The Princess & The Frog

Well, we didn't get to see the new Disney movie, The Princess and The Frog on opening day (Dec. 11th) but we did make it two days later. William was home and he stayed home with Harris so that Hailey and I could go by ourselves. It was a great movie and we love it! And if I didn't know it already, Hailey proved, she is as girly as they come! When Ray died, Hailey's eyes welled up with tears and she looked up at me and asked, "Mommy, is it ok to cry?" I assured her it was and she had a good cry for a moment. It was so sweet! After the movie we walked around the theatre and got a few fun pics! We both had a great time and loved spending Hailey/Mommy time together.

Christmas Yard Art

We tried to get a new sign for our yard last year but when I went to get it, the salesman told me, he had just sold the last one. I was so glad to find one this year. I knew which one I wanted to get, but I let Hailey help with the decision. Luckily, she wanted the same one I did! She is a brilliant girl! And I think our new sign says what Christmas is really all about!

Happy Birthday Jesus! And Merry Christmas everyone!

Donation

Christmas time to my family is more than just receiving gifts. It's also about giving to others. So every year, we go through the kids toys and donate the toys they don't play with or have outgrown. We usually give the items to Goodwill. This year, when I was explaining to Hailey that it was time to go through the toys and find the ones she wants to give away, her thought process was really jump started. She wanted to know what happens to the toys. I told her that Goodwill will sell the toys at a very low price. She was so upset! She wanted to know... If boys and girls can't afford the toys, then why are they having to buy them, even at a cheaper price? So I did some research, made some phone calls, and came up with a place (Thanks Dee Dee!) that will give the toys away! Hailey was very excited by this! So, today we went through the toys, loaded them up and off we went to Arlington Mission. Both kids did great. They helped us unload the bags and hand them over. But of course Hailey had a brief moment of sadness. But once we reminder her of getting new toys for Christmas, she was all better.

Singing Performances

This week was a busy week for performing! Hailey's kindergarten class had a singing performance on Monday night, and Harris' Parents Day Out class had a singing performance on Thursday night. On Monday, William was out of town and I was trying to video Hailey's performance and get a couple of pictures. The pictures didn't turn out very good. On Thursday, William was there to help me...it's much easier when there are two people! Both kids did great... Harris was a ham! He was more interested in waving to us and being silly than singing! But he sure was cute!

Night of Holiday Magic 09 (part 1)

Tonight, Hailey performed in the Night Of Holiday Magic. She did a tap routine. It was freezing cold outside! And at the last minute, she had to pee! I made her wait because I didn't want her to miss going on stage. As it turns out, she could have gone pee about 3 times! So when she got on stage she was shivering and kinda stumbled a little from the cold and having to pee. Despite being miserable, she did great! We are so proud of you, Hailey!
After Hailey performed, we took the kids to the snow hill. The line moved faster this year than last. But we were so sad when we got to the front of the line and they wouldn't let Harris go down the hill. He went down last year and loved it. This year they said he was too short. Hailey loved it though. She would have gone again, but we wouldn't let her.

Since they wouldn't let Harris go down the snow hill, we promised he could ride the train. He loved riding the train. He was so cold and we bundled him up so much! As you can see from the pic, he could barely see! He didn't care though... he just wanted to ride the train!

On our way out of the park, we saw the toy soldiers and got some popcorn. I had bribed Hailey earlier with popcorn if she could wait to go pee till after she danced. That was a great incentive for her! As many of you know, I don't really let the kids eat popcorn!

Many, many thanks to Dee Dee & Pops for braving the terrible cold to come see Hailey dance! For those of you who missed the dance, your in luck! I taped it! You can watch the video below:

Breakfast with Santa 09

No Christmas season is complete without seeing Santa. Ever since Hailey was a year old, we have seen Santa several times each Christmas. We love Santa! One of our trips to Santa usually includes a breakfast with Santa. We have loved having breakfast with Santa. This year we went to a different place. It seemed so crowded when we got there, but it went great! We found a place to sit and got our breakfast within a couple of minutes, pancakes & sausage... yummy!

When breakfast was over we went up to see Santa. We only waited in the line for a few minutes and got a great picture of the kids with him! When we got back to the car, we realized that we were there for less than an hour!

Snow

Wow! Can you believe we got snow?! And at the beginning of December? The kids loved watching it fall but they were both so sad that they couldn't go out and play in it. It was way to wet and it didn't last, but for a couple of hours. It was very beautiful! I just had to get a quick pic! Here's to hoping we get a white Christmas!

Santa Claus is Coming to Town

For the last couple of years we have taken the kids to see the Christmas play at Casa Manana. The kids love going to plays. I think going to a Christmas play the weekend after Thanksgiving has become one of our family traditions. In the past, we have seen Frosty the Snowman and Rudolph the Rednose Reindeer. This year was Santa Claus is Coming to Town. The kids had a good time.

I think they love meeting the characters afterwards, just as much!

After the Christmas plays, the kids get to see Santa Claus!

It was a great night and a wonderful way to start the Christmas season!

Thanksgiving Day 2009

What a great Thanksgiving Day! All of our family was together! I think there were 29 of us in one house! The weather was beautiful and the kids were able to play outside a lot! And the food was wonderful! Everyone had a great time visiting with each other and eating way too much food! And to make all the men happy, the Cowboys won the football game!

As everyone was getting ready to leave, we decided to take a picture of all the kids. This picture has all the great grand kids in order from youngest to oldest. But next year, we will have another little girl to add to the picture! My cousin, Laura, is due in April! Congrats, Laura & Dustin!

After we got a picture of the great grand kids, we got one of grand kids... Us! And we are in order from youngest to oldest too!

