We're Home

We made it home from Missouri (or "Razuri" as Ashleigh calls it) safe and sound. Did you all have a Happy Thanksgiving? I sure hope so! Our Thanksgiving was GREAT and we had a wonderful trip overall. We left by 8:00 Tuesday night so that the Girls would be asleep through the drive, and thus, making the drive a bit more bearable for us. Our decision paid off because they slept pretty much the whole way up with the exception of our 1 stop to get gas. Katie and her kids followed us the whole way, which I think helped keep Brian and Katie awake. There was a funny moment on the drive in Oklahoma City where there was several cars on the road and a Durango passed us that looked JUST like ours, Texas plates and all. Through the traffic, we had passed them, they passed us, changing lanes, back and forth, etc...I had made the comment to Brian "I wonder if Katie will get confused which car is actually ours". Sure enough, 10 seconds later, that other Durango passed us and Katie was following right behind. Brian and I were laughing so hard! We stayed behind for a little while to see if she would figure it out, but I was scared that other car would take her the wrong way, so Brian eventually pulled up right behind Katie and was flashing his lights and as it turns out, she thought we were some random driver with road rage! So then we pulled up to the left of her (with her thinking we had road rage) and she was scared to look over at us, but she did through the corner of her eye and then did a double-take and when she realized it was us, her face was just priceless! Brian and I had tears in her eyes we were laughing so hard! She was all confused! A little car humor...if you didn't think that was funny, I guess you had to be there!

The Girls behaved all weekend real well for the most part. We stayed at Kim and Jessica's house...Ash slept with Aunt Jessica in her bed (after 1 night of sleeping in the spare bedroom with Addy because she was being shy at first), Addy's portable crib was set up in the spare bedroom, and Brian and I slept in the basement. So it all worked out real well. Katie and her kids stayed with Tracy.

We spent Thanksgiving at Aunt MaryDell's and Uncle Lynn's house in Leavenworth, Kansas which is about an hour drive from Lee's Summit where we stayed. They live out in the country on a beautiful piece of property and a lovely home. We passed Fort Leavenworth and the Leavenworth prison on the way. Nearly every family member goes to their house for Thanksgiving, as there were a ton of people there. I met family members for the 1st time and it was nice to finally put faces with names I have heard. The food was incredible and it was a beautiful, laid back day. After eating, many of the boys went up the other hill and went trap shooting. That was quite a sight, about 10 men with their shotguns shooting at little, orange, clay. It seemed like they had a great time doing it! We also fed the fish in their huge pond so that the kids could see the catfish come to the surface and there was also a poker game. Some of the cousins had the Black Friday ads out planning their route for the following day. It was apparent they take this very seriously! I hope they were able to find some great deals.

Last night, before we left we went to Brian's Dad's house for a few hours to hang out and play some poker. But we headed out of town about 6:30 last night to allow the Girls to sleep once again while we drove. It worked out and we were home by 2:45 this morning. Needless to say, this was a day of recovery and laundry. Time to head back to work and school tomorrow. Fun times. It's officially the Christmas season and I guess I better get my butt in gear to get ready. We need to get all of the Christmas decorations from the shop so we can start the decorating process. Hopefully, we will have time to get the lights on the house by the end of next weekend so we can enjoy them as long as possible for the season.

Oh, one of the best parts of Thanksgiving? The Cowboys won! Woo-Hoo! Here are a few pictures from the weekend:

This is at Kim's (Brian's ex-step mom and Jessica's mom) house the day we arrived. From l-r: Ash, Tracy, Tanner, Tekoa, Bria, Andi, Kaileyanna, and Brian.



Uncle Billy and Aunt Betsy (Betsy is Brian's Dad's sister), note the beautiful scenery, this is at Aunt MaryDell's and Uncle Lynn's house on Thanksgiving.




Grandma Mary Jo (Brian's Dad's Mom) and Aunt Betsy




Uncle Shawn (Cliff's brother), Preston (Brian's cousin and Uncle Buck's son, the only one left to carry on the Linder family name), Papa Cliff (Brian's Dad), Brian, and Uncle Buck (Cliff's brother). Note: Brian is the only one without a beer, LOL!



