The Final Four

Stacey High Homecoming 2012

2012-01-28T20:46:00.001-06:00

Sami all dressed and ready for Homecoming 2012.... She looks so beautiful!!

Sami and Girlfriends... Daley, Christina, Sami, Ebony~ Homecoming 2012

Everyone who came tonight for pictures before homecoming....

Cowboy Breakfast... Start of Homecoming Weekend....

2012-01-27T12:33:00.000-06:00

Sami and Hannah at thier Basketball Games

2012-01-25T14:25:00.001-06:00

Hannah is playing on a all girls team... She Loves it! She plays such good defense. I am so proud of her as are many others. The ref's and the coach's and parents all told her "that's how you play!" she was so excited. The coach from the other team actually gave Hannah a card or paper I am not sure and said "you play next year and call me I want you on my team". She said well my big sister plays bball and is on the JV team. Sami was having a proud big sister moment at that when the coach said "well you keep watching her and keep getting better!"
This is LaPryor the team Sami played over Christmas break and we lost too. This was a home game last Tuesday. THEY WON!!!!!! It was a good game from what I hear and Sami played well and I am so excited for the team. They are not having the best of season's but they are doing their best with all the new girls that are freshman learning the game and how to play high school sports. However, Sami is the co-captain of her team and I love how aggressive she is and how much she loves sports. The season is almost over and homecoming is this weekend. Will post more of Homecoming this weekend.

Shelby

2012-01-10T09:00:00.001-06:00

These are random shots I found that the kids have taken of Shelby.... First one is her little bed we made in our livingroom for her and Ofcourse her asleep in Sami's chair. I will assume that Sami thought that picture was cute when she woke to see her with her paw up like that on the chair asleep. She is getting more comfortable with us and around the house. She decides which room she is sleeping in for the night and where. We wake up and find where she is! If the kids leave their doors ajar she just head bunts them open enough so she can get in. Sami stopped her from Sleeping on her bed thou because she says she is a bed hog. So the chair she will sleep in. Yesterday we found her on Hannah's bed curled up right next to her sleeping soundly. Spoiled, yeah I think so!

Ethan and Elijah's First Basketball Games of the Season

2012-01-10T08:47:00.001-06:00

Elijah's Team is called "The Kings" The Spur's again sponsored Lackland's Youth Basketball Teams again this year! He plays on the 8-9 year old league half courts.... so fun to watch them play.... You forget after watching High School level ball that the ref isn't there to call anything but just keep them going the right direction!

This is Ethan's Last year playing in the Youth League before he starts High School next year. He plays on the 13-14 year old Team. Team name "The Bulls". Ethan wants and I hope that next year I will see Sami and Ethan playing for their High School Basketball teams. Ethan on his boys JV as a Freshman and Sami on the Varsity Girls Basketball Team!

Happy New Year! Love The Pearson Family

2012-01-01T02:46:00.001-06:00

Happy New Year Everyone! WE hope 2012 brings in much love, joy, happiness along the bumby road of life this year.... I can't wait to see what the year has to hold for our family. I truly Thank God for all my blessings in this life. The People in these pictures above have my heart. I hope you all had a wonderful New Years Eve and Ring in The New Year on a high note. God Bless, The Pearson Family, Chris, Cori, Sami, Ethan, Hannah, Elijah!

New Years Eve Party!!

2012-01-01T02:41:00.001-06:00

Our generous hosts for New Years Eve!!! We had a great time and met some really neat people. This is pictures of us getting everyone ready for New Years with hats and horns and beads etc....

All of a sudden Shawn said lets GO!!! and we started with bottles of sparkling cider and champagne walking down the street. I got put in charge of pictures... so I did my best... this is us walking down the street and counting down to midnight and watching the San Antonio Skyline with the millions of fireworks going off all over!!! Amazing view....

Once midnight hit, Chris held the bag of sparklers for all the children.... we lite it up back there watching the fireworks in the sky. All the kids had so much fun as did the adults... I still can't get over our view of the SA Skyline.

After the fireworks we all came back to the house to warm up and that started the Wii Dance 3 competitions..... What fun that was. Lots of laughs and cheering and just having a good time. People started to leave slowly and we had brought over the dance games and really just had a good time....
We hope you all had a wonderul New Years Eve no matter what you did and A VERY BLESSED NEW YEAR AHEAD!!! WELCOME 2012!!!!

Christmas Eve~ Christmas Morning!

2011-12-26T16:54:00.000-06:00

The Final Four and Shelby in front of the Tree on Christmas Eve... normally they get pj's, but they don't need anymore this year! So instead they got something they wanted also... Headphone hoodies. The strings are headphones and they can hook up their Ipods to the plug in their pockets. They all loved it.

After Santa arrived delivery Sami a Corner tv stand and tv, Ethan a Punching bag with gloves and wristbands and rope, Hannah a Razor Scooter, and Elijah a Red Power Ranger Samuari costume and Shelby a new bowl set at 3:30am.... the kids were up and begging at 6am! I said you can have your stockings but lets try to wait till 7am. Yeah, well at 6:30am we called Nana & Papaw and told them everyone was up for Christmas morning to head on over. We had a very lovely Christmas morning. I think everyone got everything they wanted and more. We are truly blessed in this family every Christmas because of family. We hope you all had a wonderful Christmas with Family and Friends as we did. Now onto the New Year!!!! Bring it on 2012!!! We are ready!

Shelby gets her first bath... So does Sami!!!!

2011-12-24T03:29:00.000-06:00

So.... Its been raining here A LOT! Our backyard is like a mini pond and lots of mud. Shelby loves to go out and just lay in the grass... well she laid in the mud and her legs were just covered with mud. She needed a bath anyway and we were going to take her to the groomers we called that does everything! When I say everything I mean something gross too! Anyway, Chris bought some pet shampoo and Sami gladly wanted to be the one to give her a bath. We got her in the tub and Sami climbed right in with her. Hannah and I held up towels as with all dogs they LOVE to shake when they are wet. It was like 3D motion her shaking back and fourth and from side to side. But we scrubbed good... then to get her all pretty for Christmas, we have been brushing and brushing her out.... She is doing ok! She seems to be in a lot of pain with her legs with the cold weather and rain. Plus she has a bad ear infection. Still worried about her eating etc.. but she goes to see the Vet on Dec 28th... he will give her a look over and tell us were to go from here and probably schedule her first Torn ACL surgery when the kids go back to school so she can rest and re coop. They said about 6 weeks to be totally healed... and 3-4 months later they will repair the partial torn ACL in her other leg and she should hopefully be good to go and have more energy and not so much pain. My parents and brother and neighbors and the kids friends who have all met her can't get over what a good dog she is... How calm and relaxed etc... we just already love her to pieces and she is part of the family! I am going to get a picture of her with the kids in front of the tree to add to the blog on Christmas Morning with her red bow on! Can't wait to add her to the side! But for now she smells so good and looks so pretty with her red hair!!!!

Pearson/Scanlon Christmas~2011

2011-12-23T16:38:00.002-06:00

Nana & Papaw Collage with The Final Four. Christmas 2011!

Papaw w/ The Boys~ Nana w/ The Girls Collage.

Uncle Jay and His Possy!! Striking the Uncle Jay Look.... think they got it down?

The Pearson/Scanlon Family Christmas Picture of 2011

Mom, Dad (Larry & Cathy Scanlon) w/ thier kids Chris, Cori, and Jay

Nana & Papaw aka Our Parents Larry & Cathy Scanlon

The header picture is our new Family Picture for Christmas on the blog that will be moved to the side once Christmas is over! On the right side is The Final Four's Christmas Picture under thier summer one, and down a bit further is Chris & I's Christmas Pic below our Summer Pictures also.....God Bless and Merry Christmas Everyone!!!

Shelby Pics....

2011-12-19T03:27:00.000-06:00

Hannah and Shelby!!! She loves her doggy! Shelby just follows the kids around and I think is still getting used to the house.

A Boy and His Dog! Elijah and Shelby! If he could get Shelby to climb up onto his high bunk bed he would... he so badly wants her to sleep with him!

Sorry sort of blurry.... This is what Shelby does to me most of the night... comes and stands or sits right next to the side of my bed whining to wake me up or blowing in my face to get my attention... I am hoping that the kids being home for Christmas Break for 2 weeks puts her on a better day/night schedule. Sami is sleeping downstairs right now and what does she do, still comes up to our room and wakes me up at 2am to let her out! Why doesn't she wake anyone else up? Chris says because she already has you wrapped and knows you mom and will get up and do it! He is probably right! I can't help it. She is a good dog!

Meet Shelby!!!

2011-12-14T14:29:00.000-06:00

Meet Shelby!!!! She was as most of you know suppose to be the kids Christmas Eve gift but well things happened with the people she was staying with and they wouldn't keep her till then, so Chris and I went and picked her up Monday night (dec 12th) and put a big red bow on her like we were going to do and brought her home. We called and told the kids to go to a room together and not come out. We brought her in. She is so behaved and trained. She walked around a bit and then we sat her in front of the tree and called the kids down. As you can see The Final Four were very excited. They have begged for a dog for a long time now and Shelby was the fit.

Hannah seen her and started crying instantly, "You got us a dog! You got us a dog!" She cried and cried because she was so happy. Sami teared up too. The boys were just excited and shocked. But Hannah couldn't control herself. She even said "You can return all my presents now, this is the best gift ever!" then later she said well keep a couple presents!

We were trying to keep things as calm as possible and not let the kids crowd Shelby so we made them all sit down and greet her individually. Here Hannah is crying and Elijah is just so excited he has a dog.

Sami took her upstairs and sat with her in her room for a bit to have some one on one time. Trying to get Shelby used to the house.

Ethan spending time in his room with Shelby for his one on one time with Shelby. She is a good dog. We are so happy with her. She does have 2 torn ACL's and will need surgery to have them repaired after the first of the year but other than that, she is so pretty and still getting used to us and we are still training her to our rules in the house and training the kids on how to handle her, but she sits out in the yard without a lead, walks next to us on a leash or without, listens and over all my biggest complaint is she loves the furniture to sleep on. So we made her, her own corner with old pillows and a blanket without scent on it and every time she gets on the coach we tell her down, and lead her over to her bed and make her lay down there. By night 2, she was sleeping in her bed! First night was like having a newborn! Today I woke up and she was upstairs for the first time sound asleep on Sami's bed. Hmmmm going to have to decide on that one but if she wants to sleep with the kids I actually don't have a problem with that. As long as she isn't on my furniture downstairs! She must be feeling more comfortable here to do that. So anyway, Here is Shelby Pearson! We also believe that she is about 3 years old, and is a Chesapeake Bay Retriever. So good:)

Chris and I at this years Squadron Christmas Party!

2011-12-14T14:16:00.000-06:00

Chris and I before the Christmas Party in front of our Christmas tree

Chris and I during the party! We had a good time. I didn't win the tv this year but I won $55 bucks and got up and danced! Fun!!!

Meeting Lady A and Eden's Edge

2011-12-14T14:10:00.000-06:00

These pictures say it all!!!! Yes, we are awesome!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Lady A Part 2

2011-12-14T14:05:00.000-06:00

Our Meet and Greet braclets to go and take our pictures and meet Lady A!!!!

In line acting all goofy! But so excited to see them in person!

2 Mom's of 2 teenager girls! Corinne and Cori! Yep, 2 redheads makes for a GOOD TIME!

Bestfriends. Daley and Sami!

We were suppose to put all cameras and cellphones away when they entered.... I snuck this shot on the cellphone of when they came in to do the meet and greet with all the military people! Yeah, us women got all gushy:)

Lady Antebellum Concert

2011-12-14T14:00:00.000-06:00

Ok, so Picasa is not letting me create a collage of our night out with Lady A!!! Sooo, here are a couple of my favorite shots during the concert with Lady A!

Sami's Friend Daley as you have all come to know father is a Active Duty Military Reservist. He gets all kinds of tickets for promotional things like concerts and much more. He got 4 tickets and gave them to Corinne (Daley's mom and Daley) and Corinne called me and said want to make a ladies night out with the girls? Free tickets. Free meet and greet! Just a hotel stay, were in! We 4 girls had the best time. Edens Edge opened up, LOVED THEM! Then Josh Kelly, Charles Kelly's Brother ( the tall guy of Lady A) opened for them and was awesome! Then Lady A.... WE did meet them! They are super nice and so sweet. They put on one heck of a concert and they are coming to San Antonio Stock Show and Rodeo in Feb and we are going as a Family for sure! Will post more above!

Merry Christmas 2011~ Love The Pearson Family

2011-11-28T09:26:00.000-06:00

Our Christmas Family Picture at Six Flags!

Holidays in the Park at Six Flags

2011-11-28T09:24:00.000-06:00

As we have for the past 3 years we went to Holidays in the Park at Six Flags the day after Thanksgiving for the tree lighting ceremony, to enjoy the park all lit up for Christmas and to get our Santa picture! Thanksgiving afternoon, Ethan had decided to go out and play some football with friends and in doing so fell and wouldn't you know it, broke his forearm again the same way he did in 6th grade. Thank goodness it was one arm this time not both! So they made him a splint to let the swelling go down and are casting him today (Monday Nov 28). So this is why you see him in a sling and arm like that. Yep, nothing like a trip to the ER on Thanksgiving! Pretty soon the people at Ortho are going to start thinking we beat our children if we keep visiting there with Sami and Ethan. We had a good time at the park but we were all tired needless to say. However, the kids got the Santa picture I wanted and I had it put into a snow globe this year! I was pretty excited about it. I know, I know... I get excited over the little things. Can't help it. The house is all decorated inside now and ready for Christmas. Just need to get the outside done now. Enjoy, and Welcome Christmas Season!

Basketball Season has started for THE FINAL FOUR!!!!

2011-11-17T01:35:00.000-06:00

Oh how I LOVE Basketball!!! All four of my kids play basketball and YES!!! The season has begun. Unlike the dang NBA!!??!?! Grrrr!!!!

