It's been too long again...

It has been 1 month since I have blogged! I really can't believe it. I have an excuse... the kids and I have gone through sickness and passing out and chipped tooth and the works! But, that hasn't stopped me from looking at other people's blogs so I guess I have been slacking.

There's not much to report other than man I love the holiday season! It's so crazy and also peaceful at the same time.

I will leave with this stolen from This mama
right now I am:
enjoying: a nice hot cup of coffee and listening to Janie sing as she eats her breakfast

wondering: how in the world I am going to get everything done I need to before the 19th when we leave for Beaver's Bend!?

marveling: at our Savior and how merciful and wonderful he is.

anticipating: having Jeremy home for two whole weeks after next week!

missing: my mimi so much at this time of year.

loving: our home at the holidays.

thinking: I really need to go grocery shopping.

signing: off but not for as long as last time! :)

wishing: you a wonderful Christmas!





Here are some pictures from Christmas 2 years ago! My heart hurts because my boys have grown up so much.

A year ago today...

Amazing how much kids can change in a year isn't it?

Dedicated to the Lord...

My little angel was dedicated to the Lord on Sunday.
We stood in front of the church and as a family in front
of the congregation promised to raise her to know
God and to have the church keep us accountable to do so.
I have such high hopes for all my children, but mostly...
what I pray for every night... is that
they would know God and love Him
first and foremost and
with all their heart.

Happy Halloween!!

So, Halloween this year was a blast
(despite the fact that my two littlest have
double ear infections.
That part's not fun at all...)
we had mummy dogs and edible eyeballs
creepy crawly
crackers topped off with
candy corn soda.
YUM!!
We went for a quick stroll around the block
got tons of candy
got all hyped up on sugar
and then watched
Nightmare before Christmas before
going off to bed.

Not bad for a day's "work"! :)

Something old and something new

Janie and I had our last photo session of the Summer on Sunday. The temperatures are quickly turning quite chilly so I figured I better take these pics before it was too late!
She wore my dress from when I was her age that my mimi made me. She is wearing my Buster Brown shoes - which she could barely walk in! (all for the sake of fashion... she is learning young!)
The blocks were made by my mimi for me when I was a child as well.

Isn't she a doll??

Corbin's party

Corbin had a fantastic 6th birthday this year! He decided on a pirate theme (consequently we are all dressing up peter pan style this year for halloween)
He had a lot of friends and fun at his party... daddy took them on a treasure hunt where they hunted for pirate coins and pirate booty! (the boys love saying booty) :)
It was definitely a success.

Summer Road Trip

I never blogged about the trip we took back in August. I am a little behind! :) We went on a road trip to Arizona (Jeremy had to work for a couple of days - helped to offset some of the cost of our trip!) then to San Diego for the zoo and the beach at La Jolla, then we went up to Anaheim for Disneyland, then back through Flagstaff for the most AWESOME Grand Canyon... by the way, if you have never been, you must go! It's is amazing. It was definitely the highlight of our trip for me despite my petrifying fear of heights. I walked to the rim and was in awe of literally one of the seven wonders of the world. (wait, is it one of the wonders?? Well, if it isn't, then it should be.)

Disneyland was fun too, we had a blast. I think the kids' favorite part was the parade. Disney really knows how to do it up. We didn't see very many of the characters walking around the park, that was kind of a downer. But, other than that we had a grand time and really I don't think the kids noticed that much. Next time we do a Disney vacay, Jeremy wants to go to Disneyworld. He has never been.

Next time we go on this particular road trip I think we will skip San Diego. Last time we went, it was really neat going there. We went to the zoo, and hung out down at La Jolla beach (we had a picnic there) but when we went to the beach for pics this time, there was like 1 person per square inch. We stayed maybe 10 minutes and after listening to Bryson cry about how his feet were getting dirty from the sand, we decided to give up and leave. As for the zoo, they have nothing on the Ft. Worth zoo. I am not kidding. You know how you are always hearing about how phenomonal the San Diego zoo is? They had a terrible lion exhibit... the lions are one of our favorites! The elephants and giraffes were just OK. I would rather go to the Ft. Worth zoo anyday.

