One Sick MaMa!

This picture pretty much sums up the past three days.....I am feeling terrible! Greg took this picture yesterday-the kids had been napping and well as you could see so was I! They have been so sweet. Abby made me a couple cards and has been cleaning up around the house and Reese well he has been cuddling with me which is always nice! Abby and I are headed off to the doctor now....I was waiting as long as possible but it looks like I might need a little help from my doctor!
I was talking to my mom yesterday and asked her why hasn't anyone started up a "Mommy's Sick" nanny service? ---We don't get days off or vacation and I can't call in sick ever---well I guess that's how it is, but it sure would've been nice to call in sick this morning:)

Rangers Fan Fest 2008

Reese's favorite -Nolan Ryan


Abby waiting to go on the field to try-out!



Yesterday we took the kids to the Ballpark in Arlington for Rangers Fan Fest! They couldn't wait to get out there to see all the Rangers...and jump on the inflatables of course:) We spent about 3-4 hours visiting every station and we all won 2 free tickets....which will come in handy since Greg loves to take us to the games and we are on a budget!
We got to do tons of things but some highlights were- sitting in a Q &A with Josh Hamilton, the Rangers new center fielder, going to the press box, getting lots of free goodies..including some popsicles- which the kids LOVED, visiting the Legends of the Game Museum, and there was lots more we did but one of the best was watching Abby during her try-out. --they were having try-outs for anyone who wanted to sing "Take me out to the Ballgame" during the seventh inning stretch. This is a new thing they are doing this year and at first I had signed up Reese, but at the last minute he backed out. Then out of nowhere Abby was up at the microphone singing away---we were so proud! (let's just say she's not like her mommy---she is a bit on the shy side so we were thrilled how brave she was!) We find out in 2 weeks if she was chosen and if she is, they will assign us a game during the season that she'll sing in front of the whole crowd---how exciting! We'll let you know what we find out!

-And on a SAD side note--I wish I could say I got a video of her try-out, but I totally forgot we had our flip camera and could video it and so I only had my camera and the batteries died DURING the try-outs...no kidding--it made me sick to my stomach I was so sad:( So let's just hope she gets chosen because I WILL not forget to video that!

Thank Heaven for Little Boys!

Seriously if you don't have one you need to get one;) ---they will keep you young! (and girls will keep you in style:) ....oh how I will need that when I get old:) -I feel so blessed to have one of each!)
Anyways the other day while our sweet Abby was at school Reese and I had playtime and I told him he could pick whatever he wanted to do...well since it was super cold out and he couldn't play baseball (his "go-to") he decided building towers and knocking them down would be a blast! Well I just had to get a picture of this because he is intense....he seriously loves to demolish things---like every boy in the world---for about 2 years now we have been calling him our Tasmanian Devil....which is a perfect name for him.....but don't worry he has also learned he had best pick up his mess or he's gonna get it:)

Rodeo time again?

I feel like we just went to the Rodeo with Greg's family but it's already been a whole year---which means we have lived here in Texas for a year already...now that's hard to believe! Anyways it was so much fun and the kids always love every minute! Now I have to admit I don't even know the difference between a sheep (shaved :) ) and a goat sometimes (sad to admit that) so the Rodeo is always a culturing experience for me! This year was extra special for some reason and I can't quite put my finger on it, but maybe it's the joy we feel when watching the kids....they are getting older and they really love everything about the evening! Maw Maw and Poppa got Abby new cowgirl boots and Reese got a new hat so they were looking the part for sure!
Thanks Debbie and Jerry for taking us and believe it or not I can't wait till next year:) .....but a nice break from that potent smell will be nice..hehe! ---and yes Debbie our clothes did smell of manure when we got home...yummy:)

Bailey and Nadirah

Last week we asked Bailey and Nadirah to come over and spend the night and they accepted! Abby and Reese had been anticipating them staying all week, so they had planned everything for the evenings festivities! First when the girls got here we played some games...well, kinda. It's kinda hard to find a game that preschoolers and teenagers can play together, but we did the best we could! We then made banana splits and all curled up on the air mattress and watched The Incredibles! The next morning Jill came over to get the kids and we had breakfast....we all had a great time and I have a feeling the kids will want to do it again really soon!
--When I picked Abby up from school that day she was really sad (crying) that the girls had already left and she didn't even get to see them before she left for school:( .....poor girl she was the only one that had to go to school!

