Gingerbread Houses!!

Tonight my sisters and kids came to our house and we ordered pizza and made gingerbread houses. WOW...was this a project! The girls really got into it and worked really hard on their houses. Some ideas were originals and some where stolen ideas from another person at the table!

I think that we all had a great time tonight! We really could have used my mom's help with Drew. Alison, Ashley and myself were busy helping the girls and Drew keep wondering off and we would have to go find him! He gave up on his gingerbread house and just started eating it! He keeps us all laughing and just makes Alison tired and worn out!

I (Heart) Drew!

I just couldn't resist getting a picture with Drew with the new shirt that Alison bought for him! I think that he rocks too!!

Thanksgiving 2008

(Isabella in her turkey hat and Alexis with her Thanksgiving placemat)

We had a great Thanksgiving this year! We started the Thanksgiving break by putting up our Christmas tree on Tuesday evening and then on Wednesday night we went out to eat with my whole family. Then on Thanksgiving day we went to Randy's grandma's house and ate lunch with his whole family. Later that evening, we met up with my family again and went to the movies. My parents and brother took the kids to see Bolt and Randy and I and Alison and Andy went to see Four Christmas'. That movie is hilarious!! On Friday my mom, sisters and myself went shopping for 16 hours....yes, 16 hours! We love it though, we have a very set routine that we do every year and certain places that we eat breakfast and lunch. Then for dinner we go back to my parents house for some smoked turkey that my dad makes for us each year. That turkey that he makes, is the BEST turkey that I have every tasted. After we eat dinner, we go back out shopping for a few more hours! We literally shop until we drop on Black Friday! I have to say a big thank you to my dad and brother who helped me in my "emergency situation." Randy had to work on Black Friday, so Seth spent the night with us so that he would be here in the morning when the girls got up and then took them to my parents house where my dad watched them ALL day long by himself! I don't know who was more tired...my girls or my dad! We have had a great Thanksgiving weekend and ready to get into that Christmas spirit!!

(Alexis rockin' out to Sugarland...I purchased it on Friday for $7.00!)

Oh, I almost forgot...Isabella had a feast on Tuesday at her school, so Randy and I went to that. She was cracking us up...she was so quiet and obedient and she kept giving us this smile that was hilarious. For those of you who don't know..Isabella isn't quiet and she only obeys some of the time!

IT STILL SMELLS THE SAME!!

Today at Alexis' school they had Thanksgiving lunch and she asked if Randy, Isabella, and I would come up there and eat with her. I then proceded to reminder of my rule about school cafeteria's.....I don't eat their food!! She said that maybe we could at least just come and sit with her while she ate....why is it that school cafeteria's have "that smell" in them??? They ALL smell the same. I'm not even sure what the smell is but it SMELLS. Today the smell wasn't too bad but I couldn't figure out what the turkey was swimming in. Randy informed me that it was suppose to be dressing. I didn't see any dressing on that tray. It really looked more like tukey throw up. Really, it did.

The blue friend in the picture with the girls in "Brillant Blue." He is our new family friend for the weekend. Isabella got to bring him home from school for the weekend and he gets to do whatever we do. Yeah! One more thing to try to keep up with! Isabella was super excited to bring him home...apparently this is the "thing" for her class. Hopefully we can manage to return him to school on Monday!

A LONG TIME OVERDUE!

Well, Halloween came and went and the girls had a great time. They each had parties at school and Isabella got to wear her costume to school so she loved that. After school, we went to the Fall Festival at a local church with my nieces and nephew. The kids seemed to have a great time...it wasn't too crowded so that was nice.

Alexis was CandyLand and Isabella was a Butterfly Princess
My kids with Miss Oklahoma, Ms. Reynolds, and a Red Bull Energy Drink

On Saturday we went to 2 soccer games and then to my cousin's house for a belated Halloween party. The kids had a great time there as well. They had tons of candy, hot dogs, chips and cheese dip, sugar cookies to decorate, pumpkins to paint, pin the nose on the pumpkin, apples and carmel dip, and smores.

Then on Sunday Alexis was baptized! We had a ton of family at church to help us celebrate with her the decision that she had made. Afterwards, we went to lunch with most of our family. Although, Randy didn't get to go because he had to catch a flight to Atlanta for the week. After lunch we had two birthday parties to go to. Talk about a crazy weekend....I was exhausted at the end of it!

