Northpark

I've always wanted to go see The Trains at Northpark. Friday, Brian took off work a little bit early and we headed over in some serious traffic. It was all worth it though. We saw the trains, Scrooge, and a Santa Toy Shop Puppet theater. It is a great place to go at Christmas!

Below are pictures taken by Abigail of the various displays at the trains exhibit.

Holiday Happenings

At our school, all the room moms from all of the classes in every grade level put on one big party in the gym for the entire school. This isn't quite as personal and intimate as a Christmas party in the classroom, but the kids love it. The entire grade level comes to the gym for about an hour and plays games. I was up there every day this week helping to prepare for this. I had no idea how much work went into this. I will admit that I had a big headache when I got home after working about 2 and a half hours in the gym. As a former teacher, I had forgotten how loud 140 kids could be. I feel so incredibly blessed to be able to be a part of it all and so thankful to be at a school where there are so many volunteers.

Bob, The Shelf Elf

"Bob" is the miniature visitor in our house. Emma wanted to name him, "Bob" and Abby was in agreement. Apparently, he will stay at our house until Christmas Eve. Each night while we are sleeping, he goes back to the North Pole to report on how we are behaving. Then, when we wake up the next morning, he is in a new spot.

The only rule for our elf on the shelf is that you aren't allowed to touch him. You can talk to him, but he can't talk back. He sometimes gets into some trouble though and can be a bit mischievous. We are having lots of fun with our shelf elf; he keeps us on our toes!

Small Group Christmas Party

Our small group had our annual Christmas party at our house this year. It actually worked out great for us as our kids stayed up in the gameroom with a movie and stayed very quiet. We bribed them with IHOP, so we took them there on Sunday as their reward.

We had a fun time with our great group of friends, and the white elephant gift exchange was a great laugh. Of course, it is also very exciting when your children find some of these white elephant gifts around your house the next day....gee, thanks!

Parade

Our town puts on an annual Christmas parade. We typically attend every year, and each year, I'm pretty impressed with it. There is always lots of candy passed out, which is a favorite with my kids. This year, Abby got to ride in the back of a pick-up truck (which represented Santa's sleigh) with her dance studio. Some of the other girls rode in golf carts - there was one for each reindeer. She had tons of fun. It was a very cold and damp parade though, so the turnout didn't seem as large as it normally is.

Polar Express

After lots of drama regarding the Kindergarten field trip, I was very, very happy that I was one of two names "drawn" to chaperon our outing to The Polar Express at the Imax.

Originally, we were supposed to go to the zoo, but there were 7 moms' names "drawn" to go from each class. Since there were more than 7 moms in most classes wanting to attend the field trip, this was upsetting for some. In the past, if your name wasn't chosen, you could still drive your own car to the field trip, walk with your child, but would not be allowed to "chaperon" any students. However, this year, those names not chosen were asked not to go to the zoo. There was a big uproar concerning students' safety, apparently, so the field trip venue changed.

I was so happy I got to attend and had so much fun with the Kindergartners! (really, I did)! Emma was just beaming the whole time I was with her. What a great memory!

Jingle Bell Jog

I had a great time participating in two very cold Jingle Bell jogs at the girls' school this year. Brrrrr!!! I was so concerned with wearing the 4 layers of clothes I felt would be necessary that I forgot to bring my camera for Abby's "jog." I ended up taking a picture of her with my cell phone. She was less than thrilled with me taking her picture and promptly said, "Please don't put this picture on your Facebook, Mom." I didn't put it on there, so I will put it on the blog instead. :)

Dreaming of a White Christmas...

We can be fairly certain around here that we will never see a white Christmas, but it was a beautiful sight to see snow falling in early December. The girls got to try and catch a couple of snowflakes on their way to school.


And, even our little dog had some fun playing in the very short-lived snow. She must have been watching too many Christmas shows because she started leaping like a reindeer.

Up on the Housetop

Every year, Brian gets out the ladder and hangs the lights from our house, and every year, I cringe as he is up there. While growing up, his dad always had lights on the house, so he wants to continue that tradition for our girls. I always say a prayer though as he is dragging out that big ladder.

