Playing Catchup: Aggie Football Season

We had a up and down football season - we never knew who our quarterback would be and we had some great and not so great games. A couple funny things about football this year is that 1) Atticus learned from early on that we DO NOT like Alabama. In fact, Whitney was in town for the Alabama game and we tailgated on campus and talked a lot about beating Alabama. Well, ever since then, if there is ever a "bad guy" or we are watching ANY football game, Atticus will just assume Alabama is the bad guy or other team and say "Go Aggies! Beat Alabama! We do NOT like Alabama!" or if he wants to tease us, he will tell us he wants Alabama to win, before going back to the Aggies. 2) Hearing Grace yell "Go Aggies!" and noticing the ATM logo for the ags anywhere has been fun. She picks up on things ever quicker with a big brother like Atticus! Plus, she is just a smart little girl!

Also, this year, Vic and I went to Sanger and along with Mom & Dad, Tabatha and Stormy and my college friend Shelby and her husband Matt, we all went to the Arkansas/Aggie game in the Dallas Cowboys stadium. Daddy and I planned it out so we could tailgate all day and watch the Corps of Cadets walk in. He has been once a few years ago and enjoyed that part especially. Well, we ate good, enjoyed a great day of tailgating in great weather, did a lot of people watching, played some 42, visited, and then went to the game. Unfortunately, the Corps had already done a march in that morning in downtown Fort Worth, so we missed that part. :( But, we went to the game and cheered the Aggies on to an overtime win - whew. It was just a lot of fun and a nice, relaxing, day. I will say that since we decided to not spend every dollar we had on seats, we ended up pretty close to the top. However, I think next time we will invest a little more. It's easy to get up there, but WHOA! You feel like you are going to fall over once you get up there. It is REALLY high up and I felt much better sitting down than walking around. But, it was a great experience and something I hope we do again in the future!

Also, I have to document our Alabama game tailgating experience. It was towards the end of October and we like to take the kids to one game to walk around campus each year. We usually do the one where the COALS tailgate occurs so we can eat lunch and visit with anyone we know. And it happened to be the Alabama game weekend. Plus, Whitney, Katie, Steve & Patricia were in town for the game and even had a ticket for Vic, since Kristofer couldn't come at the last second. It was a really fun weekend of having everyone at the house for dinner each evening and because ANRP was celebrating 25 years of the intern program, Cady even got Whitney and I a tour of the new Kyle Field. So, it was just a busy and great weekend. Well, on Saturday, I had the MOST special time with Atticus. When we arrived to tailgate, it occurred to me that I had not brought anything for the kids to do and that Atticus thought he was going to go to the game and see more than what we had for him. So, while Katie's parents were tailgating there and had washers and boards that Grace played with, Atticus and I snuck off walk around Kyle Field and campus. It was so much fun! Just he and I walked through the tailgates and all the way to Kyle where we took pictures, saw so many statues (which became is bucket list for the day - finding all the statues that happen to be really new since the renovations have been done to Kyle), and then going to each booth that was advertising something and giving something away. Atticus was just so cute in his little Aggie gear and held my hand and walked and wanted his picture made and to see what each booth had or if there was a game for him. He LOVED collecting his prizes. By the time we got back, and found Vic, Atticus was anxious to show Vic his prizes and then find more. We ate lunch at the tailgate and then right before it was time for the kids and I to head home to watch the game on TV and everyone else to head to their seats, the 4 of us headed into the Ag Center to see the department booths. I don't think anyone could have loved this setup more. Atticus went to every department. So, he spent the most time in the Entomology booth because they had bugs to look at and touch. Then, he spent time winning a prize in the Soil & Crop booth because Vic knew all of the grasses and crops. He went around to everyone and was so excited. He told me multiple times "I am such a lucky boy!" when he would get another goodie. It was so cute and I loved it so much! I hope to remember this Aggie day forever!

 

 

