TEN!!

I can hardly believe my baby girl turned ten today. Double digits! Wow!

In lieu of a party or big present, Avery and I went with her best friend Maya (whose birthday is the day after Avery's) and Maya's mom to see Cirque Dreams Jungle Fantasy at the Long Center. The show was fantastic! We were both amazed and a little nauseated by the acrobats. After the show, we took the girls for pizza at Mangia's.





Then last night, we had Papa, Ronnie, Nonnie, Poppie, Maya, and Benjamin come over for pizza and cake.



Maya and Benja stayed for a sleepover, and the kids had great fun watching movies, jumping on the trampoline, and playing. They woke up to Dunkin Donuts this morning, and Avery had a pretty steady stream of calls and visitors all day. She's a pretty lucky girl to have so many people that love her!

Finished!

Almost nine months behind schedule, I finally finished Griffin's 3rd birthday quilt. It has been about an hour of work away from being finished since his birthday, but I just couldn't get motivated to finish it. Part of my procrastination could be traced to Griffin's attitude toward the quilt. "I don't want it" and "I don't like it" has been his mantra since I unveiled it at his birthday. (Aren't three-year-olds adorable?) Well, he doesn't hate the finished product, and even though he'd never admit to it, he seems to enjoy sleeping with it. I'm happy with the way it turned out too and proud that I finally finished my first quilt!

Chuy's Parade

The Chuy's Parade is one of our favorite annual Austin events. The Saturday after Thanksgiving, the we always get up early and head downtown to get a good spot on the parade route. Well, this year, Griffin threw a wrench in the whole plan. We've been having trouble getting him to get dressed to leave the house, and parade day was no exception. He flat-out refused to put on his clothing, even with the parade held as a carrot to encourage him to dress. We lost a lot of time in negotiations with him and, in the end, just threw him in the car in his pajamas and grabbed some extra clothes. Long story short, the sight of the excited children waiting for the parade was enough to entice him to get dressed and leave the car, but by the time we made it down to Congress, the parade was starting. Needless to say, we didn't manage to procure a prime spot. It's hard to see much when you're a kid stuck behind several rows of ADULTS in chairs. So our parade enjoyment was hampered. We watched for a while, then donated our toys and headed out to eat lunch. Too bad, but hopefully Griffin will cooperate a little better next year. That, or we'll start dressing him the night before!

Crazy kids

San Antonio Getaway

We are all very proud of Bill, who got a promotion last month. He is finally, for the first time in almost eight years, working a normal Monday through Friday work week! As if that wasn't enough, he was given a week off before transitioning to the new job. We felt like we'd won the lottery! We took advantage of his free vacation and we spent a couple of days in San Antonio with Mamar and Doc. We played and shopped on the Riverwalk, swam at the indoor pool at the hotel, ate yummy Mexican food, and visited the Natural Bridge Wildlife Ranch on the way home.

Waco Zoo revisited (again!)

In mid-November, we visited the Waco Zoo again. We love that zoo...it's just the perfect size and it's never crowded. The November afternoon we picked was the perfect time to go -- beautiful weather, gorgeous fall color, and we pretty much had the zoo to ourselves.

The leaves, the leaves! (And the bright blue sky was nice too.)


Admiring the animals...


And playing on the playground.

Study hall

A couple of weeks ago, we took our turn to host a little study hall day here. I have to admit, I was nervous. Some days homeschooling with three kids is trying...the thought of doing it with eight kids was a little unnerving. Well, I needn't be concerned -- it was a terrific day! The kids all studied diligently, finished their work, played, and even had a little impromptu music practice.

Fall Ball Tournament

The weekend after Halloween, Rhys's t-ball team had their end-of-season tournament. The team did really well and ended up winning second place. Go Astros!

And one more...

...for posterity:



I think the kids -- well at least Avery and Rhys -- will remember election night for a long time. We went to watch the returns with friends, and the kids stayed up to watch Obama's acceptance speech. They were very excited, and although I'm not sure they fully grasp the historic nature of this election, I'm glad they got to witness it. Yes, we did!

Halloween

This year, the kids had three different Halloween events. First, we went to the country club with Dad and Ronnie for their Halloween party and hayride through the golf course. Then we had a fabulous party on Halloween morning with friends. The kids ate pizza and goodies and played for hours. Then, that night, we went Trick-or-treating.

Griffin was very excited about Halloween this year. He had very definite ideas about his costume, and requested that I make him an Underdog costume. I got him a cape and made him an Underdog shirt and the cutest doggie ears you've ever seen. I also got some face paint to paint his little nose black. I'm sharing all the details, because I don't have a photo. Why, you ask? Because, after all the effort that went into making the costume, he flat-out refused to wear it. In typical three-year-old fashion, he wouldn't even try it on! So, last minute, we ended up digging through the dress up box and he chose to wear a Native American costume. *sigh*

Joan of Arc, Racer X, and a naughty little Native American:

Hello!

Wow, I've gotten really behind, which Avery has been happy to point that out every day. Life has been very busy lately. Good, but busy. I'll go ahead and post a whirlwind recap of what we've been doing the past month or so....