In the end, the house shines nice and bright to help celebrate the Christmas season.

Santa

We took the girls for our annual visit to Santa. My mind flashed back to remembering when they were just babies sitting with Santa. They almost seemed to be getting too big this year to both fit on his lap. Where does the time go? The positive side to growing up is that there were no tears, and we got a great picture!

We went to see him on Sunday morning after church and there was no wait at all. They both talked his ear off for a good minute because there was no one else waiting to get their picture made.

Halloween

We had a fun night of trick-or-treating, and the weather couldn't have been more perfect! Emma was dressed as Hannah Montana, and Abby used a dance recital costume to be a waitress. Brian's beloved OSU Cowboys were playing on TV, so I took the girls out door to door. They got a ton of candy!

Published Author

Abby decided to publish another book last year. It is a lengthy process to write, illustrate, and edit a book. It was a lot of work, but we are so thrilled for her! The book was completed this month, and she was able to share it with her class. She wants to be a famous writer when she grows up.

Pumpkin Patch

Well, we only managed one outing to the Pumpkin Patch this year, mainly due to all of the rain we had in October. It was so muddy, and the only thing the kids really got to do was pose for a few pictures. Hopefully next year will be better!

Occupation Parade

Emma studied various occupations for the week in Kindergarten, and at the end of the week, all the classes got to have a parade around the school dressed up in the occupation he/she would like to pursue. Emma's changed from rock star, to princess, and finally decided on veterinarian about 7:00a that morning. I also had the privilege of being Mystery Reader in her classroom that afternoon. She was so happy to see me!

Fun Run

Our school's PTA has a huge fundraiser at the beginning of the year called a Fun Run. Each student gets sponsors to fund the number of laps they can run. Fortunately, they do max out at 25 laps. This year, due to rain, the Fun Run was held inside the gym. They play tons of fun music and the kids have a great time. Both girls reached the 25 lap mark.

Abby continues to Lead

Just as she did in 1st Grade and 2nd Grade, Abigail was selected as the Liberty Leader for her 3rd Grade class for the first 6 weeks of the year. Each class selects a leader from their class toward the end of each 6 weeks and Abigail was the first one selected this year.

Below is the write-up done by her teacher for the award.


And here she is pictured with the award winners from the other 3rd grade classes at her school. One of these days she will stop growing, right?

Emma's Super Week

What a great week! Emma was Super Kid in her class, received a Super Star certificate for being a great example for others, and was chosen as the Wow Reader for her class for the first six weeks of school. We are so proud!!

Project #2: Emma's Bathroom

I finally finished Emma's bathroom. I should have taken before and after pics. Her old bathroom was blue and yellow and decorated with ducks. This time, she requested a pink princess bathroom. It was a lot of time and work, but I'm glad it turned out the way she wanted. Now, if I can find time to work on bathroom #3....

Project #1: Abby's Bathroom

Finished my first of MAAANNNYYY home projects... girls gone (boo hoo)... lots of work to do. I was 7 months pregnant when we moved into this house almost 6 years ago. This house is completely unorganized because I just threw everything into cabinets, closets, etc. It all pretty much remains the same 6 years later. (Sigh)...

The big mistake I made in this room was to remove the wallpaper the builder had put up. Almost 20 hours of work removing it and lots of sheetrock taken down along with it. In the 3 bathrooms I have left to do, I will just prime, texture and paint over the wallpaper. Never again!!

Here are a couple of more pictures.




Made these nifty frames for around $6 a piece...love that Mod Podge!! I typed and printed Abby's 2 favorite Bible verses and put them in the frames.


Found this basket at Michaels...I hope I'm not going overboard with the blue/brown polkadot theme...


Covered the light switch plate with a 10 cent piece of scrapbook paper and good ol' Mod Podge...

Did it all by myself during the day, with Brian only helping with some tool / mechanical related stuff. Lots of sweat in the process....lost 5 lbs. redoing this bathroom, which took me 2 weeks to complete.

I don't think I'll finish the 1000 things on my "to do" list before June 10th. There is no bon-bon eating or nappin' going on in this house, just a lot of hard work. I am so blessed to have this time at home (for now) trying to make our home and lives a little bit happier!