Katie with her kids, Tekoa and Kaileyanna

Aunt MaryDell taking the kids down to the water to go fishing

The Linder sisters: Jessica, Tracy, and Katie

Tracy with her boyfriend, Jamie

Me and Brian (can you say "diet" starting tomorrow?!?! UGH!!)

Papa Cliff with all of his kids together for the first time at Thanksgiving in more years than anyone can remember

Our generous hosts, Aunt MaryDell (Cliff's sister), Jennifer, Nick (who recently got back from Iraq safe and sound, thank GOD), Michelle, Becky, and Uncle Lynn

Ash on a Princess scooter that she played with a good 75% of the time we were there....hmmm, maybe Santa needs to bring one this year?!?!

Our lovely "home base" host, Kim, feeding Addy

This is Addy with her Aunt Jessica

This is Taliah, a cousin, and daughter of Tiffany, also a cousin (Aunt Betsy's daughter)

Three generations of Linder's: Brian, Cliff Jr., and Cliff Sr. This was at Grandpa's house.

The lovely Tiffany, Aunt Betsy's daughter and Taliah's Mom

Always a ham for the camera, Addy, of course.

Sleep tight all, I hope you have a GREAT week!

Fun Times Saturday Night

It's Saturday night, Ashleigh is spending the night with Peyton, Addyson is in bed, and Brian and I are sitting on the couch channel surfing...fun times! We just stumbled upon the OU/Texas Tech game and I am pretty shocked at the score just a few minutes before half time. Shocked, but happy (sorry, Jessica) but surely this can only help UT in the standings since we beat OU. But who knows with this college football system...we can only hope for the best! Go 'Horns! I think we play A&M next, that should be a no-brainer!

Anyway, the day was rather uneventful. Ally brought Peyton over bright and early because she had a couple of showings and Steve had to work. The girls had fun playing, but it seems they were in rare form with the bickering and tattling on each other. I wanted to curl PeyPey's hair to see how it would look but she threw a fit determined to not let me do it. So I did Ash's hair instead. Ally even tried to talk to her on the phone trying to convince her, but to no avail. I'm going to get my curling iron in that girl's hair someday! LOL! Then Ally came and took the girls to her house at about 2:00.

Last night, Brian worked late so me, Ally, and the girls went to the mall to go Christmas dress shopping. What a butt whoopin' that was! Ash and Pey were just not listening, being too loud, and were whiny! Geesh! But we went to Children's Place first because that is usually the best place to go to get matching, or at least coordinating, outfits for the older and younger kids. But their Holiday selection this year was just not as good as it usually is. They had some "cute" things, but I really wanted them to have beautiful dresses this year. But I did end up buying them some super cute casual outfits that are coordinating that they will be wearing to Thanksgiving...don't worry, you will see pictures of the cuteness after Thanksgiving! Then we headed to Macy's because I had tremendous success there last time I needed dresses and RC had been there a few days ago and said they had some beautiful dresses. She was right, they did have beautiful dresses AND they were 40% off; however, they started at $80 and didn't have pretty or coordinating dresses in baby sizes. So I convinced Ally we needed to go to Dillard's knowing darn well their dresses would be every bit as beautiful and every bit as expensive. As soon as we got there I was immediately happy to see they had the same dresses that Macy's had, but also in the baby sizes...woo-hoo! BUT, let's see how much they are...OMG, they are the SAME dresses but start at $55 and are ALSO 40% off...JACKPOT!!! Still a lot of money for dresses they won't wear much, but not too bad, and this is our 3rd store and we are beat down! We picked out beautiful dresses and Ash and Addy will be matching! Plus, they were $30 and $27...SCORE!! They are not traditional Christmas colors, but beautiful nonetheless, and Ash will be able to wear hers to her Violin recital. Now I just have to find shoes and hair accessories. I may go look for those in the morning as we may go take their picture tomorrow before I take Meredith's family's pictures.

