staying busy and having FUN before 2012!

We had to take the boys to see Alvin and the Chipmunks, Chip wrecked!  They watch the first two chipmunk movies A LOT, so we knew this was a must-see!  They did great and loved it...and I can't believe Justin sat through the entire movie without moving, except for some occasional dance moves with his Momma!  That's the best part about the chipmunk movies...there's always great dance music, so you can find Mommy dancing all over the house when we watch them!!! 

 Oh I am going to embarrass them SO much as they get older, huh?  OH WELL!!!

We hadn't been to Chuck E Cheese in years but over the break we had not one, but TWO birthday parties with this furry guy!  They had fun playing skeeball and basketball, but little brother DOES NOT like this mouse AT ALL!  Last night, at one of the parties we had almost 300 tickets and guess what they won?  two, VERY tiny inflatable guitars!  Pathetic.  But it was still fun watching these boys play and have fun!

We had a fun caroling Christmas party at Devlin's house, a friend from Jake's school! Wish I would have taken more phone pics than just this one of them riding her life-sized horse!  SILLY BOYS!

They ride the four-wheelers every day, up and down the street and all over the backyard!  HILARIOUS!  These hats from MeMe crack us up...they look like pig tails!  You'd think a 2 year old couldn't steer this big 'ol four wheeler, but he does and he goes fast!

A trip to the Galleria and a ride on the Galleria Express choo choo train!  This was pretty cute and it rode throughout the Galleria and the boys waved at everybody!  The train wasn't made for 5'10" Mommy's because my legs were pretty crammed in there :)

 a picture with MeMe at the Galleria in front of the ice skating rink!  The boys said next time they'd like to try out skating!!  We told them Mommy and Daddy can't ice skate until after the half marathon, just in case I'd break my leg out there!  HA!  ...and I probably would have!

Fun memories right before 2012!!!  Hope you all have a Happy New Year, be safe and have FUN!

Christmas 2011...a recap!

This year I really took the time to reflect on how blessed we truly are...  

*We live near most of our family and are able to see them often!!  

*We have two, beautiful boys!  

*We will celebrate our seven-year wedding anniversary on January 15th, 

the same day we run our first half marathon, TOGETHER!

*My husband works SO hard, even on holidays(unfortunately)

 so that I am able to stay at home and raise our kids!  

*We are moving into our new home in a few, short weeks!  

there's just SO much to be thankful for this year...

We had an amazing Christmas that lasted several days, which was nice because it felt like it lasted longer than normal!  

And of course, we had to start by leaving cookies for SANTA!

 MeMe's house was the first place Santa decided to leave some gifts for our boys...

too many gifts as you can see!

 New bicycles?  Woohoo!!

 My mom with her sister and brother!  

My mom is the short one!  (Ha, she'll hate that I said that!)

 ...and after a long night, our boys woke up at a very late 9:15am on Christmas morning!  Geez, right?

They started with their stockings...full of goodies!  Look at those puffy, tired eyes!  Tired boys!

Is that a basketball goal?!  

We'll set this up after we move, they'll love playing basketball in their new, LONG driveway!

 And the favorite toy for the McClellen boys this year?  

Monster Jam EVERYTHING! 

 Santa gave them tickets and pit passes to the show in a few weeks, and lots of Monster Jam trucks! 

 Now they have WAY too many!!

 Look!  A hat just like Daddy!

 look at that mess!  

I usually freak out when my house is a wreck, but because it was Christmas...

I let it slide!

 ...and a visit from PawPaw too!  I wonder what he brought for them?

 Do you STILL see the mess?  I was pretty good, but then I lost it and had to clean immediately!  Ha!

PawPaw brought them a TV and blu-ray/dvd player for the new house...

 and Christmas 2011 ended with a visit to Angie's house to play with all of the cousins!  We are so lucky to have such a close, extended family!  This is our newest cousin, Bailey!  I was finally able to feed her!  

Sweet baby girl sure loves me!  

 Christmas Eve was brunch with family, Church and then dinner at Pappas Seafood!  

The boys LOVED their catfish and green beans and ate way too much!  Their favorite part was sitting by their older cousins...they think they're so cool!  

