::bye-bye, we'll miss you...::

Yesterday we had to say goodbye to a couple of our closest cousins...

(Addyson-4 1/2, Porter-almost 4 1/2, Cooper-almost 2, Brylee-2)

Addy and Brylee are moving to Minnesota. We had our last evening with them last night before they headed out this morning. It was a tough goodbye. The kids have been sad about their cousins leaving for a few months, and I don't really think it's completely sunk in yet. They don't realize that Addy and Brylee won't be at Grandma's when we go up anymore, and they don't realize how far away Minnesota really is! It was so fun to see the little cousins play together these last few years. I've said before how much it reminded me of when I was little and played with my cousins. Cousins are just plain fun!

We'll miss Adam & Krystal too :) Matt will for sure miss him on the golf course, and any time there's a project to do. Being such a close family, this is going to be kind of tough. The furthest any of Matt's family lives from eachother is 30 minutes. We wish you the best, and we hope you know we'll miss you and think about you often!

Thanks, Addy and Brylee for being so much fun! And we hope you'll remember us when you're out in Minnesota. We sure love you girls!

::another year older::

Yes, I'm another year older. Remember when you were little and you couldn't wait 'til your birthday and being a year older?? Those days are long gone for me! I'm not too excited about how close I'm getting to 30. I'm going to try to drag out these last two years as much as possible, and maybe not even ever admit to being 30.

So my birthday was last Sunday. On Saturday, we went down to spend some time with my side of the family. Grandma Kitty had "high tea" all set up for us at a tea room. It was a new thing we'd never done, but SO fun! We went into this cozy little library type of room. The dishes were so dainty and cute-and so was Chloe. She wanted to wear her Belle dress and bring her Lanie doll (American Girl ).

We had our hot chocolate, some chocolate mint herbal tea, some homemade scones (which were d-lish!), some dainty little sandwiches (PB&J for Chloe-cut into little flowers and hearts).

See how dainty she is? Pinky up and everything :) It was such a fun little outing. So girly and just fun. Thanks mom!

A bit later, we met back at Grandma & Papa Kitty's house for some pumpkin carving and some dinner (we were planning on going to Cornbelly's, but it was too cold & rainy). Billy showed us a couple of things he can do with dry ice-including how to blow up a pumpkin...

The last photo is pretty awful. It exploded and was so loud that I jumped while I was taking the picuture-which is why it's so blurry, but you get the idea. It was pretty neat!

The kids started out painting their pumpkins with just some poster paint. Then they decided carving them would be more fun, so we washed off the paint and carved them. Chloe drew some eyeshadow and eyelashes on hers after it was done. We had a really good BBQ dinner and some cupcakes from a really great little cupcake shop!

Then on Sunday, Matt and the kids made me breakfast, and brought me some little gifties. They were socks and some jewelry, and everytime I opened something else, Portie said "I picked that, Mom!" He was so proud of himself. Matt and the big kids went to church (Bubb and I stayed home due to me having a terrible headache and him missing a nap). After they all came home, we made dinner and they sang to me. It was so sweet.

I love my family so much!! I feel so loved and appreciated by them, and especially Matt. He never fails in making me feel special, beautiful, and loved-other than when he's telling me I'm old :)

::halloweeny::

Wednesday. 7:30ish pm.

A treat...

...a favorite Halloweeny movie, and a few cute littles.

Happy UEA weekend, everyone!!

::our 7 year old::

"Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday to you.
Happy birthday, dear Chloe..."

Chloe turned 7 last week!!

Every kid's birthday leaves me feeling sad and excited at the same time. Time's going by too fast, but at the same time, I think she's growing up to be such an awesome person!

This year, we didn't do a princess party! We did an American Girl party. A few months ago, out of nowhere, we got a catalog in the mail, and have been hooked ever since. There are such cute dolls, and SO many little things to go along with them (outfits, purses, glasses, shoes, backpacks, nail polish, beds, camper trailers, party sets, etc). It's very Chloe.

We told her how these dolls are a really big deal and very special. They're really expensive you have to take really good care of them, and she probably wouldn't get one this year. We told her she'd have to save all of her money and next year (on our road trip to Michigan), we'd stop in to the American Girl store in Chicago and maybe get the doll. She still wanted to have an American Girl party though.

She got lots of awesome presents! She got a princess snuggie (haha-thanks J& Sae), a gymnastics barbie, LOTS of American Girl books, lots of fun crafty things (jewelry making, treasure box decorating, purse making), and some money too. We're so lucky to have such a sweet, supportive family who love our kids so much :)


Then there were 2 gifts left. We had her open them in a specific order.


She got the doll!!!



She was SO surprised! I expected this crazy, squealy reaction, but I think she was just SO shocked, that all she could do was stare at it with her mouth open! It was pretty fun.

Then she got some matching jammies for her and her doll...and that was way fun. She wears them every night!

Then we had some cake and ice cream...


