Happy Birthday, Ben!

Our friend, Ben, turned the big 3-0 this December and his sweet wife wanted to give him a surprise party. Tiffany got all the people there and we hosted the event. We had a great time and a LOT of people in the house. It's so nice to have a place that can hold everyone and be "somewhat" comfortable. The guys watched some Aggie basketball, the ladies visited and all 12 kiddos played! Oh, and yes...Ben was surprised!

Yay for a camera with a timer & a tripod!!

Happy Birthday, Jesus! Party

Our playgroup had a Happy Birthday, Jesus party in December. The kids had coloring sheets, cookies, made ornaments (okay, I did that) and did the usual...play. Thanks to Amanda B. for hosting us this year and for the idea of doing the ornaments!! So glad she wanted to do that!

Belated Christmas Decor

Now that it's all taken down, I figured I'd show what some of the Christmas decor looked like all of December. This is mainly for my mom since she wanted to see and never got to come up during the month - and I never emailed her pictures.

The mantle already had 5 hooks for our stockings (how perfect!). Last year I had these monogrammed with our names on them. The only drawback...they aren't very big - so Santa can't fit a lot into them!

Christmas tree was in our front study this year and visible from the street. I always love that...

From the street... I used our tree from last year mounted in an urn on the front porch. Next year we hope to have lights on our roofline... we'll see how that goes. :)

She smiles!!!

I just had to post this adorable picture of sweet Hallie. She stayed home from school today after having a couple of days of bad diapers (moms, you know what I mean!). She's in a great mood, no fever - but our school has a #3 policy... haha! We ran some errands - took my camera to see what was wrong with the lenses - both would cost at least $120 to repair and to HEB. After I came home I had the light bulb to see if my lens from the old film SLR would work... and sure enough it does. It actually zooms farther than the digital lens. So, I was testing it out and this is the picture I came up with. If you know Hallie, you know she NEVER smiles for cameras - but has plenty of smiles. I finally caught a great one on film. Nevermind that she was carrying a laundry basket in the garage. This one is a framer! So, turns out I saved Christmas too -- now we have a working lens & all our activities will be documented... I was getting a little concerned. Especially since I can't find our other "back-up" camera. I blame the children....

Brooke's First Wedding Shower

Last weekend Brooke & I drove in to The Woodlands for my longest known friend's wedding shower. Ginger and I have known each other since birth, literally! I am 7 days older than her and her mom was the first "non-family" member to hold me. It's been so fun growing up with her and going through everything with her! She's getting married in January and I'm so excited about that! Funny thing is - George met her fiance before I did! They were in Greek together in seminary (and didn't know it until randomly Gin and I got to talking about their schedules). Anyway, once we put it together I put George on the misson to scope out Lance and report back as to what he thought! We met a few months later for my birthday and I knew then that this had to be the guy for her!! I just think they are so cute together. So, her bridal shower is Brooke's first bridal shower to attend. She was so well behaved and loved the idea of all the snacks and appetizers! It was also a fun day with Mommy while George kept Hudson & Hallie back in College Station.

Brooke & Colin (Ginger's nephew)

Three Generations

Ginger & Lindsay 28 years and counting......

Brooke's Thanksgiving Feast

Brooke had her Preschool thanksgiving feast at school a couple weeks ago. She practiced singing her indian song all the weeks leading up to it. She kept telling me she was going to be singing on the stage! I was so afraid she'd freak out and cry, that I kept saying how excited I was to see her up there and how I was going to video her performance so she could see it. Well, she didn't cry - but she didn't sing either! It was still pretty cute to see her up there. Hopefully next time she'll sing with the group. I think she may have a solo career in her future though. After the program was over and we were walking out the door, she climbed back up on the risers and stood in front of the microphone and said - "wait!, wait!, I want to sing!" Hopefully she'll be able to one day perform the solo that I was too scared as a kid to do!

She's on the 2nd row, on the far right in the orange shirt.

Football Watching Party

A few weeks ago we went to our friends, Ben & Tiffany, house to watch the A&M/OU game. We had so much fun with our 8 kiddos in tow! Even though the game was horrible (for the room full of Aggies!) we enjoyed hanging out. Thanks for hosting us!! And for those of you who wondered... I did wear my maroon & white necklace!

Tiffany (2 kids), Amanda (1 and one on way), Me (3 kiddos), Amber (2 and one on the way)

Ben (goes w/ Tiffany), Ryan (goes w/ Amanda), Will (goes w/ Amber) & George (he's mine!)

