First Day of School

The First Day of School last fall was momentous for us - Morganne started middle school this year!

 She was thrilled - not a bit nervous to move to sixth grade.

 And my beautiful girl hopped out of the car and barely waved goodbye.  I so wanted to roll the window down and yell, "I LOVE YOU MORGANNE!!! HAVE A GREAT FIRST DAY OF 6TH GRADE!"  She would have died.

 I could barely get a picture out of this guy.  Jack started 4th grade with Mrs. Hillerich - Morganne's 4th grade teacher.

 Yep - he was not thrilled with me taking a picture outside of his classroom.  Bye mom.

 And this gorgeous guy - he started his second year at Council Oak Preschool with Ms. Gwen & Ms. Joy.

 There is no hesitation - he loves going back to school after the summer off - in fact, after a few weeks, was asking to go everyday - he's most upset when it's Tuesday and not a "school day".

 So what's a mom to do once all three kids are back in school but celebrate!!!  Chuy's, Texas Martini's and girlfriends!

Easter 2012 - Yes, I know it's October.

Um, yes, you read that right - I am doing a post on Easter in October. I had all the pictures loaded but never actually posted them - so here goes.

Let's just hope I can remember what we did for Easter.....

Oh yes, the Easter Bunny came and left a bunch of eggs in our front yard this year.  This was weird, since he normally leaves them inside the house.....

This crew was excited nonetheless, but had barely any time to "hunt" as we had to get to Church.

My sweet 11 year old girl!

My boy who rarely smiles - this one borders on a genuine one though!

And this little man - off in a world of his own making.

And the hunt is on!

Ok -- I know that was overload, but I couldn't bring myself to delete even ONE picture.  I can't with a subject that cute!!

What Does it Take to Make a 9 Year Old Boy Smile?

Anyone else have this problem?  No matter how many pictures I take, I can't get my middle son to smile for me.

Come on Brody - give a REAL smile...... looks painful, right?

Last month, at his award ceremony at school - I get these set of lovely pictures -

 The bored look

The yep-just-give-me-my-award look

The I-won't-look-up-because-I-know-mom-is-taking-my-picture look

Just-get-this-over look

OK-I'll-throw-you-a-fake-one look

No matter what I did, I could not get a REAL smile out of him.

Until I asked him to take a picture with his teacher.........

There we go - Brody has a thing for Brunettes!

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For remembrance sake - I snapped a picture of this essay he wrote - totally made Matt's day (you know, since he's the big "hunter" now).

Ah, my boy - no matter how old he gets, he will always still be fascinated with the trains.....

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Not exactly the Christmas we expected....

Hello friends.  It has been a few weeks since I have blogged (thank goodness for scheduled posts, right?).  As much as I tried to not let the Holidays get the most of me and focus on the true meaning of Christmas, the entire season grabs a hold of you and you can't let go!  We had so many fun plans - Holiday parties, Programs, the North Pole Flyer, the Elf Quote-a-long, Sissy's PJ Exchange...all so much fun!  

And then we received sad news a few days before Christmas.  Matt's beloved Grandma ~ Grandma Darling ~ passed away.  There was no hesitation - we loaded up the car immediately and headed to Illinois.  The kids were resilient - no hesitation - and they survived a 15 hour drive through the night to arrive there by 5 am.  

It was a bittersweet Christmas - great to be around family but sad to be there for that occasion.  Grandma Darling was an amazing woman - with so many who loved her.  We had a wonderful memorial service for her and I was very glad we were able to be there.  We were so very blessed by God to have her in our lives as long as we did.

Of course we had the question form the kids...."Will Santa still come to Illinois?"  And after my kids' crazy requests in their letters and the even crazier conversation they had with Santa, I received many questions as to what Sissy did get from Santa.

Both expecting what they asked for, Brody even wrote this letter and snuck it next to the cookies before he headed to bed Christmas Eve......

 The next morning, Santa was very good to my kids, leaving them a XBox 360 with Kinect and 3 games!!! WOW!!  He left little Bubba a fun Chuggington train set.  Brody was so excited, he didn't even ask about the go-cart.

Sis took a minute - had a hard time realizing that Santa didn't bring her an iPad - she rallied and didn't say much about it all morning.

Later that morning, we found 2 last presents to give to the kids.....

Brody was puzzled as to what was in the box but Sissy saw the picture right away and knew what it meant....

 He looked at the picture of the go-cart and then looked at me and said, "Well, I didn't want a picture of it!!"

"Honey, the real thing is at home in the garage."

"YES!!!!!!"  My boy was on cloud nine - Is it bad that I am happy that Mom & Dad put him them, and not Santa?

 Sissy, seeing where this was going, tore into her present as quickly as possible. I think she was expecting a picture of an iPad.....

 Though she never said that and was THRILLED to received money from her mom & dad to help her buy an iPad.

 She quickly grabbed some wrapping paper to add up how much she has saved already.  With her little entrepreneurial spirit, she has almost enough - she sold some old DS games and American Girl stuff, took care of our neighbors dog, and received more $$ for Christmas presents.  She has a few dog walking jobs lined up over the next week that will hopefully take her to the top to EARN her own iPad - the ONLY way she was going to get one.

We faced a long drive home and Brody was so patient, as he had to wait 15 hours to charge the dang thing.  But he finally got out on his go-cart. Have you ever seen him smile so much??

One day Bubba- one day.

Linking up with my girls - Shawn & IA for Talk To Us Tuesday!  Link your post up - there's no rules and no work!!

Happy 2012 from The Texas Darlings!!

We had a wonderful 2011 - Check out our re-cap!

Why Can't Santa Just Make Me an iPad?

Each year, I anxiously await the kid's "Santa Letters".  I give them no help, just the encouragement to write them via Day 3 of the Advent Calendar.  I seriously love their creativity and it just gets better & better each year.

This year, they topped themselves.  I am seriously in love with these kids and they way they go about "asking" for presents:

"If you are asking what I want for Christmas, here it is!" or "Thank you for your time & consideration".

Ever the polite girl.....

Not this one:

 So he asks me, can you please can this letter in and email it to Santa?  I want to keep the original here for him to sign?  Um, sure buddy......

So, an iPad AND a Go-Cart? When did my 10 & 9 year old jump to the "expensive gifts"???  Wasn't it just yesterday they were asking for Littlest Pet Shops and Thomas the Train Sets????

We have had several conversations about why Santa might not bring these items.....Santa has a budget, Santa & Mom have to agree on presents, Santa might not be able to get his hands on an iPad......  I don't want them getting their hopes up when Santa might not be able to deliver.....

Sis, ever the clever one, had a conversation with me about this on Saturday..... Mom, why can't Santa just make me an iPad?  Like, go out into his woods and get all the material he needs??

Yeah Apple, why can't Santa make her an iPad????

Yes, she is in 5th grade, yes, she should know by now, and yes, this mom still loves that she believes (she has 2 younger brothers y'all - if she asks, I'll tell her!!).  So there.  How do I explain this one?  Cause believe me, Santa has a budget in this family of 3 children!

Linking up with my girls, Shawn & Impulsive for Talk To Us Tuesday.....give me your advice Mommas!!



On another note.....
Do you have a past post about Holiday travel or Holiday events in your area?  R We There Yet Mom is looking to post about Holiday events that you have done!  Super easy, especially if you have already written a post about it, and it's a great way to get traffic back to you & your blog!  Let me know by emailing me at rebecca@rwethereyetmom.com - thanks!