Merry Christmas!

Maybe I Should Update My Blog!

This has been a busy, busy season for our family.  Here are a few highlights from the past few months. Sydney and I went to the mall to see Frozen last week and week took the opportunity to take Christmas pictures since it had turned nasty her in our area. Here are a few of my favorites. She changes so much each year.  Now she is a teenager with braces. She isn't thrilled about the braces in her pics but this is a season of her life and it needs to be documented. 

This is from the first day of school...7th grade! The years are passing by so fast...way too fast!

We had a special breakfast for the first day of school... Belgian waffles, fresh strawberries, whipped cream and homemade chocolate syrup. Amazing!

This pic is from our summer vacation in Fun Valley, CO.  This is the back of our cabin on the river. That night we had Frito pie...yum. It's the only time we eat that kind of food in the summer.

In August, we had a baby shower for Annie who was expecting Levi in early September. 

This is her second boy.

Here is Levi a couple of hours after he was born being introduced to big brother Michael.

Levi is all dressed for Halloween! He was my date to the Fall Festival at our church and he was very popular! This outfit was worn by Sydney and also Michael! It was the first baby clothes I ever bought for Sydney before I even knew she was a she. I got it and a Christmas sleeper in February at Dillard's 75% off sale! I think I paid $6.00 for each one. This is a big deal because I love bargains but I really don't look for them...not a good shopper at all!

We have been iced in here in Fort Worth since Thursday or Friday and today was my first day out. I've enjoyed staying in but I think Sydney was getting restless.

I really need to work on a new blog header since the one I have is from Christmas of 2009 or 2010, I'm not even sure!

Summer 2013 According to my Phone!

Here is a recap of our summer via my phone! 

 Summer was kicked off with FWPAC recital at Will Rogers! Sorry about the quality 

but sometimes it happens...

 One of several trips to Starbucks.

 Fort Worth Cats game with the Annunziato family...

 1st of several trips to Six Flags this summer...

 Worries over our vacation destination...way too close to the action...

the wind changed and Fun Valley was not touched!

 A new friend...Boomer! He's grouchy and a talker...we often call him Simon's cat! If you don't know who that is you should google "Simon's cat" 

 Dog sitting for Herby and Teddy!

 Movie Tavern night with Jana and Marina...

 Tweaked the front hall which has been empty since we remodeled...

Many, many Jam Camp rehearsals...

 Jam Camp fun...green screen...

 I have a teenager now! Slumber party fun = big mess! She is so blessed to have the sweetest friends!

 Vacation means questionable breakfast choices in our cabin...

 After an early summer lightning fire which burned 110,000 plus acres you could 

feel the relief and gratitude in the area!

 Day trip to Creede, CO means lunch at the Firehouse...

Going to Creede must include our annual visit to the Creede Mining Museum 

and feeding the ground squirrels and chipmunks...love!

 It did this every day for a few hours and the highest temp we saw was maybe 75 degrees. One morning there was frost...happy, happy, happy!

 There were lots of campfires, hot dogs and s'mores at our cabin...

Sydney and Gracie dancing in the rec room! When you have no phone service or wifi, you play!

 Sydney and her friend Bryn on the paddle boats...

 This always freaks me out!

 Boomer likes to sleep holding onto his foot sometimes...

Not included were pictures of Sydney's birthday, Michael's birthday and Annie's shower. Baby Levi will be making an appearance in the next few weeks. Dance started on Monday and our Wednesday night church activities start tomorrow and of course, school begins next week for us!

So Far This Spring!

We have been busy this spring! Time is flying by so fast and it's hard to believe that summer will be here before we know it!  Today was a hot and steamy reminder.

Last weekend Sydney and I went to the big Home School Book Fair in Arlington. We went on Saturday and it was crazy crowded but we had a great time. It's a nice reminder for those days when I feel lonely that I am in good company! We ran into friends we made in Colorado last summer who drove in from Amarillo. They weren't homeschooling until January of this year so we had no idea.

Sydney danced at Mayfest again this year (that's why she is wearing red lipstick). I have a new awesome camera bag and was so excited to try it out but I left my sd card in my computer and was unable to take decent pictures while she was dancing but got a few of the fair with my phone. The dance pics I took with my phone were too far away and to much glare. This lovely statue of Mark Twain is located in Trinity Park on the banks of the Trinity River near downtown Fort Worth. The river is the benefactor of this event.