The work week was actually pretty slow for me, which was a refreshing change. It usually gets this way close to the holidays. Monthly reports are ramping up again, so I'll be busy again the week after Thanksgiving.

Ash has said some funny things this week: She apparently overheard me talking to Ally on the phone about to Kansas City for Thanksgiving (which I guess I hadn't told her about yet) and when I hung up she said "Are you going for long?" I said "to Kansas City? Yes, we'll be there for a long weekend" and she said (with tears in her eyes) "Mommy, how am I going to take care of Addy by myself for long?" Oh my goodness, my heart was broken because she thought we were leaving them behind and was worried she wouldn't be able to care for Addy herself. I explained it to her that we would never leave them alone and they are coming with us and she was so excited that she was going to see everyone. Then last night after we dropped Ally and PeyPey off at home, she said "Mommy, you have to put me to bed right when we get home, I can't keep my eyes open!" I thought that was too cute. Oh, and this morning we were reminding her why we celebrate Christmas and she said "but Jesus can't eat his cake up there because it will go all over!" Too funny!

This is a picture of Addy after I couldn't find her, in a place that I have no idea how she got there. It's a very small opening to get into this space to squeeze into, but I thought it was cute that she was "hiding".

Okay, that's all I've got folks, Sleep Tight!

The Linder Elves

Oh my goodness, this made me laugh so hard I had tears in my eyes. My friend, Meredith, did one of her family and I was literally laughing out loud! We've all done (or at least heard of) the little elf dance where you put your own pictures on the elf and it looks like you are dancing as an elf. Well, the Elf Creators have really outdone themselves this year, because they have a few different dances you can choose from and they're hilarious! I couldn't decide between the Country dance and the Disco dance, so I did both, let me know what you think! If you couldn't tell, the dog on mine is Sally, if you don't put a face on all 5 elves they throw in a computer generated one. Then link over to Meredith's blog, because hers is hilarious!

http://elfyourself.jibjab.com/view/wxLfTzg4DEgLHnxYP7fc


http://elfyourself.jibjab.com/view/lFOx3clpj8G6sLm3pJE9

Have a GREAT day!

I'm Sorry..

...For the long delay since my last post. I'm sure you know what I'm going to say...it's been an unbelievably busy week! I even worked until almost 10:00pm 2 nights in a row, Wednesday and Thursday, I think. Needless to say, I am exhausted today and trying to rest up for another week. But life is good, and moving along happily.

I was scheduled to take Alma's (one of my best friends) family's photos at 10:00am yesterday. We were going to do the shoot at the Grapevine Botanical Gardens (where we did Brittany's Senior Photos) but it was quite chilly outside and very windy so we decided to move it indoors to the Gaylord Texan in Grapevine. If you haven't been there, you really should go, it's very beautiful and during the Holidays, they really deck the place out. We were lucky in that they officially started their Holiday season the night before. We got some good shots, but the kids were getting tired of having their picture taken so it got more and more challenging to get them both looking my way, with a smile, at the same time. She has an almost 4 year old and a 1 1/2 year old and they are a couple of cutie-patooties! Deena (one of my other best friends), Kevin (her husband), and Jack (her 2-year old son) were there for the festivities, as well, and then we all went to lunch at Red Robin afterwards. Oh, and their kids got to go ahead and see Santa since he was there and they were already dressed up, PLUS he wasn't busy. Unfortunately, Santa was on a break when we got there so we had to wait for him and his crew to arrive. Jack cried, Ian did not, and Noah did...2 out of 3, that's hilarious! Then we all went to lunch to Red Robin afterwards, it was yummy and we were starving!

Then I barely had enough time to run home, pick up the family, and head BACK to Grapevine (keep in mind that this is about a 35 minute drive) for Jaydon's 6th birthday party at Main Event. The kids got to bowl 1st then we were off to the party room for pizza, wings, presents, and cake. It was all very delicious. Unfortunately, Jessica wasn't able to go because she had a mysterious fever. But the kids had a great time.

Then we had to leave there to make it to Steve's birthday dinner by 7:00 at Buca di Beppo. Another yummy meal. Addy did so good staying awake and not being cranky all this time.

