December birthdays...there are many!

We have many December birthdays in this family and, bless her heart, Jackie anxiously prepares a month ahead of time, but yet so patiently awaits her special day. Here are just a few pictures of our December birthday celebration.

Can't break the tradition, so Todd got his usual underwear and socks from his parents.



Here is our special birthday girl opening her presents:





Here are the birthday cake toppers....aren't they cute?



Cake time....



and then Ellie decorated Grandma's tree all by herself with the exception of a few ornaments that Jacob put on. I wished I got a picture of the finished product....



Oh, and Grandpa Bruce decided to shave his head...



Until next year....

"All I Want for Christmas is my...

Bottom Tooth." Okay, so it doesn't quite have the same rhythmic tune as "All I Want for Christmas is my Two Front Teeth", but you get my point. Can you believe that Todd has never heard of that song, or at least he doesn't remember it. So...as I'm sure you can guess, little Miss Ellie Belly lost her first tooth last Sunday, 11/30. She was eating a Kit-Kat at Bubbe's baseball game when she felt something hard in her candybar. As she searched around, she happened to find a tooth in it. She was pretty excited and got her first visit from the generous tooth fairy. Here is a picture of our toothless little one. I'm sure there are many more teeth that will soon follow...



She's becoming such a big girl....sigh!

"We are the Champions...We are the Champions!"

Go ahead and sing the tune above....anyone wish to serenade the rest of it for Todd and I? That's right, people, Todd and Julie are the new UNDEFEATED badmitton champions.

Sorry, I didn't get a picture of us actually playing the game, so the above picture is all I have.

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving Day spent with all of our loved ones creating many more lasting memories....here are just a few pictures to share from our day.

First, here are the name plates Ellie and I made for everyone:



Unfortunately, Ellie's got a little to close to her candle....



Here's a nice picture of our "Jack":



A cute picture of Ellie:



and her Aunt's trying to be like her:





There is just something about this house that tends to make people very sleepy...I can't figure it out. Surprisingly, it's not my Dad this time....don't kill me Uncle Mike and Aunt Irma:

To give them credit, though, they were snoozing for maybe 5-10 minutes. Here....are these pictures better?

Just a few nice shots....











And we always have to end with a picture of the entire gang:

This picture is blurry, but too funny not to share. Everyone was suppose to be making a funny face, although not everyone participated....

Ellie and I were just laughing at Daddy's long tongue above, and what's with the redneck barefeet....hehehe.

Oh wait, I lied....just found the proof I needed:



Shall I say it again...."the UNDEFEATED badmitton champs." Anyone ready for another challenge?

Seriously, it wouldn't of been the same without everyone here....it was a fun day!

XOXO,

J

This is simply a random post...

about anything and everything that has been going on at "White Oak Lane" this last week or two.

First, another Citizen of the Month for....

I didn't think it was possible to receive any more Citizen of the Month awards, but Jacob surprised us yet again. Now I get to attend an award's ceremony where they both will be receiving an award at the same time...YAY! Jacob's still trying to find out if he ran the mile the fastest in his school. His teacher doesn't think anyone is going to beat him, but he's anxiously awaiting the results.

Then, we got report cards. First, to Jake-Man's....



And then Ellie-Belly's:

I know it's a little hard to read, but that would be straight "A's" for the Jake and all "S's" for E. As I've said before, a Mommy couldn't be more proud or ask for anything better -- VERY PROUD!

Football is officially over. I'll miss it, as I'm sure Todd and Jacob will, but it will be nice to have a little extra time during the week. Here's just another picture of Jacob and his friend, "G", who also played for the Eagles this year.

Despite the numerous injuries that the Eagles suffered this year, many people still wonder how Jacob remained injury-free this season playing against boys this size, but he held his own. Next year he'll be even a little tougher, and a little tougher the year after that. The Eagles wrapped up their season with a 2-8 record, which isn't great, but it's a vast improvement from the last 2 years. They won more games this year then the last 2 seasons combined, so they're getting better. Hopefully next year they'll be even better and it will be their year to shine.

Now that football has ended, I thought we would have a LITTLE break, but not so....we are already back to this:

Jacob's last football game was on Sat. and he was back to baseball on Sun....no time wasted (and that was Jacob's choice). You would be proud though -- for not picking up a baseball for a few months, he played awesome.

Now to Ellie.... The plan is to sign her up for gymnastics in the next few weeks. We may wait until after the holiday's, but we'll see. In the meantime, she went to a friend's birthday party at Build-A-Bear, so here are a few shots from that event:

This is Ellie with the birthday girl, who was also her very best-friend at Sunflower:



Then, on our way out of the mall, to my surprise, she asked to do this:



For those who don't know, I could never convince my kids to sit on Santa's lap, so this is quite a leap.

