Moving!

Ok so it has been 3 months again. Apparently I am a blogger every 3 months. I am not a writer so I usually have a hard time making myself do it. Maybe I should video blog, I am a much better talker. 

So we have some big news....

WE ARE MOVING, and the best part is we are moving back to Bryan!! I don't know who is more excited me or the boys. Nevermind, its me. I am so happy to getting back, it just feels like home and it never stopped. Everytime we went back it just felt like where I belong. Nathan got a job at Bryan High so he will be teaching biology and coaching football in the fall and soccer in the winter. Nathan is happy to get back to teaching and coaching. We found an old cheap house in the country to rent. We are packing up the truck on 7/23 and moving. The boys are really gonna miss Memaw and Peep and so will we. Cooper has become so attached to Peep and vice versa, I think it will tough on both of them. 

We have had a pretty eventful summer with Nathan and I going to Jamaica, Walton family reunion, Nathan turning 30, and we just celebrated our 10th wedding anniversary. The boys have been spending a lot of time at Granny and Papa's. They love swimming in the pool. Gavin and Eli are both swimming and Cooper thinks he can. He just jumps right in. Gavin is reading all the time. I can't even spell things out loud to Nathan anymore. He can figure it out faster than Nathan. 

Cooper just woke up from nap and is demanding attention, I will try and blog later. 

3 months!!!

So, long time no blog....

I would love to make up an excuse why I haven't blogged in awhile, but truthfully I just didn't feel like it. I am not big on writing and I don't feel very entertaining when I do, so I just didn't. Sorry, I am a bad blogger, I know. 

Everything is peachy in the Rider household, we are just trying to survive spring break right now. The older boys are fighting as I speak, imagine that. We just got back from Easter in Mount Pleasant and then a mini trip to San Antonio. We had a blast, but everyone was tired. Cooper had a cold/allergies/teething/cough/crankiness most of the trip. So that was not fun, but he really was a trooper. San Antonio was a lot of fun, we got to eat at 2 of the restaurants featured on Diners Drive-Ins and Dives. They were both wonderful. We also went to Sea World, where my highlight was feeding and touching a dolphin. It was so amazing. I didn't know you could even do that there. The zoo was as fun as ever. We go to the zoo, any zoo really, whenever we get a chance. We have been to the tiny Alexandria zoo about 5 times since we moved here. We have a zoo pass so it is free and the boys love it. 

The boys are getting bigger every day and making me sad. Gavin is playing t-ball and loving it. Woohooo!! First sport he actually enjoys and asks to go to!! Eli is playing pee-wee t-ball and of course he loves it. He loves anything that involves running around. Cooper is running everywhere he goes and his favorite words all begin with ba sound. He says: ball, bottle, bye, bubba, and bbllllleellla(bella). They are sound similar, but I can decipher what he is saying as only a mommy can. Oh, his favorite word is actually Eli. Everyone is Eli. It sounds like Eyyiiii. If Cooper wants attention that is what he is yelling. So funny. He keeps us laughing every day, but that boy is a handful.

Well that is all for now, hopefully I will be back before another 3 months passes me by.

Just like riding a bike..

So the boys got bikes for Christmas and they haven't been too interested in them. The other day Nathan was getting one of Mitchell's bikes ready for him to ride so I told him to lower the seat all the way so I could ride. It was SO much fun!!! It was "just like riding a bike" ha. I was nervous because I hadn't ridden a bike in probably like 20 years, yeah I am 30. So I then got the boys to ride with me on the road and they had a blast. So we have been riding bikes almost every day since. I got a seat on the back of mine so Cooper can go and he just loves it. Sunday Nathan went with us too. I am ready for the boys to move a little faster so I can get exercise, but we will get there.

On other exciting news we booked our summer vacation to Jamaica. We decided that this will be a big year for us so we are going to have a wonderful vacation. This is the year we both turn 30 and in July we will be married for 10 years!! So this is our gifts for all of that. We are going with our friends Lindsey and Michael so I know we will have a good time. Now we just have to wait until June 14th, that is a long time.

Oh by the way, Gavin and Eli both love their schools. I am mad at myself for not switching Gavin sooner. He loves his new "science" school as he calls it. Eli has been to preschool twice and loves it as well, he hasn't cried once. He really is becoming a big boy!

Back to normal...sorta

So I am finally back after Christmas break. We were busy, busy, busy as usual. We woke the boys up for "Christmas morning" on the 24th so we could get on the road to Mt. Pleasant. The boys got bikes from Santa which they didn't really care about, but were super excited about there capes(thanks Mandi) and nacho libre masks. They actually like their bikes now that they have been riding them. Then we got on the road, it was a long trip but we got there around 4ish. We went to a Christmas eve service which was super long. The boys couldn't sit still for the hour we were there so we took off. 

