New Years Eve

What a strange New Years. We are at home having done nothing all day and night. We have always had company or have gone somewhere for New Years. Poor Camden was hit with the stomach bug early yesterday morning and is still under the weather. It's been a great night for cleaning up christmas decorations and keeping up on dishes and clothes from our trip! Whoo!

I would have to say that this year has been hard but something to be thankful for. God has put us in a wonderful place for Casey's work and for our children and I to explore. We have had some illness (and a few ER trips) but all in all, we have been blessed with good health and happiness. We pray that your year will wonderful and filled with God. Happy New Year!

What a Sick Christmas!

NO PICTURES! This was the worst christmas ever. And I mean EVER! We made our way to Huntsville on December, 19th. We arrive in full excitement for the next day being Saturday and the beginning of our Christmas break. Casey hasn't had any time off for christmas in 7 years due to work. We were so excited. Dinner plans, friends to visit with, family activities for 5 full days. Saturday night, our vacation became a nightmare. Jadyn became very sick and started throwing up. On the hour, every hour, she was being thrown over the toilet. This was her first dealing with "bowing to the porcelain god". It was awful and only went south from there. We were able to see a doctor friend here and thinking it was an ear infection, disappointed we were. Dr. Chang said, "Sorry to tell you but it is stomach bug." I think after we heard that, we all felt symptoms. Only Casey participated in having the symptoms. Then Nana, then me, then Papa. Today is Thursday, Christmas Day, and we are still fighting the bug. We openned gifts in shifts. Camden openned his, thankfully he wasn't ill, ready for the next. Jadyn openned a few, took a 30 min. nap and then had help openning the rest. Casey and I openned ours with Mom inbetween kids and then Dad just finished his. We royally stunk up christmas this year. We have no idea where it came from. We pray this never has to happen to any of you and I pray my brothers and their families will forgive us. We have felt so sick, that guilt is just creeping over. We will make it up to all of them soon. My parents first and most! Please comment on your christmas day and I pray it was better than mine. I can say that God is good and always answers prayers. As we all prayed, "Big" Grandma (my kids name for Gma Robertson) is not sick and we were able to have a friend take care of her as soon as we found out how bad it was. Also, things could have been so much worse. With children, it sure is special, but it's just a date. We wish it had been a more exciting day and that our family plans could have been completed but Praise God for all that we have, our freedoms and for knowing God is the one in control of our lives. Thanks for letting me vent. ha.

My Mom is Camera Crazy

My poor kids! Whatever Mom has up her sleeve, they are roped into doing it. On thursday of this week, I made them dress in their "christmas outfits" for church. I wasn't sure how it fit or looked and wanted to make sure it would work before we left town. Then we started playing with the camera. I loved their little smiles and grins because they were acting as goofy and I was making the whole event out to be. We had the dog running in and out from under the tree and he ended up "marking" his territory on the christmas tree. (Not happy at first but after it was over Casey came in and found it to suit the scene.) I wish I had a knack for taking pictures cause I sure love doing it. Don't you love the rocking horse for my prop? Soon we will be with all of our cousins and family and I will post more pictures. It should be a fun christmas with 4 little ones participating in the day! Merry Christmas!

Rudolph on Stage

Sunday afternoon in Ft. Worth, the Dacus Family went all together to see Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer. It was at Casa Manana in the cultural district in Ft. Worth. We had such a good time. The set was something like the productions at Disney World. It was full of music and actors. We loved it because Santa was there and all through the play Reindeer, children, elves and Santa came into the crowd and sang and danced. Camden and Jadyn really had fun. This was "Boss' treat " (Casey's Dad is Boss, by the way). He wanted to do something fun and to get us all in the christmas spirit. Plus, for an added bonus we ate Uncle Juleo's for dinner. We had a great time. Thanks Boss and Mimi.

2nd Annual Cookie Making

Saturday night was the 2nd annual Gingerbread Man Cookie Making Night. At Mimi's house we make Gingerbread Men and at Nana's house we make a Gingerbread House. This year is christmas at Nana's house, so we had to make our cookies ahead at Mimi's, so that Santa would have them on christmas night.