Sami is co-caption again for the JV Girls Basketball Team, and is just now starting to practice as she has been on the injured players list. Ethan is in his last year of Youth Basketball on base. He LOVES his team and is having the best time. Elijah is loving practicing right now but boy, he came home and said, "Mom, that was a work out, I think with that and my workout DVD this is going to be tough!" I just hugged him and said to have fun with it and don't worry about anything else. Elijah being him was A OK with that! Hannah this year is on the first ALL Girls Basketball Youth Team. She knows all the girls and LOVES it too. All I can say is The Final Four was the perfect name for my kids and this blog because they love it as much as I love the game and watching them play it. Let the Season Begin!

Veterans Day....

2011-11-17T01:30:00.000-06:00

I wish sometimes that Chris helped me write the blog but he doesn't like too, he says that's my thing! However, it would help in explaining some of the things he does. I wish Chris was in one of these pictures but he isn't. However, Chris volunteered for this event in support of all our veterans past and present. It was called Veterans Outreach Program Stand Down. They passed out many clothes and military clothing and even the local biker club All Gave Some came in to support it. We had our WWII and Korean War Vets as the Color Guard. I didn't go to this, but I am glad Chris went, and I thought I would share a couple of pictures of this event, as we should always be thankful for our troops, not just on veterans day but EVERYDAY!

A Look into a Day in the Life Of Sami in High School

2011-11-17T01:23:00.000-06:00

Lets see.... as you can see Sami is forever going, and going. She has a ton of friends and loves school, sports and friends. These are just some pictures of a collage she put together for her friend Rae's 16th Birthday. Sami and her friends decorate each other's lockers for their birthdays. However, this is only for the B-Squad. Her tight knit friends. Let me see the middle picture is of Sami and the whole Student Council. The things she does for the school and community are awesome. Daley is the Student Body President and many of Sami's friends and Sami included are working on building college transcripts as they were told to by some visitors from local colleges and what they look for to get scholarships etc.... The bottom two pictures are of Rae on her 16th bday at school w/ Daley and Sami. Then The girls before heading out to the Eli Young Band Concert.The top two are of Sami's Volleyball Team. She was co-caption for the JV Girls Team and loved to dive for the ball and make those plays and in doing so hurt her shoulder and ended up missing the last part of the season and the start of the Basketball Season, however she is on her way back to the court! Then there is a picture of Cristina and Rae and Sami also. She has a fun life I would say. Thought I would share this little glimpse into her life and ours. However, I wouldn't have it any other way! Now if Ethan would just bring his friends over!!! Boys are sooo different about that stuff:)

Ethan at MW3 Video Game Release Party and MW2 Tournament

2011-11-09T08:15:00.000-06:00

A Couple of nights ago, I think Monday night, Ethan who is a HUGE XBOX LIVE fan and plays with people/kids all over the world by joining groups he plays against and talks to over his headphones while playing these games, talked Chris into taking him to go compete in a MW2 Tournament while waiting for the midnight release of the new MW3 game to come out. They only did 1 round in the Tourney and Ethan played in it and WON! He played against adults and kids his age too. He won the poster and you can see him playing in the tourney and one picture of everyone cheering him on. This is something he loves. Right now, he is dying because he got the Red Ring Of Death off of his XBOX which kills the machine. Uncle Jay brought him his old white one and Ethan was able to download a old external hard drive and upload it to the white one where he didn't lose any of his information etc.... However, this white xbox is very old, and he is desperate need of a new one, which I think Santa might just have to bring to him for Christmas. The older the kids get the more expensive their gifts get. However, I will give him and Sami this... they don't ask for much and know when they have way less under the tree its OK and they are grateful because they still got what they wanted. So I am hoping I can get to Target this week. They have the Xbox for $199 and you get a $50 gift card for free to shop at Target on them. That's $50 of free money to use toward Christmas shopping! Can't beat that deal. So I hope I can get out there. IF not BLACK FRIDAY Shopping is surely in our future! WE will probably leave on Thanksgiving evening to be honest because the stores are opening early this year. Here's to getting all the good deals and saving money and to my Ethan for doing what he loves. I hope he can use this to do what he wants to as a adult.

The BODPOD!

2011-11-08T03:58:00.000-06:00

Well, sort of don't know where to begin, but long story short again. As we all know, Elijah is a big boy! We took him in for a physical and found out how big. Not good news. So with that said, we jumped into action as its more important to get him to lose some weight and learn to be healthy now then to wait till he is older and its harder for him. We got a Pediatric Dietitian involved and more. Well, so they ordered all kinds of blood work first to check for thyroid problems, diabetes, hypertension, endocrine glands, pulmonary issues and tons more. Yes, he was ran through the gament on that one. But it needed to be done to make sure first it was a medical issue. No, to all the above, except we did find out they think he might be slightly on the line of diabetes but not sure. More tests to come on that one. Anyway, THE BOD POD... The Technical name is Air Displacement Plethysmograph. Say that fast x3 times! It is the gold standard for measuring body composition, specifically fat mass and lean body mass. What we learned from it was were Elijah falls into it all compared to the FDA's "Normal Standards". Elijah loved it. He said it was like being in a spaceship. When he couldn't hear Chris, he said " it sounds like your far-far away dad!" Always with the jokes. We have changed the whole grocery shopping experience to low sugar and low fat foods. Needless to say, its a slow process in this house at dinner time. Elijah is still after 3 weeks refusing to eat dinner. Meaning "Normal Food" Like Ham, Turkey, Pot Roasts, Taco's, Spaghetti, Chicken, and especially no side dishes like mashed potatoes or vegetables etc... He won't eat any sort of meat what so ever! He have put him on a 1000 calorie or less diet. He gets breakfast and a contained lunch. He only drinks water bottles with a flavor of his choice called MIO. You squirt into your water to give it flavor. It has no dietary value at all. He eats whole wheat gold fish, whole wheat peanut butter sandwich's, fruit, and 100 calorie packs for snacks, and baked chips etc.... He has lost 5 pounds we found out today! But its a long road still ahead of us. One day I hope he gives in and starts eating food I know he would like if he would just try it. Yes, he used to eat everything we feed him. It wasn't till he started Kindergarten that it ALL STOPPED!!! I have no idea why. However, we are doing this as a family. Everyone is going to eat this way to support Elijah and it doesn't hurt the rest of us at all. We have what we call in this house "THE PEARSON GUT!" and well we all could stand to lose some LBS. So keep Elijah in prayers. I got a feeling this is the beginning of our journey and he meets with a dietary lady on the 30th of Nov. She will help us try to get him to start eating other foods and help us set up a better diet for him. Till then....

Happy Halloween! Sorry I am late posting:)

2011-11-08T03:41:00.000-06:00

So Happy Halloween Everyone!! I know I am so behind on posting on the family blog. My apologies. So Sami ofcourse recycled Chris's custome from last year and went as the fat ballerina, but a short one!!!Hannah wanted to be Sally from the movie Grease. So we found this adorable Sock Hop Costume. Elijah well that is another story. He wanted to be a power ranger. Chris took him to some factory outlet Halloween stores that pop all over town and he was in heaven. Elijah loves to dress up as some sort of action hero whenever he can. So he was like a kid in a candy store. He would pick up one power ranger costume and then put it back for another costume so and so fourth. So finally, he decided on the Ninja costume. Why?? Oh because it came with daggers and a sword that is why! Needless to say about a hour before trick or treating Ethan dressed up as I don't know what. He says a undercover cop. Wore black and a hat and sunglass and headed out with like 15 of his friends while Sami headed out with her friends and Hannah and Elijah with Chris, while I passed out candy. Soon the night came, everyone was getting eatin alive by misquitos and we were starving. I ordered pizza and everyone came in and we all watched Paranomal Activity together. Well not Hannah and Elijah but the older kids and me. It was fun.

A Girls Night Out!

2011-11-08T03:28:00.000-06:00

On Oct 28th, Sami had been invited to go with her best friend Daley to go see The Randy Rogers Band!! For Daley's Birthday gift her parents had bought tickets for Daley's Mom Corinne and herself and some of Daleys friends to see the concert with her. Well, it ended up that no one could go. So Daley had asked me to go. I didn't want to at first. So Corinne called me and said the tickets were paid for and the money would be wasted if I didn't use the ticket and come out with them. Make a Mother's Daughters Night out! Finally, after many reservations on my part, not theirs I went and I am so glad I did. Watching the concert, having a great time with great people and sharing this with the girls who were ear to ear smiles all night long was the best. The worst part, FREAKING COLD OUT! I kid you not, of course a huge Arctic cold front moves in on that night and its a outside venue. The girls were freezing and Corinne and I tried to drink some beers but we were so cold we were not warming up at all, our bodies were metabolizing it way to fast. Plus it was last night of the World Series. The Randy Rogers Band had refused to take the stage till the Texas Rangers Won. Well we all know how that turned out. Don't even get me started on that subject!!! So finally, they took the stage. They played a awesome concert and we left and hit the IHOP at 1am and got home after 2am. What can I say except it was truly a wonderful time with some of my favorite people. Plus yeah, we are sort of addicted now to the Texas Band Circuit!

Sami Hurts Her Shoulder!

2011-11-08T03:12:00.000-06:00

Yes, her friends call her cluts! Why?? Oh yeah, because she is always hurting herself. Ok, long story short... During Volleyball season Sami was one of the team captains and she takes sports very seriously. Sometimes, well ALL the time!! She is very competitive on the court. Well, with that said she was always one to dive for the ball and make the plays as much as possible. Well she took one to many dives! She hit the floor always on that shoulder and slid into the bleachers and smacked her head too. After this she continued to play with her shoulder in pain. She came to us and said she needed to go see the Dr. Couldn't get her in to Ped's here so finally one night she was in so much pain that Chris took her to the ER. They thought she tore her rotator cuff in her shoulder. Sling bound and no sports! She wasn't happy. Then she had a MRI and we waited. One day I get a call from her Ped Dr. and he was freaking out. I mean freaking out so badly that I had to calm him down about it and I was her mom. Needless to say we got into the Ortho Dr the very next morning instead of another couple weeks. They seen she slightly fractured her shoulder right next to her rotator cuff and she had bursitis also. So she got put in this immobilizer for a month but not constantly. Just at school and things like that. At home and doing normal things she is out of it and doing PT. She is doing much better and it looks like she will be back on the basketball court in a couple weeks. Its killing her not to be playing right now. However, she goes to every practice and she PT's at practice instead of doing the real practices. Pictures of her to come playing Basketball soon. Coach said she is probably going on Varsity this year but we will see.

Elijah's 3rd Grade Fall School Year Picture~8 yrs~ 2011

2011-10-16T06:43:00.000-05:00

My Sweet Boy!!

Hannah's 4th Grade Fall School Picture~10 yrs~ 2011

2011-10-16T06:42:00.000-05:00

My Pretty Girl!

Halloween Customes Have been Decided!!

2011-10-15T13:57:00.000-05:00

So Elijah believe it or not changed his mind again! He wanted to be a Power Ranger. I bought him one online because it was clearances out..... got here and it was way to small for him. Go figure! Anyone need a brand new power ranger costume? Then he went to the BX and found a spider man mask and the web spray and bought it with his own money and decided he was going to be spider man. Well Guess what. After searching tons of places around town and online, Spider man comes in size's 8-10 biggest for kids or it then starts in adult sizes.... Grrrrr, however Chris found this new place because Hannah always knew she wanted to be Sandy from the movie Grease. The Sock Hop Girl!!! So cute!! I just love it and its so her! Anyway, again very hard to find in girls sizes, mostly in adults. Well Chris came thru and found this Halloween place and found Hannah's size in the Sock Hop Outfit for Hannah and he even found Power Rangers and Spider man for Elijah in his size also but wouldn't you know it. That place is like Elijah's heaven. You just put him in a place were he could dress up and act out the part for everything he likes. So he just kept searching because those 2 ideas were no longer on the table. Finally, he found this Red Dragon Ninja Costume and got a samurai sword and he was set! He is so excited and can't wait for Halloween. We made them both put them back in the bags after we took pictures of them at home and said you can wear them on Halloween and after for dress up anytime you want. Till then thou they stay in the bags in the closet. Hannah, no problem. Elijah, very disappointed. He wants to wear the thing to bed if he could! Now Sami and Chris are looking for a costume this year. They love being silly and it has to be something funny. So we will see what those two come up with. Ethan and I, well I don't get dressed up and nor does Ethan. He doesn't care for it anymore. However, he will go to the Halloween Parties and help pass out candy with me. Happy Halloween Everyone.....

Ethan's 8th Grade Fall School Year Picture~2011~13 Years~

2011-10-09T03:39:00.001-05:00

My Very Handsome Son!

Sami's Sophomore Fall School Year Picture~ 2011~15 yrs!

2011-10-09T03:37:00.003-05:00

My Beautiful Daughter!

Happy 10th Birthday Hannah

2011-09-30T23:26:00.000-05:00

How many of you watch Man vs. Food??? Well Big Lou's Pizza was on that show! We go to a lot of places on that show and Diners, Dives and Drive-ins here in San Antonio to say the least! However, last weekend Nana and Papaw were in town on her real bday and we celebrated with them, this weekend was her first bday party with friends in 4 years!!! Plus she is 10. That's double digits and that's a big deal!! This Kiersten, Cayia, and Ally with Hannah. Her best est friends! As you can see its a HUGE Pizza! The slices are enormous and we had a blast. None of us had ever been there before so we truly enjoyed it. I even got some shots of Sami and Ethan and Elijah to share!!! I know we will be going back as Sami said she wants her bday party there! We will see, her next one is her Sweet 16!

After Dinner, we brought a cake with us and the whole place sang Happy Birthday to Hannah on a bullhorn! Then Hannah got her big gift from Chris and I, a Hot Pink and Black Ripstick. She has been wanting one for a very long time now and most of her friends ride around base on them and she can ride them so well! She was pretty happy! Then off to the movies with her friends to see (again) but in 3D this time A Dolphin Tale! Still cute and a great movie. Then it was home to let the girls play a bit and now I need to go settle them in for bed and watch a movie as its almost midnight and Chris has to work tomorrow and I am beat! Happy 10th Birthday Hannah! We Love you!!!

