"Merry" not Scary Halloween Party

Since Halloween fell on a Sunday this year we decided to host a Halloween party for our family and friends and I am so excited that we did.   I must say that this party was so much fun and so relaxed.   Taught me that I might need to do some things different when it comes to Emma & Gavin's next birthday parties.  Something about not having to be on a schedule, open gifts or cut the cake at a certain time makes it so much more laid back & I loved it. 

We purchased a  pumpkin for the little Goblins to paint, carve or decorate and they all had a blast doing it.   So easy and all the kids and some adults seemed to really enjoy decorating their little guys.  We supplied them with paint, glitter, glue, rhinestones, pipe cleaners, fuzzy balls, wiggly eyes, stickers and so much more.   There was something from the littlest to the biggest to enjoy. 

We wanted it to look festive and not scary for our sweet little guest and so we stuck with an orange and black polka dot theme.

We were running so behind schedule all day, so I barely got any pictures of all the decorations or the food but I did manage to get a few.  We served Pizza, Chik Fil A, PB&J bat and pumpkin sandwiches, caramel apples, 3 different kinds of Cheetos out of a witches cauldron, cheese nips, chips & queso, cookies, cupcakes, cake, juice, CFA sweet tea, orange and purple Crush soda in a glass bottle & candy galore.

I loved the way this little cake turned out.  We asked the bakery to put a friendly little spider on it and they did not disappoint.   This is a YUMMY new cake place I have found and it is amazing and the best part is their handwriting.   Of course I had to put Love The Frazier Four on it.

I can not take credit for the candy jar.  Borrowed it from another blogger, purchased the stuff and my husband sat in front of the laptop and designed it after looking at the picture (just one of the many reasons I love him so much)!

No party is complete with out cupcakes.   Thank you Curtis for decorating these while I was running around like a crazy person picking up last minute supplies and food.

A party at our house would not be complete without a candy bar.   All the kids look for it first thing when they walk into our house for a party (ha ha).  Do not worry sweet babies, I am never going to let you down.

Speaking of Trick or Treating, we asked each family to bring a treat to the party to drop in the bucket of all the little goblins and it was a blast.  We had all the adults sit around the fence line in a circle in the backyard and the kids went around to each family and yelled, "Trick or Treat".  It was so much fun and so cute to watch them all.   Of course we had to keep our eyes on the big kids because we found a few trick or treating in the buckets of the little ones.  Between the pinata, the back yard and our candy bar each kid left with a TON of candy and goodies and I would not have wanted it any other way.  They were all so cute and so appreciative.

I will be posting pictures of our party guest in the next couple days.  We think we had about 51 people attend and 27 of those were kiddos.   I am thinking we might have to do this every year it was so much fun.  I got lots of text after the party thanking us for a good time and saying, "lets do it again".  For those of you who could not join us, we missed you and hope to see you soon.  We are so incredibly blessed with great friends and family.

I am certain my husband is ready to rest, but I am so ready to take down the orange and black and start putting up the green and red, because Santa Claus is coming to town!

41 Months (13 days late)

Okay, I admit that I do not know if I will ever stop taking monthly pictures of my children.  Perhaps I do not want to admit that they are growing up so fast or I want to remember every little detail of their life along the way.   I love looking through the folder labeled Emma/Gavin Monthly pictures on my computer.   Really hard for  me to believe that there are 41 of them saved in this sweet babies file.

Emma, you are everything I dreamed of when I prayed to have a daughter one day.  Your unbelievable compassion and love for life is a breath of fresh air daily.  No doubt in my mind you are going to do  great things with your life and I look forward to being by your side every step of the way.   We love you more than you can ever imagine and think it is the sweetest thing when you  ask us for, "two Kisses & a Hug". 

Pumpkin Carving

We decided to turn our pumpkin into a Jack O' Lantern last night by giving him a sweet little face.  We let Emma choose the design she wanted carved into him and we were not a bit surprised at the one she chose.

Little Man enjoyed scooping the guts out of him and yelling, "YUCK, YUCK, YUCK" as his sister stood about 5 feet away and held her nose proclaiming, "he STINKS!"   Daddy was laughing because she did the same thing last year as a 2 year old.     



Curtis is like a big kid when it comes to anything that has to do with the holidays.   They were all so serious about this pumpkin.  Of course, Mommy is behind the lens.

Emma did a large amount of the carving her self and did a great job.   She has gotten really great at tracing over her numbers and letters at MDO, so it was easy for her to follow along the dotted line on the pumpkin.

Here he is in all his glory, our 2010 Pumpkin that my sweet babies helped bring to life.   Turned out pretty cute and he will certainly  welcome our guest with a smile on Saturday at our "Merry" not SCARY Halloween Party!

