I'm dreaming...

...of a white Christmas! And it's here!!!! It started sleeting and snowing here today about 1:00 and we are under a blizzard watch until tomorrow. The boys have begged all day to play in the snow so I bundled them up and out we went.

Our First Gingerbread House

This weekend the boys decorated their 1st gingerbread house. They had a great time BUT next year I will buy 2 so they will each have their own. Austin wanted everything to be put on perfect and Kamden was sticking things everywhere (the pieces he wasn't eating). After a few fights we figured out that Austin should do the icing and Kamden do the 'sticking'. All in all, the finished product looked pretty good. By the way, the LSU face paint came from church Friday night. We had an outreach event for needy families to come and get presents, coats, haircuts, and family photos. We helped with it and the boys got to participate in some of the children's activites.

Christmas time is so much fun!

Here he is:
A couple of weeks ago Santa sent Austin & Kamden a gift. It was a 'scout' elf that watches and reports to Santa every night about the boys and whether they have been good or bad. After he returns from his nightly trip to the North Pole, he finds a new spot to sit in the house so he can watch closely. He is magic and if anyone touches him he will lose his magic. This new tradition has been SO much fun for all of us! Every morning it is a race to see who can find Norman first. By the way, you get to name your elf whatever you want so Austin came up with the name Norman and I have to say I think it fits him pretty well. The first week we got him Kamden and I went to Wal-mart and Kamden told the greeter ALL about Norman. This week the same greeter was working and he remembered Kamden (& Norman) so they a nice little conversation about Norman.


The other night, we went to H&P's family Christams party; it was at the Tulsa Air & Space Museum. The boys had a great time and can't wait to go back. We got to see Santa and go to the Planetarium plus do & see all the cool things at the museum. Here are a few of our pictures. Kamden the Astronaut
Austin the Astronaut
Lauching the rocket
Austin flying the fighter jet
Kamden: posing as usual :)
some type of space simulator (I'm not real sure!)

Christmas Train

Last Friday night, we went to the Christmas Train. It reminded me of a miniature Silver Dollar City. It was a really neat place. However, it was 19 degrees!!! And most everything was outside. We rode the train, got to see Santa and Mrs. Claus.






Here are a few pictures from Thanksgiving. We were so glad Nonnie, Nanny, MiMi, Maw Maw and Paw Paw came to visit. We had a great time. Zeke really liked Paw Paw Teet, as you will see in the pictures!



Keep checking back over the next few days, I plan to update and post some more pictures.

Catching Up

It's been quite a while since I've blogged but we've been pretty busy around here lately. I'm going to try to do better but for now I'll try to catch you all up on the Neal family. :)

We have found a church, First Baptist, Broken Arrow. It is really big but it has a lot of activities and we are really enjoying it. We haven't joined yet because we are still trying out Sunday schools to find the one where we fit in. Kamden and I go to MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers) there twice a month. On Wednesday nights the boys go to their AWANA program. Austin has always done AWANA but this year Kamden finally was old enough to join and he LOVES it! It is so sweet to hear him say his verses.

Austin finished football just in time to register for basketball. He really enjoyed it but Heath told him he could play tackle next year so he absolutely can not wait; as for me, well, I CAN wait! We will start practicing basketball after Thanksgiving.

For Halloween, Austin was Mario and Kamden was Woody. We had a fall festival in our neighborhood on the weekend before Halloween. They boys had a good time. On Halloween night we went down on Main St. to a festival and then went to a party at some friends' house. Before Halloween, Heath and the boys carved a pumpkin. Austin and Kamden picked out the pattern. It was Scooby-Doo, of course! Here are some pictures.





This is where I found Kamden one day:


We put up our Christmas decorations last weekend. We put up two trees: one in the gameroom and one downstairs. We had such a good time decorating!

Scared...

...of shadows. Kamden has decided in the past week that he is scared of the shadows in his room. So in an effort to solve this problem, we talked Austin into sleeping with him. Austin claims he doesn't want to sleep with him but we hear him each night telling Kamden stories before they go to sleep. Kamden loves it and asks him every night if he will tell him a story. Last night, I went in to check on them and this is how I found them.


