Lorelei's baptism

The weekend after Easter, I drove down to Houston again for my niece's baptism. I went all by myself and it was nice to be there and enjoy my family without any stress. I took pics at the baptism and then we celebrated over at K & L's house afterwards with Mexican food, oreo cake, and extended family. It was a lot of fun and another very short trip!

Day Out with Thomas 2015

We took the kids to see Thomas the tank engine on a Friday after school. Because our soccer season takes over our Saturdays, I felt like this was our best chance to go. The only time we've been was in Georgia when Drew was 3 years old. This time was so much fun bringing all of our kids.  We choe to surprise them by not telling them where we were going but then Dilan and Drake both fell asleep on the way there. So, Drew was the only one that figured it out and he had a big grin on his face. Once the kids woke up and we rode a shuttle over to the train, they got excited. We got right on the train and chose our seats. We sang Thomas songs on the train and guessed which movies they came from. Drew would quietly sing and barely move his lips but I could tell he was having a good time. Drake sang loudly and we all sang together. Once we got off the train, we went to take pictures with Thomas and then the kids played trains, took a picture with Sir Topham Hatt, watched the remote control trains, and picked out souvenirs. Dilan picked a t-shirt, Dakota a hat, and the boys got new trains with a "Day out with Thomas" on them. 

Easter 2015

Because Drew had an 8 am soccer game on the Saturday of Easter weekend, we stayed in Frisco until after his game and then headed down to Lake Jackson. We got to my mom's house at 3 p.m. or so and the kids immediately got in the pool, started swimming, and playing with their cousins. They were so incredibly happy to be there!! A few hours later, they were eating snow cones and decorating their eggs. Dilan and Drew took great care in making the colors they wanted while Drake worked on perfecting the technique of using the egg dipper when putting his eggs in the colors or taking them out. Dakota used her hands and loved the process of coloring eggs so much that she wanted to do more! Waking up with their baskets was fun too.
Dilan got a soccer Barbie doll, the new Tinkerbell movie, Tinkerbell and the Legend of the Never beast, and book as well as the new Frozen Fever book. Drew got the beginning of the second Seekers book series, a Thomas movie called Signals and Crosses, and some new trains. Drake got the new Thomas Dino movie, new Dino trains, and Thomas Dino book too and a Pete the Cat book. Dakota got a new Cinderella doll, a Strawberry Shortcake movie called Snowberry Days, and two Pinkalicious books.
Later, the kids got dressed in their Easter dresses and clothes and went hunting for eggs. At first, Dakota would not put her dress on and she tried to take it off. After a good cry, she eventually went outside to hunt for eggs and she got used to wearing her dress. She was more interested in riding the car around than picking up eggs. Drew, Dilan, and Drake raced to grab their eggs and had a lot of fun hunting for them.

Tulips

 Dilan had a Kindergarten Rodeo for school so she chose to wear her blue dress because it reminded her of the bluebonnets as well as the red bandana we have in our dress-up box. She borrowed her friend, Camryn's boots and cowgirl hat, and she was all set!

We headed to Texas Tulips for a playgroup on Friday and it was beautiful. We chose not to pick any actual stems as they were $2.50 each! But we did run up and down the rows, even in the cold wind, and had a picnic with our friends. Most of the kids were more interested in the hay maze though! :)

Pre-school Zoo Day

Drake's pre-school had a fun field trip the zoo where families could go and have fun together. It was great to see Drake's teacher, Ms. Kristi, and all of his classmates. It was a beautiful day and we were able to see a lot of animals, have a picnic lunch with friends, and ride the carousel over and over again. 

Rockport 2015

Drew earned his Wolf badge! He actually earned it in January but we asked for it to be presented to him at the Blue and Gold Banquet because I could be there and not be working on a Wednesday night. At first, they forgot to give it to him but when I reminded the scout master, they got up there and presented it to Drew. He was happy to receive it and have a few months to just enjoy scouts before having to work on WEBELOS requirements this summer.

Spring break was definitely an adventure this year! We flew to Houston and then to Corpus Christi without David because he had to work and Rockport was rainy and stormy all week that we were there. But we made the best of it and played a ton of Uno, Skipbo, and other fun card games. Mom got the carpet replaced and we watched a lot of fun shows. The kids rode scooters downstairs and played at the beach. Even though the water was cold, the kids got in the water and played. They fed the birds, went to the Rockport aquarium, and played in the sand. We had a good time just being together and making the most of the bad weather.

Dilan's 6th birthday party

Since we spent Dilan's actual birthday at Disney World, we planned a "small" birthday party at home with her friends. She wanted to watch the new Barbie Princess of Power movie and have pizza, cake and ice cream. I cut out foam masks for each girl to make and they each brought home a cape that I made for them as well. It was loud, fun, and ended with a lot of little girls running through the house. One of them ran into a door and hurt her arm so we had to slow it down a bit but these girls had a blast! Costco pizza, a hot pink Barbie cake from Tom Thumb that actually had Rupunzel in it and pink and purple everything!

