Another Choir Performance...

Ranger Chorale performance at Northpark Mall

10 Years...

Friday was our 10 year wedding anniversary! We took a Cesna plane over Dallas/Ft.Worth and then went to dinner at one of our favorite steak restaurants...Daddy Jack's! It was awesome to see the city at night from a small plane. It's so different than the view you get from a commercial plane. We stayed at around 1500/2000 feet. We got to see lots of Christmas lights and a really cool arial view of Cowboy Stadium! Our pilot, David, was really nice and an excellent tour guide. I highly recommend this to everyone - http://www.starlightflight.com/!

Chilling out in the pilot's lounge while David got the plane ready! These recliners make you feel like you are floating. Kendall said he wanted one, but at $5k each, probably won't happen!!

Getting ready to board!

David and Kendall after the tour

School Projects...

Grayson's first "real" school project was due last Friday. He made a salt/dough map of Alabama. He did a great job researching the landforms, capital city and historic areas of the state. I love school projects and it was really hard for me not to jump in and add my own touches! His teacher loved it - can't wait to see the final grade!

SNOWWWWW

That's right...snow in Texas on December 2!!. The excitement soon faded as the snow melted before lunch. Oh well, this is Texas - not Colorado!

Thanksgiving

We spent Thanksgiving day with the Kilgo family and other friends. It was a perfect day! All the kids played wonderfully together, we had DELICIOUS food and then watched football. That evening we headed over to Shari and Dave's for a little more football. Shari and I scoured the newspaper and planned our "Black Friday" shopping spree. We started at 5:30 am Friday morning and shopped for about 5 hours!! I only have one picture from the day since I forgot my camera. Jeanine took all the pictures so I will post more when I get them from her!! But, here is my baby girl waiting to be served!

Snow Globe Exhibit

A visit to see Santa at Willowbend Mall before Thanksgiving!! The kids had a great time walking through the giant snow globe and playing in the fake snow. We got to spend the afternoon with Niki and Lilly having lunch and catching up! We are ready for Christmas!!

Wilson Ranger Turkey Drive 2009

Every year Wilson Elementary donates frozen turkeys to charity for Thanksgiving. The dad's club greets the kids at the car and takes the turkey and bundles them up to be picked up later in the day. It's a wonderful effort to feed the less fortunate in our community...

Troy Fields taking our turkey

A turkey with a turkey!

Daddy and Grayson

Wilson Ranger Chorale

The Wilson Ranger Choir performed for the school this morning in a "pre-holiday" spirit! I love it that Grayson made the choir. He has so much fun depsite all the hard work that goes in to it. There are 130 kids in choir and they practice at shcool and on Tuesday's for an hour after school. Their dedication paid off this morning. They were GREAT! In the next few weeks they will be traveling all over Dallas and Ft. Worth to perform! Mr. Hanson is very gifted and does a wonderful job with these kids. We are very blessed to have such a awesome choir teacher at Wilson!

Some of the third grade bunch after the performance! Grayson, Jacob, Michelle, Arianna, Ian, Calan, Landon and Elizabeth!

Dad and Lad Cake Bake

This year's theme for the Dad and Lad cake bake was "Things that make noise". We were so busy this week that we didn't really have time to plan (or bake) anything elaborate!! Kendall barely made it home from work to help Grayson finish his creation before we had to go to the Pack Meeting. Initially Grayson wanted to make a baby out of a cake, but he settled on making a bicycle horn out of a cupcake and waffle cone!! Pretty easy! I felt bad when we got there and saw the other entries. Some of these cakes were multilayered and very well thought out!! There was everything from rockets, dogs, guitars, fire engines, and drums. Much to our suprise, Grayson "won" two awards...he received "the cake that looks the loudest" award and tied for the People's Choice award. It was a good night.

Third Grade Concert

 Mr. Hanson and the third grade class put on a concert Tuesday night. Grayson didn't have a speaking part, but he played the Xylephone wonderfully! I can't remember the name of the music they played...I couldn't even pronounce it when Mr. Hanson explained it!

