Year in Review--2011

An optimist stays up until midnight to see the New Year in.
A pessimist stays up to make sure the Old Year leaves.

I think I fall somewhere in the middle...except I can't ever stay up until midnight.
We really like to live it up on New Year's Eve. The last MANY years have been spent watching the ball drop with Dick Clark. The only difference is he's in Times Square and we're on the couch. Really exciting I KNOW! Sometimes we even stay up until like 11:00..because we are just.that.cool! :)
This year some friends are trying to cramp our style by inviting us to their house.
Perhaps we'll be adventurous and stop by for a bit. Could I sound any more thrilling??

What sticks out for you in 2011?
For me it's been the weather:
*We experienced record breaking everything...a tornado on New Year's Eve last year, 24inches of snow, flooding, and record breaking temperatures (hot and cold).
*The mini started kindergarten. I can not enough how great his teacher has been for us. She relived my anxieties about the whole thing by the first day. He's ready for winter break to be over so he can go back to school. He loves learning which has been great for us!
*The kids became Imagination Mover groupies. They watch them on TV daily and we saw them live twice.
*The mini played on his first t'ball team and the Wild Thing participated in a weekly play group at the Little Gym.
*Both kids participated in swimming lessons at the swim ranch.
*we had several sets of friends move to the area...made our year!
*We enjoyed time spent with our families.

I don't typically make New Year's resolutions, but this year I decided to challenge myself to organize 30 drawers in 30 days and so far I'M ROCKING IT!! My kitchen is almost done and the playroom has been "containerized and labelized".
The guest bedroom is next and if I'm still going strong then my closet is on the list after that. I love getting ideas from pinterest. How about you? Do you make any new year's resolutions?

Polar Express

We went with some friends to Branson last weekend and boarded the Polar Express.


The Wild Thing was the most excited to see Santa. He cut him off in the aisle and started jumping up and down with a huge smile on his face. It was the cutest thing ever!! We stayed at the Big Cedar Lodge which was really fun once I got past all the dead animals mounted to the walls. The raccoon mounted to the entertainment center freaked me out a bit. Ours rooms were next to each other so after the kids went to bed we were able to hang out and play cards. It was a fun weekend AND I was able to get this Christmas money shot of the minis!! My new favorite picture:

Merry Christmas!!

My Baby Turned THREE....

I sometimes wonder if my blog followers have slowly trickled away with so my not so entertaining posts that have become few and far between...sigh.


Well my baby turned three and all the "greats" were there along with a few friends and family.

I have to admit..this was my favorite birthday party so far! We celebrated with a Polar Express theme. It's one of the Wild Thing's favorite movies. He watches it year round so it was fitting. We had a hot cocoa bar complete with candy, chocolate shavings, marshmellows, chocolate covered spoons, red hots, and peppermints. YUM!
The kids enjoyed decorating train cakes with candy, playing with trains, and watching the Polar Express.



Santa stopped by at the end to hand out party favors, pose for pictures, and listen to those last minute requests. The party favors were train whistles, magic reindeer food (oatmeal and glitter), and a bell of course.




I can't believe he's three!
Now I'm going to go fight back the ugly cry!

Oh Lord It's Hard to be Humble..

When You're an Arkansas Razorback Fan...GO HOGS!
What a season! We're ranked 3rd and lost only to Alabama and LSU. It was such a fun season for us because we set up the first of our annual tailgate complete with tents, a tv, great food, friends, and family. I enjoyed being the interior decorator and adding new stuff each week. :) The Grandparents took turns taking care of the kids so they could get naps.
It's very important to be rested when calling the HOGS!






The blog posts have been few and far between lately, but most of our weekends for the past few months have been scheduled around Razorback football. For the most part we had beautiful tailgating weather. One game day brought a torrential down pour and strong winds on another, but it was still fun watching the HOGS WIN, WIN, WIN and I'm looking forward to growing our tailgate and continuing our tradition next year.
GO HOGS!

Shameless Bragging-MVP.

This week was Grandparents' week at school. There was an award for longest distance traveled (650+ miles), most grandkids (26), and best HOG call! Can you guess which contest we entered? Grandaddy got runner up, but we are convinced that he was the true winner. The winner did some made up, chincy hog call...Grandaddy said "ok everyone, lets stand up and call those hogs!" You know...like a proper hog call!
Dodo is a champ at the chicken dance and she would have qualified for that award by a landslide if it were offered.

Guess who was the MVP of his class this week? YEP...the MINI! He got it because his teacher said "his brain was ON this week"! She's just the best thing that could have happened for us! He's a sponge and LOVES going to school because of her.


His teacher turned on the smart board for a demonstration. When I was his age we had chalk boards and if you were lucky and didn't suffer from allergies then you got to clean it with a wet eraser at the end of the day. He has NO IDEA!


When he tried explaining the smart board to me at the beginning of the year, I had NO idea! It's like a modern day version of Bill Cosby's Picture Pages!!! Remember that show? Who's with me here?


The Wild Thing noticed everyone preoccupied with the smart board so he filled his hands, pockets, and bag from the book fair with the teacher's toys.

But, we noticed and so did another grandad in the class. He was kind enough to tell me to check his pockets because he was taking toys. HA!
The school hosted a book fair during grandparents week. They are no dummies...that is smart marketing. The Wild Thing tried to take books when no one was looking.

But, he got caught...again!

Let the Wild Rumpus Start.

Meet Max. He's the king of all Wild Things.


..and this his favorite Wild Thing.

They roared their terrible roars and gnashed their terrible teeth and rolled their terrible eyes and showed their terrible claws.

When Max is not sailing through the day and night in the ocean, he is taming the Wild Thing with his magic tricks.


*These adorable Halloween outfits were made with love by DODO!!!

A typical day looks like this...

Before breakfast in the morning..


The second we get out of the car from school and work..


While I'm cooking dinner..

Before bedtime..



This crazy type of fun between brothers just never gets old.