well that he was to say "trains" but, oh no, he simply states "mickey mouse" insert gasp here. um, Mickey mouse?! What about a train, I asked. Sam thought that that would be good, as long as mickey was on it.) ok, you let me explain the fork that you see there. Yes, it is propping up the engine. I am sort of embarrassed to admit this, but as you know, I took a cake decorating class. Unfortunately, by looking at my cake you would not really know this. You see, I did what I always do, something Susan (the instructor) always said not to do. I waited until the last minute to make the cake and thus ran out of time and patience. It started off fine, I cut up the pieces to make the engine, all went well, or so I thought. True to Susan's words, chocolate cakes have more crumbs... UGH, CRUMBS!!! I had a hard time icing this bugger. Once it was finally iced, I sat it on the board. As I was creating the other cars, I noticed the engine, it was falling, it was coming apart at the seams (literally). I holler (yes, we do that here in the south) for Kirk to help me figure out what to do. It is now around 12am and I have a ton of other stuff to do, and do not need to worry about a fallen engine. This was the solution... fork (believe it or not, it worked... did not look that professional, but it fixed my problem)--- until the next problem arose, the fork pushed the top of the engine up and started creating a whole other problem. But, add a little man, problem solved.So, now you are thinking, oh, great, all problems solved, life is good and we can all celebrate. Insert issue number (well, probably 50 by now) It is morning. cake is done on the table. Sam is so excited about it that he calls Molly over to show her the cool train cake (though still Mickey-less) Mommy made for him. Molly looks then goes away, but only for a moment. She returns and decides that she NEEDS the "smoke stack" and steals the mini oreos off. Well, I have to admit, I was not really thinking very clearly when I decided to place the cake at Molly level. So, this is an easy problem to solve... just move the cake right?! right! Oh, but before you move a cake, make sure you remember that there is a bend on the cardboard board that you used as the base and that one of the train cars is actually sitting on the bend. If you do not remember this it could possibly falland go splat on the floor.
great, now I have a huge mess to clean up, on top of the fact that the cake is on the floor and unfix-able. Or so I thought... just try to put it back together as best you can, then use a super cool feature on your computer called 'photo editing'and crop off the pathetic spot

you know what, now I know why cakes cost as much as they do when you purchase them!!!

Happy train cake Sam, maybe next time I will listen and do a simple Mickey Mouse cake!

Thanksgiving--- way belated

Because I want to keep a journal of what has happened during our life, I shall post this even if it is 2 months behind... beware, long post with picture overload.
Thanksgiving this year was really pretty special, Rod, Kelly and the kids (Ethan and Savannah) came to visit. It has been 2 years since we had last seen them, they had not even met Miss Molly yet. Poor family, they were in the middle of a whirlwind life change and looked as cool as cucumbers taking everything in stride. (I think I would have been a bit more stressed out if it were me) Rod got a new job and transferred to the Houston area. Rod and Kelly were on a house hunt 2 weeks before Thanksgiving, while they were there, they sold their house in Atlanta (which is WONDERFUL news), but needed to be out just before Thanksgiving leaving them just 1 week to pack up and move out. So, they moved and landed in Houston (from Atlanta) on Sunday, enrolled the kids into school on Mon and then headed here late Tues evening. Whew!! All that to say, we are glad you didn't change your plans and still spent Turkey week with us :)

We had a great time. We celebrated all of the holidays in about half a week. Do you know what that means? Lots of traditions and yummy food all at once! It was an action packed time, but we managed to cram it all in I think!

