Christmas Advent Book Countdown

Aunt Liz (Rachael's sister) stopped by a little while ago with a gift for the boys: a basket of wrapped books to count down to Advent.  They get to open one book a night to read and count down the days until Christmas (there are 24 books).  The calendar has been marked with who gets to choose the book each night (have to take turns) and we opened and read the first one tonight (David got to choose!).  Aunt Liz has been doing this with Cousin Charlie and it is a wonderful idea!  I think that we will need to continue this tradition.....

 

 

Look what we found!

While shopping for a few things at Kohl's today, we decided to get a new ornament for everyone. Michael got a teddy bear with his initial and David got a sparkly dog. We picked out a motorcycle for Daddy and Mama got a Russian doll.

 

Fun da Middle Cupcakes

I've wanted to try the Fun da Middle cupcake mix but haven't until today.  I bought the yellow cupcake mix that has chocolate in the middle.  I really like that it only makes 12.  Of course, after I got home I realized that I didn't have any cupcake liners, so Chris was nice and went to Randall's (the nearest store) to get some.  They really were easy to mix, fill & bake.  I had a can of ivy green cupcake frosting already in the pantry to top them with.

The boys and I had cupcakes after dinner tonight.

 

 



Lost Teeth

About 3 weeks ago, David mentioned that he had 2 teeth that were loose.  We explained that it was normal and that the teeth should fall out on their own soon.  After a week of no falling out, we noticed that there was an adult tooth coming in right behind the 2 loose teeth.  We made an appointment for David to see the dentist and see if they need to be pulled or just left alone.  Daddy took David to the appointment and he did really great!  They did the normal check-up stuff and then decided that the teeth needed to go so that the one coming in would come in straight (we hope!).  David did great (according to Daddy) during the procedure and didn't have any problems with the gas.  He was eating normal foods the next day (soft foods that night) and hasn't had any problems.

 

 



First Day of School

Both boys started school on the same day this year, August 27, 2012.  David started First Grade and Michael started a Pre-K class at a local day care.  David rides the school bus to the day care for After School Care till Mama picks them up while Daddy drops them off in the mornings.

 

 

Fun

Not quite ready to fill Daddy's shoes, but trying to!

David jumping off the diving board



David's 6th Birthday

We celebrated David's birthday with just us at home this year.  Chris took the boys out to breakfast at IHOP (Mama had to be at school for inservices) then to Toys-R-Us to pick out his gift from Grandma Bambi & Grandpa Mel.

 

Gifts from Mama & Daddy

Gifts he picked out from Grandma Bambi & Grandpa Mel

New bicycle from Grandma Lela & Grandpa Dave
(Daddy helped pick it out)

 

Michael's 4th Birthday

We decided to celebrate Michael's birthday simply this year.  We got together with Chris' mom and step-dad at Gatti Town  to celebrate.  We had a cake and the boys got to play in the arcade with Daddy & Grandma after dinner.

 

Gift from Mommy & Daddy (and Sheba!)

New bicycle from Grandma Lela and Grandpa Dave
 (Daddy helped pick it out)

Dinosaur and Alligator (he picked them out) from
Grandma Bambi & Grandpa Mel

 

Zoo fun

Last Wednesday (July 25), we went to the zoo.  It was a really nice day with little to no chance of rain for the morning/day.  It was rather hot and muggy, but few people in the morning.  We got there around 9:30 and left at about 1:00.  Just as we were leaving the area, it started to rain!  Talk about good timing!  We took the boys on the carousel and through the Dinosaur exhibit.  They really enjoyed it!

Chris took some really good pictures of the animals....

Blue Bell Tour

Thursday, July 12, we drove up to Brenham to tour the Blue Bell Creamery.  Of course, the weather wasn't very good (rained pretty much the entire drive there), but traffic was rather light.  Once we got to Brenham, the rain stopped and it was nice.  They weren't very busy and we got there about 5 minutes before a tour started.  Perfect timing!!

The boys did great and had a good time.  They were making ice cream sandwiches (regular & mini sizes), fudge pops, half-gallons of several different flavors and 3 gallon tubs of Dutch chocolate. 

The boys each chose Mint Chocolate Chip for their free scoop, Chris chose Southern Blackberry Cobbler and I had Key Lime Pie.  Since additional scoops were only $1 each, I had a scoop of Christmas Cookies in July and Chris got Mocha Almond Fudge & Red Velvet Cake.

Since Bella came with a DVD player built-in, the boys got to watch Kung Fu Panda on the way there and The Incredibles on the way home.  Made for a much better trip!! 

The weather on the trip home was nice and we stopped for a late lunch in Bellville.