It's beginning to look alot like Christmas (or it was in December)...

The only down side to the trip to MO for Thanxgiving was that the van was acting very poorly. It was "hiccuping", stalling, squealing, etc. We were just very glad to make it home. Well, although I LOVE not having a van payment we decided it was time to start looking for something new for me to drive. We were tired of putting money into a dying vehicle (new fuel pump, air compressor (for the a/c), transmission, etc, etc, etc.) and wanted to still get a decent amt for trade-in so the hunt began. Although Coby really wanted an SUV, the mid-sized ones were too small and the big ones were too big. I just wanted a van again because they are family friendly and easy to drive. After a search we decided on a Toyota Sienna and purchased our new van on Dec. 10th. It is very nice with actual plugs in addition to the regular car plugs, a built-in DVD player with cordless head phones, an AUX jack in the radio for the iPod and XM and many other features. I love the silver color because it is so much easier to keep clean than the blue. I LOVE IT! Having a payment again is painful, but knowing we can get where we need to go without any van troubles is worth it!

Before Thanxgiving we started decorating for Christmas because we entertained a bit at the beginning of December and then my family came in for the holiday. I usually don't like to put up alot of decoration because then you just have to take it down after the holidays, but with people coming and a beautiful house to decorate we went all out. Icicle lights across the front of the house, wreaths in the front windows (the wind was so strong it blew them all down), Christmas tree decorated, garland, lites and bows on the banisters, mantel, and piano, etc. It was fun to see the house all dolled up. Although the house sometimes bugs me because it has required so much updating and fixing, it really is a beautiful home.

The month of December flew by, and before we knew it Christmas was upon us. The kids and I made a trip to Amarillo to go to Sams, Super WM, and all the other places to get the food, paper goods, and everything else ready for the masses to come. Both refrigerators were full, the pantry stocked, the house cleaned from top to bottom, and the kids excited for Gpa & Gma and Santa to come (maybe even in reverse order). My brother Cyle got home from his year tour in Iraq just in time for Cmas with the family and it was great to see him again. Both my brothers returned home safe from their tours in Iraq and I was grateful for that knowing that not everyone gets to experience that blessing.

Christmas was so much fun with family and friends in town. My sister and her family made it in the day after Christmas and we ate, partied, played, talked, and enjoyed our time together. Reality hit all too soon when everyone left Tuesday, but what a great time. My brother Clint (stationed in CA) wasn't able to be with us (he was at a friends wedding in Hungary), but he was there in spirit and hopefully we can all get together again soon.

Halloween & November...lots of travel!

We went to Gpa & Gma Adair's for Halloween. Mom got a new computer and so we went over there to help her set-up the new one; "sucking the guts" out of the old one and transferring it to the new one. The benefit for doing this, besides getting to have a fun weekend with Gpa & Gma, was that the kids inherited the old computer. They now have their own and I LOVE IT! No more messing with mom's computer. Aedan ontime opened so many windows (over 21) that it froze my computer and NOTHING but a cold shut-off would get it moving again.

The beginning of Novemeber I was able to take a trip to Las Vegas for my cousins wedding. Although we wanted to take the whole family, when we got down to the nitty-gritty it just wasn't going to work. With the budget, schedule, and real life considered, we decided I got to go ALONE! We have plenty of frequent flyer miles to pay for the ticket and with family there it was a cheap (and quick) trip. The sealing was awesome, the reception WONDERFUL, and I had a BLAST reconnecting with family and bonding with my most awesomest cousin (you know who you are...)! It was a much needed break from the kids and Borger. Coby was a trooper to take time off to be a full-time dad for 4.5 days (Thurs afternoon - Mon nite) and I was ready to resume my status as mom, wife, housekeeper, accountant, head chef, laundry goddess, taxi service, and whatever else I'm sure I could put on my resume when I returned.

Over Thanxgiving we traveled to Missouri...this was fun! We drove to OKC the first night and stayed with some friends from college. It was such a late night catching up with them, but what a great time we had!! Once in MO, we stayed with Gpa & Gma Lawrence (parents of Coby's "big brother" from the Big Brother/Big Sister program years ago - some of the only people from Coby's hometown we are still in touch with) who were above and beyond in their graciousness, generosity, and kindness to our family. They are truely an example of Christ-like love. We got to see some of Coby's dad's family on Thanxgiving night and had fun catching up with them. Because of Coby's family dynamics Coby didn't have much contact with his dad's family until about 4 years ago, so we are getting to know them better. Coby also reconnected with one of his oldest friends and on our way home we stayed with a great friend from my days in San Diego. It was so much fun to see her and meet her family!

Catsup, Ketcup, or is it Catch Up??

I can't remember what school it was, but I remember moving part-way thru the year to somewhere and I remember hearing the teacher saying it was catch up day. Well, how ever old I was I didn't hear "catch-up", I heard "ketcup" (remember, I am a natural blonde!). It was months of hearing the teacher announce it was "catsup" day before I figured out it was actually "catch-up". That being said, it is that day...
I think one of the reasons I don't blog so much is because I don't know if I acutally have anything valid, or funny, or profound to write. Our family is like so many other families - we have our great days and really not great days - living currently in a very small town just trying to figure out our place in the world.
As I have written before Borger has been a challenge for us and I can't deny that I was VERY excited that we should be moving back to the Houston area in the next 6 months. My nightmare is that they decide that since Coby is supposed to travel so much with his next project the company doesn't need to move the rest of the family to Houston, but I hope that just stays a nightmare and I can awake in Houston before too long.
The next couple of posts will be the catch-up...I know that I usually can read only a short bit at a time before I'm pulled away by an "urgent need" by any member of my family so I figured a couple of short posts is better than one really long one.