So Thankful!

Thanksgiving really happened.  This year was extra special because Grandma and Grandpa came to town for it.  I don't how long the kids stood by the window waiting for Chris to deliver them.  

My view

 Grandman and Grandpa's view when they rolled in.  It's a pretty good view if you ask me.  

I just happened to turn the big 34 the night before they arrived.  We went to the melting pot and cooked delicious food like this.

 Grandma and Grandpa got to see Mason at his first belt advancement.  It was really exciting to see the demo team, but the most excitement was watching Mason break his first board!!

 I might be a mean daughter and wrangle my mom into helping count money for our PTA.  What a trooper.  

 Some self portraits were created and will be treasured for life!!  All credit goes to Mason, our aspiring artist! 

 We showed my parents the new Allen Eagle Stadium for a playoff game.  They went on to win state this year!!!  A big deal here in TX.  

  New Christmas tradition!

Bringing the new beauty home.

  

This picture was taken strictly for my parents entertainment.  

My dad couldn't get enough of the Griswold jokes.  This picture is funny to me in many ways.  

 So is this one - my dad just giving another grown man a little assistance.  

It was such a fun fun visit!  They really came for Thanksgiving which really happened and was really amazing.  Chris made a homemade pecan pie, we played lots of games with our own rules, we had a delicious spread on Thanksgiving Day with our friends Chase and Allison Jensen.  I don't know why there aren't more pictures of the said event, by more I mean even one.  It really did happen though.  I'm so thankful we have a holiday to celebrate being thankful.  My list is long and plentiful and my family and parents are at the top of the list - so how perfect that I could spend the week with them.  

Sing Texas Sing!!

Green Elementary 4th graders put on an awesome musical.  It was so fun and cute.  All the kids did amazing.  We are so lucky to have such a talented music teacher in Mrs. Goodwin - I love that she has all these kids, including mine, so excited about music.  Here is cuteness overloaded.  

 I love my cute cowgirl.  I'm also happy that she's on the short side so can be on the front which gives us an unobstructed view.

 The parents line dancing around the gym.  There may have been a moment when the line got messed up and Chris and another dad ended up holding hands dancing together.  If only I could have been quicker with the camera.

 Even Mallory and her friend Harper were getting into the dancing.

She mastered her line "In Texas it's illegal to drive without windshield wipers, you don't need a windshield, but you've got to have the wipers".

Election 2012

 
I was so calm and voted for Rom.  It came, it happened and no one around here is happy.  I woke up the 7th just in disbelief that it really turned out the way it did.  The majority of Americans felt differently about the course this country should go on then me.  I'm now a minority:-).  There was plenty of company in my misery around this part of the country.
Just look at this fun bunch of ladies I got to vote with.  I was reprimanded for wearing my Romney shirt and pin.  Electioneering - I must have missed that topic if it was ever covered in my schooling.

These were our families election day dinner ballots.  It was very serious, every vote was counted, and recounted when there were 7 ballots cast and only 6 family members.  Serious voter fraud.  The ballot was all in fun but also taught how the election works.  1.  You cast your vote  2.  The majority wins  3. Don't be a whiny and sad if your choice isn't picked.  Rozlyn asked "So does the choice with the most votes win or do you just draw one out of a hat?"  Thank you teaching moment.  

and the results were in.........

I had to take Mason to tae kwon do and also had a church meeting that same night.  In my heart of rationale thoughts I honestly thought it would be a landslide for Romney.  I just couldn't' bring myself to watch the news all day.  I recorded the results coverage but couldn't turn it on.  I kept my phone away and disconnected from the world because I didn't want to know.  My sweet, sweet kids decorated the house Romney/Ryan style and made go Mitt signs all over.  It was so sweet.  They also set the table and made us all Romney name cards.  I was Ann.  It was really fun.  

So Long to Soccer!

