The Scarecrow!

This picture of Claire was taken at school for their Fall Festival. When she brought it home I couldn't believe how cute she looked! My favorite is her addition to the picture with her red shiny shoes. She will not take them off and wears them EVERYWHERE!!! She is so funny.

Classic story
I have to tell about what happened this morning. Claire was waiting for the bus right outside our window. When it came a little girl walked past her and then I saw Claire hesitate to get on the bus.
**As a side note, Claire has told me that some boys tease her at school, while she's getting on the bus, for being little. When I first heard this she wasn't crying or anything so that made it better. I told her how it's okay to be little and that when you are little you can run fast! (She beats the neighborhood boy in races.) I told her about how I was called chicken legs and small fry and little Leah. And of course I told her the sticks and stones song as did her bus driver! I can't believe she is 5 and it has already begun. :(
So anyway, I thought maybe this girl said something to her and made her feel bad. Claire kept hesitating and wouldn't get on the bus. I saw her turn towards the house with tears in her eyes. This was the only morning I hadn't gotten dressed and gone outside with her. So I was kicking myself for not being able to run 10 feet away. I called her into the house and with her eyes wet she said, "We forgot to change my earings. Miss Carrie said she would wait!"
Seriously!?! So the bus driver waited while Claire ran inside and put on dangly earings. So classic!!

Thankful!

So I wanted to write a little about the things I am thankful for. These past few weeks have been a little hard so I want to focus on things that I am grateful for. Here goes:
1. I am thankful for a sweet husband that is so supportive and loving. He did all the laundry last weekend just because! He is always doing things like that to help me and I am so grateful that he is so thoughtful.
2. I am grateful for my beautiful girls. Boy do I feel like I am not the mother I should be. I am constantly learning and trying to be better but being a mom is a hard! I don't think I will ever be as good as I want to be but I am grateful for the opportunity to try. I have such special daughters and couldn't love them any more!
3. Family. Need I say more? I am so grateful for the relationships I have with not just my family but Zeb's as well. We are so lucky to have so many family members that love us and support us! Our families are so great.
4. I am grateful for my friends. I don't know what I would do without my friends. I am so thankful for all the people that have befriended me here. I was so worried when I moved here that I would cry all the time about my family. But I have so many friends here that have helped me more than they will ever know...Thank you!
5. Education. I am so thankful for my education and that Zeb is getting an education as well. I am so grateful to be here in Texas and for Zeb to go to Baylor. Education is so important and I am grateful for the opportunities the Lord is giving us.
That about sums it up for now. I need to be doing things around the house so we'll catch ya later! Thank you all for being my friend!

I've been tagged!

Abbie tagged me so I am supposed to write 6 interesting things about myself. hmmm let's see see if I can think of something.
1. I can put my fist in my mouth and turn my right arm all the way around. That's a little interesting right, or at least weird.
2. I was pathetically competitive when I was younger and didn't grow out of it until after high school. Like we're talking I would be out bowling with my boyfriend and if I wasn't doing well I would sit on the bench and just pout and sulk, making it miserable for everyone else. I was SO pathetic. I still love to compete but I have a handle on it now and am okay if I lose. Thank goodness I matured and grew out of that one; when I told Zeb that after we had been married a while he just laughed and looked at me like "You've got to be kidding...good thing I wasn't dating you at the time!"
3. I love being a mother more than anything! And yes, there are times I could be bald if I actually did pull my hair out when I am having one of "those days." But seriously being a mom and being home with my beautiful girls is so wonderful. They are so precious and I am so thankful.
4. I love to bowl. I have my own bowling ball and shoes. And although I was pathetic in high school I have gotten a little better. It's just so fun. A lot of people are thinking "white trash" and yes some alleys are a lilttle less than clean but I have such a good time. Zeb has stuff as well so it is fun to go together.
5. One of my most embarrassing moments happend when I was dating Zeb. We were engaged and I was working as a waitress at a mexican restaurant. I went to my table that had just been sat and it was a girl I knew from high school and her mom. We started chatting about the engagement and the time passing slowly. As we talked back and forth I said, "Yeah, let's just get it on!" As soon as it came out of my mouth I realized what I had said. I shouted "WITH....GET IT ON WITH." At that point there was no recovering so I spun around and high talied it to the kitchen with my face as red as the salsa. It was SO embarrassing!
6. I am extremely naive. Every once in a while when Zeb and I go to a movie (like once or twice a year) I'll laugh at something funny. Zeb will look over at me with a kind of shocked look on his face. He'll say, "Do you know what that means?" And I 'll say yeah and repeat whatever was said. Then he'll get the "Oh. Leah" look and say "No, it means........" Then I'll gasp and disgustingly say "how do you know that?" And every time he reminds me, "Leah, I worked construction growing up!" I am always shocked to know what something actually means and even more shocked to hear that Zeb knows it! I'll leave it at that since I don't want to write anything inappropriate...but I am definitely naive!
Well, that was kind of fun to think of things about me people might not know! Now the six people I am tagging are Summer Slade, Cindy Hansen, Emily Askeroth, Misty Pankratz, Janel Warner, and Lindsey Blackhurst. Can't wait to see what you all write and don't forget to tag 6 more! I love reading these and want to tag everyone!!!