First Day of School

Both the girls had a great 1st day of school. I am very sad to see them go, but they had a lot of fun.


Emma was very excited this morning to start school, and her teacher loved her shirt, which says Kindergarten Rocks! She showed no signs of being scared or any worries about us leaving her there. When she came home, she said her first day was GREAT and actually had a number of stories to tell us about the day (it was always hard to get much out of her about her day in pre-K).


Abigail, being the big 3rd Grader, didn't want us walking her to her room at all (since that wasn't a cool thing to do) but she allowed us to walk up to the door, just not in. Brian was able to get a quick picture of her already hard at work doing some classwork that was waiting for her at her desk. She came home talking about how funny her teacher was and how she liked her. That was great to hear from her given her initial concerns before school started.

They both came home tired from the day and were quick to bed this evening. One story I like to read to the girls before school starts is the story of the Kissing Hand and this year we made hand cookies with a 'Kiss' in the middle to remind them of the story. They each got some in their lunch today.


Then, Emma came home today with a craft talking about the kissing hand. She said the story that her teacher read was the exact one that I was reading at home. I guess great minds think alike?

Here is one more picture of the girls that I just love...

Meet the Teacher

Luckily, Emma is very excited about Kindergarten (mommy is not though)! We have really been talking it up and trying to start the year off on a fun note. Emma got to meet her new teacher on Friday. She seems to be a perfect fit for Emma's personality. I couldn't be happier!


Abby was convinced she wanted a certain teacher, and convinced there was one teacher that she did not want because of stories she had heard from other kids. She had a 1 in 7 chance and well, she of course got that one teacher she did not want. Her teacher also happens to be 8 months pregnant which means there will be a long term sub coming very soon. She also learned they decided that her grade level would have the last lunch time of the year this year; yes, 1:00-1:30 lunch time. Luckily, they do get a snack, but it still seems very late.

Abby does seem to have adjusted her attitude a bit after meeting her teacher and seeing her class, but I still couldn't get her picture with her teacher. Apparently, that's just not cool in 3rd grade.

Another Rangers Game

My Dad joined Abigail, Emma and Myself at the Rangers game. I had gotten free tickets via the Texas Rangers promotion for voting the maximum number of times for the all-star game (a really easy process to do online btw!). So, we enjoyed a great game. Abigail has been to many Rangers games in the past, but this was the first one for Emma (I think I'm up to 5 games for the season). Of course, all she wanted to do was eat cotton candy. Lucky for us my darling wife had stopped at Kroger that afternoon and got some for us. Along with a bag of peanuts (which Abigail loves) and a number of bottles of water, we were set for the night.

Of course, the girls asked for more food and I was able to talk them into a couple of yummy hot dogs (this was after munching on Grandpa's fries earlier in the game). Otherwise, we spent the entire game only paying for parking (and the dogs).

Abigail was completely into the game, as she has been for a couple of years now. She follows the score, cheers on all the players (including that famous singer batting 9th, Elvis, and doing the Bird flap for Marlon), and really enjoys the experience. As expected with Emma, she kinda game up toward the middle of the game (unlike most Rangers games, this one turned out to be a fairly slow moving one). However, between all the food and a few games of Tic-Tac-Toe and Checkers on my new Palm Pre phone, she got her second wind. She was completely into the game following the 7th inning stretch and a little spin dancing with daddy.

We made it to the end of the game hoping for a Rangers home run (so we could see some fireworks and then leave a little early) but it didn't happen. All in all, a wonderful Grandpa, Daddy, Daughter night at the ballpark!

NRH2O

Well, in trying to squeeze everything into the last little bit of summer, we managed to make it to the waterpark. Luckily, we are early risers, so we were able to make it inside as the gates opened. We headed straight to several of the waterslides because we knew the lines would increase as the day wore on. We were able to ride several slides multiple times before we decided to move on to another attraction. The kids favorite slide was a racing one where up to 4 people race against each other (and the clock). We did it nearly 1/2 a dozen times.