This past week was kind of a slow week with Randy being out of town. I had a show on Wednesday night so that was a nice little break and then Isabella had Open House at her school. She was so funny....once we got into her classroom she could no longer talk....so funny!! I told her that I KNEW she talked in class and that she could that evening and to show me the things that she did during the day. That about wraps up our week!

GIRLS OUT OF SCHOOL + BEAUTIFUL WEATHER= FALL BREAK!

Wow...what a week we have had! On Tuesday Isabella and I went on a field trip with her school to Orr Family Farm. This is one of my favorite places to go! I absolutely LOVE it! She was rather upset with me because I wouldn't let her ride the school bus to Moore where the farm was. I couldn't ride the bus with her because I guess buses are expensive these days...so the rule is the girls can't ride the bus unless I am with them. (That's still part of my controlling issues that I am working on!) Plus...she is 4 years old...last time I checked she still needed to ride in a car seat...so she was mad at me. She told me that next time she would rather I not go, so that she wouldn't have to ride with me and could ride the bus. I then told her...if I didn't go next time , neither did she :) She still had a good time though!

Then on Thursday and Friday it was Fall Break! My mom and dad had Alison and Andy's kids for the weekend so we spent a lot of time at my parents house during fall break. On Thursday we made caramel apples and played outside. On Friday we went to a Fall Festival and played outside some more. Then on Saturday we went to go see a movie. We were busy the whole break but had a great time. I was definetly exhaused though!! I think that I may need a break....mom and dad, could you please watch my girls for a couple of days??!!

I ended the weekend by going to Mistletoe Market with my mother-in-law. We had a great time and saw tons of super cute things there. Mine and Alison's signs were in a booth there and I was excited to see them there and how they were displayed. They will also be at Affairs of the Heart next weekend so that is exciting for us!!

LET ME COUNT THE WAYS THAT I LOVE YOU!

13 Years ago today I married the love of my life! I am so blessed to be Randy's wife. He works so hard to provide for the girls and I and allows me to stay at home with the girls. He is so caring, loving, always worrying about the girls :), and a great leader in our home. We love being together and being married to one another! He doesn't read this blog very often (he'll probably read it in a month or so!) but I just wanted him to know how much I truly love him and am so thankful for him and all that he does for me and our family!

I love you Randy.

Happy 13th Anniversary!

A LITTLE ROAD TRIP AND A BIRTHDAY PARTY

On Saturday the girls and I took a little road trip with Randy's mom to Owasso to see my nephew play football. The girls had a lot of fun being with their cousins. They don't get to see them as often as they would like so they are always so excited when they get to see them. My nephew Quinton was so cute dressed in all of his gear and the girls loved being with Abigail during the game. After Quinton's game we went to eat at Baja Jack's. It was a build your own burrito type of place. It was really good or maybe it was just the fact that I was starving and would have just ate about anything! After lunch we did a little shopping and then heading home...it was a short trip but just perfect!

On Sunday Isabella had a birthday party to go to. It was a wear your halloween costume party. This little friend of Isabella's is one of her two very best friends. The girls are always so cute when they get together. Meg's mom had some very fun activities for the girls to do. They had face painting, painted pumpkins, played pin the tail on the cat, and played pass the pumpkin. The party was complete with the pumpkin birthday cake!

Isabella as a princess Isabella and Ella (a cheetah girl)

An angel(Meg),a princess(Bella), and a cheetah girl(Ella)

DONUTS FOR DADS

Friday at Alexis' school it was Donuts For Dads Day! Alexis was really excited about having her dad go to school with her to eat a donut for breakfast! However, she did tell him that she would have to be done with her donut by 8:00 because on Fridays she has safety patrol at the front door of the school! She takes her job very seriously!

SHE'S GOT JESUS IN HER HEART, CAN I WEAR THIS, AND BOY WAS I TIRED!!!

On Monday Alexis started asking us some questions regarding getting baptized and we talked to her a little about that before she went to school and told her that we would talk with her more about it after school...right after school she was wanting to talk more about what baptism was and why and so forth. At dinner we talked some more and then right after dinner Randy prayed with Alexis and she asked Jesus to come live in her heart!! We were so excited!! As a parent I think that this is the one thing that we always pray for our children, that they would see Jesus reflected in our lives and come to know him. Needless to say, we were very excited for her and she was too!