On Wed we all had our pictures made. The last time we did this was when Ethan (now 12 1/2) was 3 1/2 and Savannah (now 10 1/2)was 1 1/2. (just happens to be the current ages of Sam and Molly) Being the day before Thanksgiving, it was pretty crowded and we felt just a little rushed, the pictures were not the best, no real pose changes (but what can you expect with 10 people 2 being under the age of 4) The women (and Savannah) picked out all the pictures, went to lunch and then headed to the store of all stores for all little girls around 10 years of age... American Girl Store Wow, what a fun place, they think of everything don't they?
Then we had a little fun throughout the mall... (thanks Kirk for taking the kids back for naps so that I can act all goofy in the mall :) )My dad was able to create some really cool games for all of us (the prizes were AWESOME as well!) Um, mom and dad decided to really get into their roles, they were "Money Ma and Penny Pa" It was hysterical to see their getup as we came up the stairs!! Ma's get up was great with all of her jewels and lovely sparkling false eye lashes. Pa's necklace and matching earrings are made of pennies, and the hair, hmmm, what else can I say about that hair?The game was called "pay to play" The kids worked together (sorry Ethan for having to team up with Sam and Savannah for teaming up with a sleeping Molly) meaning the older kids basically had to do all the work, allowing my kids to reap the benefits. Sam really idolized his older cousins and so wanted to be able to keep up with them and do what all they could do. Look how it looks like he is really trying to figure out the puzzle hereIn the end they all won $$$ (amazing how it ended up being and equal amount for each of them)-- those who know Sam know how much he loves money. just look at that face as he holds up his cashThursday we had Thanksgiving lunch, and then Kirk,myself and the kids headed to Kirk's aunts house to see part of his family. It just so happens that one of Kirk's mom's sisters family lives about an hour away, and she was the one hosting their Thanksgiving this year. (did ya get all that?) So it was nice to be able to see his parents, grandmother and aunts/uncles as well. That night we headed back to my folks house for the game my dad created for the big people (we were sorely disappointed that Penny pa and Money Ma did not show up)

Friday it was "Christmas" at my parents house. It started with the traditional Chinese dinner and then....
Mass chaos ensued...It was time to open the gifts. Molly was so funny, she went BONKERS, she had no idea what was really happening, but knew that it was something exciting. She ran and screamed and jumped and giggled and laughed for quite a while. It was hard to get her to calm down to see what all was going on. She did not know what to do with all of the presents, and got a little frustrated and overwhelmed. I loved this picture on the box, it was at this point that she had gone way past exhaustion and did not know what it was she wanted. She struggled to get the box unwrapped and wanted on top, when she finally got there she was upset. Poor thing.Sam has long since learned that square boxes tend to not have toys, but hold clothes instead so he tries to avoid those. This go around he was pretty good about it though and even looked as though he liked some of them. The best line of the night came from Sam ... He had just opened a box and saw that it held a package of spiderman undies. All of the sudden we hear a sweet and excited little voice holler "Wow, it is just what I needed" too cute!

What a fun filled time, I think the cousins enjoyed getting to hang out together

One potato, 2potato, 3 potato 4...

Where oh where has the time gone? 4... FOUR... 4... CUATRO... 4... My baby is 4 YEARS OLD!!! it seems like just yesterday we were here: in the hospital, all fresh and new weighing in at 8 pounds 11.5 ounces
then that little boy turned ONE and we got to watch him grow in wondernext he actually turned TWO and we were able to survive enjoy those "terrible two's"then that special year, 3--- oh, the "trying" 3's came and wentAnd now that little boy had the audacity to turn 4! I have not read ahead yet to see what 4 is like, but the past couple of days sure have been fun! Wouldn't it be nice to call this the "fun fours?!"Sam, I sure have enjoyed each stage we have gone through so far. You are the greatest gift that God could have allowed me to have. I am so honored to be called your Mommy. You are such a sweet little boy and have such a tender heart. I hope that you will be able to maintain that gentleness as you grow into a man. You make me laugh everyday. I love your funny little personality, and your budding sense of humor. You melt my heart every time you run up to me just to give me a spontaneous hug and kiss, tell me that you love me and that I am your "great friend" I know that that means that I am quite special to you. You are my joy, I love you and I am looking forward to your next zany adventure, and your next crazy facial expression:I also look forward to all the many ways that you find to "help" me around the house.-- now that you have your chainsaw, I foresee many many things that need to be "trimmed"Happy, happy birthday my sweet baby big boy!!!!