Who Needs Toys?....

On November 20th I looked out the window and saw Allison running around in the yard jumping up and down trying to catch leaves. It was a breezy day and the oak leaves were just floating off the trees like snowflakes. At least that's what Allison compared them too. I couldn't resist not to take a few pictures of her, it was so cute. She tried so hard to get those leaves, who needs toys when you have trees.

50's Day At Forest Ridge

November 14th was the kids annual school sing-along, it was 50's Day at Forest Ridge. All the grades meet in the gym to dance and sing songs from the 50's. I sewed Allison a Poodle Skirt and Alex wore a white shirt with rolled up blue jeans. They love it every year, even all the teachers get into the action and dance an sing along with the kids. It's real cute.

Alex in his groovy 50's attire. (Not much of a change, sad to say)

Morgan and Allison in their Poodle Skirts.

Trip to Marble Falls

November 1st we headed to Bill and Linda's to take their minivan back. Explanation on why we had the minivan: Bill was coming home from Dallas one evening and had something blew up in his engine, and since his truck is a Diesel, it took 2 weeks to fix, apparently they had to take the entire engine apart and put it back together. Thank goodness they were so generous to let us borrow their van, so we didn't have to spend more money renting a car. While we were there visiting, Allison and I had the opportunity to go into Marble Falls and see some friends of ours, Laurie and her two girls, Anna and Ellie. Allison and Anna are in the same grade and were best friends before we moved. It was so wonderful to see them. We went out to the Strawberry Farm/Pumpkin Patch and looked at all the pumpkins, went on a hayride and did the Texas Maze (a hayfield with city's in Texas mapped out in it, you have to find the city's and get a punch, at the end, after getting all the punches, then you get a free coke). The girls had a blast! After spending the day in Marble Falls, Allison and I headed back to the lake so we could join the family for dinner in Johnson City, the Silver K Cafe, which was not a "Cafe", it is a really really nice restaurant. We had a great time. I think the kids enjoyed watching the goldfish located outside the restaurant more than anything, they still talk about those goldfish.

Anna, Allison and Ellie at the Pumpkin Patch

Ellie, Allison and Anna on the Hayride

The girls getting their punches in the Texas Maze.

The goldfish outside the Silver K Cafe in Johnson City

Halloween 2008

Halloween was fun this year, we carved our pumpkins a couple of days before Halloween so they would not rot, something about the humidity in College Station doesn't allow the pumpkins to stay pretty for long. Allison was a witch this year and Alex was Anakin Skywalker. Alex was hilarious, that's all he talked about was being a Star Wars character and it could only be Anakin, which for some of my blog viewers becomes Darth Vader, we just shake our heads at him sometimes. Allison just loved being a witch, a good witch not a bad one, unless Alex came around then she turned into a bad witch. Don't blame her sometimes.
Halloween falling on a Friday was awesome, that only means one thing, we did not have to worry about what time to be in bed. It was so relaxing not to stress about bedtime. We went trick or treating at Amanda and Kealy Green's house, they currently live in a neighborhood filled with kids, so it was perfect. Amanda fixed swamp creature punch, caramel apples and hamburgers for the kids. We had a blast!

Pumpkin Carving

Very serious about Pumpkin Carving.
Allison drawing her pumpkin face.

Finished products on display.

Halloween

Before we went Trick or Treating
Our Group

Morgan, Allison, Abby and Alex with their caramel apples.

Renaissance Festival - October 28th

Allison's class took a trip to the Renaissance Festival outside of Magnolia. It was an experience to say the least. I really did not like it and it was really expensive. We happen to be there on a special day designated to school children. Well they said it was a "toned" down day, but the people dressed in costume were still very strange. It was an experience, enough said. Allison pretty much felt the same way I did. She did not say much except that she really did not want to go back.

The Jousting

The Big Swing, Allison's favorite thing to do. I agreed, it was awesome. Allison is 3rd from the right.

The elephant ride. Allison is the second one.

Here we are. Covered in powdered sugar.

