First Day of First Grade

August 22 was the first day of school.  My big boy, Riley, started 1st grade this year.  This seems like such a big change.  Plus now he is on the opposite end of the building.  No more "walking" by the classroom to spy on him and see what he is up to.  I really don't have a reason to be down at that end of the building very often.

Then I had to take a close up of the mouth because the Monday before school started he lost another tooth.  I dropped him off at the babysitters for MY first day back at work.  When I dropped him off I didn't even know he had a loose tooth.  Then I picked him up and he has another hole in his mouth and a tooth in a baggie.  I was so surprised and Tracey, our caregiver, was excited because Riley let HER pull his teeth. Did I mention how much I love this woman???

Riley with his amazing teacher, Mrs. Ogle.  One of the few perks of being a teacher is that I get to hand pick my children's teachers.  I knew Christa was an amazing teacher who really excels in teaching kids to read.  That was exactly what Riley needed!  Not to mention the crazy hours she puts in.  Did I mention that we drove by the school at 9pm on the Friday night before school started and she was still there working, by herself, in a really big and really dark building??

The first day could not have gone better.  Riley absolutely loves first grade.  He did crack me up though.  When I asked him what was the best part about first grade?  The desks!!  In Kindergarten they all shared a tables.  So now he has his own personal space to leave a mess.

Mommy and Riley both dressed up for the first day of school.

I also had a great first day.  I started my year with 24 4th graders.  That is 4 more students than I had last year in my class and let me tell you that makes a HUGE difference.  Not to mention that when you consider I have 2 classes of 24 that makes 8 more papers to grade than last year.  Every thing we do takes a little longer and it is a neverending line coming down the hall. We have now hired a new teacher and will soon be parting with 4 of our precious students that I have grown really attached to. I don't want 24 students, but I don't want to lose any either! :(

Alex's 3rd Birthday

Several weeks ago, my baby girl turned 3.  But between school starting and Randy working out of town, I just haven't had time to blog about anything.  In fact even right now, I have a stack of papers waiting to be graded so that progress reports can go home, but I decided to work on my blog before I have an insane amount to blog about.

First off is a picture that my friend & photographer, Melissa Chase Photography, took of Alex for her 3 year pics. I think I may have finally figured out the trick to getting Alex to smile.  Take pictures of just her first.  That way it is all her HER! 

2 weeks before her actual birthday, we had a Disney Princess birthday party at the house.  One month before was her cousin Caleb's party that involved a big inflatable water slide.  The kids had a blast!  So I sweet talked Jamie into bringing the slide all the way from Round Rock.  Then I asked ever so sweetly if my mother in law would bring the above ground pool that she bought for the kids all the way from Florida. (Yes I am very loved!)  Lastly we set up our own kiddie pool.  All the kids came in their swimsuits and were ready to swim.  What else do you do when it is 105 outside??

 Caleb all ready to shoot some hoops in the shallow pool!

 Daddy doing what he does best, grilling some hamburgers and hotdogs for all to enjoy.

 I was amazed that all the younger kids spent so much time in the "big" pool and not on the water slide. But I sure am glad Karyn brought the pool all the way from Florida!

Look at all the kids chowing down on hot dogs & cheetos.  We ran out of Cheetos before dinner was even served.  Note to self -buy 2 or more bags of Cheetos for the next kids party!

Then it was time to open all the presents.  It was obvious that everyone knows what Alex likes, Disney princesses.  I didn't even know they made that much princess stuff!

Finally it was time for princess cake & tiara cupcakes.  So we all sang Happy Birthday and waited for Alex to blow out the candles, and waited and waited.  Alex kept blowing up, like blowing her bangs, instead of blowing out the candles.  It took forever but she finally did it!

 Then just as the party was winding down we headed outside for one last BIG present.  Mama Karyn, Papaw, Aunt Kalee, and Uncle Ryan got Alex a PINK Barbie motorized Jeep!  She was so excited.  When Riley turned 3, the Farris' bought him a green John Deere motorized Gator.  It has been a favorite toy for the past 3 years and is still well played.

