Happy 2009

Tonight our neighbors were shooting off fireworks, which Anderson did not like...so instead of going to bed, he stayed up with Mommy and we watched The Grinch while Daddy shopped online! It was nice cuddling with him and a blanket in the big chair and he actually enjoyed and watched most of the movie which surprised me...I think he was fascinated with the big green furry creature, plus he is super tired...still trying to recover from all of the holiday festivities, particularly his time at the ranch!

Tomorrow night we will be ringing in the New Year during game night with good friends...I am sure Mexican Train will be one of the games we play...and probably the Wii since we will be at Eric & Karen's house! On New Year's day, we will most likely sleep in and then have a movie marathon...you know, what we normally do on that day! At some point during the next 2 days, we will take down the Christmas decorations and pretty much reorganize the entire house...out with the old and in with the new!

We hope everyone has a wonderful New Year's celebration with loved ones! May God bless you as you seek Him in 2009! Love you! Happy New Year! Or should I say...Happy NO Year, as Joey puts it! (For all you Friends lovers!)

These Are a Few of My Favorite Things...

As 2008 comes to a close and 2009 quickly approaches, I thought I would take a moment to reflect on this past year...

Top 8 2008 Holiday Moments:

1. Ladies Night Out Christmas dinner with family and friends!

2. Although we did not get to see the lights in Marble Falls, it was nice to have dinner with friends and to drive home in the surprise snow, all the while laughing at ourselves!

3. Watching Casting Crowns perform I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day during Christmas in Washington. If you have not heard this version of the song, you need to click on the link and hear it for yourself! It has that Evanessence haunt to it as well as a very powerful message! It is amazing how something written during the Civil War can still apply today!

4. Making new friends at Holiday Fit Camp!

5. Reading the Christmas story as a family! It's what it's all about!

6. Fun Family Time: decorating the tree, family movie night, taking the boys to see Christmas lights, baking goodies together, drinking hot chocolate together, spending time at the ranch with friends and family

7. Annual Bonfire at the Ranch with friends and family, followed by a game of Mexican Train

8. Quality Time with my Wonderful Hubby, spending Christmas money and gift cards!

Top 8 2008 Moments:

1. Celebrating Anderson's 2nd birthday at Arrowhead Ranch

2. EJ's Birth!

3. 5 Year Anniversary trip to San Antonio!

4. Girls Weekend in the Hill Country to celebrate my 30th birthday!

5. No more diapers for Big Brother Anderson!

6. EJ's 1st Christmas

7. Watching the boys start to interact with and play with each other a little bit, now that EJ is getting bigger and more mobile! Also seeing their smiles and hearing their laughter!

8. Losing 20 pounds and dropping 2 sizes since we started Fit Camp in September!


We praise God for his blessings in 2008 and we pray for a blessed 2009...not only for our family but also for yours! Happy New Year!

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year...

We had a WONDERFUL time celebrating EJ's 1st Christmas with the boys this week! I cannot possibly give all the details of our week so I will just give you the highlights! Here is the breakdown:

Monday: Family Movie Night- we watched all of the classic television shows like Rudolph, Jack Frost, and Here Comes Santa Claus...when Daddy got home we ordered pizza and watched Charlie Brown Christmas and Polar Express...when the boys went to bed we enjoyed hot chocolate and watched Dan in Real Life...we LOVE watching movies but do not get to do it very often

Tuesday: We took the boys to see Christmas Lights- they both loved it, the entire street was lit up with a Night Before Christmas Theme, one of the houses had a real train going around the front yard...of course that was Anderson's favorite house, EJ likes anything with lights

Wednesday: Christmas Eve Candlelight Service, Bob & Becky's Annual Christmas Eve Party, Vick Christmas at the Ranch- the Christmas Eve service was a wonderful, very worshipful experience and it was nice to have my whole family there with us...after it was over we stopped by Bob & Becky's Christmas Eve party to say hello and wish everyone a Merry Christmas, we also got to enjoy some yummy peppermint punch and other tasty treats...then we headed to the ranch to celebrate Christmas with Gigi, Grandaddy, Auntie Jess, Uncle Seth, Caleb, and Auntie Sarah...we have always opened our family presents on Christmas Eve so that night we had our traditional cheese fondue meal and then opened gifts, including our matching pjs which we all took a picture in and wore to bed...usually we always watch White Christmas and eat cookie monsters but we decided to wait until the next day since the boys had already had a LONG day and were exhausted...we all went to bed instead

