Wednesday, November 26, 2008

Glen Rose, TX, Camping Trip

George's persistence finally paid off. He's been asking us for the last two years to take him camping. Living in hot, hot Texas can be tricky though. Who wants to go camping when it's 100 degrees outside during the day and it only cools down to 85 or 90 degrees at night. So you either go early spring or late fall. Well, George's soccer season ended Nov. 1st this year, so the first available weekend was Nov. 8th--seemed a bit late in the year to go camping. However, the temperature was averaging around 70 degrees in the day, so I said, "Let's just do this thing!"
Everything about camping was so new and exciting, especially for Katie, who had no idea what a tent, lantern or camping stove looked like. As soon as it got dark, the kids started asking if they could go to bed (they were really excited about this sleeping bag idea). Well, the temperature started dropping, so settling down for the night sounded quite nice. However, that was the beginning of the longest night of our lives! Little kids roll around SO much at night. Jared and I were up every 30 minutes, ALL NIGHT LONG, putting George and Katie back into their sleeping bags and under their blankets. They were freezing all night because they wouldn't stay put!
When the sun finally came up, we decided to forget about "trying" to sleep. So we got ourselves dressed in multiple layers and ventured out. It was freezing! Pour little Katie's hands were bright red. We built the fire back up and that helped a little if we stood right up against it. The hot chocolate helped a bit too. We made pancakes and sausage for breakfast and the kids snacked on Smores Pop Tarts as a treat. We were all SO cold though. I felt a little unprepared--I should have brought the kids hats and gloves. Luckily, we brought a game along and that helped to distract us. Here George is pointing out his first win.
The sun finally started warming things up around 10:30 in the morning (we had been up for hours by then). Here, Dad and Katie are playing around.
We took a walk down to the river. The sun felt great! The kids wanted to get their swimming suits on, but the wind was still a bit chilly. Instead, we skipped rocks and enjoyed the view. The kids had fun collecting rocks, sticks and shells.
After packing up, we drove over to an animal reserve park called Fossil Rim. It was so neat! Most of the animals came up to the car to eat right out of our hands.
George reached out to feed one of the animals.
The giraffes were not shy! George and Katie were shocked at first when the giraffes leaned down to meet us. It was nice to have a sunroof and they reached right inside for a handful of food.
This is my favorite picture! Katie stood half way out through the sunroof. It was an amazing experience to be so close to animals that are usually behind fences at a zoo.

Go Jets!!! Fall Soccer 2008

George finished up another great soccer season!
George was a great goalie this year. He was jumping in front of the balls, bouncing them off his knees....it was awesome! Here, he stopped the ball and is throwing it back down the field.
Katie and Wyatt are playing in the dirt--not so interested in the game.
Hmmmm.....George playing in the dirt. George and his teammates are waiting for the next quarter to begin when it will be their turn to run out on the field.
After a game, George walks through our tunnel for high fives.
George and his buddy, Jonathan.
Aggressively going after a ball.

October Activities 2008

On October 2nd, George turned 6 years old!!! George decided to have Mom make him a Halloween birthday cake this year. And instead of a big birthday party celebration (last year, we went a little overboard), he went to see the new star wars: clone wars movie with his cousin Reuben. They brought mini light-up light sabers into the theater and bought popcorn, soda, and candy.
Jared and I experimented with some new Halloween decorations for the house.

Decorating silly pumpkin pancakes turned out to be lots of fun and they tasted yummy too!

Fun Halloween packages started showing up on our door step. These hilarious glasses arrived from Angie, Jordanne and Tayler.
For Family Home Evening, we made haunted Halloween houses out of chocolate graham crackers, orange icing and lots of candy! George and Katie didn't stop decorating until ALL the candy was gone (and then they asked for more!)
Katie was very pleased with how her little house turned out. Or maybe she's just on a sugar high--she is such a candyoholic.
We took lots of different trips with lots of different friends to the Dallas Arboretum. Fall activities at the Arboretum included a pumpkin patch, kindermusik (singing time), crafts, face painting, a hay maze and a small petting farm. Here, George and Katie are in the pumpkin patch.
Painted Faces!!! From back left: Ephraim (cheetah), Lindy (fairy), George (dracula), Hayden (small pumpkin), Jace and Katie (dog).
Katie experimented in front of the mirror. After that, she walked around the park with her lip curled like a growling dog. George, the dracula, is behind her watching. He was pretty shocked when he saw his face--wasn't sure if he liked it or not.
George and Katie in front of the great pumpkin house.
Different and unique varieties of pumpkins on display.
On another visit, Katie and her friend Rachel got their faces painted. Rachel as a princess and Katie as a clown.
On yet, another visit, Katie in the petting area. I think she gave all the animals a good brushing.
Katie and her friend, Zoe. Sitting down for a picture before they took off running through the hay maze. Katie is so protective of her younger friends--I'm sure her hand is over Zoe's lap to make sure she doesn't fall off the bale.
Halloween night has finally arrived! George is dressed as Indiana Jones, while Mom is painting Katie as a clown.
All the cousins arrived to trick-or-treat together this year! From left to right: George (Indiana Jones), Wyatt (batman), Reuben (pirate), Samuel (pirate) and Emmitt (bumble bee).
Now it's the girl's turn for a picture: Katie (clown) and Kailyn (raggedy Ann).
Katie is happy to be a clown with so much attention on her!
Out trick-or-treating. The kids liked to occasionally stop on the side walk to check out the goods.
Back at home, sorting out the candy.
George has his candy separated into neat, little piles. He could have stayed out trick-or-treating for another hour and a half, but his little cousins were either getting leg aches or falling asleep.