Celebrating Hannah turning 10!

2011-09-25T02:54:00.001-05:00

Today we celebrated Hannah's 10th birthday! Double Digits is a big deal! We are having her birthday party with a couple of her friends next weekend but we celebrated her real birthday with Nana and Papaw while they were in town with day of her choice. First they went to see her Cheer at her game this morning. Everyone got a nice sunburn! Then we went to China Sea( a Chinese version of Golden Corral). Note to self... next time you let a 10 year old choose the restaurant, make sure you have eaten there before yourself! So after our interesting early dinner we went to the movies. Again, her choice which was a good one, it was to see a Dolphin Tale. Very good movie and amazing message behind. Differently highly recommend it and a film for all ages! However, this was also a important thing to document, why you might ask? Well I have included a photo of Papaw above in movie theatre. He hates theatres and hasn't been in one in 20 years! Because they told Hannah it was her choice and she choose dinner and a movie Papaw went! Just for Hannah! We did some little gifts just for her real bday, but she loved everything and especially her special day!

Happy 39th Birthday Chris!

2011-09-24T00:38:00.000-05:00

We went and celebrated Chris 39th Birthday with our parents Cathy and Larry aka Nana and Papaw at a very cool outside Mexican Restaurant and had a great time. They were told and NOT by me that it was Chris's birthday and when we were done with dinner they brought him out a beer and a sombrero and sang him happy birthday and we got some cellphone pic on dads phone. After that , we went to Cowboys Dance Hall and watched the PBR Rodeo and then when it was over went and danced some and then headed home. Yeah, we are old. We were all tired and ready to get home and to sleep. What a wonderful night out under the beautiful night stars in San Antonio. Enjoying dinner in 90 degree heat with a great atmosphere around us. Wonderful time. Happy Birthday Chris. I love you!!!

Hannah's First Cheerleading Game!!

2011-09-20T21:23:00.000-05:00

As promised I would post pictures of Hannah with her Cheer leading Squad Cheering at her First Football Game on Saturday. She has another game this coming Saturday that Nana and Papaw get to see and on Friday night the get to Sami playing Volleyball. Both are very excited. Ethan and Elijah so not to feel left out will be playing fall basketball and I will soon have pictures up of them.... Ethan however see's a camera or a phone camera and disappears!!! Doesn't like to take pictures. GRRR! however Chris got Sami and Elijah below both doing what all my kids have down to a science, texting or playing games on the phones. Enjoy!!!

Hannah's 10th Birthday Party Invites!

2011-09-19T23:09:00.000-05:00

Hannah's 10th Birthday is coming up! Sept 25th! Can't believe she is 10. Double digits is a big deal! So we made her invites for a Sleepover and Dinner at Big Lou's Pizza and Movie night in sleeping bags! She is very excited as this is her first big birthday party with friends in 4 years. We have been celebrating her birthday with family and Nana always comes and we take her out to a resturant of her choice and have presents and desert there and take cupcakes to her classrooms. She also normally goes to a amuzement park like Six Flags or Seaworld. This year, she is still going out to dinner and a movie with Nana and Papaw on her real birthday but we are having her birthday party on Sept 30th after school. She can't wait for all her friends to come celebrate with her this year! Above is the invites she and I created and printed out for her to pass out. Friday night, Nana, Papaw and Chris and I are going out for adult dinner to celebrate Chris's birthday on Sept 24th! Yep, 1 day apart! It will be a fun filled weekend for sure.

Hannah in her New Cheerleading Uniform

2011-09-16T20:59:00.000-05:00

Hannah is offically a Lackland AFB Cheerleader!!! Well she already was but they couldn't afford to order cheerleading uniforms so us parents whenever a special event came up on base and they were requested to cheer at events had to buy black spandex shorts and shirts etc...

Well Finally, the cheerleading coach found someone who sales these simple and cute (age appropriate to me) uniforms for the girls. $60 isn't cheap but its a lot less then others were being quoted.

Tomorrow, Hannah cheers at her first Football Game! She is very excited to have her uniform and pom-poms and cheer on Lackland AFB Football Teams. Will post new pictures then... Until then she wanted to share. Lets Go Hannah!!!!

Lackland ISD NewLetter Sept 2011

2011-09-09T21:13:00.000-05:00

http://issuu.com/LacklandISD/docs/11-09-09/1

Sami's JV and The Varsity Volleyball Teams made the newletter here and so did Chris and I on the back page. Very funny Hailey! She is the photographer for the school year book and newsletters and took a picture of us and I told her she could as long as I didn't catch it in the paper.... go figure!

Cowboys Dancehall Musicfest II Concert

2011-09-05T09:20:00.000-05:00

Well we have had a great Labor Day Weekend.... Friday, Chris and I went out to lunch together and to Sami's Game and Hannah had Volleyball Practice, then Saturday we went to Texas Hill Wine Country for Stompin of the Grapes, and Sunday we went to Musicfest II and seen Reckless Kelly, Shelda Larue, Kevin Folwer and the headliner The Eli Young Band!!! We were all very excited. Some of Sami's Volleyball Team Friends joined us. They all had a good time. It was 105 out and we drank so much water!! Plus the wind was crazy blowing but so hot! Needless to say as time trucked on and finally night arrived so did more and more people to see Eli Young Band. It was out in the big parking lot and not a lot of security to say the least.... we were up front and us adults kept taking turns with the kids standing and sitting with the groups. Well as Kevin Fowler took the stage the surge of people started to push forward and started pushing their way up front and of course the girls didn't know how to say no when people pushed their way in... then Coach Samanatha and I put the girl in front of us and tried to stand our ground.... soon after Kevin Fowler took over a HUGE Surge of people started to push forward... I did my best as did Chris to protect the kids from pushing and shoving and telling people no and quit pushing.... well about 2 songs into Eli Young Band Elijah wanted out of the crowd.... plus 3 of Sami's friends did too... so I stayed with Sami, Kathy, and Hannah. Hannah was all the way up front. I was 3 people behind her. These teenage girls and or group just out of nowhere pushed and shoved to the front and took over and started pushing the railing over and security had to push people back.... well then a huge guy with a little girl on his shoulders decided to yell birthday girl and tried to cut a path to the front, then security pointed at him like they wanted him, so I moved and actually security was telling him to get her down and move back, well he wouldn't and nor would his friend or daughter or his wife! So at this point I lost it, and finally grabbed all my girls after a few choice words with this guy and his wife and got us out of there.... Worst part of the night to say the least. But we went over and moved off to the side of the crowd were we could still see and was not being pushed and shoved and watched the kids listen and sing to the rest of the concert and we left. Exhausted to say the least! However with that little hicup there at the end it was a great time. Next time we know what to do thou for sure, not be in the surge up front!! Now its Monday, we have to get the house ready and everyone ready to get back to school and work and back to the normal grind of things. However, I think this weekend was well worth it! Hope you all had a Wonderful Labor Day Weekend Everyone!

Stompin of the Grapes!

2011-09-04T10:28:00.001-05:00

Views around Beckers Vinyard and Winery!

Yesterday, (Saturday) we wanted to do something for Labor Day Weekend. Of course, we had many choices on the table as we were trying to make our Labor Day plans. First choice was to head down to Corpus and sit on the beach for the weekend but we decided not to. Then we thought a day trip to Galveston because we had never been there.(we are try in to do things we haven't done yet) but a Tropical Storm Lee is brewing and said it might hit the Texas Golf Coast so no beach for us! So the other things on our list were, Six Flags, Comal River Inner Tubing, The Stomp in of the Grapes in The Texas Hill Wine Country, and of course Musicfest at Cowboys Dancehall to see the Eli Young Band.

Sami, Hannah and Elijah and Me Stompin in the Grapes!

So Saturday as we drove we seen that Six Flags was PACKED!!! Even the overflow parking lot was packed. It was a 104 out at 1pm so we were differently not fighting crowds and heat and headed to the Hill Country to Beckers Winery and did the stomp in of the grapes and had a good time. Well most of us did. Ethan not so much. We got in the vats of grapes and stomped on them and bought tshirts and put our foot prints on the back of them and walked around the grounds and toured the winery and of course Jay and I took a wine tasting tour!!! Tonight all of our family for the music fest are heading to the concert and of course along with our family comes along a lot of Sami's friends... The girls from the JV and Varsity Volleyball Team are loading up cars and coming out. I guess we are the parent supervisors! Which is fine with us. We will have a great time. Plus we have Uncle Jay and Coach Samantha coming along with us to help! Happy Labor Day Weekend Everyone! Tomorrow we are staying home and BBQing and getting ready for a new week to start.... can't believe our next break will be Thanksgiving!!! Welcome Fall!

Our Girls! Cheerleading and JV Volleyball!!

2011-09-03T08:16:00.001-05:00

Here are some quick shots of Sami and Hannah. Sami as you all know is playing on her High School JV Volleyball Team and these are some warm up picks of her before her game. Hannah is also in Cheerleading for Lackland. We get to go buy her official Cheerleading Uniform so she can go cheer on the Lackland Football Teams this season! I can't wait to see her in her Cheerleading Uniform. Yes, huge difference in personalities between my girls. One is athletic and One likes to Cheer them on from the sidelines!!! They keep us on our toes for sure.

Our Family Pictures Slideshow~Summer 2011

2011-08-26T03:56:00.000-05:00

http://www.slide.com/r/e4CsPFGE6j9xyaGcE-SoMYNTLXoG37dN?previous_view=lt_embedded_url

Click on the link so it can take you to our slideshow... These are our new family photos. We haven't had them done in 2 years! I love them and can't wait to order and put them up! Enjoy!!!

First Day of School

2011-08-23T07:18:00.001-05:00

Yesterday Aug 22nd, 2011 The Final Four had their first day of School. Sami is 15 and now a Sophomore in High School, Ethan is 13 and is now a 8th grader (next year I will have 2 high schoolers! When did this happen???) Hannah is 9 1/2 (turns 10 Sept 25th) and is now a 4th grader, and Elijah is 8 and is now a 3rd grader. They had a great first day of school. All 4 already had homework and ofcourse on top of the tons of paperwork and school supplies we have already bought...(the cost of school supplies and clothes is getting crazy) we still had tons more paperwork to fill out, and ofcourse got more supply lists with a deadline to have it all by so the kids don't get knocked in points in class's. Let the fun begin! Here's to a great new school year. We are so proud of all 4 of our kids. Yeah, I am one of those parents but I consider myself a pretty lucky Mom! Some of the best kids right here in the WORLD!

Let's GO LADY EAGLES!!!

2011-08-15T19:34:00.000-05:00

Well, School Starts on Monday the 22nd, but the Volleyball Season has already started! Sami has had nothing but away games till tonight. Tonight was the first home game! The JV Girls are doing SO well this year. We are so proud of them. Sami kept her number 8 from last year also. She has come so far in her energy and knowing the game better and she is in the zone! So are the other girls too. It was so much fun to know most of the parents this year because as a freshman we are sort of odd man out, but being she is a sophomore and returning player this year we know so many of the parents and kids. We had a blast cheering them on! We even stayed to watch the Varsiety's first game as a couple of the girls we know and come to our house all the time. Good Job Lady Eagles! We look forward to a Great Volleyball Season!

Pictures after Kevin's retirement with my Aunts and Uncles and Random pictures

2011-08-03T17:31:00.000-05:00

The two right pictures are of Kevin, Jody, Myself, and Chris at St. Clairs Bistro and Winery and above Aunt Debbie and Myself, Aunt Jody and Sami at the airport picking Aunt Debbie up. The pictures on the left are pictures we took after Uncle Kevin's retirement ceremony was complete with Aunt Jill, Uncle David, Aunt Connie and Aunt Debbie and even one with Uncle Kevin. We took so many special memories away with us. I know there are some very special moments in life, and this is diffently one of them that we will always remember and take with us.

Team Cooper's Special Day, Kevin's Air Force Retirement.

2011-08-03T17:26:00.000-05:00

What can I say except, we were so happy we could be there with Team Cooper for this special day in their lives. Kevin we thank you for your 20 years of service to our country and all you have done in your career. We will always remember this special day and honored we got to be part of it. Jody your a amazing person who is a great Air Force Wife. You love the military life and have a attitude toward not many have. Team Cooper you have a beautiful family. So much to be proud of and we can't wait to see what this next chapter in your lives has to hold for you all!

ABQ, New Mexico and Team Cooper we have arrived!

2011-08-03T17:20:00.001-05:00

Above was after family picture day we went to Team Coopers favorite pool and let the kids play at the indoor pool. The kids had a blast. They had water slides and 3 different pools. It was a great time to relax and let the kids just be kids.

These are pictures of everyone hanging out at Team Coopers House before the Open House for Kevin's Retirement Party and setting it up for the party with family.

These are pictures of the kids ofcourse doing what they do best in the truck aside from raising the noise level up 500 notches! Plus our adult night out with Jody and Kevin at St. Clair's Bistro and Winery, and then off to Hard Rock Casino! What a fun night out! Chris and I have never been to a casino and boy did we have a lot of fun! Jody and Kevin had to teach us how to use the machine's! Yeah we got schooled!

The Grand Canyon!

2011-08-03T17:11:00.000-05:00

So after leaving Grandma Kathy and Grandpa Gary's House we left and headed to The Grand Canyon! Not what I remembered and very different from when I was a kid but I am glad we went. I wasn't going to but everyone kept telling me I would regret it and they were right, everyone except my kids that is!

These are just some pictures of the Grand Canyon and of The Final Four and Chris and I around 2 different peaks we went to that over looked the Canyon. There were TONS of tourists there and very crowded but it is touristy season! We spent some time there got some pics and I am glad we did.

Random Vacation Pictures in Arizona

2011-08-03T17:05:00.000-05:00

White Tank Mountain Museum and Library and WestGate Mall... We even went to eat at Jimmy Buffets Margaritaville! What a great place and so much fun!

