January

I'm still playing catch-up with my blog posts. Here are some pictures from our New Year's Eve celebration. We had a blast at the Russell's house. Thanks Clint and Jenny for hosting this fun event!
I was glad to have Rex on my team for this serious game of Star Wars Trivial Pursuit.
Even the big kids rocked the house playing Rock Band.
Daddy and Mara share a "happy new year" kiss.

December

November

I planned a little "get away" the week before Thanksgiving. We dropped the kids off at Grana & Papa's house in Burnet, and then went on to College Station for a few days. We had a wonderful time at our B&B, and reminiscing about our great times in Aggieland.
This is the beautiful "France" cottage at the 7F Lodge in Wellborn, TX. We loved staying here, and hope to return someday.
This lovely little chapel is also on the 7F Lodge property.
Grandma and Grandpa came over to our house for Thanksgiving dinner. It was unusual for us to have such a small crowd at Thanksgiving...although there were six of us...not sure why Rex and Mara aren't in this picture. The feast was great, and of course we had tons of left-overs.

Bad...Bad...Blogger!!!

I must admit that I have totally dropped the ball when it comes to updating my blog. I am ashamed that I have allowed so much time to pass since I last made an entry. Of course, things got busy with Thanksgiving and Christmas holiday activities, but that is really no excuse. Then, I simply got out of the habit of checking my blog, and before I knew it four months had passed.

I have decided that the time has come for me to make a fresh start, and double my efforts to update our blog at least once a week. I am going to begin by playing catch-up. I want to share some highlights of events in the past four months during my absence from Blogger. Stay tuned for my "Playing Catch-Up" entries...I hope to get them posted soon.

Thanks for taking the time to connect with our family in this way.

Fall Fest

The family had a blast at Fall Fest last weekend.

Our kids love to dress up. Rex was especially excited about being Anakin Skywalker this year...he grew his hair out for just this occasion. I guess his efforts paid off because several people commented that he looked just like the "real" Anakin from The Clone Wars, and he even won an award for best superhero costume. Mara was adorable as Minnie Mouse. My friend Kristy found this costume for her at a garage sale for only $1...complete with matching shoes and ears.

Daddy's band "Low Pointe" plays the festival every year. His band is made up of other men from church who like to get together every once in a while and jam. Their motto is: We play what we like, and if you like it too then that's a bonus. Their self-deprecating name stems from a reference to the name of our church congregation "High Pointe Church of Christ". The band is really quite good despite the name that would suggest otherwise.

Thanks to Grandma and Grandpa for helping me out with the kids!

Pumpkin Patch

Our family went to the Big Organge Pumpkin Farm in Celina on Saturday. The weather was beautiful, and we had a wonderful time. Mara really had a blast feeding the animals. She was not the least bit intimidated by them. Rex liked feeding the animals too, but didn't want to get too close to the cows and longhorns. Mara was the opposite. She wanted to pet them! We enjoyed a picnic, hayride, and the kids had fun riding the "train". We left the farm with two pumpkins, lots of pictures, and many fun memories.

Mara's Birthday

We celebrated Mara's 3rd birthday this month. She turned three on September 10th, but we waited until the weekend for her party. The party was supposed to be on the church playground, but we had to hold it in the gym thanks to hurricane Ike. Rain or shine, we all had fun eating pizza and cake. The kids enjoyed the pinata, and Mara loved opening her presents. Thanks to our friends and family for making her feel so special on this special occasion!

Mara's 1st Day of School

Mara attended her first day of North Texas Christian Academy preschool last Tuesday. She was so excited for school to begin, and is really loving it. She is in Mrs. Joni's class which is a combined age group of older 2-year-olds and younger 3's. I am so proud of her for adjusting quickly to this new routine. It helps that she is such an eager student since I am teaching the 4-year-olds, and my mornings are pretty hectic. I am thankful that she has had no reservations about school expectations. She is growing up so quickly. I can't believe that she will be 3-years-old tomorrow! Where has the time gone?

Back to School

Rex went back to school on August 25th. I can't believe that he is old enough for 1st grade! I am very happy that he is in Mrs. Quisenberry's class. Everyone says that she is a wonderful teacher. She has the sweetest disposition, and always has a smile on her face. She actually used to be our next-door neighbor (before Rex was born). It's nice to get connected with her again.

Rex has just completed his second week of school, and everything seems to be going well. He has received stamps in his take-home folder every day as well as earned several "paw points" for good behavior. I am very proud of his efforts thus far.

He lost his third tooth at school on Thursday. This was a surprise to me because I did not even realize that this tooth was very loose. The tooth fairy has been working overtime at our house this month, and Rex is really going to have a challenging time eating with such a large gap in his mouth.