Bowl Games

This is Greg reporting:

I guess we're a little late on this, but I just got these pictures from New Years Day. It's Abby and Reese sporting their Mizzou stuff, and their cousins Charlie and Landry sporting their UT and Florida gear, respectively.

Hold Still Hank....

Now this may look terrible and PETA would have a fit if they saw this picture BUT Greg has good reason to be vacuuming our dog! See Hank has a MAJOR shedding problem...I mean major and this OCD MaMa is freaking out! I told Greg the other day that I was done....Hank goes or I will soon be committed....now I know this seems a bit dramatic but Greg must have taken me at least a little seriously because last night he bought me a super powered vacuum (our old vacuum couldn't handle the job) and tonight I caught him using it on Hank---now that's a man in love if I ever saw one! .....and to report I am recovering nicely and plan to continue on the road of recovery by vacuuming everyday!

Betrothed!

Ok so I know that arranged marriages are a bit old fashioned but in this case I don't care:)
This is Reese and his little friend Hannah...they are best buddies! Reese says he only likes boys and Hannah---now that means a lot coming from Reese because he's all boy! They are in Sunday School class together and on the days that Reese isn't that excited about going to church all we have to do is mention that Hannah will be there and all is well in the world! Misty (Hannah's mom) and I think this will be a perfect wedding slide show picture--I mean seriously they are so precious and isn't she gorgeous?

Sleepover!

This weekend while we were hosting the junior guys for D-Now we had to find some place for the kids to stay for the weekend. Friday night Abby and Reese stayed with Maw Maw and Poppa and then on Saturday night Abby went over to have a sleepover with her friend Hailey. I asked Shane, Hailey's Dad, to write a blog post for me--he is such a funny guy and writes really well so enjoy the change of pace...:)

Well, Saturday was an exciting time at the Estes houshold.
Ocassionally, if  Greg and Becky are desperate enough, and Misty and I
put down a big enough deposit, they will allow their little princess
to come over and visit.(hey, we were just happy they finally removed
the restraining order) Hailey turned 5 years old, and the Stamps were
corrupting the minds of youth, so we planned a good ole fashion sleep
over.

Abby got Hailey a princess nightgown (just like her own) for her
birthday and a sleeping bag, so they were pretty stoked about their
big night. In fact, the birthday party was over at noon, and by 12:10
they both had on their matching pajamas. Misty did her usual round of
crafts, games, and other forms of organized chaos, while I sat on the
couch and contemplated whether the Chargers would most likely double
Moss and let Wes welker run free.

This might make me sound like the lazy jerk that I am, but I was also
planning the greatest series of events that a 5 year old can
experience.......for under 25 bucks. So, at about 6:00, I loaded up
Hailey, Hannah, and Abbs, and we went to Mountaisia for some games.
The girls won a combined 148 tickets and we split them as evenly as
possible. I let the girls pick what they wanted with little guidance,
and at the end, Abby questioned (very politely and inquisitively)
whether I had actually split the tickets evenly, because Hailey had 5
items and she only had 3. I explained to her that she had chosen
"higher quality items", and therefore they cost more, while Hailey had
opted to purchase more of a lower quality product. In the end, they
will all end up in the same trash heap.

After Mountaisia, we headed to rent some movies and buy some pizza.
This is where the "great conversation" began. As follows:

About turning 5-

Hailey- Now that we are both five we can play all the same games.
Both girls- YEAH!!!!! ( just picture it being very very loud)
Abby- when you get 62, you can play even more games.

The best toy "debate"-

Hailey- I want the best toy ever. I wonder what it is?
Abby- the best toy ever is a piano. It is in a store in New York.

Not quite sure-

Abby- Shane, where is your air trunk?
Me- Ummmmmm.......not sure.
Hailey- then you can't go to Cedar Pedars house!! (once again very loud)

During a discussion about reading-

Hailey- i am learning to read.
Abby- I don't like the "r's"

A spelling lesson-

Hailey- How do you spell Mountasia?
Abby- Double m, double o, double I, double I....I learned that from the Chipmunks!


Anyway, we finished up with pizza, movies, and books....... and of
course no night is complete without a prayer where we give thanks for
fun, and friends of all ages. Lets do it again.

