A Christmas Tree Farm Success!

Last year, our annual Christmas Tree cutting down trip was a disaster. The trees were a mess, and we ended up going to the garden store to get one. I was not going to give up, so I convinced Cory to try again this year. We went to a new farm in Tomball, Spring Creek Growers, and it was awesome! They had lots of fun things for the kids to do - water pump rubber duck races, bike race tracks, a haystack, teepees to play in, and a huge tree house. Adilyn and Kacy had some fierce rubber duck races. Kacy was very determined, I think her competitive side was showing! We danced around like Indians in the teepees, and the girls thought that was hilarious. The best part for me was that the trees were beautiful, too! We found a fantastic tree, which made me sooooo happy. It was a warm day, so that was a little bit of a bummer because it didn't "feel" like Christmas. It wasn't too hot, and we had a great time playing around and finding the perfect tree. I love the holiday season! Bring it on!

Festival of Lights

I started using Groupon, and I found one for the Festival of Lights down in Galveston at Moody Gardens. It was for 1/2 price admission, so I bought it. I didn't really pay attention to the fact that it was only able to be used on the Friday or Saturday after Thanksgiving. Cory had already planned on going hunting, so I was on my own if I wanted to go. It sounded like something I could do with all the girls, so I decided to go for it. Shane and Dana were taking the boys on Saturday, so I thought I would try to hook up with them. The girls and I got loaded up in the car around 2:30 and headed down to Galveston. We also had tickets to a craft show down there, so I thought we would do that first. I had never been down to Moody Gardens, so I wasn't sure what to expect, but I thought there would probably be places for us to hang out until the light tour started. We got down there, and it was quite a little compound down there. There is a huge hotel, convention center, and all the museums and theaters. The craft show was super hard to maneuver through with the big, huge stroller, so I decided to get the heck out of there before we broke a $100 glass sculpture! I couldn't figure out how to get over to the outside part, but we eventually found a door. The problem, there were only stairs to get down, about 15 of them. I was holding Brooke, and Adilyn and Kacy were in the stroller. I told the girls to get out of the stroller, and I attempted (one-handed) to drag the stroller down the stairs. It was a pretty dangerous venture, but we survived. We found a little park to play at, but the girls had to go to the bathroom pretty quickly after getting there. We loaded back up in the stroller and went to the main area. It was insane there!!! After the restroom, we went back out to the park, but they had closed it. There was a sign that said it closed at 5pm, but I didn't believe them. I told the girls that we were just going to ignore the sign and play anyway. When we went to go back to the park a guy stopped us and told us that we couldn't go because it was closed. Adilyn said, "I guess you can't break the rules when you get stopped by a guard!" Life lessons were learned! :) Finally we decided to find a place to eat our snacks and hang out. After eating, we got in line for the light tour. The Hrobars were running a little behind, so we decided to get started. It was a little chilly, so the girls got all bundled up. I put Brooke in her carrier, and the big girls snuggled in the stroller. It was a lot of fun! We just walked the trails and saw the light display, then we stopped and got some kettle corn and watched a guy juggle and do other silly things. Adilyn and Brooke seemed to really like it, Kacy, at one point said, "Are we going home soon?" Nice...It was pretty funny to hear all the people's comments to me. "Got your hands full?" or "Hey, I'll strap mine on your back, if you need one more!" Luckily, the girls were all very good. There were no meltdowns, no emergencies, and no issues! I am very glad we went to get us all in the holiday spirit!

Thanksgiving

We got to have Thanksgiving here at our house with most all of Cory's side of the family. Only Holly and her family couldn't make it. I wish I would have taken some pictures, but I was busy taking care of everyone and cooking! Luckily, everyone brought a little side dish, so I didn't have to cook the entire meal. Cory fried up the turkey, and I made some side dishes also. It was fantastic to have everyone here in our new house! We had tons of room for everyone to hang out, eat dinner, and watch football. It was great to see Ashley, Gerad, and Cash since we don't get to see them very often. We enjoyed great food, watching the Texans win, and spending time with everyone.