Cub Scout Family Camp Out

Last weekend was the Fall Cub Scout Family Camp Out at Lake Dallas. Initially we planned to only stay one night, but the kids were having so much fun, we stayed on Saturday night too (despite the fact that I was just getting over a cold and Kendall was very conjested!!) Ohhh the things we do for our kids... Anyway, the weekend was filled with bike riding, boat riding, fishing, flag football, singing, "hiking" (if you call running through woods hiking), roasting hot dogs and marshmallows. If you read our blog often, you probably notice that we camp often and can always find a reason to roast a weiner or marshmallow! However, I will admit by Saturday night we were tired of "camp food" and made a run to Texas Land and Cattle for steaks! By the time we got home Sunday morning, we barely had time to shower and get to church, but we made it. Afterward, I crashed on the couch for a 4 hour nap! You don't get much sleep in a tent...

Jessie snuggled in to the sleeping bag...

Daddy, Grayson and David on the first night

The boys couldn't wait to get on their bikes Saturday!

Grayson, Jett, Landon and Gavin

Jessie followed right along...

Jett, Grayson, Landon

Kendall coached the flag football game - team Bama!!

Jessie and Gavin were stuck together all weekend! These two really hit it off!

Hey, is my lunch ready??

Heading out to launch the boat!

I think David got a little tired of taking these kids out all afternoon!

For boys, there is nothing better than playing in muddy lake water!

Grayson, Julian, Landon, Jacob and Ian

Listening to skits from the other scout dens...

Me and my boy cuddled up by the fire. I have to admit these are some of my favorite moments in life!

BAMA VS. LSU

Some of our LSU friends came over for the Bama/LSU game a couple of weekends ago! It is so much fun watching football with other passionate fans!! ROLL TIDE!

Jessie, Grayson, Bennett and Bella

Bennett and Grayson just hanging out...

TRUNK 'R TREAT AT FBC COPPELL

On Halloween night we enjoyed the festivities at our church's third annual Trunk 'R Treat event. Bounce houses, food, LOTS of candy and plenty of costumes...what more could you want?? I think the kids have enough candy to last until next year! The kids had a great time going car to car "trick or treating".  When we pulled in to the church this morning Grayson looked at Jessie and said, "well, only 364 more days until we get to do it again Jessie!". I can't even think about that right now since I was the coordinator for the event. I don't remember the last time I came home so tired! I was in bed by 9:30 last night and slept until 9:00 this morning!!! That never happens!

Our trunk theme was a pirate treasure chest...

Ahoy!

Grayson is kind of camouflaged in this picture in all black, but he's there!

He ate 3 sausages on a stick! YUCK!

It took us forever to get them to smile!

BONFIRE!

Terry and Melissa invited us to a bonfire in Argyle tonight with the Klieder family. The kids were amazed to see the chickens, turkeys and ducks running around on the property when we got there. They don't really understand "country living"!! I wish I could have gotten a picture of the turkeys but it was too dark. It was so much fun roasting wieners and marshmallows and telling scary stories around the bonfire. Ms. Debbie did a great job of hosting everyone. We definately made some good memories tonight!! (Especially when Jennifer started telling us that the chicken salad that was served was from chickens that were killed on the property last weekend!! Yikes, glad I brought my "weight watchers" soup!!)

Grayson, Me, Charlie

Listening to Lanette's good ol' campfire stories...

Mmmm, jalapeno sausage!

Jessie, Lanette and Charlie

Me and Lanette

All the kids gathered around to roast marshmallows...

Preston, Lanette, Triston, Charlie

Averi roasting her marshmallow!

Boo! Are you scared?

Our resident "homeless" guy, Charlie...

Melissa, Me, Lanette

Halloween Gingerbread House...NOT!

So much for my domestic idea of making a gingerbread haunted house! I mean, this sounded like a great idea at the store. The kids were so excited to come home today and get to work on it. But, it quickly came crumbling down before I could even get the icing on!! So, we imporvized! We broke off pieces of the cookie and I let the kids decorate them. What a mess!

I turn my back for one minute and he is licking the icing bowl!

Yep, it ended up in the floor!

The finished products...

