Words you never thought you'd say...

OK, so I know I just posted, but I was on here playing around and had to say the words

"Kayla, stop biting the cat's tail..."

Wow...those are things you never thought you'd have to say!

Post Christmas Let-Down?

So, Joe and I decided yesterday that the week after Christmas is pretty depressing. It shouldn't be, considering I'm off work and home with the kids, but it's all over. You know what I mean...time to take down the decorations (no, I guess I can't wait until March!), family all goes home and its time to get back to normal life (whatever that means). I haven't started taking down the decorations yet, even though I know I should so I don't have to spend all weekend doing it, but there's just something about leaving it all up a little while longer.

So much for "many updates" during the week of Christmas-I should have known better than to make such a promise! The kids have been busy playing with all their fun Christmas gifts. Kayla just loves the kitchen and MANY baby dolls she got and has spent much time changing their diapers and making us all food to eat. Austin has been playing non-stop with his spiderman and astronaut toys and I'm pretty sure we've seen Wall-E 19 times since Christmas!

On Christmas Eve, Joe's family all came out to his mom's house and we had a big dinner. Joe made a prime rib that was AMAZING! The kids had a great time playing outside and swinging with their cousin. Kayla had on her dress so we could try to take family pictures (which was NOT successful!) and then she didn't want to take it off, so we left it on her for the rest of the day. Even while she was out in the barn with the horses! That night, we put out the cookies and milk, along with some hay for the reindeer, along with special reindeer food and then went to bed...but not really...WE, OF COURSE, WATCHED WALL-E!!!

This is the best family picture we got on Christmas Eve. And, by best, I mean that we're all looking at the camera and no one was crying! The camera was on the wrong setting, though, so the coloring is bad...figures!

This is Kayla running around outside in the barn in her fancy dress...oh well! I guess you only get to be young once, right?!

And, here's Austin playing tag with his cousin in his fancy clothes...

And swinging...


The next morning, we were pleasantly surprised (OK, the kids were!) to see the bikes that had been left for them. Kayla's was really from my grandparents, but it just seemed right to have both bikes out for the kids. Austin also got a painting set, which I may come to regret in the future. Kayla got a nursery center for her babydolls-which has already very much come in handy! The babydolls are all very clean after their baths and are well fed with food from the kitchen!

Austin was pretty excited about his Aggie Football uniform and spent the rest of the day wearing it!

We spent the rest of the week after Christmas before coming back home to visit with my parents for about a day before they left to head back again. Now its time to take it all down and get ready to start all over again. I realized that I have less than 2 weeks to get ready for Kayla's birthday-I realize that she's only turning 2 and that I don't have to do anything big, but I did for Austin's and I'm afraid she'll feel slighted! When am I going to learn?

So, what have I learned this year? Well, here we go

1. Having two kids that have very different personalities tends to drive you crazy-but it sure is fun!
2. Organized sports can be fun even if we "don't keep score"
3. Just because one kid does things one way doesn't mean the other will follow suit!
4. Just because I want to lose weight doesn't mean it will happen!
5. Joining a gym isn't enough...you actually have to go!
6. Having a "biter" isn't the end of the world-I just have to work with her a little more!
7. Kids grow up way too fast and you never take pictures at the times you wish you had!
8. A change in a job (Joe's) to a location much further away will actually give me more time with my husband!
9. Sometimes in an election, good really does come out on top (and I'm not talking about the National election!)
10. Friends and family are one of the most important things in the world and you never keep in touch as much as you wish you would!

I hope you've all had a wonderful holiday season and have as much to be thankful for and look forward to in the new year as we do!

Merry Christmas!!

So, this will probably be the first of several (hopefully!) posts over this weekend to document our family Christmas! We came to Gee's house (Joe's mom) yesterday and have been going non-stop ever since. First, we had to make a run to Wal-Mart (about the only place to go in Palestine, Texas!) since I forgot the stockings at our house and spent way more time there than we wanted to. I guess that's what happens when you go to Wal-Mart two days before Christmas!

This morning (Christmas Eve), Joe was going to take Austin duck hunting for the first time. Keep in mind that Austin does not have any hunting clothes, so Joe is just planning on putting one of his coats on Austin so that he will be camouflaged! Also keep in mind that it is about 65 degrees here right now, so there are NO ducks anywhere to be seen. Well, Joe and Austin are on their way to check it out anyway. Joe gets Austin up at 6:15 and gets him dressed to take him to the pond behind the house to "hunt." I hear them about to walk out the door and Austin is doing such a great job being quiet. They open the door and I hear

Joe: "uh oh"

Austin: "its raining."

I wish I could get across the sound in his voice. It was filled with such disappointment, but so matter of fact. They then proceed to stand at the door, with the door open, and look at it, as if staring hard enough will make it go away. Finally, they come back in, resolved to try again another day.

So, later, Kayla gets up and is playing outside. When Austin was little, we used to let him play outside at Gee's house without worrying about what he was doing. He always stayed right near the house and RARELY got into anything he wasn't supposed to. Kayla, on the otherhand, cannot be trusted even if she were on a leash. She gets into EVERYTHING! Yesterday, I walked outside and she had her hands in the little fishpond behind the house trying to catch the little goldfish in there. She looks up at me and says "Look, Mommy, fishies..." Wow... Well, today, Gee goes outside to look for Kayla and can't find her, but she can hear her talking. She walks around the corner and finds Kayla ON THE TRACTOR!!! Kayla has climbed up by herself and is sitting in the tractor pretending to drive. I finally convince her that we should go get Bubba (mostly so he can keep his eye on her while she's playing!) and as we're heading into the house, he comes out. She waves him over and says "come on Bubba" and then proceeds to show him that she has discovered the tractor they can play on! Wow, again...

Here's Kayla, quite pleased with her new find!!

And here they both are. I think Austin is trying to figure out if he's going to get in trouble by being on the tractor!

They have been having such a great time and are taking a nap as I type this! Tonight, the rest of Joe's family will be coming over to eat dinner and open gifts. Should be an incredibly hectic night! I'm sure it will be VERY easy to put them to bed tonight!

Last week was Austin's Christmas program at school...he was one of the three wisemen. He was so cute (again...not that I'm biased or anything!) and did such a good job standing by the manger scene!

That night, we went to Santa's Wonderland with some of our friends. We ate dinner, went to the petting zoo, took a hayride to look at Christmas lights and sat by the campfire. It was a very fun night for everyone, although you wouldn't know it by Kayla's temper tantrum at the end of the night.

Here are the kids waiting "patiently" for the hayride!

I'm pretty sure Kayla had had enough and was ready to go home!

Finally, we celebrated Christmas with my family on Sunday evening since they would all be in Houston and we're all at Joe's mom's house. Austin's favorite gift was a Polar Express train that my grandparent's game him. He said it was his "best Christmas present ever." Kayla got a kitchen from my mom that has already gotten much play time. She loves to make dinner for everyone, even though it usually consists of plastic cookies. Its probably a good thing that we split it all up into several days. I think both children were a little overwhelmed by everything on Sunday.


Austin with his new train!

Who knows what Kayla was cooking at this point!

We hope you all have a very Merry Christmas and enjoy spending time with family and friends. I will post more as the week progresses!

Winter Wonderland!!!

So, it SNOWED tonight!!! It started at about 4:30 and lasted until about 7:15. And, not just that wet, sleety stuff...REAL SNOW!!! The kind I used to see all the time growing up! It was sticking to the grass and everything! I got excited and got home as quick (and safely!) as I could to take pictures of the kids in the snow. You never know when (or if!) we're ever going to see this sort of thing in College Station again! We get home and put on their warm coats and Kayla has a MELTDOWN as soon as we walk into the snow. I mean screaming and kicking and yelling "No, snow!" Austin on the other hand was running in the yard and trying to make snowballs. We discovered that is hard to do when you don't have gloves since the snow is rather cold on the hands!

Finally, we were able to get Kayla to walk outside and take a group shot and then she SORT OF walked around and touched it...A LITTLE BIT! Hopefully she'll get used to this. If not, it could make for some interesting ski trips when they get older! Here are some pics from our fun!

Here's our house from the street...

...and a little bit closer!

Here's Austin absolutely THRILLED about the snow...

...And Kayla not thinking its so great!

But finally she started to get interested in it!

Family shot (well, minus Joe!)

Kinda random...but I liked this shot of our Christmas tree...
And the first fire of the year!

Again...random! Just thought this looked pretty cool!

Hope you've all had a great week!

I'm beginning to think stores have the right idea...

There's something to be said about the stores putting their Christmas decorations up in October (OK, maybe earlier!) We started last week on Saturday after Thanksgiving. We got most of the outside stuff up and most of the inside stuff up, including the tree, minus the ornaments. Then, it sat that way for the entire week while I was in trial and Joe tried to manage the kids on his own. I swear, one of these days, we will be in the house at the same time! So, we finished decorating today...including adding more lights to the outside of the house. We then realized that Christmas is less than three weeks away and we will have to take our decorations back down shortly thereafter. Maybe we'll leave them up until March!

Thanksgiving was a LOT of fun. My parents and grandparents came in to town, along with my brother and his family. We spent lots of time outside playing a "football game"...although Austin informed us that the girls had to be cheerleaders! Kayla wasn't having much with the "cheerleading" and instead decided to get EVERY toy out of the garage. You would have thought a Toys 'r' Us blew up in our front yard!!

This is Kayla being interrupted in her quest to inventory every toy we own!

I think Austin was tired of waiting for his Daddy and Uncle D to figure out they were doing!

