This is...

It has been a busy month!

Let us rewind:
We FINALLY found a home!!! It is in a nice neighborhood, it has all the rooms we require, and my kids can walk to school. I am so excited. We will close before Christmas! I am so ready to get my piano back and FINALLY feel settled - to make friends and to make a home for my kids. Our time here has really been tough on the kids - Aaron especially. I am looking forward to living in a neighborhood again, having my kids able to ride their bikes, and make friends, and have a backyard! Ok, enough about that - suffice it to say I am looking forward to having a home again. Living in this 2 bedroom apartment with 3 kids has been a learning experience. It hasn't been COMPLETELY miserable - just the limbo part has been tough. BUT GOOD BYE LIMBO! I KNOW WHERE WE WILL BE NEXT MONTH!! FYI, it is a forclosure, so we are getting a good deal... but we have a bit of work ahead - like replacing the built in microwave they ripped out, fixing carpet they pooped on, and replacing light fixtures they ripped out of the ceiling in places... but beyond that, the house is in good shape. ;)

Here are 2 pictures of why I am so excited about this house - 1. it is beautiful, and 2. it has a really nice kitchen.

ANYWAYS... Living in limbo has offered us an excuse to escape to the ranch every weekend. We sure enjoy that place. The boar has eluded us STILL... reason #1: The Robinsons are crazy. I think any creature would be scared off knowing they were around. #2: There is always an excuse - some of the excuses are that the 4wheelers tip and there are accidents... but other excuses include "I was barefoot" and "I didnt have a gun when I saw the boar" and "It took too long to jump off the 4 wheeler, make sure no other crazy nighttime 4wheeler driver was anywhere near before I took the shot - by then, the boar had run 400 yards..." ya.... Here is my excuse: ROBINSON MALES ARE A BUNCH OF CRAZIES... to catch the boar, they would just have to sit out there and be quiet - but they would rather chase them down on their loud machines... so far?

ROBINSONS 0
BOARS 30.

Enough of the boar... bore...

Thanksgiving was exciting. All 6 Allen kids were in town. We saw Twilight (it was quite an experience sitting next to Dawn - we had our own personal Mystery Science Theatre)...
We went on a ride on the Polar Express - that was sure fun. The kids sent off rockets. We went to the park. We played games. We ate. We saw Ronda, and Koya. We ate. I showed my sisters my new house! We ate. We had a wonderful Thanksgiving. It was full of good food and fun times. The kids put on a cute little program (my mom of course had to help them put on the production). It really was just fun to be with my family. It was great to meet Owen's girlfriend. We took family pictures. The boys played in the Turkey Bowl. I for some reason got no pictures... but maybe I will add some in when I find some. We really had a lot of fun playing games together. The kids had a great time together too.
I stopped by the turkey bowl to take pics. I saw Dan make a tackle (grab a flag). Joe QB. Lochlin catch an interception... I think they had fun... you cant beat football on Thanksgiving (oh ya, the REAL Cowboys won too).

Throughout the week, we were pretty concerned about Joe's mom in the hospital.

Friday, after the Polar Express experience (which was really a delight - the kids LOVED it!), I said goodbye to the Allen clan and headed to the ranch. The reason I ditched my family? The Davies! We hadn't seen them for more than a year. My kids had been praying for their cousin Jillian (she has leukemia), but I was afraid they didn't really remember her. Anyways, we had a lot of fun. It is always fun to see family... Except, Joe decided to demolish the RAZOR... so we will just add that to our Christmas list: 1. A house. 2. A fridge 3. A bed 4. A microwave 5. lights for the house 6. A totalled RAZOR... sorry kids, you might not be getting much this year...
actually, to be honest, I am just glad they were ok. Steve had managed to get his arm pinned by that machine a couple weeks ago, and from what I hear, the Joe's wreck was pretty scary - it apparently looked like a nascar wreck with somersaults etc. Luckily, Joe and Tyler (my nephew) had seatbelts on, and the net up, so their limbs stayed in the vehicle, and while their helmets were dingged up, at least their faces stayed in tact.

Sunday, we left the ranch early and headed to Houston to see Joe's mom. She was surprisingly chipper for just having been released from the hospital. She looks great and it was fun to see her. She gave us a scare, but we are relived that she is ok.

On Thursday, Charity got to meet Carly Patterson and Nastia Lupkin at the gym where she takes gymnastics!!! Those two girls actually trained at that gym, so it is VERY cool. They were doing a toy drive autographing thing (quite serendipitous that it was during the same time as Charity's class). SO, rather than sitting and watching Charity, I sat in line. It was so crowded - LOTS of people were there for the event. The timing worked out perfectly - she came out of her class and it was her turn! Aaron was all excited to be on tv (the local news was there)... Nate was just happy to play with the trains. Yes, I love that gym because they have a train table and a tv that plays movies to entertain the tots while mom watches the gymnasts...