Playing Catch Up!

Wow! I hadn't realized it'd been sooooo long since the last time I blogged!

Well, here are some highlights:
1. We went to Grandma Harper's for Thanksgiving and Did a 2nd with More Family!
     We do this every single year. Dennis's grandma lives on a farm in the huge town of Mulhall, Oklahoma and we love to go visit and it's tradition for all her family to come up for Thanksgiving every year. She is 92 years old and going strong! Hope I'm that energetic at 92! We also had a Thanksgiving meal with Dennis's mom's side of the family at David and Kristine's house...always great to get together!

2. We had a GREAT Christmas! 
    The boys were so much fun this year! We had to say goodbye to our beloved Harry dog in October, which was very sad for all of us. We knew we wanted another dog and we'd find one at the right time. After Cooper praying every night for another dog for a little over a month, a friend of mine, called me the week before Christmas and had found one she knew would be great for us and we suprised the boys with Snoopy (aka Snoop Dog) on Christmas day!
   We got to do Christmas train this year and we celebrated Christmas about four different times!

Waiting to get on the Christmas Train

Cooper with his oldest cousin, Taylor

Clayton tearing it up!

Dennis is ready for hunting!

Cooper and Clayton on Christmas day

Clayton and Mommy

Dennis carving our fried turkey...it was yummy!

Cousins...Chloe, Cooper, and Clayton

Cooper and his Papaw

Cooper and his Grandpa

3. Hello 2013!
    I've been trying new recipes on my family and we've been waiting on some great snow...never happened, but we hoped it would. Actually, we would have loved a really good blizzard like we had a couple years ago. January, February, and March flew by! I had another birthday...32 in March. I have to say, it doesn't feel much different. I was surprised by my dear sweet Dennis who invited my family to join us for birthday dinner without me knowing it!


4. Early Spring fun & Spring Break & Easter!
    So, my cousin Rose, moved back to Okie land after living in California for about 10 years and we've had the chance to have some fun with her! We took Chloe and Cooper to the aquarium in February when they were both off school and kids day out. On Spring Break, I took Chloe, Cooper, and Clayton to the zoo and met up with a friend and her daughter. NEVER do the zoo at Spring break...crazy!! Still lots of fun, though!

Happy 2012!!!

Wow! I didn't get a chance to blog over the course of our four Christmas celebrations, but we had a great Christmas! Dennis has some time off, which has been wonderful for all of us and the boys are so much fun!! Kids really help you remember the joy of Christmas and it is amazing! Cooper is really understanding that Christmas is Jesus' birthday and he loved playing with the little nativity dolls and telling me the story, as well as having a little Santa fun, too. Clayton just wanted to touch all the presents and stare at the lights. Luckily, he didn't learn to army crawl really good until just a few days ago or the tree might be in jeopardy.

We had Christmas with our friends, the Stotts family first, then with Dennis' family, then our house with some of my family, and our last one this past Saturday with more of my family.....what a whirlwind! We are so amazingly blessed to be able to celebrate with our friends and family and we are so thankful or each and every one of them.

2011 was a little bit crazy but also wonderful with the birth of our second child! For me, personally, I was not physically well for a majority of it between recovering from giving birth and turning around and having gall bladder surgery, and part of it, I thought I would literally go insane. But it ended wonderfully and 2012 will be awesome!

Clayton hanging out

Cooper, David, and Grace

Dennis and his new hunting gear

All the Rains cousins!

Mommy helping Coop with his Bat Cave

Adorable!

Santa's goodies- Coop insisted we leave coffee, too

Trucks on Christmas morning

Santa has been here!

Santa left us a letter

...and the reindeer ate their food, but Dancer left a little something

Dennis and his new chair blind....what was I thinking!?!? I created a monster!

My sister, Sasha & niece, Chloe

Mamaw, the boys, and Dennis

Papaw with his sign that Chris (next to him-sister's boyfirend) made...I got one, too....way cool!

Chris, Sasha, Chloe, Cooper, Marie, and Poppy

Uncle Ryan and Clayton

I just loved this one....a boy and hid dog

My little party animal

It's December!!

 Our small town has a Christmas parade every year on the first Thursday of December. There are a ton of volunteers that dress up for not only the parade, but the day of, and go to local businesses, schools, an

Mr & Mrs Potato Head (aka our neighbor Traci and her sister Terri)

 

 

 

d daycares to visit. Of course, the main attraction is Santa, but the rest of the characters get lots of attention, too! Cooper goes to the preschool program at our church and I managed to make it back to catch the kids' reactions and Clayton thought it was pretty interesting, too.

Cooper with Mr & Mrs Claus...he had to sweeten up Mrs Claus with a hug and kiss before she left!

Clayton was pooped after our character visit

Well, I just loved this picture with his tongue sticking out!

Fall Vacation 2011

Well, we finally  managed to take some time off in October and November and do a little camping! After the rough, long, hot summer, it was nice to take a break!! This was Clayton's very first camping season and our first time to experience Jellystone Park in Branson and it was so much fun!!

We made one trip for fall break then went back about a week later to stay a week. During fall break, they had trick or treating for the kids, Halloween site decorating contest, a chili cook-off and a hayride...all of which we participated in and had a blast!

Our second trip, we did Dixie Stampede Christmas show...priceless for Cooper! He actually ate (which if you know Cooper, is a HUGE deal!) and I have never seen him sit so still as he did watching that show...he loved it!! We also rode the Ducks to see some Christmas lights and of course, what is Branson without a little holiday shopping!? Oh, and don't forget about adding to the Christmas ornament collection! Needless to say, it's not even Thanksgiving and I am ready to put up my tree!!