A Fun Tea Party for the Girls

At the end of March, there was a Ladies & Girls Springtime tea party and cookie exchange at church.  This was the 2nd year to have it, and it really went well.  We all had fun getting dressed up, decorating tables, and sharing cookie recipes, oh yeah, and of course, drinking tea in fancy cups!  It seemed like we had more little girls come this year, and that made it all the more fun, I thought.  My mom, sister and nieces came, too, and it was a fun and special time to spend with some special ladies in my life.

On a side note, and I really wish I had pictures of this, Dane and J.J. clearly didn't get to attend the party, but I have on good authority from Lane that those boys had a tea party of their own with Mardi Gras beads as decorations.  After their tea party, they went out to the back yard to dig and search for oil.  Dane is determined to strike it big in our back yard, and he took advantage of the free drilling labor while J.J. was here, I guess.

Crazy Coloring Kids!

We've been doing a lot of coloring around here lately, and I just thought these pictures were cute!

A Fun Mom & Son Oil Outing!

Back around the end of February, Dane and I spent an afternoon at the East Texas Oil Museum.  Growing up in the heart of the great East Texas oil field, Dane has developed a fascination with all things oil...derricks, pump jacks, drills, etc.  One Sunday recently, we ate lunch at Chili's with a couple from church.  The man is a petroleum engineer, and Dane spent the entire lunch staring at the oil well outside the window and asking Pat questions about how it works!  I love to see Dane's wheels turning when he's busy trying to figure something out, and I love to see him come up with designs and solutions when he's playing.  Such a fun boy!!!! 

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Anyway, Dane had not been to the oil museum since he was a baby, right after we moved here, and he has been asking to go.  So, one afternoon, I finally remembered, and the two of us had a fun outing together.  I was afraid that he would get bored quickly and be ready to leave, but he stayed interested and asked questions and seemed so excited the entire time we were there.  It was so fun.  To their credit, the museum does a great job making it a really fun place for little kids to enjoy and really learn a lot about our area's history.

What a Fun, Fun, Really Snowy Day!

Well, I started out a little upset last night, after I talked to my mother on the phone, and she told me they already had 5 inches of snow at their house, and we only had 1/2 inch that had stuck on the ground.  Then, thankfully, by the time we went to bed, right after the electricity went out, the ground was already covered in a couple of inches!  I woke up this morning, hearing Dane say in the most astonished voice, "I can't even believe it!  My dream has come true!  It did snow!"  I thought that was the sweetest thing, and it reminded me so much of how excited snow used to make me - and it still does!  I popped out of bed, to find Dane already getting ready, looking around for his ski clothes to get dressed in and go play!  I quickly found my ski pants and jacket, and we immediately headed out to play, leaving Lane and Sydni still sound asleep inside!  We had about 6 or 7 inches, deep enough to come up past my ankles!  It was so pretty, and it made Kilgore, TX look like a completely different town!  Dane and I played outside for about an hour and a half, and then I had to head in to get ready to go to work.  Our electricity was still out and it was getting colder in the house, so the whole family headed up to the church building, while Lane and I got some work done.  Thankfully, by the time we got home at lunchtime, our power was back on.  We spent most of the afternoon in, and when Lane got home from work this afternoon, he and Dane tackled the snowman I had made this morning (his head had already fallen off), and then they made a couple more for Dane to tackle and knock over!  We think he'll make a fine linebacker someday!  They made one last giant snowman right before the sun went down, and Dane decided to leave him up - maybe it was just too big and he didn't think he could tackle it, who knows?

Such a fun day and a nice escape from the normal, boring East Texas winter day!

The playground - Dane actually slid down the slide and flew off the end!

I thought my basketball goal looked pretty neat!

Our front yard

Looking back toward the house from the mailbox - the crepe myrtle bush had made an archway over the sidewalk.

Dane - having a ball!

My finished work of art - my first snowman to build all by myself!

Another view of our house from the street

Driving down our street on the way to the church - A Winter Wonderland!

One of the parks in town

We thought this was funny - the mariache band statues on top of El Sombrero looked so cold!

More fun in the snow!

Even Webster ventured out to check everything out.

Sydni liked the snow, as long as she didn't have to get in it.  She stayed on the sidewalk, for the most part.

Making snow angels, or snow butterflies.  Dane and I decided his look more like butterflies.

The giant snowman Lane and Dane made

Ride 'Em Cowgirl! Yee Haw!