Immediately Alex & Hailey went for a ride.  We were all sitting there seeing the future of Alex and Hailey at age 16 headed out for night on the town.  Lord, help me now!  Hailey has enough of her Momma in her and Alex has her Mommy's looks and her Daddy's attitude.  Watch out town!  These two will be trouble!  The really funny thing was Alex didn't feel comfortable driving yet, so she let Hailey take over the driving after a while.  Those two had so much fun driving around.

It was a great party.  Alex got a ridiculous amount of toys that she just LOVES.  We are so blessed to have so many wonderful friends and family.

Cowboys Stadium Tour

Today we cashed in our Groupon tickets for Cowboys Stadium Tours that I bought my dad and Randy for Father's Day.  None of us had seen inside it, so I was pretty pumped.  I made us all dress in our Cowboys shirts.  Except that I realized that Riley did not have one.  My big plan was that we would just buy one at the Proshop. What I wasn't prepared for was that the KID'S jerseys would be $65!!  So instead I bought a new tshirt for me and Riley took my jersey.  Never mind that this jersey is now on clearance since Marion Barber was traded several days ago.  The kids were so excited to get down on the field, although both of them asked me when the game was going to start.  I was really said to tell them that we were not there to see a game, we can't actually afford to take all of us to a real Cowboys game. 

 I had to crack up and how when you give kids a great big field, they feel the need to run.  And run they did.  Both kids ran the full length of the field several times.  They had so much fun.

 Then Gampa decided it was time to step in and do some tackling.

 Daddy didn't tackle, but just decided for the scoop up and take over.

Future pose with the star?

I think they tackled each other, or just took a break from all that running.

 Then Dad decided to step in and tackle Randy.  Just in case you were wondering, no nobody actually fell to the turf.

 Riley couldn't be outdone and decided to do his own tackling. 

After a considerable amount of time, we decided to check out the behind the scenes places.  Here was the Cowboys locker room.  Now of course, the Cowboys are actually at training camp, and haven't reported to the locker rooms at Cowboys stadium but still here are the big 3 right together.

 Then I felt that it was our job as good Aggies, to take our family photo in front of Martellus Bennett (an Aggie) locker.

After the boy's room, we decided to check out the girl's room (The Cowboy Cheerleaders locker room!)  Again not much to see, but they had one locker set up to show their uniforms and they glowing lights.  Of course, my drama queen posed prissilly (is that a word?)

Finally it was time to go, both kids were getting whiney, and we had seen all we were allowed to see on the self -guided tour, so we headed outside.  We had to finish up with Dad posing with Tom Landry (probably his favorite coach of all time).

It was a great day.  We really were amazed at the television screen and of course it was all beautiful.  Now, I'm not ready to go back to work yet and summer to be over, but I am ready for some football!

Papaw Richard & Uncle Ryan's birthday

The next day we headed to Uncle Ryan's house to celebrate his birthday along with with Papaw's. Grandma Karyn (renamed Mama Karyn by Alex) was in town after bringing the kids back home the previous week (the spent about a week in Florida- while Mommy & Daddy enjoyed some kid free time).  This party consisted of doing what we do best, swimming!  After a while Alex got tired of swimming and wanted Mama Karyn to take off her toe nail polish (Mama Karyn polished her toes for the first time the week before!)

 Daddy took over the float, but notice even while relaxing he is still armed with a noodle and a water squirter!

 Uncle Ryan taught Riley how to do some cannonballs.  They must have jumped in the pool a dozen times.  Riley was having so much fun!  It is really cute watching how Ryan has matured into a man that absolutely adores my children. He is definitely not the young kid who was scared to death of little kids that he was when Riley was born.  Now he is cool Uncle Ryan.

 I have no idea what this pose was all about, but it was funny!

After lots of swimming, we headed inside for presents and CAKE!

 Must be the cake for the Landstar clan!

 This is the result of all that green icing!