And of course, we had to get one of our moms, too! And yes, you guessed it! They are in order, too!

We should have gotten a picture of the two people who started this clan, Nana & Daddy Don! I will have to get one later!

I hope everyone had as wonderful Thanksgiving as we did!

After we got home, we immediately went into the attic and got down the Christmas tree. We are ready to decorate for Christmas! We now have the Christmas tree up and the train running under it. The wreath is on the front door. And, two weeks ago, our friends, Julie & Jason, came over and put our Christmas lights on the front of the house. I wanted them up early to surprise William. He was definitely surprised! Now, the kids are wearing Christmas jammies, hot cocoa is being drank, and the Polar Express is being watched...it's starting to look a lot like Christmas! I love it!

Fruit Sharing

Hailey's school has Fruit Sharing right before Thanksgiving. Each child brings two pieces of fruit to school. One piece of fruit goes to the food pantry and the other piece of fruit is shared with all her classmates. As her homeroom mom, I went up and cut up fruit for her class.

During the Fruit Sharing, the kids enjoyed the fruit and cheese the teacher brought. They talked about the Indians, and each child was given their own special Indian name. Hailey is Evening Star. She likes that name but for some reason would rather be called Yellow Feather.

Hailey says "Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!"

Consolation Bowl

Hailey's football team, the Lions, made it to the Consolation Bowl. They had a great season, only loosing one game and tying one game. Then in the playoffs, they lost the game that would have put them in the Super Bowl. We were so proud of all the boys and we were so happy to be going to the Consolation Bowl. Sadly, we lost this game too. But the cheerleaders didn't care! They went out there and cheered their lil' hearts out! Hailey had a rough start with her tummy and head hurting, but after a few minutes, she was up and going. She cheered so loud and did a great job!

The girls got to cheer one last time for the boys after the game.

After the game, all the cheerleaders met for lunch and an end of season party. The girls all got trophies and gift bags. We thought Hailey was going to cry! She loved her trophy! In her gift bag was a blue blanket with her name embroidered on it and a photo of her team after the cheer competition. She loved it all. It was a great way to end the season.

Harris had a lot of fun at the party, too!

We are so proud of you, Hailey! You had another great cheer season!

Congratulations to the Lions for making it to the Consolation Bowl!

Museum of Science and History

Today was opening day of the new Fort Worth Museum of Science and History. Hailey was out of school for conferences. William took the day off and after we met with Hailey's teacher, we went to the Grand Opening. (Hailey's teacher said great things about Hailey! Hailey is doing wonderful in kindergarten!)

It was a great day to go to the opening. We were some of the first people there so we got into the museum for free! There were not many people there and it was a great way to start the Christmas season. Can you guess what movie we saw at the Omni Theatre? I took a quick pic while we were watching the movie!

After the movie we explored the dinosaurs and got to watch a 3D show about the earth.

We went through a Cattleman's section and the kids play area.

Oddly, the kids favorite part was the CSI exhibit. It shows crime scenes and you find all the clues and solve the crime. Hailey and Harris were both so into the scenes and are still talking about what they saw. Ok, some of it may not have been appropriate for small children! But it definitely got the kids thinking and asking lots of questions!

Harris New Chore

I may be a little bit behind. I don't know when most kids start doing chores around the house. Hailey has been doing several chores for awhile now, but I don't remember when I started them. But I learned this week, that Harris is quite capable of doing chores. After we took Hailey to school, I knew we were running late. I asked Harris to help and he was very excited to do so! He loves his new chore! And that works great for me! Now, he asks me every day if it's time for his chore!

Besides taking out the recycle bin, he also brings me all the trash cans and helps me dump them into the big trash bag. He will even help me drag the bag out to the curb!
He is such a big boy now! And a good boy!

Tooth # 7

Ok, seriously?! Hailey has lost another tooth! We went over to my mom's to show her my new ring and we showed her Hailey's loose tooth. Mom and I both agreed that the tooth needed to come out! Hailey could push it so far forward that she could feel the point of root with her tongue! Eeewwww!!! At this point I get really worried that she is going to get food in there and get an infections. So after a few tears from Hailey, she finally let Honey pull the tooth. I can't believe that is tooth number 7! Can you see the new hole on the bottom?


Hailey lost her first tooth in April, just 7 months ago! We are almost averaging a lost tooth per month! Hailey has one more tooth that is loose. It's also on the bottom, the matching one on the other side. Once it's out, I hope she does not have any more loose teeth for at least a year! But she's loosing them so fast, I bet I won't get that lucky!
We have a dentist appointment in a few days. I will get to find out if loosing them this fast is normal, and how all her permanent teeth are doing. I know that she has two teeth that have no room to come in. So I'll let to let you know what the dentist says about that!

Ring

Saturday,at Hailey's Main Event, I got extremely lucky! I was clapping for Hailey and getting the video recorder all set up to record her dance. I looked down on a little 4" wide concrete wall, and there sat the head of my diamond engagement ring, with the diamond still in it! I didn't really have time to process what could have happened. I just grabbed the diamond and ran up in the stands where my mom was sitting. I handed it to her and ran back down to start recording Hailey. After Hailey's dance, I was able to look at my ring and see that it no longer made a complete circle. It was then that it really hit me that I could have completely lost my diamond. I cried! It should not have been a shock though. Seven years ago a very reputable jeweler told us that within five years I would loose the head of my ring. It made it seven years and a couple of weeks. I started looking for a new one and found just what I had been wanting! I took William in to see it, thinking we would wait a little while before we bought it, but next thing I knew, we were buying it! And I love it!
Here is my previous ring, the broken ring, and my wonderful new ring!

Thank you so much, Wilmo! I love you very much!