Christmas 2008

Sorry it took so long to get these pictures up, but here they are. We all (the 4 of us, Marquis, Amy, Bre, Gage, Ronald, Lori, Kenzie & Peri) stay the night at Memaw & Papa's house Christmas Eve. We get up Christmas morning to see what Santa brought and open presents. Jeremy and I then take the kids over to Nana & Pawpaw's house to open gifts with them. Then, back to Memaw & Papa's for lunch. Then back to Nana and Pawpaw's to spend time with them and have dinner. Christmas is always a hectic day, but we love getting to spend time with family. To sum things up.... Grace got a baby & buggy from Santa (along with some other things) and her Papa made her a baby bed. Awwwwwe! Evan got a bb gun (but wasn't able to shoot it until he'd read the safety book that came with it and reviewed ALL of the rules) Star Wars for Wii, some science kits & model building sets (along with some other stuff.) Basically they got plenty! We had a very merry Christmas!!

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More Christmas Activities

Saturday evening we made gingerbread houses at Papa & Memaw's house. Things started out fine, but because of the extreme humidity (not quite normal for late December) the icing would never harden. Soooo our houses would not stick together. We called them our gingerbread houses after Hurricane Ike. Once you see the pictures, you'll understand. We had our annual hayride to look at Christmas lights afterward. Enjoy the pictures! Merry Christmas!!!

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Christmas Festivities

Evan had is first Christmas concert last week. They sang two songs and he was fantastic!

Jeremy went hunting with his dad last weekend so the kids and I were home alone. I bought them new pajamas, we had movie candy and watched The Grinch movie Friday night. Aren't they cute??

Let it Snow!!!

No, the pictures I took below are not from a defective camera. That's snow!! It actually snowed in Baytown Wednesday night. Considering I'm 26 and have only seen it snow here 4 times....we get REALLY excited when it does. I believe the news said we got 4". Evan was absolutely thrilled. We let him stay up late to play outside in it that night. They postponed school the next morning so he was able to play out in it that morning as well. Grace wasn't quite as thrilled, but considering she's pretty sick, she liked it okay. Enjoy the pictures!

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Raingutter Regatta

Evan participated in the Raingutter Regatta for cub scouts Saturday. For those of you not familiar with all of that, the boat comes plain in a little box in pieces. You have to assemble, glue, paint and decorate your boat. They race them down raingutters filled with water by blowing on the sail. He named his Shark Hunter. Unfortunately he didn't win the race, but he did win for most unique boat and got a trophy stand to put it on.

Grace Performs

I got Grace to sit still for just a few seconds to perform. She tells you what Santa Claus says and sings the "la la la" part of Deck the Halls. Pretty cute if you ask me!

Thanksgiving Camping 2008

We're home!! After spending a little over a week camping at Blanco State Park, coming home was bittersweet. It's nice to get back into our routines and start getting ready for Christmas, but it sure was nice to be away from the phone and hectic schedules and to visit with family. I got plenty of shopping in, Evan probably put a few hundred miles on his bike, Jeremy got a little fishing in and Grace just loves being outside.
--We made a trip into Gruene to eat at the Gristmill, one of our favorite places to visit, and walk around town a bit.
--We went back to the Magic Time Machine in San Antonio. This time we took a few more people with us. Dora the Explorer was our waitress. Such a fun place for the kiddos!
--Did a little shopping in San Marcos at the outlet mall, of course.
--Visited Fredricksburg for a little shopping and some German food.
--We visited an exotic zoo in Johnson City. I must recommend that one -- so much better than the wildlife ranch in San Antonio. You ride on a covered trailer with benches pulled by a tractor. We saw lots of various animals (pictures below) and they actually RUN up to the trailer to eat from your hands. This was definitely a highlight for the week.
All in all we had a FANTASTIC time. I've tried a new program for inserting a slide show. Plenty of pictures for you to enjoy!

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Happy Thanksgiving!!

