Merry Christmas!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

We've been getting into the holiday spirit this month!  This wasn't the friendliest Santa, but at least he was photogenic.

 We visited the Wildflower Center and their luminaries display.  The kids had fun walking through all the lighted pathways.

 We saw the Capitol Christmas tree with Melissa.

 We walked through the Trail of Lights at Zilker Park.  The lights were fantastic, but the crowds were a little too much for us.

I helped out with a Christmas party in Owen's classroom and his teacher had a photo booth set up.  What a fun idea for the 1st graders!

 Our house elf, Hattie, is visiting again.  This year he is having fun playing with the kid's toys. 

Micah and Adler had a date night to Micah's office Christmas party.  Unfortunately, I stayed home with a sick Owen while these two partied it up.  Owen has strep throat but is on an antibiotic now and feeling much better.  I just hope the rest of us don't get it!  Fingers crossed and Lysol sprayed.

Happy Birthday Owen!

Yesterday Owen turned 7. SEVEN.  I don't even know what to think about this.  He's so big and such a boy.  All his baby traits are gone, in the past.  But that's the point, right?  For our babies to grow up and become independent.  And I'm so proud of the person he is and the individual he's becoming.  He's smart, athletic, energetic, observant, and thoughtful.  He's so much like his father, but sometimes reminds me of myself as well.  Today I reflect on how he changed my life 7 years ago.  How he turned me into a mother, altered the course of my career, and made me a better person.  I'm grateful for him every day and lucky to have him in my life.

 This kid loves to build and loves animals!  Here he is with a few of his fun birthday gifts.  He's really into building Legos, and will sit for hours working on these projects.

 

We had Owen's birthday last weekend at Blazer Tag.....this HUGE laser tag center not far from our house.  I took Owen there this summer and he's been planning to have his birthday party there ever since.  We had a blast!  Micah and I played with the kids and enjoyed running around trying to find Owen and his friends to tag them.



Although I don't have pictures, Owen's grandparents came in for his party to help him celebrate.  His Uncle Brian also drove in last night for his actual birthday.  Owen chose to stay home, eat hot dogs, decorate his homemade cake, and play with his new toys!  He told me his birthday was better than he had hoped!





We joined Owen at school yesterday for lunch and shared brownies with his class!

The Ranch

We spent a weekend at our ranch in Brady recently and enjoyed some amazing weather.  It's always such a blast getting out in the country and I vow to get my kids out there more regularly in 2014! Having a house out there would make it much easier, but I'm not going to let that stop us.  The trailer works for now.

Our friend Jeremy and his kids joined us, as well as my mom and brother.  The kids loved showing their friends around (so did Micah)!  Kai and Owen spent some time at the "buffalo waller" searching for and catching frogs and other critters.

We saw rattlesnakes, Owen went turkey hunting with his grandma, we shot a deer that had hung himself on the fence and ate it for dinner, we took a hike, shot guns, ate smores, fed the cows, and planted bluebonnet seeds.  Yup, we're back in Texas, ya'll.

 

 Brian gave Owen and me a lesson in guns and we had a little target practice.

Kira, Adler, Kai and Owen being silly!

I love this picture of Adler, wearing her pajamas and rain boots, enjoying the outdoors!

 

 
 

This particular cow, "Calfy" was raised by my mom and Fred in their back yard after it was abandoned by its mom.  She's still pretty tame and would eat right out of our hands.

Campfire and smores on the rim rock!

 The main reason we chose to go to the ranch on this particular weekend was to help my grandmother celebrate her 98th birthday.  That's right.....NINETY EIGHT!!!!  This woman has always been one of my favorite people and I'm so lucky to still have her in my life.  We saw her 2 days in a row and she even came out to the ranch with us one day.

Our Lilttle Dancer

Adler has been taking a dance class once week since September.  It's her absolute favorite day of the week and she enjoys every second of it!

She often dances around the house, imitating moves she learned in class.  I know absolutely nothing about dance, except that it makes Adler extremely happy. 

Stinky toes!

Cute little dancers

Let's Play Some FLAG FOOTBALL!

 Owen just finished his first season of flag football!  In Texas they start playing really early!

We had a great experience with an awesome coach who was such a positive role model and gave equal playing time to all the boys on the team.  For over 2 months we've been practicing and playing games and Owen had a blast!  We also enjoyed the other families involved......couldn't have asked for a better introduction into the sport.

 This series of pictures is from Owen's first touchdown!

 The game of football is much more complicated (than soccer) at this age, because of all the different plays the boys had to learn.  Sometimes Owen seemed a bit confused on offense, but he always knew exactly what to do on defense, and really enjoyed pulling those flags!

 The Lions ended their season with 4 wins, 3 losses, and 1 tie.  They also played in the winning bracket of the tournament and won the first game by beating the Cowboys, whom they had previously lost to.  What an exciting game that was!  Then they lost the second game of the tourney to the undefeated Saints, who I swear looked to be teenagers.

The younger sister cheering section!

GO LIONS!!

 

Here's a video of Owen's first touchdown. I'm not sure why there's a logo in the middle of the video, but you'll get the idea!

Aggie Football

We recently took Owen to his very first Aggie Football game (and it was our first game in years)!  We arrived on campus early to see the Corp of Cadets and the Aggie Band march through campus to Kyle Field.  This was quite a sight for Owen!

 This was an evening game against UTEP, that didn't even start until 8:00 pm.  Owen was a trooper and stayed up until midnight that night!  The cotton candy may have helped.  :o)

 We loved seeing Johnny Manziel play in person!

 The final score was 57-7!  It was a great game and fun to be back in Kyle Field before the renovation construction started.  I'm thrilled to see phase 1 of the renovation next season!