The dads & all 8 kids! This was fun. Notice Hudson posing with his football. He has the picture taking thing down!!

George getting his 'baby fix' with Sydney (Ben & Tiffany's little girl)

Sports Fever

We have had a busy few weekends going to sporting events. Two weeks ago we went to the A&M vs. Iowa State game. We had a great time hanging out together and letting my brother, Ryan babysit our kids! Thanks to Ben for letting us use his tickets after he was "bumped" up to the Zone Club! HAHA! We really appreciate it.

Last weekend we went to the Rockets game with my entire family...mom, dad & brother. We had fun with the fam and the kids seemed to do well too. I loved this picture of Hallie w/ the life size image of Yao. It's CRAZY to think he's human!

Hudson LOVED the ice cream!

Brooke enjoyed watching the crowd looking for Clutch.

The Saturday after the Rockets game, George & I got up EARLY to drive to Austin from The Woodlands to catch the UT vs. UCF game at 11am. We made great time and enjoyed the game from the alumni armchairs! What a way to watch the game. The only thing that would have made it better was if TV scheduling hadn't rearranged the UT schedule and left the Tech game alone since that was supposed to be this game instead of UCF. But, oh well... we enjoyed going anyway no matter who they played.

Dallas Visit & State Fair

We took the kids to the State Fair in October and spent the weekend with George's family. We had a great time. Hudson was on SportsCenter... because College Game Day was there and Kirk Herbstreit was giving and update - so George held him up over his shoulder and there he was! It was great. We are hoping that isn't Hudson's last time on SportsCenter (at least for doing something good!).

I tried the fried Oreos (because I'm a sucker for anything involving an Oreo!). They basically tasted like a funnel cake with a hint of chocolate in the aftertaste. Not probably going to try that again.

Hudson is OBSESSED with driving lately, so he had a blast in the auto show. George liked it too... getting to sit in trucks that he probably dreams of having...but that his family of three little ones has kept him from getting yet.

Saturday we hung out at his parents house and watched the TX/OU game. We really enjoyed out time with his family... it had been too long.

Unfortunately I didn't use my nice camera because the battery was dead... so a lot of these are blurry... sorry!

Me & Hudson at w/ the UT equipment trailer

Kids at the farm

Brooke at the farm

Brooke feeding the goat

Hallie feeding the goat

Brooke was telling the longhorn... "hook 'em"

This is hilarious! Look at Brooke's pose while working on the computer (which by the way she can totally do by herself -even the getting on the internet & to her website to play games)

Sweet Longhorn girls!

Hallie - I hate that this is blurry... stupid camera!! :)

Hudson over Kirk's shoulder (in the white on the fountain)

Barn Dance 2009

A few weeks ago the college ministry had a barn dance with a square dance caller. It was so much fun! I took the kids up there for a little bit since all my sitters were dancing! :) They had a blast and Brooke & Hudson got out in the middle of the circle and tried to do the dances like all the 'big kids'. So cute! Hallie sat back and watched but got out there at some point and ran around dancing too. I was pretty much in charge of the kids, so George did all the dancing for our family for the most part. He did let me have a dance or two though. The students who came really enjoyed it and have asked to do another one in the spring. If so, I'm there (and begging for it to be planned on a Friday Night Out so that our kids will be at the church for babysitting!).

There was a photo-op area. It looks like Hudson is riding a bull or saying "yee-haw"...actually he's asking where his hat is since the girls both have one!

The Jacobus Family!

George & our friend Todd doing some "warm-up" dance.

Hudson (and Brooke's arm) dancing

His face says it all... He was loving it!!

Sweet Hallie and her rare caught-on-camera smiles

I know it's blurry...but I loved how excited Brooke looks in this picture!

Fall Festival

Sunday afternoon was the Fall Festival at church. We took the kids in their costumes: Brooke the cheerleader, Hallie the Bee and Hudson as Buzz Lightyear.
It was VERY crowded so we didn't do a lot of the activities. The kids enjoyed the petting zoo and playing a few games to earn some candy (mom & dad's favorite part!). We saw some of our friends up there and a ton of college students who were volunteering (YAY for you!). The weather was awesome for the outdoor event so we were really glad about that!

Our family

Hallie REALLY enjoyed the cotton candy.

Brooke did too...this was their first time having it.

Sweet Hallie checking out the pig

Hudson was amused by the goats

Brooke, Hallie, Cayle & Kylan

This cracked me up... Hudson wanted candy SOOO bad so I told him he had to wait his turn. Look at his cute little hands behind his back... patiently waiting!! :)

Hallie at her finest!