Thursday: Here Comes Santa Claus, Christmas at Oma's, White Christmas- Thursday morning we woke up and found the gifts that Santa had left for us the night before (big kids too!), we ate breakfast and then headed to Oma's to celebrate Christmas with my mom's side of the family...there the little ones get gifts and then the big kids do a Chinese gift exchange...Aaron ended up with some yummy Hickory Farms meats, cheeses and delicious peppermint candies and I ended up with 2 great movies, Wild Hogs and August Rush...we are both very happy with our gifts! It was so nice to see and catch up with extended family! Of course when we returned to the ranch we had pizza, cookie monsters and watched White Christmas, a family favorite

Friday: Boys at the Ranch, Girls hit the outlet malls, Annual Bon Fire- The boys hung out at the ranch all day, probably riding the Gator 100 times (that is all Caleb and Anderson want to do when they are there) while me, mom, Jess and Sarah went to the outlets to spend all of our Christmas money and gifts cards....we had a great time and bought alot of great stuff...everything was on sale! Back at the ranch, we lit up our annual bonfire and our friends Matt, Kristen, Mario, Denna and Mia came out to roast hot dogs and smores with us...we ended the night with a fun game of Mexican Train, our favorite family game

Saturday: Cowboy Shopping, Naps, Fajita Dinner-Granddaddy took the boys shopping for cowboy clothes, boots and jackets since they have outgrown all of their cowboy attire, then the boys took LONG naps...you can imagine their exhaustion at this point! That night, Seth cooked a delicious fajita dinner and we all went to bed early!

Sunday: A Day All to Ourselves! Aaron and I enjoyed a day without the boys... we left the boys at the ranch with Gigi and Granddaddy while we went out and ate some good food and did some shopping...we spent alot of our Christmas money and gift cards...we ended the day with dinner and a movie. Thanks for a great day off Gigi and Granddaddy!

Monday: A Week Off- Today we all headed home and did some organizing around the house...trying to clear space for the new stuff...we are looking foward to a week of having Daddy home with us as we recover from Christmas and anticipate the New Year!

Here are some pictures from the week:

With Granddaddy on Christmas morning...

With Gigi on Christmas morning...

On the Gator with my best buddy K-wub...

Having fun on the horse swing...

Fun with friends on the Gator...

Christmas at the Ranch

We are off to the ranch for Christmas! We hope everyone has a Very Merry Christmas with your loved ones! Be back in about a week!

For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Isaiah 9:6

A & E's 2008 Tour of Homes

I have already shown you pictures of the door, tree and fireplace so I thought I would show you a few of my favorite unique decorations around the house...these are the kind of decorations you do not see in every home...and there is probably a reason for that....ha!

Twinkle lights on the candles in the fireplace, to make them look lit

(they look much better in person)...

A little Whoville...

My elephants are in the spirit...
The advent calendar from Gigi, you build the nativity scene as you go...

Our respective Santas...

Santa reading the Bible, a reminder to keep the focus on the true meaning of Christmas...

Here are a few of Anderson's favorite decorations...

His advent calendar from Gigi, he gets to open 1 gift each day...

Charlie Brown handbell choir ringing "Hark the Herald Angels Sing"...

The little sleigh dog from Grandma & Grandpa that barks "Jingle Bells"...

The Precious Moments nativity from Grandma & Grandpa that he and EJ like to play with, the sheep is already missing, it's probably in the barn with the other farm animals...

It was SO hard to choose which decorations to post but I had to limit it to these...hope you like them! Stop by and see us if you are ever in Austin! Merry Christmas!

Christmas in Cowtown

Anderson, EJ and I had a great time in Fort Worth this past weekend visiting with family and friends that we had not seen in awhile! We drove down Friday morning, stopping in Waco on the way so that we could celebrate Oma's birthday (my mom's mom) with my mom and her sisters. Anderson had a blast playing in Oma's backyard, particularly on her hammock! And EJ adored all of the love and attention he received...of course all of the girls wanted to hold him!

We arrived in FW that afternoon and went to Timeless Christmas at my parent's church on Friday night. EJ enjoyed strolling around looking at all of the lights and Anderson of course LOVED the petting zoo, hayride (or gator ride as he called it) and the pony rides...he even got to go back Saturday night with Gigi to do it all again!

Saturday morning we slept in and then went downtown to see Santa with Gigi, Grandaddy, Auntie Jess, Uncle Seth and Caleb. Anderson and Caleb had fun playing in line together while we waited to see Santa and again, EJ enjoyed being held! All the boys did really well when it was time to sit in Santa's lap and the pictures actually turned out pretty good considering the fact that we had 5 adults and 3 kiddos who all had to look and smile at the same time!

