Our 2010 goals

I rarely make New Years Resolutions, just not my style. However this year I am making a few goals that I would like to be realized by the end of next year(2011). I would like to get this family healthy--mainly myself--I'd like to lose 30 lbs by September, I'd like Alex to try more good for you foods, and I'd like Edward to try to eat a little healthier as well. Not sure I can pull off the last one as he hasn't changed in 30+ years. I also hope to get Aidan pottytrained by the end of the summer, hoping I can also work with Andrew as well. Our next big goal for the year is to get as much debt paid off as possible, we are currently sitting at about 5000$ in credit card debt and 6000$ in medical debt(no interest), not that bad but if it is paid off we can clear up a lot of money to start saving for a house one day. We have been doing the Dave Ramsey Plan for a while and paying down a ton of debt, however dental bills have kept us from really making a dent in it, hopefully by the end of 2011 it will all be gone.

Christmas with the Weavers

We all had a wonderful Christmas here. We spent Christmas Eve with my dad and family. Had gumbo and crawfish pie and all sorts of other goodies for dinner, a Louisiana Christmas :) It was nice, not too much fighting between the kids. We made cookies Christmas Eve, which was a blast!



Then we sprinkled reindeer food for Santa's reindeer outside and set a plate of warm chocolate chip cookies out for Santa alongside some cold milk. And then bed, which Alex and Aidan didn't manage to fall asleep until 10pm nearly.
I woke up at 5am to Alex in the room, wildly exclaiming that Santa had came and left tons of presents and filled
his stocking! Convinced him to go back to sleep with me for a while and then we all got out of bed at 8am.
Everything was a hit, Alex especially loves his Nintendo DSi, Aidan is digging his playdoh creativity set, and Andrew is loving his Little People minivan and LeapFrog Tad.
The tree filled with presents on Christmas Eve:

Aidan tearing into his stocking:

Alex digging in to his stocking:

And Andrew checking his stocking out as well:


Present opening:
They got Spike the Dinosaur










Oh, and all of these pictures were taken on MY CHRISTMAS PRESENT, the Canon Rebel XS! My camera has been losing function for a good year now and we finally were able to get a new one with our Christmas money!

Andrew's First Haircut

Andrew got his first haircut while we were in Dallas.

Before:


After:

Christmas in Dallas

We had an early Christmas in Dallas since Edward had his 2 week vacation. Had a wonderful time, kids enjoyed seeing family and playing with their new toys, as did Mommy and Daddy.
Opening presents:









We also went to the Children's Musuem with Alex and Aidan:

Self feeding

Andrew has figured out how to feed himself with a spoon. I knew he was getting close as he is also using a fork to stab his food. Today I gave in and gave him his own bowl of applesauce. He managed to get most in his mouth. Next time we will do yogurt since it is easier. I thought this would come a bit later than 15 mths but he likes to be a big boy like the other two.

Halloween and La State Fair

Our Halloween plans were to go to the downtown trick or treat on Friday the 30th and then to go to the Louisiana State Fair in Shreveport on Saturday. No going door to door as last year the kids liked the downtown stuff better. However we have had massive amounts of rain this month and Friday we got even more which ended up knocking the power out for most of the town. I even had to pick Alex up from school at 11am bc the school had been without power since 830am and couldn't serve lunch. So the downtown trick or treat was cancelled. So wasn't sure what to do until my dad mentioned that the Shreveport outdoor shopping mall was having a trick or treat as well. This mall is about as big as our downtown is so thought that would work out nice. We went to the fair Saturday and had a great time. Aidan and Alex rode a ton of rides and played lots of games. Even had their first funnel cake. We left Andrew with my dad for the afternoon since Andrew would not get much out of the fair and it would be easier on us.

After the fair we ate dinner with Dad at a catfish/BBQ place and then headed to the outdoor mall. We were not prepared for the amount of people there-took is 25 mins to get from the onramp to the mall-and it is only 2 miles from the interstate. But we made it, got their costumes on and hoped it was ok. It wasn't. It was packed, none of the stores were passing out candy, they had a few tables set up in the center of the mall and the kids each got about 5 pieces of candy. We left. We felt bad they didn't get to do any trick or treating so we headed to near Dad's work where there are a few houses I know of. Yea, not a good idea either as they were evacuating people b/c of the rising waters-optional evacuation but that was a no go. I felt sad they missed out, so did Edward. So Edward went to walmart, bought some candy, and while they were sleeping we filled their pumpkins and this morning told them that the Great Pumpkin came and filled their pumpkins. We got the Great Pumpkin idea from Charlie Brown :) and Alex really likes Charlie Brown. So they woke up to filled pumpkins and all is right with the world again.

So, a massive amount of pictures to share of Halloween and the fair.

Halloween 2009:











Louisiana State Fair:

Fall Pictures

I got the boys outside and took their pictures today while at my dad and stepmom's house. Planning to use these for our Christmas card this year, unless I happen to get better ones.
Alex:

Aidan:

Andrew: