Soccer & Some Boot Scootin Fun!

Riley is back to playing soccer again this season.  He loved baseball in the spring, but didn't want to give up soccer.  That was fine with us, I don't want to force him to choose a sport at age 7. He is back with the same coach that we have had the last 2 years and love how much Riley is learning.

Alot of the same players are back, and it is good to be with our friends again.  We did lose some of our leaders of the team.  That just means that Riley is going to have to step up his game and get aggressive.  Our first game, Riley looked good, but not much offense. 

But the second game of the season, we won 2-0 and Riley scored one of those goals.   YEA!  Although if you ask Riley he will just say, that is because no one was in front of me, I had to score.  That is called skills son!

After soccer, we headed back out to Henrietta for a 2nd weekend with the Isom's.  Chuck has tried to get Randy to come out to Pioneer Reunion weekend since they have been friends back in Jr. High.  But there have just always been reasons to not make it.  After we had so much hunting weekend, we knew we wanted to make an extra effort.  So after our 8:45 game, we rushed home to change clothes and drive out there. We got there just in time to do a little shopping, and then head back to the house for lunch.  They have several booths set up around the courthouse.  Mommy didn't find anything she needed, but both kids had to buy a toy gun and toy bow & arrows.  Randy convinced them that they needed to spend their own money on what they wanted to buy.  It worked out well.  Alex found this cute dress that she really wanted, until Randy told her that she would have to spend her own money to pay for half of it.  Then she changed her mind and decided she didn't want the dress after all.  Imagine that!
    After lunch, the men took over child duty and the women headed into town to do a little shopping.  Jenn and I managed to both pick out matching shirts.  Don't worry, we are not planning to wear them at the same time.  We headed back to the house for a quick dinner and to get dressed and ready for rodeo that night.

We sat in the Isom's box seats and although it had rained alot the day before and threatened to pour several times that night we really enjoyed ourselves.

Chuck & Jenn & family

My little cowgirl

I had never sat through an entire rodeo, most less the kids having seen one.  They were really good and it was so interesting to watch.  We sat calf roping, barrel racing, of course bull riding, and more.

The best part for Riley was the calf scramble.  Again I had no idea what to expect.  But all the kids head out to the center of the arena and then they let 3 calves loose.  The point is to grab the tag off of each calf.  Riley actually got close to one, but wasn't the lucky one.

But he sure thought he was big stuff.

After the rodeo we headed back to the house to enjoy dessert of brownies & ice cream.  Then we headed home for the night.  The entire Isom family was staying at the house, so we decided to make it easier on all by just driving home Saturday night.  It was a late night, but we all had such a good time. Hopefully I see more Pioneer reunion weekends in our future.  Thanks again to Chuck & Jenn, Mr. & Mrs. Isom for inviting us and being such great hosts.

Riley's Hunting Trip

Since Randy no longer has his own hunting lease, he has been unable to share his love with Riley.  So when our friend Chuck mentioned going dove hunting on his family's property in Henrietta, Randy jumped at the chance.  The best part for me was Randy woke Riley up early, got him dressed, fed, and I got to sleep in.  So they headed out early Saturday morning to begin their hunt.  There were a total of 5 guys that went out.  Randy, Riley, Chuck, his son Brandon, and Chuck's dad.  What a great family event. Now the adults were actually the only ones doing the killing, but they did let the boys get in some target practice.  Riley may not have killed anything, but he was sure proud of being out there with Daddy.

I love their makeshift gun holder.  Apparantly Riley did get to shoot the big gun once, but the kickback was so strong that he decided he was just fine with the smaller gun and bb gun.

I am proud to say that Riley apparently already has a pretty good shot and was having lots of fun during target practice.  I see lots of hunting weekends with Daddy in his future.

The boys cooling off a little as it was time to head back in.

It was just supposed to be a morning hunt, but somehow it turned into a whole family weekend.  Randy called me as I was headed home from church with Alex and asked if we had anything else planned that day.  Since it was a 3 day weekend, he drove home to get us and we packed stuff to spend the night.  The four of us joined the rest of Chuck's family and had a great weekend with the Isom family.  The boys got to go out 2 more times to hunt and the girls got to spend some great time catching up and relaxing hanging out in the kitchen.  I really appreciated the Isom's hospitality.  The kids loved getting out in nature and away from the city.

Alex's Fairy Party

My opininated daughter decided months ago that she wanted a fairy party.  This sounded like fun to me so with the help of Pinterest and a weeklong vacation I went wild planning.  I don't think I have ever spent so much time planning a party, but in the end I LOVED how it all came out.  It started with me deciding that I wanted wings and a tutu for each little girl invited.  I scoured the internet and finally decided that mom and I  could make them, but I was a little afraid that we would spend a fortune.  Then I found the jackpot, Halo Heaven.  I was able to order wings, tutu, headbands, and fairy wands for each little girl.  Then I also found black capes and plastic swords to give each of the boys.  Perfect, I didn't have to make anything and they were cheap.  We did decide to embellish Alex's skirt just a little bit to make her more special and then I ordered her tshirt from this adorable little tshirt shop called Tee with Sugar in Southlake.  

I really wanted just a fairy cake, but couldn't find one I liked that wasn't through the roof in price.  So we ordered the Tinkerbell cake from Albertson's and then my mom surprised me with adorable butterfly cupcakes to complete the look.

I got this idea off pinterest.  I took pixie sticks and tied a tag around it stating, "Thanks for making my party a "fairy" tale.

Then I made butterflies for snacks for the table.  The only bad thing was the kids didn't realize they could take and snack during the party, so most of them just went home with the kids.

As the guests arrived, they were greeted with their costumes and then sent to have their faces painted by my mom.  Again I told Mom not to worry about this, but she insisted and the kids loved it!

Plus it was something the boys could get done too. Here is my best friend's little boy dressed in his black cape getting a knight (that I think looked like a Bell Raider) painted on his face. 

Here is an upclose of Riley's.

 

In my mind, I had worried that the boys would attack the girls with their swords.  No worries, they all attacked Uncle Travis!

Then we headed outside to paint Fairy houses.  Originally I had found these small birdhouses for the kids to paint. But I couldn't find enough "castle" birdhouses for the boys to paint. I went to like every Michaels in the area, but in the process I found these larger houses on clearance for a $1.  I still had the problem of what will the boys paint.  Luckily I have serious talent in my family.  My grandfather cut shields out of wood for all the boys to paint their own shield to go with their costume.

Here was one of the shield that my friend, Jenn, just accidentally painted for her youngest son.  I think I see a Blazing Sun in the making.

After all the painting, it was time to open presents.  Alex had so much fun posing with all her friends.  Here she was with Caleb, her cousin, and one of her favorite presents, a Bride's dress.

Finally it was time for some cake!!  This year Alex had no trouble blowing out her candle and being the center of attention. 

After cake, our party friends left and our family arrived.  We opened more presents, ate barbeque sandwiches I made in the crockpot, and posed for pictures with grandparents.

Great Grandma Betty & Grandpa Bill

Papaw & Nemo

And finally Nana & Gampa. 

Next time somebody please remind me to get pics with Mama Karyn & Papaw Richard!

At least I got one with Uncle Ryan

And Aunt Kelly!

First Day of Second Grade

How in the world is my sweet firstborn already in 2nd grade?  He is getting so tall.  Right now Riley is 7 years old and still as sensitive as ever.  He wavers between his favorite sport being soccer and baseball, although he currently is playing soccer.  His favorite food is probably pizza, although he can't seem to eat enough fruit.  Majority of the time, he is an excellent eater.  Typical boy, hard to fill up.  He is wearing a size 7 in clothes, although some size 7 jeans are too short. But size 8 jeans won't stay up. His foot is a size 3 and definitely looking to be really tall, which I really do love.

This year I also bought Alex a first day of school outfit.  She loves clothes so much, how good I tell her no.  I think she was as excited as Riley about the first day of school.  Although for Alex, she is just going back to Mrs. Tracey's with her friends, so not much to be afraid of.

The 3 of us all in new clothes!

Riley with his handpicked teacher, Mrs. Gray.  If you don't think she is amazing, then just look at his class list with 3 teacher kids in it.  Which also means that Riley will spend another year with some of his best friends in class. :)

Since I didn't get to go to Meet the Teacher night with him, had to meet my own students, I went down early with him the first day of school.  We went and took early pictures because Riley knew that at 7:45 I had to be in my classroom greeting my students for the first day. It is always hard to not be able to walk him to class or be at those first moments, but I get so busy and wrapped in my first morning jitters that I usually get over those feelings quickly.  Besides it is good for Riley to be on his own and not always relying on Mom.

So here's to hopefully another fantastic school year.

Oooh Gross!

My neighbor, Michelle, and I took the kids to the Fort Worth Museum of Science and History one Sunday to see Grossology!  It was gross, although it would have been alot grosser if we had really read what everything said.  We talked about our digestive system and farting.  We even made farting and burping noises by building up the air in our stomach.

We climbed the skin wall, complete with pimples, moles, and blisters.

Of course the kids didn't care, they were just climbing a wall.

Then the kids climbed through the body.  We have so much fun hanging out with our neighbors.  While there is 1.5 year difference between Riley & Chas, there is only 6 weeks difference between Alex and Addison.  So they make the perfect friends. 

After all the disgustingness, we headed into the fear extreme exhibit.  We learned about odds in several situations, and even layed on a bed of nails.

Finally we learned about several extreme jobs.  For this part of the exhibit Riley tried on different safety clothing including bullet proof vests and firemen's gear.

We had a good time going through the exhibits, but the best part was the regular Children's exhibit.  The girls could have spent all day buying & ringing up groceries, while the boys were content building train tracks.  Not to mention, if it hadn't been 100 degrees outside, then they would have stayed in the water exhibit forever.  Either way we all had a great time!

Bandera - Part 2

Thursday morning Mom & I headed out to Fredericksburg for a little shopping while the kids stayed back at the hotel with Gampa.  I'm pretty sure their day consisted of swimming, playing miniature golf, taking a nap, and more swimming.  Mom and I managed to buy her ANOTHER purse, some meat rubs, Mexican vanilla, and a shirt for me.  We spent a lot of time wandering into stores with pretty stuff that we couldn't afford.  But it was nice to look at boutiques without constantly worrying if my kids are going to break something.  When we got back we took the kids into town for Dairy Queen and then after Blizzards, we headed back for more sugar and more Smores!

Friday morning my dad and Riley got up to play a round of golf.  Riley hung out  for 9 holes of golf, and then Alex and I went for the last 9 holes.  After golf, we headed back to the pool and to relax some more. 

Saturday morning was National Cowboy Day, and Bandera is one of the Cowboy capitals, so we headed into town for a little festivities.

First off was to turn these city kids into cowboys and cowgirls by buying them real hats.

Then we had to see what they were really made of and have a run with the bull.  It was really cool that this bull ride could go absolutely as slow or as fast as each person wanted. Riley started out slow til he got the hang of it.

Then he wanted to go faster and faster.  Here is the result, but notice the small smile forming on his face.

Surprisingly Alex wanted to try it to.  That adventurous little girl was really starting to show. But not too adventurous because she didn't want to go faster and fall off.

Then we drank some frozen lemonaide and watched a gun fight.

As we turned to leave they unloaded a longhorn.  Don't judge me for letting me children sit on a longhorn.  How could I disappoint them?

That night we headed back to the Flying L for a barbeque down at the Ranch "town." We ate barbeque and did a little "chicken" dancing.

They had all these little stations set up for the kids to try.  Each kid tried their hand at shooting a bow and arrow.  Pretty good shots, Randy would have been proud.

Amazingly this was something my dad had never actually done, so he was excited to try it.  I had done it at camp and actually was pretty good, but sadly I was pathetic.

Sort of like how my son was at roping. But its not about the skill, right?  Its all about the full cowboy experience.

While Riley was roping, Mom was cooling off in the shade.  Did I mention this was the end of July and dinner was outside?  It was hot!

We ended the evening with Alex getting her face painted, in fact she was the last girl to get her face painted.

It all marked the end to a really great relaxing week.  Just spent the time having fun, enjoying each other's company, oh and staying up late every night on Pinterest planning Alex's fairy party.