Go Texan Day

We love this time of year in Texas.  The last Friday in February we celebrated Go Texan Day, kicking off the Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo.  The kids get to dress in Texan attire & have fun day at school, Jake even had a Turkey Leg for lunch, just like at the Rodeo.

Each year the Trailriders ride into town and past the kids school on Go Texan Day.  This year Luke & I timed it perfectly, driving past the school just as the kids were coming out to line up to see the Trailriders. 

We found Jake in the crowd & had time to take a quick picture with him before the Trailriders came up the street.

Luke had the chance to pet a couple of the horses & loved it!

Wax Museum

For the 5th Grade Live Wax Museum project, Hayley chose to represent Laura Ingalls Wilder.  She has loved the Little House on the Prairie books & had a lot of fun researching Laura. 

For the project, Hayley had to have a 10 minute memorized presentation & participate in the Live Wax Museum at school. Hayley was able to borrow an authentic pioneer dress from her friend and had a slate w/chalk and her lunch pail with her. It was fun to go see Hayley & all the other Wax Museum participants from the past.

Valentine's Day Fun

We started off the day with a fun heart shaped breakfast, cranberry orange muffins, pancakes with yummy syrups and fresh fruit & yogurt parfaits.

The elementary school started a new tradition, no card exchange but a 'pajama academic field day'.  Jake wasn't a fan of the the pj's idea, but Hayley loved it.  They each brought favorite books and Hayley brought books to read to the kindergartners, her favorite part of the day.  Jake did love the giant tent his teacher had set up in their classroom so they could read by flashlights.  It was a pretty fun day, even without the valentine treats.

Luke had a fun Valentine's preschool and gave his classmates crazy straws with little "Sip Sip Hurray, it's Valentine's Day!"  cards found here that he colored and made sparkly with glitter. There is something about glitter and 3 years olds.  It always sounds like a good idea at first...I think it is all finally cleaned up :)

While Luke was at preschool, I went and donated platelets - woohoo!  Nothing says love like giving the gift of life. Then Luke and I were able to do some surprise rose deliveries to some of the older women in our church congregation.  Crazy story, a couple in the ward got a delivery of 200 roses from in error from Sam's Club, who told them to keep them.  So they donated them to the church to distribute to the widows and other sisters.  It was so fun seeing the looks on their faces & spreading the love around.  One of the best parts of the day for sure!

Valentine's evening we had our mystery menu dinner.  Each person fills out a menu with their mystery choices and the meal is served in several courses. They pick 3 or 4 mystery items for each course, everyone having all items by the end of the 3rd course.  We did it last year with a Rodeo theme last year.
The kids were super excited about it.  It is getting a little trickier each time as they are getting better at trying to guess the mystery menu item.  Some examples of this years menu include - Rising Love (roll), Love Trouble (Strawberry Jam), Tug on My Heart Strings (pasta), Girls Best Friend (carrots), Cupid's Arrow (toothpick), etc.  It is always fun to see them eat with a toothpick or have a course of jam, a knife and a napkin.  

Don came home with some leftover cupcakes from work which is always great.  We ended the night all together with our traditional homemade chocolate covered strawberries.  In order to eat one, you had to tell something you loved about someone at the table. It was a great ending to a busy Valentine's Day!

Brownstone 213

Trevor was in a short play earlier this year called Brownstone 213.  He played Charlie, a kid who is a huge baseball fan who gets hit by a car while on his way to see Shoeless Joe Jackson (most of the people die in the play...not quite the comedy Willy Wonka was!).  Since Trevor isn't a huge baseball fan, he actually had to act.  It was interesting to see him in a drama verses a satire or comedy like his class has done in the past. 

Park Weather

We have spent a lot of Saturday afternoons at various parks over the last 2 months.  It is the perfect park weather in Houston, usually high 60's - mid 70's. 

We've had a lot of fun taking Don with us to different parks. The kids love having him along to push them high and make them super dizzy on the spinning poles. 



Park with Friends!

 Poor Jake has had a few unfortunate accidents as well as one puking incident thanks to the super spinning poles, but it doesn't faze him much. 

The last accident was just last week where Jake tripped and busted his lip, chin & nose at Fire Engine Park.  It just happened to be at the same time as a birthday party of a ER dr's kid. At the party there were at least 4 different pediatric doctors as well as the ER dr who gathered around Jake, including a neighbor of ours we had just met a couple months ago who lives on the next street over & just happens to be doing a fellowship in pediatric cardiology. Total random luck, but the best medical care Jake could have ever gotten...and it was free :-)   The good news is Jake rebounds (& heals!) really fast & is ready to try out some new parks over Spring Break.

License to Drive

January 2nd Michael took his drivers license exam in Arlington.  The Houston DMV had a couple month wait for the test, but Arlington had several openings over the holidays so it worked out great.  It was an adventure.  That week in Dallas the highs were just in the low 30's, a bit colder than Houston.  The Expedition doesn't have heat, but we had a few blankets in the car to snuggle up with.  So as the very cold Drivers License Examiner gets into the car to begin the test, she tells Michael it is ok to turn the heat on.  Without missing a beat, Michael apologized & said, "I'm sorry, the heater doesn't work, but you can help yourself to one of the blankets folded on the seat behind you".  She laughed and declined, but I am sure it probably helped make the test a little shorter!  Later on in during the exam, Michael was going down a large hill & was apparently speeding a little.  She told him to watch his speed, he quickly adjusted and apologized, "Sorry we don't have hills in Houston...but NO EXCUSES!", making his instructor laugh again.  Finally Michael pulled into the parking lot & the instructor told him he had passed.  Her last words to him however..."You might want to have your mom back out, you are parked  really close to the other car!"  Good thing she had a sense of humor!

Afterwards we went back to Bob & Cynthia's where they were waiting to celebrate.  The girls had made him a poster and everyone came running and cheering when he opened the front door.  Then Bob took us all out to eat at On the Border to celebrate.  Good times!

Later Michael made his first solo trip, taking Ashlynn to her friends house.  So fun...and a little scary for me!  It is great to have a 3rd driver in the home now.  Immediately he started running errands,  picking kids up and even bringing everyone to church on time (actually 30 minutes early!) when Don & I both have early meetings before church.  It is awesome!

New Years Eve

Traditional New Years Eve Pineapple Man

The kids and I headed up to Dallas for a couple days to ring in the New Year.  Michael and Ashlynn had fun going to a New Years Eve Dance with a group of her cute friends, followed by a pancake breakfast at 1 am.  It was rough, but Michael managed to survive :)

New Years Eve everyone spent the night at Bob & Cynthia's and it was a fun night of games, food, movies and talking.

 

 

 

 

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!