Our Christmas Cards

Today I'm linking up with a couple of blogs that are hosting show us your Christmas Cards.  Check out Kelly's Korner, Walk With Me By Faith, and Lil Light of Mine to see the cards others are sharing.  There are some really pretty ones.





Here are our cards from the past few years.  I have them displayed on our Christmas tree this year.  I think it's fun to look back and see how we have grown and changed.  We moved at Christmas last year and didn't send cards.  I always have our cards printed from walmart.com.  I love some of the options on sites like Tiny Prints, but they are a little pricey for me.

2012

2010

2009

2008

Talk to ya soon,

Angie

D is for Dallas

This weekend we road tripped to Dallas again to spend some time with Bumpy, Gam, and the rest of the Moss crew.  We had lofty goals of leaving after I got off work on Thursday, but that didn't work out quite as we had planned.  Messy house, messy Mothership, and cranky taters = leave another day.  We left VERY early Friday morning and had a good trip, meaning it only took us 6+ hours to get there.  We have been known to take as long as 8 hours getting to Dallas so this was pretty much a record for us Farrer's (insert fist pump here).

The kids were excited to get to go to the horse barn Friday afternoon for Sydni's riding lesson.  I talked about out last trip to the horsebarn here.  Ellie not only got to sit on a horse, but actually got a little mini lesson this time!  She was beside herself.  As soon as she got on she motioned for the instructor to hand her the reigns, and while she rode she moved them up and down like she had seen the older girls doing during their lesson.  If I wasn't so terrified of horses and Brent wasn't so tight with the ole Benjamins we might consider signing her up for some lessons of her own. 


E ready for her lesson.  Soooo serious.

M with Truffles the resident Hog at the barn.  We have never

seen him awake.  This is a terrible pic but Truffles is pretty mem
orable so I wanted to get his picture on here.  :)

Sydni and her horse Tenna or maybe Trenna.  I

kept saying it wrong and now can't remember

which it actually was!

Saturday we went to the Gaylord hotel to checkout their Christmas decor and festivities.  I think it was the biggest hotel I've ever seen.  That evening we shopped downtown and ate dinner at Fireside Pies in Grapevine.  I love neat downtown areas and Grapevine did not disappoint.  All of the shops and public areas were decorated beautifully.  M was determined to find Sparky a present at this little gift shop we went in.  His first idea was a card with a picture of a Golden on the front (I pushed for this strictly for financial reasons) but in the end he decided on a Charlie Brown Christmas snow globe that he was sure Sparky would love.  I will hold that $9.95 out of his allowance someday. 

Sunday we went to a little Christmas tree farm that had inflatables and fun stuff for the kids to do.  They had a huge tower of hay bales for climbing.  M wanted me to get his picture with every one of the wooden carton scenes at the farm.  Below are just a FEW of the pics.  He was trying to fit in with each scene.  Haha.  The tyrant tater had a hard time at the tree farm.  He fell down/off of things three times, and then got LAID OUT by the merry-go-round.  Funny thing is I kept talking about how dangerous merry-go-rounds were and blah blah blah.  Then I let my own baby get close enough to be knocked out by one.  Parenting fail number twelve thousand two hundred and seventy eight. :/

 

  Christmas parties, programs, and present wrappings are in full swing around here the rest of this week!

Talk to ya soon,
Angie

Christmas Parade and Erob's Birthday

This weekend we took the taters to the Christmas Parade on the Bentonville Square.  It was a great parade with tons of floats and the kids had fun.  The weather was really nice.  A couple years ago it was so cold B and I could not wait for it to be over.  We REALLY can't function in cold weather.  :/

The BHS marching band was toward the end of the parade and when they went by B and I were laughing at this dog next to us, who was completely freaking out, and we sort of forgot about the older taters for a second.  When we turned around this is what they were both doing.  Oops.  I guess they were a little freaked out too. 