Playing Catchup: Halloween

Halloween was really fun this year! Grace understood all of the Halloween things because Atticus was so into it: ghosts, costumes, spiders, spooky things, haunted houses, everything. We watched all the "pooky" shows for Doc, Mickey, Shimmer & Shine, Paw Patrol, etc. but Grace's favorite was "Mickey Boo!" and we even recited the story (from the cartoon) each night at bedtime with her other stories. Oh! And every night, we would go through all of the Paw Patrol characters so she could tell me what she thought they should dress up as for Halloween. So funny! We decorated their rooms with lights (purple for Grace of course) and spider webs and Halloween drawings. Atticus especially loved this part. We did some other fall things like go to the pumpkin patch and the corn maze in town and hit up our fall festival at church. They wore their costumes to school. Grace was a kitty - since she is SO into kitties! And Atticus was a dinosaur - a pterodactyl actually! GG came into town and made his entire costume and it was so great! I threw pieces together to make Grace's, but she only let me do her face one time when we practiced. She never wore her face paint to school or even on Halloween. On Halloween night, GG was here and we had Chris, Katherine and Olivia over for dinner and trick or treating in our neighborhood. The kids were so excited to trick or treat. Atticus knew exactly what to do and so did Grace...but she got distracted. There is a neighborhood cat that has been around the last few months and belongs to a family down the street. It is the sweetest cat and the kids love it. So, she happened to see it and then it ran off and for the first few houses, all she really wanted to do was say "here titty!" and whistle for the cat. So, she was a little slow to trick or treat at first. THEN, we realized that Atticus would not go up to a house unless there were no kids there. He would just wait at the end of the sidewalk and not even let Grace walk up there without him with her, until the kids walked away from the door. He was too funny! But, he was great at helping Grace and trick or treating. And he got more comfortable as the night went on. Grace, however, got tired of walking. We walked the entire neighborhood and Vic actually pulled our red wagon with some drinks and snacks in it and it turns out that it was a good idea. We didn't expect the kids to ride in it, but Grace decided she was tired. So this became our routine: Grace got in the wagon after a house, rode it until the next house, got out, trick or treated, and then got back in. Over and over. It was just too funny to tell her no, but definitely took more time! So, she may have skipped a few houses without knowing it, while Atticus hit them all. She also wanted to eat the candy as she went (and so did Atticus!) and she was only really interested in suckers while Atticus preferred chocolate. They were a mess. And boy were we all tired at the end of the night. Olivia didn't last as long (bless those infant bedtimes!) so they left about an hour in, but the rest of us trudged along. It was really fun and I think this is the first year I have had so much fun around Halloween time because the kids were so into it! Here's some Halloween pictures!

 This was the first house they wanted to go to. For the two weeks prior, the neighbors decorated the lawn with all kinds of zombies and ghosts and the kids LOVED going to visit it each night. So, finally, they got to see it this night when all the lights and sounds were going.

 Grace was just whistling for that cat!

 

 Atticus would not let Grace go to a house until he was ready!

 Enjoying your chariot, Grace?

Playing Catchup: Preschool Starting

Atticus and Grace both started preschool at Sonshine School this year. In September, we met their teachers (Mrs. Courtney and Mrs. Elizabeth) and the year began. Grace did a great job all fall of progressing every day to not crying and to going in on her own. She almost always (and still does a little) cries or acts sad when I leave her, but always is happy when I pick her up and sometimes by the time I walk back down the hall, she is content. We love Mrs. Elizabeth, her teacher, and Grace, just now (in January), loves to talk about her "fiends" Emmy, Tay, Cwosby, and Wyder and her teacher "Miss Thuh-Thuh". She enjoys every day and is happy to be there. Atticus, is so different from last year. I know he enjoyed his days last year, but this year, he never hesitates to go into the class and loves the activities and I can tell he is soaking up things like letters and numbers that he has never been quite as interested in before. He's always liked counting and he liked spelling his name, but otherwise, he has not, until the last couple of weeks, been interested in writing letters and spelling things and doing things with letters. I've been so proud of him and so anxious for Kindergarten and all he will get to do there. We also really enjoy Mrs. Courtney, but I think all of those 4 and 5 year olds must be a tough group! They are the "big kids" as Atticus says and they know it! So, here we are with a flashback to September when they went to Meet the Teacher and then their first day of school. Although I'm not sure I will put Grace in next year (I only did it this year at this age to help with her speech), since we will have the new baby and Atticus will be in Kindergarten, we are very happy with Sonshine School and the wonderful staff and teachers who love the kids so much!

Playing Catchup: Summer Vacation

So, I wanted to play a little catchup to mark some of these memories for my blog book. Even though these happened earlier in 2015 and I am not writing until now, I'm going to make sure they make it in my 2015 blog book! So, our summer vacation....

