Adventure #18

Thanksgiving was a lot of fun this year. Since I wasn't able to get home for my birthday my mom had a birthday cake and a little gift for me to open, so that was fun. We also did the traditional Thanksgiving day activities of eating way too much and then watching the Cowboys until we got bored and wanted to eat again.  Having the boys with me would have made it perfect, but it was a pretty relaxing day!!

Amber and I did a little shopping on Thanksgiving day also at the few places that were open.

And then adventure #18 was Black Friday!!  I have never participated in Black Friday shopping, so this year I had my eye on a toy for the boys that was greatly discounted so I thought I would try it.  I was planning on going at midnight, but I am soooo not a night owl, so I decided to go to bed and then whenever I woke up I would go.  So around 4am I looked at the clock and decided to see what kind of deals I could find.  The places I went were not too crowded and I did find a few deals that saved me some money.  With 30 lefts til Christmas I am about done with my shopping and that's a good feeling.

A day with Amber

Last weekend we were able to spend some time with Amber and her boyfriend, Taylor.  We decided to meet half way and take the boys to the Mayborn Museum.  I\We had been there before but it had been a few years ago and thought the boys were at a better age now to really enjoy it...and they did!!  It's a great museum for adults, too.  Everything is very hands on and interactive.  You are encouraged to touch and even mess things up so you can experiment and learn while putting it back together.  It was a fun day and I'm glad they were able to spend some time with Amber!

The weather room was neat with a tornado the boys loved watching and putting their hands in it to watch how it formed again.

Meteorologist Amber bringing us the weather report

The transportation room with cars and buses and fire trucks and all the accessories to go along with it.

This room looked like safety city with several of these cars to drive to different locations like the grocery store, the post office, a little house.  This was Teague's favorite I think.  He loved driving to the grocery, filling up his cart, loading his car with groceries and then taking it to the house and putting all the food in the fridge.  He was so cute!!

We all loved the water/bubble room. We couldn't get the boys away from the water table. Troy enjoyed making different paths for the water current to move through and then sailing his boat down it. Amber and I played with the bubbles for awhile and then Troy decided to join in.  Here he is inside a bubble.

The bubble wall

Teague popped my bubble!!

The trains were by far the place the boys wanted to stay the longest and where we kept coming back to as we went from room to room. It was a pretty amazing model train set up with different levels and 4 or 5 different trains running around it. Oma got them involved with trains by showing them her model train several years back and they both have loved trains ever since!  At the end of our visit, Amber told them they could each pick one thing from the gift shop and guess what they both chose...a train!! 

Adventure #17

I decided to do one of the Operation Christmas Child shoe boxes this year and really let the boys be a part of it. I explained it the best I could by saying that there are children who won't get any Christmas gifts so we are going to pack a box and it will be delivered to a little boy to open for Christmas. Then I had them pick out different toys and things to include in the box. When we got home they packed it all in and sealed it up. Troy really enjoyed filling out the piece of paper telling about himself for the recipient of the box to read. Teague was a little confused and kept asking when he could meet the little boy with no toys. Although I know they are still so little to really comprehend it, I hope to always try to show them that it's better to give than receive.

Teague loading the box

They picked out monster trucks and balls!  And that was the paper Troy liked writing and coloring on.

All finished!  Not too sure what face Teague is making!!  LOL!!!

Birthday Weekend

I had a fabulous birthday weekend! It started Friday at school. It was pajama day so we all got to dress comfy and then we decided to do a dessert bar. There are several of us with birthdays around this time and we had already done several pot-lucks so we decided to do something different and just do all sweets! I made my famous (or Paula Deen's famous) Chocolate Explosion Cheesecake, there was a pumpkin roll, cake balls, Kool Aid pie, flan, chocolate pie and an apple cake. It was all soooo good and perfect for a Friday afternoon treat!! For my present from Richard, he got us tickets to the Tech/UT game on Saturday! I had never been to the Longhorn stadium, so that was an experience in itself. And I also had never been one of the few in the opposing team's colors. That was a little awkward, but everyone was very nice. We took a bus from our parking spot to the stadium and as we were walking down the aisle to our seats one girl whispered to her dad "awwww, look she's wearing red and black" LOL...like I was disabled or something!! It was hilarious! The game did not go well for Tech, but it was a lot of fun anyways!! Richard and I enjoyed the rest of the afternoon just hanging out without kids, which we don't get to do very often! On Sunday, Richard and the kids were able to come into town for church and then stay for pizza and the Cowboy game. It's been a lazy Sunday to end a perfect birthday weekend! I have a feeling 32 is going to be a GREAT year!!

The dessert table at work

Pajama Day with my co-workers!!

My co-worker got me these cute Tech socks!!

The parachuters flew in the flags and the game ball all before the jets did their fly over...that was really neat to see!!

A house divided

Halloween

Halloween is always so much fun with little kids. This year Teague wanted to be Batman and Troy wanted to be Ironman. After school, we headed up to see Richard and the kids and went to a carnival up there. There were games and inflatables and, of course, candy. After they had done it all there, they wanted to go to a different carnival and then trick or treat in that neighborhood. By the end of the night their bags were full and all they could say was "this is so much fun!" Kelby couldn't believe that all you had to do was walk up to the house and they would give you free candy!! Troy asked when it was going to be Halloween again, and was disappointed when I said a year from now.  As a kid, free candy is hard to beat!  I definitely think Halloween is pretty high on the list of favorite holidays!

Our Jack-o-lantern

Checking their inventory!!