This Week

I've had such a good time with the kids being out of school this week.  This is them braving the cold to go grocery shopping on Monday.  I was glad to get that out of the way early so we could play all week.

We went to the Owl's Nest on Monday.  It's a toy store in Southlake Town Square that the kids love.  I wanted to get Abby an outfit to wear to the Carroll Playoff game on Friday since Aaron had his new shirt from the Cottons.  The kids played with the grocery store, kitchen and train tracks while I shopped. 

 

They had swim Monday night.  Abby did a really good job.  Her swimming is really coming along.

On Tuesday we met Asa and Erin Vande Zande at the Aquarium. 

While we waited for them the kids played on this space in the mall where you jump on things and it changes the pictures.  There are games, too.

In the Aquarium Bubble.

Abby's new Dragon shirt.  Love.  The Owl's Nest has custom stuff I haven't seen anywhere else.  They have super cute custom Dragon dresses, but they didn't have any small enough for Abby this week.  Their Dragon Shop changes each week. 

We also got Aaron's hair cut on Tuesday and he got a mint.  He's such a big boy.  He goes in and tells them his name and goes back by himself.  He does a great job.  He is afraid of hair dryers and he always tells the stylist.

I started cooking for Thanksgiving on Tuesday.  This is the cranberry sauce.  I did it in the crock pot this year which was nice.  It turned out really well.

 

 

On Wednesday we went to Chuck E Cheese for lunch.

Aaron is really into the games now.  This is a snow boarding one where you 'drive'.  He stayed on this most of the time.  He is also SOOOO into Chuck E.  He loves to do the Chuck E Cheese dance.  When he got done one time he went up and hugged Chuck E and told him to please wait while he got his sister.  Then he ran to the back of the place where Abby was playing and brought her back to get a hug from Chuck E.  Love that kid!

The kids stamped the Christmas Cards for me.  Aaron was SO diligent and the stamps were perfectly straight and in exactly the right place.  And then there was Abby.

 

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving and I am so thankful for this family and our extended family and our unbelievable friends and our church.  We have a laid back day planned and I look forward to sweet together time.

Happy Thanksgiving to you!!!

Abby

 Last week was PJ day at my mom's group.  Fun fact:  Julie Elliott gave her the bow for her birthday, Robert Elliott bought her the PJs in Las Vegas and the slippers used to be Katie Grace Elliott's.  We are the Allens, fully supported by the Elliotts

 The other day she put stickers all over her shirt and I wanted to take a picture to send to Grandma Sheri since she bought her the stickers. I couldn't see them very well so I told her to lift her arms.  As soon as she did it she began to twirl around.  I love her.  I love people who say boys and girls aren't different.

 We are going on a Disney Cruise in January and I found this cruise outfit that says 'Ahoy Minnie' on the blazer.

Another fun, random fact:  Abby loves V-8 juice. Tomato juice.  She guzzles it.  That is all. 

The end of the weekend

 On Sunday we went to church.  This was when we were waiting for Aaron's Sunday School teacher. Aaron is doing great in regular service and was able to tell me a few things the pastor talked about.

 After lunch and naps...

 We finished decorating the tree.  Aaron is so proud of it and he takes Abby in there and tells her what each of the ornaments is and where it came from.  I heard him say, "Abby, this is Cambridge, Ohio.  Grandpa Tom and Grandma Sheri live there.  This is College Station, Texas.  We went there for Thanksgiving when you were a baby."

He's melting my heart these days!

More Saturday

Family Fun Saturday continued after the house decorating.

We babysat one of our favorites, Asa!  The kids love him!

And since it was a game day we dressed him in Aggie gear.  I couldn't get away with this will all of my friends, but he sure was a cute Aggie!

LOVE this picture of game watching

Later we got dressed in some warm Christmas clothes to go to the Tree Lighting in Southlake Town Square.  Aaron grabbed Jory's hat which was laying on the table.

It was SOOO cold.  There were some fake snow flurries, and you would have just assumed they were real.

But Aaron really enjoyed the festivities.

He was disappointed that Rudolph wasn't there.

He loved the big countdown to the lighting and it was so amazing when the switch was flipped and the square was lit up!

Weekend, Take Two

So this is a little backwards because this is actually Friday, which was a great kickoff to a great weekend.  Carroll is in the football playoffs and ever since Aaron started at Carroll he has been fascinated with the games.  He finally got to go to his first game a few weeks ago and he's hooked.  We had planned on going as a family to the first playoff game last weekend, but things got messed up and it didn't work out.  So, Aaron and Jory were planning to go to the second playoff game on Friday.  Leslie Cotton brought Aaron this new shirt on Friday to wear to the game.  And he took a two hour nap and he was so excited and rested and ready...AND...it was freezing.  Which was okay, except that it was raining and the game was an hour away and didn't start until 7 and over where the game was they were calling for some bad road conditions with the freezing rain and all and Jory just had no idea when they would ever get home which isn't appealing late on a Friday night with a four year old.

So Jory had to explain to Aaron that they couldn't go.  Aaron told him that he wasn't afraid of the cold and he had a coat and, look, I've got my Dragons shirt on.  Oh my word.  Break my heart.  Aaron was disappointed, but when Jory asked him to trust him he handled it with such grace.  I was very proud of him.

Then he asked if they could go somewhere real quick if they wouldn't be on the roads too late. Sooo...Bass Pro got a sweet visitor Friday night. 

We really do love Bass Pro's Christmas set up.  Everything is free. 

 

Including pictures with Santa!  Jory took this one with his phone, but we have an official Santa picture in hard copy that Bass Pro took.  It's so cute!

There are all kinds of activities...

and crafts.

Aaron had a fantastic time.  And Saturday morning he found out that the Dragons won and will be playing this Friday at Cowboy Stadium.  It's in the afternoon, and inside, and Jory's off work so we can all go as a family!  The Cottons are coming too and we are so very excited.  We have a fun filled Thanksgiving weekend planned!

Weekend, Take One

I have SOOOO many pictures from this weekend.  A few posts will be forthcoming. We had such a great weekend with the kiddos.  They are really getting to ages that it's just so fun to do things with them.  On Saturday we started decorating for Christmas.  It was a COLD day and we didn't have plans and it seemed like perfect timing.

The kids wore matching PJs and we found a great Christmas station on the iPad and we made hot chocolate in special mugs!

The kids played with this Little People manger that Kim and John got Aaron for his first Christmas.  That is Aaron reading the instruction manual.  I kid you not.  He looks at the pictures and replicates.  (Enter Bob Knox joke).

Hot cocoa in Snowmen Mugs by the fire! With marshmallows!

Aaron playing with the tower he got from John and Kim for his first Christmas.  He loves this thing.  He builds it up and then knocks it down, but after we went to a tree lighting where they counted down from 10 before they 'lit the town', he started doing a big countdown before the demolition.

First ornament!

Second ornament.  This was a nutcracker and he was excited about it after ICE!.

Ummm...third ornament.  It doesn't get old.

All bundled up to go buy a few things we needed to finish decorating.

Love this picture.  The kids had a fantastic time decorating with us.  It was such a joyful day.