Where Were We?

Last week Brian found out that a couple he knew when he was a youth minister in The Netherlands was going to be close enough to visit over the weekend. We were going to just meet them for dinner, but decided to make a weekend out of it! It was really a fun family vacation! Can you guess where we were?

Buc-cee's was on the way!

Allie wanted to buy one of everything!

Our hotel

It was really nice!

And then there was the pool... 23 floors up on top of the building!

The kids loved it!

The pool was heated, but the hot tub felt better! You might see a landmark in the background... Tower of the Americas

But you definitely know this landmark... Remember the Alamo!

We wanted the boys to want to visit the Alamo, so the night before we left Brian showed them some fighting scenes from the John Wayne movie. They couldn't wait to visit the Alamo!

They were excited when we got to the Alamo, but we had to remind them that many people gave their lives there and we needed to show respect. They did really well, then we let them have their battle scenes outside.

Brian bought Spence this Davy Crockett hat, and as we were walking along the River Walk, one of the tour boat guides said to his passengers, "If you look over there you'll see a young Davy Crockett!" So funny!


We had a great family vacation in San Antonio this past weekend!

Happy Birthday Coleman!

We have a 7 year old! No, we have the best 7 year old in the world! Love you Coleman!

Star Wars lego set from Daddy and Mommy

Star Wars toy from Grandma and Grandpa

Star Wars blanket from Nana and Poppa

Can you guess what Coleman is into at the moment? Ha! We're planning to celebrate his birthday after basketball season is over by taking him and a few friends to a cave. I'm looking forward to that!

Rainy Day

It has rained and rained and rained today! Once it slowed down a little, I took Spence and Allie out to play in it. Gotta put those rain boots to good use!

It looked like so much fun that I was wishing I had a pair of rain boots!

Showin' Off His Skills

Saturday was Coleman's first basketball game. I loved it!!! I couldn't believe this was a team of 6 and 7 year olds that have had 3 practices. Amazing! They dribbled, moved, played defense, shot, and rebounded. Coleman took 5 shots and made 2! Here are the videos of his first and second baskets!

You Make Me Smile

How could you not smile when you look at this face? And this ensemble? I got a kick out of the snowman top and ice cream bottoms!

Are these two not the sweetest thing? I found them like this watching cartoons one afternoon.

Today at MOPS we played a game where everyone grabbed a handful of M&Ms. Then we were told that for each blue M&M we had to tell something that made us sad, for each red M&M we had to share something that made us mad, green was lucky, yellow happy, and so on with the other colors. The game was really fun, except for the blue M&Ms! I think most of the girls at our table ended up crying! But the yellow M&Ms were fun! I had three yellows, so these are the three things I shared:

• Listening over the monitor to Spence and Allie playing together in Allie's room
• Watching Coleman realize that Allie is upset and going over and rubbing her back
• Spence asking me every night for a thousand google snugs (hugs and kisses)

Of course there are so many things that make me happy I can't even begin to count, like my wonderful husband that loves us and does so much for us, but I think since I was at a table full of moms with little kids, our children were on our minds. And lately I've been getting a little frustrated with my kiddos, so it was nice to think about the positive things. I was refreshed and ready to spend the afternoon with them outside. Yes, January 5th here in the lovely South was perfect park weather!

Gotta Have This

I'm trying to be a little more crafty this year. I've already made quite a few new things to hang around the house, and this is definitely on my project list:

Isn't it adorable? And functional! When we moved into our house, my closet already had hooks in the wall to hang jewelry from, but it's not very practical. Some are so high that I can't reach them, and they aren't very pretty to look at! I could spend $30 and buy this here, but how fun will it be to hunt down the perfect knobs at a good price and make it myself! I wanted to share it here for you to ooh and ahh over, but also so I don't forget...

I posted my family rules print, so here are a few other things I've made:

I found this on pinterest and the lady had lots of free printables, so I didn't make this, just printed it out and framed it.

I also printed out this bird and used the fun scrapbook paper as a mat.

I don't think this one is finished. It was also a printable but I didn't like the colors, so I made my own and scanned it. I need to make it darker, and possibly turn it. I love it in the dining room!

All the frames were ones we had either hidden in a closet or hanging in our house with pictures I wanted to replace. So I didn't spend much at all for these! Olive You is hanging in our kitchen by the big window, the bird is in the hall by the guest bath, and Give us this day is in the dining room over the antique ice box (there's a bird print that I never really loved in that frame). I'm having fun doing a little redecorating for the new year!

Clean Slate, Begin Again

Welcome 2012! I love a new year simply for the fact that I feel like I get a fresh start. I'm going to wipe the slate clean, forgive myself for putting on those extra pounds, not remembering to send out all the birthday cards, or letting my closet get piled up with junk. That all happened last year! Old news! Here are my goals for this year:

• Make healthy choices and get fit (this seems to be a recurring one; maybe this year I'll get it right)
• Find a place for everything and keep everything in its place (and not go ballistic when it's not in its place)
• Love Jesus and others more than I did last year
• Be more organized (and actually remember to look at my calendar each day)

I'm sure I could go on and on, but I think this is a good start. I've even got my weight goal for January set. I'll update you at the beginning of February. And when I meet that goal, I'm rewarding myself with a new pair of sunglasses! That's what I was thinking about when I dumped the leftover chocolate muffins in the trash this morning instead of eating them. Small victory - yay!

