Thanksgiving Party and Christmas Fancy Nancy

When James was in Bridge, his class had a party called a "Thanksgiving Feast", which I took to mean there would be kids dressed as Pilgrims and Indians, corn and beans would be served, and a song/dance would be performed.  No.  No dress up, Chick-Fil-A was served, and there was not even a hint of a performance of any kind.  Well, much to my surprise, pre-k DOES do a traditional Thanksgiving Feast!

I have to add this funny story: during the party I was helping Natalie in the bathroom.  Her headdress fell off, and she said "oops, my crown fell off."  I suppose everything is a crown to sweet Natalie.

Waiting to play games.  Sweet friends: Kate Evans and Ella Reynolds.

That weekend we joined Zoe and her mom, Amanda, for a Fancy Nancy Christmas play.  It was a great performance and perfect for this age!  Natalie loves a show as much as her mama.

And then these two crazy monkeys!  I ordered new dishes, and the boys had a blast playing "bubble tackle".  Thankfully no one was injured.

Reet Reet's quick visit

Brad took James to his first Alabama game a couple of weekends ago (guest blog post to follow), and mom surprised me with a weekend visit.  It was a short visit, but we had a great time.  We mostly ate and cleaned house, but we did take Natalie and Luke to see Disney on Ice, which they loved!  We always enjoy having family in town and were sad to see her leave.

boys leaving for T-town

 Lunch with the girls

And look at the expressions of these two!  They give serious stink eye...

It was a short trip, but a fun one!

Happy Halloween

Briargrove Park loves Halloween, and so do we.  Our neighborhood goes all out with decorations and candy, and for the past few years we have gotten together with a four other families to eat pizza and trick-or-treat.  This year we had Snow White, Yoda and a Stormtrooper.

 Sweet friends: Coursey Family (Elizabeth, Will and Easton), Lilly Patterson, Handel Family (Olivia and Hudson) and Brady Family (Charlie and Julia).

 We struck the jackpot with candy!  Lots and lots and lots and lots of candy.

not the best pic of me b/c of an eye infection, but so cute of Lukey! 

 Post trick-or-treat yard football with school friends: Harrison Knape and Owen Collins

And just because I love to look back: trick-or-treat through the years:

2009

2010 giraffe 

one of my favorite pictures ever with Griffin 

2011 monkey

2012: not the best picture, but all I could find
Buzz Lightyear and a ladybug 

2013 Peter Pan, skeleton and pumpkin

2014: Batman, a penguin and a clown 

2015: dragon, a peacock costume that I made, and Darth Vader

2016

Happy Halloween!

Dream Big

James's first grade class put on a grandparents program entitled "Dream Big", essentially 'what I want to be when I grow up, and how does that fit into God's plan for my life'.  It was so touching to see these little first graders think and sing about how they can contribute to God's kingdom here on earth.  After I talked James out of being a football player, he settled on being an author (which is fitting because the kid loves to write books).  James's line from his program: "I love to write and write some more, my books will never be a bore."

two peas in a pod

not impressed--actually, she loved seeing James

We were so glad to have CC and Poppaw in town for a few days.  We spent a lot of time outside throwing the baseball, singing and putting on 'shows'.  Even though it was a short visit, we were so thankful to have them in Houston and at the program.

A few misc. pics of these cuties:

The morning of the program James climbed into the fridge to get something, and I had deja-vu.  Look how big this sweet boy is!

I volunteered last week during James's class' library time.  I love seeing the kids in their element at school: they take on a entirely different persona---usually minding, quiet, attentive, etc. :)

Natalie and her sweet friend Olive after ballet one day

And then this cutie at a birthday party....

Pumpkins Galore

A week or so ago, when the temperatures dipped below 90 to a brisk 80, we decided it was our best bet to go to the big pumpkin patch, Blessington Farms.  This place is about 20 minutes outside of town, and it is fantastic.  It's just big enough to have lots of fun things to do, but it isn't totally overwhelming.  The kids had an absolute blast!  Lots of time was spent on the slides, and lots of hand sanitizer was used by mom.

Look at these smiles! 

The hamster wheel was James's favorite, but as you can see, Luke wasn't much help.  He was along for the ride.

Natalie's favorite was the big slide! 

And we took the lazy way out this year by painting pumpkins instead of carving them.  It was almost just as messy: Luke and Natalie kept wiping theirs off and "starting over".  Natalie's pumpkin was appropriately named "Sparkle" and James painted "James Maul" (take on Darth Maul).  Luke said his was Darth Vader.  Star Wars: all day, every day.

We are ready for Halloween!