Texas Football

Okay so enough of my nappy foot!
On to high school football in Texas...
I had no idea just how big it was in Texas until I went to a game last year. I was blown away at how massive the stadium was, not to mention the practice facility. It was insane.

So this year our friends parents got us tickets and some for Josh and Carol as well. We all went together to Coppell (in Dallas) and experienced high school football in Texas.
You seriously feel like you are at a college game. We went to the homecoming game so we also experienced the tradition of mums. The average mum is about a hundred and twenty bucks a pop! They can go for up to $200. Seriously! There are teddy bears, braids, ribbon, bells, the dates name and more on them. It is the biggest "corsage" (spelling?) you have ever seen. We were floored. It was fascinating. The girls wear theirs on their shirts and the boys wear theirs on their arms. They can weigh like 20-30 pounds!!

So our friends mom makes mums and she made one for the four oldest girls. They looked adorable and they were so cute. Keep in mind that the mums for the high school kids are like 3 to 5 times the size of the girls' mums and I am NOT kidding. The girls were asked if they had boyfriends (since you usually get one from a date) and they all said "NO!" But then Claire piped up and said, "I do." So I asked her who it was and she smiled and said Josh Galovich! Sorry Josh you aren't getting away that easy here! For those of you in Texas, Josh is one of Zeb's good fiends from high school that's married! :) I wonder how many years she'll say that for.

So we loved going to the game together and it was fun to see Zeb, Josh and Carol experience it for the first time. High school football in Texas is no joke, they take it very seriously!

A few more pictures

Update

Okay so I just looked at this picture I took before I went to the ER on Sunday morning to get a cortizone shot. My foot looked like this after taking a bunch of benadryl and sleeping all night! I cannot believe I am this allergic. The swelling was so bad it moved into my toes and up my leg. That was one bugger of an ant! Sorry, but I couldn't help but post this for my family in Utah.
Everyone should be happy to know that my foot and ankle are back to normal! :)

Halloween Pictures..Finally!

Okay so a lot of you have been wanting some Halloween pictures of the girls and it has only taken me 2 weeks to post them! Hallie was set on being a Fairy and Claire was thrilled to be Dorothy. We borrowed costumes from Tina Wurtz and the girls were so excited. Audrey was our little piglet and the round belly and ears were my favorite parts. I love my girls! :)

Fire ants in Texas

Okay so I have been bit several times by fire ants and they sting like crazy. Every once in a while I have a horrible allergic reaction and now is one of those times. I was at Brittany's house last night, we stopped to say hi on a walk, and I got one little bite. Now it looks like this: (please try not to look at my foot; just look at the swollen part!)




Another time was when I was 9 months pregnant and it looked like I had toxemia but just on one foot. But I didn't, it was swollen from fire ant bites. In this picture my toes are losing circulation cause it's so swollen. They turned purple. I could hardly walk cause my foot was so swollen so it really looked like I had a pregnant waddle. It was so embarassing! It hurt too! :) And look at the size of my ankle!

So it's been a few weeks!!

Okay I haven't posted in AGES sorry! Things have been crazy around here! I took these pictures of Hallie yesterday morning. She loves to put on jewelry and lip gloss. The more the merrier! She is so girly it kills me and yet she was naming all the colors of the star wars light sabers (how in the world do you spell that??) to Cindy's sister Stacie yesterday. So she can hold her own with the boys which is a good sign. Anyway here are a few pics of Hallie the dress-up queen!