Friends Over

One of my friends from church (my visiting teaching companion) had to go to Utah for the week with her husband.  It was her in-laws' 50th wedding anniversary and a huge party had been planned.  Unfortunately, they could not afford plane tickets for their 5 kids.  The oldest 3 stayed with friends.  The youngest two went to another family from church's house.  That family had other plans this evening, so she asked me to watch them.  We picked them up this afternoon and I took them straight to a park.  I knew it would be great for all the kids.  We have Elizabeth, who recently turned 7, and Daniel who is about 2.5. 

Abby's Birthday Party

Our friend, Abby, had her birthday party today.  They had a chocolate factory theme.  The kids just love parties at their house because they always have stations.  The kids are divided into groups and adults man different stations.  The groups get to rotate around until they get a turn at everything.  This party involved chocolate making.  I helped with a pretzel dipping station.  

Black Friday at the Park

Since I am a single mom, black Friday shopping isn't really an option.  I can't leave them to head-out to battle the crowds for early/late shopping.  Instead, we just took it easy.  We headed to a few shops in the afternoon.  We bought a few really cheap dvds at Walmart.  When we were driving back, I decided that we needed to take advantage of the weather and go a park.    

Happy Thanksgiving 2013!

We had a great Thanksgiving.  We were headed to the place where we were eating when I got a text that they were running late.  Since I was just in charge of a veggie tray and a fruit tray, I decided that we should stop at a park.  That way, the kids could get some of their energy out and soak up a little sun.   

Here we are playing games at the place we went to for dessert.  It is always great to be surrounded by friends.  I always wish I had taken more photos.  I did horribly with that this year.  This was the only one and it isn't even clear.

This morning, we took pictures for our Christmas card.  This was the best one:

Skating Party

I had told Jordan that we wouldn't have a birthday party for him this year.  We invited a few close friends to meet us at a park, but it was just too cold for that.  I remembered that the skate place had cheap skating on Wednesday nights.  I asked our friends if they would meet us & they agreed.  We all had a good time.  Lexi was extra excited to get back on skates.  I was amazed at how much better she was doing.  I think she has this skill mastered.  

Whole Group

Harvest Party

The kids had their Harvest Parties today.  I was able to attend both of them and I took pictures. Some of the schools nearby have banned picture taking, so I went a little overboard just in case I can't in the future.  The kids were given sugar cookies to decorate.  They also played games like hot potato.

Skating Evidence

This morning, Lexi showed me her knee.  I guess she has evidence that she really did go skating yesterday.  In spite of the pain, she is anxiously waiting to go again.

Skating Passion

One of Lexi's school classmates had her birthday party at the skating rink today.  Lexi has had minimal experience with skating.  I think her dad took her to a skating party once last year and she basically held his hand or the wall the whole time.  

This year was a completely different experience.  I laced her skates up and explained the basics to her.  A few of her friends took her out there and before I knew it she was loving it.  She even wants skates for Christmas.

Lunch with the Star of the Week

Star of the Week brings with it a task each day.  The week started with posters, another day was kind of show & tell, and another day Lexi had to bring in a book to read to the class.  Today, she needed a guest to have lunch with her.  I picked-up food from Subway and had the honor of being her lunch date.  

Outside of the cafeteria there is a board with various photos pinned.  I saw that Lexi was featured in a few pictures.  I remembered that she & Jordan had told me all about these famous football players that came to their school one day.  They were convinced that one of the football players was JJ Watt from the Houston Texans.  Neither of these guys look like him though.  He is definitely white.  

Anyway, the school had an assembly and Lexi was called on stage to help demonstrate.  She is the blonde girl wearing pink pants.  I am not sure what the point of the assembly was, probably anti-bullying or something.  The kids came away with their idea of what it was about - getting your grandma to pray for the Dallas Cowboys because they are awful this year.  I guess that was a joke, but my kids didn't catch the humor in it.  They said we needed to call Grandma Margie right away.  I found it amusing that it is still ok to talk about prayers in school in Texas as long as sports are involved.  

Star of the Week

Last Friday, Lexi brought home a note from her teacher announcing that she was selected to be Star of the Week for this week.  Despite her enthusiasm, I was less than thrilled about all of the additional tasks that we had to do to make this week great.  I agreed to it and tried my best to put on a happy face for her.  I know it is great for kids to get special attention.

Yesterday, we had to bring in a poster that we made about Lexi.   Instead of one big poster board with pictures attached, I decided to do 3 (11"x17") print-outs.  Even with three, I found it really hard to narrow down the photos and hit major points in her life.  Here is what we settled on:

Gang Together

This evening, our stake (group of church congregations) had a marriage fireside (conference speaker).  I am not married and I have already heard Brother Brinley speak on this topic, so I offered to watch our friends' kids. It was a fun evening.  We made snowflakes, watched several Christmas movies, ate popcorn, and played hide-and-go-seek.  Before their parents came to pick them up, I took a couple of pictures.  They asked me to send the bottom one to their parents to trick them into thinking they were all asleep.  I didn't believe they would be fooled, but we gave it a shot.  Their acting skills are impressive.

Fall Leaves?

We went on a walk today.  Lexi asked me what happened to the leaves on this tree.  It took me a minute to realize that she was asking why they aren't green.  I guess Fall has official come to Katy.  That little cold front this week must have made a difference.

Fuzzy Pink Cold Front

We had a cold front come through.  It was only 36 degrees on our walk to school this morning.  Lexi asked if she could wear this hat.  She looked so cute, I just had to snap a few pictures.