Florida Trip

So,... this is a little out of order, but I am behind on my pics!

Wanted to share out trip to Florida over this summer.

My brother-in-law, Herman got married to Leah.... it was a good time had by all!!

Check it out:

Here's our feet in the sand.

I LOVE this picture! (even though my toes aren't painted)..... WAIT - don't look :)

the sand was CRAZY!!

it was NOT texas sand!

our feet sunk quick!

here was our hotel - it was GREAT!!



the day of the wedding!
herman and leah look like something's funny!





we were told to make a "silly face"!!

the girls!

the boys!

awww..... HOW CUTE!

here's the fam!

thanks joan!

the kiddos!

i LOVE this pic!

here's joan and future hubby, phil!!

joan teaching lexi all about shuffel board!

our view out of our window: BEAUTIFUL!!

check out the TAN!!!

i thought this pic was SO cute!

Trick or Treat

My dad was given an award for working hard out at Phillips for 30 years on November 1st.

So,... we were fortunate enough to be able to attend!!

Since Halloween was the night before it only made sense that we should go to my parents' house for Halloween!!

We had one "Sharpay" and two "Spidermans".

The kids had a blast Trick or Treating and getting to see LOTS of people!

My parents neighborhood is a BIG deal at Halloween - it gets VERY crowded!!

But, I got to show off the kids, so that's always fun!

My friend, April, brought over her cutie-patootie daughter, Ally.

Lexi got to show her the ropes at how to trick-or-treat!

Here's our pumpkin. I was having a hard time getting a good "glowing" picture. Those are Cooper's actual hands! That was his contribution.

Here's a pirate pumpkin my mom did! Pretty awesome.



I had to put in a cute picture of Cy without his mask.




It was a FUN but VERY late night!
While we were cleaning up outside, the kids were inside chowing down on candy. Really, more like scarfing it down as fast as possible - at 9:30pm!!

Pumpkin Carving

Our first pumpkin carving with Clarence!!

We had a SUPER fun time!!

Clarence cute off the top and helped scoop out the guts.

Lexi was having a LOT of fun!

Cooper says, "Eww.... Mom.... it's SO nasty in there!!"



Once he found out he didn't have to touch the guts, he was ALL smiles!

Lexi loved playing in it though!

She picked the seeds out from the pulp, and later we toasted them!

They were YUMMY!

And,.... I did the carving. However, everyone else had already gotten bored and moved on to playing with toys and watching TV. So,... no pictures!

I think next year, we will definitely do more than one!

tu football game

so,... Lexi's dance team has only 1 fundraiser a year.

We get to work a concession stand at the UT games.

Each child has to be represented for only 1 game.

Sounds easy, right?

Well,... it is a LOT of hard work!!

We are EASILY there busting our tails for over 8 hours.

It is definitely worth it and helps ease the cost of contest fees and other big items we have to pay for. So,.... for one day a year, I step foot into Memorial stadium!

Here is me with Cameron.

I know it doesn't LOOK like we're working, but we're too busy posing for my camera!

Remember how hard the concession stand people SLAVE next time you go up to on.

NO... they do NOT get to decide how much to charge for the hot dog.

It is NOT their fault that we do not sell beer or Dr. Pepper!!

And,... even though we are wearing red aprons, NO we are NOT cheering on Nebraska - UT makes us wear these uniforms!

And,.... YES we all have better jobs than this. Working concessions is NOT our profession - do not treat us like we are beneath you!

And,... they DO work for tips as well - which goes into the teams' funds and are greatly appreciated!

RRHS football game

With Lexi's dance team, the girls are invited to come join the high school dance team during 2 of their football games. It is SO sweet and the high school team is SO nice to our little ones! They get buddy'd up and get to meet them before the game and even get to sit with them in the stands!! Here's Lexi's buddy teaching her the moves to the school's fight song.

Here's a good pic of Lexi with her buddy.

Here's lexi with Grandma Cissy & me.

Big Daddy & Cylas.

Clarence & Cooper

The girls walk around the track behind the band and Dragonettes.

Lexi couldn't resist waving to us!!

Here are the CUTE boys!! They had fun!

Mousey

One crazy evening, I tucked Lexi in bed. I was really looking forward to getting the kids in bed, so that I could just relax!!! It had been a very long day, and all I wanted to do was to unwind.

I tucked the kids in bed, finished cleaning the dishes, got the last load of laundry out of the dryer, made sure and put all of Lexi's things in her backpack for tomorrow, and still looking forward to sitting down!! So,.... 45 minutes later,... right when I was about to sit down,... Lexi came flying in the living room. "Momma, momma...". Well,.... she informed me that she was supposed to dress up as a book character from a book that they had been reading.... TOMORROW!! WHAT?!?!? I think I remember something about that. A note was sent home a week ago,... I think.... was it really tomorrow?

So,... we talked about this mouse book that they had been reading, and which mouse she wanted to be. Well,... she wears a yellow dress with a sun on it. Oh, and pigtails.

So,... at 10pm, I painted a sun on a yellow tank top. I was very skeptical, but glitter paint is very forgiving!! It turned out very cute.

The teacher painted their faces with eyeliner at school. And,... for some reason, Lexi also wanted her to write her name on her forehead! Was her outfit that convincing, that she needed to remind people who she was?

Team Impact

Recently we had a program at our church.

Team Impact came for 4 days - and it was PHENOMENAL!! If you ever get a chance to check these guys out, you NEED to!!

Check out their web site:

www.team-impact.com

We went twice, it was that good.

Also,... Lexi was so moved, shortly after seeing them, she accepted Jesus into her heart and became a Christian!!

Here is one of the guys blowing up a water bottle - until it BURST!!