The parade theme this year was Holiday Traditions Around the World so most of the floats were multi cultural themed and some of them displayed flags from other countries.  M, who is quite the patriotic little soul, looked at me toward the end of the parade and said, "All these flags and I've only seen one United States flag the whole time...everyone should be flying America's flag"!  He notices the craziest things, and I can't say I disagree with him. 

 

We also celebrated Erob's birthday this weekend.  Mandi had a party at their house.  We ate Mexican food, Fred's cheesecake, homemade cinnamon rolls, and homemade chocolate pie.  I know you'll be shocked to hear that no one asked me to bring anything "homemade" for dinner.  ;) 

Mandi, Brey, Eric, Evan, and his MIL Jaci

The Robinson clan.  Plus the taters and minus Ali.  We missed you sista!

 

Brey and Ellie

Fred's Cheesecake!


 

These cousins  have always been good friends, and have the best time playing together.  One of their favorite past times is wrestling.  It must be a boy thing because now their little brothers are doing it too!  I don't think Brey knew what hit him when the tyrant tater started tackling him.  Heehee.

 

 

B is on vacation for the next few weeks and we are all pretty excited about having home.  We have lots of fun things planned.  Only 12 days till Christmas!!!  Are you done with your shopping?  We're not even close, but hoping to put a big dent in it tomorrow!

 

Talk to ya soon,

Angie

 

 



Once Upon A Time...They Went On A Date

Once upon a time a really really cute girl and a super cool boy met, fell in love, got married, and went on lots of fun dates.  They went to movies, ate dinner with friends, and even went to ball games sometimes.  Then the really really cute girl and the super cool boy added three little taters to the mix and life got a lot more complicated.  The dates were few and far between.  The girl and boy, who no longer considered themselves really really cute or super cool (ok so maybe the boy still thinks he's super cool), became very grateful for events like Family Night Out that give them some time to go do something fun while the caring peeps at their church watch over the taters as they play.

Last weekend we took advantage of FNO at church and went out to dinner with a group of friends from our connection group.  We had a great time.  Since we don't get to do things like this often I forget how much I enjoy it!  We went to eat downtown and grabbed coffee after.  I only took the two pics above because I am just getting to know one of the couples and I was hesitant to show my crazy paparazzi side this early in our relationship.  I'm still in the "I really want them to like me" stage with these friends.  Haha.  I am not sure why I worry about this type of stuff because B's behavior will surely sabotage any good chance I have at making new friends.    As soon as we sat down he started talking about how dark it was in the restaurant and then broke out his phone and used it as a flashlight to review the menu.  Such a romantic.  Then he announced to the table that he wasn't sure why he was looking over the menu anyway because he was just going to order the cheapest thing on there!  I wish I were kidding.  We have got to get out more.  The ironic thing is people laugh at him because they think he is joking, but I know he isn't!!!  I did have a lot of fun visiting with the girls.  We talked about hair, kids, jobs, parents, more hair, and blogs.  When we got in the car I asked B what the guys talked about.  He said,"mentors and Joshua."  As in the Joshua of the Bible folks.  Guys obviously get straight to business with their conversations.  I mean I am VERY SUPER interested in mentors and in Joshua, but hello...I need to know now if ombre hair color going to be in or out in a few months!

I wanted to walk around and look at the lights on the square before we left, but B had to go to work so we were in a bit of a hurry.  This is the only pic I got because he was waving his hand in front of my phone in all the other ones trying to get me to hurry up.  His reasoning was obviously flawed because a waving hand in the pic makes it unusable, which makes me have to take another pic, which in turn wastes much more time than if he had just let me take the pictures I wanted in the first place.  Glad I got that off my chest.  :)

Ellie spent some time with Meemaw over the weekend helping finish her tree and Christmas village.  Meemaw has LOTS of fun Christmas decorations and the taters love looking at and playing with them.

When I was downloading pictures from my phone this evening I came across this video of E and R from almost exactly a year ago.  They are both such little babies compared to now.  It made me a little weepy.  E had just turned two and R is about six months.  So sweet. 

