Deck the Halls

As the kids get older their participation wanes in certain events. It took a great deal of cajoling to get David to participate in this years tree trimming tradidition. After all he's nearly a teen. We are always so greatful when he does participate because he's funny and enjoyable. Joely was the most excited. It's true, Christmas is for the children.

However all the kids got into it and sang along with all the fun. Two days later everyone went with the cub scouts to carol at a nursing home. That helped us to remember the real reason for the season, which is good will towards men and do as the Savior taught us, which is to "Love one Another"

Take a picture of me!!!

Joely was so happy to do the tree!

Here is Alice doing the snoopy dance. The radio was playing "Linus and Lucy"

Can't you just picture Snoopy dancing with his little nose in the air?

Here is David, Not participating.

If you can't beat em, join em. David decides to have fun.

Joely was chosen unanimously to put the star on the top of the tree.

Joely is Four

Check out Miss Thang!!

I love this little Jackie O inspired outfit, the only thing missing is a little pillbox hat.
Check out the shoes, little tiny heals that she had to clomp around in and make noise. They fit her perfect and they look adorable.

She's wearing a cute little number that was originally worn by Harper Moulton, then passed on to Alice Mullens. I'll hold onto it for their girls and I hope hope hope that Harper marries David eventually, so the dress can stay in the family.

But I digress.

So the baby is four!!! Where did the time go? I dont' know but it's been a fun time watching her grow up. She's a blast, ever cheerful and loves to sing.
She loves to go to church and she loves her Grandparents.

She's always willing to snuggle and you can pretty much make her laugh out of any tantrum.

On the rare occasions that you can't, she'll send herself to her room and take a nap.

Here are a few pix of the princess on her special day.

Pictured with BFF's Keegan and Cori

Wearing some "fancy" clothes she got from Cori's Mom, Holly.

She wanted a pink cake, so she got one! Thanks Walmart.

Inspired

I have failed to keep up my blog. I blame it on the evil time-sucking facebook and my lack of follow through. But it's (almost) a new year so I think I'll revisit my little creative outlet. My friend and partner in Crime Adrienne has updated a ton on her blog in the last couple of days, so I'm taking my inspiration from her. Please read all the posts and validate me. It means sooo much to me to have the validation!

This is Adrienne with her sisters, she's in the front in the gray shirt.

As you may know I love HEB. Which is an amazing chain of grocery stores in Texas and Mexico. Even the little HEB PANTRY located in Baytown is up to the expectation of excellence one expects from HEB. It is safe to say that HEB has the best produce in town in addition you can get fresh homemade tortillas which you can snack on while shopping. My brother works for HEB in Round Rock and really does well there. So they are a great employer too. Recently they opened up a flagship store in the swanky NE HARRIS COUNTY of Summerwood. So Joely and I took a litte trip out there to see all the hoopla. It was a lovely experience. I only wish I would have gotten there about an hour earlier when they were still giving out enough samples to satisfy you for a full meal.

Here are a few cool finds that Joely and came across.

Fresh Homemade tortillas to be eaten while shopping. This is the only store that Joely likes to sit in the cart. She snacks along the way. She also loves to help with the produce. She counts each one. SUPER CUTE. Last night she sang at the top of her little lungs a great rendition of Lady Gaga's Poker Face. Everyone smiled and she brought such happiness to everyone!

Not since I left Brazil have I seen so many pigs feet, and at such a great price too!

For some reason, the generic "COCOROOS" were all sold out so we had to buy the high dollar Cocoa Puffs, as Joely is definatly Cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs. The real money shot is behind her 4 CASES of Dr. Pepper (truly an elixer from Heaven) for only 10.00- SIGN ME UP!

Personalize funny videos and birthday eCards at JibJab!

Thankful

This year for Thanksgiving we were asked to bring the above drinks

and the below dessert-

Please note this dessert looked a lot prettier, I should have taken picture BEFORE we started to serve it.

We also brought our family of 6.

I must say that when you bring 6 people you really should be required to bring more than drinks and a dessert.
And really the drinks were only for us, since everyone else drank tea.

But I digress, my point is, the inlaws know me and love me and just really appreciate that I bring their son and grandchildren along that they don't require much out of me and I'm thankful for that...but even more thankful for the leftovers.

We scored it all, see below.

The rest of the turkey, ham, a near whole apple pie, potato salad, green beans and new potatoes,

All of the cornbread and chicken stuffing, rolls, baked potatoe casserole. It was a smorgas board. I didn't cook for a week.

