No one's watching...

Here are some scans of some pictures I found in my office a few days ago. Apparently Mary Frances and her friend, Kylie, were having a good time!!

FRAGILE

What were my parents thinking?Ray C. grew up watching "A Christmas Story" every year. He can quote every part of the movie, and we hear it all year long for different occasions! Anyhow, my parents just couldn't resist the leg lamp they found at CVS a few weeks ago. So, my dad fixed up a box with "FRAGILE" written all over it and packaged it just like in the movie! Ray C. quoted the movie the entire time it took to set it up -- even the kids were quoting it! And now, it sits by our bed in a lovely spot in my haven of the world! YAY!! Thanks mom and dad! :)

(Chase's face in the picture fits perfectly with the movie!)

We are the Champions...

Chase's baseball team played a nail-biting game for the championship in the fall and WON! It was a long game for the boys, but they did so good. We are so proud of them and love watching the way they play. Their skill and love for baseball is so much fun to watch!



Chase with his teammates and Coach "Daddy".
The pitcher and his 1st baseman! Man, they make some awesome plays together!
Chase and "Hunt-man"
Trent plays for the team we were "versing", as they boys say!!! He is one of Mary Frances' best friends. They have been in the same class the last two years, and I think they have the neatest friendship. I love hearing about the things they do and say to each other!

it's too early...

This past Sunday was an early day for us. Ray C. had to be at church at 5, and I had to be there at 6:40, which meant all the kids had to be up and ready by 6:30 --- no small feat to accomplish on your own. Of course, I do it every week, but we usually have about 30 more minutes!

Anyway...I told the kids we would be leaving the house while it was still dark. So, we would need to get up very early. So, Thomas and Mary Frances wanted to use Thomas' alarm on his clock. I set the alarm for 6:00, but I knew I would need to go to check on them as well!

At about 6:10 I went upstairs to find both kids in a heavy sleep and the UNPLUGGED alarm clock laying on it's side as if it had been thrown. So, I woke the kids up and asked if it had gone off, and they both said a sleepy & annoyed "YES...very early". So I questioned Thomas, "So you decided to unplug it?"

His reply was, "It was making a very annoying beeping sound. So I just unplugged it!" After laughing at the idea of experiencing your first early morning alarm signal I informed him that all he had to do was push SNOOZE and it would give him 10 more minutes! "Ohh..."

I love to relive all of these firsts from their perspective!

Boys & Guns

For Thanksgiving, we were blessed with the opportunity to go back to a friend's ranch and enjoy the unplugged life! It was so relaxing. We were able to lounge, read, enjoy the fire outside, grill, and make s'mores. We were also able to shoot clays and b.b. guns!


We had a b.b. gun for each child, but Mary Frances forfeited her chance. She didn't want anything to do with the guns but really enjoyed the sling shot - which I reminded her was all little David needed to take down the giant!

Anyway...Ray C. very smartly sat the kids down for a lesson on gun safety before we started! The boys listened very attentively dying to get their hands on those guns, and then they were off! We had lots of stationary targets and clays for them to hit.

Thomas gets a lesson in aiming steady! I love seeing Ray C. like this. Everyone here sees him as a city boy, but this is the guy I fell in love with --- jeans and boots, loving the outdoors!
Sugar LOVES the ranch as much as the rest of us! She loves to run all around, but she will not leave us. She's happy to go on a walk if we go, but if we stay at the house, so does she! She is such an amazing dog! I'm so glad Santa brought her to us 2 years ago!!
We had some friends join us for a few days. Zach is on Chase's baseball team. The boys had a great time "hunting" together! By the way, no animals were harmed on these adventures!

We took a walk down the road one morning and saw the freely roaming longhorns and the donkeys. The kids were so excited to see them all!

We even saw a deer that Sugar jumped out of the bushes only about 2 feet from Chase. Chase was holding his b.b. gun at the time and said, "Aw...I missed him. My safety was on!" I love the things that kid says!! He is hilarious!

Anyway..we had a wonderful time enjoying the outdoors while we were gone and can't wait to get back to San Marcos!!

Girl Scout Camp

Mary Frances and I went on a girl scout day camping trip a few weeks ago with a few other Daisies in her troop. It was a gorgeous day to be outside!
I'm in love with this picture of her!
The younger girls went to the horse farm and "groomed" the horses with all types of special brushes!
This horse made me wish I was getting my hair brushed! She was really enjoying the attention!
After a long day of hiking, grooming, playing games, singing, and crafts, the girls crashed in the car.

