The Beasley Family

Not pictured: The Wanderer & Daddy G

Here is my husband's side of the family as we all gathered together for Christmas. The original plan was for EVERYONE to be there, but life and the ARMY changed those plans, so we were two people short. Still there was 20+ people smooshed into a little house for nearly two weeks. We had so much fun together, though. We did lots of things which I will be showing you! Here is a "family tree" that I made. It's a little hard to see, so I will talk you through it. Papa & Granny are at the top, naturally. To the left you will find Child #1 Kingbeaz (the most handsome one!) and his lovely wife Queenbeaz. Under them are their children (who I am sure you are already familiar with) Bug, Lil' Coconut, Pinky Lee & Boo Boo Bear. Next to Lil' Coconut on the tree is Daddy G who is married to Child #2 Mommy G. Underneath are their children Pumpkinbutt and Sweet Pea. Now would be an excellent time to break for a Public Service Announcement: "To all my beautiful and lovely neices and nephews, I did NOT choose your nicknames for you. If now or anytime in the future you take offense to your given nickname, please address all your complaints to your parents. Thank you." And now back to our regularly scheduled blogging.

Next to Mommy G you will find Child #3 Redneck Vet and under him, his son Mater ("as in Tuh-Mater, but without the tuh"). Next to them is Child #4 the Wanderer. Above him are Child #5 Drummer Boy & Child #6 G.I. Joe who are in fact twins. G.I. Joe is married to Barbie (because in those commercials Barbie is always dumping Ken and going for the man in uniform. Go Barbie!). Underneath you will find their children, Goldilocks and Chunky.

So that's it. So far, as Granny would say, because no one has officially said they aren't having any more children. Mommy G would probably disagree. ;)

Here is just another layout I did with the families all grouped together.

Montana means Mountains

Just in case you hadn't had enough of this background, here's a little more. I'm a little snow obsessed these days. Can ya tell?

The mountains are the one thing I seriously miss living in south Texas. Nary a mountain in site. Not even a little hill. It doesn't even pretend to act like winter around here for more than a month or so and therefore, doesn't feel like home at all. In New York we had freezing temperatures and mountains of snow most of the year, but no real mountains in sight. In Hawaii, we had beautiful mountains, but no snow. Needless to say, we took picture after picture of those gorgeous snow covered mountains that so perfectly depict Montana in winter.

You know you love your husband when...

You post Raiders stuff on YOUR blog, and YOU are a COWBOYS fan! It's a fabulously interesting story too. Are you ready? On our ridiculously long drive to Montana, we just so happened to drive through Denver on the day that the Raiders were playing there. As we drove by it was my duty to snap pictures of the rival stadium. We couldn't stop and actually go to the game, but we were lucky enough to listen to it on satellite radio. The Raiders won! Woohoo!

Just in case you were unaware, my COWBOYS had beat the previously undefeated Saints the night before.

I really didn't know that else to do with pictures of the Broncos stadium without it looking like we might be Broncos fans (NEVER), so I went all out with the black and white Raiders theme. Not bad, huh? Love ya babe!

Me and the hubs...just because

Me and the hubs...we celebrated our 10th wedding anniversary last June. Didja know that? "Is that all? It feels more like twenty," is what he always says. Such a funny guy. We've known each other for about 19 years. (Holy heck, batman! Am I really that old????) The point is...after all this time, we are best friends, still in love, and find each other hilarious! Thank goodness!

P.S. This layout can be found on Jessica Sprague's free digital starter class!

Pinky Lee turns 4!

Oh, the many faces of four! Delight, ridiculousness, boredom, and sheer wonder. Four is sort of like two (see the post on Boo Boo) except with more attitude. Unfortunately almost everyone in the house, including Pinky Lee, were sick, so it was a short and sweet celebration. We can save it all up for the huge double birthday party taking place at the end of the month. Pinks and Boo have never had a birthday party with their friends yet, and since their birthdays are so close together, we will celebrate them together. So stay tuned for that.

At any rate, Pinks had a good time on her birthday, and that is all that matters.

My New Friend

This is my new friend Andrea! She's the owner of the Cents Saved blog. I started visiting her site a while back for her HEB grocery coupon match-ups. She no longer does those :( , but I still visit her site regularly for all her other money saving and making advice. She lives in Colorado, so on our way up to Montana for Christmas, we got together and had breakfast. It was so much fun! I'm sure her husband was relieved that we didn't spend the whole time talking about coupons....just half of it! Her family was delightful and we had a great time. Andrea has fabulous info, so be sure to check her site out.

Boo Boo Bear Turns 2!

As you can see, my baby has reached a milestone. The terrible terrific twos! He is such a big boy now. He can say all kinds of words. "NO!" is his favorite. He posesses all sorts of gross motor skills. He is most adept at hitting his siblings. He likes to use the potty. This involves standing, fully dressed, with both feet in the toilet. Hahahaha! Life with a toddler is like a roller coaster. There are the lows (as described above) and the highs, such as when he smothers you with hugs and kisses. Or when he says "I love you" and remembers to say "Please" and "Thank you" without any prompting.

So please excuse the mess on his face (he had just finished his favorite supper of pizza!), as you witness his delight in opening packages & playing with the contents. He LOVES cars. In lieu of cake, we had homemade brownies topped with chocolate ice cream (per Boo Boo Bear's request), raspberries, chocolate syrup and whipped cream. He could have cared less about the lit candle at the top, and just grabbed that spoon as fast as he could and started shoveling. It was precious!

Lil' Coconut's 8th Birthday!

For Lil' C's 8th birthday, she decided on a bowling party. She's wanted to have one there ever since she was invited to someone else's bowling birthday party. A couple of her friends came, and they all had a great time. They even did a great job bowling! We made personalized cupcake holders and labels for the bubbles & play-dough. Everything was in a blue & white snowflake theme and it was so gorgeous. Even the cupcakes had light blue frosting with white "snow" sugar sprinkled on top! I love kids birthday parties!

Lil' Coconut's 8th Birthday Slideshow

Just thought I would drop in (a few days late, but hey, what else is new?) to wish everyone a Happy New Year! I certainly hope that you had a great holiday season!

I'm not really one to make resolutions...mostly because I don't usually keep them, but I do like to make goals. So, I've set forth a few goals for my blog this year. When I first started this blog a year ago, I wondered if I would be able to see it through. Well, as you can see, I've made it a whole year (Yea Me!) and have plans to continue. And change. Initially I was looking for a way to get the grandparents and other family members to quit yelling at me for not sending pictures often enough, however, I've come to realize that more non-family members read my blog than family members. (Thanks alot, fam!) So in order to cater to the interests of all my readers, I will be expanding to things other than my children. Don't worry, you'll still get plenty of them because gosh darn it, they are cute, aren't they? It's just that I'll be adding things that I'm interested in such as crafts, my never-ending quest to spend less & save more, digital scrapbooking, and whatever else pops up. I also plan on organizing the blog a bit better & adding all of the blogs and websites I like to frequent. I'm hoping to also have a very big surprise sometime during the year, but don't know how long it will be before my dream becomes a reality, so that's all the hints you get for now!

Thanks again for reading my blog in 2009 & I hope you continue to read in 2010! I love getting your comments and feedback, so please continue to leave them.