Merry Christmas!

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Whew! I can't believe the madness is over. No, we've had a great Christmas and have been very blessed this season. Before Christmas, we went to Mom's for a couple of days and enjoyed seeing everyone. It was very weird not gathering at Meme's. Except for last Christmas, since I was having Pierce, I've spent spent every Christmas Eve at her house since I was born. We had our get-together at Mom's, though, and it was really fun, bittersweet, but fun. We came back to the big 'D' after it was over and enjoyed Christmas here. The Luce's came up on the 26th and we celebrated with them and Yanci also came later in the day so she could be here the big party, which was today. I'll post more about that later. Piercey baby is one and I am 30!! Wow! I'll have to end on that one. I need to go mourne my 20s.(:

Christmas Card Sneak Peak...

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And the cards finally went out today!! I have lots of lists and am having to check them three or four times to make sure I get it all done. I don't see how Santa does it!(;

10 Months-Old

Pierce @ 10 months~He crawls almost as fast as I walk, is pulling up, and started cruising some this week. He is eating four times a day, including baby food and some table food. He also has four teeth. He's so full of personality!

This is Bowden at about the same age.

Bowden's Halloween Parade and Party

Bowden's school had a party and parade today~by parade, I mean they marched by class through and around the school and picked up candy along the way. Pierce and I, of course, went to watch and take pictures. It was a lot of fun seeing all the kids dressed up and, of course, this was both of the boys first opportunity to put on their costumes as Batman and....Robin!(: Pierce wouldn't keep his eye mask on for a second, but still looked pretty stinkin' cute. Here's a little preview of their costumes....

Pumpkin Patch 2008

The boys and I met up with Amy and the girls for our trip to the pumpkin patch this year. We went to one that is right by our house and I was pretty impressed with how much they've added to it. In the past, there's just been a lot of pumpkins beside a church in an open field, but they pulled out all the stops this year and added a bounce house, hay maze, and hayride. In comparison to some of the others around here, it's still pretty small, but the kids had no idea. Before they got too dirty, though, Amy and I attempted to get some shots of them and it just made me feel sorry for mom's with four kids. I have no idea how they ever get them all smiling and looking at the camera at the same time. I guess they probably don't and just invest in a good photographer and switch the heads around. Anyway, here's what we pulled off.(:

'Keep your head still, Pierce!'
'Ha, ha! I'll look when you're not!'

2 out of 4 smiling...


2 out of 4 smiling...one in the right direction

Forget about it...Pierce obviously thought our behind the camera antics were pretty entertaining b/c he smiled the whole time~just not necessarily in the right direction.

Such a sweetie...

San Juan, Puerto Rico

The view from a tower in the rainforest.


I've never seen so many waterfalls.


Frisco office qualifiers....Why so serious, Jason?

After dinner in Old San Juan

Oh, what fun...a night of adult only conversation.

Pool at the Ritz

Balcony view...

Fountain in front of hotel

I thought I'd finally post some pics from our vacation. We went to Puerto Rico about a week and a half ago for a company trip. It was really great. I didn't know what to expect of the island, but just knew I was very grateful to my hubby for making another of these b/c I was craving some R&R. For the first couple of days, we did just that. We slept in, vegged out by the pool, and then went into old San Juan in the evenings. Old San Juan reminded me of some of the towns in Europe with narrow cobblestone streets and beautiful buildings. It was just a neat area. On the last day, I was feeling pretty rejuvenated and wanted to see the rainforest. Jason wasn't really feeling it, so a friend of mine who was there with her hubby, too, and I rented a car and went hiking in the rainforest on the island. We ended up seeing more of the island than we anticipated due to a couple of detours, but it was really beautiful.

I can't go without thanking Nana and Papa for keeping the boys for us. Bowden said they had a great time. We called one afternoon and Bowden got on the phone and said, 'Mom, I caught like eleven fish!' I said, 'like eleven?' Oh, my, he's getting big! As always, they had a blast!

Catching Up

I hate when I get so far behind on blogging that I don't know where to even begin, but I've done it, yet, again, so here goes. In the last month, Pierce turned nine months-old. He's crawling everywhere and he has two teeth on bottom and just cut a third on top. At his check-up, he was 17 lbs 14.5 oz and 27 1/2 inches long. He still has the sweetest disposition and smiles and laughs all the time. He's such a joy.

Bowden is still loving baseball and is enjoying school. We are so proud of him. He and his dad recently did a really neat thing to help our church raise money for our capital campaign. Jason actually put this all together with our children's ministry. He gave all the children $20 in one dollar gold coins and put them in burlap sacks and had the kids decorate them. Anyway, they used the parable of the talents to illustrate to the children what they wanted them to do. If you're not familiar with the story; basically, the children were asked to take this money and use it to make more. So, last week, for Bowden's part, we baked cookies and sold them at Jason's office building. Today, at church, they turned in their money and the kids rasied $1800. It was so exciting!

