Thanksgiving on Green River Trail

After going back and forth and back again, we decided to head up to spend Thanksgiving with the whole Fort Worth crew! It was a full house as usual and everyone had a great time. Adilyn was in love with "taking care" of Townes, and it was really cute to see her in that role because it seems like just yesterday that Maren was "taking care" of Adilyn. Kacy loved throwing the football around outside, and Brooke loved swinging in the backyard as she always does. I am glad we decided to spend the day with everyone up there. Nothing better than a house full of love to remind you of just how much you truly have to be thankful for!

Thanksgiving Week Camping

We decided to camp somewhere up in North Texas during Thanksgiving Week. Of course, because we decided so late, our options were kinda limited. We settled upon Cedar Hill State Park because it was pretty close to both Mom's and Dad's house. It was actually a pretty fun park! The weather was iffy, but it turned out just perfect for us. We went geocaching, and we found all four caches that we were looking for. The girls were really excited to find some! We also hung out down by the lake for a while even though it was pretty cold and windy, and we also explored a duck pond/bird sanctuary at the park in the morning. Mom and Greg came out for a couple hours on Wednesday, and we explored the old farm area. It was really neat! They have preserved a bunch of the old farmhouses and barns that were in use years ago. We were looking for a lady named Lucinda who was supposed to be out there churning butter, but we could never find her. After our adventures, we went into town to eat dinner with them. The weather was supposed to get bad on Thursday during the day, so we decided to pack up and head out after eating at Dad and Kris's house. We got all our stuff packed up, and we headed over to their house. .

Thanksgiving Feast Time

Everyone's feast was on the same day this year, and unfortunately Brooke's and Kacy's were at the same exact time. Luckily, Cory was able to go to Kacy's while I went to Brooke's. Shane was also there for Hudson, so the boys got to eat with the 1st graders.
They had a cute feast set up at the preschool. It was a meal with the Pilgrims and the Indians. With the Pilgrims on one side and the Indians on the other. Brooke was less than thrilled with the whole feast situation. They walked in the room while all the adults were standing around staring at them. Not her favorite thing in the world :) She sat at her place and didn't move for quite some time, she just stared with this look on her face. Finally, she ate some cheese and drank her juice. Eventually, she loosened up, but she was still ready to get the heck outta there!
We left school, and then we went up to the elementary to meet Cory for Adilyn's feast. It's always pretty crazy in the cafeteria on feast day, so I stood in line with Adilyn while Cory and Brooke hung out at the table. It's funny how things change as they get older. Kacy is always super excited to have us around at school, but Adilyn is always kinda ready for us to go. I know she appreciates us being there, but she is nowhere near as excited as she used to be.
There is just something about kids in those silly little Indian feather hats that I just love! Only a few more years to enjoy them :)

The Crush's Season Ends on a High Note!

The Crush's season ended with a very exciting victory! I mean, as exciting as you can get with 6 and 7 year olds. I don't think they had any idea what the score was or if they even won or not, but I sure enjoyed coaching the game. :) Kacy had a great last couple games, and she finally got her serves down. We figured out that if she tried to hit is as high as she could it would usually go over, so we started a little mantra of "one, two, three, high to the sky" that she would say to herself every time before she served. All the girls did great, and they all improved so much throughout the season. It was tad frustrating that I was still telling them to rotate almost every single time, and it was a little annoying to see them completely watching a cute little kid on the sidelines instead of the server, but they were all very sweet girls! I saw some other kids on other teams, and I always felt so lucky to have the ones that I did. They are just so young, and even though it's expected it's frustrating to see them so easily distracted. All in all, I was proud of all of them, and of course, I am partial to my favorite little 6 year old, and she did fantastic!

My Sweet Kacy

Kacy has such a kind heart. Sometimes, she does not show that sweet side at home with all the yelling and the pushing she does with her sisters. Even with all the stuff she does at home, she is always super sweet in the world. Today, we were eating at a restaurant with a big play area. There was a little boy waiting for the swing, so Kacy hopped right off to give him a turn. Not only that, she pushed him for at least 5 minutes. What a sweetie!

Adilyn's Dancing Sucker

Sometimes the little things in life absolutely crack me up! Today in the car, Adilyn tied a sucker to a bouncy string thing. She said, "Mom, look, the sucker is having a dance party!" I looked back, and it was just bouncing away "dancing" to the music. We laughed and laughed about it. Then, I drove the car a little crazy and stopped and started quickly and it made it jump all over the place. I don't know why it was cracking us up so much, but it definitely was!

Eat 'Em Up Kats!

A couple weeks ago, I had to go up to Huntsville for work. I had a little extra time before I had to get back, so I decided to go walk the campus. It was definitely a weird feeling to walk around with all those kids! The last couple of times that I went up there it was a weekend, so there weren't many people around. I walked around, and took a couple of selfies in some of my favorite spots. :) There were a lot of clubs in the mall area, and I walked by the Chi Alpha table. They had a little Halloween game set up, so I stopped by and talked to them for a second. I told them that I was super old, and that I had been in Chi Alpha back in 1996. The girl that I was talking to said, "Oh my gosh, that's when I was born!" I laughed, and then I walked away in shame...I knew I was old, but I didn't think I was that old! It was great to see the campus again - so many awesome memories at that place!

 The Fountain!

The volleyball courts where Cory and I fell in love. Awww!

End of the Thunder's Season

Another volleyball season wrapped up on Saturday. I can say that I don't think this season was quite as frustrating as my very first season coaching, but it was pretty close! The girls practiced so hard, and they made so much progress every week. Unfortunately, when it came time to play the games, everything went wrong. We definitely had some issues with serves, especially once our serving line got moved back. We won one game all season. There were quite a few games that were super close, including our last one, but we just couldn't pull out the win. There were also a few games that we totally just gave away with our mistakes, but I try to remember that they are 8 and 9. Volleyball is a tough sport, and the thing that is most important is that they are having fun and learning the basics. I just got frustrated this year because they just didn't play as well as they could have in the games. I do think all the girls had fun, and the parents all seemed okay with things. I guess that's the most important thing. At least, that's what I will keep trying to convince myself of each season ;)

We had a fun end of the season party at Bahama Bucks. I didn't think to let the snow cone place know that we were going to have a big group in the middle of a Saturday, and I felt bad when we totally invaded their place. The girls played games and hung out while we all waited for our snow cones. It was a great way to end the season.

Oil Ranch Fun (well, half fun/half terrifying)

Brooke's preschool had a family fun day at the Oil Ranch, so Cory and I took her. It was beautiful weather, and it was really different to be somewhere like that with just one kid! She loved all the attention, for sure. What she didn't love were all the farm animals! It was hilarious because she would have nothing to do with anything. She didn't even want to ride the ponies. There was a sheep wandering around, and she was totally freaked out by it. She did love the hayride, until it was time to feed the cows. She about jumped up on Cory's shoulders when those things came around! Luckily, there were lots of other things to do there, and we had a great time. The train ride was fun, but her favorite was getting to pick out her own tiny pumpkin. She called it her "buddy" and took it with us everywhere for the rest of the day. Pretty sure she had it in her lap the whole time she was watching tv that afternoon. Silly girl!