It was a nice time, We played UNO Attack with Aunt Lisa. Dorothy was sick and didn't make it out of her bed, which was really really sad. Uncle Bo and Aunt Tessie were in Mexico and Uncle Rex and Aunt June were with friends, Kacie and Kelly were with their parents, Baby Brother Matt was with his wife and kids in Victoria-

So it was very quiet with Lisa and PJ, Robert's parents and Grandpa Walter, but still a nice relaxing afternoon. I am thankful that we live close to them and can spend the time together.

I'm also thankful that dad is feeling better and is back to his old self. He gave us quite a scare earlier in November when he passed out on mom one night and didn't wake up for about 16 hours and found himself in the Round Rock Hospital. All of his tests came back normal so they think he might have taken a medication error. So far so good. ON a positive note, I got to go visit them just with Joely. She LOVED the undivided attention and the quality time with the little Smokie, mom and dad's new pup. Robert and the other kids managed in our absence. I'm thankful that his job is flexible enough to allow him a late and early couple of days to take care of our little people. I am also thankful for the discount theater in Round Rock (why don't we have one in Houston????) we went with mom and dad and saw Despicable Me. It was a fun time.

ON thanksgiving Day, David ran in the Houston Turkey Trot and did well. I didn't see him cross the finish line, it was so packed with thousands of runners. In fact I got scared and a little panicked when the people who only walked the race were coming in and no David. Naturally I assumed the worst and that he was abducted and not by aliens. Eventually he said a prayer to find me and he did right away, but it was a scary 30 minutes. I'm thankful he knew where to turn when he was lost. Next time Megan has to run with him, this mom's heart can't handle it.

We are looking forward to next Monday when our princess turns 4! It will be a wonderful evening indeed. She is definatly a blessing we are thankful for.

The Boys at the Levy

Becoming a young man

In our church when you hit the magical age of 12 you get to join the youth group and for boys you also receive the aaronic priesthood and are ordained a deacon.
David has LOVED his experiences so far. On monday Brother Callahan had the boys out to his property in the countryside of Crosby to have the boys become men. David shot his first rifle. Prior to his he had only shot at imaginary things on the XBOX 360. They also handled water mocassins, caught fish with their hands and started a fire without matches. They had so much fun that all the boys had to change clothes, they are all wearing Sister Callahans volleyball clothes- LOL-
David claims he is now ready for the zombie apocolypse-
If that happens, seek him out, he knows how to survive and to kill zombies. Rule number one, you have to kill them twice.
Thanks to Broher Carraway, Brother Love and Brother Callahan for a fun time.
I will be posting the other videos- THEY are awesome. Sadly Bro Love did not video them handling snakes, and as you may know that's the sign of a true follower, "if they can handle venomous snakes and not be harmed" Ha HA-

GIVEAWAY: Silhouette SD Machine!!!!

GIVEAWAY: Silhouette SD Machine!!!!

This is legit! I've known Alison since she was little, in fact it's hard for me to imagine her all grown up, married with children. To me she is still in Primary at about age 10, but Her blog proves otherwise. She has a ton of crafty ideas to do for less. I am sure one of her mantras is "don't pay department store prices" and she doesnt LOL-- This is a fun way to either try and win Silhouette machine or buy one with a great coupon exclusivly for her readers. Even if a silhouette isn't something you desire, I'm sure one of her crafty ideas will inspire you!
Much love
Kareena

Aww Baby Quentin is 11

Below are few pictures of Quentin. The digital camera did not come for years after he was born and therefore it's hard to show you digitally his progression from birth to 11 years.

Take it from me once he stopped the colic and slept through the night on January 26, 1997

he was and still is adorable.

We were so thrilled to get our little Quentin. Robert wanted his middle name to be Michael after his youth pastor, Michael Clements who passed away the year before we had Quentin.

MIchael was a great man who touched many lives for the good Quentin lives up to his namesake.

His first name came to me while watching a documentary on the Air Force Academy, the cadet was very articulate and also attractive and his name stuck with me.

Upon further investigation I found out it's gaelic for

"From the Queen's estate"

So basically I was sold.

Here is what Quentn likes in 2010

1. Xbox360 --LIVE (gamer tag sweetmamak--add him and Dave as friends)

2. FOOTBALL--He is first and foremost a cougar, but will happily cheer for any team. He loves the Texans too.

3.Swimmig

4. Camping.

5. Sleeping until after noon-

6. Fried Shrimp, Boiled shrimp...all kinds of shrimp.

7. Doing well in school- his handwriting is awesome.

8. And like the waterboy, he "loves his mama very much"

We love you mr. Quentonius Maximus!

