Thanksgiving 2014

Happy Thanksgiving 2014!

We had a whirlwind of a Thanksgiving to include friends, family, football, and fun!

And we have SO MUCH TO BE THANKFUL FOR!!!

The boys (and Billy) created the Thanksgiving greeting below...LOVE!

Then we somehow got our kiddos in jeans and "real shoes" which they NEVER wear...unless we force them...

And we took some family photos :)

Max and Rosie came over too...

...and Will said grace for us all before we dug into some amazing food that Billy cooked up!

After the festivities, we headed to the A&M/LSU game - our last game of the season and our last game...

...in these seats.  Yep, a tradition comes to a close as the Aggies will be officially imploding (and eventually rebuilding) our side of Kyle Field in a few weeks...ending an eight year tradition for Billy and I...

Goodbye Section 316, Row 2, Seats 12 & 13.

Next season we will have some new seats...WITH ARMCHAIRS!!

Oh, and maybe a better football team ;)

Happy Thanksgiving!

Gobble Gobble!

Thanksgiving School Celebrations

Last week was super busy...complete with two Thanksgiving parties at our boys' schools.

First up - Will...Billy attended the festivities and hung out with Will and some of his best buds as they chowed down on some lunch.

And Billy sent this to me while I was at work, which of course, made me smile :)

 Then later in the week, it was time to party at John's school.

Will and Rosie attended, and as you can see, John was NOT in the partying mood.

 In fact...not at all...LOL!

AND...

Our  boys brought home some awesome Thanksgiving memories for us too!

One handwritten, one hand painted :)

Gobble Gobble!

One Room School House Field Trip

Two weeks ago Will's 1st Grade Class made a trip to a one room school house.

To attend, they were required to be in full role, to include dressing up, bringing a canned lunch, and enjoying games played by kiddos in the 1800s.

Will was very excited that morning!

They worked on the three Rs...

They worked on penmannship...

 They played awesome games that you can't buy with an iTunes account...

And they ate their 1800s style lunch (well, maybe his friend didn't follow the rules LOL)...

 It was an awesome experience shared with some of his closest friends.

Hopefully it gave him a tad bit of perspective on how fortunate we are today!

High and Tight

So every now and then, we bite the bullet and take John to get his curly locks cut.

Historically we dread this occasion and because he fusses and musses and carries on in quite and obnoxious manner.

Two weeks ago, we went for it again...and to our surprise...he didn't fuss!

 He sat there patiently...and sweetly...

 And now he looks like he is 18 and ready for college!

Can I Have the Language of Origin Please?

A few months ago, Will qualified for his school's Lower School Spelling Bee.  

To do so, he had to take a written spelling test along with 44 other 1st graders.  

Those that scored in the top 20% advanced to the Spelling Bee.  From there, we studied, studied, studied, and STUDIED!  He worked super duper hard, and survived the torture.  

Finally, after FIFTEEN rounds of complete stress (for me lol) he won the First Grade Spelling Bee!

At one point he had the entire audience on the edge of their seats as he v.e.r.y. slowly spelled his word and a.l.m.o.s.t. forgot to repeat it back to the orator once complete.  

We are beyond proud of him!

Way to go Will!

Some of his besties also qualified!

They take the Spelling Bee very seriously - we were only able to take photos during the practice session and following the Bee....Here he is spelling his practice round word!

Here he is with one of our friend's kiddos - she got runner up!

 Afterwards, he was sent packing, back to class for the day!

So proud of you buddy!  

Halloween Twenty Fourteen!

Happy Halloween from our two trick or treaters!

We had an awesome Halloween, complete with pumpkin carving, costumes, candy, and trick or treating!

This year, Will wanted to dress as Wild Kratts (PBS show for kids - if you don't know it, you should get to know it) with the Creature Power of a jaguar and John decided to be Frankenstein.

Halloween Eve kicked off with a frenzy of pumpkin carving following school (and work)...

John really dug in...

And Will designed his very own jack-o-lantern...

While Billy began feverishly carving, the boys started designing their white pumpkins...

And planting their pumpkin seeds (John got a tad carried away)...

Hopefully we'll get some pumpkin plants started and can have our own next year for the picking!

As he usually does, Billy carved and carved and carved each pumpkin into the wee hours of the night...

Finally we were done!  Left to right is Johnny's Frankenstein pumpkin, Will's personally designed pumpkin, Will's Wild Kratt's pumpkin, and Billy's personally designed pumpkin :)

When Halloween day came around - I ferried the kiddos to school and began baking!  Yes, I take Halloween off of work every year, because it is the most important holiday ever!

Here we have some sugar cookies...

Brownies...

And cupcakes :)

We had some friends over for some pizza and then it was time to hit the streets!  

Here are our two goblins with their pumpkins :)

And the fam...

Max and Rosie came over too - to get in on the fun and hand out candy...

A few more photos while the skies grew dark and we were ready to go!

Doesn't Will's morph suit look spooky?

I wish this was our yard - but it isn't, it is one of our neighbor's yards and it is awesome!

We started down the street - at first John was a bit timid - but when he realized that knocking on doors = candy in his bag he quickly got into the act!

Here is Will, prowling down the street...yes, he could see through the mask!

When we were all done - we finished up at the best house on the street - our house!

We pulled the pumpkins in for the evening...

And that was the end of Halloween 2014!

We had a blast - and we STILL HAVE CANDY LEFTOVER!

Oh - and here is my favorite photo (me in my witch's hat and my goody goblins)...marching down the street for candy.

We are already discussing next year's costume options! We can't wait!

Happy Halloween!