Its My Birthday

Its the BIG one. The big 4-0. No i am not depressed. I am owning this baby!!! Im in a great spot. I have a great job that i love. I have a great home. And most importantly i have a great family that is all safe and healthy. What more does a girl need?

TJ took me to Indy for the weekend. We stayed in a corner suite at the Canterbury Hotel with valet parking. I could get used to that! But it turns out I am content with cookies and milk or beer and chips; neither of us were too keen on the champagne although i enjoyed the strawberries. We had dinner at the Palomino and went to Crackers for a good ab workout. It was a fun night.

And the kids enjoyed themselves spending the night at Grandma Connie and Grandpa Jakes. They swam in the bathtub and camped under the pool table.

On my birthday, the folks at the office took me out for Mexican for lunch. They even brought out the Monster Sombrero. TJ made me tacos for dinner and an angel food cake which resembled Crater Lake but was delicious with strawberries and whipped cream.

And i got about a million well wishes on Facebook plus emails, texts and cards. It was a good day.

Tuck’s First Basketball Practice

It’s begun.  Tuck has entered the World of Sports.  We signed him up for Micro-Basketball at the Boys and Girls Club for 4 and 5 year olds.  It’s going to be like herding chickens!

 

He is a pretty good shooter but his dribbling skills have something to be desired.  Of course he hasn’t had much practice over his few 5 years because all of our basketballs are low on air.  It seems we can find either the needle or the pump but never both at the same time. 

He told me last night that he was going to score 130 points and they would all be slam dunks.

It’s going to be a good 10 game season and we are all looking forward to it.

Halloween 2012

This was a big year for Halloween.  The kids are old enough to do some pumpkin decorating on their own.  I still could not come to terms of Tuck and a knife so he still had to resort to painting his pumpkin. 

These two look a lot alike right?  It’s hard to tell the talking head from the pumpkin.  And they are both just so darn cute.

And this was one of my big holidays for successful Pinterest inspiration.  These mummy juice boxes were a big hit and the Frankenstein green pudding cups went over well too.  But somehow I failed to get a picture of those.  And don’t you love Kora’s dismembered leg.  I think it adds to the Halloween gore.

We went with a Star Wars theme for Missy’s annual backyard party.  Last year TJ told me he would grow out his beard and dress up as Chewbacca so I held him to it.  But somehow I missed getting a picture of him.  2 days before the party Tuck started dragging his heels about dressing up so we had to go rent the movie then he was totally on board with being part of the theme.

Kora made a convincing Yoda.  Her coat is an old bath towel and her hood started out as a polo shirt.  The ears turned out a bit droopy but I was still proud of my attempts.  And she won “Cutest Costume”.

Can you even tell my attempt at Princess Leia?  I think I totally nailed the braids.

And here is Luke Skywalker.  His favorite part was the pool noodle sword. 

And what would a good fight be without a sword wielding Yoda?

Missy had her party on Saturday since Halloween falls mid-week.  So we got to dress up again on Halloween day.  It was going to be a fight to get them back into their Star Wars costumes so they both decided they could be Cowboys.  Doesn’t he look like a real bad guy?

These are the kids new authentic Texas cowboy hats that Grandma Deb brought back from El Paso.  Aren’t they just the cutest?

Kora was mad that I made her put her boots on the right feet before we left.  It was pretty chilly that night so we made a pretty short night of it and walked two blocks of Main Street.  The kids still ended up with a pretty good stash of candy.  Kora was pretty scared of the Stay-Puff Marshmallow family and wouldn’t you know that we would run into them at least three times. 

I think this may have been my final year of getting to choose the kids costumes.  I am sure next year Tuck will have plenty of opinions of his own.  I guess I had a good run.

New Year's Resolution 2013

My New Year's Resolution is to get back to blogging.  I think I missed the whole year of 2012 so here goes.  This one will be simple since I don't have a lot of time and haven't taken time to plan it out.

Yesterday was my last day off for the holiday break before getting back tot he routine of work.  So while TJ and Kora napped, Tucker and I ran some errands.  We went and found the local eagle's nest and saw one of them in a neighboring tree, exchanged some Christmas gifts, picked out a printer (Thanks Dad!), dropped off movies and got gas.

Tuck did so good while we were out so we rewarded ourselves with ice cream (Don't tell Dad and Kora!)

Then Tuck proceeded to fall asleep in the car on the way home.  And slept until nearly 630 after I carried him to bed. 

So TJ, Kora and I made homemade pizzas (Tuck made his much later in the evening).  I had made pizza dough for breadsticks for a family dinner earlier in the week and doubled the batch planning for tonight.  It turned out really good and the kids liked rolling out their own crusts.   I really can't explain why Kora eneded up sans clothes by the end of the baking period.  And I can't explain her infatuation with "hot salt" aka pepper, especially considering Tuck's complete aversion to it.

So there you go.  My 2013 inaugural post.  I am so proud of myself already.

Happy New Year, best wishes and all things happy to you in 2013.