Shane

Disciple Now Weekend!

What's up with all the red?!

This weekend our youth group had their d-now weekend and Greg and I hosted the 11th grade guys. I was excited for Greg that he got to have his guys at our house (he and I teach in the junior dept. at church) but this meant that I would be a bit out of place with 8 guys living at our house for the weekend! So basically I stayed around the house long enough to feed the boys then I headed to the junior girl houses to hang out with them! I had a lot more fun at the girls houses and here in the picture you can see they are all a bit crazy--this is the only picture I have so far but I have some really funny ones coming soon....I'll post them when I get them!
The weekend was really great and our guys at our house seemed to really understand what it means to be transformed by Christ. I am excited to see what will happen as the kids respond to what the Lord has taught them!
Well today Greg and I have been trying to catch up on all the sleep we lost....I plan on going to bed right after I blog this.... ha we'll see if that really happens:)

Donut Song

The kids both learned this song in BSF and it is so cute!
It's about going to a donut song with a penny to buy and the donut is big and round with sprinkles on the top----well something like that---listen to them they do it so much better than me!

Senor Shane

This is Greg reporting:

So I'm trying to wrap up a busy day at work today when Shane rolls up in his big black fancy car. I wasn't expecting him, so I had no idea what he's doing here. I was hoping he brought candy for the kids like he sometimes does, since I'm the local tax collector and the consumption tax rate is 5% on all candy.

It turns out that he has to have a digital picture taken for work-- some HR website thing they're making him do for his new job. (I think it's so the witnesses can identify him.) Misty can't find the cord for their camera (Shane used it for a shoestring-- at least that's my theory), so he came by to have us take a picture with our camera. If you've got a couple million bucks you don't know what to do with, this is your man...

We Want S'more!

We decided Sunday to just stay in and have a family night so after we ate dinner and played some games Daddy got the fireplace going to make some s'mores! The kids were so excited but really all they wanted was to eat the marshmallows---we finally talked them into at least trying a traditional s'more. Honestly from time to time I wonder if our kids are "normal":) For instance, they don't like pop tarts- (what is wrong with them?...I would eat those every morning if I could:) They also don't like cereal...so this makes for some hard breakfast meal planning---when I was a kid all my parents had to do was give me a bowl, milk and fruity pebbles and I was a happy camper! Anyways maybe one day they will get "normal":)
Well we ended up all liking our s'mores and the kids are already asking to make them again....I told them we would if they would eat cereal for breakfast! ~ Just kidding!

The Long Awaited Birthday Party!

Last Saturday Reese got invited to his friend Joshua's birthday party, but at the last minute the party got canceled because his whole family got sick! Reese was so disappointed but he took it in stride---we had already gotten the gift and had been counting down the days!...poor guy~poor Joshua for that matter! Anyways the party was postponed until this Saturday and he was so excited Joshua was better! So yesterday was the big day and both Abby and Reese had a great time---all his church friends were there and Joshua and his brother had so many toys at their house that Reese thought it was a toy store!
They played hot potato with a gift and Reese won! He and I were so excited to see that it was a leap frog ABC writing pad--he has been working hard on his letters and says he can't wait to write like Abby!
At bedtime last night I asked the kids what was something that happened during the day that they were thankful for and their answers were precious! Abby told me she was grateful she and Reese were able to give a gift to someone and Reese said he was thankful that he had cake in his belly---too funny!

...and that's the Gospel!

Abby came home from BSF (Bible Study Fellowship) yesterday singing this precious little song. I hope you can understand her but basically she says something like this:

Jesus came as a baby
he lived a perfect life
He died on a cross for our sins
they buried him in a tomb
and on the 3rd day He rose again
and that's the Gospel! ( I love this part!)

So simple....yet so perfectly true!

Zoo in Janurary???

Reese and Abby watching some tigers lick each other clean....they thought this was so funny---I had to explain to them we take baths we don't lick each other! --They were sad to hear this:)


We watched this gorilla forever and wow I can see why some people believe this evolution stuff---this gorilla reminded me of a few people I know! :) Crazy!