Roz has spent the past 5 years kicking the soccer ball around. We've been on the fence for a few season wondering if we should continue and Roz finally decided to hang up the cleats for awhile and pursue other things like year round swim team and starting a new instrument (probably the violin).  Since we've spent many  hot and freezing cold Saturday at her games I had get a few last pics of her in action.

Go Rozlyn!!  Every team she played on loved her.  Each coach would say what a dream she was to coach.  Coach Kirk said at his final banquet that Rozlyn was the most positive and polite girl he'd ever coach.  Here's to future adventures!

Halloween

Here's to our awesome memories of Halloween 2012 and a load of pictures to document the event.

Also, here's to Chris's first ever blog post.  Even though he didn't know he would be contributing, I just went ahead and copied and pasted his email that was sent out to his family. 

Our Halloween was exciting.  It started out at a neighborhood party where Mallory took a cup of lemonade and then spit it all over when she (and we) found out it was really a margarita.  Mason was done trick-or-treating after going around the block and just wanted to lay on the driveway and eat his candy.  The girls kept at it until they had tons of candy and Mason says "Hey!  Why did they get so much candy!"  He would love to vote for an Obama policy of "spread the wealth" applied to trick-or-treat bounty.  Rainie was embarrassed when  one trick-or-treater said "Hey!  You've got opened wrappers!", when they reached in to get some candy.  I thought it was my personal bowl and had left some wrappers in after eating the candy earlier in the week.  

Rainie won our ward's chili cook-off at out Halloween party...quite an honor for a non-native Texan.   It is always a big deal as many non-members come to it every year and Rainie was in charge of the whole thing.  She did great!  This year I dressed up like "Big Tex".   He is the 10-story tall man who has welcomed all to the state fair of Texas for the past 60 years.  He caught on fire and burned down the last week of the fair this year so I had flames coming out of my shirt and black soot on my face.  .

Prepping for the big day.  Mason is in his awesome Mowgli costume from a few years back that he still sleeps in all the time.  

The pumpkin we're most proud of.  The "Rozzie/Rainie" pumpkin or maybe "Romney/Ryan".  

Mallory's school party.  Here cute teacher is "Chicka Chicka Boom Boom". 

 Crafting

Eating cute Frankenstein pudding

Dressed and ready to go for the big night! 

Words with friends:   

Negotiations under way. 

R.I.P Big Tex 

I really love the fair - and I really love Big Tex. 

I love this picture of Mason and Dylan - if only our editor had a cheetos-face feature like the red-eye feature.   

Start Your Engines

Vroom Vroom Goes the Blue Room

There is a long list of things I love about Suncreek Methodist Preschool but the Bike-A-Thon is somewhere near the top.  It's cuteness overload.  Mallory is in the blue room this year.  The kids and parents and teachers all go all out.  It's so fun to see all the different colored rooms showing so much spirit.  Then there's the D.J. who makes it feel like a party, with his awesome racing mixes.  

Sheer Joy

Racers ready

Go Go Go!!!

Lined up for the bike wash

Re-fuel time.

Gettin our Fair On

Howdy Folks.  

There's no fair like the State Fair of TX.  This year we even had an out of stater to share the fun with.  The kids all had free tickets and a day off school.  Chris took the day off as well and we took advantage of the kids being home.  The most important thing we learned was this - don't ever go to the fair on the free day from school day.  It was so not worth it.  The traffic, the crowds, the lines, it was all bad.  Thanks to the iPhone camera I have tons-o-photos to show for the said event.

Filiming an OU and TX commercial.  

Mr. Giraffe, sorry about the conditions of your 10x10 space.  

A Texas size corn dog gives this little man a Texas size smile.

Texas size cotton candy.

There's always this food variety if you're into that sort of thing.  

Our strategizing team.  

Thanks for the lift Charlotte!

Of course there's the scary rides that can be put up and taken down in just a few hours.  Scary.  

Enjoying some relaxation.  It really looks like there's two guys posing behind them.  

 Here is TX we learn a thing or two about farming at the fair.

We came, we saw, we're headed home.  Yee-haw.