First Dance Performance

 This morning we turned Catherine into a princess for her first dance performance.  As we were driving to the downtown square she asked, "Why are we not at my class?"  She thought everyone was going to watch her at the dance studio in her classroom.  The stage set up in the downtown square with lots of people was not what she had in mind!

 Catherine with her dance teachers before the show.  They tried to get her to smile but she was not a happy princess.

 It was time to go back stage and get ready.  She did not want a red Rudolph nose and was not interested in going on that stage in front of all those people. 

 I was able to calm her down and took this picture as I walked away.  She was giving me the "how can you do this to me" look!

 Then Cousin Drew came back stage and told Catherine she was excited to see her dance.  Look....a smile!!  Cousin Drew saved the day!

 Catherine showed Cousin Drew ALL her dance moves!  She did awesome!  At the end as the girls were exiting the stage, Catherine stayed to enjoy all of us cheering for her.

 She got beautiful flowers from daddy after the show.  Eric told her that dancers get flowers after a good performance.  She said, "Daddy I don't want flowers.  I want a tree".

 We enjoyed the downtown square Christmas Festival after the show.  Uncle Andrew celebrated with her on the merry-go-round.

Papa celebrated by taking them on the Christmas train.  He wished he had known she wanted a tree!

Thanksgiving 2013

 Happy Thanksgiving from the beautiful kid table.  Nana decided to use all her good china this year and fortunately nothing got broken!  Whew.

 Nana had everything written down for the big feast and she was so organized.

 Elizabeth and Sarah were great little helpers.  The kids spent the night with Nana and Papa to help prepare all the food.  They love to cook and had so much fun.

 Turkey turkey and more turkey!  The main turkey was 24.5 pounds!  Uncle Andrew and Uncle Dan also fried a 13.8 pound turkey.

 Papa also had little helpers cleaning the silver.

 We went to visit Great Papa and brought all the desserts.

 The kids received pictures of their animals that Papa sponsored for each of them at the Heard Museum.

Happy Thanksgiving 2013.

Thanksgiving Feast

Aggieland

We had a nice relaxing weekend in College Station.  The weather was so beautiful.  The kids enjoyed going to the Aggie vs UTEP football game and playing at TAMU Research Park. 

We were excited Uncle Andrew and Cousin Drew came too!

Aggie Brothers

Catherine fell asleep for most of the football game but she was wide awake by midnight for hot chocolate at Denny's.

Sunday we went to the A&M vs #5 Florida volleyball game.  Sarah was super excited even though the Aggies lost.

Happy Halloween 2013

Halloween Dance Party

Catherine likes to pick out her own clothes and fix her own hair every morning.  I helped her get ready this morning for her dance party but she did not approve of the bun.

 

She forgot about the hair-do once she got to class!

Happy 14th Birthday to Elizabeth

Pumpkins

Dallas Symphony Orchestra

William looking good today on his 3rd grade field trip to the Dallas Symphony Orchestra.

Confirmation Retreat

It was a gorgeous weekend for Sarah's Confirmation Retreat.  We departed after school on Friday and spent the weekend at Sky Ranch.  Our first stop was dinner here (picture above) in Alba, TX.

Alba, TX

We played Aggie poker while we waited on dinner.

Sky Ranch in Van, TX.  We stayed in a cabin with 26 people, 3 showers and memories to last a lifetime!

6th Grade Confirmation Class with their Confirmation leader and youth pastor.

We did lots of lessons, fun activities and the weather was picture perfect.  It was chilly in the evenings but we had hot chocolate and enjoyed the camp fire.  Above picture of Sarah leading her team across the river trying to keep the sharks away.

My favorite activity was this swing out over the water.  Yes, that is me in the middle!

Sarah's favorite activity was canoeing.

Sarah was scared to death in this picture.  We are about to climb the tower to go on the zip line.

She made it !  I was able to get my camera out at the end and take her picture.  She loved it and wanted to go again!

The car ride home was entertaining!  She has lots of stories to tell!