Happy New Year
What are you all doing tonight.. i think the boys have forgotten about staying up (THANK GOODNESS) Ben's planning on staying up playing his video game (he only gets to play it when the kids aren't home or are in bed.. tells you what kind of game hua!) i'm sure i'll probably fall asleep before 12 but if Ben's up he'll wake me up to say "Happy New Year" He's off for the next 2 days and we've decided we are doing major clean out and pack! thankfully we kept the majority of moving boxes and packing paper when we moved here.. so we are a little ahead of the game...
I can't really complain one bit with 2007, we are in such a good place in pretty much all areas of our life! and it sure is going out with a bang with us finally getting the house deal taken care of (we sign the "new deal" paperwork wednesday so really i'm not going to do the "happy dance" until then!). i really HATE new years resolutions and have vowed not to make them ever again (can't really remember making any with true intent anyway).. when i want to make goals i just make the goal.. But the new year does make it kind of nice to reflect on what i've done well and what i can improve on for the new year (ok so i admit it sounds like resolutions hua!..).. Anyway i wish everyone a Very happy New Year and hope 2008 Brings great things for all of our Friends and Family who we love so much!
ta ta

reserection
so the previously dead house deal may be rising from the grave! don't ask me how but they have bitten at our hail mary last ditch effort to salvage this deal.. we still have very few minor things to work out but if we do we are getting an AWESOME deal for ALL the land!!! not doing the happy dance yet but it's looking promissing.. please keep us in your prayers that what ever happens is what we are suppose to do.. we'll be doing allot of praying also!!!
ta ta

Merry Christmas

We had a great day!!! the kids were told not to come down stairs until 7:00 and at about 6:15 we heard the boys were up.. i went up stairs to tell them they couldn't wake KayLea up but if she woke up on her own before 7 they could come down stairs.. and as soon as i came down stairs i hear KayLea running to the boys room.. i guess my footsteps up and down the stairs woke her up.. (she must not have been that asleep)... anyway we did our usual tradition from when i was a kid.. all the kids have to come to our room and get into bed and wait until Ben has seen if Santa has come (he turns on the tree lights etc).. then they line up youngest to oldest (we had to switch that up a little when i was younger when the youngest's became taller than the oldest's.. that hasn't happened here YET!) and off to the presants.. the kids had a great time

Brad's "big" thing was a cell phone.. Hunter's was a digital camera and

KayLea's was a "My Generation"

doll (American girl knock off) the "boys" (all 3) also got a x-box 360.. they were all very excited and kept ammused ALL DAY a feat in of it self GREAT!!! KayLea LOVED the doll clothes Both Grandma's sent (thanks!) and the boys are already planning on where and what to sepend their money and gift cards on (thanks too!)... we are thinking of some ideas to make room for the table hockey game Grandma and Grandpa Fox sent, and hope to be able to set it up very soon...

Since Ben "missed" Thanksgiving he wanted all the works so we did Turkey, Christmas Potatoes, Mashed potatoes (ok i've just come to decide we as a WHOLE family are obsessed with potato's of every form!) stuffing, and 8 different kinds of sparkling juice (we only finished 4 over the whole day!)

Hope everyone had a great Christmas.. Merry Christmas from us to YOU!!

Merry Christmas Eve!
Well the Kids are in Bed (have been since 8:00 SHARP!) the stockings are hung (actually draped over the couch.. to heavy to hang).. and the last presant is FINALLY wrapped.. i don't know why i wait until christmas eve to wrap.. actually i do know why.. i use to wrap as i got then i would forget what i got and would get into my OCD faze and un wrap everything and obsessively count to make sure everyone was even.. we've kind of gotten away from that because well the older boys usually get more expensive which means usually smaller but "better" presants.. where KayLea is still getting more for the buck although this year she's getting a few bigger vs. more little etc. etc.. i think i'm too tired to post tonight.. hopefully this makes some kind of since.. of coarse i'll post pictures probably day after tomorrow.. we have 3 appointments to see houses on Wednesday.. everyone wish us luck and pray for us that what ever happens it will go smoother! (fyi, all the houses on wed are OUT of our school dist.. we are scheduling the 2 houses in the dist. for next week sometime)...
anyway lots goin on i better get to bed.. we've told the kids they can't come down stairs until 7am but it NEVER works!
ta ta and MERRY CHRISTMAS!

