Santa's Wonderland

I was able to take a few days off this week and Jimmy is off as well. This meant we were able to spend some fun family time together.  We decided to drive to College Station and visit Sant's Wonderland.  It ended up being perfect winter weather and since it was after Christmas the crowds were not bad at all.  We didn't have to wait in line for anything.  

I splurged on tickets to do a horse and carriage ride to see the lights.  It was a fun experience.  The kids loved the horses and of course the lights were beautiful. 

They had all kinds of activities like bull riding, live singing, a petting zoo and roasting marshmallows.

 

It was a great time and we will defiantly do it again next year!

Christmas 2015

I didn't want to skip a post about Christmas this year but to be honest I didn't really get many pictures.  We had a candlelight service at church Christmas Eve that was beautiful.  I always love starting off the festivities focusing on the real meaning of Christmas.  Afterwards we went to Amy's for dinner with family.  The kids exchanged gifts and we had a wonderful dinner.  I found some gag gift boxes and it was hilarious to watch Brayden open his gift.  No one knew I did it and I could see the poor guy look at the box and politely push it to the side confused.  The box said it was an earwax candle kit.  Lol!  It was actually very real looking.  It had everyone fooled.  Ha!  I had to convince him to open it to get the real gift inside.  The kids out out cookies for Santa before going to bed.  They could not pick their favorite so needless to say he had a lot of cookies to eat!

The next morning we opened gifts as a family and later that day went to my mom and dads for dinner.  It was a wonderful day. I can't believe it is over already!  Usually I keep my decorations up until after New Years but today Jimmyand I were both off so the kids and Jimmy worked on the yard and I took the tree and decorations down.  It feels nice to have the house back in order.  Here at a few pics from Christmas including the kids parties at school.

Random acts of kindness

I wasn't sure what to title this post.  But I didn't want to skip this one!  Several months ago I started reading a book called Cleaning House : Putting an end to childhood entitlement.  Since then I have been trying to implement a few of the things in the book into our lives. That has included giving the kids more responsibilities at home and since it is December we have been working on small acts of kindness.  Nothing big just trying to make it a point to think of others first.  And to be honest I am usually the one who forgets we are working on these things first.  To say the last few months have been overwhelming is an understatement.  Long story short after a busy day I slammed a basket of laundry on the bed and told the kids I had to hurry and take a shower before we moved on to whatever else it was we needed to do that evening.  Can I just say I was brought to tears when I walked out after getting dressed to find Paige doing this. 

She had folded the entire basket while I was taking a shower.  I let her know how much her small act of kindness meant to me.  She was so proud of her work and I was so proud of her.  

Ugly sweater girls night

Tonight I went with my sister and cousins to The Melting Pot.  All I can say is yum!  It was ugly sweater night so we all dressed the part. the food was wonderful but the company was even better.  It was just what I needed.  Some time of laughter and support from people I love.  It was a great night.  

Robotics

Today was the last official day of robotics this year for Caden.  There are 11 teams of fourth and fifth graders and they are only taking 5 of them to area competition.  So today they had a mini competition to decide which teams would go.  To be honest Caden has tried to explain to me what they do there but I still did not fully understand it.  Today I got a close up look.  I have to admit it was really impressive to see the kids robots and know that they programmed them to do certain commands.  There were three rounds to the competition.  They have been working on programming the "cars" to move certain ways to manuvor different objects into certain markers on their board.  For each successful move they received points. After each round they were allowed to make adjustments to correct mistakes.  It was actually pretty intense.  Lol. It was fun to watch each team strategize and work together.  Caden and his team ended up 3rd overall.  That means he will be going to compete against other schools in our area and he couldn't be happier.  Way to go guys!

Holiday happenings

This time of year is crazy but also so much fun!  The day after thanksgiving we shifted into full Christmas mode and put up our tree.  I let the kids have full control this year.  They put up every ornament.  They did pretty good and I have not moved any around.  Lol. I let them pick out their new ornaments and they both picked food items.  Ha!  Not sure what that says about us.  Caden loves hamburgers and of course Paige was even a donut for Halloween last year.  Caden hung his front and center.  I do have to admit I have a hard time not moving that giant hamburger every time I look at the tree.  

I also decorated the house and the Elf has made his appearance again.  Of course Caden no longer believes he is real so he has had fun helping me move him around.  

We also decorated gingerbread houses.  I am sure we will decorate several more before it is all said and done.

Since the Christmas program is over Kids on a mission has started again.  I found a memory card game on Pinterest that tells the story of The birth of Jesus.  It was a big hit and Paige even played it with me at home.  After the lesson we played Christmas bingo and it was a blast!

The next few weeks will be crazy but we are looking forward to more fun times.  

2015 Christmas Program

It has been several years since our church has put on a children's play at Christmas.  But this year a wonderful couple at church stepped up and have been working with the kids for months now.  Saturday was dress rehearsal and then afterwards we had a party for the kids.

The story was about a man that owned a tree lot and some kids that help him realize the real meaning of Christmas. Caden and Paige both had speaking and singing parts.  Paige and her friend Cailyn played two friends that were running a bake sale.  They also sang a duet together.  As shy as Paige is she loved every minute of it.  I was worried that she would be shy on stage but she took it very serious and did great!  Caden had one of the main roles along with two other kids. They were funny and did wonderful.  He even sang a solo!  Originally Caden was not sure about having such a major part.  He is such a nervous kid.  But he worked so hard and overcame his fears.  Of course the smaller kids are always entertaining.  During a song called "the Christmas Boggie". Sam and his friend Trent put on quite a show.  It was so cute. Brayden played a cop sent to shut down the tree lot.  He was hilarious!  I was so proud of all the kids.  Besides the kids doing so wonderfully the play had such a beautiful message about family and the birth of our Savior.  I am so happy my kids got to experience this.  

