HO HO HO...AND JUST LIKE THAT THE FUN WAS OVER

Lots of festivities crammed into 24 hours went into this Christmas. Including Christmas at Grammies where Colson was super duper excited for his ping pong table and bike that Grammie and Grandpa gave him. We finally got the ping pong table up yesterday and him and Calli both are a lot better than I thought they would be. Colson is waiting on his Grammie to come over though...she talks a big game about how good she is at ping pong. I think Colson thinks he can beat her but I'm pretty sure he'll walk away pouting. It's times like that that are a good lesson in sportsmanship.

(I can't get these pictures to rotate...they are saved in the correct format on my computer but when they load onto here, they are sideways...ugh!)

Calli got a Woodlands Elite letter jacket that she squealed over. She had no idea she was getting it. When I gave my mom the idea she frowned "another jacket? really that's what she wants?" I laughed because I forgot that she has a coat rack FULL of jackets that she's won over the last two years. But this jacket is way better. It's just like a High School letter jacket. She loves it.

Christmas morning we opened up gifts at our house and the kids were so excited they could hardly stand waiting to go in the game room to see all the loot.

Colson got a basketball arcade type game and Calli got a stunt stepper that she can use to practice flying. She also got her Woodlands Elite boots she had been hoping for. She's a walking billboard for Woodlands Elite now. 

They also both got Kindle Fires which has been really fun for them. 

After opening gifts we headed off to church because that's the real reason we even celebrate the day at all. It was a great church service and then we enjoyed lunch at The Schubert's with more gifts to open...and more family to surround ourselves with. 

Calli got a sewing machine from her Grandma that she is so excited to use. We haven't pulled it out yet but she keeps asking. I think I'm going to get her a little lesson with Robyn,my sewing machine master friend. I have a feeling this sewing machine will gets lots of use once she learns to use it. She'll be creating all kinds of things.

I forgot to mention that a few days prior Wes' other sister from outside of Dallas, came to visit with her kids....2 adopted. We were entertained by Addie Jo (right) and Colson and Alex chased each other most of the night. 

So we wrapped up Christmas and after our last party at our house last night, I spent today putting it all back up in the attic until next year. It's funny how bare the house looks when you take down all the decorations yet it feels so nice to be back to normal. Every year as I lug 12 containers up the attic stairs I tell myself 2 things...
1. I'm not going to do as much next year
2. Maybe I should budget in someone to do it all for me

MAYBE HE IS MY KID

I found a trait of Colson's that could be linked to my genetics. You see when I was in the 6th grade, I liked to make up jokes. I even made a book, 101 Murdock Jokes, that I gave to my friend Kristen for her birthday. Several of the jokes had to do with our friends. I remember a couple of them. The most clever being
Q: What did Emily do walking through the pasture?
A: Met a calf.
Her name was Emily Metcalf...funny huh? No? Well as a 6th grader it was clever.

So Colson comes in yesterday and tells me "Mom, mom, I have a wife?" I reply startled "You have a wife? Really" And he says "Yes, meet my honey bun"

and points to his rear end. I asked him where he heard that and he said he made it up. His friend Karson was standing behind him chiming in "He really did!" With this look on his face like 'isn't that the greatest joke ever?"

PRE CHRISTMAS ACTIVITIES

Since I have given myself an "F" for posting abilities this month, I'm just going to play catch up. As of now it looks like we may have just sat at home and watched reruns of I Carly....Colson's favorite show that Wes LOVES to give him a hard time about. But in fact we were buy joining in the holiday festivities that surrounded us...and making our own.

First I should mention that Jack visited us again this year to keep tabs on Calli and Colson and report back to Santa of the daily occurences. Much like me, I don't Colson is really scared of Jack. There is no extra nice gestures he does for Jack to see...there is no loving hugs given to his sister....and when I point out that Jack is watching during one of his not so pleasant episodes, it doesn't seem to phase him. One morning Jack left this little note in the bathroom where he had landed for the day.

When Colson came in he came running in to tell me all about the PS part of the note. He had been asking Jack if he could touch him telling him so Jack was answering his inquiry. He spent 5 minutes analyzing if that meant he could touch the rest of him, just not the hat? When I went in later to read the note, I asked him if he had read the FIRST PART OF THE NOTE. Apparantly he had but just wasn't concerned with it. Jack left when Santa came Christmas morning.

We also had a little fun with Colson's class decorating Gingerbread Houses. I made 22 houses the night before out of graham crackers.

and then we spent a couple of hours decorating them with candy. The kids thought it was so fun! And I think Mrs. Martin had even more fun. She had never decorated a gingerbread house and was VERY excited.

Colson also had his school party. Calli was disappointed that they didn't get a party. I warned her last year as each holiday was celebrated with a party and fun activites...."you better enjoy this one, it will be your last". That's when you know you are growing up as a kid...when they don't have class parties and no recess.