The other day it was in the 70's so the kids and I decided going to the Zoo was a perfect idea! The animals were all out eating and we even got to listen to the lions roaring..."too loud" as Reese would say--poor guy just got tubes in his ears so everything is super loud to him right now:) I think the animals were a bit surprised with the weather too---I wonder if they freaked out the next day when over night it dropped 40 degrees? What in the world is going on with this weather? --I told Greg the other day that's it's times like these that global warming sure makes a lot of sense to me! Well he just looked at me like I was an idiot and that's all it took to bring me back to my senses.....but if I get a vote I'll take more warm days than cold!

Dinner with No Kids!

Debbie and Jerry had a great idea for all of us to get a sitter and go out to eat together! We rarely get to do this and so it was a real treat! We got to eat our own food, talk uninterrupted, sit at the table for 2 hours with no one whining (except Greg...hehe only kidding) and we even had dessert! It was a great time and I really enjoyed getting to talk and catch up with each other. Thank you to Great Grandma Reese for watching Abby and Reese-I hope they didn't get you too tired!

Painting

This weekend Abby and Reese helped Greg paint Hank's dog house. Now they knew when they woke up they were gonna be painting and Reese kept telling me they needed clothes they could paint--now I just thought he was saying it wrong, but after he got dressed (in old too tight pj's:) he ran out to the garage and told Greg that I said he could paint his clothes.... well I guess we actually had our communication wires crossed! Anyways after all the dressing craziness they finally got to painting. I think Greg thought they would do better, but poor Greg had to paint it all over again during their naps....oh well I guess our kids aren't quite ready to be professional painters!

Daddy Daycare!

Tonight I had to go to a meeting at church so Greg stayed back with the kids. And when I came home I had a bit of a surprise--a messy surprise:) I walked in the house to loud country music, pillows everywhere, games all over the floor, cereal dumped out on the table and lots of other
"hidden" surprises! Now you would think I would be mad, but really I was thrilled--what a great Daddy my kids have! I am so happy that they have a Daddy that plays games with them, dances with them, lets them eat whatever (when Mommy's gone:) and takes extra long to tuck them in at night! I wanted to capture this moment on video and hope it puts a smile in your face!

Game Night!

Tonight we asked Maw Maw and Poppa to come over for game night! They got the kids the game Disney Scene It for Christmas and they really wanted them to come over and play it with them. The kids absolutely love this game and we have already played it 20 times since they got it. So after we made pizza we got the game started and Maw Maw and Poppa were really impressed with how good the kids could play the game. Abby can pretty much answer every question even though she hasn't seen half of the movies---she keeps telling me, "Mommy I haven't seen this movie I just saw a preview or commercial." -too funny...she is so observant! (so this confirms for me why we are SO very careful what our kids watch on TV and movies---kids really take it all in...the good and bad!) Anyways Reese and Abby can easily beat me in this game and I really try too--which is so sad!
Well tonight Reese and Poppa beat all of us (Reese helped Poppa alot:) but we all had so much fun--and no tears except the time Abby stepped on Reese's face...don't ask-- Reese and Abby are a bit on the hyper side---well alot on the hyper side but they are so much fun...never a dull moment!
**Also today I was telling Abby about when I was in college I really hated playing games. My poor roommates Lisa and Stacey always wanted to have game night---sadly I would always decline and now I love to play all kinds of games! Lisa you would be so proud--I am so sorry all those times I didn't play with you! -I wish you lived close so I could make up for it!

Well we had a great night and I can pretty much bet that when the kids wake up in the morning they will ask to play again--sounds good to me:)

Cotton Bowl 2008

Dad, me and Mom---Go MU!

Who won??---MU!

Arkansas's side during the 4th quarter....pathetic!

MU's side during the 4th quarter--we've got spirit!


Wow what a game! MU played great and the crowd was on their feet the whole time! Now I must admit I am not much for football but there is just something about a stadium full of crazy fans watching their favorite team! (I even got excited a little:) The best part of the game was watching my dad--he has been cheering for MU since before he played for them in the 60's--he was so excited! We basically killed Arkansas, but I really felt sorry for their team, by the 3rd quarter about half of their fans left--that's pretty sorry....fair weather fans for sure!
The weather turned out beautiful except when the sun was hiding behind the score board--wow it was chilly---but I found a place in the sun and hungout there for a bit and all was beautiful again! My parents left today. I am so glad that MU had their bowl here-- it was fun to be with my parents for the last game of an amazing season of MU football! Thanks for taking me mom and dad...you're the best!