Christmas!!

 Daddy and the kids at Bricktown

 Mommy & Daddy at Bricktown

 Trees at Chesapeake...beautiful!!

 This is the cool tent little R got from Grandma & Grandpa

 Making Jesus' birthday cake!!

 Putting out oats for the reindeer

 Putting cookies out for Santa

 The finished product!  I think Jesus liked it!

 The tree overflowing with presents!

 The stockings were hung...

 Christmas morning, about to sing Happy Birthday to Jesus, and eat some yummy cake!

R got a train table...he LOVES it!!

I LOVE Christmas, and this year did not disappoint!  We had a quiet Christmas morning here at home which was great!  We got to see LOTS of Christmas lights this year, a visit with Santa, visit from Grandma & Grandpa, dinner with friends, and we even got some quick visits in with family in Arkansas and in Oklahoma.  And it was really neat to introduce little R to all our holiday traditions, and he actually participated and enjoyed them all!  All in all, a great Christmas for our family!

Artistic kids

 This is R's Spider!

 This is R's "catapitter"

 And of course he had to draw a Monster Truck!

 This is T's Christmas cake made from Play-Doh

T and R working hard!

Little R has never had any interest in art projects at all.  At school, he usually declines participating in the craft project each day.  He can't stand getting his hands dirty with paint or anything like that.  Well, at school he has discovered Play-Doh, and now he is all about doing "artsy" things!  He LOVES Play-Doh, loves to draw on his Magna Doodle, and now he even loves to paint with his watercolors!  Although, he still has NO desire to finger paint...too messy! : )  I'm not sure why A isn't in any of the pictures...she loves her art projects, too!

Visit With Santa/Neighborhood Sleigh Ride

We are loving our new neighborhood!  The girls have already made a few friends right here in our cul-de-sac, and our neighbors are great!  The neighborhood also has quite a few pretty Christmas lights throughout it, and the HOA does a horse-drawn sleigh ride through the neighborhood to look at the lights.  They also had Santa here for the kids to talk to.  We weren't sure R would have anything to do with Santa...he usually wants to stay as far away from him as possible.  But this night he talked to him, told him what he wanted, and even gave him a "high five" when he was done!!  I was so proud!!  He wouldn't sit on his lap...I had to hold him, but that is still tremendous progress for our little guy!!  It was SUPER cold that night, and I don't like cold, but all in all it was fun experience for all of us!

Schnauzers are SMART dogs, right? Right?

Family Movie Night

Years ago, when we lived in Virginia, we started "family movie night" with the girls.  We started making our own pizza and watching a movie every Friday night.  Over the years, we have continued the tradition and very rarely did we miss a Friday night family movie night.  As little R has gotten older, it has become more of a challenge to watch a movie together as a family (he's not the quietest little guy during a movie), so R and I haven't been as motivated to continue the tradition, and we have done it less frequently in the last year.  I decided since we moved into a new house, it was time for a fresh start, and we need to start making it a priority to do our family night again.  We did it on Saturday last week (we had a Sunday School social on Friday) and when I told the girls they were excited, but little did I know HOW excited.  R and I went to buy groceries, and when we came home the girls had it all set up to make pizza...it was too cute!  So we all made pizza, ate it together, and watched a movie...good FAMILY time!!  I am a huge fan of traditions, and I believe it is very important that we have family traditions (especially as much as our lives change from year to year with all our moves), and this is one that we are definitley going to keep!

 This is T's sign that she made...very cute, I thought!

 They had 3 "pizza stations" set up for making pizzas...again, too cute!

 All 3 of them working hard to create a pizza masterpiece!

 A's finished pizza

T's finished pizza

Welcome Anja!!!

 The first day...she was a little overwhelmed!

 Giving sweet kisses to little R

 Such a sweet face!

Chasing her tail is one of her favorite games!!

After almost four months with no dog in our house, we decided it was time to find another furry member for our family.  We knew that no dog could ever replace Sable in our hearts, but we wanted another furry friend for our kids to grow up with.  While we have such a soft spot in our hearts for labs, we decided it would be too hard to look into labbie eyes that weren't Sable's, so we went with a totally different type of dog this time...a mini schnauzer.  Her name is Anja (ON-YA)...we wanted a German sounding name, and it was one of the only one's that little R could pronounce...so Anja it is!  She is 12 weeks old, and cute as can be.  We are going through the process of training, which is a lot of work...but she is already proving herself to be quite smart AND funny!  She has provided many laughs already!!

