Wednesday, November 18, 2015

Randomness

Jake is in love with the tree in our front yard because he likes to do this...

 As a pre-Halloween special surprise we gave the boys the movie Hotel Transylvania.  Halloween movies are always best in costume...
 Jake also loves practicing baseball in our backyard.  Luke has caught on some too.  This is his game face...
 Silly times with Campbell...
 Jake decorated a pumpkin as a book character for a school event.  He made Frosty the Snowman.  Unfortunately, I never got a picture of the final project, but it was pretty cute, complete with coal eyes, a red button nose and corn cob pipe!  Here are the boys starting the painting for the project...


 Feeding ducks with Papa and Granmama...
 Making crafts at school's Story-time night...


Tuesday, November 17, 2015

Family Fitness Night

 I've been very impressed with the activities offered at Jake's new school, as well as the participation.  We've already had so much fun!  One such fun activity was Family Fitness night.  Here's some highlight pics...




State Fair 2015

One exciting perk of moving to Richardson that didn't cross my mind was going to the State Fair!  I haven't been in years and years, and Jake has never been.  Students get a day off from school and free fair tickets, so Cassy and I decided to do a "Mom's treat" and take the kids to the fair while Daddies worked. I did decide to leave Luke behind since he's still napping and he's a bit hard to handle sometimes in crowds.  Don't feel bad, he got to spend a special day with Nana and Big T, and the rest of us had a blast enjoying the fair!!!  Here's a pic right as we entered...
Our plan was to enjoy all the free activities and entertainment the fair has to offer, grab some yummy fair food, then be on our way as the crowds really picked up.  We were able to do just that, and it was truly a perfect day!  First thing we got to see was the the farm animals, then the dog show!  Later in the day we saw some African Acrobats, and although I didn't get pictures, that show was Jake's favorite.
 Funnel cakes were one of the fair foods of choice...
 Fun face painting!
 Craft time...
 There was an AMAZING exhibit of displays of canned goods.  It was truly unbelievable what people created out of the cans, plus it benefited the Food Bank...
 This one was a favorite...
 Waiting on another awesome live animal show. This one included dogs, cats, birds, and even a pig...
 We just had to get a pic with Big Tex...

 Here are two attempts at a Jake/Mommy/Big Tex selfie.  I was using a regular camera and not a phone, so it was a pure guess what we were getting in the viewfinder.  First attempt, great smiles, but barely any Tex...
 Next attempt, perfect angle of Big Tex, Jake looks perfect, but Mommy pretty much ruined it...oh well...

Dime Box Fall 2015

 We were very blessed with wonderful friends in Austin who we had the unique gift of knowing prior to us all having kids.  I feel hopeful that a few of these special relationships will continue despite our move.  One great way they are able to continue is through our trips to Dime Box with the Robertsons and Pollards.  We so appreciate the Robertson's hospitality and thoughtfulness in inviting us out to join them.  As always, we had a great nature-loving, people-loving, electronic-free weekend. It came at a perfect time after the move to be around familiar and comfortable people! As always, the kids had a blast.  Dime Box isn't Dime Box without riding in circles in some jeeps...
Here's racing Molly...
 Kevin even joined in on some fun on the bike...
 Some of the kids got a tractor pull from Wilson...

 Ally, Ryan and Jake passed some time collecting bullet shells by the pond.  Some other family members use the area for target practice, and the kids had fun on their own treasure hunt for shells...
 Peacefulness...
 Yummy s'mores...

Another new park

 Our family headed out to try another Richardson park and had lots of fun!  This park has a pond with ducks too, so now we know where we can feed some ducks!




Our new team

We are now Richardson Eagles fans!  Here are the boys in front of the stadium for our first Eagle football game...

Go Rangers!

So, I'm way behind, but Jake and I got to go to a Rangers game with Papa a while back.  We had really awesome seats, and we all had a blast!