31 December 2010

Happy New Year


from our family to yours!
May your 2011 be filled with 
peace, love and joy!

30 December 2010

Surprise!

So this year Stuart and I decided that for our anniversary we would keep it simple and "really" celebrate later in January or early February after we close on our house and things settle down from moving. Little did I know that Stuart's interpretation of that was completely different than mine.

Enter Stuart.

Our anniversary was officially on Tuesday, but Stuart had last Friday and Monday off from work (he also has tomorrow and Monday off too. Makes for a happy wife and kids.) So on Monday he decided to head out and return two things at two separate stores before it got really busy. Since I had no desire to get out of my pajamas, I was more than willing to let him go solo. Monday also happened to be the day that we took Christmas down.

So, my mom, youngest sister and I start tackling the Christmas chaos when I realize that Stuart has been gone for quite awhile. No worries, a phone call to my love informed me that Harbor Freight was packed and it took more time than expected.

We continue in our pursuit of Christmas de-clutter and almost finish when I again realize that Stuart has been gone far too long. Another phone call and he states to be on his way home but would we all care for some lunch? Absolutely.

Stu returns home, we dine and conversate on the amount of room we gained from having a Christmas-less house. The boys go down for a nap and Stuart decides to take the van to wash it and vacuum it out. "Why does the van need to be washed?" "Because it smells and this is my first day off that we aren't having to drive to Wichita Falls or something." "Ok."

And off he goes into the wild blue yonder.
Well, not really the wild blue yonder but I was feeling whimsicle and that's what popped into my head and automatically was typed.

A bit later, Stuart returns home and proclaims, "Your van is clean!" And tosses me these:


"Um......."
"Ummm. These aren't my keys."

VIOLA!









My first ever BRAND NEW me car {van}!
It's new.
It smells new.
It looks new.
It feels new.
It's new!
And it's mine!

My husband rocks.

29 December 2010

Christmas Wrap Up

Christmas this year was a bit bittersweet to me. Bitter because we have been so consumed with moving and closing on our house that I really didn't feel like I was enjoying my favorite time of the year. BUT {and that's a big but} it was still so incredible because we were able to spend it with family. Moving in with my parents allowed us to not have to pack and drive 12 hours round trip {although we did that too} toting gifts and clothes and all the necessities for being away from your "stuff" for several days.

The festivities began Monday night when we meandered over to my SIL's house to have the Doss Christmas. Really it was for the kids and to celebrate my BIL's and my birthdays. Of course I didn't get any pictures from that night but it was fun and good to see everyone from the Doss side of the family.

Tuesday was my birthday and so to celebrate that moment in time, my mother took me and the boys out to lunch and shopping for my birthday presents. That evening my BIL and SIL took Stu and I out to dinner at Bohannans. Bon appetite! It was DELICIOUS. And ended my entrance into a new decade perfectly.

Wednesday and Thursday were a blur of cleaning and last minute gift shopping plus the usual laundry and dishes and Lego making and Lego demolishing and car playing and screaming and fighting and dog feeding. Ops Normal.

Friday my cousin Rachel and her husband Blake came over for lunch. It was SO good to see them {Blake's parents live in SA}! The boys loved entertaining Blake with their jokes and Blake was ever the nice listener and laughed at all the appropriate places. There was a moment of terror when while blowing out candles, Tucker managed to get his face, hands, and jeans covered in hot wax. But he recovered and we all took a moment to breath.


While the men stayed home for nap time and clean up, my mom, youngest sister and I headed to church for the Christmas Eve service. Being completely encouraged by all the Christmas music, we headed home to prepare for our Christmas Eve tradition of driving around town and looking at Christmas lights. At least it was a tradition when I was growing up. Tucker absolutely squealed with delight at each house that we passed and I may or may not have squealed just as loudly.

What can I say? I'm a sucker for outside illumination. Coming close to loosing our voices, we decided to return home and hope that Santa would come. Of course there was one small hurdle of wrapping all those presents for Santa.

Christmas morning was nothing short of fantastic. The boys were in wrapping paper heaven. The dogs couldn't figure out where to lay. And everyone walked away smiling.




I hope your day was filled with sugar plums and candy canes!

28 December 2010

Whoa


December 2010 Blizzard Timelapse from Michael Black on Vimeo.

To Us

27 December 2010

Me and My Baby

25 December 2010

Ho Ho Ho

Merry Christmas

to all, and to all

a good night!

24 December 2010

Oh!

You better watch out
You better not cry
Better not pout
I'm telling you why
Santa Claus is coming to town
He's making a list
And checking it twice;
Gonna find out Who's naughty and nice
Santa Claus is coming to town
He sees you when you're sleeping
He knows when you're awake
He knows if you've been bad or good
So be good for goodness sake!
O! You better watch out!
You better not cry
Better not pout
I'm telling you why
Santa Claus is coming to town! 