Cub Scout Halloween Carnival

Tonight was the Cub Scout Halloween carnival. Mass chaos is how I like to describe it! There were all kinds of spooky things for the kids to do. Nothing like filling them full of candy at 8pm on a school night!!!

My Little Tinkerbell...

Natalie and Jess

Storm Shadow (Ian), Julian and Snake Eyes (Grayson)

Snake Eyes...

Sudan Foot Race - 5K

April, Shane and I ran the Sudan Foot Race in Lewisville this morning. It's an effort to raise money for schools in Sudan. Despite the cold weather and my aching feet, we finished! We walked most of it since none of us had really "trained" for this (not to mention April is pregnant!).

Me and April before the race...

Team Robert/Huff

After the race there were lots of activities for the kids. Face painting, bounce house, crafts. They learned about the kids in Sudan who have to make their own toys. Grayson and Jessie made a car and a game out of old water bottles! Fun stuff...

Our Afternoon

learning pocket knife safety from the experts at Bass Pro Shops!

more face painting today!

grayson met a champion bull rider...

now, time to watch some Alabama football!!!

Fencing

Grayson had his first fencing class tonight and LOVED IT!!! He can't wait to go back next week. His TKD training was very useful. His stances and lunges were perfect and he won his first match!

School Picnic

Today was the Family and Friends Picnic at Grayson's school. Jessie and I loaded up the chairs, grabbed some burgers and had lunch with Grayson and the rest of the 3rd grade on the playground.

Getting Colder...

I'm not really sure if the gloves, scarf and hat are necessary quite yet!

PUMPKIN PATCH!

I accompanied Jessie's class to the pumpkin patch today. She had fun with her classmates listening to stories, singing songs, playing games and picking out her own pumpkin. Two and a half hours at the pumpkin patch was a little much for me. I'm not sure if I was meant for field trips!!

Camping at Joe Pool Lake - Oct 16

Last weekend several couples from our Sunday School class went on a little camping adventure at Joe Pool Lake. The campsite was perfect! Lots of trees, plenty of room for the kids to play, and we were close to a restroom! We arrived around 6 pm and got the tents set up. Well, most of us did! Shane and April only brought half their tent-so Shane slept in our tent and poor, pregnant April slept in the truck! Bet he doesn't forget it next time!! Of course, I am sure April was glad to be locked in the truck when the coyete came in to our site in the middle of the night!! Yikes! The kids had a great time roasting marshmallows and hot dogs. We sat around the fire until after midnight and the next morning made bacon and eggs over the fire. Eric still won't quit laughing about the fact that I brought turkey bacon! And I still don't know why that is funny. We can't wait to do it again next month!

Of course my kids are the ones playing in the fire!!

1973...

...was a long time ago! This year my birthday was pretty uneventful. We did exactly what I wanted to do. We watched football and kept it pretty low key. That is until we left the restaurant. We ran out of gas and called Jeanine and Kiki to come get us (at 11pm). Then, their car got stuck in the mud. It took 5 people to get their car out! Ahhhh, good times!

National Night Out Block Party

Our National Night Out Block Party was tonight. Despite the scare of thunderstorms, we still had 43 people in attendance! Kendall and I hosted again, so thankfully our family was well for the event! I would have hated to leave my neighborhood stranded with no host! We had to cancel the bounce house, but I think the kids still had fun with the pinata, pumpkins, playing corn hole and riding their bikes! Thanks to the Coppell Police and Fire Departments for coming out and supporting our neighborhood!

McGruff the Crime Dog!

We had our annual pumpkin carving contest. Jessie actually wanted to dig out the insides!

We dared a couple of the kids to eat the raw pumpkin insides! Amazing what they will do for a buck!

Our pumpkin...

I didn't think they would ever burst this thing open!

When the firetruck showed up, there were only a few families left...

Ian, Jessie and Grayson on the truck...

PUMPKINS!!!

Grayson is over the swine flu (yuck) so we went to Callaway's today to pick a couple of pumpkins for our block party tonight!! Good thing I don't drive a pick up truck or I probably would have come home with all of them!!

The Birthday Party!

When you are 5, there is nothing like being at the park on a beautiful day with your friends, candy, cupcakes and presents!!! What a great birthday!! We really couldn't have asked for more beautiful weather!

