Spelling Bee Champ

Updates on Clifton -
Still working very hard on his spelling bee words.  Any free minute we get he wants me to quiz him on words.  His spelling bee is this Friday.

Updates on McKay -
Still enjoying school and has made a good group of friends!

Updates on Stanley -
I was talking to my friend on the phone and jokingly said that they are coming to visit tomorrow and I guess I need to get the house clean.  Stanley loves their son Brody and overheard that.  I went to put Hazen down for a nap and I came out to this!  I exclaimed "what are you doing?"  He said I am helping clean the house so Brody can come over tomorrow.  I can't be mad at that.  He sure misses his Washington friends.

Updates on Hazen -
Seemed to be getting back to his normal self with the antibiotics.  He then got a cough and seemed extra tired then Sunday night he had a rash that appeared.  It concerned us but decided to wait till the morning to take him in to the doctors.

Alex headed out of town for work for the first time since we moved here!
Hazen and I spent Monday and Tuesday recovering and cuddling. And started feeling like ourselves again Wednesday, just time time for our car to not start (and of course it happens when Alex is out of town)!  Thank heavens we live close enough to the school and that we have really kind and helpful neighbors.

And that we live close enough to walk to a mechanic.  So glad it was a quick and easy fix.  sO we could get out and play that night.

Texas sure knows how to celebrate.  Such a fun free event.  And it ended with fireworks!

And I realized this is the first time my kids have seen a firework show and they were blown away.

Light the World this week.

Christmas cards to missionaries.

 Picking out gifts for children at the homeless shelter.

 Making each others beds.

 Donating toys to the homeless shelter.

 Making cookies for neighbors.

 Paying for the car behind us.

Donating canned food.
My favorite traditions by far.  Serving feels so good!

Friday was the big day! Clifton and I were filled full of nerves.  He handled it well!  Thankful for new friends that offered to take my younger two so I could go cheer him on.

And all his hard work paid off when he won!  Wow I am so proud of him.  He hates pubic speaking (he gets it form me) and rocked it.   I think I was more nervous in the crowd than he was up there on the stage.   Now to start studying for districts!  He will compete again in January against three school districts and has a 4,000 word list to study!

Saturday morning Clifton, McKay and I ran in the school district Reindeer Romp.  So much fun!  Clifton. McKay and I ran the 1 mile together.  Then Clifton and I ran the 5k separately.  My time was decent (slowed down a little since moving here) but Clifton blew me away!  He ran the 5k in 30 minutes.  Pretty soon he will be faster than me.  For now I will enjoy the fact that I am still faster ;)

Such a fun morning and so well attended.  This will be a new tradition for sure!

Not a bad view on our run.

Another fun winter festival.  Games and Christmas parade.

Another fun evening!

Sunday we went to the churches nativity.

Glad there is one close, its another tradition I'd like to keep.

Other things from the week.

 I am officially a teacher again!  I now teach English online in the mornings with VIPkids.

 Cute workout partner.

The sunrises here are beautiful!  My kids say they are like rainbows.

Updates on Clifton -
Getting really good at the spieling words for the spieling bee.  We had a competition between him, Alex and I and he tied me.  I am excited to watch his hard work be put into play.

Updates on McKay -
She has stayed the healthiest out of us all but her eyes have been bugging her, dry and irritated maybe due to the drier weather.

Updates on Stanley -
Also caught a cold but seemed to manage it better than Hazen and I.

Updates on Hazen -
Another cold for Hazen that turned into strep and ear infection.  Poor guy seems to be getting the new germs the worst.

The kids have the whole week off of school so we packed it full of fun.  Monday we meet up with our friends, the Hovley's, from Washington that were visiting family in Texas.   We decided to meet at Magnolia Farms.

 Man it was so good to see a friend.  We miss our Washington friends SO much.

 The bakery was the best bakery I have ever been to (not that I have been to many but still).  The cupcakes are amazing!  The pumpkin spice one still has me drooling.

 We spent most of our time on the grassy area catching up.  The walked the market and seed store.  It was a lot smaller than I had expected but cute.

Then lunch at Czech Stop to try the famous kolaches. Such a wonderful day!

Then that night we celebrated our Treasure cat.

She's been ours for 3 years now and obviously loves every minute of living with us.  We sure do love her!

Tuesday we went to explore Fort Worth Botanic Gardens.  We were on a mission to find a beautiful place to take baptism pictures.  We found the right place.  The Gardens were HUGE!  Like 15 different gardens.  We walked a good 2 miles and didn't see it all.

 Found this guy just hanging out.  It was as big as my hand.
My top baptism pictures...

 Man I miss the fall colored trees!

Such a beautiful girl!

Wednesday we headed over to a place my kids have been eyeing since we moved in.  Main Event a bowling alley, arcade, ropes course, laser tag, billiard, restaurant, all you need in one stop place.  We bought an all day pass for bowling so we made sure to make the most of it.

 Clifton and McKay trying out the ropes course.

 While these guys ran around pretending to play arcade games.

McKay was so scared on the ropes course and I was no help from the ground.  Clifton was sweet and tried to help, but the worker went the extra mile.  She was very patient and promised McKay an incentive if she finished the course.  McKay was thrilled and it sure made me happy to watch her do something she was scared off and the sweet worker who give McKay love when she could have just made her get off.

We bowled three times that day.  Before nap, after nap, and the after dinner with Dad.  Got to make sure we use that all day pass!

When we went back we had to try to their HUGE dessert, the Big Fun Super Sundae.

Thursday was Thanksgiving!  Our first time away from family since college, over a decade!  Alex went to the wards turkey bowl and then we headed to play kickball.  It was supposed to be a neighborhood family kickball thing but it was canceled because of chance of rain!  It didn't rain but was nice and muddy, just the way I like it.

 We had a blast.  I think we just made a new tradition!

 The kids helped pick out the fancy paper plates and plastic cups cause that's how fancy I get.  I didn't ruin dinner and everyone ate!  Success.

 My Thanksgiving shirt.  I love green beans.

 Adorable!

 This guy just climbed into Daddy's lap and passed out.

Ended the day Facetiming family.  Thank heavens for FaceTime and ways to still keep connected.

Friday we got to go to Alex's work and look around.  I wasn't allowed to take pictures so this is just a picture from google.  But it was so cool and there was a lot of history in the building which really touched my heart.  My grandpa worked at Lockheed and he would have loved to walk this with us.

Then we came home and got the Christmas Tree and Light the World count down up.

So excited for the Christmas season and all the magic and love it brings.

Saturday we had to change up plans because Hazen wasn't feeling well so we did something outside and  nothing real adventurous.  Sundance Square for lunch.

Stanley is the only one that ran throught he fountains and got wet.  You can walk around inside and not get wet but apparently that wasn't as fun.

Sunday we called it quits when I could hardly talk and Hazen was super lethargic and we needed to figure it out before Alex left town for work next week.  We decided to go into the doctors.  We both had an ear infection and strep.

Sick day for us.  Thank heavens for antibiotics.

But we made sure to get day one of light the world in.  I am super thankful that may kids love this tradition cause I wasn't feeling up to it.  But so happy we did it!