2nd grade did a breakfast. How convenient since most parents take their kids home after the party, Mrs. Martin only had to deal with the kids for about 30 minutes before we all brought in breakfast and had a feast. And then left with our kids. I would think staying would be fun because there is usually only 4 or 5 that stay which means you doing something fun with the teacher. My sales pitch didn't work on Colson though. He went home with me and tried to bring 2 friends.

We also assisted Hudson in making a Christmas present for Scott. He wasn't really into the painting part. But he was into collecting and organizing the brushes. An important job. Calli painted a cookie plate for Santa which we didn't get to use because Christina picked everything up and I guess decided to use it for her Santa plate. Just kidding...it just hasn't reached our hands yet. Colson painted a dragon because everyone needs a dragon in their house right? Colson's probably glad we haven't gotten this one back yet, it might scare him.

And finally we did our annual celebration with all my cousins and Aunt and Uncle the weekend before Christmas. Georgia ran through the front doors and immediately went on her man hunt chasing down Colson. I guess she remembered the fun in it at Thanksgiving. She is boy crazy!!!

And here are all the cousins and believe it or not, there heads are all facing forward. YAY!

We had our usual white elephant exchange where the popular item was definately....

Hair pieces...wigs of all kinds. And somehow we ended up with 2 of them. Who knew they'd be a fun real gift for a kid.

Calli stayed the night with my aunt and Georgia spent the night with her. She ended up going to a cookie decorating party at Harris' the next day with Georgia and Bailey. Then she came back and worked for Aunt Carol packaging up Christmas picture packages. Calli couldn't believe how many she had to put together.

IN ACTION

This post is a whole lotta action and very little words. I've posted a few links to my kids showing off their mad talents.

So here is a little blurb of Calli singing. You can't see her but you can hear her. This was a last minute decision to video tape as you can see by my positioning. As I sat in my seat I thought 'Oh, I should have brought my video camera.' And then I remembered that't the beauty of having an IPhone. Our church did a Christmas play the weekend before Christmas. Calli had a speaking part and a solo. This is her solo that she also sang in church on Sunday after the play. As for the play, she was very excited when she found out she got one of the leads and then UTTERLY disappointed when it was taken away from her when I revealed her cheer schedule to the director. There were a couple of really important rehearsals that she had to miss and the director didn't want any of the main parts missing those. You would have thought her life was over when that incident came up but we suffered through it...with a lot of ignoring on my part. I know I'm mean but after I explained the situation and sulked with her for about 2 minutes I was over it. I just ignored her disappointment for the following week until soon she got over it too. So here is the solo.

And here is Calli's Sergeants routine this year. It just so happens that the mom who video taped this happens to have a daughter that is right next to Calli in the beginning so you see Calli quite well. I'll give you a little play by play. In the beginning she's in the very front, the farthest on the right. When she does her stunt, she's the front stunt on the right (not the one that falls)...and remember she's a flyer. In the tumbling pass she goes almost to the end and she starts from the back right corner and comes towards the camera. In the pyramid and dance she's the farthest on the left.

And here is Colson with a few of his "at bats" at the last tournament we played in. This first video I was trying to tape the whole time as he was on base but it gets kinda lengthy.

As I've mentioned before, Colson is a solid hitter. He's pretty consistent in hitting it to the outfield. Every once in a while he'll hit a pop fly to the outfield.

Colson's hardest part in the game of baseball is the mental aspect. He's hard on himself and when Wes is there he's REALLY hard on himself. He thinks Wes will get mad at him if he gets out or makes an error. Which he doesn't...he gets mad at him when he acts the way he does after getting out or making an error. And from there it just escalates. Here is one of Colson's "at bats" where you can see the drama that he brings. And this fit is soooo minor. As you'll see he makes a good solid hit, but the shortstop just makes a really good play and gets him out.

COLSON'S FIRST BUCK

The week before Christmas, Wes, Scott and Colson headed up to my cousin's ranch near Uvalde, Texas. This is actually his in-laws ranch and while I won't go into all the details, I'll just say it's really, really nice....although I've never been...I've just heard stories. This ranch is high fenced and they breed really great deer and other animals. They have visitors like Jack Nicholson, Lance Berkman and the like hunt because they know the family and are invited. So for the boys to be able to hunt on it, is a big deal and they totally understand that. They make sure to obey all the rules and in this particular hunt, Colson was the only one allowed to shoot a buck. Wes and Scott were only to shoot hogs and does. And they were asked to shoot alot of does. They needed to shoot like 200 more does by the end of the year and the ranch hands (about 20 employees) don't have time to do it because they are dealing with other stuff.