Here's something new I made (after I saw it on Pinterest!) to help remind our family how to act:

Anyone have any awesome resolutions to share?

Happy New Year!

May 2012 be your brightest year yet!

The Park With No Slides

Rita tells the story of taking the boys to Yellowstone Park when they were little and after driving around for hours, they asked, "Where's the park? Where are the swings?" So Brian promised himself he wouldn't make that mistake with his kids! But he did. Today we told the kids we were going to Brazos Bend State Park. It didn't take them long to realize this was not your everyday kind of park. Instead of slides there were alligators! I think they got over the fact that there was no playground and enjoyed the wildlife! Coleman and Spence were running along the path making siren noises and having a great time. Those of you that know Spence know how loud he can be. At one point he was running around and this man walked past him and said, "Hey blue boots, be quiet!" I'm gonna have to steal that line!

The first gator we spotted



Walking along the path

Grandpa giving Allie a ride

Wii Wish You a Merry Christmas!

Doin' a little dance because he was so excited about his Wii!

Merry Christmas everyone! We are so blessed to be spending ours with lots of family. And Rita and Gale will be here until Friday! Yay!

Santa brought Coleman the complete Star Wars saga

And Spence got a Shark Ship

Allie got up a little bit later and was more excited to see Grandma and Grandpa than see what Santa brought (isn't that sweet?) so I didn't get a picture of her. But Santa brought her a Princess flashlight. She's quite easily pleased.

The kids singing in Church this morning (And just so you know, I was very pleased with the look on Coleman's face. It could've been a lot worse!)

I'll hopefully have more pictures to share later. Hope you're all having a very Merry Christmas!

Keeping Busy with Projects

I started to write about all the togetherness that my kids and I are getting during this Christmas break. But you don't want to hear about how they continually try to kill each other and I go lock myself in the bathroom. So instead let me show you some of the projects I've been working on!

I saw this on pinterest and fell in love! (I wish I could find the girl's site where I got the idea and give credit, but for some reason pinterest isn't working for me right now.) I cut out the fork, knife, and spoon on the green paper, then layered it over brown paper. Then I wrote "let's eat" with a brown pencil. Brian and I bought the frame in Austin last year and it's been sitting in my closet just waiting for me to use it. I love how this turned out! It's hanging on the wall by my kitchen table.

Let's eat!

My next project is hopefully the answer to books all over the place in the boys' room and digging for Church library books every Sunday morning.

When I first got these canvas storage boxes I tried to have them keep all their books in them. There's just something about books thrown on a bookshelf or strewn across the floor that really irks me. Anyway, keeping all the books in the boxes was a little too much. Plus they could never find the book they wanted.


Now the boxes are labeld "Library Books", "Chapter Books", and "I Can Read Books." I'm hoping this will help keep them a little more organized and easier to find. I love fun little projects!

A Tweaked Tradition

Every year I make Christmas cookies for the neighbors. I love picking out recipes and baking and passing them out. This year some neighbors came over to help and it was a blast! This has to be our new Christmas cookie tradition!

The kids rolling dough and making cookies (and a mess)

Allie and her friend thought it was play dough!

My friend made eggnog cutout cookies and I made raspberry almond thumbprints and these deliciouso Candy Cane Snow Balls. They are super yummy!

The Pikkula Family Christmas Card

Christmas Ribbons Christmas

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Happy Anniversary!

Everyone knows 13 is the Pancake Anniversary, right???

So what better place to celebrate than IHOP? We'll try to have a quiet dinner just the two of us after Christmas when family is in town. But this was a perfect way to spend our anniversary! Thirteen years ago I never would have imagined how blessed we would be.

Season's Happenings

Busy busy busy! There's been so much going on lately! Throw a stomach bug in the mix and things have been a little overwhelming. Spence, Brian, and Coleman all had the bug. Nana and Poppa were here, so we're praying that Allie, Nana, Poppa, and Mommy don't get sick. So far so good! Brian missed a day at work, then barely functioned the next day. Spence made it through his program Tuesday night, but woke up during that night throwing up. Coleman attempted to go to the Church program Wednesday night, but was rushed home where he later puked.

Other than the sickness, we've been having lots of fun around here!

Decorating ornaments at the MOPS Christmas party

Christmas card photo shoot (You'll see what she's holding up when you get the card!)

Waiting for Santa (and waiting, and waiting... for 1 hour and 20 minutes)

Allie was less than thrilled to see Santa!

Spence's school program

Spence is the shepherd behind the boy in the khaki jacket

Boot buddies ready for the Christmas parties at school!

Christmas program at Church (unfortunately Coleman was sick at home, and Spence was lying beside me on the pew)