After Austin bored of the football, the kids went to the park with Poppie while we got "dinner" (although it has to be eaten before the Cowboys play at 3 and the Aggies play at 7!) on the table. Those kids sure have the grown ups wrapped around their little fingers. I think they all had a great time, but they were pooped after all of it. Kayla fell asleep on the floor outside of her room when she wouldn't stay in there to take a nap and Austin crashed on his bed wearing his Halloween costume (doesn't everyone do that on Thanksgiving?!) that he had put on to show everyone!

This is my grandfather, Poppa, who is also known as "Austin's best friend". Austin climbed up on his lap and asked me to take a picture, which made both of our days!

My grandmother was not feeling well, so we missed having her eat with us, but it was great to get to see everyone and give thanks for all we have in our lives.

We took the kids to breakfast with Santa at the church this morning and they had a really good time. Since it was the morning version (they also do dinner), the kids were encouraged to wear their pajamas. My children of course have matching pajamas (Thanks, Nonnie!) so they really got a kick out of it. At first, they didn't really want much to do with Santa, which I expected since Austin has always been afraid of him and I just figured that Kayla was at that age. As the morning went on, Kayla started to gravitate towards Santa and started to climb up to him. I convinced her to get in line and wait for "my next"...translation, "my turn"...and when we got to the front, she walked up and climbed up on Santa's lap on her own. I am constantly amazed at how different my children are! Well...not to be outdone by his sister, Austin went up there and got on Santa's lap, too! This was the first time he has actually gotten on Santa's lap since he was a baby!

This is Austin telling Santa that he and his sister never fight, but when they do, Kayla is the one who starts it! I was trying to hear what Austin was telling Santa he wanted, but I couldn't. When Santa asked Kayla what she wanted, it looked like she was growling at him! I later found out from my friend Amy that she was telling him she wanted a dinosaur and that Amy and Kayla had talked about it beforehand. I'm sure Santa thinks my children are crazy!!

Merry Christmas from the Comte kids!!!

AND...pictures from November...so far!

So, you obviously know by now that November started off with "our" election night victory. This is a picture of many members of our office at our election night "victory" party. This picture wasn't taken until almost 99% of the votes were in so we were sure we were in the clear. I think this is the relaxed we had been in quite some time.


After several years of tailgating for almost all the A&M games, we were somewhat derailed this season with the addition of soccer to our already busy lives! But we were able to have a tailgate party for the last game against OU. The tailgate party was really fun...can't say the same about the game! Our great friends Chris and Melissa were able to come and bring Gracie...their three month old baby (although I think she was only two months at the time!) Gracie is such a blessing after everything they went through to have her and the Comte kids sure love being around her. Auntie (my brother's wife) and her kids came up as well. Austin just loves playing with them and missed having them here so much. My niece sure loves him and loves to be around him. I took some really cute pictures...just didn't think my SIL would want me putting their pictures all over the internet!






About a week before the tailgate, Chris and Melissa came over for dinner and my kiddos couldn't get enough of Gracie! Kayla is finally warming up to her and was trying to get her to play, I think! Austin just likes to hold her and touch her head...not sure what that's about!



This past weekend weekend was Junior League Charity Ball, which gave Joe and I away for the night. We (OK, I!) had a really good time. We were there with several of our friends and really enjoyed a night of "grown up" time.




I hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving and enjoys time with friends and family. I know I keep saying it, but I will try to be better about putting pictures up. Maybe I need to figure out how to work that nifty slide show thingy!

PICTURES, PICTURES, PICTURES...from October!!!!

OK, so here they finally are! I'm putting a lot here so that I can get them all in. The first pictures are from Austin's last two soccer games.

You can't see it, but I'm wearing the infamous "soccer mom" shirt that I swore I'd never wear! Oh the things we'll do for our children...
This was Austin's last soccer game when they got their trophies. I had to convince him that it wasn't a toy and we couldn't play with it. With much chagrin, he finally agreed to put it on the shelf!
The fam after one of the last soccer games...
These two pictures are of Austin and his friend Keaton. Keaton's family goes to church with us and we've become really good friends with them. The boys are a little over a month apart and they "fight" as boys do...and then get upset when we try to separate them!
NOW...More Pumpkin patch pictures!! We went to the pumpkin patch AGAIN with my sister-in-law and her kids. Austin spelled out his name in little pumpkins (mostly on his own!) and Kayla was content just climbing on them!



And...finally...HALLOWEEN!!! Austin dressed as an "Army" (ie: a soldier...sorry, Poppa!) I bought his costume at a local army surplus store and then sewed the patches on myself. (See earlier blog about learning to sew!) He's put it on several more times to play dress up in and also to go outside and shoot his M16 (no...its not real!) in the front yard...how redneck can we get?! Kayla on the other hand was a fairy princess. I was worried because, leading up to Halloween, she did not like to wear the crown and the wings, but she ended up doing great and looking so angelic...boy, she had everyone fooled!




We went to one of my co-workers' house for a Halloween Party...notice that Joe is the only one not dressed up. We kept telling everyone he was "Joe the Plumber!"

And...I just had to add one picture of our newest neighborhood watch mechanism!

I'm going to post November pictures in another post!