Dress like a teacher

Today was reverse day at school.  The teachers dress like kids and the kids dress like teachers.  We threw together some very last minute costumes last night.  Paige went as herself (Ms. Paige) and Caden went as his GT teacher. I am sure the kids will love seeing the teachers dressed up.  I saw their principle this morning during drop off. She went all out with bows in her hair and everything.  Lol I shared Paige's picture this morning on Instagram but not Caden's.  He doesn't like me to share his stuff so I respect his wishes.  But he doesn't have a say on my blog.  Lol. So here are a few pictures before they left for school.  

And no, my kids have not gotten glasses.  We took out the lenses in some old sunglasses.  Apparently you must have glasses to be a teacher.  Ha!

Field Day Fun!

Last Friday was field day at school.  The kids always look forward to this.  A carnival, bouncy houses, relay races and of course the best part no school work!  Lol. Depending on the schedule sometimes I get to spend more time at different events.  I was able to see both the kids relays but I only caught Paige's carnival time.  Which was fine by Caden. Not sure Paige even realized I was there some of the time running around with her friends. lol. This year they changed up the relays a little.  It was boot camp style!  They carried weighted down backpacks, did push ups, squats, and even struck a muscle pose during one of the races. The kids loved it!  Their shirts were even camo  theme.  It was really cute.  As an added bonus I got to see Sam during his relays and many of the kids from church.  It was a fun field day!

  

KOM skating fun

A few days after Paige's party we had a KOM get together at skatworld.  It was another private party.  We were able to play Christian music and not have to worry about the kids.  I love things like this.  I can really see all the kids starting to bond.  I loved my church growing up and I still have many of those friendships even still.  I always want to encourage my kids to have like minded friends that love the Lord.  It was a fun time of fellowship for sure!

Paige's Birthday 8th Party

A couple of weekends ago we had Paige's birthday party at skateworld. (Yes, I am behind in posting). We started the day with her last volleyball tornament of the season.  I had a hard time finding a good day for her party this year and I did not realize when I scheduled it that it was the same day as her tournament.  She was not able to stay for all her games, but she did make three of them.  Her BFF from school even came to support her.  She decided she liked it well enough to play again next season.  We can't wait. 

This year Paige wanted a skating party and of course it was Shopkins themed.  We have so many little ones in our family now that we opted to do a private skating party.  That was the way to go for sure!  We were the only ones there so the kids had the run of the place.  They played whatever music/games you wanted and as a bonus we were able to bring scooters and push toys for the non-skaters.  Even the grandpas were skating.  I was very impressed with Jimmy's dad.  He even did the limbo!  Lol Sam was a mad man on skates.  Ha!  He kept falling but loved every minute of it.  He had us all cracking up.  Everyone had a blast, especially Paige.  My pictures did not turn out very well.  Between the fast moving skaters and all the flashing lights most of them are blurry.  

It was a great time celebrating Paige turning 8!

Later that day Caden went to a friends birthday party so Paige and I went over to Amy's while he was there.  One of Paige's gifts was called Yummy Nummy's.  She has been talking about them for awhile and so my mom got them for her gift.  They were not at all what I expected.  They are mixes that you make into mini foods.  Here is the kicker.  They taste like the actual food item.  Paige got hamburgers and fries.  Can you say yuck?  I think the picture below speaks for itself.  I had video of Sam and Paige trying them but of course I can post it.  Paige said the hamburger was gross, but the French fries tasted like mashed potatoes. I wouldn't know.  The smell alone made me want to gag.  Ha!  I can't imagine what the other flavors taste like.  I have seen everything from spaghetti to sushi in the store. I don't think we will be trying those.  

Happy Halloween!

We had terrible weather this year for Halloween.  It has stormed the last two weekends.  Friday night we even had tornadoes in our area that did a lot of damage to some houses.  Thankfully no one was hurt and by the afternoon the rain had slowed down.  We ventured out during the day with Amy and the boys to the cities Fall Festival.  The outside activities were cancelled but they had games and stuff inside for the kids to do. That evening we attended our church's Fall Festivel even though it was raining.  We were totally soaked by the end of the night but the kids had a great time.  Caden was a "creeper" from Minecraft this year and Paige was Chee Zee shopkins.  She was super excited about her costume.  Why does it seem the first year something is really popular you cannot find anything related to it?  We had to come up with something on our own.  I ordered the cheese costume and we added the felt face.  There were several little girls who knew exactly who she was throughout the night and that made her very happy.  Caden loved the rock wall they had and Paige spent most of the night with the baby chicks they had.  My phone battery was low so I did not get very many pictures.  Oh well! Overall it was a wet but fun day!

Tennis time

Fall ball was a bust last season so we opted out this time.  That meant we were looking for something new for Caden to try.  We were leaning towards basket ball but when he got a flyer for tennis at school he said he wanted to try it.  His first practice was today and he really liked it.  It is a little hard for him to get out of "baseball" mode but I think once he gets used to not swinging the racket like it is a bat he will do pretty good.  Lol. He was really focused.  I think it helped that a little girl he has known since preschool was there.  Now he has someone to impress.  Lol. That is her in the pink shorts.  

Overall he said he liked it and all the running is good exercise so I am happy.