A Family Reunion and Meeting for the first time at Grandma and Grandpa Stones House

2011-08-03T17:00:00.000-05:00

This is Grandpa Stone's side of the family. We met and had a family reunion and had a great time with Heather, Shannon, Dan, Chelsea.

Chris made a tri-tip dinner that everyone enjoyed and we enjoyed our time with everyone. The kids couldn't even resist getting into the pond in the back yard!

Pictures of the BBQ, Grandma Kathy's house, and the kids bowling and sleeping or not!

Tombstone AZ

2011-08-03T16:51:00.000-05:00

Pictures of the Town of Tombstone AZ and Road trip....

Pictures around town of The Final Four having fun!!!

The Start of Our Trip from San Antonio thru New Mexico to Arizona

2011-08-03T16:43:00.000-05:00

Above was the start of our trip... We left San Antonio July 21st at 5:58am! Chris and I stayed up all night finishing plaques and packing and loading up the truck. Chris ran to get gas and ice for the cooler, I got the kids up and loaded in their pj's... and we climbed in the truck and hit the road. We drove from San Antonio to Las Cruces, New Mexico and got to the hotel and went swimming and ordered pizza's and crashed after being up for 36 hours!

From Las Cruces, New Mexico we drove to Arizona! As we were driving we seen the sign for Tombstone,AZ. Ok, I don't like westerns but I love the Movie Tombstone and the kids were all excited to go and also stop because they had seen the Bird Cage Theatre on Ghost Adventures and also ofcourse learned stuff in World History on it, but mostly Ghost Adventures!!! Go figure. So we went. We are on vacation and why not! We had a good time. We seen a show of some famous gun shoot outs and walked everywhere and also went on the tour of Birdcage... We had a great time!
Tombstone, AZ what fun we had! I am glad we stopped we even ended up buying the DVD Tombstone and watched it at Grandma Kathy's house.

Happy 13th Birthday Ethan!

2011-07-18T18:56:00.001-05:00

As you can tell.... Ethan is 13!!! WOW!!! I can't believe he is 13 already. Time sure does fly by. Now we officially have 2 teenagers in the house. CRAZY!!!! We celebrated Ethan's birthday at the pool with some of his friends. As always with his birthday being in the middle of July and in the middle of summer most people are gone on vacations and or visiting families etc.... however, with that said, he had a great time he told me and stayed even longer after we left with his friends and didn't come home till 7pm! Ethan and his buddies sure did enjoy dunking each other and jumping off the high dive trying to flip and do tricks and going off the water slide. Funny how somethings are so different between a teenage boy and a teenage girl but how much is the same too. I guess we will experience them both together! I wouldn't have it any other way. I will be however more prepared when Hannah and Elijah are teenagers together also! Today, Sami and Hannah baked him a homemade cake for his "real" birthday! We are so very proud of Ethan and how far he has come. We are truly blessed with him in our lives and can't wait to see what the future has in store for him. He is a young man now. I knew deep inside obviously and for the most part in my heart and am ready and accepting of the kids getting older and all the right of passage things. I love watching them and enjoying it with them as much as possible, its the bittersweet and stinging stuff that comes with it knowing how little time we truly do have with our kids. Its these reminders we are given to try as much as you can to enjoy it all! They grow up to darn fast on you! Now, time to enjoy it as we head out on our first family vacation in almost 4 years! Lets see if I feel the same when we get home:) LOL I am sure we will all be like ok, enough family time! Till then, going to absorb and make many new memories! I love that the kids are older now too and will remember these trips. Will post vacation pictures when we get back or when we get Internet connections along the way!

Family Day spent at Comal River in New Braunfels, TX Inner tubing!

2011-07-01T18:49:00.002-05:00

Well this is something we have been wanting to do for a very long time. Head down to New Braunfels, TX and rent some inner tubes and bring a cooler full of food and snacks and drinks and float on down the river and enjoy our day. We learned many things we will do differently and what we like and don't but I have to say, its a very low cost thing to do and even more cheaper if you go buy your own inner tubes with the backs to support your back and floating coolers from Academy Sports and just get in the river at the public access spots along the way instead of paying to rent all the tubes and coolers! Yeah, like I said we learned a lot but we also had the best time and a great family day that was well worth it.

As you can tell, you don't even get out of the river unless you want too of course to eat or drink. You seriously just float along. We tied our inner tubes together or put our legs over the others to stick together and just kicked back and relaxed. Its legal to drink while on the river,(No glass bottles thou)!!! but illegal to drink when on the grounds off the sides like in a picnic area. So truly it didn't matter. You just say hey I am thirsty, pull out the Tupperware of sandwich's, toss some bags of chips around, or beef jerky or sodas etc... to each other and eat and drink as you just go down the river. There are areas were we got out because it like very small rapids but I didn't want to get hurt or flipped over, so we untied the kids and they went through it and Chris and I pulled our tubes across the bridge and met them on the other side and got back in and tied only a couple together of inner tubes as basically my kids are fish anyway and decided to jump out and swim in the river and pop up and down in and out of the inner tubes and Chris tossing them all over the place etc.... There were a lot of different age's of people on the river from very young to much older and everyone doing their own thing. However, everyone was so cool. If we bumped into each other which was hard not to do with the current of the river or bunching up we all just sat and talked till we naturally separated by the river or paddled with feet and hands to move around. So we just found a new favorite spot to go to and spend a afternoon at. Couple more things we want to try out but this was defiantly worth it!

Hannah Earning Academic Awards and her Cheerleading Squad Cheering!

2011-06-06T02:53:00.001-05:00

Hannah received 4 wonderful awards especially for being a 3rd grader. Our kids go to a DOD's School, Lackland ISD which means it belongs not only to the city and state but military guidelines as well. Lackland pounds into us parents that they are not a athletic school by pride themselves on a high academic status and push and strive for the children that attend this school reach high academic goals as well. Where as I fall in the middle of all this... as I see both sides as a parent with 4 children with 4 different personalities, I do love the academic side of it. This day Chris and I were at BAMC for a pre op appt for me for a next day surgery. We were doing everything possible to make it back to Lackland for her ceremony. All we knew was that Hannah was being awarded for accommodations with medals for surpassing and beyond her tacks tests in Reading and Math. However, we couldn't make it back in time and luckily Sami's class that she was in was with a teacher that knows us well as most of the school does but this teacher is really nice.... she let Sami run over out of class and go take pictures for us of Hannah because we couldn't get there on time and take our place. Not only did she get the medals she was awarded by her teacher a Citizenship Award and by the Principal her Straight A All Year Long Honor Roll. So she got 4 awards. We are very proud of Hannah and hope that she only keeps this up as the years march on.
This is of course Hannah's new sport! Go figure right? This fits Hannah's personality to a tee. She is now a Lackland Youth Cheerleader! Were as the base can not afford custom cheer leading uniforms, they wear shorts and shirts of the color requested. These pictures are of them warming up before they were requested to come and cheer at a Generals retirement ceremony on base in black and white, with Air Force Blue and White Pom-Poms and a mother made their hair pretties in Red, White and Blue ribbons. She loves it to say the least. She can't wait till she can actually cheer in a real uniform and get better and better. She can't wait to get so good as to be thrown in the air etc..... Lord help me! Sami is the one on the court and banging it up on the court, and Hannah is on the sidelines cheering her on!!! I can just see it! However, that will never happen with the age gap between them. But the comparison is so there in my mind how different my girls really are. My boys are exact opposites as well. It makes for never a dull moment in our home for sure. They are each their own and I love each of them. They carry something of each Chris and I in them... most of all they do carry a independence and mouth that I fully admit come from me. Ethan also got a award and got his book published in Texas State History. Of course, I didn't know about it and no pictures were taken for me to post but another thing as they get older you have to get used to. Middle School and High School don't call mom and dad unless they deam it important. So I know officially have Sami a Sophomore in High School, Ethan a 8th Grader in Middle School, Hannah a 4th Grader in Elementary School and Elijah a 3rd Grader in Elementary School. The Final Four made Honor Roll all year long and as I always say and will keep saying I hope they keep it up and know what we expect even as they grow in years and the work gets harder. Congrat's Hannah on your accomplishments and to The Final Four for a great year!!!

Sami's Altheltic Banquet Pictures with Friends

2011-05-26T00:45:00.000-05:00

As promised last week, we would post pictures of tonights banquet which was Sami's Althletic Banquet. WOW!!! What a wonderful LONG evening. The top pictures obviously are of all of us out back taking some family shots before heading off. Again, bias and I am not ashamed to admit it, but The Final Four the most beautiful children in the World!!!! Yes, even when on my last nerve! I just love some of these fun and candid shots. Memories folks that is what its all about! Well we get to Sami's banquet and there are tons more pictures but I just put in the best ones...... however it was set up with basketball's and volleyballs and tennis balls and stuff for track and cross country etc.... on the tables with pictures of each kid who played high school sports. We went around and found all our tables photos of the girls!!!! We were served Bill's BBQ (not the best by far) but ate and took lots of pictures. Many kids parents were not there so I don't mind it I just get out the camera and have Chris take pictures or I do of Sami's friends on our mobile phone that I upload to facebook and or on our camera that I am able to upload to our family blog. Soon after so much socializing we moved into another part of the school again were the award ceremony began. Compared to last weeks Academic Awards, this was double the kids! So it took longer. We had a amazing young Basketball/Coach/New Business Owner speak to the kids who went to UTSA. She was amazing and she keyed in on how important sports was and she went to college thinking she was there to play hoops and just that. By her sophomore year when she was going to lose her scholarship and get suspended from the team even thou she was the leading scorer and MVP etc... her grades were not important to her. She was laid back and easy going and spoke to the kids on their level about the importance of listening to parents, teachers, doing the homework and working hard not only in sports but as being a leader. She is now 23, traveled the world playing when she pulled her head out of "her words" butt and realized she needed to change her attitude. You don't earn things in this world, you WORK for them and then you PROVE yourself and then GET RESPECT! All of us parents were just so impressed with her and looking at our kids. Sami even said "Mom you were right, you said most of everything she said!" One of those Lightbulb moments and I loved it!
Soon after the guest speaker was done, the awards started. Sami who stayed on A/B Honor Roll and still played JV Volleyball and Basketball this year and was active in Spirit Squad took home 3 awards tonight along with all her girlfriends and close friends from the school. As you can see, there were many of kids. For such a small school over 250 kids were reconized! How impressive is that!

Hannah's 3rd Grade Spring Picture

2011-05-22T23:11:00.003-05:00

Elijah's 2nd Grade Spring Picture

2011-05-22T23:11:00.001-05:00

Sami's JV Basketball Picture

2011-05-22T23:07:00.000-05:00

This is Sami's JV Girls Basketball Photos. Now the reason there is only 4 girls in the picture is because the coach's decided to do pictures for all the sports teams, girls and boys and wait to do pictures after the season's were over. Well by doing that, some of the girls have moved away, some were not there! I hope they learned thier lesson next year. I would like a full team picture! Enjoy

Elijah's 8th Birthday Party at Laser Quest

2011-05-22T17:36:00.000-05:00

Well, yes Elijah's "Real" Birthday is next weekend May 28th. However, we always try to do his birthday party the weekend before because his birthday always lands on Memorial Day Weekend. So this year we had his birthday party at Laser Quest. Even thou only a couple of friends showed up, he still was so happy and grateful and loved all his presents and had a good time. He is sooo into Power Rangers now. I remember when it was so popular and everywhere when Ethan was younger but now a days it is so hard to find anything Power Ranger. So we found finally some Power Ranger toys at Toy r us but only a couple. Then we found a huge nerf sword which he loves.... then we got him some pirate stuff because he loves Captain Jack too. Next weekend on his real birthday weekend Uncle Jay might be coming down, and we plan on taking him to see the new Pirates of Caribbean Movie and Dinner of his choice. Oh my goodness, plus the last day of school is coming on June 3rd! So I will have Sophomore, 8th grader, 4th grader, 3rd grader! I am ready thou. Ready for SUMMER!!! Enjoy the photos.... Will post more this week.

Sami Awarded for A/B Honor Roll All Year Long at Academic Banquet

2011-05-18T20:24:00.000-05:00

Well, this isn't the first time we have taken similar pictures and this might look familiar! However, I hope it stays that way and next year their are 2 Pearson Children being honored at this banquet. Sami has yet again for the 4th year in a row made A/B Honor Roll all year long. This is her freshman year of high school and we are so proud of her and all the goals she is reaching. On top of keeping her 3.8 GPA she also played JV Girls Volleyball and Basketball this year and we still have the Atheltic Banquet to attend for her next week were she will be honored there as well. However, I am more proud of the Academic one. She is growing up on us as you can see. She looked so grown up tonight and beautiful. Chris while I finished getting ready because well I am always last because I have to get all 4 kids ready before I am finished, so I asked him to take the kids out back and take some pictures for us to have of The Final Four looking sharp! I am bias and that is ok, but I have some of the best looking kids around! Then Sami's friend Rae who missed being awarded by 2 pts. and we were so bumbed she didn't make it, came by and took pictures of Chris and I with Sami outside before taking off. I like getting some shots of just our family and we all looked cleaned up with somewhere to go!
At the banquet they served us Olive Garden! It was good! Got to catch up with some mom's and meet some of Sami's friends parents finally as well. Once the eating part was over we went to another part of the school were the award ceremony began. Sami and Daley are the two of her group of friends that were awarded this evening. However, there were many other kids there that we knew who were also awarded. Only 4 kids made straight A's. Yeah Sami wasn't one of them:) LOL!!! So we got some shots of Daley and Sami getting thier medals and awards and afterward we got pictures of them together and their good friend Kathy came also to support them and got Kathy in there as well. What a awesome night. As much as we embarass Sami ( its the age I am telling you) we are so proud of her. She has her sights set on goals and so far she has reached everyone. The sky is the limit! I can't wait till all The Pearson kids are on these lists! Will post more pics when we go to her althetic banquet.

Waiting On Dad to get home....

