Holiday cheer!

As promised, this week has proved to be EXTREMELY BUSY! I haven't had a moment to breathe and I love every minute of it. Gym and parties and shopping and school stuff...such happy times! I spent a HUGE part of the week baking for the teachers. I always give them a gift card, but also like to include something homemade. This year I decided on cupcakes. I made 4 different kinds; Italian Cream Cake, Red Velvet, Chocolate Espresso and Lemon. I put them in darling little boxes and they look so cute! My neighbor paid me an awesome compliment when he asked his wife where I had gotten them!





After that huge project was complete, we were off to Eden and Parker's Christmas program at school. Of course I cried...I just cannot get through a performance of children singing no matter what....and especially when it involves some of my own children!

Parker and Eden pre-performance. The little ones were supposed to wear their jammies because they had them on stage sitting down listening to a story.

Parker was very first to come in!

Oops, Eden spotted us and was very excited to see us!

So Parker looks unhappy in this picture but he sang his little heart out and had a great time doing it. He knew all the words to every song. When Away in a Manger came? Oh gosh, the tears!!

Away in a Manger and O Holy Night are the 2 songs that get me EVERY TIME!!

And last, our annual Santa picture. The quality is bad since our scanner isn't working and I had to take a picture of the picture. Jacob told Santa he forgot what was on his list, Parker asked for the North Pole (seriously what is he smoking) and Eden just screamed "MOMMY!" What a cheery bunch!

Holiday Cheer for all!!

Vegas and Dallas and running, oh my!

Well I haven't blogged since Thanksgiving, and we have been so busy! Jacob had Grandparents/Special Friends Day. Since we don't have any Grandparents in town, I was his special friend!

The weekend after Thanksgiving was my race in Vegas.I did it with my friend Erin who fund raised with me

and we had a BLAST!! And and Ashley came to cheer us on and we had waaaaaay to much fun.

This weekend was awesome! Saturday morning Jacob and I ran the Frosty 5K in Frisco with Ashley, Kat and our neighbors. Jacob did AWESOME! Placed 3rd in his age group with a time of 25:28 which is an 8:11 pace. I am so proud of him! To see his results click here. And the 2 boys that beat him were both 10! Here's a pic of our team!

and Ash and I and the kids...

That night was the company Christmas party down in Dallas at Hotel ZaZa. Swank City! We stayed downtown at the W for the night. We had a GREAT time and the party was just as chic as can be!





So now for a CRAZY week ahead with school Christmas parties, Christmas prgrams, baking for the teachers, etc, etc. Loving the holidays!

Happy Friendsgiving!

What a wonderful Thanksgiving we had! We celebrated with friends since we couldn't make the trip back to Florida and we had a great one. We love Friendsgiving!

To know me is to know that the day before Thanksgiving is one of my favorite days of the year. I stay in my jammies and apron ALL DAY LONG and cook, cook, cook! It is heaven for me. This year I decided to stray from the usual and try some new recipes. It was a daring move, because Thanksgiving to me has a very specific flavor! I didn't want to go messing up a good thing, but at the last minute I figured it wouldn't be the end of the world if I wasn't 100% happy. I would at least know better for next year, right? Well, my gamble paid off and I was very happy with my dishes! Recipes can be found on K is for Kitchen.

Of COURSE I didn't get any pictures of all the delicious food and Ashley's beautiful table, because we all know how hectic the last 10 minutes before you sit down to eat are. BUT, I did get a few various pictures of our day.


Eden and I...

Peek-a-boo!

Kat, Ashley and I....the cooks! Cheers!

Hors devours. Delish!


We had 2 turkeys, a ham, pumpkin soup, 2 different kinds of dressing, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, Brussels sprouts, sweet potatoes, jalapeno corn casserole, fresh cranberry sauce, gravy, rolls and pumpkin bread pudding. And all I got were these two pictures! Booo.


Sixer wants in on the turkey action. And he did get his own plate for dinner!

Ashley made these adorable cupcakes for the kids.....

I think Eden was pleased with the way they turned out!

So pleased in fact, that she pooped out on Ashley's lap. Clenched fists and all. Love it!