Halloween at Ballet

Tonight we journeyed into the world of Pixie Hollow as our very own Tinker Bell ventured out the door to Ballet/Tap class. 

The days of picking out Halloween costumes for this itty bitty are over with and she decided she would settle for nothing but Tinker Bell this year.   After sprinkling her pixie dust on me, I decided it was really about her and not about me so we set out to find cutest little costume ever.

Tonight when she got dressed for the first time she said, "Mom, do you want to see me fly?  I think I can really fly."   I truly believe in my heart she thought she was going to be able to fly, so sweet and so innocent.

Emma's dance teacher, Mrs. Cheryl has a very special place in her heart for Emma.  She is always so sweet, gentle and kind to Emma and truly appreciates her ability to stay on task and follow directions. 

Emma's little friend Mia was the cutest little Alice and so proud to share with the class that her brother would be the Mad Hatter.  I  love this costume and might have to buy it to add to our dress up collection.

Looking forward to the upcoming festivities this week and our Halloween party on Saturday.  I wonder if Captain Hook is going to let us get a picture of him with Tinker Bell?

Pumpkin Patch 2010

We are running a little behind this year, but we took our first trip to the Pumpkin Patch yesterday in search of 25 pumpkins for our Halloween Party next Saturday.

This little guy was running 102.3 fever all day yesterday, so there were no smiles to be had out of him.  When he found his pumpkin he was ready to go and did not want to hang around to watch us hunt for the rest.  Good thing the airport was near by and "airpwanes" kept flying over to keep him occupied.

Miss Emma could have hung out in the patch all day.  She found her pumpkin and held it in her hands the entire time we looked for the rest.  She is so excited to paint and show him to all her cousins at the party.

Hmmm....the camera is over here guys.  They were more interested in what the other people were doing and which pumpkin they were going to choose.   So my children, I love to stare too.

Gavin was not a fan of his tie, but I thought it was so cute and the perfect way to have him and his sister match at the patch.   His Daddy would not have been happy if I had ordered him a polka dot pumpkin shirt.

I love this little boy so much and am so glad he is one of the Frazier Four.  He has worked so hard in the last 3 weeks on his behavior and we are so proud of him.

You are looking at my FAVORITE two boys in the whole world.  Not sure my kids could have a more perfect Daddy.  Curtis is the most loving and kindest man I know and I searched the pumpkin patch a long time to find him.

My super sweet girl that was very concerned why the pumpkin to her right had a frown on his face.   Just like her to notice the little things or if someone is not happy. 

Last week we got in the car to go somewhere and this "witty itty bitty" sang every word to the song, You're Gonna Miss This by Trace Adkins when it came on the radio.  I had a lump in my throat and a sick feeling in my stomach listening to her and thinking about how I am going to wish these days hadn't gone by so fast.

We had a great time picking out pumpkins and at the end of the search the best little pumpkins came home with me and I could not be more grateful.   So thankful for my family and all the memories we are making along the way.

                         

We will be returning to the Pumpkin Patch one day this week to try and get a picture of both kiddos looking and smiling.  That seems to be a challenge these days, I am certain our Christmas Photo shoot will be very interesting.

Happy Fall Y'all ~ Love The Frazier Four

My LIttlE ShADow!

This little girl would follow behind my every step all day if she could.  Not sure if it is the age or she just loves me so much, but she does not want me out of her sight or to go a single place without her.   Every time we do go our separate ways she always says, "Mom, please give me two hugs and two kisses" and I would not dare leave her sight without doing it or her day is ruined.

In her little mind she thinks she is a model and is quite SASSY for a three year old.  We had to pick up a couple little things from Gap for Daddy the other day and she had to have this jean jacket. Emma was willing to take money out of her piggy bank to pay for it so she could, "look just like you Mom". 

I can hardly believe how quickly this little girl is growing, but in my heart I hope she always wants to be like me, give me 2 kisses and 2 hugs and wants to be so close to me every step of the way in life.

Calling all Mommies of BOYS!

How can something so cute be so mean?  This little boy keeps me in constant prayer, reading literature on raising a boy, striking up conversations with other BOY Mommies and questioning myself.

So let me hear it....what has been successful with the Little Men in your life?  I want to hear it all from dealing with fits, timeouts, spankings, hairpulling, biting and the agressiveness that comes in such a little package.   I am open for suggestions, ideas and trying new things.  I will be the first to admit that we do not have all the answers but we are working super hard to help this little guy be happy and make good choices.  Let me just tell you that this boy MOMMY thanks you in advance.   If you don't have anything to contribute perhaps you can tell me your BOY is doing it too and I can find some comfort in knowing I am not alone. BOY oh BOY I can hardly wait to hear what all of you have to say. 