After visiting with Santa, we headed on over to the Cats Stadium for Mikey's 3rd birthday party! Mikey is Anderson's friend and Mikey's Mommy is my longtime friend, we grew up in church together and have known one another since elementary school! Her family is friend's with my whole family. The party was alot of fun, the kids got to make farm animals, which Anderson of course LOVED! Basically it was like Build-A-Bear but with farm animals and you did not have to go to the store, it was brought to you. Each kid got to choose an animal...Anderson chose the pink piggy and then you could either choose a t-shirt or bandana to put on it...he chose the bandana! Most of the party he spent running around wrestling and tackling Caleb, Griffin and Mikey! What fun! EJ, on the other hand, slept through the entire party! Both boys were pretty exhausted by this point!

After the party, Anderson went with Gigi to Timeless Christmas and EJ went to Caleb's house, where 2 of our favorite former volleyball players babysat for us, while Jess and I went to Joe Ts for yummy dinner with Sarah and some of our other friends from HS. Good food and good company makes for a great evening!

Sunday morning we slept in and then had the Vick Family Christmas at my parent's condo. Jess, Seth, Caleb, Sarah, Mema, Uncle Ray, Uncle Jim, Isabella, Camille, Robert and Sophia came over for lunch! We ate yummy enchiladas and yummy sopapilla cheesecake and then we exchanged gifts. It was great to see everyone and the boys really enjoyed playing with their cousins and we enjoyed the help!

As soon as it was over, we headed back to Austin to see Daddy! We all really missed him and are glad to be back...but are looking foward to spending time at the ranch with my family in a few days for Christmas!

Here are some pictures from the weekend:

With Gigi and Frosty at Oma's...

3 peas in a pod...

Our sweet Santa baby...

Crazy wrestling buddies...

Sweet cousins...

With Auntie Jess and Eli...

It was nice to be able to go home to FW and FINALLY get to do some fun Christmas stuff after being so sick for a week...keep praying for me to get better...I am supposed to speak at our Christmas Eve service but still do not have much of a voice and although I feel better, I am still not 100%....I don't want to be sick on Christmas!

In Honor of EJ's 1st Christmas...

Christmas Joy
By Erin Vick Franklin

What a wonderful year
Another bundle of joy
Evan Jackson Franklin
Our sweet baby boy

Anderson's little brother
Our 5th anniversary gift
Sent from God above
To Him our praises we lift

EJ is what we call him
He is the sweetest thing
His bright eyes will light up
If you talk, smile or sing

But at Christmastime and always
We remember with delight
The true joy of Christmas
Born that holy night

'For unto us is born this day,
in the City of David,
a Savior, which is Christ the Lord!'
(Luke 2:11)

May you and yours find joy
Not underneath your tree
But in Jesus Christ our Savior
In faith you must believe


The Lord has done great things for us, and we are filled with joy!
(Psalm 126:3)

Blue Christmas

You may have been wondering what happened to me because I told you that I would post again on December 15th, when I participated in the 2008 Tour of Homes! Well...unfortunately I have been SICK SICK SICK, which prevented me from participating in the tour.

This is not the only thing that has not gone my way so far this Christmas. In fact, in the words of Elvis, I would say that this has been a "blue blue blue blue Christmas" in our home this year! Ok, maybe not that bad...you know how dramatic I can be! Besides technically Christmas is not even here yet! But seriously, here are a few things that have not gone our way so far:

1. We spent the 1st 2 weeks of December frantically running from one church event to another, leaving the boys with 5 babysitters in 2 weeks, not including the time they were away from us in the nursery or preschool...this is probably why I ended up SICK! Now, don't get me wrong, these were all good and fun events in and of themselves...but when you have 1, 2, even 3 events a day almost everyday for 2 weeks straight...this can get a little crazy, even tiring, leaving you beat down! Not to mention all of the responsibilities we held at each of these events and the meltdowns we had to deal with from our children along the way!

2. We finally made it through the marathon, only to end up SICK and not able to do the fun family things I had plannned for us...including movie marathon day, taking the boys to see Christmas lights, and playing with all of the fun stuff Gigi sent the boys!

3. For the 2nd year in a row, Aaron and I were not able to go to Hyde Park Praise with some friends of ours!

4. I was not able to attend my Girls Night Christmas Ornament Exchange!

5. I was not able to go to church this past Sunday or lead Fit Camp this week!

6. My house is a DISASTER since I have been too sick to care, Anderson just does whatever he wants!

7. And to top it all off...the one night we had free in the 1st 2 weeks of December before I got sick, we went with 2 other families out to Marble Falls to see the lights but when we got there, it started raining so we went to eat dinner hoping the rain would pass...by the time dinner was over, it was sleeting and freezing so the lights were turned out, we never got to see them! On the way home, it started snowing! Only in Austin can it go from 80 to freezing and snowing in one day! We joked about the fact that we went all the way to Marble Falls just to eat at Chili's, we could have just stayed in Austin to do that! At least we have a funny story to tell!

