An Awesome Ending to a Monday

Saturday I was all excited about getting out the decorations for Halloween. At first I was doing great, then I took a little break, fixed some dinner, and the next thing I knew I had a horrible sinus headache. So I went to bed. Then on Sunday, I chose to take the kids to the state fair instead of finishing and cleaning up. As a result, I left the house this morning for work with decorations all over the floor. It was probably the worst my house has ever looked. Dishes in the sink, toys all over the floor, and decorations covering my coffee table and bathroom. Then in swooped my house cleaning angel. Yesterday at the fair, I was discussing my dilemma with Nemo, my grandmother. She suggested that she could help me out. I took her up on the offer. So today while I worked, Papaw & Nemo came over to help. They finished decorating my house, vacuumed my floors, did the dishes, and did a couple loads of laundry. It was awesome.

To make it all better, as I walked in the door this afternoon, and Randy was cooking dinner. What an awesome evening. If only my house would stay this clean!

My Little Soccer Stud!

Saturday was Riley's first soccer game of the Fall season. This season's team is quite different from last season. Riley is the oldest, tallest, and only one with experience. Practice has been quite comical, so I wasn't sure how the game would go. For Riley, it was picture perfect. For the coach, it was a nightmare. Riley was the only one ready and willing to be on the field. Consequently he played the ENTIRE game. That is pretty unheard of, with 9 players on the team and only 4 on the field at once. Believe it or not, at one point there was only 2 players on the field from our team. Our poor coach was begging the players to play, but most just wanted to sit on the sidelines. We decided that Riley would have to do some serious conditioning exercises to get in shape. Maybe his mommy should do some conditioning with him.Anyway, the first quarter was all their team. They just kept scoring goals. Finally Riley got a breakaway to the goal. GOOOOAAAALLLLLL!!!!! He scored his first goal! Once he scored, there was no stopping him. Riley scored 6 of the team's 8 goals. Did you get that, 6 goals???? I was so proud of him. Too bad Daddy was at the deer lease and didn't see any of it. Never fear he still had quite a cheering section, made up of Mommy, Alex, Nana, Gampa, Nemo, & Papaw.

Here was his coach instructing him on keeping his hands to himself and not pushing the other players. I say he was just being aggressive! OK maybe he was grabbing a little but not anymore than the other team.

Another goal!

Riley & Alex- I was pretty excited about the pretty navy blue of his uniform until I saw the awesome maroon of the other team. I'm a little jealous. It would have been nice to wear my Aggie game day shirt and match his team colors.

Maybe our coach should just put Alex in. She would have gladly taken to the field. Unfortunately for the team/ fortunately for me she doesn't run yet.

A Great Saturday!

My parents FINALLY returned from their 2 week trip to Alaska. They had an absolutely wonderful time with many of their friends from their Sunday School class. As most grandparents do, they brought home gifts for all of us. One of Riley's favorites was "wolfie". They brought him an extra soft Alaskan wolf stuffed animal. This stuffed animal goes everywhere with him. It is "almost" as important as blankie! For the first Aggie game, I dressed the kids appropriately. Unfortunately they were not in the mood for posing for pictures. But they sure looked cute!

