Blue and Gold Banquet

Several months ago I saw an idea in a magazine for a campfire cake, and I stored it away knowing that it would make a sweet cake for Scouts one day. And sure enough, each boy was asked to bring a decorated cake, with a Scout theme, to the Blue and Gold Banquet this year. And seriously...how cute is that campfire cake???

School Project costumes

I've mentioned before that the schools here seem to do a LOT of dressing up in costume for different units. Of course the kids love it, but it sure is a lot of work for the moms! We've now learned that we never get rid of a costume, because inevitably another kid will be able to use it for a different unit! Here are just a couple of the costumes the kids have worn to school this year (notice the recycled Native American costume??), plus a little picture of Ruby dressed up for a cowboy birthday party. They look pretty cute!!

Ruby's Pre-school

Ruby has had such a fun year going to her very own school. Every day of the week she asked if it was a school day for her, and she was always happy when the answer was yes! I think that her favorite thing about having her own pre-school to go to was that she could join in the conversations about school! She would always chime in with, "Well, Emily, at my school...." and so on. It was pretty cute. For the first 3/4 of the year I would pick her up after lunch, while the rest of her classmates went in for nap time. I wasn't quite ready to leave her for that whole time, plus I just knew that she wouldn't sleep in there. Well, for the past few weeks I've been having her stay for the last two hours for nap time. And by golly...she slept!! Not every day, but most days! These were a few of the times that she would just be sacked out when I came to pick her up. I couldn't bear to wake her, so I just sat on the floor in there until they finally kicked me out as they locked the doors. And when she hasn't slept at school, she's come home and played in her sleeping bag in the kitchen!

Tyler's basketball

Watching Tyler play basketball is so much fun!! He's a tough cookie out there, and just plays his little heart out every game. And since he usually scored several times each game, he always left a happy boy. Way to go Ty!

Ella turns six!!

Our Ella Rose is six years old! She has really grown up this past year, and is loving Kindergarten, dance class, and soccer. Still throws the occasional mega-tantrum, but maybe by age 7 she'll have outgrown it. Maybe??? Her birthday this year was a lot of fun, especially with having the day off of school for the snow day, and we were able to really drag the celebrating on for days and days. I proved that I can still be a little bit flexible, and I allowed her to break with tradition and open her presents early in the day. I'm so nice, I know. :) So the day was spent playing and playing with new toys, and we all had a great day. Especially little miss Rosie!! Happy Birthday!!

Snow day in Texas!

On Ella's birthday this year, it snowed!! School was canceled, roads were completely closed down, and most offices and businesses were closed as well. It was a day off from life! Ella was a little disappointed about this, however, because she had a full day of school fun planned for her birthday. Thankfully we were able to convince her that not many people in Texas get snow for their birthday, and now she gets to celebrate twice! Now, I know these pictures of the "snow" are going to be laughable for those of you who live in places that it really snows, but I will defend our little snow day by saying that it was seriously cold and the roads were solid ice. But I know...it's pretty weak.

New Year's Eve

For New Years Eve this year we went to some friends house for a party, and the kids thought it was great!! It was really a lot of fun, and we ate lots and lots of snacks and chocolate from the chocolate fountain. Ruby put whole full size marshmallows in her mouth all night long, and Ella wore her new pink sparkly hair piece and brought her new doll - dressed up in her own party outfit. It was pretty cute. We didn't stay until Midnight, but we definitely came closer than we have in years past. It was a great night!

The girl's games

The girls have some pretty funny games that they like to play, and these are just a few of them. The first three pictures are of a game we like to call "Is this right?" I think that Bryan might have invented this game, but Ruby especially loves to do this every night after her bath. She'll come in to me or the boys and say, "Is this right?" with her pants pulled up to her armpits. Cracks us up every time!



And then there's just the classic picture of the girls and their dolls, all lined up against the wall. This picture is just so representative of the antics these girls are always up to. There are many messes made when these two disappear upstairs!!

And then there's Ruby and her tissues. I believe she was calling them her "napkins" this particular day, but over the course of a few days she went through an entire box of tissues. We were unaware of the extent of the tissues that were being used, because once she played with them she stuffed them into a drawer and got new ones! This day in particular you can see that she was in full pretend mode, with a handful of granola bars to go along, and obviously feeling as though she is busted. It is also quite obvious that she wants us to take the camera, get out, and let her get back to her game! :)

The Great Wolf Lodge

Santa brought us a family trip to The Great Wolf Lodge this year for Christmas, and it was so much fun!! We left two days after Christmas for the 5 hour drive up to Grapevine, Texas (near Dallas) for three nights up there. The Great Wolf Lodge is basically a giant indoor waterpark inside a log cabin themed lodge. And everything revolves around families and kids!! The inside of the lodge was completely decked out with Christmas lights and decor, and the rooms have bunk beds that look like they're in their own cabin. Very fun! And every morning and night there was a little show in the lobby for the kids, with fake snow sprinkling down on everybody. They definitely loved that. The highlight for the kids, funny enough, was the breakfast buffet. They loved that thing! And I have never seen them eat so much! It was a great trip, and we will definitely be going back.