a slow and miserable death!
Well, we found out today that the house deal is dead.. i guess there is "one last hail mary everything out on the table take it or leave it" offer but i have to say i'm not holding my breath... so we are on the hunt for another house.. i have come to terms with this and really feel now that there must be something better (or at least equal) for us!!! it kinda sad bit is that we are going to start looking outside the kids school district.. we love the schools but we have reasearched the school dist. we are going to look into and some good friends of ours live in that town and love the schools so we feel pretty good that if we had to move outside the school dist this is where we would move (wanna hear a funny the town's name is Weare)...
anyway we'll keep everyone updated.. we probably made some mistakes, getting too excited too soon (although there was no reason not to the sellers kind of blew it on this one)...
so another knotch in our learning curve of house hunting..
wish us luck
ta ta

Snow Day

Well we cancelled Cub Scout Pack meeting last night and i felt we were probably being overly cautious the forcast showed it would snow about 1-3 inches but be done by morning.. so we figured worst case we'd have a 2 hour delay.. when we woke up this morning and it had only snowed a few inches and school was CANCELLED i was ticked to say the least.. i had to remember we live in a regional school district and it covered 8 towns so just because we didn't get much other outlining towns may have gotten more.. to add insult to injury Ben took the day off so we could get the rest of our christmas shopping done.. well we decided to brave the outdoors we figured Concord would have hardly anything... we were VERY WRONG.. it kept snowing.. the front had gone out then came back in we probably got around 10 inches but since we were already out we stayed out all day hoping it would die down before we came came home.. we had a great lunch, then did Sam's club and walmart.. then hit the mall and just as we drove into our un plowed driveway (that was interesting.. thank goodness for all wheel drive.. and even that was barly tolerable).. it stopped snowing.. the plow guy came so we should be all set for the morning.. and school.. (fingers crossed)... so that i can go and get some last minute stuff.. but while we were at the mall we got all 3 kids with Santa.. there was absolutely no line what so ever (probably because we were one of very few people STUPID enough to be out).. the boys barly tolerated the experience but KayLea loved talking with Santa.. he asked her what she wanted and she said "i could only remember a big girl doll" (aka, American Girl,ahhh Target knock off) but it was very cute and because there wasn't a line he really took his time with her it was fun to see..

here's the pic.. it isn't the best one (we really wern't planning on having a picture taken haha)

How was YOUR morning??
Mine started out ok, i was kind of hoping for a Snow day today because we got about 7 inches last night but it stopped in plenty of time for roads to be cleared so i had to wake up at 4am to make Bradley a Coffee Cake to take to school today for his home room holiday breakfast.. i even went yesterday and got a 1/2 sheet disposable pan so he wouldn't have to worry about bringing anything home (great mom right??!) so i get it done then he also has video game club today which he has to bring the x-box so he's pretty loaded down so he asked if i could drive him into school and i was in a "good mom" mood so instead of saying he'd have to skip video game club i said "of coarse i'll drive you in" i went out about 20 minutes before we needed to leave to brush off the snow from my car and start it up so it would be nice and warm (and windows difrosted etc).. the snow was so light and fluffy i even shovled the walk i'm feeling pretty good about my mothering at this moment, i go inside makd sure everyone hasn't forgotten bookreports or math homework (because i have to drive Hunter in now too i can't make it home intime to get him off to the bus and i can make his school on the way back home) we all are set, i actually had the thought that perhaps i should carry the coffee cake out to the car but Brad insists he's got it just fine.. and 2 steps down to the walk he slips and the lid to the coffee cake flies off and the coffee cake is in chunks in the snow.. you gotta laugh right! he was so sorry and felt terrable but it really wasn't his fault.. so we stopped on the way to school and bought a coffee cake that was 1/3 the size and it had walnuts (Brad doesn't particularly like walnuts and asked for no nuts on the cake)...
one of those days i guess! but it can only get better right??
still no word on whats going on with our house deal.. i don't have a good feeling about it though!
ta ta

Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree!

Well last night we finally decorated the Christmas tree that we actually brought home last Saturday.. there has been a few snow storms that Ben has worked a few days at a time so this was the first opportunity we had to do it.. it's nice.. only mis hap, while KayLea, Hunter and I were at Cub Scouts (Brad's scouts was cancelled last night) it tipped over, Brad was laying down on the couch with his back to it and Ben only heard the "crash!" so we don't exactly know how or why it did it but we lost a ton of glass balls (i knew there was a reason i never wanted glass balls on my tree!) so after putting everything that fell back on this morning and cleaning up the huge mess it made, it looks pretty good..
another sad note.. it looks like our home deal is tanking big time.. we'll see.. it has to do with the subdivision of the land and the timeline.. just keep us in your prayers that what ever is suppose to happen does QUICKLY!!!
ta ta