It was a wonderful day and the people that weren't present were missed. I hope everyone counted their blessings. We don't do this near enough. We concentrate on the bad parts of our lives and we forget all the wonderful things. Let's not do this anymore, ok? ;)

The rest of the weekend included a marathon shopping day on Black Friday (OMG...10.5 hours of pure bliss for me!), a 5K with Jacob Saturday, and then the FSU/FL game last night. It was AWESOME!! And 7 years in the making! Its been way too long and it was our turn. Finally! Go Noles!! Florida State, Florida State, Florida State...WOOO!!!

Here's a picture of Jacob at the 5K yesterday. It was a Holiday Themed race and Santa and some Snowmen were there. We stuck around for awards and Jacob got 3rd place in his age group with a time of 29:30. I am so proud of him!



GO JACOB!!

San Antonio Rock and Roll Half Marathon

Last Sunday morning while all of you were warmly tucked in your bed, I was lined up to run the San Antonio half marathon. It was great! My race wasn't that enjoyable but I pushed through, which made the finish line just that much sweeter! I set a new PR for myself at 1:49:40, which put me

72 in my age group out of 2,298 = 3.1%
390 in my gender group out of 12,917 = 3.0%
1613 overall out of 20,432 = 7.8%

So in 2 categories I was in the top 3% and in the 3rd I was in the top 8%! I am so proud!!

I don't mean to brag but....

My children are so cute!!!

Here are some pics of Parker and Eden before their Thanksgiving performance at school. They are such BFF's! Don't they look like a little old married couple?

Halloween

Well, we had another successful Halloween at the Devenny house! We had people over for Turkey Chili, the kids got lots and lots of candy and had a fabulous time running around with their friends. Besides the Rangers loss, it was a GREAT day!!

Vladimir Guerrero, THE Dallas Cowboy and the "wady bug"!


Vladi



Helmet Head


Looking "wike a Wady Bug"! (I couldn't get a smile out of her for the life of me)


Now...the test of the willpower....I need to stay out of this candy!

RANGERS!

Well, its a BIG day in Texas! The Texas Rangers are in their VERY FIRST world series and today is game one! We are all so excited around here and everywhere is buzzing with Rangers stuff! The stores are insane, the kids are all decked out in their Rangers gear (bad pic, but Jacob before school this morning...notice the Blue and Red faux hawk!)

and the game can't start soon enough. Rangers, Rangers, Rangers....WOOOO!!!

Mike gets to go to the game Saturday and Jacob and I are super jealous. We plan on snuggling up and watching it though. Exciting stuff!

In other news, Halloween is this weekend and the kids are excited about that as well. Eden is going to be "wike a wady bug", Parker is a Dallas Cowboys football player and Jacob is Vladimir Guerrero. The boys are going to look very cute but I was all excited to do scary makeup! Maybe next year....

Many of you also know that I started WORKING last week! I am doing a little bit of gymnastics coaching once or twice a week for a few hours. It is very fun! It also gets me very excited for when Eden is on team. (which hopefully she will want to be!)

Running is going well and my first half marathon of the season is 2 weeks from now. I am running slower than I did last season, but enjoying it A LOT more so that's good! It had been feeling so great that I thought I was running faster, but I wore my watch yesterday and learned I was slower than my usual pace! So I wont be breaking any records this fall, but looking forward to my races very much.

But what I CANT believe I forgot to update you on, was our MAROON 5 concert last week!! You all know Maroon 5 is my favorite band, and this time Ana and I got front row, meet the band tickets!! We had such a blast! Ashley, Jen K and Juice went with us (the San Diego crew) and we had so much fun.

The crappy, camera phone pic of the 5 of us

*drools*

Yes, we really were *this close*!!

Not great, but the best pic I have of us.

Aaaaaaand, the obligatory "lets take our own picture" FAIL.

Which looks eerily similar to this "lets take our own picture" FAIL that we took at a Maroon 5 concert in '07. (it was actually 3 years ago today!)

Better luck next time..????

When we got to meet the band, they took our picture so when I get it, I will scan it in and share. Can't wait till the next concert!

Lots of pics from Halloween to come later. Love this time of year!

Arboretum Monday

We took the kids to the Arboretum today since it was a teacher workday. It was GORGEOUS and the kids had a blast! We had last Monday off as well and since Bebe was here, we decided to take the kids to the zoo. In typical Jessica fashion....my camera battery died moments after we walked in! So unforch, I have no pics. We had a blast though.....that day and every day she was here. It was so wonderful and I hated to see her go this time more than ever! (each time it is harder and harder!) We love you Bebe!!

Anyway, here are some pics of the kiddos from today...