First Snow of 2009

What a great night tonight was!!!

First we had our first Awana Christmas Program. The kids did great. (pictures to come soon)

Then Jared went coon hunting so the boys and I headed home for some mommy/son time.

We watched The Christmas Shoes and I cried like a baby.

Then the boys wanted to know if they could open "just" ONE present. So.... I let them. They opened the one that was for all of them, a dvd player for the van.

Then they were so excited that it was still snowing and that it was all over the ground that they wanted to go out and play in it.

I looked at the clock and it was after 10:00, on a school night.

I thought "what the heck?" we only live once.

So I yelled "get your stuff on, we are going out to play in the snow!"

They couldn't believe it!!!!

So we all ran around and yelled and laughed, we made snow angels and they tackled me and we laughed until we cried.

They kept saying..... "this is so much fun"! even after we came in I heard them say how much fun it was!

AND it was so much fun!! I am so glad that we did it.

I hope it is something they remember forever!

Can't you just see the excitement:)

Our snow angels!!!!
L to R... Bronson, Braylon, Me and Braxton

grrrr

well tonight was one of those nights where i wanted to have a pity party..... so i did, ALL. BY. MYSELF!

jared goes to this annual coon hunt on the wednesday night before thanksgiving every year. does this bother me? nope! braxton loves going with him too. does this bother me? nope! but this year bronson wanted to go. jared didn't care that he went but also knew that he would be exhausted b/c they climb lots and lots of hills. so i asked bronson if he wanted to just stay home with me and we would go to kirksville and i would take him and braylon to the movies. but he didn't want to, he wanted to coon hunt! did this bother me? not really.....

BUT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

then it is time for everyone to leave and jared and i are still trying to talk bronson into not going to the coon hunt and to go with me instead. he was not budging. he wanted to coon hunt. fine.

so i decided that is fine, braylon and i will just go to the movies ourselves. so i go to get him and he throws a big fit and doesn't want to go. he wants to stay with my mom and dad. fine! F.I.N.E.!!!! does this bother me? you better believe it does! so, i leave him there and then i text jared and say.....

"guess no one wants to be with me, not even braylon!" yes, i was feeling sorry for myself!

so 15 minutes later, jared calls and said bronson wanted to go with me! tough!!! i am almost to kirksville. then he calls back.... the boys said they wouldn't go hunting they would stay with grandma until you got back and then you can rent a movie with them. NOPE, NOTTA, NO THANKS!!!! why would i want that? you have to make them feel guilty so they will spend time with me? NOPE, NOTTA, NOT HAPPENING! if they don't want to spend time with me just because, then no thanks!

THEN, braylon calls and wants to go with me. my mom says "i will bring him to you". NOPE!!! he had his chance!

so i went grocery shopping by myself and ate out by myself! it was easier but i still didn't like it.

so, i am going to prove a point and the next time they want to go with me somewhere..... NOT HAPPENING! the next time they want me to do something for them..... NOT HAPPENING!

is that bad of me?

i just want them to realize that i have feelings too and that i do a lot for them and that they don't appreciate any of it and take me for granted!

so, now that i have that off of my chest:).........................................................

have a great thanksgiving!

My Beautiful Tree

So,

I finally got what I wanted.

A huge Christmas tree

Like 9 1/2 feet tall Christmas tree

It was a lot of work putting it up

Like hours and hours of work

Shaping

Putting lights on it (after a late night trip to walmart to get more)

Like 3000 lights

Standing on a ladder to put the bow on top

Adding lots and lots of ornaments (after another trip to walmart)

Like 118 to be exact

Plus icicle looking ones too

Then walking around and around it to make sure it was just

PERFECT!

And it is

J.U.S.T. P.E.R.F.E.C.T.

So if you are out and about

drive by and look for the big GLOW

and you will see my

huge,

beautiful,

just perfect,

chocolate brown,

sage green,

and gold,

Christmas tree!!!

p.s. the picture doesn't do it justice, so you should really just stop by and look at it in person:)

aLvIn the elf

I saw on one of my friends blogs about Elf on the Shelf. I thought it was a great idea and decided that my kids needed one. So..... I ordered one:)

He arrived last week on Friday and the boys couldn't quite understand it all. I read them the book and they asked lots and lots of questions. They couldn't understand how he could fly, why he couldn't talk to us and how he got here......

They decided to name him Alvin! Braylon came up with the name. So we registered his name and printed out our certificate of ownership and he is ours forever!!

So meet ALVIN!

Isn't he just adorable?

Bronson jumped out of bed Saturday and Sunday at 7 to try and find him. I was so excited to get Alvin but wasn't excited to have Bronson waking me up that early to see if I knew where he was.