Biggest Losers...104 lbs down

I am so PROUD to announce that me and my husband have lost 104 pounds in the last six months and we are beyond thrilled.   Why?  We did it for our KIDS, those spoiled children of ours DESERVED it and so did we.  I am not usually one to brag, but I have been waiting for the day to post that we reached the 100 pound mark together. We have been sick in our house for a week, so the virus makes us look like over achievers.   

Back in April we both decided we no longer wanted to continue living unhealthy, so we began eating right, eliminated junk food in our home, stopped going out to eat and began riding our bikes.   I can honestly say we did it as a team and it has been easy, once we made our minds up that we were committed to ourselves, our marriage, our children and living healthier.  Funny thing is, alot of people did not know we were doing this and had these goals in mind.  We would just show up at family events or see friends and they began to notice that we looked different.

It has been a journey, one that was a challenge but one we both took very serious and we could not be happier.  I can honestly say that we feel better, we have more energy, we look better and are thrilled to continue on this journey to teach our kids to live healthy lifestyles.   Yes, we cheat every now and again but the key is to journal our food intake daily with Lose It.   When we started we were consuming about 15,000 calories a day combined, now we are down to about 3200 a day between both of us.  Crazy I know, please keep your comments to yourself because we were out of control!

So, this is an old picture (when we got engaged) and I hope to have a new one soon.   We are scheduled to have our Christmas pictures taken in November, so I plan to post a new picture of us and believe it or not we are both smaller now.

I encourage each of you to get motivated, it is so worth it.  My only regret is that I waited so long to realize how much fun healthier living truly can be and I look forward to being around a few extra days to watch my babies grow old.

Emma & Gavin ~ We love you both so much. Thank you for being the motivation that encouraged us to think about the future of our family and how important it is to make wise choices about our health today.   We are going to have a BLAST at Disney when we finally decide to make the trip!  

Curtis, I am so PROUD of you!  You look amazing and have worked so hard to be healthy so you can be a great role model for our children.  Thank you for all your support and for encouraging me every step of the way.  Thank you for staying at home when I take off on my 10 mile bike rides every night after our babies are asleep.  No doubt we can do anything we put our minds to as long as we are TEAM FRAZIER! I love you with my WHOLE heart!

So YES, we are still THE FRAZIER FOUR we are just 104 pounds lighter and hoping to lose 36 more together!

Please help!

Can someone please take a look at my post below and tell me why my post are looking like this?  I noticed that Blogger changed about 4 post back & this girl does not do change well at all.   Is there anyway to go back to the old format?   Is this format still compatible with Blog2Print?   I plan to go back and rework the post below because it looks CRAZY, but would love any advice you have to offer on what in the world is going on.  Oh, and one last thing...when I look at this from my phone a square shows up right below the picture, what is that? 

Because post are no fun without pictures, here you go.  I am a girl who likes the same ole' same ole!  Perhaps that is  why I am so excited my baby girl is playing with one of the same toys I played with as a kid.  Strawberry Shortcake, the memories I have of you will last a lifetime. I use to love when I would squeeze your belly and you would blow a strawberry kiss in my face, I can recall that scent like it was yesterday.  I sure hope they remake you soon, so Emma can enjoy you as much as I did.   I love to hear her say, "Mom, she has red hair and freckles just like me!"

Rough, Tough & 19 months old

Happy Birthday to YOU, Little Man!



We are so thankful for you little boy and love you more than you will ever know.   You have grown so much in the last couple months and seem to be losing the baby look.   There are so many things about you we never want to forget:

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  Wearing size 6 diapers & size 2T clothes but are slimming down and can get back into some of your 18-24 month stuff
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  You go to bed about 7:00 every night and sleep till about 6:30 every morning.
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  Enjoy taking 2-3 hour naps everyday
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  Prefer to eat Special K Cereal bars everyday & all day if we would let you
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  Bite regularly (have had a one on one shadow at school that we have had to pay the salary of for 2 weeks)
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  Weigh 27 lbs and wear size 7 shoe
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  Love to watch TV and would do it all day if we would let you.
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  You talk non stop and we love to hear you say, "I don't know" when we ask you where someone or something is
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  Enjoy talking on the phone or carrying one around in your hands.
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  Can start a fight with your sister quicker than we can get a light turned on.
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  Bath time is still one of your favorites
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  Want to drink "juicy juicy" all the time (Minute Maid 10)
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  Walk around talking to Beamer all the time and saying his name
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  Throw, hit or kick anything you can get your hands on
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  Constantly smile and have the brightest eyes we have ever seen
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  Super ticklish and laugh hysterically when we rub your skin lightly
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  Airplanes in the sky catch your attention every time they are close by
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  We have 2 frogs that you love and walk around saying "ribbit ribbit"
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  Like to help us take the trash to the back door

There are days you are SUPER SWEET and others where you make us say WOW!  You sure do know how to keep this Mommy & Daddy on our toes.  We love you very much and always will!