Thursday, October 31, 2013

More October Fun

A look at our day-to-day life!

This outfit screams Jillian!  She is obsessed with all things Chevron (aka up-down/up-down) and is wearing it even on her socks.  And she loves these boots - she wears them every chance she gets (usually on the wrong feet) and this headband is on her head every chance she gets - even if it slips down on her forehead 90% of the time and the white is turning a little dingy!

This pup is equal parts playful and sweet!

Friday Night Lights with our friend Allie!  We got to see Neal's alma mater (and the girls future HS) take on my alma mater.   Kinda weird to be on the wrong side of the field for once!

Jillian snuggling with all her babies - Laura, Luke, and Maddie.

She was quite proud of this outfit and posed for as many pics as I would take, telling me that this is how she wants to pose for her album cover when she is a famous singer.



Meredith has adopted my senior jersey as a sleep shirt!

At National Night Out, I looked over to find Meredith taking on multiple hula hoops like a pro!  I didn't even know she could do it with one let alone multiple.  Go Meredy!

Jillian and I loved playing at the park with Piper and with Meredith's friend's big sisters at the park while the 1st grade cheerleaders practiced.

Meredith proudly showing off her Student of the Week sign

Jillian is such a sweet helper to me - we have been taking Grandma to doctors appointments on my days off and she is always so excited to spend time with Grandma! Love these two lovelies in purple.

Meredith got voted in to be her homeroom's student council rep this year - what an honor!  Her first big duty was making a poster telling about Red Ribbon Week.
And here are Meredith and Hannah during Red Ribbon Week - PJ Day! Silly, sleepy girls!


Jillian has these adorable Wizard of Oz dolls but she was not happy that they did not have an Emerald City, so she designed her own (with a little help from mama!)

One of my favorite pics - Meredith's the cheerleader's biggest fan!

Another shot showing Grandma's helper.  We took Grandma for a flu shot.  After just having had her own, Jillian was very concerned that Grandma would be scared, so she insisted on holding her hand throughout it!

Trick or Treat

I lucked out again with the girls wishing for coordinating Halloween costumes - their vision this year was a little harder to execute, but luckily Aunt Sandy can make ANYTHING and jumped at the chance to make these little girls happy!   Since we were still Teen Beach Movie obsessed, Meredith asked to be Leila and Jillian wanted to be Mac.  The costumes they had for the movie did not pass the mom test, so enter Aunt Sandy.  She patterned the dresses off the picture (below next to the pic of both girls) and she was dead-on I think!

Meredith as Leila - complete with an awesome black wig!

Jillian aka Mac

Pretty good, right?

Our first Halloween adventure was our church's event: First Fest - the highlight every year is visiting our Pastor's trunk for Trunk or Treat.  This year he was Elf! The girls loved it.

After trunk or treating and lots of bounce house fun, we grabbed a cousin shot with Batman and Robin
Then Halloween night we trick or treated Gigi's neighborhood with our friend Katie - we love the tradition of doing this with her each year!


Monday, October 28, 2013

We Love Zoo School

Mondays can typically be a drag, but around here Jillian and I love them!  It means it is time for zoo school!  I drop her off each Monday and have been using the time she is there to running the Trinity Trails and then doing my Bible Study at Barnes and Noble.  Then we take advantage of our zoo passes to eat lunch near Salty the Crocodile and then check out all of our favorite animals!

Posing with our favorite lunch buddy, Salty!
Jillian loves to pose with the Bonnie statue

We take lots of trips on the carousel, too - we always sit in the carriage and try to feed our horses carrots and apples to get them to carry us faster and faster!

On Columbus Day, we had a special visitor with us at the zoo!  Meredith loved getting to join us!



Halloween week, the kiddos got their faces painted like animals - so once I picked up Jillian, she was excited to go show her cheetah face to the cheetah!


Friday, October 25, 2013

Adventures of the Soccer Star

Jillian truly loved every bit of her soccer season - she adored her coach, had fun with her friends and was right in the mix of all the action of the game!  She even scored 2 goals!  It was so much fun to watch this girl play!
Posing after her first ever goal!  (I should probably add that the goal happened when only Jillian was near the unattended goal with the ball at her toes and we all had to yell and scream "Kick it in Jillian!" She first looked at us like we were speaking a foreign language and then kicked and scored!  We'll still count it - and later in the season, she had a little bit of a tougher goal score, too!)