The girls had a great time. There were several things the girls couldn't do though; Emma was 1/4 of an inch too short for a couple of the slides (she had already ridden them when a different lifeguard was there, but this particular one wouldn't let her). So, she was bummed about that. Abby was too tall to go on the climbing ropes. They did not have near enough tubes for the slides, so you had to wait your turn for a tube and then go wait in line for the slides. And, last, they made our kids destroy their sandcastles they were building in the sand (along with all the other kids doing it). Not sure the reasoning behind this one, but what can you do? The girls had a great time, but they felt there were too many rules there. We explained that rules are meant for safety, but they did seem a little over the top.

We were excited about the fact that we could bring a cooler in, so we did manage to save a lot of money on food and drinks. Always a plus!

Construction

Earlier this year we decided we wanted to expand our back porch and settled on adding an additional section of patio slab with an arbor covering it. While our existing patio is a decent size, the afternoon sun would always hit it and make it somewhat un-functional during the summer.

Above you see the final results. The only work left to be done is to restain the existing patio posts to match the newly stained arbor posts. Also, I added a 'Sun Screen' mesh cover on top of the arbor that is supposed to cut out 75% of the sun's rays... it does a pretty good job. Not bad for $40 at Lowes. I've included a before shot to show what the porch used to look like


The new patio chairs were found a little while back on sale at Target and have already gotten some use. The girls are impatiently waiting to try out the new fire-pit in the fall so we can make some smores and roast hot dogs (just a little too hot right now). Also, we have already caught Bailey making full use of the new couch (including knocking pillows off to find her perfect spot) for her afternoon naps. All in all, the new porch is a success...

Little Turtle

On Sunday, we got to go out to Lone Star park to enjoy some horse racing. The girls have never been out there before and lucky for us, our family horse experts (i.e. my Dad and step-mom) were on hand to show them around. Also, the horse that they have part ownership in (basically, they own the right back hoof) was running. So, we got to go back to the barn to see Little Turtle in person before the race, what a treat!

We made it back to the grandstands, where the girls placed their bets on the next couple of races (whoever won between my parents and the girls got tickled by the girls) and we waited our time for Little Turtle's race. The girls went down to the paddock, watched Turtle get ready and then we headed out front for the race. She was racing in a lower level claiming race from what she had ran in before and had a great break from the gate, but it was just not her day, finishing in the middle of the pack.

The girls had a lot of fun and we can't wait to see what kind've race horse that Little Turtle turns into.

Party Girls

This weekend, we had a visit from my Grandmother who was on her way to San Antonio. In preparation, the girls were putting together a show, and one of their routines was to show off their hula-hooping skills. Abigail is able to walk the hallways of our house without the hula-hoop falling down. Emma, just this summer, has really improved her skills to be able to stand and sing with a microphone all while keeping the hula hoop going for at least a few minutes. It really is quite a sight to see. The amazing thing is that neither girl looks like they are putting much effort into it. I guess all that hip shaking practice in their dance classes is finally paying off.

Basketball Camp

This week Abigail went to Basketball camp. Compared to this time last year, she is 10 times better. She still has her challenges, but it was a great week for her to develop her skills. She is getting a lot better a dribbling and especially at chest passing / catching the ball in the air (i.e. not being afraid of it). They also played 5 on 5 each day and worked on their shooting.

On Friday, she got an award for Hot Shot runner up. Every day each camper got 30 seconds to make shots from various spots on the floor and they keep a running total. Great Job, Abigail!

Half of her team from the fall was at this camp and they all looked great. Look out 3rd grade teams, it's shaping up to be one heck of a fall season.

Fireworks

We spent Independence Day by getting together with friends from church for an afternoon of socializing, swimming and cooking out. A big thanks to Michelle and Tony for allowing us to use your place. Also, compliments to Julie for posting these pool party picks for me to 'borrow'. You will see that Emma was trying to give diving lessons to Brendon... very cute.




After the gathering, we headed home to watch fireworks. We are close enough to the action to get a pretty good view from our driveway which keeps us out of the traffic chaos that follows the show. Also, it allowed Abigail and Bailey to enjoy the fireworks on TV from Boston (which are not nearly as loud) and we went outside with Emma to take in the show.

Happy Birthday USA!