Whoooaaaaa!  I haven't blogged in a looong time!  Blame other social media sites for that . . . no, blame me for "subscribing" to such sites and their not-so-infinite appeal.  They were fun for a while and still provide entertainment periodically when I have nothing else to do -- rather, when I'm procrastinating (there are always tons of things to do) -- but I have to give Kamyn a big SHOUT OUT for reminding me about blogging!  Hip hip hooray!!  (which makes me wonder how many times anyone ever really actually hollers "hip hip hooray" at any sporting event or elsewhere for that matter) . ... (which makes me kinda want to do it someday -- really loud).   Watch out -- I'm back and I will no doubt be a bloggin' fool!!!

Thanksgiving

The kids and I went to my sister's house for Thanksgiving this year! It was a very enjoyable time! I love my sister and her family, and I'm not good enough at making sure that our kids spend enough time together! I remember how fun it was to spend so much time with our cousins as we were growing up . . . and I need to get better at making that happen for my kids and Kailey! We missed Rusty, though: he had to stay home because of work! But I cooked a simple Thanksgiving dinner for him Sunday night . . . never tire of turkey and all the fixin's!

Theresa and Kamyn checking the turkey

Theresa -- such the good cook and hostess! Really!

Robert carving the turkey

Everyone before dinner

Kailey hogging the pies! heheh!

Apparently Kailey and Reba ate so much they slid down in their chairs! Funny!

Reba -- supposed to be helping with kitchen clean-up! uh huh! Meanwhile Aunt Theresa is actually working! typical! hahah!

The kids and I went to dad's gravesite on Friday! It looks great with the poinsettias!

Anthony, Kamyn, and Kyle at Papa's grave (Reba stayed back at the house with Kailey)

Reba after she found out she was going on an Alaskan cruise next summer with my sister and her family! She's always wanted to go to Alaska!

The boys on the couches watching TV. Notice they're not in any of the "kitchen" pictures! hahah! ugh!

the kids watching tv. Anthony was upstairs playing the Wii

Theresa, Robert, and Anthony in the hot tub watching the Longhorns whoop up on the Aggies! (the little white blip in the far back is a little tv!)

Sophomore Class Duchess

Reba was elected Sophomore Class Homecoming Duchess! (was duchess last year, too, but I didn't have this blog then!) Cool!

Reba in front of the Homecoming Court stage where they have to sit until halftime. Reba said she felt like "Barbie in a box"! Cute!

Reba with the Sophomore Class Duke, whoever he is! hahah!

My beautiful girls: Kamyn (former Homecoming Queen nominee!) and Reba (hopefully future Homecoming Queen nominee!)

Hooray!

Reba FINALLY got her permit to drive! She completed driver's ed several months ago, but because of a misplaced social security card issue, she has just now gotten her permit! Annnddd, more good news: she was elected Sophomore Class Homecoming Duchess! Homecoming is November 6th, so I'll post pictures after that!

Halloween

Well, Halloween was pretty uneventful here! The boys were both grounded due to grades, so we all just stuck around the house! We carved pumpkins just in time for them to be lit right at dusk, and we handed out candy to the FEW trick-or-treaters we had! Good food, though! Rusty bbq'd dove, shrimp, and chicken!

The girls and Kristian, though, went to a Halloween party in Calallen! woohooo!

Kamyn and Kristian dressed as "Sandy and Danny" from Grease

"Queen Reba" with her friend Shelby

FB

Okay, so facebook has stolen my time and pictures and text! hahha!

Meanwhile, not much has really been going on -- just the normal day-to-day stuff! I have to explain the lack of lake/birthday pictures: we got Reba a digital camera for her birthday, but I wrongly assumed it came with a memory card. So I just gave her the memory card out of my camera. Needless to say, all the birthday pictures are stored on that memory card, and despite my relentless begging for her to post them to FB so I could rob them for this blog ... there are still no pictures for this blog! UGH!

Two Beautiful Girls . . .

. . . with candy letters stuck to their foreheads! Hah! My neice Kailey surprised Reba by showing up at the lake for her birthday party! I wish I could've gotten Reba's reaction on video! So cute! She loves her cousin and was so happy to see her again! (More birthday lake pictures to come . . . )

Opening Weekend

It's opening weekend of dove season . . . and as usual Rusty has drill. Darn! But I took the boys to our friend Darrell's house/property to hunt so they could at least have some fun. (I didn't hunt because I haven't gotten my license for this year yet! yikes!) Lots of 12 gauge shells spent . . . only 2 dove on the ground! Not much to chew on! Maybe better luck during this next week and on throughout the season! But really looking forward to deer season . . . need meat in the freezer!

Reba is 16!

Wow! It's been 16 years since I had Reba! She was such a pretty baby . . .. and now she's such a pretty young lady! She loves life and is so much more a people-person than I could have ever imagined! This is going to sound bad, but seriously . . . when she was waaaayyy younger, I always said to people: "Reba is going to either do great things with her life or be institutionalized"! And she has proven that she can and will do GREAT things with her life! She loves God and strives to live for Him on a daily basis. She is such an inspiration! (although she still is a teenager with those frustrating teenage attitudes and quirks! haha! Love ya, Rebe, but c'mon now -- we've all been there!) She is my soul-mate. Happy Birthday Reba Layne!!! (September 6th)

These pictures are from Kristi -- the girls' stepmom! She's so good to the girls and for the girls. They are blessed to have her in their lives! Kirk and Kristi had a party at their house for Reba, and Rusty and I will have a party next weekend at the lake for her. I will post pictures of the "lake party" as soon we get home!!

Reba with a sign that Kamyn made for her!

Reba with her boyfriend Robin

Anthony and Clayton's Birthday

Anthony turned 17 on August 17th and Clayton turned 16 on August 18th, so we had a birthday party for both boys here at the house! School hadn't started for the kids, but I had inservice . . .. needless to say, the day after the party I was begging for some "alone-time" in my classroom where I might be able to put my head down on a desk or something for just a short period of time! hahha! No such luck, though! But that's okay . . . it was worth it. Had good friends, good food, and good margs!!! (thus the reason for my wanting to get some rest the next day! hah) Happy Birthday boys! We love you!!!

Clayton and Anthony (with Shawn and Brannon in the background)

Darrell and Chris trying to give Anthony some birthday swats!

my good friend Katie with birthday boy Clayton

cutie-pie Paul (Katie's other son!)

Yikes!

It would probably be in Rusty's best interest to not pass out while his friends from work are here! But the nail polish is pretty . . . .!

Clog from HELLLLL

Just got rid of the clog from HELLL in my bathtub. Nothing worked -- till I found the SULFURIC ACID!!! Yay! My kids at school will be happy that I had the clog because I found some "over-the-counter" concentrated sulfuric acid -- used by the normal person to unclog drains, but to a chemistry teacher, it's a cheap, quick way to do labs! hahah! Otherwise we have to order it from a catalog and wait forever for it to come! Hey! There's a reason for everything! And as much as I hated the CLOG, I'm grateful for the quick source of H2SO4!!

Have to add also, that as good as God was to turn a bad situation into a good one (the quick source of H2SO4), He was even more gracious in that He provided us safe travel on more than one occasion with a horrendously bad tire on the suburban. We knew we had a bad tire but were not aware of just how bad until Rusty changed it out last Thursday! There were several, several places on the tire where only metal showed! And we towed the boat --- and our KIDS -- with that bad tire. Praise God for His mercy. There are definitely angels watching over us!!!!