Lost Tooth

Rex lost his first tooth on Thursday night. It was getting very loose, and the permanent tooth was already beginning to pop up behind the baby tooth. He worked hard to loosen up the baby tooth, and even tried to get it to come out by biting into an apple...no luck.

Then, at supper, we were all sitting around the table eating when he bit into a soft piece of garlic bread. He looked up in alarm, and I could see a little blood on his bread and in his mouth where the tooth had been. Sure enough, the tooth came out in that bite of bread, and he swallowed the bite, tooth and all! I looked closely at the remaining piece of bread, and we searched his mouth, but the tooth was never found...So he literally lost his first tooth.

Thankfully, he was not upset by these turn of events. He was relieved that it did not hurt or bleed much, but most of all he was relieved that the Tooth Fairy would still be able to visit him eventhough the tooth was lost.

The Tooth Fairy did pay him a visit on Thursday night, and left him two gold dollars for the lost tooth.

My Birthday

Well, I am officially 33 years old now. My birthday was on Sunday, but I got to celebrate all weekend!

I had a wonderful day on Saturday. It started out with me taking the kids to the grandparents for an overnight visit on my way to get a massage. The massage was lovely, and set the tone for the rest of the day. After that, Tim and I went to the gym. We enjoyed the pool, and then got ready for a nice evening out. We then went to see "Mama Mia", and then on to dinner at The Melting Pot. I love this place. The atmosphere is so fun, and the food is unique and delicious. I also love that it takes a long time to enjoy the full dining experience. We were there almost three hours by the time we finished our meal, but it really went by quickly as we were having such a great time.

Then, on Sunday, I enjoyed Starbuck's for breakfast before heading to church. After worship, we ate lunch at the new Cotton Patch Cafe with Tim's parents and friends from church. I treated myself to a nap on Sunday afternoon. Then, we had a great time at our small group Bible study get together. It was so nice to be back with our group after being out of town for the past month...Thanks to Clint and Jenny for the birthday cake!

I am grateful to everyone who helped me celebrate my birthday in style!

On the GO, GO, GO!!!

Wow! I can't believe how long it has been since I have posted a new blog entry. I'm so sorry for letting time slip by this summer. We have been so busy that I just haven't had time to update it. I promise to do better from now on.

Here's a little recap of our fun summer...

June was packed full of activities. We started out with the kids taking swim lessons in Plano. Then, the next week we were busy with VBS. The next week we all went our separate ways. Mara stayed the week with Grandma and Grandpa, Rex went to Burnet to stay with Grana and Papa, and Tim and I flew to Mexico for our trip to Isla Mujeres. (I'll post an entry about our trip soon) We got back from our trip just in time to wash up our clothes, repack our suitcases, and head to the Barnett family reunion over the 4th of July weekend. Then, we had another special family get together with the Dooley clan this past weekend. It's been non-stop busy, but we've been having a blast!

I am grateful that our pace is slowing down a little bit now. We have gone swimming at the pool a lot this week, and Rex has day camp for the next two weeks starting Monday. It's nice to finally be settling down into a summer routine.

Kinder Grad

Rex has officially graduated from Kindergarten! His school conducted a graduation ceremony for the kindergarteners on May 29th (eventhough he really had one more week of school to go). The ceremony was very cute. The children sang a few songs, and then each child received a certificate from their teacher. It was nice that Grandma, Grandpa, Mara, Tim and I were all able to attend. Rex's last day of school was this past Thursday. I was afraid that Rex might miss his last week when he became sick on Sunday night with a high fever. He ran a temperature for a few days with no other symptoms. We went to the doctor on Monday, and she also saw nothing wrong with him besides the temp. She said it was most likely viral, and would just have to run it's course. I was so sad that he was missing out on his last few days with his friends and his wonderful teacher. Thankfully, he was back to normal by Wednesday, so he was able to be there for the last two days. The class had a pizza party celebration on Thursday to mark the end of the year.

Where has the time gone? I really can't believe that Rex is old enough for Kindergarten, much less for first grade! I'm a little sad that this school year is over, but I am also excited for all the fun and enjoyment we are going to squeeze out of this summer!

Bulletin Board

April was Mara’s month on the two-year-old bulletin board at church. This board is posted in one of the main corridors of our church building, and it is used to highlight pictures of the precious two-year-old children in our congregation. A coordinator organizes the rotation of the board, and notifies the parents of when it’s their child’s turn. Then, the parents have the responsibility of decorating the board, and removing the pictures at the end of the month. It was a lot of fun searching through our files of pictures, and selecting the ones for her board. This process brought back so many wonderful memories! The tough part was narrowing the pictures down to the few that would be posted. As you can see…I squeezed as many pictures on the board as possible.