Family, Horses and the Country

On Sunday we headed north, about 35 minutes from our house, to visit Mary Ann and Fred, (Mary Ann is Bill's mother's 1st cousin on her dad's side) they own 10 acres west of Hearn, a beautiful piece of property that adjoins their son's 10 acres. They are currently living in their son's, Todd, house, he is in the Army stationed in Afghanistan, once he returns, a year from now, they will start building their new house on their 10 acres. This property is on the side of a hill and very wooded, Todd's house is at the bottom of the hill and their house will be at the top of the hill. Kinda confusing, I know. They have done a wonderful job clearing areas of it and making short hiking and four-wheeler trails all around the property. Their youngest daughter is keeping her two horses out there, so we were able to pet, brush and feed the horses. Allison feel in love with them, it was amazing to see her with the little horse, Rosie, I think the horse feel in love with her also. The horses loved the kids and let them do whatever they wanted, they loved the attention. Sonny the Palomino is 17 years old and Rosie the Paint is only 4 years old. We had a wonderful time and will be making more trips out to their place in the future.

Fred teaching the kids about the horses. He was a wonderful teacher.

Talking to Allison about the horses.

Getting ready to feed the horses apples.

Alex feeding Sonny.

Allison feeding Sonny.
After spending some time with the horses, we hiked to the top of the hill to see where Mary Ann and Fred's new house was going to be built. The view is just beautiful.
At the top of the hill. Check out the view.
On one of the hiking trails going down the hill, of course, guess who's talking all the way down? Allison found herself a walking stick, a must when you are hiking.
After our hike, it was time for the kids to have a snack, well, Rosie thought she needed to enjoy their snack too. The kids were so excited when Rosie came over to the swing and stood there while they ate their snack.

Linda and Mary Ann going for a four-wheeler ride. Mary Ann wanted to show Linda the rest of the property.

Playing in the hay.

12 Years and Counting

It's a date, all dressed up and celebrating 12 years. We went out to eat at a really nice restaurant in Bryan, Christopher's World Grill. Not only was the food wonderful but the atmosphere made the entire experience perfect. This restaurant was an old house fixed up with a jazzy New Orleans flair. We started out with the waiter bringing us a complimentary fried shrimp sushi roll, it was very interesting. Next we ordered an appetizer, a sampler platter that contained Scallops wrapped in Prosciutto, Vietnamese egg rolls, and Almond crusted Brie with an Apricot sauce (it was delicious). For our meal, I had the special, New York Strip drenched in a roasted corn salsa, garlic mashed potatoes and baby squash, Bill had the Raspberry Chipolte Salmon with grilled Shrimp and grilled vegetables. Usually we don't get desert, but since it was a special occasion, we ordered desert, a very rich chocolate cake with hot chocolate sauce oozing out of the middle, I had to order ice cream to eat with the cake, it was really rich and I had to have something to off-set the bold chocolate taste. When the waiter brought out the cake, they had decorated the cake plate with Happy Anniversary from Christopher's, it was very nice. After a 2 hour dinner we came home and put the kids to bed. The kids really liked seeing us all dressed up, it really surprised them.

This is our desert we ordered. When I called and made the reservations they asked if it was a special occasion, I said "it was our anniversary", they asked, "how many years?" I said, "12."
They must have miss understood me and written 10 instead, anyways, it was still real nice.

Spending Time With Nanny and Granddaddy

Saturday, (October 4th), Bill's parents came for a visit. It had been quite awhile since we had seen them, with their travels and our school schedule, it's hard to find time to see each other. Since last weekend was our anniversary, they wanted to come and spend time with the kids and give us a chance to go out on a date to celebrate another year of marriage. They babysat by taking the kids to Mi Cocina, made pudding, and read lots of books. Before our big "date" we had an exciting day by going to Hallmark, Kroger, fixing lunch, and putting up a new ceiling fan in the kitchen. At Hallmark, Linda bought the kids new Webkins, Alex got a snake and Allison got a Gecko, which have been taken everywhere since they were purchased. After a stop at the Hallmark store and Kroger, we came back home and I fixed lunch, it's become a tradition when they come for a visit, I make a very delicious sandwich ring, a recipe from Pampered Chef. After lunch Bill and his Daddy put up a new ceiling fan in the kitchen. Thank goodness he had his help. I'm not a fan of putting up ceiling fans. The one we had was white and gold, a builders choice, cheap and ugly. We put up a more modern one, a iron oil rubbed bronze one.

Showing off our new Webkins.Playing outside with our new Webkins outsideThe old fan.The new fan.