 Our little man enjoyed Christmas SO much this year.  His enthusiasm over each and every present was HILARIOUS and unforgettable!  Such joy and excitement on his face with every gift.  Both of our kids were spoiled rotten, but they sure loved visiting with family, as well as getting WAY too many presents!

Our little man loves his new, "HeeHaw" hat and his guitar!  I'm thinking he's going to be a superstar...whatcha think??  Ha!  So stinkin' cute!  

Hope you all had a very Merry Christmas 2011 with lots of memorable moments!

Love,

The McClellen's

Christmas...a little early!

We celebrated with my husband's side of the family last night because they will all be going out of town.  We started at Gran's house(husband's grandma) and had a great time visiting with cousins!  We are very blessed to have SO much family that live close to us!  We all live within 15 minutes of one another, so it's pretty cool!

 Then it was time to head back home and see what DeDe, Pop and Aunt Paulette brought for under our tree!  Look at that pretty wrapping...Aunt Paulette NOT Mommy :(  Ha!

Axis Deer from Pop to hang in our camo/hunting bedroom!

 He's having DeDe help him out, because he's SO excited!

The Bass Pro Shops Ultimate Hunting Game for the Wii...Yay!

iPod Touch!  WooHoo!!!

and a cool case for it too!

 Monster Jam is all over our house and these boys gets SO excited to open another truck!  They have a very serious collection and they can tell you EVERY, SINGLE truck that they have AND don't have!

...more Monster Jam trucks!  

 And now Little Man...as you can see, he's ready to be a Rock Star!  He was opening too fast for me to capture all of the pictures, but I did snap a few...

 I've posted before that our boys are OBSESSED with riding Jake's four wheeler, so for Christmas...Santa mentioned how badly he'd like his own four-wheeler to DeDe, Pop and Aunt Paulette and they made it happen!  Yay!  I have a feeling they'll be riding these for HOURS...and HOURS!!!

his very ow four-wheeler!

I wish I had my video camera for his reaction to this gift!  He screamed over and over and jumped up and down!  His excitement had all of us laughing!  He kept circling the backyard on it and as he'd pass, he'd scream, "I like it"!  HILARIOUS!  He said, "I can't believe it, my own four wheeler from Santa...he brought it to me!"....so cute!!!  Thanks to DeDe, Pop and Aunt Paulette for spoiling these boys ROTTEN!

My Story

I am so excited that Jessica @ Running to be Skinny has featured me on her Motivate Me, Monday series!  I am suppose to be posting for my Inspire Me! Series as well, so I guess today I'll be the inspiration...or at least I'll hopefully motivate by telling my story....if interested, check out my feature HERE! 
Merry Christmas to you all!

our day...

We are happy that Jake's fever has gone away...and that Mommy's back seems to be feeling better!

 We are SAD that the Houston Texans lost the football game today...

 We are MAD that we've been stuck in our house for THREE days...

 But we are SUPER excited that Christmas is almost here...

and YEP, we have way too much time on our hands when we're forced to stay indoors...Ha!

video from Santa...have you made one?

If you've never heard of Portable North Pole, then you MUST check it out!  You plug in your child's information, pictures, what his/her wants from Santa this year and location...then PNP will send a video to your email and it's from SANTA personalized to YOUR child!  Awesome, right?  We just did it again this year and our boys were amazed that Santa knew so much about them and the toys that they wanted!  Plus, Santa told my boys to be nice to their Brother or they'd be put on the Naughty List!  Ha!

Check it out HERE...or go to http://www.portablenorthpole.tv/home

ENJOY!  I sent this to several people through email and they've sent back that their kiddos LOVED it too!

Joy to the World!

We are SO proud and happy that THIS year, Jake decided to SING!!!  If you remember, last year's school Christmas performance consisted of him standing there frozen and pale as a ghost!  THIS year, totally different.  He's coming out of his shell, because he sang his little heart out!

Allen and Jake after the performance!

Action shot!  They are shouting, JOY TO THE WORLD!

and no Christmas performance would be complete without baby brother and MeMe!  DeDe and Pop were busy working or they would have come too!  Mommy might have even shed a tear when she saw Jake sing for the first time!  Sounds silly, but for two years we've watched him just stand there and look completely sick and nervous.  But NOT ANYMORE!!!  

Merry Christmas to all of YOU :-)