Hopefully having Alvin around will help with some of our behavior issues and all!

I am so excited to be starting this new tradition in our family.

I GOT MAIL!

Look what was in my mail today.........

that's right, our passports for our upcoming trip to the Bahama's!

Exactly 3 months from today we will be in Nassau. Everyday I get more and more excited!


Nothing much has been going on with me. I have been really busy with work and trying to get my calendars done for the fam for xmas. I have them all done and ordered! I am leaving tomorrow to go shopping with my aunts, my mom and my cousin. I am super excited. Kansas City better look out b/c us girls are some kind of dangerous!

I also joined weight watchers almost 3 weeks ago. I lost 7.8 lbs in the first two weeks. It has slowed down this last week though. I really enjoy ww and it isn't as hard as I thought it would be. I can definetly tell that I am losing inches b/c my jeans are looser and I can just tell. That makes me excited. I have 18 more lbs to go to be where I want to be for our cruise. So I have 3 months to get it off. We will see!

The boys are really excited to go deer hunting tomorrow. They have BUCK FEVER! I hate that I am going to be gone if they get a big one. Thank goodness for camera phones:)

So hopefully next week I will have lots of pictures to share. I know I have been terrible about posting, but I have super busy. I promise I will do better:)

Have a great weekend everyone!!

Oh and I would like to wish my neice Gabrielle a very Happy Birthday and my cousin Amber a very Happy Birthday too.

Bronson's first deer

This was Bronson's first year to be able to deer hunt. He has been so excited for the last several weeks. I don't understand how come he was so easy to get up to go deer hunting, but when it comes time to get him up for school, it is a chore:)

Jared and Bronson went together and Braxton and I went together.

We heard Bronson shoot once and then we heard nothing. So we figured he must have gotten something. He called me and to hear the excitement in his voice was priceless. He said, "mommy, I killed one!" He shot a doe! When we finally got to see him, his grin was soooo big! and he was sooooo proud. His bubble bursted when I told him that he couldn't shoot anymore for the rest of the weekend b/c they are only able to shoot one deer during youth season. I felt bad that I had to be the one that told him. So then he wasn't to excited to have killed one. He wanted to shoot a BUCK! When we went to get his deer, we found out that it was a button buck and it was bigger than Braxton's first deer. This made up for all the disappointment! He could not quit grinning. He said it was alright if it was a button buck b/c its horns would still grow. Braxton had to explain to him that once they are dead that their horns don't grow anymore. He still thinks they might grow some more. I think he will be a little disappointed when they don't!

After getting it loaded and gutting it, he had to call everyone!!! After we got home he couldn't quit going outside to just "see" his deer.

I am so glad that he got one and that it only took him ONE shot! I think we have another great hunter in our family.

So in a couple of weeks he will be able to go again and he can get a BUCK if his little heart desires:)

Here he is ready to go!
SO, SO, SO proud of his kill!

He kept saying, EWWWW. Braxton told him that he was worse than a little girl:)


After getting him home!

Congrats Bronson! We are so proud of you.

Halloween Parties & More

Halloween brings on some Shaw family traditions. Every year the boys carve lots of pumpkins and then we deliver them to my mom and dad, my two grandma's, jodie york's and we used to take one to jared's grandma and one to our neighbors, but they are all in the nursing home. So here we are cutting, cleaning and carving the pumpkins for everyone. When we deliver them, everyone is super excited to see them.

I couldn't get a good picture of all three of them. In every one of them one of them was "acting" crazy! BOYS!

Every year my babysitter brings all the kids trick or treating around the square and to my office. Here is the group.

AHHH, doesn't this cop look awful cute with his mommy?

Braylon and his partner in crime, Mason.

Ashlyn, Adi and Braylon.

I just LOVE this picture! Can you just see how ornery he is? It is just pouring out:)
I kept fixing his hat, b/c everytime it would fall down, it would make his ear stick out. He could've cared less!

This was Bronson's first year for a class party. And it was my first year of trying to divide my time up between two rooms. That wasn't what I call fun.

Bronson eating an apple. Silly kid.

Braxton's class got to play some games. Braxton's team did pretty good and won most of them.

Bronson the pirate! We lost his headband at school and we looked everywhere for it. The lost and found, Braxton's room, his room, the halls.... nothing! He found it later that night..............in his POCKET!

This was the extent of Braxton dressing up this year. A punk rocker. He thought he was too old, so he just handed out candy this year on Halloween night. It is so sad, he is growing up way too fast.

All in all we had a great Halloween.