On a more serious note, I have been a little down because my friend Melissa's dad has been in ICU for over a week and I have another friend who is struggling in her marriage. Please pray for these 2 situations as well as for me to get better FAST and stay well! I am supposed to go home this weekend to see family and friends but I am afraid that may not happen either!

OK...enough of the pity party...just wanted to let you know where I have been and what has been going on! As soon as I get better, I promise to post my own tour of homes so that you can see the rest of my Christmas decorations, as promised, and I will also give a report of the fun family stuff we end up doing with the boys in the next week or so!

In the meantime, as a reminder to myself, we are commanded to "Rejoice in the Lord always, I will say it again: Rejoice!" (Philippians 4). Thankfully only happiness is equated with circumstance...not JOY! We can still be joyful despite our circumstances because of JESUS!

Let's not get SO caught up in the hustle and bustle of the season that we forget the TRUE reason for the season! Luckily I did all of my decorating and shopping early this year and have already done most of my cards and wrapping so that I can now stop and focus on this one incredible event in human history(Matthew 1:20-23):

An angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, 'Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.'

All this took place to fulfill what the Lord said through the prophet: 'The virgin will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel' which means, 'God with us.'

Quote of the Day

As we are pulling out of the driveway to go to church this evening, Anderson says:

"Mommy, you forgot your Jesus book." (Aka, the Bible!)

Happy 1/2 Birthday EJ

I forgot to tell you that EJ turned 6 months on November 28th, the day after Thanksgiving! This is a picture of him on his 1/2 birthday. It is hard to believe that he is already 6 months old! He is such a big boy like his brother! He is the same size as other kids who are twice his age! He is still the sweetest baby I have ever been around...he continues to smile, "talk" and laugh more and more each day! And what a pretty boy!

He does not crawl yet but somehow gets around by scooting and rolling. He really likes to play with his toys, jungle gym, baby einstein, etc. He is grabbing everything and shaking his rattle! He has a strong grip too...so watch out for your hair and jewelry ladies! He also likes to play the drums (and by this I mean tap out the rythm with his hands on whatever is nearby). He is still drawn to light and music. He is now eating his vegetables....so far he has had carrots, squash and green beans. He did fine with carrots and squash but HATES green beans! I'm talking gagging and throwing up! We will try those again later down the road but for now, he is not having them!

He looks like Anderson in some ways...especially now that he is getting a little personality, some of his mannerisms remind me of him...but he looks a little different too...everything about him is lighter than Anderson...skin, hair and eyes...and in my opinion he looks more like Aaron in ways that Anderson looks more like me! But both boys change daily and are a good mixture of Aaron and I... and our two families! My dad swears that all of his grandsons look like him, even though they all look different...and are much cuter than him! Ha! But like Grandaddy says...he may not be cuter than EJ but he has more hair and teeth than him! Which is true...EJ is still pretty bald (and the hair he does have is so light it is hard to see) and he has no teeth yet! By 6 months Anderson had a head full of hair and 2 teeth!

It is fun to watch the two boys start to interact with each other...EJ can get down on the floor now and play with Anderson a little! Anderson is pretty sweet to him most of the time, sharing his toys with and talking to him...although he does have his moments of jealousy...these mostly come when he is tired and feels like EJ is getting more attention than he...and we all know how Anderson likes to demand your attention!

Well... I could probably talk about my boys all day long...but I better be going now...don't want to bore you! Ha!

Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas...

Ever since we returned from Missouri, we have been diligently working on decorating the house and the tree, wrapping presents and stuffing cards! I am SO excited that the Christmas season is finally upon us...I have spent the last month anxiously awaiting it! Why, you ask?!!? Simply because it is such a joyous time of year! I love everything about it....from the little twinkle lights to the music to the hustle and bustle in the air to the smiles on the faces around me to the real reason for the season! This year I am really working ahead to get everything done because the next 2 weeks of my life are going to be pretty insane with all that we have going on! I learned my lesson last year...we will pretty much be living at AMBC for the next 2 weeks...and I have ALOT of responsibilities upon me! This year should be a little easier considering I will not be pregnant (although now I have a 2 1/2 year old and a 6 month old) and I am not the featured speaker at the Ladies Night Out Christmas dinner, thank goodness! But I am hoping to get all of my work done ahead of time so that I can maybe enjoy all of the fun stuff I am about to be apart of in the upcoming weeks!