Jessie in her "look a like" out fit with her new doll.

Karis, Ella, Brooke, Tatum and Jessie

Sweet friends - Ella and Brooke

Come on Jessie! You can do it!

Hannah Montana!!!

One exhausted mommy!

Super delicious and super pink. There was pink icing everywhere!

Make a wish!

The kids couldn't wait for the Barbie pinata!

CANDY!!!!

5 Years Ago Today...

I can't believe it's been 5 years since my little girl came in to this world!!! We pulled out the baby pictures from the hospital today and showed her what she looked like as she was being born. Her first reaction was "EWWWWW, I look gross!". And that quickly turned to "AWWWW, I was cute!". She was (and is) adorable. Today, Kendall, Nani and I took her to the American Girl Doll Store and Bistro. We had lunch and then shopped in the doll store for an hour!! She came home with a cutie named Rebecca-complete with 2 outfits, pajamas and shoes. Jessie got an outfit to match one of the doll outfits too. I'm sure that is what she will wear to her party tomorrow!! Happy Birthday to my 'not so little" girl!!! I want her to stop growing up!!

This is baby Chrissy. One of the dolls at the Bistro that ate lunch with us!

Shopping for the right outfit!

Meet Rebecca!

40 Days of Love

Our church is doing a new book study, The 40 Days of Love. Kendall and I are hosting a group at our house on Thursday nights. Last night was our first meeting. It was awesome hanging out with friends and having good, open discussion. I look forward to the next 6 weeks with this group!!

The most awesome small group. We missed Nathan and Katie but are excited they will be with us next week!

CHS Homecoming Parade!

We went to the Coppell High School Homecoming Parade tonight! The kids had a blast! I think they got more candy tonight than they do on Halloween! GO COPPELL COWBOYS!

Grace, Jessie, Avery, Brooke, Ella

The Lariettes...

Go Team!

Our Cheerleaders!

Gathering the loot...

I Need One More Day...

Well, it's 4:00 pm on Monday and all I can say I really did today was get an estimate for Kendall's car (aka The Beast) to be fixed and go to the grocery store. We have a parade to attend tonight, I will be without the car tomorrow, we have cub scouts tomorrow night, Jessie has a doctor appointment on Wednesday, Kendall's mom get's here on Thursday, we start our new book study on Thursday night (at my house that needs to be cleaned), Jessie's birthday is Friday and the party is Saturday!!! I have sooooo much to do! So...why am I blogging right now??

I Could Just Eat Her Up...

Bears - 1st Meeting

Grayson's den met for the first time as Bear Scouts tonight!

Singin' Campfire songs - indoors since it is raining outside!

Opening of the New Bed Tower...

Today was the grand opening of the new bed tower at Charlton Methodist Hospital. This has been Kendall's "baby" for the last couple of years. As VP of Operations, he has been overseeing the construction of the new unit. So, today I played the role of supportive hospital administrator's wife and attended the celebration with the kids...IN THE POURING DOWN RAIN! It would have been a lot of fun had there not been a torrential down pour. All the festivities were outside! The kids had a blast playing games and eating popcorn and candy. I however, was in a dress and heels for the event. Not so much fun for me!! Nothing like hanging out with hospital VP's and CEO's when your hair is soaking wet and you have mascara running down your face!

Hangin' with daddy in his office...

This was just before Kendall was presented on stage. Still in a suit and tie in the rain!

You Always Need Plan B...!

For the first time in several years we actually had plans to go to a CHS football game tonight (Coppell vs. Highland Park). Grayson, Landon, Ian and Jacob were so excited that they were going to the game and were going to slide down the big hill on a cardboard box!! I even went to an acquaintance who sales 'Coppell Spirit Wear' and bought t-shirts for the kids. Well, about 30 minutes before the game started, the rains came! Lightning, thunder and a small funnel cloud caused a major change in plans! We ended up at Fat Daddy's and ran in to the Christiansons, Montleones, Parkers, Cosses, McCrarys and Olivas' with the rest of Coppell (and most of the Highland Park folks)!! So, we ate and played with friends there. Apparently the game eventually started and my last update was that Coppell HS was winning. The kids were really disappointed that we didn't go but we promised them we would go to another home game real soon! GO COPPELL COWBOYS!

Jessie and Chole

Yeah!!! Money for the game room!

Come on Kendall, don't fake the smile!! This is fun too!

Bright Beginnings

Jessie started her second round of pre-K today at Bright Beginnings at our church. She is super excited to have Mrs. Brenda (Brenda Bond) as her teacher! We have known Brenda for years and love her! The irony is that Brenda is teaching our daughter and I will be teaching hers in Senior Small Group at church! Jessie came down the stairs at 6:50 a.m. ready to get dressed. She was ready before Grayson and said, "Come on Mom, I'm ready to go"! Her school doesn't start until 9:00 a.m. so I had to convince her that I needed her help with breakfast before she could go!
She helped pack her lunch and couldn't wait to give out the snacks to her friends this morning (yep-I signed up for snacks on the first day!). When I picked her up this afternoon, I asked her what she had learned. She said, "that God loves me, but I already knew that!!". She cracks me up!

Catching Up...

I feel like I have been neglecting my blog lately! I think I got more accomplished when I had a full time job!! So, I am taking a little time tonight away from the chaos of my house to do some catching up! Today has really been "Labor Day" at our house. Kendall has been working on his 'honey do' list and for some reason I decided to pull out all the photo albums, scrapbooks and pictures and start organizing them. My den looks like a bomb went off! But I did get my medicine cabinet cleaned out and reorganized just in time for cold and flu season! Jessie starts preschool tomorrow, cub scouts will be in full swing this week and we find out if Jessie gets on a soccer team or not (we are on a waiting list). Not to mention I am back teaching in the youth group at church and we are hosting a book study at our house beginning at the end of the month. Whew...hopefully I will be able to keep up with it all!

I just love it that these two cuties are growing up together. Jessie will now be in Grace's class at Bright Beginnings preschool. This sweet picture was taken at Sunday School this weekend!
Jeanine calls Kendall the 'baby whisperer' because no matter what he can make her girls quiet down just by putting them on his shoulder. Saturday night was no different when Isla got a little fussy during the game!!

We were all ready to watch our Bama team roll over Virginia Tech this weekend!! The whole family was dressed in our Alabama t-shirts ready to cheer on our team!!!

On Friday Jessie went to Claire Briggs birthday party at "Going Bonkers". The kids had a blast running, jumping and playing games. Happy Birthday Claire!

Jessie and Grace got hold of Grayson last week when we went to eat dinner with at the Cate's house! He was a good sport about letting the girls dress him up! Of course, he didn't really have a choice. They chased him down!

"Mom, the ducks are probably starving..."

At the beginning of the summer I took the kids to the Duck Pond Park a lot. This afternoon Jessie found a half loaf of bread in the pantry and suddenly remembered we had not been there for a while. She is convinced that we are the only people who feed the ducks. Yea, right. These ducks eat better than most people, I am sure of it! So after school today, we headed over to make sure they had plenty to eat!

Grayson was more interested in catching a turtle!

Jason and Robin's Pool Party

Yesterday we joined some friends at the Lester's house for a little end of summer pool party. The kids spent the whole time in the pool while the adults just hung out and ate!!

Jessie decided to be Steve's friend once she realized he would keep pushing her float!!

Jessie and Carter

Me and Kimmie

Small Town Livin'??

I love Coppell. I love that it is a small town feel with 40K+ people here. I love the fact that they know me at the bank, the grocery store, the car wash...where ever we go, I know someone! We ended up at Fat Daddy's tonight with several friends for live music and good times. I felt like we owned the restaurant with all the people there that we knew!! Here are just a few pics of the evening!

Me, Sandy, Jill

Me and Charlie

Grayson, after David Flesher took him to the CHS football game - this was just before the grass allergies kicked in and his eyes swelled shut! David took 7 boys to the game while the rest of us hung out at FD!!

Claire and baby Isla...

Bobby and Britt...

Lanette, Carrie and Melissa

Jill with the baby...Hey Joe - Look out, she has baby fever!