Leaves!!!

T and R had a BLAST playing in the leaves in our new back yard the other afternoon.  It was little R's first experience raking up, jumping in and throwing leaves...and he LOVED it!  It seems everywhere we go, we somehow end up in a house with NO trees, but not this time.  One of the things we loved about the house we just moved into was all the trees in the front and back yards.  A was inside sick this day, so she didn't get to be a part of the festivities...

Take Me Out to the Ballgame!!!

 T, A and R posing with Daddy...A had him sign/date her foul ball!

Proof that I was there, supporting my hubby!

A few weeks ago, R had the chance to play in a baseball game in a professional ballpark.  Our church does an event each year where guys can join teams and play against each other at the Bricktown Ballpark in downtown OKC.  R definitely wanted to take part in it, and even though it was a very chilly, windy day we were there to cheer him on!  I wasn't sure how little R would do, but he was a trooper...T and A loved it, and A even got a foul ball that went into the bleachers!  I'm glad R isn't a baseball player full-time, but as a once-in-a-lifetime thing...it was fun!  After the game, the kids were allowed out on the field to run the bases.  As you can see from the video, little R thought it was a little too far to run!  But Daddy saved the day!

Soccer sensation???

We decided to put R in soccer! They have a 3-4 yr old league at the Y, and even though he didn't make the cutoff of being 3 by Sept. 1st, they let him play anyway. He LOVES playing soccer at home, and the boy can kick a ball like you wouldn't believe! We weren't sure how it would go playing with other kids though, and actually following rules. He had his first game last Saturday, and R was out of town and had to miss it. Little R did great...at first...then ended up in tears and sitting in Mommy's lap! This week Mommy is going to try to watch from afar without little R knowing where I am...R seems to think he will play much better that way! I have been banned from attending practice, and R says he does great without me there! He definitely is a "Mama's Boy"!!!

Our first "art class" at home!

One of the things T is really missing about school is Art class. So, we headed to Hobby Lobby and I told the girls they could get an art project...whatever they wanted. They both chose wooden boxes to paint. (Both girls have "special boxes" where they keep little trinkets that are very important to them, but they are overflowing!) They worked on these for two afternoons...art class around here has to be done while little R is napping! Even though they were both very critical of their own work, I think they look great! They both got an A+ on the project!! : )

Happy Birthday Little R!!!!

It's so hard to believe it has been 3 years since our little R was born! It has been 3 years of all new experiences, and most of them have been enjoyable! We love you buddy, and we can't wait to see what your future holds! You are a blessing to our family, and we love you more than you could ever know!

R LOVES Trucks!!!

R got this dump truck from his grandparents for Christmas last year, and he loves it! He loves loading it up (with anything) and then hauling and dumping whatever he has it loaded up with. He loves to push it around the island in the kitchen REALLY FAST...it makes lots of noise on the tile floors! He also loves for A to push him around in it REALLY FAST through the living room and crash him into the front door! But this night, he decided to pull it up to the TV and take a break in it...he sat here for quite some time watching TV.

The Bumpit Sisters

The girls decided to play dress-up in some of my old formals one day a couple of weeks ago. A has wanted to dig into these dresses since I had a few of them out at my yard sale, and I finally gave in. After about 30 minutes of giggling, this is what appeared!

First Day of School 2010

T looking very grown-up!

A had to make sure she stood out in the crowd at her new school!



R didn't have his first day of school on Tuesday, but he wanted a picture like his sisters!

Little R was very eager to meet T at the bus, and she was absolutely HORRIFIED that Daddy was taking pictures!

A didn't mind Daddy taking pictures at all!

The girls started school on Tuesday, and because of our move across town last November they both started the new school year in a whole new school district. We are hoping it will be a positive move...this school district is MUCH smaller than where they were last year, but to be honest I am almost ready to just keep them at home and school them here! T is in 8th grade this year (her last year of middle school...sigh), and A is in 3rd. They are growing into neat little ladies...I actually enjoy them so much these days...except when they are fighting with each other!

Making Dave Ramsey Proud!!

On July 1st, R and I started on a new financial journey. After reading Dave Ramsey's Total Money Makeover, we decided to get on board and take control of our finances. So far, it has been a great month of eliminating debt and living on a pretty strict budget. As part of the plan, we went through and cut up all of our credit cards (Dave Ramsey is NOT a fan of credit cards...go figure). Luckily, most of our credit cards remain in a lockbox unused, but cutting them up was very symbolic of our fresh financial beginning!