23 December 2010

A First

There are lots of things that I did growing up that my boys do. There are lots of things that they don't do; mainly play with dolls and dress up like princesses. But they are BOYS and I am a GIRL so obviously there are differences. I never wanted to play in the dirt. That's pretty much a highlight for them.

So as the Christmas season drew near, my mother kindly encouraged me to take the boys to see Santa. We have never done this before so it didn't really dawn on me to do it this year. Well, we tried once when Tyson was a baby but the Santa at the mall was not dressed like "Santa." He has green plain knickers on, a riffled cream shirt and green suspenders. Not the man-in-the-red-suit. Plus the picture taking area was decorated horribly AND you had to pay to get the pictures TAKEN. All that added up to no picture.

Since then taking a picture with the jolly man just hasn't been a high priority.

Until this year.

So.....we waited till the last possible minute and loaded up the boys. Bass Pro Shop was our destination and along with being just an ultra cool store, it also has boats! and guns! and toys! and waterfalls! and fish! and everything else that makes little boys squirm out of your hands and loose their minds.

We arrived at 11:15 am and headed inside (along with a million other red and green clad children and their worn-out parents). As soon as we approached Santa's Wonderland I saw "the line." Lord have mercy.

A very polite elf gave us a green pass with 1 pm printed on it and informed us that 1 pm was our picture time.

Holy moly! 1 pm?! It's 11:15 am.
But wait!
We could linger around the totally cool store OR leave and come back at the appointed time.

So to Chick-fil-A we wandered and indulged in chicken goodness.
Then we still had to kill 45 minutes.
Thank goodness for DVD players and husbands that can install them in minivans.
Thankyouverymychhoney!

I will say that Bass Pro had their act together. Once arriving for the second time, we were ushered to the front of the line-ish (thanks to our handy green pass) and waited with wonder for Santa.

He was a very nice Santa indeed and listened to boys' every whim.

And then I received this little gem:


And all the world was right again. :)

22 December 2010

Brigadeiros

Or doodoo balls
Or Brazilian candy
Or chocolate balls
Or just Happy Birthday to Me!

21 December 2010

An Ode

An Ode to my 20's

Ah, you wonderful, glorious 20's! It wasn't that long ago that you were still around. Yesterday actually. And today, you are gone. Did you really want to leave so suddenly?
You brought about so many amazing things:
The meeting and dating and heartbreak of a someone that led me to meet Stuart.
The dating of Stuart
A great job that took me away for the summer
Endless of hours on the phone
A proposal in Stuart's car
Planning my wedding
Becoming Mrs. Stuart Doss
Moving to Wichita Falls
Moving to Las Vegas
Getting our first dog
Starting and stopping school
Giving birth to my first born
Moving back to Wichita Falls
Giving birth to my second son
Buying our first house
Getting another dog
Stuart getting out of the Air Force
Working to support our family while Stuart worked on graduating
Rejoicing with Stuart when he got a job
Moving back to San Antonio
Selling our house

Plus lots of other important things:
My middle sister getting married and having two children
My baby sister getting engaged
Losing my mother in law
Celebrating anniversaries 1-7 with Stuart
Watching my boys grow up

It's been a ride to say the least. But without you, oh 20's, none of these things would have been possible.
So I thank you.
For the 10 years.
Now I must bid you adieu, for I am officially old and you are officially out of my life.

Respectfully,
30 year old Clarissa

20 December 2010

Today

1 more day till I enter my {gulp} 30s
5 more days till Christmas
8 more days till our 8th anniversary
12 more days till 2011
18 more days till we close on our WF house
42 more days till Tucker turns 4
84 more days till my baby sister becomes Mrs. Haught

18 December 2010

Look!


It's winter-ish weather!
Well, at least for today.

17 December 2010

Five Things Friday

  1. My sister is having her bridal portraits done today. Last night she put on her dress and she looks stunning. Her fiance is going to be blown away!
  2. The cable guy is coming this afternoon to make it possible for Stu and I to watch tv in our room. Man, we are spoiled.
  3. Stuart is driving to Wichita Falls tonight to load the last of house and bring it back tomorrow with his dad.
  4. Last night at midnight ended the 7 day option period for the soon-to-be new owners of our house. Nothing was said, so closing HERE WE COME!
  5. On a sadder note, please be praying for my sister's in laws. Her father in law was diagnosed with cancer a few months ago and it was not a great prognosis. Two weeks ago he had a pet scan that revealed new and different growths in his stomach. Yesterday he went in for a biopsy but due to the location, it was considered a major surgery. The surgery went ok (it just sounds weird to say that cancer surgery went well) but after he awoke from anesthesia, his mother was in his room and fell to the floor. Nurses came in and rushed her down to the ER where doctors discovered her to be having a heart attack. So both my sister's father-in-law and her grandmother-in-law are in the hospital. To top it all off, my sister's husband has his first church service tomorrow night. You can check out his new church here. So please lift this family up in prayer as they go thru these trials.