2011-05-14T17:57:00.000-05:00

While waiting on Chris to arrive home this afternoon from his TDY from Maryland, we all got dressed and were waiting outback watching Elijah roll himself down the small hill into the fence line. Don't ask! He loves doing this and wants us to come watch him all the time. So Hannah joined in giving him a big push. So I need a new profile pic for face book, so Sami had the camera and got a pic of me sitting down before we headed out back to wait on Chris. Then Sami started taking some other photos and while watching Elijah she called my name and I turned and she got a decent shot of me that I actually liked! Plus I got a actual half smirk on Ethan's face catching him off guard taking a pic in the computer room. So this is how we wasted a hour waiting for Chris to get home and he made it home and we were all more then ready to hit the road and get out of this house! We went to Joe's Crab Shack for lunch, Bed, Bath & Beyond to get Sami new bedding (love their clearance bedding section), Rack Room for BOGO to get some new heels for Sami for her dress's and sandals for the girls, and AT&T to get Chris's cellphone fixed, and we went into this cowboy boot place that I had seen. HOLY COW!!! These were the real deal hand stitched/crafted, real leather, alligator etc..... boots. Beautifully designed boots too, but one problem.... the cheapest pair was $300!!! No I am not kidding! The pair we went to get that we seen online yeah um NOT!!! $400!! So the girls and I started just out of curiosity picking up boots and looking on the bottom at prices.... one pair of boots was $2,400!!!!! FOR A PAIR OF BOOTS!!! Very Girly and Awesome colored boots but again who pays that much for a pair of boots???? Yeah, I told the girls, we are so in the wrong boot store, we need to head to the poor mans boot store on base were they cost $50! Insane! Heck, Chris and I even went about a month ago bed shopping to get me a Temperpedic Eugo Bed because my Dr had recommended it for me to lift my head/back and legs and help with the shifting of my spine. Again, who pays almost $10,000 for a queen size bed??? NOT THIS GIRL! I looked at the salesmen and said "I hope you don't work off commission because this is crazy!" He laughed and said "tell me about it!" and Chris and I walked out and went and bought a Tempurpedic bed topper that I can take with me anywhere and new pillows. In this economy I don't know how people can pay such prices anyway! We shop sales and clearance sections and call me cheep but well there it is. Also this week, May 19th we find out if Chris made Msgt! Last year he missed it barely. He was #2 non selectee. It hurt to say the least! So we are praying hard for it this year that he dotted his I's and crossed his T's to make that .01 point to make it! Explaining the whole process of how the score ranks is nearly impossible, I still don't understand the whole process of it either. All I know is I would like him to come home holding his stripes with a line number to sew it on! Have a great weekend and week everyone!

Well Why NOT!!! In the middle of Severe Thunderstorms and damaging winds and Tornado Warnings with Large Hail!

2011-05-12T10:15:00.000-05:00

Why not right!!! First time Chris leaves me TDY and Jay no longer lives here, its decides that its going to give me a storm to weather!!! These are shots I just took about 10 minutes ago outside my house. I for the first time in over a year had no choice but to drive the kids to school this morning when it was just raining. It got VERY BAD within a hour after they were at school. We have Severe Thuder and Lighting and Large Hail and we are under Tornado Warnings and as I sit here watching the news looking at pictures of people sending in pics are making me crazy! I feel like I should go get my kids but at the sametime stay put because its nasty out. Green and Black sky's really funky looking clouds, etc... it sounds like I am in the middle of a tornado its just whipping around the house and you can hear it blowing through the window seals. I ran out and took some pics! However, Praying and It should be gone by time its 3pm and probably will be clear skies when its time for kids to come home aside from the steady rain they said we will be getting. HOLY COW!!! This is unreal. I can't even put into words how load and thunder is and the hail hitting the house and the wind. Thinking I should of listened to myself and kept them home but this is where Faith comes in and I just give it to God and stay in doors, let the schools lock down and take care of my kids and go get them when its over! This is not normal for San Antonio! Ok, well it is if we are in the middle of a Tropical Storm or Hurricane!!! Even the weather men are like this is very similar to these types of storms expecially with green sky's. I don't like that. Lived in Tornado Alley for a long time. That is not a good sign. Someone just sent the news a storm of a thunnel cloud. Ok, God Take this away for me!!! I give it to you!

Catching Up on Sports Pictures

2011-05-04T21:51:00.000-05:00

These are pictures of The Final Four's Sports Pictures that I currently have plus Sami's official homecoming picture. I still don't have in hand yet, Hannah and Elijah's Spring School Pictures, and Sami's JV Basketball Picture like her JV Volleyball picture in this collage. This summer we are having our family pictures taken and once we get all those in we will ofcourse share and more than likely it will be our Christmas Card too!! In the meantime, enjoy these updated ones and I will do my best to put them in Mother's Day Cards. Love to all!

Sami, with Girlfriends wearing their own designed Glow in the dark shirts!

2011-05-01T04:11:00.001-05:00

Right to Left.... Rae, Kathy, Sami, and Daley. There a couple more girls that Sami hangs out with missing from this picture but this are her main group of girls. She is upset cause one of her friends is moving to Germany! Oh what I would give!!! The girl is upset too and I know transition is very tough being a military brat.... and another country but I think she will love it once she gets involved in sports over there too and travels to all the countries and gets to making some new friends. It will be a awesome experience for her!! The top picture is a picture of the girls before heading out to Taco Bell to get something to eat first and then heading to the Teen Dance in their Glow in the Dark shirts. Chris and I went to hobby lobby and bought the shirts and all the glow in the dark writing paint we could find and they spent last weekend making them. I even bought Hannah and Elijah a shirt for them to make one too. I knew they would want too see the girls doing it.

This is a picture of the backs of the girls shirts. They had a blast and from what Sami told me everyone was "digging" their shirts and either had their mouths on the floors or wished they were them! No, she has no self confidence issue's at all does she! I wonder were she gets that from???Hmmmm????:) however all her friends love her for being her and being true to herself and not changing for anyone! I give her credit too especially in these days and times. Plus they call her Baby Girl! Why, she is the shortest and by age the youngest! Daley is 16 and Rae and Kathy turn 16 soon.... and yes 2 of her friends already have drivers license's. We have had to lay down some ground rules for sure!

My sweet girls trying to look over their shoulders at us for a picture. However I wasn't taking the photos. Chris did. I happened to have a seizure that day and was not feeling well at all, so he made sure to do this for me so I could see them and have pictures. Yes, I like to have pictures of everything... Memories people!!! Now if I just could get back to scrap booking however the idea of how far behind I am, like almost 10 years worth scares me to death and is too daunting of a task to undertake by myself for sure. Just thinking about it, overwhelms me.... I think some photo albums just might be in order and just add some decorative things to it for each child.... who knows. One day! To busy most times with the plaque/vinyl business. Thank goodness for Chris! He helps so much:) Ethan also went to this dance and was having a great time I heard from him and the girls, I even heard a bunch of Sami's friends when he wasn't paying attention and was around a bunch of girls from a previous dance who gave him a hard time, went and circled Ethan and started dancing around him! So a bunch of high school girls were getting their grove on with my son! Not that they all don't already know him but I guess Ethan loved it but was embarrassed also and well it must have done the trick because those girls who gave Ethan a hard time last dance, got a dose of their own medicine as it was put to me. Yes, all I can do is shake my head and give my motherly advice as to staying out of drama and creating it etc.... and on and on, but this is the age where you have to start to let go a bit and let them live and go out into the world. Its when they get to big for the britches that we have to knock them off the block a bit and remind them who is in charge! That always goes so well!!! Well got to get some sleep. Tomorrow we are suppose to be rearranging rooms and gutting them out... Yes, pray for us! I am going to need it and I think so are The Final Four, for the sake of their lives!

End of Soccer Season Games and Party's

2011-05-01T03:45:00.001-05:00

These are some pics that were on my camera of the kids and Chris at the end of the season soccer games and end of the year trophy/pizza party's. I don't know why there isn't one of Sami being given a trophy with Chris, but there isn't. Elijah's coach well, if you read a previous blog post, he wasn't the best of coach's and did not do a party or hand out trophy's at all! However, its the end of the season. Summer Basketball Season will be upon us soon but in the mean time, Elijah decided not to play baseball. I was bummed. I was hoping one of my kids would pick up on liking baseball but it doesn't look like it. However, he said he wants to play football again but this time with pads so he can tackle some kids! Elijah is a big boy, I am afraid he could hurt someone, but he would be a great defensive linemen or so I have been told! Not a huge football fan. Ethan wants to play Basketball to keep getting better as he only has one more year of middle school left till he hits High School and he wants to play High School Boys Basketball! I can't wait to see it happen to tell the truth. Sami on Varsity Girls, Ethan on JV Boy's!!! I would be so excited and cheering them both right along! Hannah has chosen cheer leading! Go figure right! Right up her alley. She is starting soon cheer practice every Friday on base. Plus I think we are going to put Hannah and Elijah into swim lessons or team however they do it on the training side of base where the only indoor pool is to keep them active. To be honest its going to be a matter of scheduling around Chris and one vehicle. I have a feeling we might need a A-B car soon. Maybe next summer.... Sami will be 16, but in the meantime she needs to get her official permit in hand so when Chris is TDY which he is going again here in May she can drive me around for my earns and helping drop off and pick up. Chris is due to deploy again in May 2012 window. So when he goes I am thankful Sami will be 16 and have a drivers licence to help me out then too. However, I am working on gaining more strength when I can, I am completely off the cane! I know makes no sense right.... well I had to use a cane for the longest time to go walk long distance's and walk around outside of the house for a long while after the 4 spinal surgeries last year. Now I am doing better to were I don't need it. I just call it time when I hurt to bad. Now if I can figure out a way to let them let me drive again, I would be good. I think I am just going to do it. See how small distance go first and keep moving up. Anyway, another update of pictures and us.... its almost the end of another school year! Hard to believe actually, Chris was deployed when the start of the school year started and all summer and the end of last school year, and I never thought it was going to end, now its the end of the school year again, Chris is home this summer aside from his monthly TDY's and here's looking forward to some summer fun. We want to take some random weekends and drive down to Corpus Chrisi to the Beach or Brownsville to see Jay, and we do have one concrete summer vacation set for the first time in 4 years! We are driving to Phoenix, AZ to Grand Canyon, then over to Albuquerque, NM to see my Cousin Jody's husband Retire from the Air Force (have some good fun and new family pictures!!!!) and then back down to San Antonio to face reality again because Sami starts Volleyball practice Aug 3rd. Sami even told us tonight that she is being honored at a Honor Roll Awards Banquet and Athletic Banquet in May! She has made honor roll 4 years in a row and also due to it made the Texas National Honor Roll which includes ALL schools in Texas plus been nominated for college's by her school counselor and other highlights. I think Growing up is hard to do FOR THE PARENTS!!!! 5 more weeks and they are out and Sami is starting her Sophomore year 10th grade and 15, Ethan turns 13 this summer and is starting his final year in Middle School 8th grade, Hannah turns 10 in September and starts 4th grade and Elijah turns 8 on Memorial Weekend and will be starting 3rd grade. At least I still have 2 in Elementary school for awhile!

Happy Easter From The Pearson Family

2011-04-24T19:00:00.001-05:00

Happy Easter Everyone! We hope that you all had a very blessed Easter Sunday and got to spend it with the ones you love. After a late night, Chris set the alarm for early this morning and got up and to be honest because while shopping for Easter Basket fixings Chris looked at me and pointed to a shelf full of pre-maid Easter Baskets and said why spend this when we can do this, and its easier on you and less mess. So we put everything back and for the first time I bought pre-maid Easter baskets for the kids. Sami and Ethan are too old for them to say the least, theirs came with a soccer ball in Ethan's and Sami's came with a Girl Colored Basketball, but Hannah and Elijah enjoyed theirs. We also bought and taped on the front of them each a $15 gift card. Ethans from Game Stop (his favorite place), Sami's (a ITunes Card her favorite) and Hannah (A Claire's Card her favorite). Now Elijah is harder but he is into Power Rangers, so we thought we will just go buy him a DVD and be done with it. Call it a good! Oh no, everywhere we went we couldn't find anyone, not even wal-mart, target, best buy, and some old movie stores like blockbuster who sales old DVD's of Power Rangers anymore! ARE YOU KIDDING ME!!! Of course, I want it and they don't have it! So we ended up taping money to his basket. Well, Chris was so tired that we forgot to get a picture of the baskets this morning before they ripped into them. Oh well, not much to see anyway! Then Uncle Jay and Ethan and Sami ran to some stores that were closed all except Game Stop and came home in time for me to get my exhausted and tired body out of bed from yesterdays outing to get everyone showered and ready to head over to the base Officer's Club for Easter Sunday Brunch. Its was sooooo good! These are some shots outside the club. No sun today and high winds. Thank goodness we did our road trip yesterday! However, we had a wonderful afternoon out, ate till we couldn't eat anymore, the kids had fun at the chocolate fountain making chocolate covered strawberries and marshmallows. I can't even tell you all the food they had. It was a lot. Well, I have finally updated and posted very recent pictures on our blog for all our family to see. We hope you enjoy reading the blog and we hope all our Friends and Family Had a Wonderful Easter. God Bless +

Hannah and Elijah playing in a easter display seems how we just missed
the Easter Bunny and a Picture with him!

Bluebonnets and WildFlowers.... not many let me tell ya!