Soccer

Rex's spring soccer season ended last weekend. Rex went out with a bang by scoring a goal during this final game. We were very excited and proud of him. After the game, the team had a party at the park where the boys all received trophies. Thanks to coaches Leo and Greg for all their time and effort with the Wildcats!

Mother's Day

I had such a nice Mother's Day weekend. The weather was beautiful, and I had a lot of leisure time...which for me is the best Mother's Day gift of all. Sunday was a great day. After church, we went to Joe's Crabshack, and ate lunch outside on the deck. It was an ideal choice because we got to enjoy the nice weather, and the kids loved playing on the playground. That afternoon, we went for a walk in our neighborhood park. It was a banner day for the kids...two playgounds in one day! Then, we ate a picnic supper beside the pond. I love alfresco dining! I feel very blessed to have two beautiful children and such a sweet husband who made my Mother's Day so enjoyable.

Field Day

Rex had field day at his school this past Friday. He had a blast playing the games. I really liked the way the games were organized. Children in grades K-2 played in the morning from 9:30-11:00. The children were divided into groups of two and then paired up with a fifth grade helper. The helper chaperoned and assisted the participants as they moved from station to station. There was no required rotation. The children could freely choose which games and stations they wanted to visit. Each station was set up with two lanes so that the pairs could line up opposite each other and compete against their partner…so it was still competitive, but low pressure. Rex’s favorite game was some race involving water (he did this before I got there to take pictures), but I know he really had fun with the potato sack race because he went to that station twice!

Bye! Bye! Nursery

Well, the time has finally come to make over the nursery. Tim and I (with the help of our mothers and my grandmother) lovingly decorated this room before bringing baby Rex home from the hospital over six years ago.

We invested a lot of time and money creating our babyland. I bought the bedding from Rockinghorse Designs in Canton. Then, I searched all over the Dallas area to find complimentary fabric so that I could make the covers for the chair and the curtains. Grana, Nanny, and I all sewed the cushions for the glider and ottoman one weekend at my grandmother's house in Burnet. I made a pattern for the curtains and sewed them myself. Tim built the armoire and also a bookshelf (not pictured) with moon and star cut-outs that matches the stenciling on the walls. We painted the walls by making stencils out of transparency film in the desired star, and moon shapes. (We added the pink spirals later when we knew that a little girl was on the way.)

We decided to allow the children to sleep together in the same bedroom so that the extra bedroom could be used as a toy room/guest room. This really worked out great, but I had the extra challenge of making the room look both masculine/feminine and baby/toddler friendly. Luckily, the crib bedding had some pink accents, so we added the pink spirals to the wall as well as a pink cover to the changing table. I got Rex's twin bed from my grandparents. It had been stored away in an old shed for many years. I stripped the varnish off and painted it white. Then, I was fortunate enough to find yellow and blue moon and stars sheets which coordinated well with the room's theme, and a yellow/blue comforter to match. It all worked well together. Best of all, the children worked well together. They have a very close friendship, and I think sharing the room has been a big contributing factor...sniff...sniff. This is a bit of an emotional transition for me.

It's time for a change though. Rex now has a new loft bed in the once playroom. I am in the slow process of trying to convert the Americana decorated guestroom into a Star Wars themed room for him. I have removed the crib from the nursery, and Mara is now sleeping in Rex's old twin bed. I found some adorable bedding for it at Target, and plan to decorate her room in a shabby chic motif. It's fun to finally be creating a girly room for her. I'm so glad that the kids shared the nursery, but I did miss out on making her baby room adorably feminine. Stay tuned for pictures of the transformed rooms, but don't hold your breath...it might be a while.

Bluebonnet Festival

Here are a few more pictures from our weekend in Burnet. We all had a lot of fun at the Bluebonnet Festival. The kids loved the parade and the carnival. I really enjoyed seeing so many friends and family. Small towns are great that way. I also loved the airshow. It was my first time to go to an airshow, and the planes were very impressive. I think the kids and I are hoping we can participate in the festival activities again next year. Thanks Grana & Papa for a great weekend!

Weekend in Burnet

Sorry it has been a while since I've updated the blog. We have been busy this month. Tim had his semi-annual paintball retreat in East Texas last weekend. The rest of us took advantage of the long weekend (Rex had a school holiday on Monday), and went to visit Grana & Papa in Burnet.

It was a beautiful spring weekend. We enjoyed the sunny weather, but the wind made things chilly at times. We went to the Bluebonnet festival on Saturday, church in Marble Falls and visited great-grandparents on Sunday, then out to Lake Buchanan on Monday before heading back to McKinney. It was all a lot of fun.