I was so tired today that I could not even motivate myself to get dressed until about 1:00 when I HAD to get up and go to the store...we had like zero food in this house, even Addy was out of food. RC had to go too, so we went together. I hate that she always spends like $70 less than me, she is SUCH a good, smart shopper. But I was proud of myself and did cut AND use coupons, which saved me like $13. I guess that's worth the effort. Most of you know I despise going grocery shopping and having to dig for coupons in the middle of the store to see which brand of cereal I have to buy and how much of it I have to buy to save my .50 really irks my nerves. I know I'm not alone when I say I wish money didn't have to be such an object to have to be subjected to such annoyingness! Ugh!

We're watching the Cowboys game and I'm so glad that Romo is back, we're winning right now 14-10 with a little over 2 minutes left. We're not playing our best, but we just may pull out a win this week. And my man, Jason Witten, is such a stud, he's playing with a broken rib. Though, he did drop a pass he should have caught. Lets Go 'Boys!!

Peyton came over for a few hours this evening while Ally and Steve went to a Client Appreciation Party for Ally's work. Ash had to be in bed by 7:30, so Peyton had to hang out with us for a while. And today is Steve's birthday...Happy Birthday Steve! He's 37, what an old man!

Ally told me that Addy has a lazy eye and buck teeth...NICE!

I know there was more I wanted to talk about, but my brain is fried...Brian keeps talking to me, and I don't understand what he's saying...he was telling me about a Casio that takes like 120 pictures per second and I'm thinking "a watch? what's the quality like?" and he just looked at me like I'm crazy. Isn't a Casio a watch? I guess they make cameras too? Oh well. Whatever. I'm going to bed. Sleep tight!

Another Busy Weekend

There hasn't been a lot of time to blog lately, but I am finally sitting down with the laptop, literally in my lap, to update. Friday night was a mad rush to get to the Saginaw HS by 6:30 for Senior night where they recognize the seniors and their parents. Brian walked in the door and me and Ashleigh literally walked out at the same time to make it in time. I was in charge of taking pictures and Sydney was in charge of doing the video. I had no idea where Syd was when we walked up until AFTER they announced Brittany and Syd comes running up saying "the video camera didn't work"! Oh goodness, are you serious? I grabbed the camera from her and it worked fine, so I have no idea what she was doing wrong. Oy, but it was an emotional evening, as it was Brittany's last night as a Drum Major...since they didn't make the playoffs. Brittany was routing for the other team so they wouldn't make the playoffs, she was ready for marching season to come to an end. Anyway, here is a photo from the evening:



Then we woke up bright and early on Saturday morning to go to PeyPey's last soccer game. I'm so glad we were finally able to go to one before the end of her season. Ally said this was one of her better games...she never made contact with the ball, but she actually made a kicking motion with her leg. LOL! She's really cute out there, here are a few pics from the game and some of her visitors:

Ashleigh being beautiful as ever:


Peyton and Addy:


PopPop and PeyPey:

Aunt Joy and PeyPey:

PeyPey and the ball in the same frame!

Then we rushed home to drop Addy off at home to Brian since he got done working. He literally came and got her out of the car and Ash and I rushed off to Bedford to get our hair done. We were like 30 minutes late but luckily RC was still getting her color put on. We ended up giving in to peer pressure and got 2 inches cut off of Ashleigh's hair. I really didn't want to, because I truly love her long locks. Tina said the ends were dry and needed to be cut. Of course, Ally and RC were saying to cut even more off and even Ash was saying she wanted her hair cut short. But she changed her mind when I told her that her hair would go in the trash, LOL!! Anyway, what's done is done, it's just that with every inch we cut off we lose more curl and her baby blond. She's definitely looking more and more like a big kid!

Then Saturday night we went on a double date with the Harris' to the Movie Tavern while Brittany babysat. We went to see "Zach and Miri Make a Movie". Okay, well "Movie" isn't in the real name, but it fits under these circumstances. That movie was really funny, but it was a dumb funny. And I'm surprised it was rated R, it must have been real close to NC-17. But it was nice to get out with the hubby without the kiddos.