Finally I want to tell all about my great day on Saturday. For starters, I went to a baby shower for a friend of mine from Sunday School, who unfortunately has been put on bed rest. So the shower was moved to her house and we all had a great and relaxing time. I even won the game for guessing all the brand names of different baby items. Actually Barbara & I tied. We decided that means we shop too much. Maybe that is why we are both taking the Dave Ramsey class. After the shower I picked up the kids from my parents and headed shopping. Alex got a gift card from her Uncle Travis and Aunt Jamie for her birthday. This was the present that I wanted to buy her for her birthday, but her daddy decided that I was not allowed to spend the extra money, because we are on a tight budget (Dave Ramsey!) So I took the gift card along with my $5 in Rewards money to Babies R Us. After we picked up the baby stroller, I strolled through the baby clothing. While there, I came across an adorable pink skull & crossbones pajamas. Here was the best part, the total came up to $24. Climbing into the car, I pulled out the receipt in disbelief because I knew the stroller was $29.99! Apparantly she took the $5 off, the 15%off from my coupon plus an additional 30% off on the stroller. SCORE!
While things were going so well, the kids and I headed to JC Penney's with my $10 off a $50 purchase coupon. I needed some new black boots for fall. I actually found two pair. Since I had on capri pants, I wasn't sure which one would look better with my dress pants. So I bought both and figured I would go home and try them on with my dress pants. Later I found out, that the cheaper pair (that I really even liked better) looked fine with my dress pants. Another good shopping trip. After this we headed over to a burger place in Southlake, Johnny B's, to meet up with my parents and some of their Sunday School friends. They had all been on a scavenger hunt through Southlake. But somehow I had gotten involved because I have an iphone. Have I told you how much I love my PHONE! Anyway, after a really great Saturday, I took two very tired, but well behaved kids home. On the way home, I listened to the Aggie game. We won, barely, but we won! Overall it was a great Saturday!

Hanging with the Hulls

Two weekends ago, we spent Sunday afternoon hanging with our friends, The Hulls and the Bruggers. Phillip & Dion were both buddies in the Corps with Randy. I absolutely love hanging out with them. Part of it, I secretely have to admit is because I think Tiffany is one of the most amazing mothers I know. Her children are so smart and well behaved! Austin is 5, so a year older than Riley and Hailey is 2.5, so just a little older than Alex. We always have so much hanging out with them, and somehow all the big kids disappear upstairs and we don't don't hear from them except when they are hungry. That adds to our fun! I was amazed at how much Alex instantly took to Hailey. I guess a girl knows another girl versus the rotten boys!

Daddy got jealous and had to play Wii with the boys!

Alex's 1 year pics

I finally picked up Alex's 1 year pictures today. They were wonderful. Sheri Nagle was our photographer in Keller. She is so patient with the kids. Especially since this photo shoot turned into a 2 day event. Apparantly, I made the mistake of scheduling the first session during her morning nap time. She took the pictures with brother and then was DONE! Literally she laid down in the middle of the backdrop and put her head down. Thank goodness, Sheri had an opening for the following afternoon. We were able to finish up her 1 year pictures. The first time I dressed Alex in this dress for church, Riley out of the blue, looks at me, and says, "Mommy, she is a pretty princess!" I know baby she IS a pretty princess!

Don't these blue eyes just melt your heart. I LOVE that she got her Daddy's baby blues!

As you can tell she had lots of fun posing in her tutu!

After a while, she just decided to sit down and play coy. I was trying so hard to get a picture of her showing off that the shirt said, "I'm one!" But all Alex wanted to do was clasp her hands together and twist around. :)

On a side note, Alex came home from the babysitter's today running a 101 degree fever. I sure hope she is not getting really sick. At least it is a weekend, and I won't have to miss work!

Lazy Labor Day

As I sit down to finally make my post from last weekend, it seems like an eternity since these events happened. Maybe because today it is 73 degrees and rainy. I can't believe less than a week ago we were swimming in the pool. Anyway, Labor Day in the Farris household was one more extra day to play catch up. We slept in (sorta- 7:30am), I cooked a big breakfast, and then we proceeded to play catch up on our chores. I recleaned the house, Randy mowed the yard, and met with our great friend/insurance agent to get Alex life insurance. After all the hard stuff it was time to cool off in the water. So we FINALLY got our Riley's pool that he got for his birthday (in June!) and set it up. The mistake we made was we should have set it up in the morning and let the sun warm the water. The water was FREEZING! Needless to say Alex's face in this picture tells you what she thought of the water! Riley, of course, had lots of fun. But then again he can have fun anywhere! While the three of us froze in the water, Daddy bathed the dogs. After their baths, they just wanted a nap!

As the afternoon wore off, it was time to put up the pool and fire up the grill. Sadly, we packed away the pool, until "next weekend." Little did I know it would rain and be chilly. Then Daddy started cooking the steaks he had marinated over night. YUM!

As Riley dried off, he decided to go for a little spin around the house. He loves driving his truck. I dread the day, we have to buy him a real car!