Quite impressive!!

Cooper LOVED it, but it was a little too loud for him.

The whole program, this is how he sat:

Afterwards, we went and saw one of Cooper's heroes: Mr. Mike.

Mr. Mike teaches Cooper in Awanas and Sunday School.

He is SO great with the kids!!

Waco Trip

Lexi's Girl Scout Troop visited Waco Zoo one day. So,... the kids and I packed a lunch and headed to Waco. The drive was kind of long,.... but we had fun.

First stop - was to the suspension bridge. This bridge was designed and built in Waco as a "test try". Once successful, a bigger version was built in New York - the Brooklyn Bridge. So,.... that's kind of cool!

Here are the two cuties as soon as we get there. Full of energy and not sweaty yet!

The playground area was cool. Here are the kids sitting on a HUGE snake! You could climb in it, on it,.... and even slide down it!


Talk about a tree house!! The kids could have just played on this all day!!

Here we are inside at one of the aquarium parts. I think they were pretending to float in the water?!?! It was funny at the time!

They had a whole set-up of Native Americans done regionally.

Lexi's First Bus Ride

Well,.... Lexi FINALLY convinced me to let her ride the bus in the afternoons.

It really was getting difficult on Cooper - having to wake him up in the mornings and again at nap time!! Here she is getting off the bus for the FIRST time!!

The newest member of Our Family!

We have a new addition to our family - Cricket!!

Lexi had been praying and praying for a dog and this one, literally fell in our laps!

She is SOOOOOO cute and sweet!!

My parents brought her up during Lexi's birthday!

Neighborhood Carnival

Our neighbohood had a Halloween carnival. So,... we got all dressed up!

Don't they look cute?

Lexi is Sharpay from High School Musical and Cooper is Spider-Man.

He refuses to wear the mask!!

I thought his picture was SUPER cute!!

Lexi got to the top of the rock wall!!

Here's Lexi after her climb! She was very proud of herself!

Hoe Down

This past weekend was the school carnival at Lexi's School. The weather was perfect and we all had a LOT of fun!! Well,... pretty much - we went right after the kids got their flu shots and during nap time! Probably not the smartest thing we've done, but it wasn't TOO bad!

Here's Cooper swinging the big mallet to make the bell ring.

One of Coop's favorite games - kicking the soccer ball into the goal!

Here's Lexi on one of the big inflatable slides.

Lexi ran into a lot of her friends.

It was a LOT of fun! Looking forward to next year!

Lexi's First Fallen Out Tooth

Well, well, well... what an exciting morning did we have. Lexi lost her first tooth. Well,... not really.... but the others she lost, were actually pulled by the dentist. But, this is the first one that we had to do on our own! Let me start the story off with,... the it makes me VERY nauceous.... teeth that is.

I'm not too sure why, and I can handle a lot of things..... but show me a loose tooth and I get weak in the knees!!

So,.... Lexi and I are up this morning getting ready for school. She runs into the living room, where I am sitting with this distressed look on her face.... "Mommmmmmmm......". I was thinking she saw a scorpion, had broken her baby toe, or something horrible!! But then she showed me.... the red stuff in her mouth! It was bleeding. Well,... obviously SHE is freaking out, so I need to keep my cool! So,... I calmly tell her to go into the bathroom and rinse her mouth out with water. After that, I tell her to brush her teeth. At this point, I am just trying to get her to school as fast as I can, so the school nurse can deal with it, and NOT me! After she brushed her teeth, she was in the bathroom for a while, and I just left her alone. Then I hear, "OH NO!!!" and Lexi runs into the kitchen. There is blood all over her hands and running down her chin. "oh no".... "stay strong!".... "don't faint".... I cover my eyes and hand her a paper towel. I am peeking through my fingers and watching her wiggle and jiggle her tooth. Then she says, "UH OH - It's coming out!". Then it just popped out... she was impressed that it didn't hurt, and SUPER excited that the tooth fairy was going to come over tonight.

Here's her new hole! And her new smile. It's super cute, and she even has a lisp. She was very giggly ALL morning!

Cooper's Rain Coat

Since SO much has been happening with Lexi, I felt the need to put a pic of Cooper on the blog. Here he is in his "new" rain coat. It was given to him by his God-brother and he LOVES it! But, he is a little fanatical about it.... which, would you expect anything else? He wants to wear it ALL the time.

So, now I am on the look-out for froggy rain boots.

Lexi's First Day of School!!

Lexi's FIRST day of 1st grade... a day late!

Lexi was sick the first day of school, so she had to start the following day!

I couldn't decide which picture to post, so.... i posted them ALL!

She was actually excited to go to school, which is really a blessing.

She was having ill feelings about returning to school.

Check out the stylish backpack!!!

Of coursr, with me being anal and her being excited, we were ready like 30 minutes before she had to leave!

Here, Lexi is showing off her VERY stylish side ponytail!

It's a good thing I caught the end of the 80's!!

And, of course, I have to take the outdoor shot.

By this point, it was finally light outside!!

And,... here she is by the front door of the school! About to go in....

I have to hold back the tears!!

And so,... she's off to a great year!! We are very optimistic and looking forward to getting to know new classmates and catching up with the old ones and getting to know her teacher better.

Lexi's New Teacher

Lexi's school has a great program where the teachers come to your house to meet you! It's only for a minute or two, but it is a great way to get some one-on-one time with the teacher. Yesterday was the big day!! Lexi made a FUN sign to hang on our door. She worked very hard on it! The teacher's name is Ms. Shore and she loved the banner. She seems very enthusiastic about teaching, so I hope that this year will be great. Lexi's anxiety is still a little high, but it has gone down a little. Tonight we will go to the school and check out her classroom!