Thanksgiving with the kids

Last Tuesday was a little crazy. Austin and the girls all had their Thanksgiving feast on the same day! Russell came home for lunch to join in on the fun. First grade had a "kids" Thanksgiving where the kids all brought their favorite dish. Austin wanted me to take corn and apple crisp. The kids were in hogs heaven! There were chicken nuggets, mac & cheese, mashed potatoes...ALL the things that kids love! We ate lunch in Austin's classroom...it was yummy! Austin enjoyed having Russell and me there to enjoy the feast with. Austin's Thanksgiving feast started at 11PM and the girls' feast started at 12PM. So, Russell and I left at 11:40 to get to the WEE school for the girls. I had to bring turkey slices for Sammy's class and green bean casserole for Lauren's class. The girls were very excited to see Russell and I. It was fun to have lunch together!

Austin had fun going through and loading up his plate!

Austin's plate had all of his favorites!

Russell was glad that he could take part of the day off to share this special day with Austin. The girls had fun at their Thanksgiving feast. They were too excited to eat a good lunch. They loved the cookies though!Lauren looked so cute in here little hat that she made.

Lauren's class made centerpieces....so cute!

Sammy also looked cute dressed up like an Indian!

Naaman Forest Playoffs

The high school that I graduated from is in the playoffs....WHAT? Naaman always did so poorly in football when I attended there...granted I graudated 14 years ago! But, they have come a long way in their football program so Kristina Murto and I decided to round up some Alumni to support our Rangers. We thought Austin and Megan would enjoy seeing a football game at Texas Stadium. The people who came along were: Kristina, Andy, Megan, Jeff Bishop, his wife Rachael, his brother Christopher, Dart, Brad, Honey, Uncle Casey, Aunt Emily and Emma. We had a BLAST at the game. The game was scheduled to start at 7PM so we got there at 6:30 only to find out that the game playing before us was only at half time! Our game was pushed back to start at 8:45. We didn't mind waiting though. We just socalized and the kids played. It was a great game and Naaman ended up beating Plano West 24-20. This was Naaman Forest's FIRST play off winner ever and we were so excited to witness it! :o) Naaman Forest moves on to the area round of the playoffs where they will play Dallas Carter at 3:00 next Saturday at Texas Stadium.

In front of Texas Stadium. This was Austin's first time at Texas Stadium. He thought it was really cool!Honey & Austin

Emma, Emily & Casey

Kristina & Me

Austin & Megan

Austin & Mommy

Naaman won!!

Football Champs!

Austin's team played their last game and won! They have had a great season together and have come so far!

They all looked so cool with their painted faces!

Tutu Cute!

Samantha is really enjoying her dance class on Fridays! She LOVES to sing and dance at home! Her class is learning a dance routine to the song "Santa Claus Is Coming To Town" for the winter recital. She loves to sing that song at home and practice her dance routine. The first few times she sang the song, she ended it with "so be good cause you are safe!"...and it should be "so be good for goodness sake!" I laughed every time I heard her sing the song!

I let her wear a little pink tutu to class last Friday. Stephanie Purser had made it for her and Sammy was very excited to wear it. However, it turned out to be a HUGE distraction for her throughout the class. I told Miss Ryan that we would leave the pink tutu at home next time. Sammy sure looked cute in it though!

At the end of class, Miss Ryan gives the girls a stamp on their hand for a job well done. Sammy gets so excited to come out and show me her stamp.

New Sister?

The girls and I were riding in the car and Sammy informed me that she wanted to "trade for a new baby". I asked "what do you mean you want to trade for a new baby?" She answered, "Lauren hits and scratches and I want a new one!" I cracked up! I answered, "Sammy we can't just take Lauren and trade her in for a new one. Besides, you hit and scratch too!" I don't think she understood why we can't just "trade for a new baby"...kids are so funny!


Lauren is starting to talk A LOT!! She is speaking in complete sentences and says the cutest things! Here is some of her "lingo":

babee- paci

bee bop- flip flops

mantha- Samantha

Autin-Austin

bankee-blanket

Lauren also likes to sing her ABC's. She gets to about G and then picks up again at R. She also likes to sing the princess songs that her sister sings.