Put em up--

This is Quentin as the reluctant Cowardly Lion-

Cute but he felt ridiculous.

He was much happier when trick or treating, since it was anonymous, here everyone knew who he was.

Here Quentin is seven and he and David were playing in the Capital in Austin one evening. They were preparing for Quentin's inevitable political career.

He is a masterful suck up and is already efficient in telling people what they want to hear.
His talents will serve him well.

Same time frame, on the way to Austin we stopped for Blue Bonnet Pictures.

This was our first of many trips with Austin and Allie from ST. George. UT

Here is the "rug rat" he was on an awesome undefeated soccer team in Henerson TX

This is his grandpa and "baby Alice" He was 6 in this picture --Alice not quite 3.

Here he is at age 7 with Baby Joely

Age 5 with David (shirtless) and BFF Caroline Rains

I have an embarrasing photo of he and Caroline dressed as Princesses. It's in his scrapbook, you'll have to come by and see it as I'm certain he would kill me if it was in cybersace.

This is Mrs. Butler- If you know Quentin you've heard of her

She's the reason my daughter in law will be a petite blonde with curls and a darlin'southern accent.


His favorite place to be- Grandma's Pool- That's David helpinghim up. At least I hope he is helping him up and not trying to push him back down.

This was a birthday party he planned for Sally. He was 4 and alice wasn't two yet
Sally was a mean hamster.

Pumpkins 2010

Trick or Treating in Crosby

Ward Halloween Party

I am finally able to talk about it

David, my firstborn, is turning 12 this week

TWELVE!!!!

Seriously where has the time gone?

So last week, he had one of his many firsts-

He went on a scout trip WITHOUT ME OR ROBERT.

Granted he was with people I love, trust and adore.

And he's stayed overnight with friends and relatives numerous times-

BUT THIS TIME HE WAS SCOUTING WITHOUT ME!!!

I was his first den "mother" --now they are called Leaders, but I still referred to myself as his Den Mother.

His little den was adorable and his den grew and grew and now he is a boy scout with 5 other friends and they all went to a weekend trip to celebrate the scouting centenial.

They camped with about 20 thousand scouts at Texas World Speedway, just south of College Station.

I was excited for him to go, but when it came down to it, I was sad.

So I did the responsible thing.

I took him out of school at ten thirty that Friday, so he wouldn't be counted absent-

and we ran a couple of errands and had a lovely lunch at El Toro in Baytown.

He is very funny and had me in stitches the whole time, except when I was tearing up and then he would laugh at me.

I bought him Chick Fil A to take for his dinner and sent him on his way.

He had a great time.

I was blue most of the weekend.

I think I made myself sick.

I think about how now he will be doing more things without me, than with me and it makes me want to go back to when he was my only little baby and just hold him more and squeeze him more.

But I can't.

So I hope that he has enough hugs in reserve and that I've taught him well and he'll make good choices and -most importantly that he'll always need hugs from his mama.

Not necessarily a Good Witch....

So this Halloween the Family will head down the Yellow Brick Road.

You may be wondering how Robert agreed to be a part of this- and I do to, but here is my speculation-- I think he only agreed because he will do anything to make Alice happy- and he still remembers when we were dating and listening to Dark Side of the Moon while watching The Wizard of OZ, and well it was wicked awesome, and no - there were not any hallucinogens involved. And then there is the "Let Love Rule" mantra that he has adopted as a true follower of Lenny Kravitz.

The boys have aquiesced because they have learned it is much better to go along with Alice (within reason) than feel the wrath of Alice. Also they are (almost 11 and 12) and well a bit too old to trick or treat, but if you are going with your baby sisters then you can squeeze several more years out--so BONUS

Alice wants to be the "star"so she chose Dorothy and quickly handed out the lesser parts to the rest of us.

I will be the wicked witch of the west, I was BORN to play the part. Plus I have more or less been her every year for Halloween, except for last year when I was Lizzie Borden, but basically it was the same costume, just not a green face and instead of a broom it was a bloody axe, but I digress.

Robert will be the scarecrow, coming full circle from when we were just about engaged and the last time he dressed up.(15 Halloweens ago)

David will be the Tin Man and like he says, "at least I can carry a weapon"

Quentin will be the Cowardly Lion, he's been practicing his signature line, "Put 'em up, Put 'em up"

Joely as pictured SHOULD be Glinda the Good witch -which would complete the theme- but she refuses, she wants to be a princess. So I steered her toward a pink princess costume and blonde wig and she looks like the Good Witch but she is the lesser known Princess Annaliese.

