The Little Neglected Blog

That's what I should name my blog but I'm not the only one (hint hint)!

Here's a rundown...

Park's birthday - we went to dinner then had an impromptu birthday party with all the kids from our little street. What a great bunch!

Park's very first ever Pinewood Derby - he did great by the way!

Bridgefest - a fun little run our kids did. Park ran a mile and Anna ran a half. This is right in line with our family's 2010 goal of being just a bit more healthy.

Valentine's Day - it was great!And ANOTHER lost tooth!

We hope everyone is doing well!! I've updated mine, now how about updating YOURS!! =]

Happy Birthday Parker!

What a difference you've made in my life!

What a difference you've made in my life!

You're my sunshine day and night!

What a difference you've made in my life!

I heard this song on the radio yesterday and couldn't help but think of the little man who changed my life so much for the better 8 years ago today!

Happy birthday Park! I love you more than you'll ever know!

Support a Daisy!

In October Anna joined the Girl Scout program and became a Daisy! As everyone knows, there is no cookie like a Girl Scout Cookie because #1 - they are delicious and #2 - they support a great cause!

The cookies are $3.50/box

Caramel deLites (formerly Samoas)

Peanut Butter Patties

Shortbread

Thin Mints

Peanut Butter Sandwich

Thanks-A-Lot

Lemonades

Reduced Fat Daisy Go Rounds

If you are interested in buying any cookies, please let us know! We're happy to ship!

How We Spent Our Christmas Vacation

We went to the movies with friends...

We spent Christmas Eve playing games and eating the greatest chicken enchiladas ever with these great people... We did lots of unwrapping...We had our friends the Smith's over on Christmas...We spent loads of time playing games...

Then Kristi, Eric and Tyler came to visit and we went to some of our favorite places like T-Bone Tom's (as seen on Diner's, Drive-In's and Dive's)...

And Kemah Boardwalk... On New Year's Eve we fondid it! (it's just SO much fun to say!)...

And watched movies...

And lit fireworks...

On New Year's Day we went to the Johnson Space Center and learned all about NASA...

That's Saturn V behind us - it's a REALLY big rocket!

In our down time we spent alot of time playing Super Mario Bros. So much fun!...

Our first Christmas away and of course we absolutely missed our family and friends at home but we still had a great time. How can you not? It's Christmas! We hope y'all (go ahead with the jokes - it's just easier!) had a wonderful Christmas too and we wish and hope and pray for the very best for you this new year!

The one's that didn't make it...

Open your eyes!

Please? Open your eyes!

Not sure what's going on here

I'm pretty sure Anna has two legs.

Seriously Park! Open your eyes!

Once again, not sure what happened here.

Again with the one-leg?

So close! If only her shoe was ON!

We're all losing it now.

Looking a little sad which is how we all kinda felt!

About as good as it's going to get!

It's the little things...

Parker came home today and insisted that I open the present he made for me at school. It was a class cookbook. Everyone in his class provided their favorite holiday recipe and then the parent gave the correct recipe. Parker submitted cinnamon rolls. Here is his recipe...

Ingredients: cinnamon, rolls, frosting

Instructions:

1. Get some cinnamon

2. Get some rolls

3. Put cinnamon rolls in the oven at 200 degrees

4. Take them out

He wrapped it by himself with "special" gold ribbon!

Anna was equally excited to give me her present and insisted that I open it so that we have time to enjoy it before it has to be put away. It was a glass ornament with the most precious little handprint on it. It's such a beautiful addition to the tree!

The cute bag the ornament came in!

These are my favorites! The little gifts that they make that they put so much into and the joy and excitement they feel when they bring them home and pull them out of their backpacks make them so much sweeter. Honestly, there's nothing better! Years (and years) from now I will still cherish these precious little gifts from Parker and Anna!

A Festivus Miracle!

That's what I've been calling it! Snow in Houston! It was like my own personal little gift from above! Really! I LOVE snow (around Christmas) and was REALLY disappointed I wasn't going to see any this year but then the forecasters talked about an arctic blast coming in from Canada that would most likely bring snow. Really? I'm not that lucky but it was the talk of the town for days. Then, while I was out and about on my way to do a little Christmas shopping some tiny little slushy drops fell from the sky. My friend called to see if I was excited about it AND told me that school was releasing early because of the weather. WOW! The school is calling it a snow day because of this?! By the time I got to the mall the slushy little drops had a hint of white to them and people were outside the mall looking up at the sky and taking pictures with their phones. Ahh...that's cute, I thought and continued into the mall.

I only went to a couple of stores because I was in a hurry due to the whole early release at school thing and you can not imagine the joy I felt when I could see from the glass doors looking out a full blown, just like Utah snow storm! Huge white flakes falling from the sky! It looked beautiful, magical even!

Elated, I headed home. I couldn't wait to see the joy I felt mirrored on Parker and Anna's face. I knew they would feel the same way and of course, they both were thrilled! They dumped their backpacks and headed outside for the cul-de-sac snowball fight of all snowball fights. Everyone was out! Kids hitting parents, parents hitting kids, parents hitting parents!

Eventually, the war ended. Everyone retreated into their own homes for a little warmth and alot of hot cocoa.

It's funny. In Utah, it would be considered "a dusting". Here, it shut the town down. School let out early. Aaron's office closed early. Anna had a party to go to at the Little Gym but even they were closing due to the weather. I kind of giggled about it but then I thought, maybe, it's not because it's so dangerous to be in, but because EVERYBODY wanted to be able to enjoy it and I think that's a pretty neat thing.

Anyway, here are some pictures of the winter wonderland!