Children's Christmas Pageant

I finally convinced Riley to join the choir at church.  He isn't really thrilled, but he definitely prefers it to sitting and listening the sermon.  The benefit of that was he was part of the children's Christmas program this year.  He made the sweetest little angel. 

Alex's choir also sang for the opening of the program.  This was one of her first times to sing with her choir.  She of course, was super excited about getting to sing in front of the whole church.  Yes she does love to sing and perform. 

It was a crazy morning though.  Randy was gone, hunting, of course so I got to do what I have done lots of lately with him working out of town was play single mom.  I rushed everyone off to Sunday School.  Got to sit down for about 20 minutes of my own class' lesson then rushed off to get everyone in place and dressed.  I was supposed to pick Riley up and have him dressed in his angel costume by 10:30.  Then I was supposed to pick Alex up and get her in line ready to sing by 10:45.   A little crazy, but I managed and everyone was dressed, and ready to sing.  On top of all that I also managed to take pictures with my camera and film it with my cell phone.  Although I somehow didn't manage to get this downloaded to the computer to add to my blog.   

Grand Prairie Lights

Last year we started another new tradition that we carried on this year, going to Grand Prairie to see the lights.  We have learned the trick.  Be in line at 6 when the doors open and eat dinner before you get in line.  That way you are at the front of the line, one of the first to see Santa, and doesn't take as long to make it through while driving because you get to set the pace. 

The lights are so pretty and all together instead of driving through multiple neighborhoods.

At the half way point, they have two rides, Santa, and snacks to buy.  Alex wanted to ride just like her brother, but then 1 minute into the ride, she is crying "I don't like this."  Luckily the ride operator just stopped the ride and let her off.  It was very nice of him and saved us from a total meltdown. 

This one was a little more Alex's speed!

After a couple of rides, we got our really good picture with Santa and then bought some hot chocolate and cotton candy as you can plainly see!  Yummy!  Although I really missed the cookies they had last year.  Very yummy and way less sticky!

Parade of Lights

The weekend after Thanksgiving, Randy left to go hunting.  Mom & Dad came over to help me get my tree up.  Somehow my one tree turned into 2 trees.  I guess that is what I get for including my over the top Christmas loving parents.  But I really didn't mind because they helped me decorate both trees and also helped me take them down after Christmas.  So I got a pretty tree with all maroon & gold and then the kids got a tree with all their yearly and fun ornaments in the dining room.  At first Riley wasn't too keen on this idea, but then he loved that he could reach mostly to the top of his tree. 

After decorating all day, we decided to go see the Fort Worth Parade of Lights.  This was something we don't usually get to do because we are usually in Pensacola.  Very cool parade, but very long!  Over 100 floats!!!  Plus super crowded.  My poor dad dropped us off to see the parade and then drove around for another 30 minutes before he found a parking spot.    But I do love this picture of everyone from after the parade. 

Then Mom took the camera so that I could be at the event too!

Definitely fun, but next year I think we will get there much earlier so that we can sit and FIND a parking spot.

Ice! 2012!

We went to ICE! again this year, but this time Randy came with us.  :)  My best friend, Teresa, had called and said that she could get 1/2 price tickets and did we want to go.  Amazingly all the schedules worked out and we were able to meet up.  It was super crowded, but so fun to be with Teresa, Smith, & J!

Here is our family shot.  Yes, the grizzly man is Randy!  LOL! I think he was doing something like No Shave November.  Whatever!  Just glad it is now gone. 

Teresa, Smith, & J

The theme this year was Merry Madgascar, which my kids were super excited about.  Yes we own all 3 Madagascar movies and watch them over and over.  Too bad the exhibit didn't have the music to go along with it.

Silly kids!  Just glad they weren't trying to put those tongues on any of the ice.

Well you can't see Alex the Lion in this picture, but my Alex just thought it was cool to see her name on the tag.

We had alot of fun and it was really great to have Randy come along and get to do something all 4 of us. 

Halloween Fun!