This ranch has MONSTER buck on it but it's not really right for an 8 year old to shoot a monster so Wes got him to shoot this older buck that really needed to be culled. And Colson was ELATED. He could not quit talking about it....or the trip in general. He told me all about all the deer he saw....hundreds. He told me about the place they stayed. He told me about how he shot the deer...the buck and the two does he shot. He told me about how far they ran once he shot them. He told me about how great his gun, Shirley (not sure why he named his gun Shirley), worked and how he had to tell Scott how to use it and Scott didn't listen to him and missed a deer.

Finally after a half day of telling me all about this glorious trip he says "Mama, do you see this grin on my face? This grin hasn't left my face since I shot my buck yesterday morning!"

 

I am so thankful that they were allowed to go and that memories were made!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

AND JUST LIKE THAT

I'm an artist!

I did this way to long ago but am randomly catching things up. I certainly want to document my masterpiece so people can know I do have a talent....this was not paint by number!

I JUST NEED A FEW DAYS TO PLAY CATCH UP

I prayed for time to stand still for a few days so I could get caught up in every area of my life (except shopping because if time stood still, noone else would be functioning to check me out) but since every day I wake up and things are goin' and blowin' as usual, I think God denied my request. This time of year can get crazy but I always enjoy it.

What I didn't enjoy was last Tuesday night at 6 PM getting a phone call from Wes telling me we were leaving for Vegas the next day. I was completely prepared and on track to be ready to leave on Thursday but a day early? I don't think so! Wes booked everything (yes, I'm pulling that from  his responsibilites) and all along we've been talking about a trip from Thursday through Sunday. Some friends called Wes Tuesday night to make driving arrangements to the airport and that one phone call put me over the edge. But thanks to our parents making the changed arrangements so easy, I was realed back in from over the cliff. I did have a work meeting scheduled that completely had me stressed out. My work is so flexible but I'm one of those people who everyone wants for an employee. I give 150%....I will bend over backwards to make things happen....I will meet every request I can humanly make so to have to back out on a meeting that was really important made me feel sooooo irresponsible. I knew my boss wouldn't mind because I can easily meet up with this person and go over the meeting information at a later date. But it was one of those timeline meetings where he was supposed to meet with 5 different people that day and so my absence not only screwed up his schedule but the 4 other people that met with him after me. I still have my job so I know I made it into a bigger deal than it was.

So I got 5 bags packed for my 2 kids because they would be at different places different days and I got my stuff packed and we boarded a plane on Wednesday without too many of my feathers ruffled. Once we got on the plane, I was ready! I love going places so once I get over the preparation stage, I usually get excited to go and do! We were headed back to Vegas for the NFR (National Finals Rodeo). Don't worry I won't bore you with a bunch of pictures because I only took 3 and one was not of us. This is our second year and we travel loosely with a big group of people that are one of Wes' biggest clients. And let me just say that this big group of cowboys have caused me to be immune to the fun of riding in a limo. They take limos everywhere. I totally get it...it's actually a cost advantage. The company pays for it and usually when we are headed places there is at least 7 or 8 of us....and sometimes more.  In Vegas only 5 people can ride in a cab. So we can take more than one cab and pay the multiple cab fees or we can all ride together and pay one limo fee that is usually smaller than the combined cab fees. So it's really an economic decision but I feel a bit pretentious.  

Our friends John and Brooke brought their 3 month old because she's a first time mom and that's what first time mom's do. The only time I got baby duty was when her and John had to go argue their bill. He was fussy. I'm not sure what the problem was because I got him to sleep within a few minutes....maybe even seconds. The first night we got there we headed to the rodeo and enjoyed some awesome seats up close and personal. It's also fun to travel with this group because they know many of the contestants. In fact one of the partners makes the finals every year as a team roper. So these guys are the rock stars of the rodeo world and we're eating dinner and rubbing shoulders with. We spent a little time in the casinos....I doubled my money...do you really have to know that I only put in $5? Saying I doubled my money sounds really good until I tell you I only walked out with $12.75 huh? We also went to the Michael Jackson Cirque du Soleil which was pretty good. Wes liked it more than me I think...and I like Michael Jackson. I grew up loving his music, traveling to see his concert, sporting my parachute pants with white glove...the whole gig! The first half of the show was a little slow in my opinion and it was a lot more dancing then the traditional acrobats that usually is associated with Cirque shows. But considering Michael was known for his dance moves, I should have expected that. There were parts of the show that were mind blowing though which made us come away saying "wow!" 

It was a great trip and our day early departure meant a day early arrival home which was good. Calli had two cheer competitions so instead of missing both, I only missed the one on Saturday. But the one I missed happened to be the "0 deduction" routine" that's a perfect routine and earned them high point for their level. They placed 1st both days despite a fall on Sunday.