Tuesday, May 27, 2008

A "Real" Date!

Jared and I left the house and went on a REAL date this last Friday night!!! It has been forever since our last date (I honestly can't remember when the last one was). Usually we'll rent a movie, make dessert, or (since Jared is no longer a student but has a real job!) we'll order take-out after the kids go to bed. But this time we called a babysitter, went to the movies and then out to dessert. I even dressed up a bit (consequently, Jared did too) since I don't know when this will happen again. It was great!

--Real movie theater to see newly released movie, Indiana Jones (not the dollar theater this time): $22

--Small popcorn, 1 bottle of water (I smuggled in my own water-wish I would have thought to shove another one in my purse for Jared), reese's pieces: $13.25

--Appetizer, dessert, and waiter's tip at Macaroni Grill (luckily had a gift card given to us at Christmas, thanks Robyn and Christian!--pretty sad that it took us 5 months to use it): $18.75

--Babysitter for 4 1/2 hours: $25


--the grand total:$79


Although very nice to get out of the house, I think this is a good reminder of why we don't go on "real" dates anymore!

Wednesday, May 21, 2008

Viv and Mike's Visit to Texas

As soon as Becky (I mean, Vivian) and Mike got off the airplane from Utah, we drove straight to downtown Dallas to pick up Jared from work and then on to "the farm" (a 3 hour ride from Dallas, just past Crockett, TX and basically in the middle of nowhere). The farm is a piece of land where Jared's Grandfather, "Pawpaw", was raised. Currently, Grandmother and Pawpaw don't live there, but they make weekend trips to check on the cows and the property. We love our visits there and this time we heard that wild blackberries were blooming all over the land. I LOVE this picture of Viv...After picking for hours, it looks like she's on a commercial selling blackberries from some little country farm.
At one point we had to jump across the creek and climb up the hill to get to the next meadow. The blackberry bushes were just covering the ground! We picked bowls and bowls--mostly so Grandmother could store them and make blackberry pies all year long!
Here, first thing in the morning, Mike and George are waiting patiently to pick blackberries--grandmother (at the door) is insisting to me that we take sweaters.... And you can see that we are very ambitious blackberry pickers--Mike has quite the stack of bowls!Near the end of the day, we decided to go fishing in one of the farm's ponds. Katie really loves to do anything that she sees her big brother or daddy doing. It's so cute to see her with a pink strawberry shortcake fishing pole!
George and Katie waiting for a bite at the end of their lines....
Pawpaw, who still has energy to make the fishing trips with the great-grandchildren.
Daddy, giving a little lesson on fishing. We'll see if the two-year-old listens!

Oh, I have to mention one more fabulous detail about the farm--besides the cows, the horses, the wide open spaces to play and work in--the best food you will ever eat is made by Grandmother! We arrived late on Friday and had the choice of chicken and dumplings or chicken and sausage gumbo. The next morning our day began with homemade biscuits, jelly and preserves, sausage and eggs. Dinner (what we call "lunch") is just a few hours later and consists of roast, carrots, salad, purple hull peas, mashed potatoes and rolls. And supper (or "dinner") is a continuation of the previous meal, usually after we get back from fishing or doing some work around the farm. Oh, and I don't want to forget to mention that dessert is served after both dinner and supper! Yep, you definitely could have rolled us out to the car!

Sunday, May 18, 2008

A Visit to the Dallas Arboretum

During one day of Vivian and Mike's visit, we planned a trip to the Dallas Arboretum. We packed a picnic and spent a few hours walking around its pathways and viewing the gorgeous flowers and trees. Here, Katie is sitting on the grassy hill as we finished up our picnic. The kids and Mike had a fun time running up and down the hill and when that got old, they "tried" to catch birds....and Katie, who is a magnet to any random baby she sees, found a little one-year old to follow around.
I thought this little hut, completely made of flowers and grass, was so gorgeous!
The Dallas Arboretum has a fun area with an old western town. It's fun for the kids to play around in the "kid-size" replica houses--there's a school house, a church and lots of little houses, each complete with beds and props to play with. Here Viv and George are in the fort.

Katie in a rocking chair, just her size.Looking out from the window, Mike and the kids are inside the church.
Typical pouting pose of George--He was tired of walking and it was getting too hot!
There's always a fun display for the month. This time cows and horses made of grass and a flower-covered wagon! The kids loved it!
Mom and the kiddos.