First Day of School

This is our first year of ever having to wear Uniforms.  Callista and Ryan have to wear Red, White, or Blue polo shirts with Khaki, or Navy blue bottoms.  Chloe has to wear a Black Pershing MS shirt (8th graders have to wear black), and Khaki bottoms.  It definitely makes picking your clothes out easier, but it wasn't as much fun school shopping.

Our cute neighbor made a sign for our yard!

 We have the tradition of going out for "ICEES"  right after school on our first day and here we are with our delicious refreshments.

We had a few glitches with Chloe's schedule and the lunch monitor at the elementary school seems a little harsh, but I think once we get the kinks out, it will be a great year!

Back to School Feast

This year's Back to School Feast was themed "We Are Texans".  All these little Texan cut outs have state facts written on them.  There were puzzles and coloring pages for them to have fun with that day as well.

Here was our menu for the day!

 This was our Texas sized Cinnamon Roll.  None of us could finish them, but they tasted good for a snack later too!

 Here was our Texas snack.  Dr Pepper, of course, since it was invented in Waco, TX.  Then our local grocery store H-E-B has a lot of Texas themed foods such as Texas shaped cheese, Texas shaped corn chips, and Texas Salsa.

 Dinner was good but I wasn't going to take pictures of pulled pork and corn on the cob so we can use our imaginations.  After our snack, we watched the movie "Holes" which actually takes place in Texas.  It has a great message and most importantly made our kids realize just how blessed they are! The kids got University of Houston shirts so we can support Paul's other Football Team.

  

Oh! And Paul and I have UH shirts as well.  We will rock at the UH and Navy Football game the day after Thanksgiving!

It was an awesome day and evening.  Paul gave the kids their Father's blessings to start the year off right.  Have a great school year kiddos!

Happy Birthday Chloe

Chloe had such a great 13th Birthday.  I should have been taking pictures all day, but somehow, I got distracted by all the fun.  It started with Paul picking up donuts for her at Shipley Donuts at 6:00 am before he left for work.  Then we went swimming at the Thompson's and Chloe took Addie around the pool what seemed like a hundred times.  Then we went home, ate lunch, got all ready, and picked up Chloe's friend Hailey and went to see Minions.  After that we all came home and hung out, played a few games, and played a little Wii. 

Then we took Haliey to IHOP for dinner with us which was Chloe's choice.  She LOVES breakfast foods for dinner.  She went to Young Women's that night where they sang to her and had cake.  Then she came home to eat a little more cake, this one was an ice cream cake.

Then she was ready to open her presents.

 Her Dad got her the number 13 figurine that goes with her Precious Moment train.  He also couldn't resist this little orange tiger he saw.

 However...Callista was on to something too when she found this exact same tiger, just in white and insisted she get it for her.  Chloe says they are fraternal twin tigers.

 They had played Scattergories with a friend a few months back and Ryan had remembered how much she had loved it.

 I got her "The Books of Bayern" by Shannon Hale.  I can't wait to read them too!

 To top off the night, Paul and I got her some earrings that we hope she will enjoy and take good care of.

We love you Chloe and look forward to spending many, many more birthdays with you!

Texans VS 49ers

Dr. Lowe called Paul on a Friday night and asked "Would your wife and kids like to come to the Texans game tomorrow?"

Hmmmmmmm......let me think about it.....sure why not!

 So here is the coolest Dad ever on the sidelines....it's like "Where's Waldo"!  He's in the khaki pants and a light blue shirt close to the Gatorade jugs.  It was so fun just watching for him all night!

 Chloe and I ran to Target to buy Texans shirts for all of us.  We figured if Paul was going to work with them, we'd jump on the bandwagon too.

 As you can tell, our seats were fabulous.  We had an amazing time.  

Thanks Dr. Lowe for thinking of us!

Dr Pepper Museum

We took a day trip soon after we got to Houston to Waco to see the Dr Pepper Museum.  It's no secret that Dr. Pepper is my FAVORITE drink. 

The kids also enjoyed being there and learning about the history of old soda fountain drinks.  One of our favorite exhibits was a room featuring all the commercials that Dr Pepper has ever made.  They were hilarious.

 Chloe and Paul completed a scavenger hunt.

 The best part though was getting to order a REAL Dr Pepper from a REAL soda fountain.  First she squirted the original syrup in, and then she added the "fizzy water".

 We even let the kids have their first Dr. Pepper, although letting them know that in no circumstances would they get another one anytime soon!

I'm so glad we got to learn about the beginnings of my favorite drink and that we shared it as a family!  

"I'm a Pepper, He's a Pepper, She's a Pepper, We're a Pepper, Wouldn't you like to be a Pepper too"!

Independence Day

It was a long 4th of July that started with getting up at 4:30am to catch our flight back to JAX.  As soon as arrived back home, we headed over to the Laguens for our 4th of July celebration.

I love this picture because it represents all 3 families at the Bar-b-que...

Richard Frakes, Caleb Laguens, and Callista and Nutmeg.

 There were flying frisbees everywhere.

 Teague and Paul.....we met him the first day we got there and ironically enough...we stayed with them our last day there.

And of course, there were a few fireworks!

Great food, great company, a perfect 4th of July!

Vegas Fun

Following my Dad's funeral we did some fun family activities.  It was great to spend time together and to remember so many great memories.

The Hardy cousins drove in to spend a morning with us.  It is always so great to swim at Grandma's.

 The Bitton's were driving through town on their way to a family wedding.  We met downtown at the Natural History Museum.  Julia is as tall as me and as beautiful as ever.

 We also took a trip up to Mt. Charleston with Jason's family to escape the heat.  The kids had an awesome time adding to this teepee that had been started.

 Every night the kids worked on a sewing project with Grandma.

 I think Ryan said it best when he wrote in his journal....

"It was a sad, but fun trip to Las Vegas!"