It's official....I'm 30

Well, I have officially been alive for 30 years. Wow. I always thought when I heard someone say, "oh, I lived here 30 years ago" that they were really old. Now, not so much. I am really happy to finally be 30. I am embracing it and looking forward to Ray catching up to me now. Just so you all know, he is having fun with my age now, but only because he is 6,000 miles away and I can't catch him. He has to come home eventually, so I will make him pay! :)

I wanted to share this picture of these beautiful flowers he sent me. He had been emailing the owner of a little flower shop here in town and they deceided on flowers through email. They are really pretty and they smell great!

Christmas x3

Connor on his new trampoline from Santa!

TIRED from all the action!

My cousin Adrianne who turned 15 in the 25th and me who turned 30 on the 26th.
Happy Birthday!
Connor and the new hat!
This is the hat my Aunt Louise knitted for Connor. You know you like it!

Connor wrote out a card for me!
Connor and his new cannon. Thanks aunt Jenn! Making cookies at grandma's house. He went through 2 bottles of sprinkles. Can you tell???
He looks thrilled doesn't he? We are at the Museum after seeing the Polar Express.

Well, it's that time of year when we get pulled a million different directions. We started our Christmas celebrations off by driving to Ft Worth and spending a few days with my parents. I did a little shopping without having to pay for a babysitter (which is always nice)! We also made cookies and went to the Omni and saw The Polar Express. Connor LOVED it! On the 23rd, we went to my in-laws house. We had a great meal followed by the opening of the presents! Connor got a remote controlled car, a warm up suit and a big cannon that actually shoots out nerf balls.

We had a great time and will see them again soon!

On the 24th, we went to my aunt Cindia's house and got together with my cousins and grandparents. I got a surprise phone call from Iraq and unfortunatly missed it when everyone opened their presents. However, I was there to see Connor open a present from my mom's Aunt Louise. She knitted Connor a hat and it is so cute! Ray was doing well and wanted to wish everyone a Merry Christmas. So we had another great meal followed by some great conversation. Connor and I left that afternoon to head back to Austin. We wanted to be home so Santa would come see us! We also had a great Christmas Day meal with my friend Joy and her kids Blake and Sabrina. The kids had a great time playing with all of their new toys and eating cookies. We came home that afternoon and crashed!

We spent my 30th birthday hanging around the house sick. I have a horrible cold and Connor has a horrible cough. So, we are off to the the Dr tomorrow with the hopes of a stronger cough syrup. All in all, it was a great holiday and we look forward to Ray being here with us next year.

Ray is doing well. They had a ceremony on Christmas Day to receive their combat patch. They get it after being there for 30 days. Other than that, he is just working and looking forward to coming home on R&R in the next few months. He plans on doing alot of nothing!

Happy New Year!!!

Pendant Necklace

My friend Regan recently told me that she was selling pendant necklaces and sent me some pictures. I fell in love with them and decided that I needed one. So I chose a picture of Ray and a picture of Connor, emailed them to her and voila! Here is the end result! I LOVE it! We went shopping today right after I picked it up and I got so many compliments on it. Thanks Regan!

Cookies, Cookies, Cookies

I just have to say that I LOVE my Kitchenaid mixer. I don't know what I would do without it. Yes, it takes up alot of space, but during the holidays, it"s a lifeasver! Connor found the cookie cutters and decided we needed to make some cookies. He was such a good helper. He read off all the ingrediants to me and poured everything in the mixer. He is my official taste tester and does a mighty fine job! So after rolling out the dough, finding just the right cookie cutters, and baking them, it was finally time to eat them. Needless to say, I put them in a nice tupperware container, cleaned up the kitchen and just before I went to bed, I found that my little sweet child and devoured 6 cookies! Yea, I know. That was a really FUN night.

Gingerbread house is complete!

Every year we make a gingerbread house and every year is gets a little crazier! Since it was just Connor and myself, we butted heads ALOT! He had a great time stragically placing each piece of candy on the house and in his mouth. He thought he was being tricky, however I was watching. It's a great center piece on the table and while pieces of candy are dissapearing piece by piece, it still looks pretty darn good.

It wouldn't be a deployment if....

Connor and I didn't make at least 1 trip to the ER. Connor had a small accident 2 nights ago. He slammed his finger in his nightstand drawer and sliced his finger to the bone. So, we jumped in the car and went to Seton hospital. They were so quick I was almost in shock. The took some x-rays of his finger and he did have a tiny fracture. They Dr was really nice and chose to glue the skin back together instead of stitches. He had to soak his finger in some liquid antibiotic and he did great! He watched TV the whole time so his mind wasn't on his finger. They glued him back together, put a splint on his finger that he has to wear for 5-7 days and then he will be done! Always hit's the fan when Ray leaves! :)

Connor's Christmas Program

Connor had his last Christmas Program at Preschool yesterday. It's very cute. The kids each make something like wisemen, baby Jesus's , shepards and they are incorparted into a story that one of the teachers reads. Then they sing some Christmas songs and it's over! They had little Christmas parties in their rooms and we are done with school until Jan. 6th.

News from Iraq

I spoke with Ray a few days ago and he was very excited. They were visited by the WWE wrestling and he said it was so crowded but a really good time. Then he was visited by President Bush. He went and heard him speak and I think it was a pretty awesome experience. He is busy at work and doesn't have any days off right now. He has received some boxes from us and a bunch of my friends. He is enjoying the baked goods and looks forward to more! Other than the fact that I am waiting for him to send me soem new pictures, there is really no other news.

Happy Holidays!

Pictures from Uncle Brad

Here are some really cute pictures my brother took of Connor when we were in California.

Caught red handed

Just thought I would throw this out there in case anyone thinks I'm bored over here. First, I went into Connor's room to pick up some stuff and I smelled something really strange. I turned around, and my oh so cute son had plugged in a brand new box of lights. They were still in the box, plastic wrapped around them and they were starting to smoke. I unplugged them, threw them in the sink and shortly after that realized not only was that stupid, but the plastic had melted all over and the lights were melting together.

THEN, after almost burning the house down, I hear him laughing hysterically in his room. Knowing that he was probably up to no good, I went in there anyway. He had found a red stamp pad and stamped his entire head and hands. Needless to say, it was a long night.....

Thanksgiving and more...

We have had a crazy month. Ray finally got to Iraq and is settled. He is working some pretty weird hours, but we manage to email back and forth everyday. He has sent me a few picture so far, with promises to send more. We'll see.....

We had a great Thanksgiving week. Connor's school held a Thanksgiving feast for the grandparents. So my parents came and had lunch with him at his school and he of course loved showing off all his artwork and his classroom. We went to Ft Worth the next day for Thanksgiving at my aunts house and saw some pretty cool people we had not seen in awhile. You know who you are!!! :)

We spent the rest of the weekend in Ft Worth and came home to start the week again. We are now in the home stretch for Christmas. 3 weeks of school, then the holiday begins. We have birthday parties, parades, cooking, a Christmas program and some serious playdates to squeeze in before the new year.

Enjoy the assortment of pictures and I will try to do better about updating!