When we are all dressed up, I'll post more.

For now I'm happy to report that I have a free thinking little -not-quite-four-year-old that will do her own thing regardless of the peer pressure.

And for Joely if it irritates her Big Sister, that just may be the Bonus-

Quentin "Brian Cushing" Mullens

Quentin is happy that Brian Cushing will be back playing with the Texans tomorrow.

In fact he's so happy that his favorite Defensive player is coming back that today he got a mohawk too. He had been sporting "faux" hawk this school year, but today he became a committed d-tack.

You mess with this Cougar, you will get the claws.

Quentin has done so well a the nose tackle, that his coaches have started having him play on the offensive line too, Quentin says, "I take care of my quarterback." But- he till LOVES to throw "playuhs" down on the ground for the defense and go for the sack. He's brutal,until the whistle blows, and he's learning to "Leave it on the field!"

"Holding"


I LOVE watching him play, his team is now 7-0, with two more regular seasos games to go--and the superbowl.
And who knows, he may make all stars this year....


The Red Machine is coming through!

Saying Farewell to A Friend

Two weeks ago I had to take Sammi Jo in her for her last visit to the vet.

It was heart wrenching.

She has been getting worse and worse for the last year.

But still making that decision was extremely difficult.

Even knowing that it was best for her was hard.

For the last year she has had trouble getting up by herself and would have accidents in the house. Her arthritis was really bad and she wasn't eating well.

In July 2009, she weighed a Robust 97 pounds.

In July 2010 when I took her in, she was down to 87 pounds

and then two weeks ago, she was down to 77 pounds.

It was time.

However she didn't make it easy.

For literally months she could barely manage to get up, but on that day when I put her leash on her, she pranced about like a little puppy.

My resolve was shaken.

Whale waiting at the vet there were some labs there that were bouncing around and stretching and I thought, "I don't remember seeing Sammi stretch, it's been that long"

So the memories flooded along with my tears as I waited.

For my birthday in 1997, a short 8 months after we were married, Robert got me a dog bowl and a leash and told me to pick out a yellow lab, "because every boy needs a yellow dog."
We didn't' have kids yet, but we planned to.

She was precious and small and such a good companion.

Robert worked nights, so she kept him company during the day and kept me company at night.

She loved to play at "Barking Springs" in Austin.

She loved the Dog parks.

She welcomed in our other dogs the Gryndl Monster, Nomar Garciaparra and most recently Truffles.

She was a good older sister to David, Quentin, Alice and Joely. The oldest learned to walk holding on to her tail, fur or collar.

I don't remember Joely toddling after her.

She ate toilet paper, sought out mud and loved to wipe her face on the couch.

Up until about 3 years ago, she slept on our bed with us.

She snored.

When I was a sad crying mess, she was right there with me.

She couldn't resist a piece of cake and would jump up on the counters to eat cake.

Once she ate 1/2 of a baked ham that I made for some guests...I actually cut part of it off and served it -LOLOLOL

She also loved to eat hot pads, she was crazy for them.

She always followed the command to "Leave it"

But mostly she was my dear Friend and I miss her.

My children miss her and Robert misses her.

We look forward to another life where we can reunite with her.

Taking her back to the vet's room, was so hard.

My parents have done that for our family dogs and while it saddened me to have them gone, it wasn't as hard as actually taking them in.

Thanks mom and dad for shielding me from that fr 40 years.

But now I'm the mom, so I took her.
I held her paw and scratched her chin and ears until she had passed.

I could feel her spirit leave and it was very peaceful, I'm glad that I was with her to the very end.

I'm grateful that was in out lives for 13 years.

So the kids have been complaining...

That the blog hasn't been updated.
And I don't know why.
School started last Monday on the 23rd, without a hitch.

So now it's just me and Joely all day and let me tell you...

It's a blast, it's all cartoons, video games, eating out and shopping, mixed in with ice cream and peanut butter cups and some post-seminary naps.

We try to destroy all evidence of our fun before the bus comes again, but too many times we've been found with Chick-fil-a in hand and we are busted.

Alice usually wakes up with a smile, but this week she had enough and complained that it wasn't fair that Joely didn't have to go to Kindergarten.

It doesn't matter that Joely is only three!

David and Quentin are both in the same school this year and they ride the same bus as Alice.

