Determination

Emily had learned to ride her little bike.  When she got a bigger bike for Christmas last year, she pretty much stopped riding.  The bike was just a bit too big...I think a bit intimidating to her.  She would ride as long as daddy helped her get started and she could (literally) run into him to stop.  Even then, she did it because we bugged her about it, not because she wanted to.  A few days ago she came running in telling me I had to come watch her!  She had been practicing, on her own, in the driveway and could take off and ride her bike!!  She was so excited!  Of course I grabbed my camera and snapped a few.

Not as innocent as they look!

Actually they have had me wondering if the tree will make it til Christmas day!  We came home the other night to ornaments all over the floor.  Needless to say, I keep a spray bottle close by!  I thought this was a good picture to post though.

Pictures from the Christmas parade

Again this year, we had a good time!  It was a bit different though.  We pulled the float Santa was riding!  There were parts of the float that caught on some of the trees heading up to the parade route.  Because of this, I ended up riding on the back of the float to make sure we didn't lose anything.  Mrs. Claus and I had our hands full at times, holding on to a couple of the towers that were loose.  We made it to the end with everything still intact.

This was one of the buildings in downtown.  I thought it was neat the way they had it lit up.

Backseat conversation

While I heard the kids talking this morning on the way to school, I wasn't paying attention to the conversation.  Until I was brought into it....
Suddenly Emily says, "Right Momma"?
Ummm, right what, I ask.
"The moon, it only fills up once a year, right?  Cause I remember you saying that one time".
Huh?
"You said the moon only gets full once a year"!
Oh, well actually, we have a full moon once a month kiddo.
"Oh, yeah, that's right...once a month, Bubba"! 
I thought the way she was thinking was cute, but wondered what had led them to such a conversation.  We had clouds last night so there was no moon to view.  On my way back home after dropping them off, I realized what had brought about the moon talk....it was still very big, even in the daylight sky!!

Maybe a stylist?

Sara let Emily "fix" her hair!  As far as Em is concerned, more is better!!!

Sara came for a visit....

and Momma snapped a few pictures!!

Some pictures from our camping trip last weekend

We had a good time.  We didn't take the kids trick or treating, but we had plenty of candy and we had a great time decorating our campsite.

 The kids played.

  And jumped in the leaves.

 And of course I took some random pictures.

Daddy is much better at brushing than Momma! 

Even in Texas you can find some pretty colors in the trees this time of year.

 The lake was REALLY high after all the rain we've had!  We saw lots of this....picnic tables under water.

Cool kids and pumpkins

So I got lazy this year and decided NOT to carve pumpkins.  Instead we went with the "Mr. Pumpkin Head" decorations....that's not really what they are called, but what I have been calling them.  Emily was thrilled, Wyatt not so much.  He thought HE should get to carve his own.  When he finally realized that I would not put a knife in his hands and that he could choose the face to put on his if he took my approach, he gave in pretty willingly.  This is the end result....I thought they looked pretty cute!
  

This is Red Ribbon (drug awareness) week at school.  They play it up by doing/wearing something special each day.  Tuesday they could wear their sunglasses.  It was also the day for the pumpkin parade.  They kids could bring their carved/decorated pumpkins and join the parade at the end of the day.  I snapped a few pictures of my cool kids with their pumpkins before I took them to school!

Just having some fun.....

Decorating cookies....YUM!!

Playing in a bounce house.

Emily danced again this weekend

She is absolutely loving her dance classes!  She seems to have plenty of confidence in herself until she goes on stage and then she feels the need to keep an eye on the other girls to make sure she is doing what she should be....I guess it will all come together in time. She did one dance this weekend that she did a couple of weeks ago and Jeff and I could see a real improvement in what she was doing.  Practice makes perfect, huh?  Here are some pictures from her latest performance....

 

 

 

 

 

Emily in costume for her first performance this year

Hmmm, this doesn't happen often.  Usually the camera is in MY hands!

She might be a bit prissy!!

Puppy sitting

A couple of weeks ago some friends of ours ask if

we could keep their puppy for the weekend.  Of course we took advantage of that opportunity!!  We had such fun with this little guy.  Romeo is a miniature Yorkie with a HUGE personality!  He loves to be held and loved on, but he also loved playing with the kids....and the cats! :)