And after everyone left, she got to work on her purse, and relaxed in her snuggie :)



Since Sunday was her actual birthday, we waited to take her out to dinner 'til Monday. We went to Wingers (her pick). Her doll came with us.

She had a friends party on Tuesday. She invited lots of little friends from school. I put on the invitation that it was an American Girl party and that dresses and dolls were encouraged. All the little girls wore dresses and brought their dolls. It was just cute!!

We played a game (pass the present), made some official "American Girl" beaded rings, and had a little tea party with pink 7-Up and cupcakes-big ones for the girls, and little mini ones for their dolls. The dolls even had their own little teacups. The girls gave her some really fun presents. All of her little friends are SO cute and sweet.


We think she had a pretty fun birthday. She's such a sweet girl, and loved everything she got so much. She'd been excited for weeks about her party and having everybody over to our house. She loves her family so much!

As for the little boys...they did good too. It's tough (especially if you're 4) to watch somebody else have a birthday for 3 days. He was excited for her party too, and told us about all the stuff he wants at his party. Bubb didn't care too much either way, but we went to the store the other day, and he said "wheh da cake?" Because we bought cake and cupcakes (to share at school, the family party, and the friends party) it seemed like every time we went to the store. It was funny.

::proud::

"Any job a man can do in this world is a good job as long as he works hard at it and does his best. God didn't put sweat in a man's body for no reason. He put it there so he could work hard, cleanse himself, and feel proud."

-Charles Ingalls

Matt's company awarded him a Silver Snoopy this week. We were treated to a really nice dinner at their conference center up in the mountains. A few "high-ups" in the company were there as well as a couple of NASA astronauts expressing their appreciation for the recipients' hard work and dedication. The next day, I went out to Matt's work for the ceremony itself. The astronauts expressed appreciation again, gave him a framed certificate, and pinned his Snoopy on him.

It was a pretty special couple of days. Matt is well appreciated in his job. Several colleagues shook his hand and told him how well deserved this award was. As his wife, I felt proud of him and thankful for him. Where he works is sort of like a fortress-it's guarded with security, and visitors are not allowed without special permission. So while I was already there for the award ceremony, I got the grand tour of his office(s) and some of the areas he works in. It was a joy to be with him at work and see how much he means to the people there.

What is a Silver Snoopy award???

This is Matt's Silver Snoopy pin. It was created by Charles M. Schulz (the creator of Peanuts) specifically for NASA. It's one of the highest awards to be given to their employees. Less than 10% of the NASA and NASA workcenters' total workforce nationwide receives this award. It's presented for exceptional job performance above and beyond the call of duty. All of the Silver Snoopy pins have flown on a NASA shuttle. Matt's flew aboard the orbiter Endeavor on STS-118.

To say I'm proud of him just doesn't do justice to the way I feel. He's always been a hard worker. He's always wanted more, and always wanted to get further. He sets what can only be described as "lofty" goals for himself, and has never fallen short in achieving them.

Way to go, Matt!! We're SO proud of you!

::the king has returned::

The day finally came!! We got to go to the Lion King!! And it was Ah-mazing!!! It was so colorful, beautiful singing, beautiful dancing...I just can't say enough about it! I wanted SO much to take pictures during the performance, but it's not allowed. It was definitely something I'll never forget!

My parents took us. They saw it on Broadway in NYC last year, and asked if we'd be interested. YEAH!!!! Matt and Coop stayed home and watched the Cowboys game :) ,and Suzie stayed home with Mia, so It was just the 8 of us. I was a little worried before it started that Chloe and Port might get bored or not understand it, but they LOVED it!! They were completely taken with the whole thing! They recognized parts from the movie, the characters, and some of the songs. I talked to them a lot during the play so they'd kinda know what was going on. I explained how it was supposed to be an interpretation of the movie, not exactly like it. They totally got it! They absolutely loved it! We're so lucky to have gotten to go. It meant a lot to me to be able to go to a play with my kids. I grew up going to plays and symphonies a few times a year, and I loved it, and have an appreciation for it. Yesterday I was thinking about how great it is that people have these types of talents and desires-to perform! I don't, but I'm so glad others do!

(our group)

(Me, Mom, Chloe (almost 7), Papa, Liam (5), Porter (4), Tristan (3 1/2), and Billy)

When we got done, we all met at Z Tejas (YUUM!) for lunch. The kids were so excited to tell Da-da all about it. They even kept talking about it after we got home to our house. They just loved it!

It was such a great day! It was a long wait, since we got the tickets in April!, but it was SO worth it!! We're so glad we got to go! Thanks so much for taking us, Mom & Kevin!!

::peach days::

Peach Days was this last weekend. It's a local town thing with a parade, carnival, car show, concerts, and just lots of stuff. Grandma & Papa Kitty came up for some of it. We tried our hands at bottling some peaches. It was our first time to do it, and it went pretty well! We got 27 bottles out of a half bushel (we saved a few just to eat).