Next year (2009) we have decided to go snow skiing. I hope to talk Jeremy into going sometime around thanksgiving. I think that would be so fun! He has never been snowskiing either. We are going to be in great shape by then! :)

The year after that when Corbin is 8, Bryson 5, and Janie 3 (!!!) we are going to brave Disneyworld. :)

Another day of tears

We left Bryson for stay and play today (Bryson gets out at 11:45 and Kindergarten gets out at 12:45 - stay and play is for an hour). When I went to pick him up his teacher said "Bryson had a hard time today at stay and play. He didn't eat his lunch and he cried until we came outside. Ugh. I felt like I got sucker punched! I actually cried when the teacher told me that.

I told him that if he didn't want to stay for stay and play that he absolutely didn't have to. If I hadn't known that he was crying I would have stopped what I was doing and ran up to get him in a heartbeat. And that's the truth.

I am starting to realize more and more lately that this time is soooo precious! In just a few blinks of an eye, my kids, heaven forbid, may not even want me around! I can't fathom the thought. I am just trying to cherish the time I have left that they do. And pray to God that that day never comes!

Corbin and Bryson's first day of school

I can't believe this is happening, but I have a kindergartner! I have been saying this for the past couple of days, but I really don't think it has set in yet. The boys went to school today after MUCH prayer and deliberation on my part. I really wanted to homeschool, but Corbin and Bryson had a different idea. :) They wanted to be with their friends.

We are adjusting to having to go to school everyday (for Corbin) Tonight when I told bryson to go to sleep and not keep his brother awake because he had school in the morning he started crying because Corbin wouldn't be home with him. Made me super sad. :(

Gearing up

So, things are pretty crazy at the ole' Pope homestead right now. We've got Janie's party on Saturday which I SWORE to myself that I wasn't going to over-plan and over-extend myself on this one, but I have decided that she needs a new dress (that I am making - by myself!) a new fabric scrapbook to show her first year of pics, a crown - because she is a princess (I am making that one too), and I desperately need to clean... oh yeah, it's my mom's birthday Friday too. Yeah, pretty crazy indeed.

I told Jeremy that I have a pretty nutty to do list and he was like "it's not that bad" what he really meant was it wasn't that long, but he was apparently not paying that much of attention. :)

Here it is...
*finish Janie's dress
*make Janie's crown
*finish mom's thankful book
*clean house
*plan and make Janie's birthday lunch
*shop for said lunch
*make Janie's cake
*decorate house for Janie's party
*pack for vacation (oh yeah, I forgot to mention we are leaving for vacation early Sunday morning... we will be gone the next two weeks!)

There was more to the list, but I have been fairly productive. :)


So, tonight is So You Think You Can Dance. Anyone else as addicted to this show as I am? And **SPOILER ALERT** Why in the world did they bring back Comfort???? And who voted Kherington off before her??? WHY PEOPLE??? I am definitely voting tonight.

I am officially a member of dorkville. :)

livin the life... of a poser

This is the jet (my dad's) that we took to Destin at the end of June on my dad/sister's trip. Riding on it made me want to be rich. :) It is going to be so hard to go back to riding commercial... going to the airport... security... waiting for baggage claim... you know all that incredibly lame stuff. Seriously, we took off from the Paris municipal airport, flew straight to Destin, got off on red carpet (literally) and flew back to Paris. I was living the life of Riley, and now I have to go back to living the life of Shelly. :)

OK, so that tidbit was not to show off, but just so I could post an interesting pic. I haven't got much other than July 4th pics and ones I took of Janie the other day. You got a pretty hefty dose of her last post though.

We are finishing up VBS this week and I am SO tired and incredibly ready for Jeremy to be home! I miss him so much, but I am not gonna lie... I need some relief from these hellions. :)

I'm Alive!!!

And here to post with a new look (hee!) and picture of my baby girl who turns one next week. Can't believe the last time I posted it was her birth story! That's so sad! Where has the time gone?

Got lots to post but just wanted to start with this one. Check back often... I definitely plan to post more.