Christmas Card Session...

Hum...why do we do this to ourselves?? You know, we dress the kids all up, set up the camera, and your ready to roll...but are the children?? The older two, after knowing me for 7 years, know me well enough that they are cool. I'm sure they hate it, but if they know one thing about their dear ole stepmom it's that I LOVE a good picture! So, they were there and happy and really helping with the younger two. NOW, the younger two have NOT been around long enough to know that their momma really enjoys a good family picture, therefore they were a little "onery" for the session...let me reword...sessionS!

Session one....Spanky NOT interested. Session two...Spanky has now been bribed and Darla is okay...but you better snap fast. Thank GOODNESS I have the Canon EOS Super fast picture taker to grab the any second smile. Session three...Spanky has now been THREATENED and Darla is Stone Cold Steve Austin, there is NOTHING that can get this girl to crack a smile.

Session Complete...Momma Randa finally comes to terms with the fact that God made us ALL imperfect, therefore, why do I think that my children are going to take a PERFECT Christmas picture. SO...whatever, do with what you have and enjoy the memories! :)

Let the Decorating Begin...

Yes, I know, I'M BEHIND, in the decorating at least among the crazy women I'm friends with! :) HA!

SO, tonight we got started and put up the tree. Our tree is one you know you get every branch out and find the color and then "FLUFF" and attach each branch. It really is prettier, however it does take FOREVER! BuT, we had fun in the process. Spanky was a big help...most of the time. We got the first row on and he says, "Wow, that is beautiful'! When we were done he said, "TADA"!! Between the first row and the last he did get a bit side tracked. He found some left over berries from last year and rolled them around on the floor, then he crawled UNDER the tree, Through the tree and had I not stopped him I'm quite certain he might have tried to crawl OVER the tree. He was a little excited. Just when you thought you were safe, he got out his binoculars to get a closer look. He was so much fun tonight. I of course put on the Christmas music so he sang along! Mostly made up his own words, but they were good!!

Darla even got in on the action. She's getting so big and although I didn't plan it, she had some Santa Jammies on tonight so it made for super cute pictures. Her daddy can get her to smile like no one else so she was cheesing up for him tonight!

Looking forward to many more days and nights of decorating. I've been on the internet all evening finding ideas...we shall see what happens...to be continued!

SuPeR FUN CrUiSe!!!

Yes, we are back from an AMAZING, RELAXING, WONDERFUL 4 days together! John and I left our sweet children with my sister and went on a cruise from Miami, to Nassau, Bahamas, CocoCay and Key West. We had SUCH a great time...one of the best vacations the two of us have been on in years...just so relaxed and enjoyed each other!

In Nassua we swam with the Dolphins at Dolphin Encounters. I would HIGHLY recommend this to ANYONE. It's so worth the money and what a cool experience to ACTUALLY be in the water with these awesome fish! They were very sweet and so trained it was amazing. Right when we got in the water, the trainers must have thought John and I were the "Fun" ones of the group, which they were right...but anyway, they sent one dolphin right up to me for a kiss...oh so sweet. They told John the same thing, but when the dolphin got to him he spit water in his face!! At the end of the session, each of us got a turn to get a "Foot Push". This is when you lay FLAT in the water and the dolphins come up behind you, each one puts their nose on your foot and they lift you out of the water and push you across the lagoon! It's SO MUCH FUN!!

In Cococay, we enjoyed the beach! Walked along the sand which was SO beautiful. We enjoyed Many a Pina Colada's and just relaxed. We enjoyed watching the kids play in the water and the sand and talked about how Spanky would just LOVE this place! He will come with us next time! I think everything we did we said, Oh Spanky would love this!

Key West we just shopped around a little and people watched. Lots of interesting people to watch so it was quite intertaining! :)

Each day John treated both of us to the spa! Awe...it was great!! He got massages every day, I got a massage, Mani/Pedi and a facial! It was so much fun!! We missed the sunset every night because we were in the spa...but I think it was worth it, plus I "lifted" some sunset pictures from our friends facebook page! :) HA!

Friends...oh my goodness! We met the BEST couple from Miami. Raul and Gabby, originally from Argentina. They were a BLAST!! They sat at our table at dinner so we enjoyed getting to know them and enjoying the night activities on the ship! The quest was the best...SO FUNNY. You played in Teams and they would name something and you had to find it and bring it to them. It started nice and fun...then got a little crazy...but still fun!! The finally was that we had to dress one of the guys like a super model. Raul was the pick! He walked in my heels and the next day he say, Oh my feet are so sore, I don't know how you walk in heels! It was a crack up!!

Just a fabulous week we had. Now back to reality, but what a fun time we had!!