2011-04-24T18:34:00.002-05:00

Well.... we started out trying to find the Most Popular and Scenic Texas Bluebonnet Trails up in Hill Country. We made some phone calls and even thou most of the locals were ALL telling us there were no bluebonnets this season to speak of, I was afraid because we weren't renting rooms or eating there etc... that they might be giving out bad information. Not so, as we found out after 3 hours of driving around Williow City Loop, and Highway 16 and Going to Johnson City to Fredericksburg also on a supposed very highly populated wild flower trail. We finally came across this ranch/nursery that had baby bluebonnet's and wild flowers. Of course all fenced in with NO TRESPASSING SIGNS on it! In Texas, we are card carrying gun holders down here and as the saying goes, WE USE THEM! So we took what again some of the locals said and didn't dare cross over the fence into the bluebonnet fields but stood at the fence line and took some shots. Well, lets say it was the end of a long drive and day, the kids were tired and hungry and the wind was picking up. So we got all of 2 shots of the kids at the fence line, but there was a patch of bluebonnets that were filled in with wood chips and they said "Its against the law (as we have read also) to pick, step or ruin a bluebonnet in the state of Texas so we could put the kids there but they had to be careful and only step were the wood chips were. So we did our best so Chris could take a picture of them standing next to them. Then I got frustrated with all the restrictions! Me, frustrated with people??? NEVER!!! Anyway, When no one was around I said jump the fence into the wildflowers and take a couple quick shots and jump back in the truck. How easy does that sound? Oh I love my kids. THEY HATE PICTURES!!!!!! Especially Ethan!!! GRRRR.... We weren't' asking for much but hey stand over there for a minute would you, go stand there with your siblings. Hey kids stand together please! What a task it turned out to be but, we got some shots and well, we called it good and headed back to go eat in downtown Fredericksburg. A very old Main St. Fashion Town with little mom and pop and boutiques on each side of Main St. This town as we have learned with most of Southern Texas was founded by German's. I know, who knew right! Fredericksburg is a VERY GERMAN TOWN. We loved it! Made me want to go back to Germany and do some touristy things again. Why can't I be rich??? So we ate at a American/German Restaurant walked the Main St. Went to a Old Antique Fashioned Ice Cream shop, and had a really nice evening before heading home. Overall a great day with little arguing (for the most part, LOL)

The Bluebonnet Trail Map. We traveled to Johnson City across to Fredericksburg to winery's, then up to Williow City Loop and all the way around and down Highway 16 and back to Fredericksburg. Just to see some bluebonnets! But we got to see and experience a whole lot more!

Pictures of The Final Four Running around the Winery's and Open Space's in Hill Country

2011-04-24T18:13:00.001-05:00

These are just some of the shots of The Final Four running around, or us putting them places to take picture of them while we were enjoying our family day outing in The Great Texas Hill Country up in Fredericksbury, Stonewall, and Willow City Loop. Our goals was to get pictures of bluebonnets first and foremost as this is what I wanted the most and we found a listing for all the highlighted trials were they are suppose to be the most beautiful and plentiful. NOT!!! well at least not this year. First thou, our other goal was to do a bit of touring on this list of Wine Country. There are 27 Winery's on this stretch of highway in and around Fredericksburg,TX. We had a wonderul family day out with the kids and family just enjoying the weather and the new experience's. We didn't even touch the tip of everything there is to do up there but I got a feeling we will be back!

http://www.texaswinetrail.com/
This is were we were yesterday on some of these winey's roads. So awesome. Love Hill Country!

Our Trip to Fredericksburg/Stonwall Wine Country

2011-04-24T17:59:00.000-05:00

Woodrose Winery in Stonewall, TX~ A little back round info we got from a printed out paper of the 27 winery's and vineyards in and around Fredericksburg. There are 27 in and around this off the beaten path about a 1 and a half away from San Antonio. Its cool to go out and find new and neat things to do around here. Woodrose Winery is located on the south side of Hwy 20 just west of Stonewall. Woodrose Winery offers restaurant style tastings where we bring the wine to you at the table. The new 3000 sq. ft multi level deck is perfect to sit down with a glass of wine, enjoy a cheese plate and enjoy our charming, laid back atmosphere under the oak trees. They are listed under www.woodrosewinery.com and or find us under Texas Hill Country Wineries. We had so much fun enjoying the deck and choosing a couple of bottles of wine to taste and buy!
This winery was one of our favorite, its off the main highway road that lands you on a dirt road and off this dirt road are tons of ranch's and winery's and B&B's. We zoomed in on this Rose Wood Manor I believe its called. That is just the main house part of the B&B and it has a 5 star chef who cooks with the local winery's wine's in its foods and makes appearance's at local wineries also. We got to take the kids to this Winery called Pedernales Cellars. Oh they had such cute wine decor that I so wanted (ALL OF IT) but had to restrain myself. This is what the paper says on it....
Pedernales Cellars is the newest winery in the Texas Hill Country and yet is the result of a long family tradition. Visitors have a chance to taste a range of outstanding wines, and tour the state-of-the-art wine making facility, including the largest underground barrel cellar in Texas. You can also find out how wine is made at a boutique winery and how Pedernales Cellars is a leader in minimizing environmental impact from wine making. Or if you prefer, just relax with a glass of wine on the tree covered deck with breathtaking views of the Hill Country. www.pedernalescellars.com.

We had a wonderful day starting out at these 2 winery's before heading to Willow City Loop which Is part of the most scenic routes in Texas and on the Heart of Texas Hill Country's Enchanted Rock Bluebonnet Trails. Yeah, well after driving the whole loop plus more of the highlighted trails on the map looking for bluebonnets we didn't come across many. Only one and it was more of a farm/nursery place. According to all the locals due to the low amount of rains up there and the stage 2 droughts and fires, bluebonnets didn't really make a appearance this year at all. One day I swear we will get a open bluebonnet field and take some pics of the kids in them! That's all I ask!

Elijah's Team Picture and Sami, Ethan & Hannah's Last Soccer Games

2011-04-23T23:45:00.000-05:00

Its was a very short soccer season this year. Not enough coach's yet again! Elijah's team couldn't get enough of the parents to show up with the kids for picture night so we got a shot of the team on the field before the end of the season ended so we as parents could have at least one picture of them together. Sami & Ethan & Hannah ofcourse had a love/hate relationship with soccer this year. Sami not competitive enough, Ethan well he can't handle Sami yelling at him and many other things, and Hannah just didn't like her coach. Which I don't blame her. He is not a very nice person and takes soccer for this age group way to seriously. However, OVERALL, it was a good season. They had fun and won some and lost some and most of all got out there and played. I am behind on team pictures. I have basketball season still to post for all 4 kids and well only 3 of the kids soccer pictures to post because Elijah's is above! Plus Hannah and Elijah got spring pictures done for school. They actually turn out decent for school pictures! Go figure that Ethan and Sami's School decided not to do Spring Pictures do to funding issue's. Grrrr! I can never win:)

Sami and Friends Celebrating her 15th Birthday

2011-04-02T03:14:00.000-05:00

These were picture of the girls before heading out to go to the movies. Sami was getting very irritated because we were not moving fast enough. She wanted to leave before Uncle Jay got to the house and we said no because he is staying with Ethan, Hannah and Elijah plus we need to do your cake. Needless to say, Sami decided this was not a good idea, and we were going to be late for the movie! Well, we did the cake, got pictures and ran out the door to head to the Quarry Movie Theater. Not kidding as we walked in for the 10pm showing they announced that their movie sold out. I covered my mouth and moved to the side because Sami got a look on her face that if she could have killed me she would have! All her friends busted out laughing too to say the least and she was just shaking her head at me. So Rae and I jump ed on cellphones and hit our app buttons and I found that Silverado was showing their movie in a little over a hour and Chris and I's movie in about 1 hour. So we got back in the truck and headed to that theater. We got there in the nick of time to get the girls tickets to the 11:10pm showing and Chris and I into our movie at 10:40pm. There is also a restaurant in the theater so we got something to eat and drink and I took lots of photos to upload to face book on Chris's phone too while there. Chris and I happened to end up right next door to the girls theater. During our movie, we got a text asking us to come out. So Chris goes out and the girls are so scared they wanted a escort to the bathroom. Well, if you know Chris he couldn't resist. He screamed and made Poor Kathy and Rae jump and dance!!! Then our movie got out and we went and stood in the hallway and watched the last 20 min of their movie, while watching their heads pop up and down as they jumped out of their chairs from being scared. We were laughing so hard but trying to be quiet as the theater was sold out! The movie ended and poor Haylie was so scared she was in tears and the girls were freaked out and well, Chris and I couldn't do much but laugh. I hugged them all and we went out the door into the warm evening air. The whole way home they were freaked. Then out of nowhere Chris screams and all the girls screamed and jumped and We laughed so hard our stomach's hurt!!! Then we come home, the girls are calming down, we set up the fire pit for smores for the girls. I get the kitchen cleaned up and help Chris sneak out the front door. Its like 2am at this point.... I am cleaning the kitchen putting things away and making noise and Chris waits till they are so relaxed and they can see me cleaning and out of nowhere jumps out and scares the crap out of them to the point where they all screamed so loud, and jumped out of the seats and were in the midst of those few seconds of being scared and realizing it was Chris scrambling toward the backdoor. OH MY GOSH!!! TO freaking funny:) I will try to figure out how to get my photos off Chris's phone because there are some real good ones we got on the phone also. Now they are all downstairs watching movies and bundled all together. What a bunch of GIRLS!!!!! Sami had a blast and Daley, Rae, Haylie, Kathy Thank you for coming to celebrate with Sami. We were missing one friend but I think they all had a blast. Lets see if any of them get any sleep after this night!!!

Sami Turns 15!!!

2011-03-30T21:09:00.001-05:00

Sami in front of our Big 15th Birthday Sign we put on her door when she woke up!

This morning before school, we woke Sami up to a big Happy Birthday Sign on her door! They she put on her birthday dress and had me curl her hair for her and put on her birthday ribbon and ofcourse pin her dollar to her shirt. Don't ask because I honestly don't know how this started but the high school kids pin a dollar on their shirts on their birthdays and everyone add's dollars to it as the day goes on. Yeah!!! Why didn't we think of that in school???? She made some money! Then her friends baked her a cake and bought her flowers and gifts and brought them to school, and we had a big boquet of ballons and a teddy bear and flowers and box of chocolate's delivered to her at school. Needless to say, she was all worried we wouldn't do something special on her "real birthday" and we surprised her with the delivery. She is having her birthday party on friday night with 6 of her closet friends. They want to go see some scary movie at the theater and then come home and roast smores by the firepit and have a slumber party downstairs. Girl Time! I will post more pictures then. Till Then, Happy 15th Birthday Sami! We Love You!

Sami and Kathy

2011-03-29T06:16:00.001-05:00

Sami and Kathy took my little blue camera to the teen dance last friday night. I was downloading the chip for picture for plaques and found these. What is it with this generation and taking photos in the mirrors in bathrooms???? The girls had a good time it looks like. I wish they had gotten some good pictures of all the kids at the dance and of Ethan with his friends dancing like they promised thou!!! I believe the answer was, "we forgot, we got to busy dancing!" OK Then! Tomorrow is Sami's 15th Birthday but her party is not till Friday night. She has invited 6 girlfriends over to have us take to the movies and then come home and have smores by the firepit at night and a sleepover downstairs. Yes, 6 15 &16 year teenage girls up in my house! Fun stuff:O No, they are all good when they are at my house and are respectful of our home and rules. They all hang out here anyway so it won't be to big of a deal. Next year thou, I want Sami to have a Sweet 16 Party! Lets see if she goes for it! Will post pic's of her later in the week.

A Boy and his Fort

2011-03-29T06:04:00.001-05:00

A peep hole to see out of!

OK, Elijah has hit that "boy" stage. Power Rangers, wanting to tackle or wrestle everyone, and is now into building forts. This was done with my living room cushions that he built for himself over the weekend when Sami and Ethan were out at a teen dance and Hannah was with a friend. Not only does he do this but he will pull the blankets over the top bunk to cover his bottom bed and build a fort in his room that way also. When I went to check on him, he had pulled out a sleeping bag and made his fort a place for him to sleep in. Of course I had to get some pictures. However, about 2 hours later while Chris and I were still not asleep do to working late at night on plaques to get caught up on we heard giggling. So I look down the staircase to see him laughing IN HIS SLEEP! It was quite cute actually. He is a happy go lucky kid in general but to be laughing in his sleep too! Must be a pretty funny dream. Anyway he happened to roll and the top part of the fort fell on his face. Chris said to leave him alone but it was bothering me so I went down and I could still hear him giggling, but muffled. So I hurried and moved the pillow off his head thinking he couldn't breathe. Nope, the pillow falling on him woke him up and he was watching some Disney channel show through the spot of the fort he could see out of and was laughing at the TV now! I finally convinced him to let me put the cushions back on the coach and sleep on the coach with his sleeping bag if he was going to stay in the living room instead of moving to his bed. He gave in because the cushions kept falling over. However, I had to share because its so cute!

Sound asleep before the big pillow fell on him!

Happy St. Patty's Day at the Riverwalk!

2011-03-12T20:53:00.000-06:00

These are all our personal shots I got on my camera. I wanted pictures of the kids and Chris, and Mom and Jay and Myself at The River walk. Because St. Patricks Day is on a Thursday, the weekend before on in San Antonio they have the St. Patty's Day Festival. They dye the River Green for the weekend, and have a boat parade and Irish Singers, and dancers and so much more. It was so hot out. However, a nice cold beer and water made things better as we sat and watched. These are some of my favorite shots of the kids and all of us. After the parade we ended up going to a Restaurant sitting outside right on the river called The County Line. Its was some really good BBQ!!! We were starving!!! Every single one of us are sunburned on our arms, face, and necks! We didn't think it was that bad out but man lets just say it was! What a great day thou. Enjoy all the pictures, and you can click on each collage to enlarge them to see the pictures better. I have posted below some of the events we watched and were part of during our day! Happy Early St. Patricks Day Everyone!

Let's Dance a Jig!!!

2011-03-12T20:44:00.000-06:00

This is the neat thing about watching Irish Dancing! Seeing these girls in these $2000 outfits!! Yep, you read that right. They told us how much it costs, and all those curls and the dancing. They are amazing! I could never even think to get my feet to move that fast or kick that high! Once of their coach's is actually one of the original "River Dancers" from Broadway!
These were some Celtic dancers showing us some of the traditional Irish Dancing and then the float parade started. As you can see the River walk is dyed Green and renamed The River Shannon for St. Patty's Weekend. It was so cool to see the river turn bright green before our very eyes! So Cool! Then at the end of the parade their were 2 riverboats filled with SANTA'S!!! Yep, it was the Santa Convention in San Antonio also! I guess Santa's helpers need a nice vacation too and well Everyone gets to be Irish for St. Patty's! Even the Santa!
After sitting in almost 90 degree heat with some wind, we were all hot and sunburned but having a good time. Then the dancers asked for audience volunteers to come learn a Irish Dance on stage across the River. Hannah and Elijah jumped up, and Sami looked at us and we said "Go if you want" so she jumped up and ran with Hannah and Elijah and all 3 got chosen to go up on the stage and learned a dance. Let me tell you, Hannah and Elijah were in their element. They learned it so fast and were just having a blast. Sami well she I think got up there and decided " what the hell was I thinking" but stayed and did it with them. Ethan of course was straight up "Hell No!" on going up there and dancing! He was like they are crazy and it isn't happening. I don't dance! Especially like that. So he sat with us and watched. They were also throwing beads and Ethan was the only one to catch a green set of beads.