School will be out this week and I have a lot to catch you up on between now and then....hopefully I'll get to it all.

IT'S ALL ABOUT FAMILY

Of course what is a day of thanks without spending it with two of the cutest things we give thanks for. Calli and Colson asked all day long when it was time to go to Christina's so they could see these two rugrats. Calli likes to get there before Grammie so that she can hog Camden before Grammie takes him away.

And Colson likes to teach Hudson everything he knows! We are working on only teaching him the good things. But sorry Christina, there is no way around Colson teaching Hudson to be destructive. That's just who Colson is.

So this year my sister recently moved into her new house which made her the slave for the day hostess with the mostest! It's alot of work to host a meal for 16 plus kids. It was delightful! I wouldn't say she lives in the middle of town so the navigation for some was a bit challenging. But they were T-Sippers...we knew they'd have trouble finding it. And speaking of T-Sippers....how about that game? I was trying so hard to be a 2%er and go to bed so that I could get up at the crack of dawn to shop but my fingers would not turn the game off. And Colson, our in house T-Sipper, was laying in bed with me so we had our own little rivalry going that we wanted to settle. And he won. But man what a good game!

Most Thanksgivings we celebrate with my mom's side of the family....my aunt Carol and my cousins. My cousin Harris and his family are usually with Jenna's family at Thanksgiving but this year they joined us. We were missing Mark and his family though so it wasn't a complete family gathering, but we'll take what we can get. I didn't capture a single picture of the adults because I'm a horrible memory documenter in that sense but I did capture the kids, who got along beautifully, decorating their turkey cookies.

And I happened to snap this picture of Camden and Harris' new boy Austin having a stare off. But I think Cam got his feelings hurt....either that or his neck got tired holding his head up.

And the Schubert's were supposed to join us at Christina's but they both had colds and didn't want to get the babies sick. But of course we had to stop by and get their dessert because Calli can't live without her Grandma's mini cheesecakes.

One more holiday to go!

ANOTHER GREAT IDEA

Guess who had another great idea? Surely it only took you one guess....Colson! I've mentioned before that Colson often comes up with things that I often say "what made you think that was a good idea?" It's my go to line because most of the times I'm speechless and have a hard time coming up with words to express my feellings. And sometimes I don't know whether I should laugh or cry. This great idea made me want to cry!!

A couple of months ago Colson emptied all the cards out of a kids game that we had so that he could obtain the metal tin that he wanted for a secret box. He took the box and filled it with things. I didn't have any idea what kinds of things were in it and he told me it was private. I didn't really pry because it was keeping him occupied and seemingly very happy. Given his track record...I should have pried.

He buried the tin container in the middle of the yard. Then a few days later he dug it up and hid it somewhere else and then a few days later.....it went on and on. Every few days he would fetch the tin and "hide" it somewhere else. And I think he even switched it out with different belongings every once in a while. The last place it ended up was no hiding place but instead on the bricks surrounding our front flower bed with the lid off. And then it rained. A few days after it rained and the 50th time that I had passed the tin box but not picked it up I decided to remove it from its spot. My heart skipped a beat when I noticed one of the video camera tapes inside the box. UGH!!! He had somehow gotten his hands on the video tape of him when he was 12 to 18 months and placed it in his time capsule.

I stormed inside asking "what made you think this was a good idea?" And he had no answer...as usual. I told him we would never get to see him take his first steps. He replied, "why would we want to do that?" I quickly left the room so that I wasn't taken into police custody.

On the good side, it has prompted me to convert all the tapes into DVD's to which I'll make a copy of each. This will never happen again! Or at least it won't be an original he gets his hands on.

GOBBLE GOBBLE!

It's definately a day we can look back on what has happened this year and be thankful! Wes just had his 11 year CANCER FREE check up. The rest of us are in good health. Work is good. The kids are doing great in school. And there is LOVE in this home. I'm so thankful for all that God has provided for us.

Here are my kids top 10 list of things they are thankful for.
They are in the order that they came to their mind...

CALLI
1. My family and friends
2. My cheer team
3. My school and great grades (I'm thankful for that one too)
4. My protection
5. Jesus dying for me
6. Food, water and shelter
7. Church and the ability to learn about Jesus
8. My teachers
9. Electronics
10. ME!!!
I like the last one....do you think she lacks in confidence?

COLSON
1. Mom-because she is sweet
2. Hudson-becuase he's fun to play with
3. Daddy-because he gives me Dr. Pepper
4. Camden-because he spits up on Calli
5. Mrs. Martin-because she is nice
6. Hunting-because I like to kill deer
7. Our house-because I'm not homeless
8. Christmas-because it's Jesus' birthday
9. I have friends
10. I can play baseball-and I'm good

So I hope you have (or had) a wonderful day enjoying lots of food, family and fellowship!