We have Canadian geese in our neighborhood ponds. On Saturday morning they were down by our house so before football we had to feed them some bread. By the way, Austin scored another touchdown at Saturday's game.

Summer's Gone!

Things are picking up around here. Austin started school a couple of weeks ago. It is still hard for me to believe I have a child in 2nd grade but Austin quickly reminded me the first week of school that he was 'too old for notes in his lunchbox now -those are for babies'. Sniff sniff; my little boy is growing up. He says he likes school and it seems to be going good. We drive to the front of our subdivision and then we walk across the street to school. I'm not sure who likes that better; Austin or Kamden. Our school hours here are 8:55~3:40. That has taken some getting used too; I would rather go early and have the extra time in the afternoon. But oh well, we are adjusting; it just makes our afternoons a little crazy. Austin actually got to start this school year with his two front teeth. They have been missing since before kindergarten. So this year, he will have teeth in his school pictures!


The same week school started, Austin started Upward Flag Football. Saturday was his first game and he scored a touchdown, made 2 interceptions and pulled lots of flags. He was so excited and of course, we were too.

Here he is running out of the tunnel after they called his name.

Headed for the inzone to score a TOUCHDOWN!!!

Diving for the flag!

I got it!



As most of you already know, Kamden has an obsession with sunglasses. Of course, on Saturday none of them were in the car so he had to wear mine. He gave them "2 thumbs up".

Some other ladies and I started a neighborhood playgroup for our younger kids that aren't in school yet. We meet on Friday mornings at one of our houses for a couple of hours. Kamden loves it. He really looks forward to 'playing with all my friends' plus it gives us moms a little time to socialize with adults!

As for Zeke, he is doing good. He may only weigh 6 pounds but he sure thinks he's big! I took him last week for his shots and he bowed up and started barking at a BIG bulldog! Boy, does he have A LOT to learn.

Branson, Missouri

Meet Zeke

We added a member to our family yesterday. The boys have been begging for a puppy since we gave Bauzer away. So...we gave in! We got a miniature schnauzer. He is 12 weeks old. We are keeping him in the house but so far everything is going great. Austin named him Zeke because he said he had to have a name that started with a letter in Bauzer's name. (I don't know why but whatever!) I'll post more later-got to go take him to potty! :)

Ouch!!!

This is Austin's reaction to a hornet sting. He got stung on the cheek Sunday afternoon and I took this picture Monday morning. When he woke up Monday morning his eye was completely swole shut. I took him to the doctor and he acted like as long as it wasn't infected I shouldn't be worried and to keep giving him benedryl. This morning it looks better; at least he can open his eye.


And this is Kamden's reaction. Every time I give Austin medicine, Kamden tells me "I got fever, I got stung by a bee too!" So once he gets his attention & 'medicine' he is good to go!



Kamden is 3 now and he will quickly remind you. Yesterday I called him baby and he told me "you don't say baby you say bigger!" He had a great birthday, he got a Spiderman bike which he LOVES and lots of money. The first card he opened was from Kinley, his best friend from Tyler, and it had $3.00 in it. He was so excited he kept telling us "I got three hundred dollars!!!".

"I'm 3!"

On his birthday we went to a Safari Wildlife Refuge/Rescue here in Broken Arrow. We really enjoyed it. They rescue exotic animals from people that decide they can no longer have them or afford them as a pet. They had tigers, lions, wolves, a zebra, peacocks, farm animals, monkeys and many other animals. We got to feed most of them even the tigers & lions!



This is a liger. It is half lion, half tiger; hence the name 'liger'. They were feeding him from about 7 feet. As you can see, he was HUGE.


Austin feeding the liger


Kamden feeding the cougar


Austin feeding the tiger that was soaking in his drinking water



This is a full grown alligator but because it was born in polluted waters in Florida it's growth was stunted.


This is one of Mike Tyson's tigers they rescued when he got into financial trouble and couldn't afford to keep them. It is an albino tiger.



The new bike!