Fur, Fun, Friends, & Family

My sweet dh has been home since last Friday and it's been wonderful! We've gotten to spend some much-needed family time together (and managed to argue less than 2 times--which is a success)! So, here's a little update on our past week or so. Last Thursday, Molly and Matthew were in their last morning of school before break when my car suddenly and inexplicably turned in to Petco. My body moved, as if propelled by an outside force, to the SPCA area and I found myself speaking the words "We would like to have that sweet kitty, please." Oh, there was a lot more to it than that, but that pretty much sums it up. So, on Thursday night, our little family added 4 little furry feet to our household. Matthew named her Ginger Bell--she's 6 months old and just as sweet and patient as I can imagine. The kids LOVE her, which was the whole point. Matthew has been asking for a cat for 2 years since the nightmare I like to call "The Psycho Kitten Fiasco" which is not an understatement, but would be an entirely different entry. Then, Matthew was a shepherd in his Christmas program. And it was just about the cutest thing ever. Have you ever seen a shepherd pick his nose on stage? Well, that's just what my little shepherd did, and I loved it! I know, I know. But I did! How funny!

Then Friday, we were off to Build A Bear with my friend, Tiff, and family. Oh, how fun! The kids all had a ball. Molly even picked out pink cowboy boots for her dog and is quite frustrated that they don't fit her, too! The other night, she wouldn't go to bed until we found the boots and they were properly outfitted on her dog. So funny--she has such a fashion conscience!

The weekend before, we had our family Christmas at my cousin's in Shamrock. Going to Shamrock is the high point in Matthew's life right now. He loves, loves, loves to go see his cousins. He would go every weekend if he could. It is also good that Uncle Joe has a big red tractor to sit on.

Matthew and Aiden having fun.
Molly being silly. (Side note: when Matthew was a baby, I always took his paci out of his mouth for pictures and now I don't have any paci pictures of him--which is sad because that was such a part of his little baby life. So now I always leave Molly's paci in her mouth--I know it's not the cutest, but at least I'll have pictures!)

Could they be having any more fun? I don't think so--pure love.

I have tons of Christmas day pictures, too, but it's past my bedtime, friends. I could have blogged about 100 Shamrock pictures. Jenn and Judy: I'll upload them to shutterfly and send you the link so you can see them all. Merry Merry Christmas!

Well, it's about time!!!!

I know--I've kept you in suspense long enough. You were probably sitting at your computer checking every few minutes to see if I blogged. Well, here you go, it's about time!

There is much to say, but I'll let the pictures do the talking for the most part, or we'll all be here forever!

Let me take you back in time a couple of weeks to the first day of school. Matthew started Pre-K this year and Miss Molly started her official time at MDO--woo hoo! They love it and are doing great (except for the yellow dot on Matthew's chart today instead of a sticker with a note that said "we had to continually remind Matthew to listen and follow directions." Uh oh. We had a talk.) And yes--that's a pink bow in her hair with her orange shirt. You can't see her pink/orange skirt in this picture.
Matthew and his all-important Scooby Doo backpack. Scooby Doo is the new fave.
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Last weekend, we went to my cousin Jennifer's (the same Jennifer featured in my last F&F Friday and the same Jennifer who hasn't blogged in 4 months--hint, hint). They have a beautiful new house and we had a weekend with all the fam--it was great. By the way, there was a conversation with my family regarding my Friends & Family Friday feature--I know, I know--it will be back. It's on sabatical.

I love this picture of Justin in his manly cammo after a morning of hunting reading to sweet baby girl. I just love it.


The boys. Oh, serious fun was had.
Let me just say that I uploaded 124 pictures off of my camera tonight and this is the ONLY one I'm in. I know I'm the photog, but still! I need to hand the camera over a little more, apparently.
My aunt and uncle have a new boat, so we got to ride and it was so fun!

Check out the view from Jenn's back porch. The picture does not do it justice. At all.

On the way home on Monday, we all stopped at the river for a little fun in the water. Well, the boys had fun--Molly wasn't impressed. She wouldn't even dip her tootsies in--she was adamant._______________________________________________________________

THEN, as if all this fun wasn't enough, Uncle Brian was in town on Saturday. For those of you who don't know, he's a sound engineer and travels around with Huey Lewis. And the News. It's super cool and if you're 4 years old, it's almost too cool to believe--Matthew digs rock and roll. So, we went on over and watched the sound check. The actual show was too loud and too late for little ears--but the sound check was way cool. That's Uncle B doing his work and Matthew's head watching in amazement.

Thanks for checking out all our fun! Love you!