This girl's a certified nut!  I wonder who she gets that from?!!  She's been dying to get on the rocking horse, but I didn't think she was quite ready yet.  So, this past week, I thought I'd let her give it a try, and she's actually pretty good at it, I think!  She holds on well, and she can even get off all by herself.  She just can't climb up by herself yet, which actually makes me feel better, since I don't have to worry yet about her climbing up when I'm not watching.

Here's my cute little cowgirl!  I'm sure her Aunt Torri is proud!

My Dane has started Preschool!

What started out as a disappointing morning, quickly turned into a day of excitement!  We had thought that Dane was going to get to start playing soccer this spring, but we found out that he actually won't be old enough to play until the fall season.  The day I found out, I had to break it to Dane, and he was so disappointed.  I felt so bad, since I had just misread the website.  Anyway, later that day, we got a call from the Mother's Day Out program here in town, saying that they had an opening in the class for Dane's age group.  We have been on the waiting list for two years now, and there just never have been any openings, until now!  And, come to find out, the director of the program is actually one of our neighbors!

So, on January 17, my big boy went to preschool for the first time!  I was so proud of him, and he has been doing so well.  He goes on Wednesdays and Fridays from 9 am to 2 pm, and he really loves it.  He knows that it's called "Mother's Day Out", and one day, as I was dropping him off, I asked him if he was going to have a good day, and he said "Yes, and you and Sydni will get to have the whole day out!"  He really is such a thoughtful and sweet boy, especially to his mother!  I just adore him!  I have been so proud of him.  He's made some new friends in his class, and it is so fun to hear him talk about them and what they do.  We were preparing Valentine's cards for his class last week, and he cracked me up how he determined which people got which cards.  He would say, "____ is goofy, so he gets this one.", or "______ is really smart, so he gets this one."  I remember doing that in school, too.  Valentine cards are so important, and I remember being so careful and scrutinizing who would get which cards. 

Here are the pictures I took of him on his first day.  My friend, Andrea, had gotten him a new personalized backpack, so he got to use it, and we had so much fun picking out and ordering his napmat, too!  He got one with tools on it that has a built-in pillow and blanket with his name on it.  So fun!

He was so excited - look at those sweet eyes!

Of course, sister had to get in on the action, too!

Funny Pictures of the Kids Hangin' Out

This is the way I find these two a lot of times - just hangin' out together!  I love it!  Sydni adores her big brother, and she spends most all of her time trying to do the exact same thing as him, as well as him.  She knows she's not supposed to touch his computer games or the DVD player, but she gets as close to him as she can, so that she can watch him control them. 

I need to get a video of them racing each other.  That is their newest favorite pasttime.  They'll spend 30 minutes at a time racing back and forth.  Unfortunately, they have both inherited their mother's undying competitive streak.  I try to get Dane to let Sydni win, or at least give her a head start, but it's so hard for him to not just blow past her at the end.  Of course, when she sees that he's already beaten her, she usually falls down at the finish line and says, "Oh no!"  We then ask her if she's twisted her ankle again, and she nods her head and says, "Uh, huh".  She's a goober for sure!  I remember faking injuries, too, when I was little and we would race around our yard.  So I know just how she feels - the agony of defeat!

Here's some of my favorite photos of them hanging out together:

She's just been caught messing with her brother in this one...

And here she is again - caught red-handed!

In this one, she's trying to make me believe she's being sweet and watching her brother's game, but notice she's still got her hand in his hair!

Now, she's genuinely interested, I think!

2009 Independence Bowl - Texas A&M vs. Georgia

A fellow Aggie from our church asked us if we'd like to get tickets for the Independence Bowl with them through his company, and since Shreveport is so close, we thought it would be the perfect opportunity for Dane to go to his first Texas Aggie football game!  Since we were going to be heading straight to my parents' house for my family's Christmas, we dropped Sydni off early so my mom could watch her.  Parking was insane, but we somehow managed to get a prime parking spot in the hood about a 1/2 mile from the stadium for $20, which did, in fact, come with pitbull guard dogs.  So, we felt fairly confident that our car was parked in the safest place in town!  It was also pretty cold that day, but Dane didn't really complain about that, and he did good and stayed somewhat interested in the game, for the most part.  He took his Cyber Pocket game with him, so that when he did get a little bored, he just played his games. 

Unfortunately, the Aggies couldn't pull off a win, but we did top off our fun night together with a scrumpuous meal at Pancho's!