Ballet and Tap - Halloween Style

The girls dance classes have not gone according to plan. Usually when Wednesdays roll around, I have a difficult time convincing them to go. They usually have a good time when there, well atleast Emily does. Abby most of the time just stands there.

We didn't go last week so I had no idea they were supposed to wear costumes today. Thankfully, their teacher Ms. Andrea had extra tutus and witches hats - so both girls were "ballerina witches." They got to show off their skills today.

Here is a small portion of the girls doing their tap routine. I think Abby is having a hard time seeing the teacher with her hat.... I have a ballet video also that's a minute and a half - I guess that's too long because it will not load!



This will probably be the last video I post as I don't know how long we are going to keep up with dance. We'll decide soon if we stay with it or go back to gymnastics. Their costume fees for their June recital are due next week - $130/kid. Ouch! And that doesn't even include the recital fees. I had an idea it would be expensive, but holy cow. I'm thinking we don't want to spend that on something they are really not that into.

Livin' it up the medieval way

It was an interesting day and definitely an experience. When we first arrived at the Renaissance Festival, I was greeted by a cute 12ish year boy who came right up to my face and smiled at me, then proceeded to burp the loudest, nastiest burp I have ever heard. I'd like to think that even in the Renaissance period, children did have better manners than that - but who knows.

I totally felt like I walked onto the set of Robin Hood, Prince of Thieves (which I love).



A lot of people there dress up and seriously act and talk like they were from that period (but while smoking cigarettes and talking on cell phones). When the locals tried to get us to buy things, they called me "milady," Austin "young lad," and James "milord." It really was an interesting day. I have never seen so much cleavage in my life. Or drunk people. Austin walked in petrified -you could tell he wanted to leave immediately, but he hung in there.

Abby was the only one that would go close to whatever the heck this thing is.




The girls wouldn't even look at the camera - they were too busy looking at all the interesting folks around us.

This is like a manually pushed teapot ride. Notice you see all 3 kiddos in the first picture.

Then Abby is missing.

She started getting very dizzy and slowly started making her way to the bottom of the "teapot." Thankfully she held on to her lunch.

We enjoyed some sausage on a stick and fried alligator - at Austin's request which is quite surprising because he is the pickiest eater in our family.



I think the next time we go will be without kids. That way we could look at some shops and partake in a few adult beverages. I think that would make it much more fun!

Getting ready for school

Emily decided she wanted to get herself dressed for school. About 10 minutes later she came down dressed looking like this - and seriously thought I would let her go to school with all this bling and a microphone.

Happy Anniversary to us

James and I celebrated our 8th anniversary earlier this month! I can't believe we have been married for 8 years - time has gone by so fast. It really doesn't feel that long. I feel so incredibly blessed to have James for a husband and dad to our kiddos.

We celebrated our day at a Texans game. Unfortunately it was the Raiders that were in town - whom I don't care for at all since that is a rival of the Broncos. I would have liked to have seen any other team (except maybe the Rams - they are equally as boring). That way I could see some of my fantasy players working their magic. I doubt any fantasy football owners start any Raiders, they are seriously that bad. Anyway, the Texans won- it wasn't even close. James was thrilled and that's all that really mattered. Oh and also I got some yummy stadium food - nothing better than a hot dog with all the fixings at a game!


James also had a birthday a couple of days before our anniversary. I won't say how old he is, but let's just say that next year will be a big one! The kids made cupcakes for daddy, we went to Austin's football game, and then got some takeout from BJ's restaurant. If you have never been, their avocado rolls are the best thing in the entire universe. Try them!

Happy Fall Y'all!

Oh how I love this season. The temperature finally dropped into the 70s this weekend so it is really feeling like fall now. It means leaving the windows open (not during the night - I'm not crazy), playing more outside, beautiful colors, and lots of football. And the mosquitos love it too - I think the current bite count in the family is about 50 - but it's worth it! Somehow James' freaky healthy genes carries over to mosquitos too. For some reason he's immune to those little creatures.

What a great weekend we had! We spent most of it outside.

Here are the kids visiting a local pumpkin patch.


I think this is supposed to be Oscar.

The merging of two holidays... I can't wait for Christmas season!


On Sunday we headed to a fall festival, full of carnival games, crafts, a petting zoo, food, and face painting.


Of course, Austin passed on all the Halloween designs and went right for the football.

So did his sister (after she was told princesses were out of the question).

The kids had two birthday parties, one of which Emily got to drink blue Gatorade, hence the blue mustache. What a treat for her.

And what's a weekend without watching Austin play football. Abby even sported a new "do." Or "don't."

When feeding the dog...

I tried to explain to Austin the next time he feeds the dog, he might want to double check that he's not putting his hands in a bunch of charcoal. And just maybe he should put the light on in the garage.

The girls are playing soccer... kind of.

One of the moms in the girls preschool class teaches soccer on the side. She asked if the girls would like to join and they were all for it. I was all for it too, as my precious daughters are not the most athletic kids you will meet. I knew if I signed them up with a real league, it would be difficult getting them to practices and games. So luckily this is a no pressure, free, just learning some new "skills" kind of league.


They were so excited to put on their shin guards, play with their new soccer balls, and head to practice. Unfortunately when we got there it was too muddy to play. So instead we went to Austin's school and practiced.

Everybody was having a good time...

until Emily had a small mishap and went face first into the dirt.

After that, it was pretty much over for her.

Abby still had fun (although she was more about holding the ball than kicking it)...




but stopped playing when she was distracted by some pretty flowers. Then it was over for her too.

Also, Austin hasn't lost any of his skills he picked up. After football, we'll probably go back to soccer in the spring.

A really neat park

So we found the coolest park in all of the Houston area. Of course I have not visited every single park in Houston, but I'm almost positive this one is the neatest. It has castles, zip lines, tire swings, a bunch of moving bridges. It reminds me of a ropes course actually. We had so much fun, we actually went back 2 days later.

Emily started the day off like this:


but ended like this:

And this is all the stuff in between:


Katie left us that same weekend. It was so nice having her here for 2 weeks.








Day #2. I don't what my kid's obsession is with bugs.


We brought the soccer ball to play kickball. Here's Katie sprinting, err "prancing," to 1st base.