The Big '5'

I've crossed to the dark side...who would have thought I would ever voluntarily put my child in a UT outfit.

I have to go ahead and post about it, but the best pics from the party are on Amy's camera. My memory card filled up toward the beginning of the party so I used hers thereafter. I'll share those later. Nevertheless, we had a great time a B's party. We had it at a place called Kid Fit Sports. They lead them in games and then let them play some on their own and finished up with the Cha-Cha dance~so funny! We then enjoyed pizza and Spiderman cake.

We did have one little incident after we got home that have made thank you notes a little difficult. (Bear with me) We didn't open presents at the party because we only had the place for an hour and a half and didn't want to take away from playtime to open presents. We were just going to do it when we got home. So, as we were unloading the car when we got here, our neighbors pulled up in the driveway. We ended up standing outside chatting with them for a while, during which time, Bowden took their little boy, Keaton, to the backyard to show him his new playhouse. I noticed they were back there for a while, but just thought they were having a good time playing. Once we got inside, we saw that they had had a good time, but it was spent opening all of Bowden's presents instead of playing outside. I guess they came in through the back and couldn't resist. Bowden had picked up all the trash, though, left things pretty neat. I just don't know who got him what!! I guess it will be generic notes this year...

'Coughing an Attitude'

I guess Bowden got this one from me. I don't remember when I've said it or who I said it to (him or Jason, I'm sure!), but it sounds like something I would say. How he heard it is obviously another thing. Pierce started coughing this afternoon and I heard Bowden tell him that he better stop 'coughing an attitude'. I love it!

Our Grandparents are so special...

Bowden's birthday week has been so special; made especially so by his grandparents. Gigi and Poppy were so excited about B's birthday that they showed up a week early.(: He was thrilled by the surprise! On Friday, he enjoyed another surprise. Nana and Papa drove up and built him a playhouse. They worked ALL day and did a great job! I took a couple of pics as they finished up. We've already gotten to enjoy it this afternoon. B loved it! Thanks so much, Nana and Papa!

Stay tuned for b-day party pics!

My baby is 5 years-old!!

This morning, I woke up to find Bowden's face about five inches from mine and when I opened my eyes, he said, 'Guess who's five?!?' He's seemed to have had a great day. He fielded happy birthday calls all morning, which is perfect b/c he loves to talk on the phone. He also had Dunkin Donuts and opened his Batman presents and wore it all for most of the day. He was going to wear it to the gym, but decided he might scare everyone.(: This evenings plans changed due to the weather, but we still had great time at Gattitown with the Perry's. Ryan and Bowden share the same birthday, so we thought it would be fun to celebrate together. This is actually just the start of a three day celebration. Tomorrow, I'm taking cupcakes up to his class during snack time for a little surprise and then, of course, his party is on Friday night. We'll begin sugar detox on Saturday!(:

Bowden Knows Baseball...

Our first baseball game tonight was HI-larious! These little boys were so cute. They dogpiled eachother to get the ball, ran the wrong direction, and practiced sliding like they were pros. Bowden was so proud everytime he got the ball and would look over at us and hold it up in the air with the biggest smile on his face. So cute! I think the funniest story from the night was from our catcher. He, of course, has to wear the mask, pads, etc. Well, after we played the first inning, he asked his dad if he had to put his costume back on, again. Hahahaha!

1st Day of School

Bowden went back to school today. He was so excited (even if you can't tell by the pic)! I think we've all been going a little stir-crazy, so it's nice to get back into the swing of things.

As a side note, I have been so surprised with Bowden's progress in baseball. I honestly thought he was a little too young to be able to catch a ball or throw every well. Dad has been working with him a lot, though, and he's looking like a little baseball player. Tomorrow night is his first game, so we'll see how much the practice has paid off. It should be fun regardless. Stay tuned....

What's Going On????

It's 8 a.m. on Saturday morning, daddy is already awake, dressed, and in a good mood. He gives me a kiss and heads out the door for donuts...I'm so confused. He returns with a smile on his face as he gives Bowden a high five before he begins rearranging the furniture...is this a new leaf being turned over?

Why is he filling his chair with blankets and pillows...why is he organizing the remotes, his computer, and several magazines I've never seen before? He seems to have suddenly gone deaf...I've asked him the same question three times...why can't he hear me?

OH...that's right, we interrupt this marriage for College Football Season. Happy 1st College Football Day!!!!!