Adilyn's First Friendships

Ever since Adilyn started riding the bus to school, she has buddied up with Skyler who lives one street away from us. She kept asking and asking if she could come over and play, but it's always such an awkward thing when you don't really know that parents. Skyler lives with her grandmother, so that made it a little more awkward. Finally, I decided to ask if they wanted to come over and play on Wednesday afternoon. They accepted the invitation, and Skyler, her grandmother, and her 4 year old brother came over for about an hour and a half. The kids had a fantastic time, and the girls went straight to having a "girl party" in Adilyn's room, playing dress up and being silly. In a short 90 minutes, every single bin, bucket, and box in the playroom was dumped out. Wow, what a mess! I was really glad that Adilyn and Skyler included Kacy when they played. I am sure that won't always happen, but I am glad it did. Of course, they left out Skyler's brother, but I think they were just doing that to be funny. Her grandmother, Brooke, and I stayed downstairs and chatted. It was very successful!
That night, I had some extra time at bedtime to talk to Adilyn about friends. I asked her about who she plays with at recess, and who she sits with at lunch, and all that. It was hilarious to listen to her talk about her social life. She got all worked up telling me about how Skyler didn't want to play with her at recess because Adilyn wanted to do something different than what they normally do. She said, "It just wasn't fair because Skyler is my best friend, and I hate doing the same thing all the time, and she should do things that I want to do also!" I told her to try to mix things up a bit and play with different people. She said, "Yeah, I don't know about that." There is also a girl named Kassie in her class that she plays with. Lara is another friend from her class. The only boys she talks about are Toby and Cooper. I love that she has friends, and I hate to think about the days that people will hurt her feelings and break her heart. It will happen, a lot, and I just hope that she has the confidence to get through all the ups and downs that come with going to school :)

Heather's Wedding

Heather got married a couple weekends ago, and it was so beautiful! I really don't think I have ever been so excited to be part of a wedding as I was for this one. I am so happy that Heather and Michael found each other! They were married outside at an amazing ranch type place in Magnolia. The weather was perfect, and everything went great! It was so cute to see the girls out in the crowd while I was up front. They just thought I looked like a princess. Compared to my normal t-shirt and shorts, I pretty much was. A dress, high heels, make-up, fancy dangling earrings and a professional hair do = princess for sure in my world! The girls had a fantastic time dancing the night away. I think Nammie and Cory got a serious workout in dancing with them for hours! It was a most memorable night, and I am so glad I got to be there to see the beginning of a beautiful relationship.

Kacy's Thanksgiving Feast and Adilyn's Pizza "Feast"

It was a busy week, and unfortunately, it was also the first week that Cory has been out of town in a long time! We had book fair at Adilyn's school on Monday night, Kacy's Thanksgiving Feast on Tuesday, dinner with friends on Wednesday, and Adilyn's Pizza with Parents on Thursday. Wow, I am tired just thinking about all that we did :) Luckily, being that busy made the week go by quickly. Kacy's feast was very cute. They had a potluck where everyone brought the traditional Thanksgiving dishes. The kids had little headbands with feathers, and they sang two sweet Thanksgiving songs. Kacy was very proud! She told me the names of all her friends in class, and she wanted to stay there for the day. Many of the parents took the kids with them, and I thought I would take her so I wouldn't have to drive back. She said, "I don't want to go home. I want to stay with my friends and my teachers." Well, alright then! 

Brooke was having tons of fun watching all the kids! I thought it was hilarious that Kacy wanted her to sit in her seat. Then, she said, "Don't worry, I can still eat with her in my lap like you do!"

Adilyn's school had a pizza lunch instead of the cafeteria turkey and dressing, which was a little odd, but whatever! It was equally as cute. The kids dressed up like Indians, and they had made shirts with their "Indian names" painted on the backs. Adilyn ironically got the name "Flying Duck". Cory has been duck hunting the last two weekends, so she thought that was pretty funny. She was happy to have Brooke and I there, but just like Kacy, she was more concerned about her friends. She kept talking about where her friends were sitting, and she wanted to go say hi to them. At one point, I told her that I would just go home if she didn't want to hang out with me. She thought I was serious, and she got a real concerned look on her face. I told her I was just kidding, but I don't know if she believed me :)

Halloween 2012

This is a little late, but better late than never as they say! We had a fun Halloween in the new neighborhood! Adilyn and Kacy were Power Rangers...quite a change from my sweet little princesses on 2011 :) Because they were Power Rangers, I didn't feel right making Brooke a flower or ladybug so sometime girlie like that, so she got to be a SuperBaby! Thank goodness for the Internet because I couldn't find a yellow power ranger suit anywhere except for eBay, and Brooke's SuperBaby onesie came all the way from Australia! Anyway, the girls got ready, and I made a special Halloween dinner - mummy dogs and brains. The girls thought it was great. They could barely contain their excitement. Grandmother Henderson came over, and they were going crazy jumping and running around doing Power Ranger moves! Finally, it got dark and we started trick or treating. There were not many kids in the neighborhood, so the neighbors who were giving out candy were quite generous! The girls did great this year. They weren't nervous at all, and they always said thank you. We did see a couple creepy outfits, but they kept saying, "That is just a costume. It's not real." The Hrobars had an event at their TaeKwonDo gym, but they caught up with us eventually. We had a great time, and got tons of candy. Another successful Halloween!