Tonight we pretty much finished decorating the house...our last project being the decorating of the Christmas tree...which is actually the only thing that the boys (and by boys I mean Aaron too) helped with...we had a good time! I am desperately trying to come up with new Christmas traditions that we can do as a family...we are trying to start our own traditions now that Anderson is old enough to participate! It is harder than you think considering I will be spending my Christmases with a house full of boys...who I am sure will not be into all of the silly traditions that my sisters and I LOVE! I do plan on keeping some of our traditions alive in my house...but I am also trying to come up with some more boyish ones too! I am sure they will kind of evolve naturally on their own like ours did BUT...one of the traditions will definitely be to decorate the Christmas tree together while listening to Christmas music, which is what we did tonight!

Here are a few pictures of the house and the tree:

The front door...

The fireplace...

The tree...

Anderson enjoyed helping...

He is very proud of his work...

EJ helped too...sort of...

I will give a more detailed account of the house on December 15th, when I participate in the Tour of Homes! Until then...Merry Christmas to ALL...may you and your loved ones have a blessed holiday season!

Even in the hard times, we still have the following to celebrate this Christmas, if nothing else:

For unto us is born this day in the City of David, a Savior, which is Christ the Lord!

(Luke 2:11)

A Missouri Thanksgiving

We spent EJ's 1st Thanksgiving in Missouri with Aaron's family. We got there late Tuesday night, the boys did really well on the flights but were exhausted upon arrival. Wednesday we slept in, ate and then Aaron and I went downtown while the boys took naps. While downtown, we bought a few things for Christmas, had a Dr Pepper float at a cute little 50s type diner, talked with some people from Missouri and Arkansas, and admired the beautiful courthouse! The Carthage square is comparable to the Granbury square if you have ever been there, but without all of the entertainment and not as many restaurants and shops. We had a blast, it was like a mini-date, which are pretty rare these days!

On Thursday we basically had 2 Thanksgiving dinners with 2 different sides of the family. I ate way too much and am looking foward to Fit Camp Monday! We had lunch with the Jennings side and dinner with the Franklin side. Due to illness in the family, both dinners were at Aaron's parents' house, which made the day fun but a little crazy! Anderson and EJ had a great time playing with all of their cousins! We were sad that the Aggies got blasted, but all in all, it was a good day! I forgot my camera, oops! So I will have to post more pictures when Aaron's family sends them to me! This one is a picture of some of Aaron's family sitting around watching EJ and Parker (his newest cousin, born in July, about a month after EJ) check each other out for the 1st time!

On Friday we slept in, opened Christmas presents (or should I say Anderson opened them all!) since we will not see them at Christmas, ate lunch and left for the airport. The travel home did not go as smoothly since both boys (and Aaron and I) were exhausted! It made for a long day and we were glad to be back home in Austin! All in all, Anderson and EJ had a great time visiting Grandma, Grandpa and Aunt Leslie!

Here are some of the pictures that Aaron's family sent to me:

On Daddy's old John Deere tractor...

Playing the piano with Daddy...

Helping Grandma open presents...

Now...on to Christmas! I could not wait to get back so that I could put out my new Christmas decorations! We got back late last night so the decorating began early this morning! It was the perfect day too since it was a little dreary and cold outside. The only thing left to do is decorate the tree. When the boys wake up from their naps, we are headed to the ranch for a cookout with my family so we will probably decorate the tree tomorrow. I will post pictures when we finish.

Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving with loved ones!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Be joyful always; pray continually;

give thanks in all circumstances,

for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus!

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

30 1/2

This past weekend I celebrated my 30 1/2 birthday by going to San Marcos with several of my girlfriends! I actually turned 30 on May 16th but EJ was born May 28th so I never really got to celebrate. I could not just let this major milestone go by without the recognition it deserves so I planned a girls-get-away weekend in the hill country!