Snow days!

It didn't happen until mid-February but we finally got our snow and for a few days too! Lots of sledding, making hot chocolate, and bundling up! Drake and Dakota were able to wear the exact same clothes that Drew and Dilan wore in Wisconsin when we were there. We need a new sled though as we have pretty much hammered this one that we got back in WI. But it reminds me of a wonderful year we spent there. Just glad we get this weather once a year and not all the time. It was fun though and the kids got wet, cold, and endured it all with smiles.

V-day parties 2015

Mimi came to lunch and we celebrated Dilan's school birthday with a pink donut and a #6 candle.

 Dilan enjoyed stacking candy hearts, 

 making a LOVE painting, trowing bean bags into cups, and decorating a yummy cupcake to eat.

 Drew made a V-day cookie (that he didn't eat), and played a game where you throw marshmallows into a cup against his classmates. He made it all the way to the final round but then couldn't get enough in the cup to win. But he had fun competing!!! He also played a game of Valentine's charades, acting out common words associated with the holiday. Fun stuff!

Valentine's

100 year old on 100th day of school, harry potter glasses, her crocheted baby blanket as her shawl, and a long skirt :)

 Colleen came to visit for her birthday weekend, aka Valentine's Day. We all three got roses from David, mine are the orange roses :)
We also celebrated with a Dairy Queen ice cream cake and it was terrible. Like awful, terrible. It was vanilla ice cream with oreo crumbles but not even mixed in with the ice cream but rather right in the middle layer of the cake. Never again! Now I have even more appreciation for Baskin Robbins. We gave Colleen a willow figurine she wanted, forget me not one.

Christmas 2014

After our trip to San Antonio, we headed to see David's grandmother in Houston. She was about to get in the shower when we got there, so we caught her in a robe with her hair in curlers. But we had a good visit and enjoyed seeing her for the holidays.
Then, we headed to Lake Jackson in anticipation for Christmas Eve. Mom and Sam had bought the boys and Dakota some scooters and helmets and they were in heaven. They received them early so they could play on them the whole time we were there. It was fun to watch them all navigate their first scooters. Dakota got a Frozen song book and a picnic basket with play food items from Nannie, a Frozen tent from MawMille and Popo, and a toddler Anna doll and dress from PawDee. Dilan got a new mini ipad from M&P and she was the only one to figure it out when the big kids opened their presents. Drew thought he was getting a new kindle fire but he got a mini-ipad instead! And Drake got the kindle fire for which he was very excited about. Drake got all four movie ninja turtles from Nannie. Dilan got the horse from the Barbie movie, Secret Door, and Drew got a lego creative bucket from DALL. Dilan got the three barbies from the Secret Door movie from PawDee, Drake the Thomas tipping bridge and new trains, Drew the lego arctic supply plane.

Christmas family trip

 We chose to leave a few days early and take a family trip to San Antonio before heading to Houston this Christmas. David had secured free tickets for the whole family to Sea World that expired at the end of the year, so we made a mini-family vacation out of it. On the way to our hotel, we stopped at the San Antonio temple. It was beautiful at night and the kids loved walking (or running, climbing, being silly) around it. A highlight of the trip was the hotel of course as they love to stay anywhere that's different from home. The next morning while Dakota took a nap, I took the three oldest kids to visit the Alamo. They loved it and especially loved taking pictures there. There were so many photo ops and they wanted to take every opportunity of them! Drew was definitely interested in seeing all of the artifacts but Dilan and Drake just liked seeing something they knew was important. 

Sea World was awesome! The kids loved it and we were there the rest of the day. We hit every single show they had, played on the massive playground they have there, Dakota met Abby Cadabby and when she got close, she clung to David and would not let go, We rode the train several times, had a picnic for lunch, and everyone picked out a Shamu stuffed animal for a souvenir as we left. Definitely a highlight of our year coming to Sea World. :)

Kids' school holiday parties

 David was home early this day so I went to the kids' Christmas parties all by myself! It was so much fun to just be with Drew and Dilan and enjoy their craft-making skills, and their friends. I had to run back and forth between the two and it was quite the haul from one side of the school to the other. I probably should have spent half the time in one place and half in the other, but I wanted to see everything so I kept going back and forth. Dilan played a game where she threw a ball into cups, made a gingerbread man move along a wire without hands, she made a Gingerbread house but probably ate more candy than she put on the house, and filled up her bag with a lot of yummy snacks at the snack bar.
Drew's class made ornaments and then played a fun and interactive game dressing a teammate up like a Christmas tree. The boys won the game twice and they celebrated big!