Halloween 2007

We picked out our Halloween costumes the first week of October. My prayer was that the kids would not change their mind! When we were at Target I asked Austin what he wanted to be and he answered "A Power Ranger!". I said, "Austin, you were a Power Ranger last year. We have that costume at home." So he thought for a bit and replied, "I want to be the Blue Power Ranger this year." I told him, "I am not going to pay $30 because you want to change the color of your costume." Then a creative idea came to me....I told Austin, "I tell you what. You have a choice. Either get the new Blue Power Ranger costume OR I will give you $10 to go to the toy isle and pick any toy you want." Austin immediately took me up on the $10 offer. He already knew what he wanted to get. He was totally fine with being the Red Power Ranger again *and* he got a new toy...BONUS!!Samantha knew that she wanted to be Snow White. Here is my two sense about buying princess costumes/dresses....DON'T EVER buy them from the Halloween isle!!! If the girls want to be a princess, I ALWAYS get their dresses from the toy isle. The dresses are the same prices as the Halloween ones...if not cheaper....AND they are so much better!!!! So, Sammy picked the perfect dress for her...and the tiara...and the shoes. She looked so sweet! I bought Lauren a Cinderella dress and cute silver glitter shoes to match. Later on I figured out that the dress was just way too big. I thought I could pin it, but that didn't work. So, plan B was the Sleeping Beauty dress that I forgot that we had in a size 2-3...PERFECT!! And I had hairbows to match. (anyone that knows me knows that is a must) She looked so cute!Russell came home early from work and we started the night by going and trick-or-treating in downtown Van Alstyne. This is so neat! Every year on Halloween night most of the downtown merchants pass out candy starting at 5PM. We also walked over to the fire station and got a toy airplane and glow necklace!When we got home, we had some pizza for dinner and got ready to go trick-or-treating with the Thomas. Trick-or-treating with the Thomas is a tradition we have done since Austin and Maegan were born! So it is a must to go with them.Lauren did a great job saying "tick-or-teat". I don't think she really felt good because she started to get really cranky and wanted me to hold her. She fell asleep as soon as we got home! She was exhausted from the busy day...I don't blame her...I was too!

Lauren (Lou Lou) and Zachary (Zac Zac) looked so cute trick-or-treating together!

We have some neighbors that dress up every year! The kids just love that!

Sammy dropped her candy SEVERAL times. But big brother was always there to help her pick it up.Austin and Sammy had a BLAST passing out candy. I think that was their favorite part! They both could not wait for people to come to our door. They would get some candy and run out to meet the trick-or-treaters on the sidewalk. I kept telling them to stay put and the people would come to them, but they were just too excited! So I went inside and got 2 chairs for them to sit in and put the candy basket between them. That helped keep them put!

WEE School Trick-or-Treating

It is a WEE school tradition to go trick-or-treating in downtown Van Alstyne. Only in a small town could you do this...I love that! The kids get to go to the grocery store, the bank, the hardware store, the dentist and other businesses around the area. Samantha was VERY excited about trick-or-treating at WEE school! She couldn't wait to wear her costume and show all of her friends that she was Snow White. Unfortunately for Lauren, she was running a fever the night before. So, she had to miss her class trick-or-treating and the party that they had planned. She wasn't running a fever in the morning so I had her stay in the stroller while we walk around downtown with Sammy and her class. Lauren had fun hanging out with us.

Getting ready to go and trick-or-treat! Ms. Christine bought the cute bags for them to carry. Ms. Heather & Ms. Christine made the name tags on the bags. One side of the tag has the child's footprint made into a ghost...cute!

"Mommy! I got two suckers!"

Stephanie & EmmyeMiss Silly
The teachers had a fun little party planned for after trick-or-treating. They had the parents bring all kinds of yummy (and healthy) foods. The kids got to eat lunch, decorate a cookie, play games and do a craft. I organized the craft for the class. They made Halloween picture frames and decorated them with sticky foam shapes.
Praying hands...so sweet!!Sammy's teachers were so sweet to let Lauren join in on the fun. They let her get some lunch and eat with her big sister!Sammy had fun playing pass the pumpkin!

Halloween Sweet Treat

The kids decorated cookies after school on Halloween. They had a lot of fun and were VERY excited about getting to go trick-or-treating.

SURPRISE!!!

I had been planning Russell's surprise party for three weeks and just prayed that he would not find out! His party was planned for Saturday, October 27th. We had a football game and two other birthday parties for the kids to go to (Elizabeth Purser and Kaitlyn Urano). I knew Russell would not be suspicious of anything with us running around all day to get the kids to where they needed to be. I planned to have the party at my parents house so they did all of the setting up and they picked up the cake & balloons. I went to buy all of the decorations and food on Thursday and went to my parents house on Friday to decorate and prepare some food (with Kristina's help). I had dinner catered and it was yummy food! I told Russell that we were going to my parents house for dinner to celebrate his birthday with my family. He was VERY surprised when we got there. I was told that he blushed after he walked in the door and everyone yelled "SURPRISE!!!!" We are so blessed to have such great family and friends join us for the celebration!

Emily, Casey & cute little Emma

Lee & Russell (met at Texas Tech)

Lee & Julie Thomas

Keith & Christy Austin (Christy and I have been friends since we were 3-years-old. We grew up across the street from one another.)

Kristina & Andy Murto (They both went to high school with me)Stephanie & Joel Purser (I met Stephanie at church about 3 years ago and we have been great friends since!)

Griff & Kristi Servati (Griff is the Youth Minister at our church. They have 4 girls and just moved in three houses down the street from us this summer. Our kids love to play together.)

Greg Minton (Russell's boss) & MargeJenny & Molly McQuirk...Steve & Evan were at a football game. (They used to be our neighbors.)

I planned a Texas Tech themed party. I used my candle carve to make these Texas Tech pumpkins as center pieces....they turned out pretty cute.

Russell liked his Texas Tech cake. Kroger's did a good job!

Russell got some great gifts for his birthday! Andy & Kristina Murto got him this Texas Tech shirt. (Can you tell who daddy's little buddy is?)Make a wish daddy!