We went to the parade too. I swear it's the LONGEST parade in the whole world (other than the Macy's Thanksgiving one). Grandma & Papa kitty came, and so did Grandma Snowman and Amberlee! Thanks for coming guys!

Chloe was in it! She got to march with her cheer squad and do some cheers. She was just cute!

Later on in the day, we went downtown to see what was going on. We stopped to watch Papa Snowman sing, had a snowcone, and had an awesome dutchoven dinner and some peach cobbler! Yuuuuuum!!

After dinner, we went over to the rides. We usually do the rides earlier, so this year when we got there, the lines were out of control! We only got 2 rides in in an hour and a half. The kids were sad that we couldn't ride more, but we told 'em we'd ride more at the state fair.

::Portie's first day of preschool::

This year, Porter is in big preschool. He goes 3 days a week! He was so excited to go! He knew what he wanted to wear, and he was SOO excited to take his new Buzz backpack!

This year there was NO hesitation! He just walked right in! He didn't even care that he let the door shut on me and that I wasn't with him!

So he got in there and just sat right down and started playing with some blocks. Then his teacher asked them to all go sit on their names. Port found his right away and sat down. I had to call his name a few times to tell him bye.

I gave him a kiss and told him bye. He just said "bye, Mom!" and didn't even care that I was leaving. It was a little weird. I felt like he should grab onto my leg or follow me out of the room or something! But that's good. He's more comfortable and excited about school this year. Hopefully it'll last all year!

He said he had a great day! They sang some songs, did the pledge, and he got a calendar, and it says he's snack friend on the 27th, so we're SO excited about that! He also said that all the girls just played with dolls the whole time. Ugh, girls!

::labor day::

There are only a handful of times during the year when I wish we ha a trailer...and Labor Day is one of them. We thought it'd be fun to go camping over Labor day weekend with Jared and Sarah. We originally planned on renting a little trailer, but the cost was outrageous for the short time we needed it, so we decided not to go at all. Then we were sad that we might be staying home Labor Day weekend, so we changed our minds an decided at the last minute to tough it out in a tent.

We had lots of campfires...

We pushed our trucks and tractors around the campsite, moved some pinecones around, dumped some dirt, went exploring, gathered lots of big sticks to poke the fire, jumped on some fallen trees...

Matt and J did most of the cooking. There's something about camping that makes men want to cook...

We went on a pretty long 4 wheeler ride. There were TONS of trails up there! Matt and J, of course, wanted to do the ones that were "extreme" and "most difficult." They were pretty fun. We had 3 on one 4 wheeler and 4 on another...it was a little crowded, and all of the kids fell asleep at different times during the ride.

We hung around the campsite a lot too. We ate, talked, poked at the fire, finger painted, played a game-yeah, just one, because of the fingerpainting mess. It was EVERYWHERE!

The kids LOVED it! They loved not having to shower, not having to fix their hair, not worrying about what to wear (Coop wore his PJ shirt all day one day). Chloe was kind of hot and cold about it. She'd have one little inconvenience, and start screaming about how this was the worst camping trip EVER, but the next minute she'd be running around and talking about how she wanted to stay all week-that's a girl for ya!! Port and Coop really loved the dirt, the runnin' around, and the John Deere boots, the hot dogs, and just everything about the whole experience. Port was sad when it was time to go home.

The whole experience for me was pretty ok. I didn't hate it as a lot of people (including me) expected. I've been camping a few times before. I couldn't keep my dad or our camping memories out of my head all weekend. We (my dad, my brother, and I) camped a lot when we were little. We camped in a tent (a little green one) on Lake Texoma on some pretty nice campgrounds. I remember bathrooms, and a water spicket at our campsite. We swam, cooked (I remember an old Coleman, green, fold-up stove, had a fire, and all that good stuff. We used to go up to my Grampa's cabin up North in Michigan a lot during the summer too. The cabin sort of had running water, it was a bathroom, and some water outside you had to pump to get it. We always went with our cousins, and it was SOO fun! We'd have so much fun just running around in the woods and walking up and down the sandy road. I saw a lot of that in my kids over the weekend. I went to girls camp every year of my teenage years, but we camped in air-conditioned cabins and had bathrooms and showers. I'm just not the roughin' it type. My kind of camping is an airconditioned cabin, or a big ol' trailer :) I did it, and it was kinda fun, and I'm glad I don't have to do it again for a long time :)

::puttin' up corn::

On Friday, we put up some corn with Matt's mom and Aunt Deanne. This is something Matt's family has done for YEARS, and is relatively new to me. So here's how it goes...

First, you shuck it...

Then, wash it...

Cook it...

Blanch it...

Then, you cut it...

You bag it...

...And you freeze it and you can have fresh corn any time you want it! We started with about 13 dozen ears of corn, we got about 70 bags out of it. We took home 25 bags ourselves. It's a bit like a chipmunk storing nuts for winter :), and it's going to be so nice to have fresh corn in December.