Even frigid temperatures didn't slow this girl down.  She was ready for heavy snowfall while playing early one Saturday.

Everyone knows the best part of little kid sports is the end of the year pizza party!  This one was no exception.  The Pumas met at Cici's for pizza and medals!

Coach awarded her a medal and named her "The Quiet Storm" This girl couldn't have been prouder!

Look at that pride!

Jillian with her team - we were very blessed....mama waited until after the deadline to sign her up, so she got put on a team that had an open space, so we knew no one but this was a group full of super sweet kiddos and an amazing coach!  Go Pumas!

Saturday, October 19, 2013

Happy 35th Daddy!

We had a fun day celebrating Neal's 35th!  He took the day off of work to hang out with us and we started it off by taking Meredith lunch at school.  Then we included Piper in the celebration with a trip to the dog park.

Photography by Jillian at the dog park

Daddy with 2 of his 3 girls.

After Meredith got home from school, we continued our Hostess cupcake tradition (thankfully Hostess was back in business by the time this birthday rolled around!) Meredith dug out 2 "3's" and added 2 single candles to add up to 35.  And she was excited to sing Happy Birthday via mic.  No chance we missed hearing that! 


That evening, we picked up some friends and the four of us went out to dinner in Fort Worth and hit up the drive-in movie for a double feature.  The night became extra memorable when it got COLD.  The wives ended up abandoning the husbands and bundling up in the back of my minivan for the first movie.  The guys wised up and joined us inside to defrost for the second!  

Happiest of birthdays Neal!



Monday, October 14, 2013

1st Grade Bible Presentation

Our Children's Minister, Mr. David, holds a special program for the 1st Graders each year, presenting them with their very own Bible and praying over each kid.  Meredith was excited for this presentation - we love our church and all those that love on our kids!

Thursday, October 10, 2013

Howdy Folks!

Nothing says Fall like the State Fair of Texas!  Bubbie treated us to a trip to see The Lion King at Fair Park, which meant we could also go to the fair.  We snuck Meredith out of school a bit early and headed up to have some fun riding rides and eating fried food!


We headed straight over to check out Big Tex

Say Aahh! The girls each chose a few rides - Jillian, of course, loved the train with the hippo. 

Meredith got to be a ballerina in a Circus show - Jillian preferred to be a spectator and cheer her sister on.

After a dinner of yummy Fair food, we headed to see The Lion King - it was such a great show and the girls loved every minute!

Monday, October 7, 2013

Pumpkin Patch Family Day

For the past who knows how many years, I have taken the girls to this great pumpkin patch in Flower Mound.  We started this tradition with our playgroup and would go on a school holiday.  And since Aunt Katie and Landon were on our way out to the Pumpkin Patch, most years they came, too!  This year, we weren't going to be able to go during the week, so we decided to plan a weekend trip.  And the great added bonus: Daddies got to come too! It was fun getting to do this with both of our families - especially since we got to introduce Baby Carter to the Pumpkin Patch.

Meredith and Jillian sitting on one of the HUGE pumpkins

There is a cute pumpkin house with all these little pumpkins lining the walls.  The kids decided to load Uncle Neil down with more than he could hold.  They thought it was a hilarious game!

Besides Pumpkins, this place has bounce houses, hay rides and a train!

Meredith and Landon teamed up in one car.
Jillian was a little sad to be left out, but Uncle Neil came to her rescue and she was super excited for the extra time with him.

My biggest goal of the Pumpkin Patch day is always a cute pic of the kids on the pumpkins. It usually is a disaster (with one or both of my children crying - then if you add in a cousin or two, you know how that is going to turn out!) This year, I was pleasantly surprised!

Cousin photo! And all 4 are looking at the camera and smiling! Winner!


Just my girlies

And we of course utilized having Aunt Katie around to take a picture of the whole family

There are also tons of fun wooden cutouts for photo ops.  This one is one we do every year - so fun to see them as they grow!

How did she get so tall?

Jillian too? 

Pumpkin Patch-ing can work up an appetite, so we headed to Mooyah for dinner - the kids spent most of the time writing on the chalkboard and getting covered in chalk.  

This might be the start to a new tradition!