The weekend started out with my sister Sarah coming down to spend the night on Thursday night. The 2 of us went to the AMBC craft fair on Friday morning and ended up buying out the place! There were so many cute things for such reasonable prices! Mostly we bought Christmas decorations but I also bought a few things for the boys and other holiday items. My favorite purchase however were the 2 beautiful handmade baskets I bought. These baskets were made by women in Bangladesh who need the money to take care of their families. They are brought over by a mission organization to be sold in America for them. Here is a picture of the 2 I bought: As soon as everyone got off work, we headed to San Marcos, dropped off our stuff at the hotel and then drove out to Gruene for dinner at the Gristmill (awesome onion rings!) and then to hear Roger Creager (awesome band!) perform at Gruene Hall. After the concert, we went back to the hotel for cookie cake, dr pepper and bed! Here is a picture of us at Gruene Hall:
Saturday morning we slept in, had breakfast at the hotel and then hit the outlet malls! Everyone bought alot of great stuff and found really good deals! We had a blast and I am sure bought way too much stuff, but it was too good to pass up! Here is a picture of all of our purchases in the back of Kristen's tahoe: After we were shopped out, we headed back to Austin for dinner at the Melting Pot. We had a 3 course dinner of cheese fondue, salads, and chocolate fondue. It was so much fun tasting all of the unique blends of fondue and the different foods you dip in it! It was delicious! We ate way too much but it was worth it! Here is a picture of the tray of food that you dip into the chocolate:
After dinner we went home, wiped out, but so glad we went!We have decided that we need to have a girls-get-away in the hill country at least once, if not twice, a year from now on! Thank you Jessica, Sarah, Meredith, Karen, Melissa, Kelli, Kristen, and Amy for making my 30 1/2 birthday trip a blast!

Be My Cupcake

Today EJ and I met Daddy at the mall for lunch while Anderson was at preschool. While we were there, we discovered a wonderful surprise, called Be My Cupcake! It is the same concept as The Cupcakery but it has more cupcake flavor choices and I actually think the cupcakes were better, although I got different flavors than I did at The Cupcakery. Today Aaron and I had a chocolate peanut butter flavor (rich but delicious!) and we bought Anderson a strawberry cream cheese flavor (also delicious!). In Frisco I had a chocolate gnoche flavor and a red velvet flavor, and Kristen had red velvet flavor and a raspberry flavor. I will have to get Kristen's opinion on the place but I think I liked these cupcakes better than the ones in Frisco. Although I must say that my all time favorite cupcake is still the red velvet one from the Red Oven in Arlington! I don't think it will ever get surpassed! The best part of the day was that Anderson got to have his pink cupcake! I am glad to know that we have a cupcake shop nearby for those times when I just have to have one and I would definitely recommend it, but I don't plan to go there often since I am trying to lose weight, not gain it!

Cupcakes for Christmas

Today's conversation with Anderson:

Mommy: Anderson, what do you want for Christmas?
Anderson: Want cupcakes for Christmas!
Mommy: You want cupcakes for Christmas? What kind of cupcakes?
Anderson: Want pink cupcakes!


I don't know where this kid gets this stuff, but he is all about FOOD! Looks like we will be heading back to the Cupcakery sooner than I thought!

Turkey Thanks

After having our week of Halloween fun, we decided that it would be fun to do something in the spirit of Thanksgiving. So...Anderson helped Mommy make a little turkey to hang on the refrigerator that would remind us of all that we have to be thankful for this year. Each day we will add new things that we are thankful for to the feathers and I will update the list as we go. So far we have the following things to be thankful for in 2008:

1. The arrival of Baby EJ

2. Big Brother Anderson

3. 5 1/2 wonderful years of marriage

The next 3 are what Anderson said when I asked him today what he is thankful for:

4. Mommy & Daddy

5. Amy

6. Dot & Gary (His SS teachers)

(He also said EJ & Anderson but we already have them on the list!)

Other things we are thankful for...

7. Family

8. Friends

9. AMBC

Enter His gates with Thanksgiving and His courts with praise; Give Thanks to Him and praise His name! (Psalm 100:4)

Holiday Magic

My friend Kristen and I drove to Arlington this weekend to go to Holiday Magic, a charity event put on by the Junior League. We had an absolute blast! First, we went to the luncheon/style show, which included a silent and live auction. There we got to sit at a table with my mom and sisters, my friend Amy, as well as my mom's best friend Brenda and a few of her friends. Lunch was delicious, the fashion show was awesome (saw lots of things we wanted!) and the company was so much FUN, including our fabulous waiter Kevin!

After lunch, we shopped in the market. Basically, we bought way too much stuff and spent way too much money...but who cares?!!? We had a good time and got some great things! And by the way, we did pass up some stuff...we could have bought more! Here is a picture of the Christmas decorations that I bought. I wanted ALL of the Christmas decorations in this one booth but I settled on these (I think Amy and Sarah bought them out anyways!). I can't wait to put them out, but I don't decorate until after Thanksgiving...I like to give Thanksgiving the recognition it deserves! So as soon as we return from Missouri...the decorating begins!After shopping, Kristen and I drove to Frisco to spend the night at Amy's new house, which is beautiful, I am glad I FINALLY got to see it! When we got there, we visited with Amy's roommate Dusti for a little while and then went out to eat at Scotty P's (great burgers and onion rings!), got dessert at the Cupcakery (glad we do not have one by my house because I would gain all my weight back eating those delicious little cupcakes!) and stopped by to visit with Mike and Amanda (Amy's brother and sister-in-law) and see their new house, which is right around the corner from Amy's!

