A Day with the Cousins...

The day after Christmas, we spent the day with our cousins at the Louisiana Boardwalk in Bossier City. As usual, we had a blast and the day flew by. We ate lunch at Fuddrucker's - great burgers!!!! Here's Thomas and Shelby digging in.

Gage, 8, and Thomas, 7, always seem to pick up right where they left off the last time - a lot like their Mommas!!!!

Shelby with a cute snowman just her size!

This is a neat shop where there are lots of hermit crabs with things painted on their shells...I love this pic of the kids!! Gage's sister, Shanah, bought a cute little crab from here. He had a turkey painted on his shell.

This is in the Bass Pro Shop shooting range. Thomas told me later, "Moma, I REALLY liked that big store we went in, you know, the one with all the GUNS!!" :-)

Watching a fast train go by...

Taking a short break to color...

Riding the carousel...Thomas was on this eagle at first...then he decided to move up by Gage!

Shelby of course picked out a horse!

All the kids....Shanah, Shelby, Thomas, Shelby, and Gage! Yes, my cuz also has a beautiful daughter named Shelby. Such a great name!!!! And so is Shanah!! :-)

Me and my Cuz!! We are best friends and best cousins!! We talk and email almost every day, just wish we lived closer to each other, but we always see each other when I'm in town. I'm trying to work on her to come to Houston for a visit!!!! I couldn't ask for a better friend, except for my honey of course!! I love ya Monica!!

After parting from Monica and the kids for the day, we made a quick stop back by Grandma and Pop's to see them, take some pictures and tell them good-bye! Here's a good pic I got of the kids with Grandma.

This post wraps up our trip to Longview/Shreveport for Christmas 2008. Hope you've enjoyed them all. Until the next trip...

Favorite Gift of '08

Out of all the many wonderful gifts Thomas and Shelby were blessed with this Christmas, I believe the Scooters won the Favorite Gift category for Christmas 2008!!! Coming in a close 2nd place was the Star Wars Lego Wii game and then Honorable Mention would be their new Mongoose bikes.

Here's a few scooter shots...

Trying them out...

Here comes Thomas...

They had a Super Christmas this year!!!

Here's a quick clip of the kids opening their scooters:

I will post some more movie clips of them riding their scooters soon!

Christmas with the Family!

We had a terrific Christmas Day with our family! It's usually the one time of the year we are ALL together. Here's some pics from the day...

Here's Grandma and Pop with Tuffy...

After a yummy Christmas dinner, we gathered in the living room and James read the Christmas Story from the Bible before we opened presents! Happy Birthday baby Jesus!!!

My niece, Emily, who is 13 now, opening one of her gifts...

Thomas tearing into a gift....grandma is on the left and my sister, Kathy, is on the right. My other niece, Sarah, is to the right of Kathy but you can't see her good in this pic.

Shelby posing in her new robe that Grandma gave her...

Gramms and PawPaw gave Thomas a video game you play on the TV...

He got a new Batman robe from Grandma too...

Shelby got lots of High School Musical stuff from Sarah and Emily!

Here's Pop opening up one of his gifts...Is Grandma taking a cat nap?? I can't tell....maybe it was the turkey she ate. :-)

Their big gift from Gramms and Paw Paw was SCOOTERS!!!! They have been borrowing their friends scooters for a while now so they were so excited to have their own.

Belle with her scooter...

I LOVE this picture I captured of Grandma with the kids...none of them had a clue I took it...I like being sneaky!!

Everyone enjoyed the day and we all got some great loot!!!! It was a Very Merry Christmas!!!

Christmas Morning - Stockings!!

On Christmas morning, Thomas got up and came into the kitchen already dressed - this is highly unusual - in his new T-shirt which has printed on it, "Dear Santa, I WAS FRAMED"!!


Shelby was still in her P.J.'s and it didn't take them long to find their stockings hanging in the living room.


Thomas found three more Star Wars action figures in his stocking...


Shelby found a High School Musical Activity Pad...

I think this was her favorite out of her stocking...a pack of 5 little horse figurines...some of them look like horses she has ridden and one of them looks just like my horse.

Thomas also got some Star Wars and Pokemon trading cards. He was thrilled!!!

Shelby also received a Strawberry Lip Smacker!!! YUM!!!!

And lastly, here they both are with their Christmas lolli-pops and chocolate Santas.

Christmas Eve Fun...

Here's some shots of the kids enjoying some outdoor play time with Daddy and Paw Paw while me and Gramms were inside most of the day cooking for Christmas dinner.

Here's Shelby on the Green Machine. Her feet reach the pedals so well now. In a clip below you can see just how well she rides it now.


Thomas is playing some football with Paw Paw...


Thomas taking a spin on the Green Machine!


Tuffy enjoyed sunning himself while watching the kids...

Watch Shelby's awesome manuevering on the Green Machine as she squeals with delight...

Playing some football...my little south paw making a good throw!

Christmas Lights!

Gramms and PawPaw's place looked great for Christmas! Here's a sneak peek:

Front view of house... with nativity on the right


Side view...the Peace on Earth with doves looked great!

Closer view of the nativity...

Christmas tree...

Kudos to PawPaw for his awesome Christmas decorating skills!!!!! :-)

Last of the Gifts from Us...

Here's the last post of the Christmas gifts the kids received from us this year!

Shelby got some Washable Fingerpaints! She's been quite the little artist lately and she had specifically asked for these. I got her 4 main colors to start with.

Thomas received a new cap gun...his little one from the dollar store broke and he had put this on his wish list. :-)

This was our big FAMILY gift this year: It's for our Wii gaming system and it's called Outdoor Challenge...it has about 10 or 12 different games on it (rowing, mine cart, wack-a-mole, waterfall climb, rollerblading, and more!!)

They of course wanted to play this immediately...so James hooked it up. It uses a mat on the floor that can have two people on it at once. The kids loved it and just like the Wii Fit, it's great exercise for them!!!

We gave them a new board game called, "You gotta be kidding!" It's supposed to be really funny and for kids ages 7 and up. I'll let ya know what we think about it after we play.

Shelby received a gift set of Love's Baby Soft! Anyone remember this?? My sweet grandma used to give this to me all the time when I was growing up and now I've given it to Shelby. It brings back such memories for me and it smells sooooooooooo good!!!!!!

Last but not least and as you can see from the shocked expression...they received one of the things they wanted most this Christmas....the Star Wars Lego Wii game.

And that folks....wraps up everything!! Next up, I will be posting about our trip home to Longview/Shreveport.