Today we didn't do too much until this evening. Brittany is in the Fort Worth Youth Orchestra and they had a concert tonight in Arlington. So me and Ashleigh went while Brian stayed home with Addy. I wanted Ash to see the violins. It was a great concert and those kids are so talented! When we walked in Ash said, "Mom, look at those giant violins!" It was too funny! The 10-minute intermission ended up being more like 30 minutes due to a lighting problem which caused Ash to get to bed REALLY late, but other than that, it was a great concert. Kevin used the internet on my phone to keep up with the Steelers game, too funny! Steelers lost, yea!!! Here are a few pictures from the concert:

Doesn't Brittany look so grown up? I can't believe she's going to be an actual legal adult in a few short months.

Oh, Addy is cutting another molar as of yesterday...cutting 2 molars at once...Poor Baby! So that makes for a total of 10 teeth for our teeth growing machine of a baby! Tomorrow morning I have to take her for the 2nd half of her flu shot. It's amazing the pain that babies have to endure. I already need to re-stock her Tylenol, we're going through it like water. We also started her on Ibuprofen last night for the very 1st time.

We are having to re-train Ashleigh to say "Mommy" and "Daddy". She thinks "Mom" and "Dad" is good enough. Ummm, no my little 5-year old, we are still your "Mommy" and "Daddy". We're not quite ready to lose our titles. But she has been spelling 3-letter words and trying to read lots of things. I just love watching her learn so much and her love for books has grown exponentially. They went to the Fort Worth Zoo last Friday for a field trip, and the zebras were her favorite animal. She had a great time!

Other than that, not much has been going on. I hope you all have a GREAT week! Sleep Tight!

Election Day

Did you all go vote today? I hope so! Brian and I went to vote at about 1:00 today. I was so worried that the lines would be sooo long, but it worked out really well. We were in and out of there in 5 minutes, literally...and that's with getting Addy in and out of the car. Woo-Hoo, very excited about that. Brian and I did cancel out each other's vote, but that's okay, at least we got out and voted.

Just wanted to give a shout out on Election Day....Sleep Tight!

A Haunted Weekend

So Halloween has come and gone and everyone had a great time and the boys' Haunted Tent was a big success. The night was actually pretty chaotic...sooo many people coming and going and TONS of trick-or-treaters!! But I guess that's what Halloween is all about! It couldn't have been a better birthday celebration for Brian...it was his element for sure! And Brian was thrilled that his Mom, Sister (Katie), and her 2 kids (Kaileyanna and Tekoa) came up this year because they usually hang out at home in Arlington. On top of everything, it was Addy's 1st Halloween and she was the cutest Lil' Lamb I have ever seen! I may be a little biased, but you can look at the photos below and judge for yourself! And Super Girl, yup, Ash was the prettiest Super Girl out of the 100s we saw on the street! Make sure you watch the video below...it's not great, but I walked through the Haunted Tent with the video camera, I had the night vision on, but it was hard to focus with all of the fog from the fog machine. Oh, and the noise...that's from Brian's trash can mine field. Yup, you've never seen a happier man controlling those trash cans!

And here is the video:

On another subject, I checked Addy's mouth for the 1st time in a while, and sure enough, she has cut her 1st molar. Only 1 corner is out, so she's in for some more pain. I have stocked up on the Tylenol, though, so hopefully we can manage it. Poor baby, seems like we should buy stock in the Tylenol, we go through it so fast!
I got my mani/pedi on Saturday...it had to be Saturday because my gift certificate from the Harris' for my birthday was expiring that day. Unfortunately, Ally was unable to use hers, so she was nice enough to let Brittany use it so we went together. I haven't had one in I don't know how long, so it was nice. We both got a nice fall color.
Alrighty, time for me to start heading to bed, it's 10:30. This time change is screwing me up a little, and I should have gone to bed earlier to take advantage of the extra hour. Of course, I didn't.

Have a GREAT week! Sleep Tight!