Spring break fun at the park with the Lain boys and their cousin Shelby.

 Sydney got her braces. She will get the top ones this summer...not so happy!

 Last month we visited the Fort Worth Museum of Science and History for the Titanic exhibit and Titanica show at the Omni Theatre. It was so good!  Here is my little fashionista by the water fountain.

After the museum we went to Central Market for gelato...yum! She likes soy chocolate (yuck) and blood orange (half and half). I like lemon cookie cream...so good!

 A special trip to Krispy Kreme...the shop in Fort Worth is closed so we drove to Arlington after nearly a year of promising!

At Krispy Kreme with Emma!

We baked and iced cookies for Easter.

...and St. Patrick's day cookies!

Foot Works Performing Arts Center 80s party with Emma.

Before party pics at Emma's house...

Today her dance studio Foot Works Performing Arts Center had an end of the year party...a Luau! This is Noel the cat getting into the mood for the party...he had a little help! I think he looks good, don't you?

Random Stuff...

I have not blogged in months so this is just some of the highlights since the last post. 

 Thanksgiving:

My new brother in law Tommie requested sweet potato pie for Thanksgiving and I thought it was as good a time as any to try. We don't go to Donna and Tommie's until after we have been to my mom's where we pig out...so I didn't try the sweet potato pie because I was full of pumpkin pie etc. This was my first try...looks like pumpkin which I prefer but I hear it was good.  I used Paula Deen's recipe so I am sure it was very good...not healthy though! I also sent whipped cream along for the topping. My mother in law told me they probably had Cool Whip and I shouldn't go to any trouble.  I informed her that after going to the trouble of baking a pie, they were not going to desecrate it with Cool Whip! Just another of those things I have little use for except in a couple of specific recipes. A lot of people like sweet potato pies but I love pumpkin and can make them in my sleep...nearly.  Besides I loathe sweet potatoes except baked with salt and pepper only...no marshmallow, nuts or syrup for me.  There are not many foods I won't eat but candied, smothered sweet upon sweet yams is at the top of my list along with liver.  My mother has probably tried every recipe under the sun and I do try them but it's just too much!!!

Christmas:

As always the Christmas festivities began with my daughter's Christmas Dance recital. Sydney is in her 7th year of dance and loves it. She is taking Jazz, Lyrical and HipHop. They did Jazz and HipHop performances and no Lyrical. There are no special costumes this time of year, only studio sweatshirts and black jazz pants. They are encouraged to wear Christmas socks and hair ribbons if they want. The first 3 years these performances were held at Ridgmar Mall by Macy's between two escalators...just a little cramped and we could never get good pics except one year when Courtnay crawled around on the floor with the camera!  Anyway, I can't stress how elated I am each year when Iwe don't have to drag my 85 year old mother in law through the mall and that crowd! She's is a real trooper!

In February there was the Father Daughter dance with our church...even my husband said it was the best one so far!!! It was a western theme complete with a mechanical bull! Since we had already bought her a fancy dress, she got to add a pair of boots to the outfit!

Then we had our homeschool Valentine party...loads of fun!

Last month my sister, daughter and I drove to my cousin Jenn's in McKinney to meet her new son Tate. He is precious as are her 2 year old daughter Aneliese and her son J.D. The chocolate mustaches were favors that my aunt Gayle made. Yum! This is Sydney goofing around in the back seat with Instagram on our way home. My sister and I talked all the way there and all the way home...We don't get to do that often enough.

Last month we also lost this guy...Romeo, the best cat ever! I have had more cats than I can count and cats can be very disappointing because sometimes they get out and fight or get run over, sometimes they grow old and stay with us for years but this guy just vanished and it's been really hard to let go. He was a real lover and lived up to his name. The hardest part is no knowing what happened to him. The lady at our town's animal control is Jennifer and I'm sure she is sick of me and Rick after nearly 4 weeks. My husband chased her down last week when she retrieved a dead gray and white cat from our neighbor's back yard and even looked in the bag but it wasn't him. I asked Sydney to wait until the fall before we get another cat. We have Noel and Belle and have kept and extra eye on them and Noel has very strict hours he can go outside and he has been very willing to oblige so I think he understands, he is grieving too. Not usually a very snuggly cat he has started sleeping in my bed with his paws wrapped around my arm or resting on my arm.

Last weekend Emma Claire came for a sleepover...it was a late night but fun!