We are so excited to be involved in scouts and to have all the opportunities that come with it!

...next up...GIRL SCOUT COOKIES!!!!

School Christmas Parties

I spent several days this week at school parties! We had a blast. The elementary school had a fun festival-type event for the kids. They brought in blow-up slides and had stations set up in the gym for a candy-cane walk, snack time, tree decorations, and this precious photo op! I was so impressed! Thank you Warner PTO and Mr. Maness, our Principal!
Maya and Mary Frances are always up for a picture!

Payton and Mary Frances enjoyed their popsicles from Frosty the snowmen even though it was quite chilly outside!Mr. Maness even got in on the rides - in between classes!!
Chase's class sang some precious Christmas songs to us and then invited us to their room for snack time. We are really going to miss Foundry next year when Chase goes to kindergarten!

This is Chase with his teacher, Mrs. Zarazee who was out earlier in the school year from cancer surgery. She is now cancer FREE and having her last radiation treatments next week! Merry Christmas, Mrs. Zarazee!

I love my baby! Now that I've been substituting, I was afraid that I'd lost him to daddy, but over the last few days, I've had LOTS of unsolicited and surprise kisses! I needed them more than he could know!!

Camping

We went on our first Boy Scout camping trip last weekend at Fairfield Lake State Park My parents bought us a tent for Christmas (and gave it to us early)! We bought a few other essentials - like chairs for hanging around the fire, a percolator for coffee, and a single burner stove - to make our trip a little easier!

We had a great time being out there, and we're looking forward to the next trip!

We were so excited that Jessie was able to come with us! Hopefully, she'll send me more pictures to add to this post!! :)
UPDATE: Here's one from Jessie..aren't they cute?

Christmas Tea Party 2010

What a fun afternoon! Mary Frances and I had our 3rd Annual Mother/Daughter Christmas Tea Party, and it was a hit!

We had delicious food and hot tea in real china tea cups! I imagine that Mama Taylor (my great-grandmother) would have been so proud to know that her tea cups were being used by all these precious girls each year! Here are a few pictures from our afternoon!

Santa shops at Office Depot, too!!!

12 Days of School

This is a song Thomas made up this week. I asked him to write it out for his teacher, and to my surprise, he did! We made copy for the principal too! :) (Window panes are their math technique!)

On the __ day of school , my teacher made me do…

A bunch of spelling home work.

Two window panes.

Three bench marks.

Say four states.

Draw five shapes.

Name six presidents.

Read seven books.

Write eight stories
Recycle nine bottles.

Ten science projects.

Correct eleven mistakes
Stamp twelve cards.

On My honor...

Thomas and Mary Frances joined scouts this fall. We are all so excited about the fun events to come and the life lessons to be learned!Mary Frances is a Daisy Scout. It comes before Brownies! We really can't wait to sell GS cookies in January!!!The scouts were in the Veterans' Day Parade at the school last week.

We have already been to one Girl Scout outing where the whole family got to play outside for a few hours and picnic. It was a nice change from our normal activities!

In response to a picture of my dad with his deer, Mary Frances said, "when you lose your job, you should do things you like more often - to make you feel better!"

Detective Mary Frances

I bought Mary Frances this cute trench coat, and she loves wearing it because it makes her look like a detective!I just couldn't resist taking her picture before I sent her off to school the other day! She is so cute! And, I love her taste for the fancier things like adding a ribbon to a regular headband! She is so creative -- reminds me of her Aunt Jessie!

Halloween 2010

Hannah Montana, Batman, and Indiana Jones all showed up at our house this weekend!
We had a blast trick-or-treating around the neighborhood. I think we had at least twice as many trick-or-treaters as last year! It was so much fun!
Our neighbor, Marilyn, always has a good time at Halloween, too! We had to get our picture made with her!
Even Curly and Sugar had costumes to match the boys. Sugar didn't keep hers own for a minute, but Curly did great in his Batman costume!
Hannah's hair was a little too itchy. So, it didn't stay on long, but she still rocked all night long!
Indiana kept his candy in his satchel and had a hard time controlling his whip!
And Batman....
well, when the Joker showed up across the street from our house, he ran over and defended it! It was a fun night choc-full of candy, scary costumes, and fun! Not my favorite holiday to celebrate, but we had a good time!