Rock Chalk...Kind of

Yesterday we celebrated Miss Rascal's birthday at the KU game. YES, we are 2 1/2 months EARLY, however she told her dad and I that she really wanted to go to a KU football game for her birthday. SO...we aim to please! :)

We were supposed to meet some friends and their kids up there to tail gate but poor K got the flu so they weren't able to make it...NEXT YEAR FOR SURE! We got there plenty early but Spanky loved every minute of it. They had KU inflatables, the big slide, the obstacle course and of course the Jayhawk bounce house. GOOD TIMES! That got him good and worn out and the older ones and dad played catch with the football. We got great seats in the family zone. We had the band right by us and the cheerleaders right down front most of the time. NOW, in case you didn't know, the band and the cheerleaders are really Spanky's favorite part! Yes, the older boys enjoyed the cheerleaders too, however for probably different reasons.

It was really a pretty good game, just didn't end up so good for the Jayhawks.

After the game we continued the Birthday celebration with pizza at Pyramid Pizza, Miss Rascal's request and then a trip to Joe's t-shirt shop. NOW, this is an experience in itself. LOTS of interesting t-shirts. We all did manage to find one that we could really wear that wouldn't offend or raise questions by our friends children! :) We ended the celebration with a walk down Mass Street and Ice cream and Ben and Jerry's.

It was a great day...Happy Early Birthday Miss Rascal! We love you!

3 Months Old

My goodness....times flies when your busy!

Darla is now three months old. She's getting so big and fun!! She is sitting in her bumbo seat, loves the fish on her bouncy seat, she enjoys looking at herself in the mirror and she is a TALKER which comes naturally to her! :) Spanky says she's a princess and he is totally right! She is as sweet as can be. She loves smiling at her daddy and he loves it a little more! Did I mention she's a smart little girl! :) She really enjoys watching her mobile in her crib and on a lucky day her brother watches with her. Super cute! He is very gentle with her most of the time and really loves her to death!

We are so enjoying our little princess and thank God every day for our wonderful healthy children!

HAPPY 40th AUNT ROBIN!!!

The kids Favorite Aunt Robin and my wonderful sister is 40 today!!

We had a surprise birthday party for her a couple of weeks ago. The best...she walks in, about 50 of her closest friends yell...SURPRISE and she says, "FOR WHAT" :)

Happy birthday to a wonderful sister and friend! She is the fun aunt who will play silly games. She's a great subject changer when the kids are having a melt down! She's a wonderful teacher, caring for all of her students, how ever many there are in her classroom at one time. :) You are a wonderful sister always there to help out or give advice when I need it. I've loved you all my life! Your the best!!

Trick or Treat...it was a success!

Oh, again, I can't say enough about how I LOVE this time of year! We ended the Halloween Season this week with a trip to the Pumpkin Patch with Spanky's class, the Harvest Party at Church, dinner out with the kids and daddy surprised mommy with a special treat...more to come later!! :) Saturday we attended, "Trick or Treat street" downtown, jumped in the bounce houses, took a nap, attended our friends Fall Party complete with hayrack ride, music, and wonderful food and fellowship. We ended the evening with the ever so wonderful, TRICK OR TREATING!! You know the one day of the year you can ring the doorbell as much as you want...this was really Spanky's favorite, the candy was a close second! :)

Spanky dressed up as "Swiper the Fox" from Dora the Explorer. The wonderful mom I am, did not realize he was the VILLIAN of the show...well, what better for a super sweet onery boy to be Swiper! :) You know, "Swiper NOT SWIPING". :) In fact at the Harvest Party one of our friends little girls was "Dora". She was a bit scared of "Swiper" we kept telling her, "it's okay, it's just Spanky"! :)

While trick or treating, Spanky enjoyed the "head in a ball" at one house, in fact he went back just to play...again not super interested in the candy they were giving out. He did enjoy the fake rat on the porch...GROSS! When we met up with his little mermaid friends, they were running from him and he'd yell, "it's okay, don't be scared". So cute!! Spank really enjoyed trick or treating and what a beautiful evening to be out begging strangers for candy! :) HA HA!!

Darla enjoyed the evening dressed in a cozy pumpkin sleeper...she did just that most of the evening, slept. :)

Now...what to do with all of the candy. Spank really enjoys sorting and looking and sorting and looking. He really enjoys eating too, but those little bodies fill with sugar quickly so we are trying to limit a little! I'm sure during nap time I'll be "sorting" a little myself!! :)

Oh...for the surprise for mommy from daddy...A CRUISE! That's right, we're leaving in 2 WEEKS!! Going south for some fun in the sun...just John and I. I'm super excited. The leftover prego flab is not super excited, but John continues to remind me that we will never see these people again. And he's right...mostly. :)

Here are some snapshots from our fabulous fun week!