The Final Four Playing Soccer Games!!!

2011-03-12T20:29:00.000-06:00

Well.... Soccer Season has begun! We didn't get any pictures of Elijah's game however his team won and he made a GOAL!!!! We got some shots of Hannah's game ( top collage). She played the goalie position and the field. She had a great game also and won! The bottom collage is of Sami and Ethan's Team that Chris coach's. Ethan ofcourse played Goalie for the first half (his favorite position) and Sami played foward and scored the first 3 goals!! It was a good game. The other team came back and scored 3 so it was tied. Then the other team scored its 4th and Sami and Ethan were getting mad. Needless to say their "coach" pulled them aside and had a family meeting and after the half, the scored their 4th goal and they ended the game Tied! It was nice hot morning but windy. The Final Four love soccer and its diffently in full swing!

Sami teasing Uncle Jay prior to The Superbowl!

2011-02-07T17:42:00.000-06:00

OK, we all by now know that "I" really could careless about football. However, my family LOVES FOOTBALL!!! They each have a team. Chris & Boys are Seahawks, Nana (my mom) & Girls are The Bears, Papaw(my dad) is a Viking fan, and Uncle Jay (my brother) is a Steeler Fan. So when games are going on needless to say much trash talking is going on. Yes, I listen and laugh at them over it but know its all done in good fun and giving each other "crap" as I have been told this is how its done with football over each other's teams. Well when the Seahawks lost to The Bears (yes, my house was divided big time and each person wore their team jersey's to represent!) I finally went down and watched the game to support both sides. The Seahawks lost:( But The Bear's Won! Then Uncle Jay's team was playing and his team The Steeler's Won! So the trash talking started how they were going to the Superbowl and what team was going to win. Then The Bear's Lost and Greenbay moved onto the Superbowl to play aganist The Steelers. The last team standing as far as a team supported in the family. So my parents and Chris and I were supporting Uncle Jay's team to win #7 Superbowl Win. Well Sami had decided while Uncle Jay was sleeping early in the afternoon to print out Greenbay items and make signs and hang them all over the house for Greenbay to win! She still wore all her Bear's gear from socks, jeans, jersey and hat as she says (I still have to represent!) but didn't want The Steeler's to win. These are the pictures she ran around taking. We just laughed because well we have a good sense of humor about things. Uncle Jay woke up and first thing he seen was his jacket in front of his door. The other sleeve has all 6 Superbowl patch's on it and he wanted #7 on the other sleeve were Sami put a green "not yours" sticky there instead, and wherever he went in the house she put up signs. He just took it all in good fun, but went around ripping all the signs down to make his point right back at her and put on all his Steeler Gear too! Needless to say thou, The Steelers did not win. Sami however went to a Superbowl party and was coming home and the minute she seen Uncle Jay she started yelling from the yard "ITS GREENBAY ALL DAY BABY!" I had to shake my head behind him for her to stop. Uncle Jay was not in the mood to hear that at that moment needless to say. One thing I have learned is Football Fans take their football and Teams very seriously also especially after losing The Superbowl. However, Jay bounced back and said We got it next year! Of course Sami said you wish and Chris just smiled and I am thinking he was thinking the same thing. Lord have mercy on me when the new season starts and its back to non stop football again but for now, NO MORE FOOTBALL!!!!!

THAT'S RIGHT!!!! ITS SNOWING IN SAN ANTONIO!!!!

2011-02-04T02:47:00.000-06:00

OK, they kept sayings we were going to get snow and finally it happened!!!! It's SOOO COLD!!! and SNOWING!!! The news had said it would start with freezing rain and middle of the night the snow would come. Well they actually got it right. It started with freezing rain and sleet, and at 1:30am Sami came running in our room screaming "ITS SNOWING GET UP, GET UP!!!" Thank goodness I was still awake. They woke up the boys and I grabbed the camera and realized when I plugged it in the memory card didn't catch it when it was really coming down, it went to the camera's memory part??? Still can't figure out how to get those pictures of it with the boys but the girls got right back out in it for me to take some more pictures of the snow and decided to have a small snow ball fight at 2:30am! Needless to say, yes they are going to cancel school! The kids are thrilled. I still can't believe we live in San Antonio, TX and its so cold this winter that it is actually snowing!!!! I hope it keeps going to give us at least the 2-3 inches they said we might see by morning so the kids can go play in it. However, it could change back to sleet and freezing rain which is going to make the roads around here horrible to get around on because people here don't know how to drive in rain much less snow and ice! However, we are going to enjoy the moment. Its the first time in 3 years we have seen snow! We are a bunch of kids in a candy store! Uncle Jay not so much!!! He is like "I move to Texas to get away from this crap, not bring it with me!" I am sure it will be gone by tomorrow but for now..... IT'S SNOWING!!!!!

Sami getting her hair done for Homecoming!

2011-01-29T21:57:00.000-06:00

No she didn't want me to take picture but yeah well I did it anyway. Sami getting her first haircut in over a year and it looks so good and they curled it and did it all up for her so all I had to do was do some touch ups and put on her makeup and spray it all down and put her together!!! Chris & Jay helped Aaron with his tie thou:) The start of our day getting ready for homcoming.

Stacey High School Homecoming 2011!

2011-01-29T21:53:00.001-06:00

Sami getting dressed, then Emily and her date Ray and Emily's mom were first to arrive so we got pictures of Sami and Aaron and Emily and Ray, and Emily and Sami together. BFF's For Life as they always say!
This is were Sami and Aaron gave each other their flowers. I am not going to even try to attempt to spell them because I can't!!! However, I love some of these shots of Sami and Aaron and a shot of Emily and Ray on the coach together.
Another collage of Emily, Sami, Aaron and Ray waiting on the group to arrive with thier parents to get pictures taken together. These are some really cute one's also.
The group starts to grow as the couples start piling in. At one point I counted with parents 21 heads in the house just in my livingroom area!!!! I love the shot of Sami and Aaron stricking thier funny pose together! Scroll on down to the other collage's as the house filled with parents and the kids all dressed up for Homecoming 2011!!!

Sami with a Ton of her Friends all Dressed For Homecoming at our House

2011-01-29T21:44:00.001-06:00

No I can't name all of them even thou I do know them all but it would get confusing to say the least. Our house was grand central station this evening. Tons of Mom's and Dad's came over to take pictures as well. We made a space to put everyone and it turned out so well. The girls look so beautiful and the boys so handsome! Yes, their age's vary from 14-16 years old. All the parents thanked us for opening our home and having the idea to do this. To be honest, its those milestones that I don't want to miss and it was my pleasure!
Below are some of the couple shots of everyone. Look at my Sami!!! Yes, she is beautiful inside and out. I love "sometimes" that she doesn't care what she looks like. Her attitude is you like her for who she is. Makeup or no makeup, sweat pants and tshirts or dressed up. Hair done or not. She is her own person. There are times it drives me nuts but if I stand back and think about it, I can appreciate it and Love her all the more for being her own person who will get far in life with tons of friends and family WHO DO LOVE HER JUST THE WAY SHE IS!!!! WE LOVE YOU SAMI!
Ok, here we go... Top corner Angela and Emily, Austin and Marissa, 3 girls with flowers is Haylie, Sami and Angela, below that is Rae with her leg on Sami, Second row, Rae and Vance, Hailey and Steven, Aaron and Vance, and Emily and Ray, and the Big one is of Sami and Aaron. See I know them!!! and yes this is how my house is normally on any given day. I love it.

Sami's Homecoming JV Game!!! WE WON!!! Plus her in the Mascot Uniform and on Cheer Squad!

2011-01-29T21:35:00.000-06:00

The above two collage's are of Sami's JV Homecoming Basketball Game! All 4 Teams meaning both JV boys and girls and Varsity boys and girls teams WON EVERY GAME!!! GO EAGLES!!! Then there are some pictures of Sami with her Cheer Squad. Why you ask don't you see Sami but see Hannah, Oh Yeah because that would be Sami in the Eagle Mascot Uniform next to her!!! She loves during the boys JV and sometimes varsity games to get in that thing and run around and dance and get the crowd wound up and cheering.
During the boy's Varsity Half Time Sami and her Cheer Squad came out and did their two cheers for everyone! We had such a great time and what a way to kick off Stacey's Homecoming Weekend with all WINS!

A Day at a Friends Horse Ranch

2011-01-25T22:28:00.000-06:00

Chris works with a guy who's wife is becoming a family advocacy counselor at BAMC. So her and friends asked if our family would be willing to be "Ginnie pigs" so to speak as a family with a returned deployed parent and how the dynamics change a family with reunions and working the family back together as a family unit. So with that said, they knew our family issue's and the family issues we face and so we said sure we will do it. So we got there and they had us as a family bridle the horse together and name the horse and explain why we choose the horse and why we named it "Lucky" etc.... The kids and Chris and I had a good time and the kids want to go back and they asked if we would and said sure. The lady even said she did riding lessons and of course my kids jumped on that band wagon! It was a wonderful afternoon needless to say and hopefully if we do go back the kids can ride.

2 years of Weight Loss and Goals Reached!

2011-01-21T14:52:00.001-06:00

OK, so I was recently talking to people on face book and family and friends over weight loss. I told my mother in law the top weight I had reached. She didn't believe me. I was like well, I didn't take or wasn't in any pictures on purpose because of it. I was embarrassed for how big I had gotten. I wasn't even that big pregnant. So here I was looking at some old pictures and found some that can show the loss over time. Now did I post the picture I have of me at my biggest, NOPE!!! Even looking at it disgusts me. I will say this, I had depression due to no one believing me that I was sick and in pain, on tons of med's ( a gallon sized Ziploc bag full) everyday that come to find out later down the road was helping me gain weight and causing many other issues do to interacting with each other. Then at my biggest I finally couldn't take it anymore when I had to buy 20w sized jeans. I was the biggest I had ever been in my life. Talk about depressed along with severe body pain with no explanation and not being believed by anyone what I was going through was as bad as it really was to include Dr's. So along with having this horrible pain in my body, being in bed, being depressed and taking tons of meds and eating whenever I wanted and whatever I wanted I got FAT!

1. picture of Chris and I with Sami top row I was a size 18 there.(2008)
2. picture of Mom and Me I was a size 16 there (2008)
3. picture of Me with Sami I was a size 14(2009)
4. picture of Chris and I on the beach size 14(2009)
5. picture of Chris and I size 12(2009)
6.picture of Ethan and I size 10 (2010)
7. picture of Me size 8 (2010)
8. picture of Me size 7 end of year Dec 30th, (2010)

I want to gain at least 5 pounds. I will say that. I am now weighing in at 134. However, does that mean I don't have fat on me??? Heck NO! I have tons of skin and rolls from losing so much weight and tons of stretch marks, which is why I won't wear shirts without sleeve's and of course certain types of clothing because well, the fact is clothes help hide that!!! Let's be honest here. I just had a Dr. tell me when after talking to me and getting my medical back round done he had me put on a gown to have a physical and said" Oh, you looked skinner in your clothes!" Um, yeah that is called fat rolls you cant' get rid of without lipo! OK! Nothing like being told that, but I also just had to laugh because yeah well, I might have lost the weight, but I am far from having that perfect body! Thank goodness thou, My husband still loves me and so does my family and friends and to top it off I love myself for getting it done. So there is no big secert as to how I lost it. I did do no more than 1000 calories and slim fast when I started out. I even did the metabolism vitamins to try to speed up my metabolism but yeah it made my heart race and would keep me awake for days. Then we figured out I had RSD/CPRS and started getting new med's and procedures. Then in March of 2010 I still weighed 169 when I had my Spinal Cord Stimulator placed in me. By June I was down to 145! The SCS as my Dr. told me has been known to help patients lose weight because it regulated my blood flow and other things in my body and made me more active and hence weight starts coming off. Not that I would ever recommend going down this path by any means or wish this on my worst enemy it is what happened to me. No fancy diet plans! Because before the SCS I was still big! Even thou I was slowly losing weight, It was going TOOO SLOW!!!! and frustrating for me. Now I can't keep it on! Good and Bad at the same time. So to all those who can't believe I was ever as big as I have said and wearing a 20w at my biggest and tops at 3X believe it! It is so nice now to go and pick out cute clothes and not grandma clothes anymore for sure! Now to keep it off and to do my best to stay as active as my body allows. It lets me know when its done and I still have flares and spasms and seizure activity because the SCS did relieve my pain by 50%, which is a lot for someone who could hardly move without screaming out in pain. I do what I can do, and know my limits and set goals to reach. My goal this year is to get to a point where I can start to travel further distance's and to get my driving privileges back. I haven't been allowed to drive since March of 2010 because of the SCS spasms and seizure activity, but its my goal to reach those. One day at a time is our motto, because you never know how things will be tomorrow.

Sami, Ethan, Hannah and Elijah's Basketball Games!