16 December 2010

Oh and did I mention

That our not-so-great-white-trash neighbors backed into our trailer?
Yeah.
They did.
When we got into Wichita Falls early Saturday morning, we were greeted by our neighbor's van parked in our driveway, all the way up to our garage door.


Lovely.
Let me stop here and just let you know theses are the same neighbors that didn't mow their grass in 6 months, which warranted a call to code enforcement. The same neighbors that left their broken down junker parked on the curb IN FRONT OF OUR HOUSE for 3  weeks, warranting another call to code enforcement. The same neighbors that routinely parked their truck so crookedly in their driveway that it would block most of our driveway, warranting a knock on their door to move so that I could pull MY car into MY driveway.Also the same neighbors that called our realtor THE SAME DAY that our house went on the market to complain about the fence that her own grandfather (previous owner of their house) put up between their driveway and our carport, being on their property. Here's the kicker: it's THEIR fence! If they want to take it down-go for it! It's yours! Thankyouverymuch.
Ahem.
So back to our driveway.
Seeing their van in front of our garage door was the LAST thing I needed. I wanted to call the police, but my passive-aggressive husband decided it would be better to pull the truck into the grass and have the trailer parked diagonally across our driveway. Stuart left just enough room for the neighbor to back out {assisted} or come knock on our door and show their shame.
Guess which one she did?
Here's how I think her brain went: Hey the neighbor's are putting their house on the market. Oh look, they already moved out. Since that fence is blocking my driveway, I'm going to park in their driveway. That'll teach them.
Too bad they are idiots.
The icing on the cake?
There was very minimal damage {if you want to call it that} to the trailer. But her van? She totally knocked out the right taillight. As evidenced by all the red taillight pieces in our trailer and the driveway. Also evidenced by the missing taillight later when she came home. HA!






Oh and the BEST part?
Our realtor's husband is WFPD. So guess who's driving by our house every night to make sure our awful neighbors aren't parked in our driveway and thus warranting a call to the WFPD tow company and having  their van spend some quality time in the impound lot-that's right.
Stupid neighbors.

15 December 2010

We must have heard his 20 times on our drive this weekend

Wordless Wednesday

14 December 2010

Meet the Clampets

Well, not literally, but we sure did feel like them.
This weekend Stuart and I made our second to last trip to Wichita Falls.
But let me back up a bit.
Thursday night, our realtor called and informed us that she had a very good offer in her hands for our house. It wasn't what we were asking but it was good nonetheless. After talking with Stu, we decided to counter (ultimately the original offer was to get all the appliances/tv for free and we countered with a price for those items) and then first thing Friday morning our counter was accepted. Yea!!!!!!
But, BUT the owners would like to be in the house by Dec 27 and rent it from us until Jan 7, when we close.
Ok.
O-K.
That meant that we only had last weekend and this coming weekend to move our house.
Gulp.
Moving is not new to us. This is/will be the 8th move we've done in 8 years. But since Stuart just starting working two months ago, he's not really in a position to ask off.
So two weekends it is.
This past weekend, the goal was simple: PACK THE HOUSE.
And that is precisely what we did.
We packed the entire house.
Then loaded up all 40+ boxes and brought them to my parent's house.
It was fast and furious but it's done.
All that's left is the big furniture, which Stuart and his father are going to go back for this coming weekend.
Hallelujah!
SO....baring any craziness found upon inspection or a meteor falling thru our roof, we will no longer be homeowners. {this makes me very happy}










10 December 2010

1809 Tilden

Well folks, it finally happened.
We got an offer
on our house!
Hallelujah!
After almost two months on the market and only a trickle of interest,
someone said,
"Why this is the most perfect house and I think it would suit our every need all the days of our lives."
Or something like that.
Either way
We got an offer
We got an offer
We got an offer!

09 December 2010

Do you see what I see?

look closely
 you might miss it
 almost
 is that better?
 yup
 awesome
yesterday Casting Crowns had a free fan appreciation concert
well, I think they actually had like 8 of them
but yesterday was there last one
and it was in San Antonio
yeah!
the boys and I bundled up and headed to La Cantera
where we were met by lots and lots and lots of people
{apparently there are a lot of stay-at-home workers}
and wonderful music

here are two videos I took
sorry about the quality
but know that they sound just as incredible live as they do on cd


Casting Crowns Live at La Cantera from Clarissa Doss on Vimeo.


Casting Crowns Live at La Cantera 2 from Clarissa Doss on Vimeo.