Update post #2 - Grocery shopping, Casts and Fireman!

Abby's class took a field trip to a local grocery store after raising money to buy food for the food bank here in town.  I volunteered to go with them.  Let's just say that taking 14 five year olds grocery shopping is quite the experience!!!

My group of crazies!

We took a fun little trip to a local gymnastics place that does open gym for the kids on Saturday morning.  Abby and Blake were having so much fun...swinging, jumping, bouncing.  Everyone was so happy...until.  :(

This is the thing Abby fell off of, backwards, and landed on her arm.

Which led to this....

And this...

And then ultimately this....

At least she is smiling!

On Thanksgiving day we volunteered to bring stuff to the Fireman that had to work during the holiday.  Blake and Abby got to meet the fireman and climb in the firetruck.  The kids love it and are still talking about it!  Abby and Matt even made the local news when they showed up and started filming!

And finally, our Christmas isn't complete without matching Christmas Jammies and our Elf (which Abby decided this year her name was Rosy)!!

Update post #1 - Abby turns 5...then breaks her arm and it's the holiday season!

Abby turned 5 (!!) this year and decided she wanted to have a pony party!  I reserved a local park and brought in 2 ponies and we had so much fun.

This is "Willow"

Her fancy cake and pony cake pops

Stick ponies we made for favors

Blake loved the ponies!

This is "Bella"

No party is complete without donut towers!

Piñata time!

The kids had school photos taken - and this is by far the best year yet.  Yes, definitely!!

Abby got to get all dressed up for a birthday Tea Party for her friend Taylor.  She was SO pretty!!!

The holidays have officially begun and we kicked off the season with the local outdoor mall's Christmas tree lighting event.  It was our first time to go and it was really fun!

Blake loved Santa coming in on a fire truck!

The night ended with fireworks!

Fall Fun and the FAIR

We've been so busy the past few weekends and I don't see it stopping anytime soon.  Between visiting Sweet Berry Farms pumpkin patch, going to Dallas and the Fair, then Halloween, then Abby's birthday party, then moving to our new house, then Thanksgiving, then, then, then.... :)

Hard at work making a scarecrow

Wait, where did the kids go?

Oh - there's one, guess Blake lost interest. 

Good thing Daddy and Aunt Heather were there to finish it!  

Look at that concentration between those two!

And there is the princess. :)

Mommy and Blake on the shuttle to the airport at 6:30am!  He was a trooper! 

(and stinking cute in his jammies)

Big Tex!  Fun at the State Fair of Texas.

Feeding the goats...

and the zebra...

petting the piglets...

eating ice cream....

Fun time at the airport waiting for our flight home.

Sweet brother and sister - flying home.

Granny and Blake

We often use up all our storage on our iPhone with photos, so about every couple months I have to do a download to get them off so we can keep taking more.  I was cleaning up Matt's photos and found these GEMS from our Indiana vacation this year that I totally forgot about!!  I must have grabbed his phone when I saw this.  Love it!!!

Morning cup of coffee (er, milk) and a donut with Granny!

Peek-a-boo!

So fun!

Sisters...

I have some of the best conversations with Abby at night when she's going to bed.  This is what we discussed last night. :)

Me: Aunt Heather is my sister
Abby: No, she's not your sister anymore!
Me: Why?
Abby: Because you are my Mommy now.
Me: She is still my sister, just like Blake is your brother and will always be your brother.  Even when you become a Mommy.
Abby: *sighs really loudly* I want a sister, I don't want a brother.
Me: *laughing* Well, too bad, you get a brother and he loves you so much.
Abby: I know, you can be my sister now instead of my Mommy!
Me: OK, but who will take care of us.
Abby: Hmm, guess we'll just have to take care of ourselves....and Blake, we have to take care of him to because he's to small and doesn't know what he's doing.

Car and Driver

We are so spoiled with the size of the driveway in this rental, I fear the kids will never want to leave!

This is the game that Papa taught the kids and boy do they love it!

See the video here:

Hide and Seek!

Our nightly (seriously, 7 nights a week!) game of hide and seek is so much more fun with Blake participating now. :)  Go to the blog to see the videos!

Uniforms

If she has to wear uniforms to school...at least she knows how to rock them!

12 Months in a Year!

This girl is a sponge!  She comes home with more and more "songs" and loves to preform them...for herself on video of course. :)

(she's a little stuffy from allergies, and is clearly worried about how her hair looks on camera..haha)

Video here:

Pledge

Abby is really enjoying her new class and has come home with all sorts of new things she's learned.  This is a Christian based school, so not only do they say a prayer before each meal (unheard of around here!) they also say the Pledge of Allegiance at the beginning of the day.

She is so smart and I am so proud of her every single day!!!

She was holding my phone and video-taped herself on the way home from school today.  See video here: