Showtime with Santa

Every year Flower Mound High School puts on a kid friendly production around Christmas and offers a special show where they get to come and have breakfast, play games and talk to Santa. We did it a few years ago and the boys loved it, so we thought we'd try it again this year. And, again they loved it! The show this year was "Scrooge". Breakfast was yummy!!! The actors did a wonderful job staying in character while mingling with the crowd during breakfast. Old Scrooge was just that! ;-) When Santa arrived all the kids in the room could hardly contain their excitement. The boys got their photo made right away and had time to go back and play some more fun games!

The boys with some of the cast of "Scrooge"

Making ornaments before the show...

Taking their yearly picture with "The Big Guy"

Making sure he knows what to bring on Christmas Eve...

One of the prizes from the games...

Day at the zoo...

Everyone in the family is starting to have an interest in photography. I think it's largely due to the beautiful images Shane captures! So with the goal of having a fun day spent together as a family and furthering our interest in photography, we decided each of us would take a camera to the Forth Worth Zoo and see what kind of images we would come up with... We had such a great time - there was not one word of complaint to be heard from anyone or talk of things like video games or when we might be leaving to go home so we could play video games... LOL!

We got to the zoo early on Saturday morning and had to wait for it to open. While waiting the boys got to watch the squirrels scurrying around gathering nuts. They got the biggest kick out of that. They might have been satisfied with that experience alone! LOL! But, when we got in the zoo there were lots of new babies to see. And, that made the short wait totally worth while! The lion cubs were very frisky that morning, they were romping, playing, fighting over food and clambering all over the mostly patient mom. We got to watch big daddy lion roar repeatedly. They thought that was awesome! The tiger cubs were mostly sleeping, but we did get to see one pretty close before leaving. The new giraffe babies were eating and sooooo cute! There was a new exhibit for penquins that they enjoyed. Brandon was a bit disappointed that the black tip reef sharks had been taken out of the aquarium because they had gotten too big. He is a major shark man. So, he had to settle for the wobbegong (?) sharks... Hey, at least they are sharks! We spent time in the reptile house. Can you say creepy??? The snakes, lizards and turtles were colorful and interesting to see. We saw birds, elephants, zebras and of course monkeys and gorillas to name a few. It was a beautiful day and the temperature was so nice for a change. We left the zoo with lots of great pictures and a fun day bonding over a shared hobby!

Here are a few of Shane's favorite photos he took:

Here are some of my favorite photos I took:

Here are some of Trevor photos:

Here are some of Brandon's photos:

Murphy's Law...

I believe I have discovered the secret to ensuring the boys' school pictures turn out great... The secret, besides doing my best at dressing them and fixing their hair, is to order the absolute smallest package allowed. When I order a big package the pictures are NEVER cute. And, it would seem the opposite is true of the small package. Since the photographers make more on reorders than they do on the original packages, I think they intentionally produce a better photograph when they see you ordered a small package... This way they can make double the money on the reorder! LOL! I doubt that's really true, but "murphy's law" does seem to apply here... As this year's pictures were really cute and I only ordered the absolute minimum... (And, an important side note - all ties were under the collar this year!)

Out of the mouth's of babes...

Tonight we were on our way home from church when Shane and I spotted a car that I can only assume was some sort of Ford Model T roadster built in the 1920's... It was a beauty and in mint condition! We wanted the boys to see it so we told them to check out the old car next to us. They said, "That IS an old car!" And then Brandon said, "It must have been built in the 80's!" Both Shane and I about died laughing. Talk about suddenly feeling old! The boys see old as back in the 1980's when Shane and I were in high school and college. All I can say is OUCH! Ah to be young again!!!

Brandon's Baptism - September 20, 2008

So for a few years now, Brandon has wanted to get baptized. But, we wanted him to wait until we felt like he really understood what he was doing. He has been our little "prayer warrior" rarely letting us forget to bless our meals and scolding those who ate before praying... LOL! He attended church camp this summer and went forward on the night when they presented the salvation message. I was there and watched him walk down the isle to the front. I couldn't help but well up with tears... So many kids walked the isle that day, I don't think there was a dry eye in the place. So, after he attended our church's "kid faith" class which gives them a chance to make sure the children fully understand their decisions, we signed him up to be baptized. We missed the original date due to hurricane "Ike". But, the wait was worth it because the weather ended up being perfect on his baptism day! My mom drove over for the event and watched him play baseball that morning. We had a relaxing afternoon stopping for lunch at Culver's. We got to the church that evening and had a meeting with all the parents and the children being baptized. While at the church, Brandon told my mom "I've got an opportunity for you... to hold my Bible" LOL! We went to the service then hurried out to see the baptism. We took a bunch of pictures of the event and got some video too! Brandon was so excited! After it was done, he inhaled deeply and got the biggest smile on his face! We asked him what he thought about it and he said, "I loved it, loved it, loved it! I want to re-enact it in the hot tub later!" We took him to La Hacienda for dinner to celebrate. GG and Papa gave him a beautiful wooden cross that was inscribed with his name and the date he was baptized. He was so proud of it, he brought it with him in to dinner. He didn't want to put it down and he was so excited to show it to everyone! This is a day he will never forget! We are so proud of Brandon and the little man he's becoming.

Labor Day weekend...

The first week of school passed without a hitch! Then, we were lucky enough to have a holiday weekend right away! We went to the lake a couple of times over the weekend. The first time we we went with our dear friends, the Rawls. We have been friends for a very long time, they are like extended family to us! Sadly, this was the first time they'd been on the boat with us all summer. But, we had a blast and hope to do it again soon!





Then we went out with our buddies, Bekah and Cassy, on Labor Day morning and got some wakeboarding in before the crazies got out on the lake!

Brandon going big!

Brandon getting some air

Trevor cruising

Trevor seat-sliding

Shane going big

Ally getting some air

First day of school

So, with much anticipation the first day of school finally arrived... The boys were excited to see all their friends and get to know their new teachers. Both of them got teachers they liked and I'm happy to say we are thrilled about their teachers this year! I feel confident this will be a great year for both of them. The school built a new wing over the summer and they moved the teachers all around. That said, Trevor is in the same exact room he was in last year! It should be very easy for him to remember where to go in the morning! And, Brandon is just one room further from where he was last year. They are both pretty much as far from the front door as they could get, so we have to make sure and get to school in plenty of time for them to make the long walk to their rooms. Thankfully, my mornings are much easier these days as I'm getting most everything ready at night which leaves me very little to do in the morning. So, everything is going smoother than in the past. We had a friend of ours staying with us the weekend before the first day of school. She is like a daughter to us, we love her bunches. It was weird having a teenager in the house and it was a glimpse of things to come. I didn't have to do crazy things to get her up in the morning, she just did it. She studied without having to be told. She drove herself to and from school. She called when she was on her way to our house. She even ate her veggies!!! LOL! It was like a dream come true!!! We got some cute photos of the first day, including one of the boys with our Bekah... Enjoy!

Bekah and the boys
(Why so sad Bekah??? Is High School that bad?)

The boys and their yearly picture with the school bear

Mrs. McCord and Trevor
(She is due Nov. 11th - close to Trevor's birthday)

Mrs. Clifton and Brandon
(They were color coordinated!)