Talk to ya soon,
Angie

Thursday Randomonium

1.  I mailed the last of my Christmas cards out today!  First time ever in the history of anything that I have been to or done something early.  I feel so accomplished.  However, the sad fact is that if I am honest with myself the real reason I mailed them early is that since we moved in the last year I was worried some people wouldn't have our new address.  So my narcissistic side reared it's ugly head and forced me to mail mine early so people would have record of the new address.  There I said it.

2.  M told me tonight that he was sure I was the one moving Calvin, his elf on the shelf, around each night. Then he proceeded to rattle off a short list of places he would rather I not hide Calvin.  Bath tubs, sinks (anywhere he might get wet), outside in the weather, and anywhere he might get dirty are all off limits.  Oh and he doesn't want Calvin up too high because it might be hard to find him.  My first thought was that this turn of events was going to make the whole elf on the shelf thing a little complicated, but then I realized it actually makes it much easier.  Tonight I randomly threw Calvin down on the kitchen floor.  We'll see how this goes over in the morning. Heehee.

3.  I've found a new way to help keep The Mothership clean and avoid countless mortifying visits to the vacuums at Boomerang.  I simply take the dog with me anytime I go to the store or run errands and while we're in the car he scarfs down every last cheerio, french fry, skittle, and sometimes even a stray sock or two that I have in there!  Brilliant and cost effective...I don't know why I didn't think of it sooner.

5.  My friend Devin was visiting from Texas over Thanksgiving and we got to meet her for lunch.  We love our Devin and are so glad we were able to meet up with her.  The below pic sort of shows the type of mood the taters were in while we were with her.  It was too cold to visit outside after lunch so we went to the coffee shop next door and guess what?  Turns out a small coffee shop is not really an adequate venue to house our family of five on a cold afternoon.  You live and you learn folks.  Our only saving grace was that the tyrant tater was looking exceptionally cute in his monkey hat and parka jacket.  Otherwise I think someone may have asked us to leave.

6.  I am happy to report that this evening I am at least two dollars wealthier than millions of people across this land because I didn't waste a single penny on Powerball tickets this week!!  Just for laughs I'll leave you with the below I read on the web quoting the manager at one of the locations where a winning ticket was purchased. "It's almost as good as winning myself.  People always say I'll throw a million your way if I win...but no one ever has.  I guess now we'll just see what happens."  Hmmm?  Is this guy for real?

Talk to ya soon,
Angie

Wordless Wednesday

Talk to ya soon,
Angie

It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas around here.  Actually, it began looking like Christmas over a week ago.  We put all of our lights and decorations up before Thanksgiving this year.  A little early, but it worked with B's schedule and allowed us to have a long relaxing Thanksgiving weekend.  The kids are really having fun with Christmas...they are excited about all the decorations!

Here we ALL are getting the tree out to decorate.  This took an entire evening.  Lots of little helpers make things go a wee bit slower.

 

Helping me test the lights.

Finished Product!

 We usually have a very neutral tree and decor, but to make things more fun for the taters this year I TRIED to make things a little brighter.  Added some colored balls to the tree and fun decorations for the mantel.  I say that and then when I look at the pics below everything looks really neutral.  I admit I might need some professional help to break me of my neutral habit.  :)

I made this JOY snowflake banner...shout out to MYSELF!

Whoa look at all that color...haha

The kids helped B with the outside lights this year which was fun for them.  My friend Amanda had a good idea about wrapping some big boxes to make a cute display by the front door, and I re-worked the Christmas wreath we already had to try and brighten it up.  The wreath turned out a little crazy, but I am leaving it as is.  I am too lazy and too cheap to keep messing with it!

I tried to toss the pumpkins, but they begged to stay

a little longer!  I am thinking about painting them.

BAM!  lol

Christmas music, Christmas movies, and Christmas cookies were in full effect around here this weekend!  Hope your season is off to a great start!

Talk to ya soon,
Angie