I know it's a little early, but we'll be camping, of course. I've never tried posting on our blog from the internet on my cell phone so if it turns out to be too difficult, I wanted to wish you all a very HAPPY THANKSGIVING!! If I'm not able to post while we're there, I should have plenty of pictures to share when we get back. Yall have a good one!

Grace's 1st Haircut

Well, I finally broke down and got Grace's hair cut today. It wasn't as traumatic as I thought it might be. I think she looks like a big girl now though.

Before........Then starting in the back

This almost looks painful...................Doing good....

Still going.................................Telling her all about it

Not completely convinced....Still tryin' to figure out what Ms. Carol just did

The End of Fall Ball

Saturday was our last fall baseball game. We'll have a break for about 2 months before spring ball starts. Evan really loves baseball. He's actually doing REALLY well. Only 1 strike out all season! He played short stop and 2nd base this season. He got his trophy today and the kids got to play at the park for a little bit afterward.

Texas Renaissance Festival

We went to the Renaissance Festival this weekend. The kids loved it. I had too many photos to share so I'm trying to show them in a slideshow this time. It takes a minute to load so be patient. Enjoy.....

November 7, 2008

Just thought I would share a few things....

Evan opened a new game that we'd bought a while back. It's called No Brainer. Basically, it asks you yes or no trivia questions and you shake your head or nod your head for the answer. Fashion statement maybe?

Also, Evan hit his first in the park home run last night. Such a proud mommy!

Grace absolutely LOVES baby dolls. If you go down the aisle at the store with all of the dolls, she says, "Ooooohhhhh oooohhhhhhh oooooohhhhhh" until you get past them all. Of course she always wants to test each one out. She has a baby now that can go in the bathtub as well as anywhere else we go. Look at the excitement on her face!

I decided to add a video of Grace doing No More Monkeys Jumping on the Bed. She wasn't entirely cooperative (she usually does a few more hand motions) but it's still cute. Sorry, but I have no idea how to flip video upright. I'll keep working on that, but you'll just have to cock your head to one side this time to watch it.

Trick-Or-Treat

I fixed dinner for everyone before we went out trick-or-treating.

This is macaroni & cheese with goblin eyes and worms. I know, it looks disgusting, but it was a hit for the kiddos.

And to wash it down....

Putrid punch!

And for dessert...

Mummies!!

Here's my little trick-or-treaters. A rock star and a Texans cheerleader.

And here's Grace toward the end of the night.

Pumpkin Carving

We had our annual pumpkin carving last night at Memaw & Papa's house. We get all of the grandkids over there to carve pumpkins together. Traditions, traditions....

Grace did NOT like digging out the pumpkin.

Evan in deep concentration

Left to right -- Ronald's pumpkin, Kenzie's pumpkin, Our pumpkin, Bre's pumpkin, Amy's pumpkin

Poor Peri's didn't show up because her's wasn't carved. She stuck Potato Head pieces in it instead.

A Few Halloween Festivities

We went to a Halloween party at church on Saturday. Grace was a Texans cheerleader, Evan was a rock star, Jeremy and I went as an old couple.

Grace and I go to story time at the library on Monday mornings. She loves it! Her favorite songs include, 3 Little Monkeys, Itsy Bitsy Spider, I'm a Little Teapot and the Pop the Bubbles song. (Yes, they get to pop bubbles during that song.) She's in her halloween costume in these pictures because they got to trick-or-treat afterward.

E-I-E-I-O

We made a trip to Old MacDonald's Farm today with Marquis, Amy, Bre, Gage, Ronald, Lori, Kenzie and Peri. The kids had a fabulous time and burned off a lot of energy! We'd taken Evan a couple of times before and this was Grace's first trip. Evan always has a great time there and now Grace is a fan as well. We were actually surprised, but she absolutely loved all of the animals. The pony ride and train were a huge hit for both of them. I had a hard time narrowing down which pictures to post, but here's a few.