What happened to 2008?!?

Well, since I posted last, we have celebrated four major holidays (Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years), football season ended, basketball season is half way over, and our neighbors whose house burned down have rebuilt and moved back in! LOL! I've been a bad blogger... but it's a new year, so I will start again...

I hope to back-track a little bit and hit the highlights of October, November, and December 2008 before we get too far into 2009!

October came and went... Matthew's football team finished their season 6-4 and in 3rd place for their division. Andrew and the George Wranglers struggled... finishing their season with just one win. It was hard to see them try so hard and come up short each week. I guess it builds 'character' but I'd rather see my boys WIN!!! :) We are looking forward to next year and cheering on Andrew as he plays for the Springdale Bulldogs! Sam had two concerts at school. The first was the 5th grade Music Program- it was cute as always. The second was the George Elementary Honor Choir Concert. Sam had a 'solo' part in a song about pizza. It was GREAT! If I can figure out how to load video on here, I will post it on here.

November brought basketball season! Andrew moved quickly from football into basketball. The Wranglers started off strong, winning our pre-season games, and our first conference game. Sam also played basketball- at the Springdale Youth Center. He was on the Mavericks and Randy coached them. After a rough start, they ended up going 5-5 for the season. Sam enjoyed it and seems to be my 'basketball' son! I was able to go on two 'girl' trips in November!!! The first weekend, I went to Dallas with my friends Kelli, Kelley, Amy, Debbie and Denise. We had fun shopping, eating, visiting, eating, shopping and eating some more! LOL! I was able to get over half of my Christmas shopping done on this trip. Then, two weeks later, I went to Tulsa with my friends Tina, Missie, Kim, and Michele. This is the trip I take every year- I think this was the 15th year! I started going when I was pregnant with Andrew. I did some more Christmas shopping on this trip, too. Randy & I finished the rest of the shopping during the week of Thanksgiving! I even got out with him at 5am on Black Friday! I am NOT a morning person!
We spent Thanksgiving Day with Randy's parents as usual...had the wonderful turkey, dressing, and pumpkin pie! We took the boys to see Madagascar 2 that afternoon, then Randy and I went back that night to see Four Christmases- very funny!

December brought the usual craziness... I didn't even get my tree and decorations up until Dec. 5th! The biggest news for December is that my deck was finished! Randy and our good friends, Allan Huddleston and Ritchey Collyar, started framing it the weekend after Thanksgiving and Randy did the final work on it the weekend before Christmas. I know, it was a strange time to build a deck, but we were fortunate to have some decent weather and the time to do it! It wouldn't have gotten done with Allan and Ritchey's help- Thank You, Guys!! The George Wranglers hosted the annual Coke Jr. High Basketball Tournament Dec. 11-13. We were THRILLED to get 2nd place! The team played great... only losing by 8 points to our cross-town rival (and great team) Southwest Jr. High. It was the first basketball trophey for GJH! As president of the booster club, I had the 'priviledge' of organizing and hosting the Hospitality Suite for the team coaches, administrators, refs, scorekeepers, and bus drivers. We provided meals each day of the tournament. It was a lot of work, but with some other parents' help, we pulled it off quite nicely!

Christmas Break could not have come soon enough! I was so ready for a break from basketball and school activities! Christmas Eve was spent at Randy's parents' house... we ate and visited, then headed home to get the kids down... Christmas morning was really fun- I don't think it matters how old your children get, it is still priceless to watch them on Christmas morning! The boys were happy with their gifts- baseball cards, Wii games, Under Armor...all the good stuff! We then went over to Randy's parents' and had Christmas with them and with Kristina, Makayla and Brayden. It was a little sad for us all, being the first Christmas without Brian... We took the kids to see "Marley & Me", where I struggled to keep from sobbing out loud! I had read the book and knew what was going to happen, but it didn't matter! It was very sad, but also very funny!

We left the day after Christmas and headed down a very foggy I540 to Cabot, AR- to my sister Jennifer's house! We had a huge, FULL FAMILY Christmas on Saturday... There were 12 adults and 10 kids in attendance- my crew, Jennifer & her crew + Jon Paul's mom Betty, Michelle & her crew + her and Patty's mom Dorothy, Patty & her crew and Mom and Frank! It was great to all be together. Patty and Phillip were 'homeless' as they were in the process of moving from Biloxi, MS to Scott AFB, Illinois. The kids all had a blast playing Guitar Hero World Tour (as did some of the adults!). There was a heated game of Scene It Squabble and also Mexican Train Dominoes!

We came home on Sunday, Dec. 29th and I managed to get all the Christmas decorations put away on Monday. I really don't enjoy 'undecking the halls'! For New Year's Eve, Randy and I went to our good friends, the VanHoose's, home for a 'Steak and Crab Leg' dinner party! We ate (and drank) very well! There were 7 couples there and we all had a great time visiting and playing 'Apples to Apples'! What a fun game- I highly recommend it!

AND FINALLY, on New Year's Day, Andrew's girlfriend Maggie came over and we watched some football, worked on a puzzle, and played Scattegories and Uno Flash. It was really fun to spend time with my boys- not distracted with other things.... Randy and I met some friends for dinner that night at Outback. The Collyar's, Huddleston's, George's, Erskine's and McCurdy's were all there. It was another fun evening!

So here we are in January- FINALLY! Randy & I escaped 'the madness' (i.e. the kids) this past weekend and went to Branson. We rented a cute little house not far from the Branson Landing. We did some shopping (some great sales!) and relaxed... we ate at Cantina Loredo (one of my favorite places in Branson!) and also at Bar Louie which was good, too. We had hoped to enjoy the hot tub at our little house, but we could never get it to warm up- and I was not about to get into 52 degree water! Oh well...we managed to enjoy ourselves anyway! :)

Tomorrow, the kids go back to school (actually, they go back in about 7 hours or so! It's late!). I'm very ready for it! I have tons of projects to get busy on... mainly the George Elementary Yearbook! The first half is due by Jan. 19th! I worked on it today, and will tomorrow. I better get to bed... no more sleeping in for this Queen Bee! The hive will be buzzin' bright and early!

:)Cynthia

PS: Sorry for any typo's... didn't want to take the time to proof...