I guess that's it for now.

Thanksgiving is right around the corner and I'm looking forward to a day full of great times and memories, filling our tummy's with lots of yummy food, kicking everyone's butt in a game of badmitton, volleyball, kickball, or whatever we decided to do, and spending the day with the ones I love. For those that can't be with us, we will be thinking about all of you, wishing we were together and raising a glass of "cheers" to all of you.

Happy Thanksgiving to All~

XOXO

We have another guessing game for ya.

Last week the lucky number was "6"....this week the lucky number is "2" -- can you guess why?


2.....


Is it because I have 2 lovely children?


Or is it because I have 2 eyes "to see you with my dear"?


Perhaps it's because Jacob has won 2 football games this year?


Or is it because we are in the 2nd week of November?



Hmmmm...keep thinking.....



Anymore guesses?



Let me give you a hint.....



We've already had one of these....



Now we have 2....



Now do you know?



Does this picture give you any hints?



That's right....we have our "2nd" CITIZEN OF THE MONTH!!!!! How about that Aunt Angie and Uncle Mike? I was at work today and got a pix text of this....





and about fell out of my chair from excitement. How could a Mommy be so lucky? I must of done something right. As soon as I post this, we are on our way to Target for a little surprise.

However, this is part of a conversation I had with Ellie:


Mommy: "I'm just so proud of you, Ellie. That is something to be very proud of."


Ellie: "Mommy, I've learned a lot from Bubbe."


Good job, Ellie -- just keep on that same path and continue to learn and grow from your brother. I'm so very proud of you!

XOXO,
Mommy

Mix-N-Match Day

Jacob's class earned 40 Bobcat Bucks for good behavior, so as a class, they got to pick something fun to do....they choose to have a Mix-N-Match Day at school on Friday. Here is the extent of Jacob's mix-n-match....





Knowing my son and the shy boy he can be, I guess I should be glad he participated at all. We tried to get him to wear some crazy shorts with one red sock and one blue sock, but this is the best we could do. Yet, the entire morning he was worried about it saying things like, "Mommy, are you SURE it's mix-n-match day?" "What if it's not? I'm going to get a referral." Jacob is the kindest kid you'll ever meet, but bless his little heart, he's the biggest worry-wart I know.

6

is the number for the day....special 6. That would be because our little Princess turned 6 today. To be exact, she turned 6 at 8:56 this morning. It's a very special day for Ellie, and today I am a very proud Mommy because of the little girl she has become.


Happy Birthday, Elle Belle!




P.S. Those are new monkey p.j.'s and slippers to the right...courtesy of MawMaw.

Just thought I would share...

three of my favorite pictures from this weekend of me and my favorite little man. I promise to get the birthday pictures posted soon.







I just love him to pieces!

What a weekend....and I'm beat!

We certainly had a weekend full of lots of excitement and many lasting memories shared with our dear loved ones. To start our weekend off, we had a wonderful Halloween evening strolling the neighborhood streets collecting lots of yummy candy. By the end of the night, the kids were weighing their bags on the scale....some posting over 10 pounds. It was certainly a fun filled night with several exhausted trick-or-treaters ready to collapse as the night came to a close. Here are just a few select pictures I wanted to share from our Friday night adventure.

Here's our pirate:

Our Evil Jester:


MawMaw and the Pirate:


The Pirate and her Spider Witch Friend, Riley:


The Evil Jester with his Friday the 13th Jason buddy, Drew:


A picture of the Dad's:


A picture of the girls:


A few of the neighborhood buddies:


Just a few of our trick-or-treating crew, but I have to ask....what in the world is Lauren doing to the right? Is she throwing a spell on someone, or is she having her own little spiritual witch seance?


How do you like Tonya and Matt's costumes...pretty scary, huh?


And a big thanks to my Uncle Paul and Aunt Irma who stayed back at the ranch and passed out candy to the trick-or-treaters who came to our door (you know I have to put you on my blog somewhere :)


And finally.....an exhausted Jester at the end of the night:

My little family had a great time and thanks to everyone who joined us and made that happen. There are many more pictures to share from our fun-filled weekend, but folks, I'm exhausted and feeling like Jacob in the picture above, so the rest of our weekend adventures will have to wait for another post. I think "Life on White Oak Lane" is winding down and this little crew will be heading to bed rather shortly to ensure a good nights sleep for the Monday that is just around the corner.

Hugs and Kisses to All!