Each summer, Vic tries to mark off a week of time for us to do something. We have gone to the beach mostly, but this year, with the Huey and Powell and Klatt families, we went to Yogi Bear's Jellystone Park in Waller, Texas. This is less than an hour from us, and each family rented a cabin next to one another for a Thursday thru Sunday on August 13th thru 16th. Yogi Bear "National" Park, as Atticus called it, was a really fun vacation. Our cabin had one bathroom and one bedroom where Grace and I stayed and then an upstairs loft where the boys slept. It had a little kitchen and couch and TV and then that was about it. It was super air conditioned which was nice when you needed a little downtime and for Grace who napped each day on the couch. But, it was a great cabin, size and everything and as long as your kids can get up and down the stairs, you could fit 4 people in the loft and 2 in the bedroom and the couch even folded out to a bed for another person or two, if needed. It was not fancy, but perfect for what we were looking for. Outside, everyone pooled their chairs and the picnic tables and we spent most of our time, around the cabin, watching kids play together and ride scooters and bikes until late at night. We rented a golf cart for the group which was 100% worth the money to get back and forth to the pool or take kids for rides around the park. In fact, if we were not hanging outside at the cabins, we were spending all of our time at the pool. The pool area was so great for small families. It was really crowded on Saturday, because they let people come in for day passes as well to use the pool. But, the kids water slide area was great and the huge slides were great for the men who went down them over and over and over. It took the first day for Atticus and Grace to get used to the water area. And the next day, it took half the day of Vic or I riding with the kids down the slides to get them comfortable. But, by Friday afternoon, Atticus was going down the water slide and having the best time over and over and over. Honestly, I bet he did it 75 times on Friday and another 100+ on Saturday. Grace loved it too, but of course was a little small so she just had us taking her down over and over and over and Vic did most of that job. We also at smores, played miniature golf, painted some ceramics at one of the craft events, ate lots of popsicles (and tons of junk food - Atticus knows to go to Cassie who brings lots of fun vacation food!), and just enjoyed the entire trip. It was also so fun because of the families we were with. All of the kids, except little Case (who was about 15 months old and still needed naps and mama time), could play together and entertain one another and do most of the water things with less help. They had the best time and Atticus loved being with his friends. Grace enjoyed it too, but of course, was a little younger, so she needed a little more downtime and little more mama and daddy time, but she too, loved playing with friends when she was ready to play. Poor baby LOOKED rough with that black eye, but she had fun. I just think it is so fun that a couple of times each year, we will be with these families and watch all of our kids grow up together. In fact, here are the ages of each group at that time: Vic & Sarah & Atticus (4) & Grace (2); Derek & Mandee & Beck (4) & Ben (2); Todd & Emily & Haley (5) & Camden (4) & Leighton (2); and Joe & Cassie & Wesley (5) & Case (15 months). It is definitely an inexpensive trip I'd recommend to anyone with kids!

Playing Catchup: Grace's Black Eye

So, back in August, on a Sunday afternoon, when the kids were tired and we'd been at church for a few hours, I made the decision to take them on a quick trip to Joann's Fabric Store for a few things. Vic was still at the church doing some work and I was headed home after that. Well, I should have just gone home. Kids were tired and Grace didn't want to walk or be in the basket, but only held. So, by the time we got to the checkout counter, they were done. I sat Grace on top of the counter and started to get ready to checkout and pay, when she lifts that little leg up and gets off balance and crashes to the ground with a terrible sounding smack to her head. Oh it was terrible! She screamed and cried and I tried to finish paying while holding her and checking her out and just wanting to get out of there. I should not have put her there, but at the same time, she was not trying to get away and was stable enough to normally just sit there for a second. I was so close to her that as this was all happening in slow motion, I grabbed her leg which slowed her down but it slipped out as she fell. It was just awful in that split second. We get to the car where she won't stop crying and her eye immeidately swells up. I was so worried because I felt sure she hit her head and not her eye. But, nothing was popping out or in on her head and it was only becoming a little red. I would normally just watch her and go home, but that eye swelling up made me more concerned. I called Vic to meet me at the ER to take Atticus and I decided to take her in to get checked out. Thank goodness all was ok. The doctor told me that since she was still mad about it and crying and never went unconscious and that when he felt of her head, all bone was intact and nothing seemed to be wrong, that she did not have a concussion or need a CT scan or anything. He told me she just hit her head hard and that is why the swelling was happening and that I should expect to see some bruising around her eye. In fact, as soon as he gave her a popsicle, she stopped crying and started to calm down and get much happier. The ER doctor was SO nice and I was so thankful that all was ok. I was just more worried when that eye immediately swelled up! So, we went home, gave her some pain meds and then watched nothing happen, until the next day. Ironically, I got a stomach bug in the middle of the night (which must have been food poisoning because nobody else got it!) and by morning while I was feeling terrible, she was feeling better...except her eye was bright purple! Had I woken up to that on that morning without having gone to the ER, I think I would have been more worried. It looked terrible. Over the course of the next week, it went from purple to looking worse but finally the swelling went down before our Jellystone Vacation and then was just a black eye for a couple more weeks. So, sweet Grace has had her first and hopefully last ever black eye incident!! Here's a few pictures although it hurts me a little to see them again!

  

August 9, 2015 at the ER 

 

August 10th, 2015 in the morning

 

August 10, 2015

 

August 11, 2015

 

August 13, 2015