2011-01-11T10:34:00.000-06:00

Sami's JV Basketball Home Game. They wear white and blue and red at home and Red and white and blue at away games. This was a home game for all the girls and boys teams. Needless to say it was a long night of basketball! Love watching her play thou!
Ethan 's First Basketball Game on the Junior League. Whats really cool and you will notice is all the kids shirts say Spurs on it but in different colors for each team. Why you might ask. Well the San Antonio Spurs have sponsored the Youth Center's Winter Basketball League this season! So Ethan's age group of 12-13 year olds and his team got the yellow shirts. He is loving it and differently more active now that he knows the basics of the game from playing this past summer. Love watching him play also!
Hannah's First Basketball Game! As explained above the Spurs are the sponsors of the league and she is in the age group of 9-10 year olds. She did really well and even made a shot which she was soooo excited about! She said "Mom it was all NET!!!" Chris said she just got right in there and played hard. I think watching Sami and Ethan play has made her get really into liking the game as well as playing it.
Elijah's First Basketball Game. Of course, wouldn't you go figure they gave Elijah's team orange shirts as well! Couldn't I have 4 different colors to keep them separate! NOPE! Anyway, Elijah plays on the 7-8 year old league. So half court games. He was so bumbed they lost but he got to take a shot and throw the ball in and was very excited about playing basketball. He loves too that he is playing basketball just like his brother and sisters. Chris said he was just all smiles the whole time and really enjoying playing. I am very happy that the kids are loving playing basketball. Its so much fun to watch them play anyway but its even better when the kids enjoy playing and love to go and get in there and play too. So welcome to The Final Four's Basketball Season! Yes, we are hopping from practice to practice and game to games but I would much rather the kids be active than not, and be involved and out doing something physical then always sitting at home. Which is why I make them pick a sport every season to play. Soccer and Baseball Season is coming up after this! So we will see which direction the kids go from there!

Happy New Year!!! Welcome 2011 Love The Final Four!

2011-01-01T03:06:00.000-06:00

This is a collage of all of us in the living room watching the New York New Years Eve Ball Drop! The kids were so excited. Chris had gone out and bought some pie's and cheesecakes and bottles of sparkling cider and also went to a Fireworks stand and bought a bunch of Large Sparklers and small ones and poppers and those ones you throw and they pop! So we got the camera out and got some pictures watching the ball drop in the living room and then headed out back, lit up the fire pit to keep warm and got some pictures of The Final Four and a Picture of Nana and Papaw and Uncle Jay with the kids before all of them started to crawl out of their skins to go play with the sparklers.
Some of these pictures are blurry, the smoke and them spinning and running were blurry. SORRY!!! However, Ethan and Hannah's friends came by also to celebrate with them too. They had a good time running around. We could hear all the fireworks going off downtown and around town but it was so foggy and cloudy we couldn't see them only hear them. Oh well, we made our own fireworks show and sat by the fire pit and had fun with the kids before we called it a night and went to bed. Happy New Year's Everyone and may 2011 bring us all Happiness and Joy, with more ups then downs. We love all our family and friends and couldn't ask for much more.
HAPPY NEW YEAR~ THE FINAL FOUR!!!

Sami's JV Basketball Game with Nana and Papaw who got to see her play

2011-01-01T02:55:00.000-06:00

This was a fun day! Sami had a JV Basketball Game along with Varsity Girls and Boys games in a town south of here in Charlotte, TX. Its about a hour drive and we went because this would be the only time Nana and Papaw would get to see her play high school sports together. Sami played the whole game and was the leader in points! The girls played a great game and of course it came down to a nail bitter of 14-13, Stacey Eagles (Sam's team having 13) and like 10 seconds to go and we were on our feet and they got the ball to Sami and she went for the shot for 3 points and it dropped right before the hoop! Just one more inch and she would have won the game for with the team! Everyone even the Varsity Girls and Boys Teams and Parents that traveled were on their feet too. She was so upset she missed the shot but we were so proud of her and Papaw I think was very proud. He was having some flash backs to his days a a ref working his way up to being a Ref in the NCAA Leagues. A ring he still wears! He told Sami how proud he was of her and some pointers and to keep up the good work that some althetism did wear off on her from her Papaw and Mom after all! Then we stayed and watched the Varsity Girls play and left. They won that game and it was a brawl! Man these girls get aggressive! I sort of love it! Then we headed back and I had the bright idea of going this other way and it dropped us out on the wrong side and added another hour to our drive home:( So a 1 hour drive turned into a 2 hour drive home. Oh well, like my mom said "well you just got to see a part of Texas you'll never see again!" Good Point! Sami's next game is a home game next week. We can't wait. Plus Ethan, Hannah and Elijah all start their games too. New Year, New Starts, New Games!

Merry Christmas Part 2

2010-12-27T01:01:00.000-06:00

these are more pictures of Christmas Morning with the adults and kids opening presents. We had such a fun filled happy morning. Everyone was all smiles and laughing and enjoying the moment.
I love the picture of my dad, He put on his snuggie!!! ( he hates snuggies) but its a really nice thick NFL Vikings one and the kids made him stand up and put his arms in it so he had one just like him. He has such a great smile and laugh in this picture. We all did. Everyone got what they wanted and then some! We hope you all had a very Merry Christmas too!
The night before Christmas when all was finally quiet in the house. Santa arrived and delivered presents and brand new bikes for The Final Four and stuffed 9 stockings! Santa was a hit! Then we got some pictures of Elijah doing what he does best, singing and performing for everyone in the house after the girls were done dancing on the Wii. Ethan took his large Swat Helicopter outside to fly with Dad and Dad flew it and ofcourse got it lost in the woods! Ethan was freaking out thinking it was lost forever because after a hour of searching they couldn't find it. Finally, Everyone went on a search and it cleared the woods and landed on the other side of a housing area in someones backyard. Just by luck that someone spotted it! Crisis adverted! They are enjoying riding the new bikes in the neighborhood, and just enjoying themselves period. We have had a very low key Christmas with no plans. ITs been really nice. Now onto New Year's Week!

Merry Christmas

2010-12-27T00:50:00.000-06:00

These are pictures from a couple different camera's and angles of all of us taking photos from Christmas Morning. The kids ofcourse went first and loved everything they got. We have hardly seen them outside of playing with their new stuff and outside with friends!
After the kids opened all their gifts we cleaned up the living room and carried everything to the kids rooms and started again with the adults. The kids were extra excited this year because Chris took each of the kids out by themselves to shop for everyone. So they were so happy to hand each of us a gift they picked out and bought for all of us this year. It was very neat to see the excitement of giving on their faces.
Uncle Jay got tons of Steeler's gear! Watch, Wallet, Shirts, Pj's, and autographed helmet, and a 6 time SuperBowl Coat with all the patch's going down one arm and he loves it. He said he can't wait for #7 this year! Everyone that has their teams got their baseball and football team jerseys, hoodies, jackets, blankets, watch's, shirts, bedding etc.... I got 4 new pairs of pj's!!! and my new fossil watch with the pearl face and cute stuff from the kids. No Sports clothing for this girl! Everyone was looking at me but its ok, I don't have a team, I will just go get me some more clothes at the store! hehehehe:) No I am good, love my pj's and wear them the most!

Christmas Eve Traditions..............

2010-12-24T23:17:00.000-06:00

Well every Christmas Eve the kids get to open one present as with many families its PJ's! So Nana passed out the bags of PJ's to the kids and little items to the rest of us. The kids all got some pj's for Christmas morning. Then the kids all went and changed into the set they wanted to wear for Christmas and came back down and every year on Christmas Eve we read The Christmas Candle which is a great story about a lesson of a man who thinks he is above everyone, and he is shown his family in different eyes as if he didn't exist. Basically, the story is a great reminder of how we should treat others and love our families and be grateful for the blessings in our lives. Well this year it was Sami's turn to read. So we always sit and listen to the reader of the book every Christmas Eve because the book is based on Christmas Eve events. Once the book was read, the kids wrote Santa a letter and laid out a plate of cookies and carrots and apples and milk for Santa and his reindeer and headed off to bed. Of course Sami and Ethan wouldn't go to sleep and Dad remembered when Sami was 1 year old and we visited Alaska for the first time with her she would sit on Dad's lap and bring book after book to him and make him read to her. So Dad wanted a photo of her sitting on his lap now so he has both photos of her on his lap reading a book. It was very sweet! Needless to say I started going through old photo albums to find that picture and found it so Dad could have it with this picture to put in a side by side frame for him. Now we wait for all the kids to go to sleep and bring out Santa gifts and get things set up for morning and stuffing stockings etc.... and we can try to get some sleep. I got a feeling we are going to have to Call Nana and Papaw to come a bit earlier, but will try to hold the kids off till 8am till Nana and Papaw get back to the house for Christmas Morning. Christmas Dinner menu was decided this year by Papaw who said its Prime Rib and Crab legs! YUM!!!! Can't wait. I have been horribly sick but came down stairs to watch It's a Wonderful Life and do Christmas Eve Traditions with everyone and come back to bed and rest up for Christmas Day! Will post more pictures of Christmas Morning and Day and post them soon, but till then We wish you all a Very Merry Christmas From our House to Yours!

Hannah Sings with her Choir for Christmas!

2010-12-15T11:59:00.000-06:00

Last night, Hannah had a Christmas Choir Performance. They all did such a great job! Some really cute songs, fun songs and of course the tear jerkers dedicated to all the Mom's & Dad's Deployed this holiday season. Hannah was so excited that Chris got to come this time, last time she preformed was the day after he deployed for the Memorial Choir Performance that they dedicated to Chris before they started singing. I was sitting there remembering that feeling while Hannah kept her eye's glued to Chris and I to make sure we were there watching her and her family was there. She was disappointed Sami couldn't make it because she had a away game for basketball but Sami gave her a hug and told her to have a great night at her performance and Hannah told her to win one for her! See sometimes they can be nice to each other and act like sister's when they want too! Merry Christmas Everyone!

Chris and I at the Christmas Party with Friends Chris works with!

2010-12-11T15:58:00.000-06:00

Funny Pictures of the kids to share!

2010-12-02T18:26:00.000-06:00

Six Flags Holiday's at the Park Pictures

2010-11-29T15:57:00.000-06:00

OK, so none of us brought a camera except our cellphones! I wasn't caring around a huge case, and well we didn't bring one. So luckily thou, we did get some cellphone shots that turned out good and in the park they have people that take your photos and you can buy these pictures. So we got them and I scanned them all and gave Jody the originals because I can print mine out.... and have them saved forever in my computer! The group one is when we came into the park, then of course we got all 10 to take a photo with Santa and then all 10 in front of Santa's House. Then we got Team Cooper with Santa and The Final Four with Santa and at Wiggles World I got a picture of Elijah and the Triplets on the roller coaster. Yeah!!! Its time for Christmas!!! We had a good time. I stayed with the triplets and Elijah at Wiggles World, and the others took off to go ride rides, then we met up for the tree lighting ceremony and watched them light the tree and fireworks go off and fake snow come out of the sprayer's. Then we headed to ride a couple more rides and everyone got to drive on the race track. Mind you during this time the sun had set and it was FREEZING outside! Yes, I know we live in South Texas and No in the 3 years I have lived here it has never been that cold. We bought everyone gloves and had to buy Chris and Hannah Heavy Sweater jackets to keep warm. Then we went to eat and drink Hot chocolate with holiday sprinkles and warm up while the older kids took off to go ride the Scream. Its a tower that shoots 20 story's high and drops you. They loved it! There were hardly any lines and the kids got to go many times over on the rides. Then Chris took a couple kids to play games while the older kids went to ride rides and Jody and I took the younger 4 back to Wiggles World to ride the Big Red Car before the park closed. By time we all got home, we all literally got into pj's, and all went to bed and crashed! We wish we had one more day to squeeze in Sea World's Holiday Park but one day we will!

Smores by the Firepit and Riverwalk

2010-11-29T15:45:00.000-06:00

After everyone had their fill of Thanksgiving dinner we headed out back and Chris started up the firepit I had bought at the BX and we were able to make SMORES!!!! It was cold out too so it was perfect time to sit by the fire and roast some marshmellows. Below are some of the better pictures we got from our time at the Riverwalk. Jay came back from Alaska that afternoon, and my cousin, Jody's brother and sister in law, Virgil and Yahiara came down to the Riverwalk to meet us for dinner at Hard Rock Cafe. Then we all got on the Riverboat's and took the Festival of Lights boatride around the river. Then we decided to try to head toward the Alamo, (one long walk) when we seen the Cinderella Horse drawn Carriage's. So we stopped 2 of them, one was lit up all white and one was lit up all hot pink. We went on the horse drawn rides around the town and had them drop us back off at the Hard Rock Cafe so we didn't have to walk all the way back. What a great time!

Team Cooper Comes For Thanksgiving!

2010-11-29T15:39:00.000-06:00

This is a collage of everyone together the night they arrived. Jody and I headed out to try to get to Toy R Us but yeah, um when the line is half a mile long and the store is filled already, and you have to wait for head counts to come out for that many to go in and you have security inside for crowd control and two cop cars with flashing lights outside, we decided to go to Old Navy instead. The next afternoon we headed out to the BX and came home and got Thanksgiving dinner on the table for us to have all together. To much fun!

The Final Fours 2010-2011 School Year Pictures

2010-11-16T18:21:00.000-06:00

Sami~ 9th grade~14 1/2 years old, Ethan~ 7th grade~12 years old, Hannah~ 3rd grade~9 years old, Elijah~2nd grade~7 1/2 years old.

Ok, seriously I would really like the kids to take a decent picture! However, these are school pictures and you get what you pay for I guess as the saying goes. Oh well..... They are what they are and I just need to give in and take them and get them done for their year pictures and the 4 of them together and a new family picture (that one might not happen!!!) I can't come up with a color scheme or theme. Got to keep thinking on it I guess! Till then, Enjoy and Happy Early Thanksgiving!

The Final Four's Sport's Pictures for Soccer, Flag Football and JV Volleyball Season 2010

2010-11-16T18:11:00.000-06:00

They aren't perfect but they will do!!! Ethan played soccer this early fall season, Hannah and Elijah were on the same flag football team this fall season and Sami was on her high school JV Volleyball Team. These are there collage's that I scanned and wanted to share. Soon after the winter season is over we will be posting The Final Four all on their own Basketball Teams. Sami made her JV basketball girls team, Ethan is in the Junior League for basketball and Hannah and Elijah are on their own teams also for their age groups. Should be a fun season. Enjoy