This is their Bus. And if you look closely you can see Quentin Rolling his eyes and saying,

"Really Mom?"

Crosby, like other small towns, has several campuses, but each campus only holds two grades, so last year each child was at a different school, a logistic nightmare if you shuttle the kids to school. A genius plan if they ride the bus.

For me the positives outweigh the negatives.

By the time they get to middle school and high school, they've gone to school with the same kids their whole life. It's nice and keeps down bullying and cliques.

But I digress...

Here is everyone decked out

As always I worry most about David.

This year he raced home all pumped up.

I asked him how the day went and he said,

"it was great, I have 4 classmates with Xbox live, I wrote their gamertags in my agenda, gotta go and add them as my friends."

So clearly this year is a success.

Alice all ready for 2nd grade-

She's with Mrs. Kaune and loves it.

She summed up her first day like this,

"I don't know anyone but Mrs. Kaune is sure glad to have another Mullens in her class."

Mrs, Kaune, bless her heart, has taught everyone 2nd grade so far.

We hope she sticks it out for another 4years so she can teach Joely too.

She's a great teacher who enjoys being with children and is a very consistent teacher.

We totally appreciate her and am thrilled that once again we have someone in her class.

Here is the Qbone- he's all decked out with his

"faux-hawk or bro hawk" whatever you call it,

"It's all good baby"

Quentn has three teachers and various elective teachers. He's happy to be back in school but more than that he's happy to be a Crosby Cougar. So far he's worn this shirt twice and his jersey twice. Quentin is proud of his red and black Cougars.

His foolsball has begun and with his sisters cheering him on, his team is 2-0 and he made his first sack of the season, with numerous "hurries" and tackles.

More about this on another blog.

Joely and I do miss them, but if we get too sad we go to the park or hang with friends and the feeling passes. We love four o clock when everyone is back home exciting us with tales from school.

We are blessed to be in this school district

And big news for me, Seminary started the same day- so my days begin officially at 4:30 and my four students arrive at 5:45 (or should arrive) this year proves to be another study filled year.

I've enjoyed the lessons so far and look forward to learning more about Church History and Gospel Doctrine.

Another thing is that in our training we were told to relate everything back to how it fits in the Plan of Salvation, so I'm trying to do that, it's bit challenging to get them to think like that, but hopefully soon we all can get the hang of it.

I'm very grateful to be teaching seminary.

50 words- a cool video that I did not make- LOL

This is one of those good finds on facebook, I loved the sweetness of this video. It made me think of what words mean and how they can shape our actions.

Look Mom I CAN sew!!!

Megan got a cute pattern for some easy peasy skirts when her mom visited last month.

I was inspired from a cute post from Jennifer Sorenson Scott's blog
and i really wanted to sew, so we finally got together and made these cute easy skirts.

Next time we'll try to do Jennifer's pattern- (seriously check out her blog)

so cute on her way to church with her scriptures and her song book.

And best of all they twirl and twirl and twirl

watch out mom, I just may "borrow" your surger on my next visit.

It was fun getting in touch with my inner seamstress.

She had been in chains for years.

Just don't look to close to the hem and you'l lbe impressed.

Alice LOVED hers

and Joely Loved having a BEAUTIFUL NEW SKIRT.

This is the Place!

On July 24th 1847, Brigham Young led a rag tag group of Pioneers into the Salt Lake Valley. It is well documented that he rose from his fever stricken bed in the back of a wagon and said,

"This is the right place"

Thousands upon Thousands followed and the Salt Lake Valley thrived with the faith, hope and determination of the myriad pioneers that came across the plains and the Atlantic.

Today we celebrate our heritage and I think about my grandparents that made the sacrifice to practice their religion. I'm proud of my pioneer roots.

In Utah and Idaho (where my family comes from)

They have BIG HUGE PARADES, FIREWORKS,THE OSMONDS

IT's a big deal

And that's how the Mormons up north roll.

However, here in the deep south, we celebrate Pioneer Day a little different.

While Brigham Young's words are well documented, a lesser known tradition was born that day.

Apparently the morning of the 24th the Bishopric got up early and made pancakes for everyone and all the women and children had to do was get ready to eat by 8 am.

And that's how we roll.

Thanks for the good food and good times this morning.

Oh and A Huge Thanks to

Grandma and Grandpa Ward

Grandma and Grandpa John

Grandma and Grandpa Bright

For doing all they could do which led to me having it real easy to grow up and beleive in this church- that they literally toiled over.

Happy Pioneer Day.