Now I absolutely love everything about the Farris family, but I have to say that this coozie is pretty white trash! Yes, it is made with 2 Dickey's cups and spray insulation foam! It may not be pretty, but it does work. I guess when you work 12+ hours out in the sun everyday, you do whatever it takes to keep things cool!

Caleb's 3rd Birthday Party

Wow! I am behind on posting our latest happenings.  We have been busy just doing summer things.  Lots of pool time (what else do you do when it is 100 degrees everyday???), eating lots of Chicken O Lay (Chick Fil A- Alex's favorite, and just plain playing.

A couple of weekends ago we drove to Round Rock to celebrate our cousin, Caleb's 3rd birthday.  They had bought this really awesome water slide so the kids brought their swim suits and did what they have done all summer, play in the water. 

They could have played for hours.  It is the perfect combination of sliding and water! We could not have asked for better weather.  They woke up that morning to a summer storm (what in this Texas drought????).  It just cooled off the weather enough to make it bearable to sit out in the sun for a few hours.

I just love wtching these two play together.  They are too precious.  Even if my little girl is being a little too bossy.  We evem got to see Caleb expanding his taste buds.  Up until that morning Caleb did not like chocolate cake.  Those cupcakes must have been amazing because he had 3 that day.  The funny part is not one person even questioned letting him have three in one day.  We were all so proud to see him changing and growing.

The boys decided to have an Alex sandwich!

It was a great day.  My cousin always does an amazing job of entertaining.  Makes for a perfect blend of all the families as well as friends.

A little 4th of July and a Little Happy Birthday

 Every year we go to Pensacola, FL for 4th of July.  Randy's birthday is the 4th and there is no where he would rather be than with his parents playing in the boat and on the beach.  This year due to work constraints and the timing of the holiday we did our annual day at the beach on Sunday, July 3rd. We got up early and headed to the beach first thing in the morning before it was too hot and too crowded.

Riley was so excited and both of my boys were all prepared for riding their boards in the surf.

Alex, on the other hand, didn't like the ocean waves, didn't like the sand on her feet, and was just generally not happy.  I figured with time we could get her over things.  Time ended up being the one thing we didn't have.  We had been there about 30 minutes when the lifeguards whistled everyone out of the water and told us to clear the beach in preparation for the storm that was brewing off the coast.  So we headed to the boardwalk, did a little shopping, and of course enjoyed some frozen drinks at Bamboo Willie's (our personal favorite place at the beach). Then we decided it was time to head home, eat lunch, and take naps.

After naps, we posed for our family picture in our matching 4th shirts. Then I tried to get pictures of just the two kids.  Here was my result....

First Alex wanted to dance...

 Then Riley tried to control her...

After that, they both wanted to dance...

Finally I got this one... :)

After picture time, we enjoyed Randy's birthday dinner of fresh Shrimp, opening presents, and finally eating cake.

But I really have to laugh at how much this picture looks just like last year.  Karyn specifically ordered a different cake, but they gave her the same one as last year.

Just look at how much Alex has grown up... :(

After ice cream cake it was time for the July 4th festivities, FIREWORKS!!!

 As we walked outside, Alex started freaking out. She wanted a bath, play a game, go to bed, anything to not be around the fireworks. At first even Riley was scared, but it took him about 1 minute to decide to start lighting his own fireworks. I turned around and he was lighting a tank and smiling from ear to ear! Alex eventually relaxed and decided she loved the pretty ones.



Aunt Kalee, Alex, Mama Karyn (Alex changed her name right before the trip), and Aunt Kelly

Both kids enjoying their sparklers.  But if you look really closely, you will see his hand in the cup of water.  Riley accidentally touched one of the lighters while reaching for another firework.  So he spent the rest of the evening soaking his hand in a cup of water.

As the evening wore on, I guess Alex decided the fireworks were getting too bright...

After not near enough time on vacation the next morning, Randy and I headed back to Texas and the kids stayed behind to spend the rest of the week with Grandma Karyn.

So now I have spent the rest of my week, cleaning out the kids closets, taking clothes to be donated, and catching up on my reading. I am almost getting used to the quiet of the house.