Somewhere along the way, I discovered that I forgot to pack my jeans so we stopped off at the Gap to buy a new pair (I got to buy a size smaller...yeah!) and while we were there, we all bought matching purses (like we needed to buy anything else!). We returned to Amy's to watch Baby Mama (very cute!) and then went to sleep. We headed back to Austin this morning, tired but so glad we went! Kristen fell in love with Frisco and wants to move there now...and I fell in love with it all over again...it brought back alot of great memories of the fun I had living with Amy!

All in all, it was a GREAT trip and we plan to make this an annual event! So....all of you AMBC ladies, put it on your calendar!

Give Me Jesus

Another song that God keeps bringing to my attention is called "Give Me Jesus." Jeremy Camp sings it on his newest album "Beyond Measure." Jeremy Camp is another of my favorite artists, by the way. Vince Gill also sang it on the Grand Ole Opry Live cd "How Great Thou Art."

For some reason God keeps reminding me of that song. First, Aaron sang it in church a few months ago. Then we saw Vince Gill perform it at the Grand Ole Opry (we saw it on TV not in person!). Then today I told my dad about it when he was asking for song ideas for him and a friend to sing at church. And then just now I was looking up another Jeremy Camp song when I realized that he also sings this one. I am sure that it is his version that Aaron sang at church. It's funny how God speaks to you. So I thought I would share it with you since I share many of my song inspirations with you.

The lyrics are simple, the music is beautiful, the message is powerful, it goes like this:

In the morning, when I rise
In the morning, when I rise
In the morning, when I rise
Give me Jesus

Chorus:
Give me Jesus
Give me Jesus
You can have all this world
Just give me Jesus

When I am alone
When I am alone
Oh, when I am alone
Give me Jesus

Chorus

Jesus
Give me Jesus

When I come to die
When I come to die
Oh, when I come to die
Give me Jesus

Chorus

Give me Jesus
Give me Jesus
You can have all this world
You can have all this world
You can have all this world
Just give me Jesus

Jesus

You really need to hear it to get the full effect because it is such a beautiful song, so click here to hear it. I really wanted you to hear the Vince Gill voice we all know and love but this is the only version I could find for the time being, but it is still good! Enjoy!

The point of all this is that in light of uncertain days, Jesus is all we need. And praise God for his wondrous grace, all we have to do is "Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened."(Matthew 7:7,8)

For "If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved!" (Romans 10:9)

Halloween Fun

Halloween has quickly become a week long event at our house!

Here is our schedule of activities:
Monday- Bake Halloween confetti cupcakes that Gigi sent to Anderson (***Update: Anderson had a blast helping Mommy make and decorate the cupcakes! Although I must say that he was much more interested in finishing the decorating so that he could eat them! He kept saying, "wanna eat 'em." Wonder where he gets that from?!!? My favorite parts were that he wanted to put ALL of the pumpkin toothpicks in his one little cupcake and that he told Daddy that he put "sparkles" on his cupcakes, aka "sprinkles!" Of course he was a mess by the time all was said and done! Thanks for the fun gift Gigi!)

Tuesday- Watch Pooh's Halloween Heffalump Movie (***Update: Mommy had fun watching the movie! Anderson was about as interested in watching it as he is in all of his other videos...he wants to put it in and turn it on himself and then he is fascinated for a few minutes...but would rather run around playing with his toys, while the movie plays in the background! He really is fascinated with Pooh, Tigger, Piglet, Eeyore, Rabbit, Kanga, Roo and Lumpy but he would rather play than sit and watch TV, which I think is a good thing! Daddy took the day off from work to hang out with us which made the day really nice! He was not that interested in the movie either but that's okay because Mommy wanted them to watch it, not because she thought they would like it, but because she thinks that little purple elephant is so cute!)

Wednesday: Trick or Treat Storytime at Barnes & Nobles with Gabe (***Update: Anderson (Lion!) had a blast at storytime today. He got to play with his little friend Gabe (Tigger!) and Gabe's friend Isabella (Ballerina!) as well as a bunch of other kids! He got to hear the story, There Was An Old Woman Who Swallowed a Bat, go trick or treating throughout the store, make a craft and eat pumpkin pie! I think his favorite part was trick or treating and eating the candy! Afterwards, he got to play with Gabe and Isabella at Gabe's house! It was a fun day and I am actually surprised that we made it out of the bookstore without buying anything because he wanted everything in sight! This was the 1st of 3 times that he will wear his costume this week!)

