Molly loses first tooth!

While in Hamilton for Thanksgiving, Molly lost her first tooth.  It had been wiggly for some time and she finally pulled it out while watching TV.  She was very excited when the tooth fairy brought her $5 and turned the water the tooth was left in blue. . . I guess it was magic!

About a week later, she lost a second tooth.  Now both front teeth on the bottom are  gone. 

Thanksgiving

I had to work this Thanksgiving so we had a belated celebration at Granddaddy's house.  Granddad and Grandma Karleen prepared a nice spread and we enjoyed our time in the country!

Granddaddy and Grandma Karleen were sure to have plenty of pies!

 

After dinner we enjoyed the beautiful weather while picking pecans and riding in the back of daddy's pickup. 

 

Like I said, it was a beautiful day so we had to snap some family photos!
I sure am thankful for my wonderful husband and sweet babies, and all of our extended family; we are truly blessed.

Tea with Aunt Judy

Aunt Judy and Aunt Mary Frances were in town to celebrate Thanksgiving with Sarah.  We were happy to have Aunt Judy over on Friday afternoon for a tea party and a nice visit.  

Halloween

This year our little ghouls were dressed as the following:
Molly was Elsa from Frozen.
Johnny was Darth Vader.
Samuel was a puppy dog.

Noah's Ark Party

In lieu of a Halloween party, Johnny's preschool hosts a Noah's Ark Party every year.  All the kids dress like animals and they play games, etc.  Johnny is donning a leopard costume that I (and my brothers and probably all my cousins) wore as a Halloween costume when we were little.

Fall Fun

First kid to get stitches is. . .

JOHNNY!  That's right, Johnny fell at the park on Friday and from what I can gather, he was climbing and fell hitting something on the way down.  I was at work and the nanny had the kids.  Paul took Johnny to my hospital and I had a look at the cut and we went to the ER.  The doctor ended up putting 5 stitches in his chin.  Johnny was a champ through the whole thing.  He was cooperative and shed maybe 1 tear, he was awesome. 
Just to have on record, after the versed the gave through his nose, he was a little loopy and told us, "this is fun"!

The before and after:

Sweet Molly

Since the day Molly was born, I have worried about her having to deal with the drama that surrounds girls.  Let's just say that it took only 1 birthday party 1 month into school to see who the mean girls in Molly's class are.  It is frustrating to see that at this age girls are already jealous and catty.  Paul and I are doing are best to give Molly the tools she needs to navigate her way through interactions with such children. 
To get to the point, I was so proud last week when on the drive to school Molly was telling me how things have been going in school and which kids have been staying on green.  She went on to say how she and 3 friends were playing and at some point the other 3 started bickering and had to turn their card (warning from teacher).  I asked Molly how she stayed out of the trouble and she responded that she told them she was Christian. 
I was so proud that she knows her faith and what it means to act in a Christan manner.  We pray that she will always make decisions based on her Christian upbringing. 

Samuel turns 2

I know every parent says this, but I cannot believe Samuel is already 2.  Samuel is definitely a perfect baby brother.  He is a fun-loving little boy.  I guess it is only  natural that as the youngest, he loves attention.  He if full of expressions and can definitely get a chuckle out of us any time of day.  He loves to ride the toy 4-wheeler outside and rough house with Johnny.  We sure do love you Samuel James.

Grandpa Dennis and Grandma Jane helped us celebrate with a little party and a trip to Kiddie Acres amusement park over the weekend.  I made a little cake and cupcakes our family so we could sing to him again on his actual birthday.

 

 

 

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Johnny's first day of preschool

Johnny started his second year of preschool.  He is going to a new school this year.  Since we will be moving to Lago Vista when our house is complete, we decided it was best to get him acquainted there.  He had no reservations about the new school and is having a lot of fun there.

Molly starts kindergarten

Molly was very excited to start kindergarten.  Since she is our first to enter public school, Paul and I were a little nervous but everything went smoothly and she is enjoying it everyday.

 

Countdown to school

The 5 days leading up to Molly starting kindergarten, I decided to make a day for each family member to choose the activities for the day.

 

Day 1 - Johnny

Johnny chose bowling which he had been asking to do for several weeks.  To top it off, he won, finally beating Molly at something!

After the bowling alley we stopped at the park and had a picnic, a fun day indeed.

 

 

 

Day 2 - Molly

Molly chose to get snow cones.  Anytime Molly earns a reward or gets to choose an activity, she ALWAYS chooses to get snow cones. 

 

 

Day 3 - Mommy

I had been wanting the check out the Austin Nature and Science Center so it was my perfect opportunity.  We headed into Austin and spent the morning at the center.  They had a large sand pit with dinosaur bones, a small pond we waded in, and some wild animals to visit. . . and bonus, it was free!

 

That night we also had a slumber party!  I had promised Molly and Johnny we could have a slumber party so the 3 of us camped out in the living room.  Thankfully daddy got out the twin mattresses so we were not on the floor.  Molly made sure we turned it into an event so we had pizza, ice cream, and watched a movie before the actual slumber.

 

Day 4 - Samuel

I think we were all pretty exhausted from the 3 previous days so we mainly hung out around home on Samuel day. 

 

Day 5 - Daddy

I am sure we all helped daddy decide to go to the pool for his day.  After the pool, in total Paul fashion, we went to Dairy Queen!  We all enjoyed family time that day as it was Molly's last day before school started.

 

 

 



 

Johnny turns 4

Johnny turned 4 so in our typical family fashion, we had multiple celebrations. The first was in Nebraska.  We had a second celebration on his actual birthday complete with a trip to Mr Gattis to eat pizza and play games.  Afterwards, Johnny chose a cake from Costco and the neighbors stopped by to eat cake with us.  The last celebration was a small PAW Patrol party at home with an inflatable waterslide, cupcakes, piñata, and fun!

 

 

 

 

 

Summer vacay in Nebraska

The kids and I had a great 5 night visit in Nebraska the end of July.  We were able to see a lot of relatives and enjoyed the cooler temps!  We flew into Omaha where we were able to see Uncle Darren and Brooklynn.  Julia spent the several days at Grandma's with us as did Uncle Shawn and his family.

My early morning travelers:

 

Swimming with cousins Julia, Noah, Micah, and Celia.

 

We celebrated Johnny's 4th birthday.  It was awesome to have so many of my aunts, uncles, and cousins join in the festivities!

 

 

Mom and me! 

 

 

Our last night we took a walk on the new pedestrian bridge in Wood River.  The kids had fun running through it and seeing the trains below.