After dinner, I discovered that I have a dumpster diver living under my roof. Alex wants to eat everything that we eat these days, unfortunately with only 1 tooth that is a little hard to do. But I do still feed her, I promise! Anyway, I was doing the dishes, I turned around to find this! Good news is that the corn was on the very top of the trash and not too dirty!

Overall it was a great Lazy Labor Day, where we got caught up on a lot!

Alexandra turns one!

Last week I posted the pictures from Alex's 1 year party, but I never got around to posting her one year progress update. For starters, here are a couple of the pictures that we had taken for her birthday. Our photographer is Sheri Nagle and I just love these. Since I just posted party pics, I thought I would post pics from some of my favorite Alex's poses or times. Every night right before I crawl in bed, I go take one last peek at my babies. I have to admit that it is one of the sweetest moments in my day. Just looking at those precious angels sound asleep warms my heart like nothing else. This is my FAVORITE baby pose. Maybe we should sleep like this as adults.

I took this picture at 6:02pm, exactly one year after her birth. Alex now weighs 17lbs 13 oz (5-10%)and is 30 1/8 inches tall (90%). Dr. Leffel did mention that she was a little concerned at her low weight, but I assured her that Alex is just built like her mommy was. She said as long as she is drinking at least one cup of milk a day, one cup???? Try more like 4-5 cups! She also got 4 shots at her check-up, yuck!

Alex is walking most of the time now. She has 1 1/2 teeth and only wants real food, no more baby food. The trick is now coming up with ideas to feed her that she can eat herself and numb with no teeth.

She is really babbling. She says Momma and Daddy quite often, but not many other words. But don't worry, she has no trouble expressing when she does not want or like something!

She still has her beautiful blue eyes! They already melt daddy's heart!

Big girl enjoying her favorite food, Gerber ravioli!

Riley's 1st Day of School

My big boy started preschool on Tuesday! This year he will be attending Messiah Lutheran Preschool. We got everything packed up and ready for him on Monday night with his new "Cars" backpack and Mickey Mouse lunchbox. He looked like such a big boy! The hard part for me was that I could not take him. His class does not start until 9:00 and I obviously have to be at work/school at 7:30, so Mrs. Tracey took him. I think she was having as hard of time as I was dropping him off for his first day. I cried when I got to school. It was so hard not meeting his teacher or being there to calm his fears. Riley was nervous. He told me the night before that he did not want to go because he did not know how to spell his words. I tried to explain to him that no one else did either, but he was still pretty worried.

Riley and his teachers

Looking for his cubby!

Hard at work!

The good news was that he did have fun, although he said the girls were mean! Ahh, my baby!

As a side note, Riley was supposed to stay at the after hours care until I could pick him up. Well whether it was saving the $6 an hour (Thanks Dave Ramsey!) or just dying to hear about his day, Daddy picked him up at 2:00. I was proud of both of my boys!

Alex's 1st Birthday Party

On Saturday, we had Alex's 1st birthday party at the house. It turned out even better than I expected, although I will admit that I hated having a birthday party after my first week of school. I swear I was up late every night, working on her video, cleaning house, and buying things for the party. I was exhausted by Saturday night. Luckily my inlaws took the kids on Thursday night, all day Friday and Friday night. I never would have gotten it done if the kids had been at home. Here was Alex's smash cake. We had done her pictures the weekend before, so I knew she would not have an allergic reaction. I also knew she was going to be a little timid around the cake.

The cake I found at Albertson's. I think they are my favorite new grocery store. I got this cake for only $19 and her smash cake was free!

Digging in! Alex got so many presents, most of them CLOTHES! I was very excited. Alex only had 2 outfits in her next size. So she desperately needed clothes. Luckily she got a TON! She is going to be so styling!
Alex did get a few toys. Her was her new ride on pink truck. Now she doesn't have to use bubba's anymore!

Her pretty princess chair that my parent's found at Canton. It matches perfectly with her room!

Every little girl needs her own purse!

Riley had a ton of fun too! This is him and Jacob on the swing. I think Riley had more friends at this party than at his own.

Look out world, I'm one!

Another cake face!