Christmas day we went to my aunt Sue's house in Tyler and spent time with my cousins I haven't seen in a while. We sent the big boys with my mom and we headed back to Mt. Pleasant. The day after Christmas we went to Nathan's aunt Debbie's for their family Christmas. We had a great time there as usual. We drove to Mineola that night to spend the night and have Christmas with my family that Saturday. We headed home on Sunday and got a flat tire in the trailer we were pulling on highway 20, not the best place to change a tire. Nathan took care of it and we were off again. 

We were planning to have Cooper's birthday party on NYE, but he got sick so we postponed it for Sat. when he was feeling better. I can't believe he is one, it just breaks my heart. He is so big!! Anyways I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday and  I will leave you with some pictures. 

Birthday Weekend!!

We had such a great time this weekend! Sat. we decided to go to Alexandria to go see Santa for the boys picture. It didn't go so well, Cooper was terrified of Santa. He looked at him and then started crying. Luckily we were able to get a shot, but Cooper is crying in the pic. We picked up a cookie cake for Gavin's birthday and headed to Target for some last minute shopping. After spending a good hour in the madness that is Target the weekend before Christmas, we headed to Nachitoches for the Christmas festival. 

It was so AMAZING, we pulled up when the fireworks started. They were so much more than I expected. The boys all loved them. The finale did get a little loud, but it was great. Then we went in search of food. The boys ate corn dogs and Nathan and I got to eat some wonderful red beans and rice, meat pie, and crawfish pie. It was all so good. There was a live band playing a little cajun and a little country, the boys loved it. We ran into some friends from sports and the kids ran around and played a little bit. Then we headed home

Sunday we took Gavin to McDonald's for breakfast as per his request. The boys all hung out and played with the remote cars and watched movies while I ran and did some shopping at Wal-Mart. When Peep got off work he came over to celebrate Gavin's birthday and have some hot dogs and cake. Gavin had a wonderful small birthday. After Memaw and Peep left Nathan took the big boys to the Movie Despereaux(sp). The boys were exhausted when they got home, but we did have a great weekend!!!

Tired

I am still trying to get over this cold and I am just exhausted. The boys are so excited for Christmas. Tonight we are going to get some to go cups of hot chocolate and go driving around to look at the lights. It is like 72 degrees here right now so it is hard to get in the spirit, especially when you are not feeling great. I am trying not to ruin the boys good time. 

Yesterday within 20 minutes of being home from picking up Gavin from school Cooper hit is eye on the corner of my foot board and Gavin jumped on the treadmill with me and skinned his little chin. I told he do not do it 3 times and he didn't listen so I guess he got his own punishment. The funny thing is he has always called it the shreadmill and I guess that is what it did to him yesterday. 

Tomorrow Nathan is off so we are planning to go to Nachitoches to go check out the festival on the river. Nachitoches is where they filmed Steel Magnolias and in the movie they showed the Christmas festival. The main weekend was a couple of weeks ago, but they still have stuff going on and fireworks at night. I am excited to get to go. Hopefully I can make it through even feeling not so great. 

I am ready for Christmas minus a few stocking stuffers. I am still not sure what our plans are. Everyone is celebrating it on different days...I think. It is hard to get the correct info for everywhere that we need to go to. Phew..I am exhausted just thinking about it. 

St. Jude's

O.K. as much as I hate to admit it I am drawn to watch Jon & Kate plus 8 every week. I totally do not agree that they are putting their child's lives on TV for all to see, and I think they are in it for the freebies. Now having said that, I just watched yesterdays show this morning and found myself boo-hooing. I know it doesn't take much, but whatever.

The Gosselins went and bought presents for the children at St. Jude's hospital, this didn't pull at my heartstrings quite as much as the actual patients there. The Gosselins more than likely got all of the stuff they so generously gave away donated by K-mart. I suppose that I never realized what a wonderful organization St. Jude's is. They take every patient and these people do not pay for anything. They never turn a child away. How awesome is that????? The hospital is so much more like a school than a hospital. The people that work there seem so caring and sincere. I just never realized how truly wonderful that hospital is.

I would like to challenge everyone who reads this blog to donate to St. Jude's during this holiday season. You can do it at Gymboree when you are checking out, I know because they ask me every time. I thought about signing up a team to keep track of how much we can raise, but it occurred to me that I don't care, I just want to support this cause. So please help me to help them.

Here is the link.

http://www.stjude.org/stjude/v/index.jsp?vgnextoid=2edae64c5b470110VgnVCM1000001e0215acRCRD&vgnextchannel=b1f87ff0be118010VgnVCM1000000e2015acRCRD