The MONSTER Update - Fall Winter 2008

Well my OCD won't let me move on without doing a catch-up/recap of the Fall and Winter....so here goes.

Much of the Fall was spent traveling to Haughton High Home games to watch the band and then on the road to band competitions. From Parkway's Marching Festival and District Competition to Showcase in Lafayette.....and ending out at NSU's annual competition. Greg had to do alot of back and forth to Minot, ND these last few months, so he only made the Showcase in Lafayette. The rest of the time the girls were my constant companions. The band had a great season overall...here are a few images:

We even got to see Luke perform with the Demon band at NSU. Hard to believe Stefan may be there in another year.

The girls with their faces painted at NSU...long day for all of us:

We did Halloween and Fall Festival without Greg also. Once again, he was in Minot. I took the girls to a Festival at the east 80 library and the Pumpkin Shine at T.L. Rodes the day before Halloween. Little did I know how much it would be to pay for the girls to ride the slides. Thankfully someone gave us a ride armband as we were walking in. I sure hope that Rodes raised ALOT of money.

Despite the fact that I wouldn't feed the girls at the "carnival"...remember...No money thanks to the ride armband!....they did have a good time.

For our annual Fall Fest at church, we provided the trailer for the hayride. Stefan got a kick out of it because he got to drive. Jennifer Francis gave Emma a ballerina costume where, which Emma loved and Sarah was batgirl. Check out the makeup on her face. Yep...had to do that twice because she smeared it the first time. Big surprise.

See...doesn't Stefan look excited?! My second son, Brent, was a geek. I think he pulled that one off pretty well. Don't you?

All in all, we survived Halloween and thankfully the girls were worn out by the time we got home. Thanks to Mom for helping so much. (Really didn't like the single parent thing)

Our cousin, Stacy, came into town for a visit from Hawaii at the beginning of November. We were able to squeeze in a few hours of playtime at the Duck Pond with Stacy and Sydney. They only get to see each other about once every year and a half. By the time we left, all three girls were pink cheeked and tired.

Unfortunately, Greg didn't make it back from Minot in time for the girls' birthdays. On November 8th, my sweet Emma turned 6 and little Sarah turned 5. I can't believe they are getting so old. Since Daddy was out of town, we decided to do the family party when he got back. The girls had a "friend" birthday at Party Central on their actual birthday. It was fun, but chaotic. Stefan manned the camera and Mom helped with the treat bags and cupcakes etc. They freed me up to just be Mom. The girls had a blast and were worthless the rest of the day because they were so worn out. Good because I had to dump them on Mom while Stefan and I went on a shoot. I didn't post any party pics, but the one below was taken on their birthday.

(Doesn't Sarah look excited?)

Yay..Greg got home the week after the girls birthday. So, of course, we went to the camp that first weekend. Can't you tell that Dawsy is loving the country? LOL. She is a city dog all the way.

Anyway, like I said, we went to the camp. Well....there is an old well there that was filled up by Greg's dad a long time ago. Greg decided that he was going to clear it out and sink a pump into it so we can have fresh well water down there. (Castor water is nasty). This is a shot of him in the well. Unfortunately, a few weeks later there was a lot of rain and part of the cement walls collapsed and caved in part of the well. Uh..you could say Greg wasn't thrilled.

Just a couple of random shots of the girls outside while we were putting out Christmas decorations. I actually got everything put up 2 weeks after Halloween.

Greg ended up changing the brakes on both of cars within a two week period. Isn't he handy?

It was just Mom and us for Thanksgiving. Greg's mom and sister didn't come over. For once, I decided to try and just enjoy the day without spending all my time behind the camera. I did get this really attractive picture of Greg and the girls though. Don't they look like daddy? (LOL)

For the first time in many years, I didn't do the Black Friday shopping. It was raining and I was feeling a little run down. We did manage to get out as a family and hit the boardwalk that weekend though.

December marked Mom's acting debut. She played the grandmother in our church's dinner theater production...The Christmas Shoes. They did a great job. Stefan helped in the soundbooth too. I was actually nervous for Mom, but she did great. Not her usual thing to do.

Stefan and Mom side by side......she is awful short isn't she?

I thought I would include a pic of Stef and his other Mom. Yep he is taller than Cindy too.

The day before the choir performance, Sarah lost her first tooth. Don't you like her menacing smile as she shows off her missing tooth?

The following pics are a couple of the girls at the camp. They love "the country".

Greg and I attempted to take a picture of ourselves with the small camera. Yeah....we probably shouldn't do that anymore.

We managed to make it to Natchitoches before Christmas. The fireworks were going off just as we got there. We didn't know that they did that at any time other than the opening weekend. S needless to say, we weren't expecting the huge crowd. It turned out to be a good thing though because there was a trampoline bungee set up that the girls both did. We were broke and full of too many corn dogs at the end of the evening, but we had fun.

Stefan and I both like the glow of the motorcycle sitting on the side of the road.

We attempted to do Christmas pictures in front of the tree. The girls always make me want to pull my hair out when I take their pictures.. They either won't sit still or I get fake smiles. Does anyone else deal with this?

Stefan can always be counted on for a humorous pic.

I did get a good one of Mom and the kids. Since Dad passed away, Mom pretty much spends all of her holidays with us. Of course, she does live just down the road.

I wouldn't want her to spend the holidays anywhere else (well except my brother's house). Afterall, she is the only parent that I have left. Love her.

I love this pic of Stefan and Emma...so sweet. And then there is Sarah's "innocent" look.

And here is the token picture of Stefan and Greg.......yeah...I know.

We made it out to the Rose Center a couple of days before Christmas. Greg, Stefan and the girls had never been there. Mom hadn't been there since I was in high school and played with the band in a Christmas concert out there. It wasn't too cold so we had a great time looking at all the lights.

Christmas morning went as it always does. We got up and let the kids open their "Santa" gifts.

Stefan got the acoustic electric guitar that he wanted....totally surprised him. And the girls got the main things they wanted. Then we read the Christmas story and prayed...we always do that. THEN THE STOCKINGS. As you can see, Greg is the video guy at the house.

After stockings, we all got dressed and waited for Mom, Carolyn and Donna to come over. Once everyone arrived....chaos hit the front room. Wrapping paper, boxes, clothes, toys as far as the eye could see. Once the debris field was cleared, Greg's mom and sister left. The we had a nice Christmas dinner and relaxed in the living room watching the movies that the girls got.

By the way, did I mention that the girls got make-up as one of their gifts. Don't hate the because they know not how to put their make-up on. LOL.

And that is the recap up to Christmas. Whew...I'm winded!