Oh Boy!!
we have a 2 hour delay today because of Ice, it rained pretty much all night last night and of coarse that rain froze.. so normally i don't mind having a 2 hour delay it makes it an easy morning to get things done etc.. but this morning it SUCKS EGGS!!! everyone is fighting and no one wants to move AT ALL!!! URGGGGG i'd take them myself if anyone would be at the school!!! only about 40 min's left until Brad goes out to the bus.. i'm beginning to count down the seconds!!! and we are only at the beginning of Winter!!! ok thats just my rant for today...
All will be well when Hunter goes to the Bus at 9:30...
tata

i'm afraid i'm going to jinx it..
ok so every year i say i'm not going to stress over christmas and every year i kind of get myself way too overworked with all the stuff etc.. this year SO FAR i'm doing pretty good.. i'm 75% done with the kids stuff and tomorrow i should be shipping out everything that needs shipped.. and this year we are staying home for the first time in i don't know how long.. although its a little sad i'm actually really looking forward to just lounging around and doing NOTHING!!! Ben has a few days off so that will be SOOOO nice.. he's actually at work all night and into tomorrow because we have a pretty good snow storm coming in... we might have another snow day tomorrow or we might just have a delay it depends on what we get, ice or snow.. AND a real fun thing i found out today the ski resort has FREE lessons AND rentals this and next weekend... its a teaser to get people to want to come to the Mountain.. so i think i'm going to take the kids some friends of ours are going to meet us up there and i'm going to watch their youngest son (KayLea's age) and the'll take the boys it shoud be a blast. do we live in a great place or what!!!
tata for now!!

Mommy Guilt's
So the kids are all in bed.. and i am now confronted with my regular degree of the "Mommy guilt's" am I the only one who gets these?? the overwhelming feeling that I am barely muddling and my kiddo's are suffering.. now I'm not trying to be dramatic i know my kids kind of suffering most would beg for so I do know I bring allot of these feelings onto myself..
today Brad brought home his report card.. he was hesitant to give it to me and it was a LOVELY report card he got 2 P's (pass/fail class) 5 A's, 2 B+'s, and 1 C+... now i did congratulate him on a GREAT report card i did do that first.. but i have to say i really called him on his c+.. only because it's in READING!!! now what is bringing his grade down is his vocabulary/spelling, he aces his book reports and his class participation is great but this kid doesn't really feel learning how to spell is really all that interesting.. he'd rather speed right through spelling and go right onto science and math (he got A's in those).. and as he says (that's what spell check is for)..
here's where the guilt comes in.. my parents would have thrown a huge party, shouted from the hill tops etc. etc. etc. if i had brought home a 6th grade report card of this stature.. it was 6th grade that someone FINALLY realized things weren't going so great in the learning dept for me.. (but that's a story for another time)...
So Brad got upset that i was so hard on him.. i got upset that he wasn't taking my seemingly constructive criticism and suggestions for making things better (doing 15 minutes of Vocabulary EVERY night regardless of what the assignment was)... so i had to just let it go for tonight.. don't get me wrong he WILL practice his words EVERY night regardless of his homework.. but really a C+ isn't horrible.. but here's the difference, i KNOW he can do better..
so there's my VENT... I'm thinking of some incentives for him.. but i can't really do it for A's because he's satisfied with what he's got.. and is equally satisfied with "getting by" with a c+ so I've got some thinkin to do.. i also have a parent teacher conf with this teacher next week (along with all his other's).. so hopefully that will give me some insight.. and Frankly, i can't spell.. (as I'm sure you've all noticed on this BLOG)...
anyway that's it for now
ta ta

WooHoo!!
school today.. it stopped snowing enough to clear all the roads.. YEA! now off to take Ben to the Dentist to get some teeth pulled YUCK!

Ok so it's STILL snowing!!! i'm afraid to even go measure how much of the white stuff we've gotten.. the boys were mis behaving (fighting like crazy!) so we havn't made the cookies but i really think tomorrow will probably bring a 2nd snow day so at least we'll have something else to do..

anyway i almost forgot to post great news.. my littlest sister (im sure she'll really apreciate that) got engaged over the weekend!!! no date or place yet but that will come.. i'm glad she's found someone who will make her happy!!!

Ashley Lane and Andrew Ado

1st snow day of the season!

Well, while we were in HOT Arkansas it did snow but it was all gone by the time we got home.. so it isn't technically the first snow of the season BUT it's the first snow day.. lucky us, i am prepared with games, and cookie fix-ins.. the kids havn't driven me too nuts yet but KayLea is her usual whiney self when she gets cold.. (tried to tell her she'd get cold OUTSIDE!)..

anyway here are some pic's of my crazy kids!

Here's KayLea licking the snow (don't ask!)

Hunter dodging snow balls

the 3 kids.. ok you have to admit it's a cute picture!