December 28

Wow! It has been a while. Sorry about that! Between PTA, the crazy three year old, the silly seven year old and the wacky 40 year old, work, new best friends and everything else, this has kind of been neglected. So, to catch up, I thought I would post some of my favorites from the last few months. Hopefully I can get back into the swing of this next year. One of the things on my "Resolutions" list. Ha!!

First Days of School

The kids and I in our school shirts.

We went with a group of friends to the pumpkin patch in October.

The boys...

What I would give for one good pic of the two of them...

They also had animals. Allie was not too fond of the smell...

Lance got a new bike and Jeff took him to the bike/skate park. He had a great time riding the dirt paths.

Lance getting Star Reader of the month.

About a third of the group at Scare on the Squre on Halloween.

The girls. Love these ladies!!

Allie and her best friend Carson.

The girls after New Moon.

Thanksgiving - we went to the playground at Jeff's old elementary school to burn off some energy.

The Christmas card pic.

Christmas Eve. We had our first Christmas by ourselves this year. The Blizzard of 09 had hit Oklahoma and we were in Texas. We had to wait a couple of days to make it up there, but had a good time just spending time as a family at home. Love these kiddos!

OK, that is it for now. I promise to (try to) do better next year!

Lots...

I have been terrible at this lately. Summer has just kept us too busy!! Anyway, here are a bunch. Hope you enjoy!

July 14 The kids enjoying a day at the pool. We have done that lots the summer. It is the first time we have had a pool to go to and we are taking full advantage of it! They are my little fish!


July 17 We took care of my parent's dog for two and a half weeks while they went on a road trip. Allie loves Dakota. Not so sure it is mutual, but she does tolerate Allie's hugs and gives kisses in return.

July 17 You know you have a diva when it is 100 degrees outside and your daughter HAS to wear her feather boa in the car.

July 18 We surprised the kids with a trip to the new Lego store at the mall. Lance had a fun time looking at them all. Best of all, they both got to bring something home!

July 18 I got the sewing bug and decided to make Allie a little pillowcase dress. I had enough material left over to make a headband and a matching dress for her doll Lula.

July 21 First day of swim lessons - well second actually, but the first day was rained out. Allie was showing off her "woggle goggles".

July 22 We went back to OKC for a funeral and had dinner with Jeff's parents, sister and her kids. This is Jeff and Morgan. We don't get to see them very much and were glad we got to, even if it was just for a little while!

July 23 More swimming lessons. They were pretty far away from me, but here is how the conversation went in my mind... "Allie, put your hands above your head. No, not on your head, above your head." Then it turned into a discussion about putting her head under the water, to which she calmly refused. Silly girl!

July 23 Some of the prettiest eyes I know...

July 24 I went to Austin with a couple of my PTA girls for the State Convention. We of course had a blast. No kids, no hubbies, just the girls. They were nice enough to walk with me to check out Mellow Johnny's Bike Shop and Juan Pelota Cafe which are owned by Lance Armstrong. Unfortunately, they were both closed, but I got to see them beofre Jeff, so I was happy. And, just FYI for those of you following along, my son Lance is not named after Lance Armstrong. He is named after my Jeffrey Lance. LOL!!

July 29 Finally got some pics of Lance at swim classes. He spent most of his time under the water, so he was hard to actually catch. His coach was giving him pointers here, so I jumped at the shot. It is one of the very few where you can see that it is him.

July 29 OK, so picture one of the male swim coaches (Allie's coach actually) letting out what can only be described as a girl scream. Turns out, this was in the pool... Texas man...

July 30 Allie showing off her new swimsuit.

August 1 We ran a few errunds this day and ended up at a little park in Allen, TX. They have a bunch of little play houses for the kids to play in and a maze to go through. We have seen it many times before, but had never taken the time to check it out. The kids ended up having a great time and we stayed for quite a while. Definately a place to burn off some energy the next time we are there!

August 4 We finally got to have our summer vacation. Jeff took the week off and we went to San Antonio and Sea World. We got there at about 9:45 and helped them open the park. We left around 8:15 when they are closing the park. We went to every show (even one at night) and spent a couple of hours at the water park. We only rode one roller coaster, the Shamu Express, because we ran out of time, which Lance and Jeff were a little upset about, but got over pretty quickly. The kids absolutely loved it and Allie left crying because she was going to miss Shamu. Luckily, she has a couple of reminders of him she got to take home. Hopefully we will get to back next year and check out the things we missed!

July 9

July 9 A friend of mine asked me to take some pictures of her daughter, so of course while I was there, I took some pics of my kids. Allie had a hard time because EK had a bunch of scarves and hats that she wanted to wear. EK is at that age where germs are a big deal and she didn't want to share, so Allie threw fits. Luckily, they were cute fits. Lance is a trooper. He helped lug the bags around, never complaining. All of this, in 104 degree temps! They were well rewarded afterwards with Braums ice cream.

July 4

4th of July We were true McKinney-ites today. We went to the parade and car show downtown, then had lunch at Spoon's Cafe for the first time. It was quite yummy! After that, we came home and slept for a couple of hours. Then it was off to the soccer fields for Red, White and Boom. There were tons of booths with free stuff - even a church that had a booth set up to make tie die t-shirts. The kids LOVED that. There were a bunch of bounce houses and face painting and games. We ate dinner, played frisbee and sat on our blanket and watched fireworks. I just love living in such a great community.

July 1st and 2nd

July 1 Another trip to the sprinkler park!



July 2 We had a play date at the mall today. Of course the kids can't go to the food court without riding the carousel.

June 28

June 28 A quick trip to the Sno Cone Lady in Frisco. So yummy, even I like them. Of course who wouldn't like Wedding Cake sno cones???