Merry Christmas!!!

12-25-08

A day that was filled with family and fun. Everyone seemed to have a great day and an enjoyable Christmas. We of course had lasagna and all the extras and lots and lots of gifts.
What a great day and so very thankful for the family that we have.

Christmas Eve

12-24-08

Well it is that time of year, when it seems we are just on the go the whole time. We started of at Aunt Linda's and had a great time with her and all the boys. Then went to Becky's to visit with Bryan's side of the family. We had a really good time and got home late but the kids enjoyed every minute of it.

Sitting with Santa @ Bass Pro

12-21-08 We'll we had to go to Bass Pro for a gift and so we got the kids to go ahead and sit with Santa. They were doing free pictures, but I wasn't allowed to take my own and it was as well decorated as last years. But the kids still had an okay time.

Winter Party Time

12-19-08

The kids get to have a Winter Party before their break for Christmas. The 5th graders (Colin's grade) got to have the cafeteria with loads of food, music and fun. Rana's class had theirs in the classroom, they made an ornament, had some food, played bingo and then got to watch a movie.

It's Basketball Season

12-17-08

Jaki had her 1st official game of Basketball and they did well. She also got some extra cheering from Jared, Kacie, Rory, & A. Carol that night at her game. They are trying and more practice is needed, but Jaki is really enjoying being able to play and she is on B Team.

Holiday In the Park at Fiesta Texas

12-6-08
We (including Bryan) all went to Feista Texas to check out their Holiday in the Park. It was fun, but not many rides were available to ride and the snow sled ride they had was okay, but it was fun to go and see how they decorate the Park up for winter with all it's Christmas lights.

The kid's didn't want to stand in line to see Santa, so while out walking in the park we came across Frosty and I made the kids take a picture with him.

Then of course, Colin wanted to check the wheelchair ride and the First Aid Area. He rode the Scream Ride and when he got off he stepped onto a piece of metal and it cut his foot. He didn't have his shoes on at the time, because they thought that they might fall off while riding the ride. But the cool thing was beside the people being so nice was that he got a clean pair of socks out of it.

And the Last thing the kids did was have some hot chocolate, which was very very good.

Santa Going Green

12-4-08

Colin is all dressed up as a soldier for his Christmas play - Santa's Going Green. The kids did a really good job and had lots of fun. Colin even got to borrow his helmet from our neighbor, so it is a really army helmet and was extremely heavy.

Happy Birthday, Kathleen!!

We are thinking of you today, and hope that you are having a great day! Hopefully you got to sleep in, unless of course you decide that shopping was more important.

Hugs & Kisses, We Love You!

Jaki, Colin, Rana, Bryan & Gaelynn

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Happy Thanksgiving to all our Family & Friends. We hope that your day is filled with lots food, fun, and love. We are thinking of all of you!! Take Care!

Happy 11th Birthday to Colin!!

Colin celebrated his birthday yesterday at Home with family.
He got to go deer hunting this past weekend with dad, Uncle Randy and Tyler, which is what he wanted most. Then last night we celebrated with the rest of the family once everyone was off work. He got what he wanted for his birthday, so he was extremely happy.

Nathan's Birthday Party Pictures

Well - here are some of the pictures of Nathan's 1st Birthday Party!

Nathan

Madison

Rana, Jennifer, & Sabrina

Nathan & Casey

Colin

HAPPY 1ST BIRTHDAY NATHAN!!

Our Great Nephew Nathan is 1 years old today. We got to celebrate his birthday with family this past Saturday at MacArthur park with lots and lots of family and friends. We had a wonderful time visiting with Cricket & Jason, Casey & John, Lisa & David, and Jennifer and her boyfriend. Nathan had such a good time that he fell asleep during present time. As soon as I get the pics onto my computer I will put some on the blog.

Happy Halloween!!

I know it's a few days late, but it seems that there is never enough hours in the day, even with the time change this weekend. But the kids had a great Halloween; Colin is a dead Pizza Delivery Boy, Rana is a Tinkerbell Fairy, and Jaki is Miss Muffit. Take care and I will try to post more pictures soon. And here is a picture of Ella in her UT Cheerleader costume.