On a different note....oh Isabella, oh Isabella. This girl keeps us in stitches..a while back she was asking me about Jesus and where he was, and why we couldn't visually see him. Oh this is a tough one to explain to a 4 year old...but I tried. (As much as I wanted to end the conversation with "I don't know, just be quiet" ~ which is what I do sometimes :) I decided that it is part of my responsibilty to teach our girls about Jesus and what he has done for us, I decided that I would answer it the best I could.) I told her that when we died our hearts would go be with Jesus and then we would get to see him. Well, she then informed me that she didn't want to see Jesus and I said "oh honey, yes you do" and she kept trying to say to me, no not really mom. So a few minutes had past and she said "will I see Jesus if Andy jumps in the pool with me?" Oh..I think she may be confused!!! (Andy always runs and jumps in the pool with her and she is petrified of him when he is swimming with us...I know it's his pool and I have to convince her that he can swim with us sometimes!)

This week Isabella has been trying to break in her new knee high black boots..she keeps trying to wear them to school to pick Alexis up. I told her no and she said "ok then can I wear this for Halloween?" Well I asked her what "this" was and she said this.

I thought to myself, I know what "this" looks like, and no you can't wear that for Halloween!!

Then on Thursday we kept Drew for awhile. We went to McDonald's after school for an ice cream snack and before I knew it I was wearing his teeny tiny bit of chocolate cookie that I gave him! We came home and played for a while and then had dinner.

I left him like this for a bit because it kept him still for a few seconds...mean, I know but this boy is constantly on the move!!

He LOVED the horse in Isabella's room! He rode that for quite a while!! Then we decided to have some fun with him and dress him up!

Ahh...he looks so pretty as a fairy!!

What a cute Dumbo the elephant!!

We love Drew to pieces and I could seriously eat him up, but boy oh boy does he wear me out!! Drew left at about 8:30 that evening and I think that all 3 of us girls were asleep before 10:00!

SATURDAY FUN!!

Saturday was another fun filled day for The Wheeler's! We started the day off at the soccer field for Alexis' game.

After her game we met my cousin and her family for lunch at a little pizza place. The pizza was really good and we had a great time visiting with everyone.

That evening the guys were heading to the OU game so my dad wanted to take all of us girls (and Drew!) for a picnic. We had so much fun! The weather was absolutely perfect! They had made a lot of delicious food and then had a surprise for dessert. Once the kids had played for a while they decided to bring out the surprise dessert....HOMEMADE OREO ICE CREAM!!!! We were all SOOOO excited!!

I will leave you with a few pictures from the evening...Thanks Nana and Papa for a fun evening! It was perfect!

My girls at the park

Alexis and Drew Alexis swinging

Isabella sliding

My mom serving the girls some yummy food!

My dad this for most of the evening....followed Drew everywhere he went! That boy is always on the go!!

Nana serving up the famous oreo ice cream! (With Emme and Isabella's help)

The girls enjoying that surprise dessert!

My girls and I towards the end of our evening

Nana and Papa with the girls and Drew! He is always loving on his Papa!!

FALL PARTY AT MY GRANDPARENT'S HOUSE!!

Today the girls were out of school so we decided to spend the day at their great grandparent's house. We had so much fun with them! They fed us lunch and then the festivites began....

We made caramel apples. We had never done this before and we really had a lot of fun doing it. This may become a yearly tradition...

As soon as they were done with their own apples, off they ran to the next project somehow leaving me to finish dipping the rest of the apples...

My mom brought pumpkins for all of them to decorate with paint and they loved doing that, so outside we went...the weather was absolutely gorgeous! We were so glad that the weather was actually hot outside because Drew ended up playing in the water hose and had quite a fun time doing so!

The finished products...each one knew exactly what they were going to do on their pumpkin!

Once we destroyed my grandparent's house, had brownies and ice cream, and had yummy pumpkin sugar cookies that Alison made...we left! Yes, we did try to clean up my grandparent's house and at least try to put it all back together again!

My girls ended the day by going to their Aunt Ashley's house to eat dinner and carve pumpkins. She made Alexis' favorite dinner and then they carved the pumpkins and then made cookies for dessert. (I didn't get any pics because I wasn't there...although she did tell me that Isabella wouldn't carve her pumpkin because she wouldn't put her hand inside of it because it was disgusting!!) They seemed to have a great time there!!

With the girls were with Ashley, I got to go on a date with my favorite person, my hubby! We met some of our friends for dinner and had a great time with them.

Randy has been on vacation this week and I have really enjoyed him being home and getting to spend so much time with him. He usually works a lot of hours during the week (and doesn't usually get weekends off ) so we have enjoyed getting to eat dinner together as a family every night this week!