Early Christmas at the Hill's (Thanks Dad)!!!

For Christmas this year I asked my dad to buy us new phones - because ours were shot.



Then I came up with a new present - a pretty expensive surround sound! And somehow, I managed to talk him into buying that for us instead. I told him how much it was - he thought about it - and told us to buy it now if we want.



Well - then I found out it was a little less than I thought - and sorta against his will I talked him into getting BOTH since they were virtually the same as I told him for the surround sound. Plus I bought Speed Racer on Blu Ray - because our new surround sound also comes with a Blu Ray player!!!



Thanks dad - it is going to be AWESOME!!Below is the family with our EARLY Christmas! Eric is excited to try and get it hooked up before his favorite team - OU - plays tomorrow night.

"Sleeping Beauty"

Last night when I got home from class (UGH I have class from 6-10PM Tues for the next 20 months!!) I found my whole family asleep in my bed.

I woke them up and took them to their beds - well except for Eric of course. Kiana fell back to sleep immediately - and was out HARD. Here is my little "Sleeping Beauty".

Kiana's Pink Christmas Tree

The other night Eric went to Wal-Mart - and when he saw this tree - he knew he had to buy it for Kiana. She loves the color pink. So, even though people looked at him funny at Wal-Mart, he proceeded to the checkout. When the cashier mentioned something about it to him - he said "I know it looks funny that I am buying this, but I am going to be the BEST daddy when I get home". And boy was he right!

She wanted to put it up, and get a picture of her with it so she could take it to school. Unfortunately - we didn't have any decorations on it yet - so we went and bought some, and tonight I got this picture. Now I have it printed so she can show her friends at school tomorrow.
As soon as she sees it when she gets home from school, she wants to plug it in! So cute!

Jim & Treonne's Outdoor Tree

Over the weekend Eric and the kids went to help decorate this tree in Jim & Treonne's yard. It was cold and this tree is HUGE - but it looks great. Now they just need to add the lights.

Good work guys!!

"Domestic Diva"

Learning at an early age how to be a "Domestic Diva".

Makin' & Eatin' Sugar Cookies!!

To end our long holiday weekend - the kids wanted to make sugar cookies. So we got out the ingredients and whipped up a batch. After baking they each decorated half of the baked goods. They were in a really big hurry - because all they could do was think about eating them.

Here is Cameron concentrating on his decorating.
Kiana getting out some sprinkles for her cookeies!And then - enjoying the fruits of their labor.

Then - they decided they needed milk with the cookies. Kiana was so cute dipping her cookie in the milk. I don't think I have ever seen anyone dip a sugar cookie in milk - but she was lovin' it!!!

And thus came the end of our holiday weekend. I cannot wait until Dec 23rd - so I can have more time off of work to spend at home!!! I love the holidays!!

Thanksgiving Dinner on Friday

Since we had dinner with the Hill's on Thanksgiving Day - we held Thanksgiving with my dad on Friday. This year we had an additional guest, Missy, with us. She sent a beautiful centerpiece! This picture does not do it justice!!! Thank you so much Missy.

We had a really good dinner (well in my opinion anyway, I was the cook). Then we watched a movie - coupled by and followed by eating a lot of pie. I made the pumpkin pies - with homemade crust. Eric bought a bunch of other kinds from someone at his work - and they were good too.

This was a good start to the holiday season.
No people pictures to post - because last time I took pics of certain guests and posted they weren't too thrilled - but I will get them next time - LOL.

Thanksgiving

For Thanksgiving this year we went over to Monty's house in OK. It was a house filled with Hill's. We couldn't get the timer to work on our camera - so I don't have a picture with everyone in it (too bad I am not in the first one - I am so sad! - NOT).

Thanks for inviting us over - maybe next year we can host the Hill Thanksgiving dinner at our house.
Hill Boys, err men . . .

Hill Girls - All by marriage, except for Kiana

Cameron's Holly Ball Cotillion

For the ending of the Cotillion season they hold a Holly Ball, where your parents are invited to chaperone - and basically see what you have learned. This is me pinning Cameron with his boutonniere.

This in itself is a funny story. One of the parents of the boys Cameron has been going to after Cotillion events with offered to do one large order for all the kids boutonnieres and corsages. Since I took a floral design class - and enjoy doing this sort of thing, I opted not to get one - and instead planned on making him one. And what do you know - I ALMOST forgot. So, this is the last minute purchase/throw together I could manage!!!

Father and son!
Me and Cam. My sweet little baby is growing up so quick.

Me and Eric. You know I HATE being in pictures - but Eric and Glenda both insisted.

And here we all are. Too bad we had already dropped Kiana off with the Peschels - it would have been nice to get us all.

It was hard to get pictures in the gym - as the lighting was not very good. Every week 2 sets of couples lead the march at the beginning to get your partner. It is hard to see - but this week Cameron was one of the leaders - he is in the back - you can make out his blond head - but mostly just see his dancing partner.

Here he is dancing with his first partner of the night. I think they were doing the Foxtrot right here.