Cousins

Sunday, September 28th, Pam, Lauren and Cameron came to College Station to celebrate Allison and Lauren's Birthday's. Allison and Lauren share the same date, Allison turned 9 and Lauren turned 6. The kids played for a little while right after they got here, we opened gifts and then we went to eat lunch. We had lunch at the Chicken Oil in Bryan, an authentic A&M restaurant. It was really good, the only place in town that has old fashioned juicy burgers and cheese fries with ranch. Yum! We came back to the house after lunch, the kids played a little bit more then they had to head back to Sugarland. It was fun.

Lauren opening her birthday gift.

Allison opening her birthday gift.
Allison and Cameron at Chicken Oil

Alex and Lauren

Slumber Party - Camping

Friday, September 26th, we celebrated Allison's birthday with her closest friends by having a slumber party. We ordered pizza, had decorated cookies instead of a cake, decorated pillow cases and made jewelry. It was so easy with 4 girls. I was all by myself with the girls, Bill took Alex camping at Tyler State Park. They love to go camping, but as Bill puts it, one night is enough without a shower, so they came home Saturday. While we were slumber partying, the power went out in the neighborhood for about 20 minutes, a little scary, 2 girls screaming and 2 girls thinking it was cool and no daddy here to make sure everything was ok. We had to call Amanda and have her husband Kealy, come over and check things out for us, thank goodness we had Kealy, (Morgan's daddy), he was a big help that night. After all the excitement was over, the girls still went to bed around 10:00 p.m. and fell asleep about 11:00 p.m., Allison being the last one, of course, my night owl. The next morning the girls started waking up around 7:30 a.m., Amanda showed up with Shipley Donuts, which were quickly devoured. Yummy! It was the easiest Birthday Party I have ever put together. Allison had a wonderful time.

Allison making a bracelet.
Morgan, Allison, Erin and Faith right before bed. They are so precious!

Bill and Alex's Camping Trip

Alex with his walking stick on the hiking trail.

Sitting by the campfire.

Bill and Alex went tent camping at Tyler State Park while Allison had her all girl slumber party. Since I wasn't there, I will repeat Bill's story of their camping trip. The very short version. Alex was hyped up about the hiking trails all week, so he proceeded to talk about going on a hike the entire way to Tyler. As they started out on their first hike, Alex had his binoculars, hiking stick and compass. Bill said as they were "hiking" items started to be transfered to Daddy. The binoculars got to heavy and the hiking stick was a little hard to handle. Bill said with a chuckle, "he slowly pealed off his supplies." After their hike, they returned to camp and fixed dinner, sausage and green beans, roasted some marshmallows and then went to bed. Bill called me once they were in the tent and settled in for bed, while on the phone, he heard a noise outside, they had raccoons visiting their campsite. The next morning they got up, fixed breakfast of eggs and bacon, went for another hike, packed up, and headed home.

Allison Turns 9.

Wednesday, September 24th, we celebrated Allison's 9th birthday. We can't believe we have a 9 year old. Bill was in Dallas and wouldn't be home until that afternoon, so I woke Allison up by singing "Happy Birthday" very loud, she loved it. Every year, I wake her up with a song. After 13 hours of labor, I get to do anything I want on her birthday. Hehehehe..... Allison wanted me to eat lunch with her and surprise her with a special meal, well, what do you get at 11:00 a.m. and that can be eaten in 30 minutes, Chicken Express!!! Yummy! I also surprised her with a little birthday cake from Kroger. She was so surprised. After picking up balloons and running a few last minute errands and wrapping the last of the gifts, it was time to get the kids. Bill got home about 30 minutes before I had to pick up the kids, so he was able to go along. Once we got back home, she was so excited to see all her gifts waiting for her in the living room with balloons and flowers. We let her open a couple of presents, but the rest had to be saved for after supper, what a bummer. Her only request for her birthday was to have a homemade yellow cake with chocolate icing made by her Mommy. How sweet. Dinner - every year we let the kids pick where they want to eat, Allison chose Luby's, her favorite, after trying to coax her in another direction for our meal, ha, enough said, it was Luby's. Chris, Christy, Kendall, and Mom all joined us for supper and gifts. She had a wonderful Birthday.

Allison posing in her Birthday shirt before school.

Allison holding her little cake at lunch.

Having lunch with AllisonAfter school Allison posing with all her gifts.Opening one of her gifts from Nanny.More WebkinsAnother Precious Moments for her collection.Nanny sent Alex a gift also, a Ben 10 toy, made his day!

After all the gifts were opened.

My masterpiece, Allison loved it! It was yummy!

Eating birthday cake.