Jacob, Jett, Grayson, Ian, Jessie

Happy Birthday to our CJ!

My nephew, CJ, turned 2 last week! These are a couple of pics my mom sent from the party! Seeing how big Natalie is getting is what is really alarming to me!! I just can't get my arms around the fact that my brother has big kids!! Weird...

The new big wheel...

OOOHHH. Presents....

One Day Down...

Grayson had a blast today! Said his favorite part of the day was going to art class. He came home with homework...nothing like jumping in with both feet! It's weird how different our routine will be this year since I am not working. I picked him up at 3:05, we came home, had a snack and got right to homework while I was cooking dinner. Sounds like something a "normal" family would do!! At this time last year we were just getting out the door to go to dinner (that is if I wasn't out of town). It's 7:10 pm and we have eaten, the kitchen is clean and he's about to take a bath! I know it won't be like this everyday, but this is kind of nice!

A New School Year - Third Grade!

Good morning third grade! Grayson woke up excited and ready to go to school this morning. He couldn't wait to see his friends and be in his new classroom - his classroom is upstairs (in the 5th grade hall)! His teacher seems really sweet, Mrs. Ali Sanabria. Before I could even get upstairs he was seated at his desk checking out all of his school supplies. I am sure it is going to be a good year for him even though my nerves say differently! After all, this is the year that TAKS testing begins! Ugggghhh, the anxiety! Oh well, one day at a time....right??

Jessie and I went home to make breakfast and have some girlfriends over for a little back to school celebration! She helped me make (I use that word loosely, we "warmed" them) quiche, cut fruit and put bagels on the tray. Stacy, Jeanine and Shari came over for a couple hours of girl time. It was fun! After they left we played a few games of farkle and now she is begging me to do puzzles! I'm loving my life right now! Maybe I can catch a nap before we head back to the school for pick up. I can't wait to hear how Grayson's day went!!!

What??

I guess this is what I have to look forward to when I have teenagers!! Kendall and I were invited to a last minute birthday party for our friend, Terry, tonight and this is what greets us when we came home! No doubt it was meant for the Bower's next door, but they used our tree to finish the job! I am a laid back kind of gal and can usually laugh at these kind of things, but I also take my yard seriously. So, if I am cleaning my yard after church tomorrow, I will be mad. Watch out Coppell teens...I will get you back!!!

The End of Summer Basketball

Saturday was the end of another basketball league for Grayson and Ian. We keep hoping that if this team stays together long enough, they will actually be good...we keep hoping! The main thing is that they have fun. Grayson keeps improving and is really good on defense now. So our Saturdays are free for a while and it's a good thing since college football is right around the corner! We can't have too many interferences from watching our SEC teams!!!

Practicing lay ups before the game

The "after" celebration at Dairy Queen

Cooking Out with Friends

Rob and Niki invited us over for burgers and fun in the back yard! When the kids were finished with the slip 'n slide, we headed inside for a friendly game of Farkle! (thanks to Eric and Ro for teaching us how to play!). It is so much fun catching up with good ol' friends and watching the kids play. I will never take for granted how lucky I am to have the friends and family that I am blessed with!! By the way...if Kendall doesn't buy me a new camera, I am going to kill him!!! These pics are horrible!!!

Lilly got in on the Farkle action...

Playing in Lilly's room...

Can we have dessert now...
Rob (our host) and Kendall enjoying the chips and dip...

Sand, anyone???

Robyn, Me, Niki

Brody, Lilly and Jess

They all played so great together!

Me and Niki!!

Jessie gets the camera...

Another Swim Day...

Old Friends...

Last Saturday night we got to have dinner with Lanny and Amanda Huggins. They were the first couple we really became friends with at FBC Coppell. We used to sit at Chili's in Las Colinas and talk about how we (Kendall and I) didn't want kids!! Funny how God takes over!! We had a great time catching up with them. I can't believe we usually only see them every six months when Amanda cleans my teeth!!

Our Little Patient

Jessie was a great little patient today for her renal tests. She did so great during the sonogram that the nurse let her choose a Beanie Baby before the anesthesiologist came in. She was soooo cute in her little hospital gown! Don't ya just love her?