I have so many pictures to share but on my blog, I tried to keep it to a minimum. Jadyn slapped her spoon of dough all over the kitchen floor while mixing. Camden had flour all over his clothes and mine. ( I was only the picture guy.) To help the candy stick, they iced the cookies and oh what a mess they made. Jadyn didn't decorate much because she was eating the candies and icing. Camden did a great job and only had to wash his hands once; Jadyn - over and over. I had a bite of one of the men that didn't "make the cut". Santa will really enjoy the cookies. P.S. Along side the cookies is a large Dr.Pepper. I think Santa will need to cut out the sugar after the New Year.

Jenni's Crew

My cousin Jenni is a huge part of our lives. We love spending time with her and getting to be around her is always so much fun. Last week we went to meet her at her office for lunch. Jenni works for ACU and is in the process of moving to a new office in the new Welcome Center on campus. She has to learn the new systems in her new office and has been overseeing the construction of her new location. In order to go into her new office, she has to have a hard hat on for liability issues. So, I am sure you have this figured out by now but my kids saw her hard hats and decided they needed to work for Jenni. It was really cute but the hat on Jadyn was so big, I had to take a quick shot to even catch her face. Thanks Jenni for always making our lives more exciting :) We love you!

(P.S. For those of you who don't know, Jenni had an MRI done about a week ago and the doctors have found a tumor. The doctors have said it isn't likely that it's cancer but it's growing in her soft tissue of the spine and they will have to remove it in January. Please keep her in your prayers. It can't be easy to know about a tumor and rest easy unless you have God. She is not worried but prayers are needed for her and the doctors as they continue to make plans to remove the tumor.)

Way behind! This is from Nov. 24th, my birthday. Casey was proud of the cake, so I had to take a picture and post it. (He had help from Kandyce on where to get it!) I took the kids out to eat that night, it was pretty sad cause Casey wasn't there but we really had a nice dinner. It was a playoff week, so we had to celebrate late with Casey. About 9pm, my cousins and a few friends showed up to have cake and visit. It was nice. Now that Casey is done with football, we are going to spend a night out without the kids and celebrate my birthday together. I am looking forward to it. The kids are so funny, they just had to have their picture taken. Even better, after everyone left, Camden and Jadyn locked Jadyn's bedroom door. We didn't have the key. The contractors took it probably by mistake. We couldn't drill thru the knob, couldn't take the hinges of, so we had to bust it down. It was a perfect way to end the night. Ask Jadyn how she likes not having a door. Next door will be lock free.(PS, I do have pictures of Casey taking the door apart but I don't know where my usb cord is for my camera to download them at this time. They are priceless.)

Jadyn's Dolls

At 2 Gma's, the entire family came to her house for her 80th birthday. We had so much fun. I have fallen down on my job as a mom and picture taking. I just happened to be unloading my bag when Jadyn decided to hold both Linde and Chloe. I whipped out the camera and caught the girls before they started sliding down Jadyns lap. They were so cute. I enjoyed every minute of having both of the babies around to love on and squeeze. They are both so precious and growing so fast. It makes me sad, like it did with Jadyn and Camden. So much happens and if you don't catch it on video or on the camera, it's gone. Anyways, Jadyn loved every minute of being the Big Cousin. Camden is even better at it but I didn't catch him in action. He talks to them and makes faces. Never fails, they talk back and have so much to say with their expressions. Precious Kids!!!

Well, our season of Football has come to an end. This past Saturday we played Denton Guyer (sp?) in Aledo, Texas and as a team, the Cougars didn't make their best appearance. It was a good season and the kids and I really enjoyed getting to know our QB's. Casey was proud of the job they did and is looking forward to next year already. Last night the starter, Ryan, came over to eat and he and Casey talked about changes, workouts, new players, etc. until I was green. I just get my husband home and he's already planning his exit for next season. Ahhh. That's the name of the game!!! Glad to be a Cooper Coug!