What I learned from attending is that they don't learn entire dances when they are in the 6th grade. They learn some of the key steps - which they must build upon over the next 3 years. Most of the kids did an awesome job. There are over 80 kids in his 6th grade group! And luckily he does want to sign up again next year. The further he progresses, not only will he learn more of the dances, but additional social etiquette as well.

Around the middle of the dance - they had some of the helpers perform a routine - which was awesome.

We had a great night.

Thanks to Robert and Cassidie for watching Kiana while we were out.

Thanks to Glenda for dropping us off/picking us up from the dance.

Kiana's New Haircut

Last week at daycare Kiana decided to cut her hair. Even though I couldn't tell she had cut it - she decided that she wanted to get her hair cut short again.

If you don't know the story, here goes. I always intended to let her hair grow until at least Kindergarten. Her hair was about an inch long when she was born - which was shocking because Cameron was practically bald - and what little hair he did have you could barely see because it was so blond. Kiana's was a light brown when she was born.

Well her hair continued to grown - and the hair she was born with turned blond - it never fell out. So when she was 3 1/2 it was halfway down her back.

That day at daycare - 1 1/2 years ago - I got a call that a girl in class had cut Kiana's hair. I was furious. Why were the kids using scissors and not being supervised closely enough? I had a heated discussion with the daycare owner - and she basically could have cared less about my concerns. My hands were tied. We did look for other daycares at the time - but no one had openings!!!! So - we had to go get her hair cut in a similar bob to the new cut now - but the cut was better the first time.

As if that weren't bad enough - about a month later I got a phone call from daycare AGAIN. The same child that had cut Kiana's hair the first time - had snuck a pair of scissors from her house - and when they went out on the playground - she cut Kiana's hair AGAIN. This time there was no fixing the damage. She cut on the right side about to inches from the part - a huge chunk out.

Mind you - that hair has just now grown out well enough to blend in and not be noticed - when Kiana decides she wants it cut now!!! So much for pretty long blond hair in Kindergarten!! It is still cute - but I 100% prefer it longer.

More pictures of the kids

Why do I always have so many pictures of my kids to post you ask? Because we like to dabble in some amateur photography. This started out as a hobby for Eric a few years ago - and since then we have taken pictures for people we know. Some have turned out great - others just OK. I absolutely love all of these pictures, and just got a lot of them printed last week to fill up a bunch of empty frames we have.

Obviously, since you don't see me in this picture - I took it. It didn't turn out perfectly -but not too bad either.I am quite proud of the next 2 pics. Cam and I got to the photo spot before Eric and Kiana, and since the sun was going down quickly, I started snapping pictures of Cameron myself. I LOVE these 2 pics of him. They really show his personality and his beautiful eyes.

The happy brother and sister together. For the last couple of years we have had a really hard time getting pics of Cam, because the sun makes him squint like crazy. So this time of day was perfect, and we really got good shots. Hope you have enjoyed our blue eyed beauties!!

Jungle Jack Hanna at the Walton Art Center

November 1st we went to see Jack Hanna - you have probably seen him on the late night talk shows - he is on David Letterman a lot. The pictures are fuzzy because I was taking these from the balcony - with no flash - and just our little camera. But there are few that are alright. Most of the animals they brought out were rare. I don't remember the names or stories - but enjoy.
He told a story about this little armadillo's conception. I guess a while back on the David Letterman show he brought 2 armadillos - one for Dave to race against his armadillo. And as they were racing - they started mating right on Dave's desk. Supposedly, this little rare breed of armadillo is the love child of the racing armadillos.

This fox has ears that look like bat wings. Again some rare species of fox.

This lady came from the audience. And they put these huge bugs on her. As if that weren't bad enough they brought out this huge python while she wasn't looking. If that would have been me - I am sure that snake would have struck out to kill me, because if I would have turned around and saw that huge snake that close to me I would have FREAKED OUT. That is my biggest fear! I don't have a problem looking at them through the glass at the zoo - but no way am I being even around an earth worm size snake otherwise!!

Halloween Pics

Finally - at long last pics of the kids in one of their multiple Halloween costumes. Here we are at the mall - even though it was pretty lame. Kiana ran into a girl from her gymanstics class - so they talked for a couple of minutes, which was quite cute. And we stopped and got Cameron a new phone (which he had to pay for since we are now on our third phone!!!!)

Kiana at home posing in her Tinkerbell costume. She was ready to go out Trick or Treating this year for the first time - however, by the time we got back from the mall she had changed her mind and just wanted to stay home.
The weekend before Halloween we carved pumpkins with the Peschels. The first one is Cameron's and I have no idea what it is. The second one is Kiana's, it is a winking bear head.

Here is Toby in his super cute Pig costume. He was a pretty good sport for about an hour in this costume, and then we freed him!!

Niagara Falls Pics

These Pics are not very good - because we were at the Falls on a horribly cold day. It was freezing rain/snowing, and it is at least 1/4 mile walk. Normally that wouldn't be a problem, but in major freezing wind gusts it wasn't so great.

More Pictures from last weekend at the pumpkin patch

I think these turned out pretty well. We are going out today to take more pictures of the kids.
Enjoy!