This is a random assortment of all the fun things we did for Halloween.  We started with Alex's school Fall Festival.  The kids sang, trunk or treated, played games for candy, and I finally got to meet her teachers!

All the school friends singing their fall songs.

That weekend was Trunk or Treat at church.  Our sunday school class voted to do a tailgate theme.  Then on Sunday morning, it turned into bringing our RV, setting up the TV to show the cowboy game, and bringing our lawn chairs.  When the Cowboy game turned south, we switched over to DJ Eric playing the different school fight songs. 

We had such a good time, hanging out in our college tshirts and collecting and giving out a ridiculous amount of candy.   The really funny part of the evening that just made my heart glow was when my kids didn't want to go to any more trunks or get any more candy.  They just wanted to go back to the RV and hand out candy.  Yes, they took over the handing out candy from the adults. 

This is all the Anchor's babies.  Yeah I guess we kind of are the baby making class. :)

Finally it was Halloween!  My adorable little Wizard & Witch.   Riley actually decided what he wanted to be first.  So he enlisted Nana to make just the right cloak.  Every good wizard needs a witch to go with him.  So I had to talk Alex out of being a princess to be a light up witch. The light up was the final selling point.

 

The neighborhood kids out scaling the neighborhood.

One final picture is of my 4th grade team at work.  The Language Arts teachers dressed in Steampunk from the book, Leviathan.  The Science teachers were mad scientists, I think.

Thanksgiving Feast

Just another great day that I missed at school.  Her first Thanksgiving feast with her friends.  I love my little turkey!

Alex's Field Trip to the Zoo

One of the side effects/benefits of Alex's new preschool is they take field trips, lots of field trips.  Well really they are just an organized day that everyone goes with their parents to the same place.  So for my dad's birthday, they got to take Alex to the Ft. Worth Zoo. 

The 2 Monkeys!

Feeding the fish together

Touching her first snake

Silly girls

I wish I was full of stories to tell you about how great the day went, but I was...well, you know...at work. :(

Yeah feeling a little sentimental tonight about missing out on all the great things my baby is doing tonight.  But don't get me wrong, I love my job and most of the time I think I'm a better mommy because I do work.  Just wish I could be there to know her school friends too.

Air Show

We have lived within 5 miles of the Alliance Air Show for 8 years now, and somehow never made it to see up close and in person.  Our neighbor graciously shared her reserved seats tickets with us, so we thought we would check it out.  We didn't get to spend too much time looking at all the planes on the ground, but they were so cool!

Quickly it was time for the Canandian Sky Diving team to perform.  How in the world they free fall being attached to 2 or 3 other people amazes me, but very impressive.

These planes were so close!  Oh and LOUD!

The 2 Alexes

It turned cold that day, and they were selling out of hot chocolate, but we had a great family day.  A huge Thank You to the Buckner family for sharing their reserved tickets with us!

Starting School-Oct. 2012

Well playing catch up again....Alex started preschool on Oct. 1.  I realize that most kids started preschool in Sept or even August, but we weren't going to send her to school this year.  Thanks to that Sept. 5 birthday, she has 2 more years before Alex starts Kindergarten. I didn't see any rush in her going to preschool, not to mention spending the extra money, so we agreed to not sign her up.  The only problem, we didn't consult with Alex.  She literally begged every morning for me to sign her up for school.  It didn't help that they were taking to Mallory to school 2 days a week.  She knew she was missing out and wanted to learn!  At this point, I had to try to work out some logistics with Mom & Dad to now have her 2 days a week and be available to take her and pick her up from school.  Then the big problem to find a school that still had an opening.  As luck would have it, or maybe with divine intervention, I saw a sign at the little church right next door to my parent's neighborhood that they still had openings.  Made a few phone calls, and one visit on a non school day to see the facilities and Alex was signed up to start in the older 3's class.  Older 3's means that everyone in her class has a birthday in the fall or early winter. 

I can not say enough about what a smart decision this has been for my little sponge.  She LOVES school and is soaking up so much learning.  An added bonus is the extra learning about God that she is getting.  Yeah, I think it was divine intervention.  Thank you God for showing me what my child needed most.

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!