Halloween is Almost Here

I can't believe that on Friday, Halloween will be here. It's hard to believe that Bryan and I celebrated our 18th Wedding Anniversary this month on the 13th and Devon turned another year older on the 7th. The kids have been busy with school and are going to be starting their fun after school programs. Rana is so excited that she will be doing Cooking Club this year, and Colin is looking forward to doing Mountain Biking, and Jaki is almost done with her Volleyball games. The last one she will be playing in that we know of is on this Thurs. the 30th.

Josh, our nephew, is in town for a couple of weeks. And so Jaki and Kortney have it planned out for him to take them to the Madison Homecoming Football game, which is also on Thursday.

Colin did get 2nd Place in the Bike Rodeo, back in September. Here he is with his trophy.

Jaki also received an award on the 23rd of October. The Wood Wrangler Golden Spur Award. This award was given to those to acknowledge their educational achievements and outstanding contributions. Each grade level only picked seven to nine students. They do this once every nine weeks.

Rana got to go to her 1st Halloween Party, yesterday, at her friend Kailyn's house. She had a wonderful time and is looking forward to getting to go back over. She went as Tinkerbell and won a few of the Costume Contests.

A New Addition to Our House

October 6th, 2008

Here's our New Addition, Poncho. He's a teacup Chihuahua, from Rob's dogs that he has. He's been lots of fun and the kids love him. And yes, he's already be to the Scrapbook Store.

Look Who's 18 mths

Oct. 5, 2008

Ella is 18 mths old already. She is going to school 2 days a week and loving it. Having a piece of cheese at Aunt Gaelynn's.

Bike Rodeo

September 23, 2008

The Kids (Colin & Rana) did the Bike Rodeo at School. They had lots of fun and got to see Uncle Gord0n, who is the Safety Officer in charge of the Bike Rodeos for the NEISD. Lorraine came to watch the kids ride, but we ended up putting her to work filing the kids paperwork for the Bike Rodeo. Lots of fun.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY HOPE!!!

Whoo!!! Hoo!!

Happy Birthday, Hope!!


We wish we were there with you today, but know that we are thinking of you and that we send our love. Have a Great Day!!! And I wanted to let you know that I am so glad that I (Aunt Gaelynn) get to share this Special Day with you.

Grandparents Day Lunch @ Fox Run

September 19, 2008

Grandma Tonie and Grandma Riggs both got to come up to the school and have lunch with the kids. Colin got to see both Grandmas and have his picture taken with them. But Rana ate so much earlier that she didn't get to see Grandma Tonie this year so was a little upset with Colin for getting to have his picture taken with both, but she did get over it quickly.

And Volleyball Begins

Sept. 11th, 2008

Jaki made Go Team for Volleyball. They had their 1st game today and it was against Tejeda Middle School. So every Thursday evening until mid November there will be a volleyball game. Go Team has about 50 girls on it, but the coaches picked 18 or so girls from that 50 to play this 1st game, so hopefully Jaki will be pick for every game. We will have to wait and see. Below are a few pictures from her 1st game.

Grandmother's Day

Sept. 7th, 2008

Grandparent's Day was on Sunday, Sept. 7th. We celebrated by going up to Canyon Lake. The grandmas (Tonie & Lorraine) came up and played in the water at the swim area of Potter's Creek while the kids were on the boat with Devon riding around on the tube. Ella was the one who got in the water the most at the swim area, the rest of us just waded around in it. Below are some pictures of the kids on the tube and in the boat and Missy Ella in the water.

Back To School

We have made it thru the 1st week and now have almost made it thru the second week of school.

I'm not quite sure who is more tired me or them. We start our day by getting up around 6:30 a.m. and getting Colin and Rana to school by 7:05, Colin has morning patrols so he's got to be there early. Then of course he's also got to do afternoon patrols also, so we don't leave school until after 3 p.m. Jaki gets to catch the bus in the morning around 7:45, but I think she's happier with that then being a school by 6:30 a.m. for Volleyball practice like last year. The 8th grade Volleyball teams practice in the afternoon, so since she has made GO Team again this year she will be at school until 4:45 p.m. for practice at least two days a week, then plus games on Thursdays.

And of course there is that wonderful chore of HOMEWORK! So far it isn't to bad, then again this is only the 2nd week. Rana has spelling words and reading, Colin usually has math, and Jaki everyday is a new adventure for her.