Thursday- Bake Pumpkin cookies that Mommy bought (***Update: Anderson had a fun time helping Mommy make, bake and decorate the pumpkin cookies! Of course he also loved eating them! He played with the dough like it was playdough and he smeared the icing with his fingers so by the end he was a huge mess as you can imagine! Today at preschool, he got to wear his lion costume again during the costume parade that ended with the church staff giving the kids candy! He ended the day by watching the Halloween video that Gigi sent him called, It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown. But as I mentioned before, he will not sit still long enough to watch the entire thing! Tomorrow is the BIG day...EJ's 1st Halloween! Have you been wondering where EJ has been during all of our Halloween fun?!!? He's been doing what he does best...sleeping! He did go with us to the bookstore but he just hung out in his carrier while we were there! You will get to see him tomorrow in his CUTE costume...any guesses as to what it might be?!!?

Friday- Fall Festival at AMBC with Gigi & Grandaddy (Update: ***Today is EJ's 1st Halloween! Here is a picture of EJ in his 1st Halloween outfit that Gigi sent him and a picture of the boys with their pumpkins! I gave EJ the littlest one and of course Anderson wanted the BIG one! Tonight we are going to the fall festival in our costumes, I will post pictures later. Happy Halloween!) Well, the week of Halloween fun is officially over! It ended tonight with the fall festival at our church. Anderson had a great time running around playing games and winning candy and of course, eating it! His favorite activity was the balloon room, which was basically the raquetball court filled with balloons and foam noodles, where the kids could run around hitting the balloons, trying to keep them off of the ground! EJ cruised around in his little stroller, watching all of the kids play! As you can see, Anderson was our cute little lion, EJ was our sweet baby elephant and Mommy and Daddy were the safari hunters! EJ was the inspiration to our theme because Mommy wanted him to be an elephant so the other costumes evolved from there! All in all, it was a great night and we enjoyed having Gigi and Grandaddy there with us!

Happy Halloween! Hope your week was as fun-filled as ours!

Quest for Health

After being married for 5 years and having 2 babies, I realized that I was about 40 lbs. heavier than the day I got married...ahhh! And so I began my quest for better health and fitness. Not just to lose weight...but mostly to feel better, have more energy, be in better shape, be heart healthier, etc....so that I can chase after my boys for many years to come! Specifically, I started attending WOTP Fit Camp every M/W/F beginning the week after Labor Day (you can find out more about that at http://www.worthyoftheprize.com/ or http://www.worthyoftheprize.blogspot.com/) and I also began walking for an hour every T/TH beginning in October. Fit Camp is from 5:30-6:30am so I am home before the boys even wake up and as far as the walking goes, I just load my boys up in the double jogger and off I go. I try to walk anywhere that I can...to the store, park, church, etc....I never have to go more than a mile anywhere because everything we do is right in our little neighborhood... I like getting out of the house and I like the boys being confined to the stroller! I have not really been on a diet (because I hate diets and because as soon as I get off the crash diet, I gain the weight back because I go from one extreme to the next!), but I have tried to eat smaller portions, not eat late at night, not eat out so much, and not keep junk food in my house. When I get those cravings, there is nothing bad to eat in the house and it is too hard to load up the boys to go get something! My new motto is "Workout More, Eat Less!" I am trying to change my lifestyle to be more balanced so that I can keep the weight off. So far I have lost 10 lbs....woohoo!

Anderson's New Roommate

Remember how I told you that Grandaddy sent Anderson a Josh Hamilton fathead?!!? Well...it is hanging on the wall in his room as of this past weekend! We wanted to put it on the back of his door but it would not fit because it is so HUGE...so it ended up on one of his walls and it pretty much takes up the entire wall! I posted a picture of it so that Grandaddy would believe us that it is actually hanging on his wall! For some reason, he thinks we are helpless! Tonight when Anderson went to bed, he said "Night Night Josh!"

Pumpkin Fun

I invited a few of my girlfriends and their kids over for a Pumpkin Decorating Party! We had a great time! The pumpkins were SO easy to make and they turned out SO cute! Thanks for the great idea Amanda! If you want to find out how to make these pumpkins, go to this link. The picture of the 2 pumpkins by themselves are the 2 that I made, a Mizzou pumpkin for Aaron and a TCU pumpkin for me! Go Frogs!