Here are some pictures of the kids on the 1st day of School. Yes, it was dark. Colin had to be at school and on the stage for morning patrols at 7 a.m., so we got there by 6:55.

Colin all ready to go for Patrols.

Rana just ready for school and her teacher Mrs. Magallan.

Jaki mostly ready to go, but still had to finish some final primping.

And off we go!

Jaki - 13th Birthday

August 23, 2008

Jaki started off her Birthday by making a key lime pie with
U. Tommy & A. Lori. Colin and Rana got to help also.

Then it was time for the party. We kicked things off at 4 and didn't end until 9:30 or so. We had lots of fun with family and good friends. There was hamburgers and hot dogs for dinner, along with some grilled catfish that the kids had caught the weekend before. A. She-Shan had also made some macaroni salad for Bryan for his birthday (which was Friday the 22nd), so we shared that with those who had some catfish. Jaki had several friends from school come to her party. They swam in the pool even when we had some light rain, which I think they enjoyed that even more.

After hauling everyone out of the pool for food, we did presents and cake.

Then of course the kids were back into the pool. What an awesome day.
Jaki loved that she had both her grandmothers and GG (Great Grandma Helm) at her party. Along with having the rest of the family and her friends that came to help her celebrate becoming an "official" Teenager.

August 17th, Our Day At The Lake

Devon got his boat running earlier in the week, so he wanted to take it out before the summer is completely over and to squeeze one more lake trip in for Josh, before he leaves for Collage. Randy, Patty, Tyler, & Kaylee meet the rest of us up at the lake. They were trying to get one more last ride out of their jet ski's, but it wasn't happening. Lorraine also joined us for the day. The weather was great. It was cloudy and looked like some rain was coming, but it never did and the wind was just right. I don't think we could have asked for a better day. I even went on a tube ride with Jaki, which was lots of fun, but I can tell you I won't be doing it again anytime soon. You realize there are muscles on your body that you didn't know that you had. After the lake Jaki, Colin, & Rana went with A. Patty & U. Randy, along with Kaylee & Tyler to a catfish place for fishing and caught 12.14lbs of catfish. They really enjoyed doing that. And from what I understand the girls caught more fish than the boys. But who know for sure.

Pics from Canyon Lake.

My Trip to New Jersey & New York

August 10th -13th, 2008

The flight sucked on the way up to Newark, NJ from San Antonio. We had a stop in Atalanta and ended up getting stuck there for about 8 hours. The rudest people ever. There was supposedly bad weather in Newark. But once we finally got there and started our class for SDU (Scrapbook Design & You) we were fine. We also got to hear about everyones travel problems and ours wasn't as bad as theirs so Jennie and I felt much better. We had classes all day Monday & Tuesday. So we didn't attempt to go see New York City until after our classes on Tuesday. One of the other Store owners that was there from San Antonio, Patti, had been to New York City once before so she was somewhat our guide. And our friend, Carla, who used to teach at our store, was now at NJ, so she gave us a map and pointed out some places for us to see. We took a bus from our hotel to NYC and made it to Times Square, The Rock, and quite a few other places.
It was loads of fun for the few hours that we were there. I would never want to live in NYC, but it was fun to see. I didn't get to see the Statue of Liberty during the day, but I did get to see her from the top of the Rock, but I wouldn't mind going back for another quick trip just to see more of the city.

Pics of ideas, Shane our instructor, & some of our other classmates.

Just a few pics of New York City

And August is Here

It's just the beginning of August, which is one of the busiest for us. We have lots & lots of Birthdays this month. So to start off our month we celebrated Bryan's Grandmother's Birthday and the arrival of the newest addition, Hayden, to the Brinegar Family at a family Fish Fry at Bryan's Aunt She-Shan and Uncle Stacey's House. Also, this weekend is Byran's Aunt She-Shan & Cousin Shannon Birthdays - So Happy Birthday Girls!! And tomorrow I am off to Newark, NJ for a work thing and will be coming home on Wed.

Here are some pictures from the Fish Fry from last weekend.




And if you notice Bryan is in some of these pictures. He is now back to working Monday thru Friday days. He's not totally thrilled, but it does give us more time to visit with family and friends. We have already had our first Sunday, Bar-b-q at our house it was the last weekend of July. We had family and friends over and it was just nice to be able to sit around and chat and enjoy the day together.