Tuesday, December 3, 2013

Thanksgiving weekend

It was a busy, busy week with the move and all the calamities as well as the Thanksgiving festivities.  We managed to enjoy some downtime with the family, too.  On Tuesday, Nov 26th we went to dinner with Andy's Aunt Peg and Uncle Rich and Rich's son and daughter-in-law (Dawn).  I picked up Lori from the airport so she was able to join, too.  It was nice to celebrate Thanksgiving in the new house with my family.  It was the first time in 6 or 7 years where all of my siblings were together for a holiday.  We ordered a turkey meal to go for the Thanksgiving meal but made a few dishes to go with it.  I made 2 apple pies from Pa Bru's granny smith apples.  We avoided shopping on Black Friday but we visited the American Girl doll store to find Audrey a look alike doll on Saturday.  We went out to play Top Golf on Friday and Matthew really enjoyed it!


 
 Eating Tex-Mex with Aunt Peg
 Tea party with Audrey
 Nanna playing checkers with Matthew
 Jessica painting Audrey's nails
 Andy making his famous mashed potatoes
 Nanna baking the beans and ham
 Audrey playing with dolls at the American Girl Doll Store
 Nanna reading Elf On the Shelf
 Uncle Mike
 Andy and Matthew at Top Golf
Thanksgiving meal with the family - including Baby Dylan in the high chair!

Thanksgiving Festivities

Leading up to the Thanksgiving holiday, both Matthew and Audrey held feasts at their schools.  Matthew's was on Thursday (Nov 21st) morning at 9am!  He had carrots, raisins, and popcorn.  He was so excited to have me join.  He was dressed up as a native american with his custom-made vest.

Audrey's feast was held during lunch time on Monday, Nov 25th.  Matthew was off school for the entire week and he wanted to keep her home the rest of the week.  But we let her go on Monday so that we could join her for the feast.  She was happy to have us join her and she couldn't wait to show us her artwork.

On Friday (Nov 22), Matthew's school celebrated Grandparents Day.  Mimi went to the school and Matthew was so excited to win the grand prize for the grandparent that traveled the furthest.  Mimi was eager to meet Ms. Franklin since she was a kindergarten teacher herself.  



 Mrs. Franklin - Matthew's kindergarten teacher.

 Milk and cookies night at the book fair
 The kids love to hug Roxy
 Look at Audrey's art work - handprint turkeys
 Audrey's feast - she is eating mashed potatoes but she won't touch them at home
 Ms. Soraya - Audrey's teacher (the same one that Matthew had not long ago)
Carousel in the mall

The big move

After months of planning and showing our house, we finally moved.  It was an unusually warm day for November in Dallas and the weather was 86 degrees.  We wore shirts and shorts and flip flops just like it was summer, except all the leaves were colorful for fall.  Mimi came down from Michigan and helped  pack, move, and unpack.
The kids were very excited to move into the new house.  We took some toys over the night before the move and the kids enjoyed playing in their new space.  I should have taken a picture of Audrey pushing her grocery cart into the front door.  The kids were trying to help.

The move went well but the week following was a bit of a disaster.  The washer didn't work once we moved it.  We had a repair man come over to the house but eventually we decided to order the part on our own and I installed it myself.  I was so desperate to get it working quickly.  We were without a washer for a week! We took the clothes to a washateria and I was willing to camp out there with my quarters but when we saw a wash and fold service, our eyes lit up and we gladly left 5 laundry baskets full.

Shortly after the move, the weather plummeted down to 35 degrees!  All of my winter stuff was still in storage but I had one black wool sweater to keep me warm.  On Friday evening, I went over to the old house to move the rest of our closet.  After moving all the stuff, my car wouldn't start.  Andy came over to the house and tried to jump start my battery using the jumper cables from Pa Bru's emergency kit (that gift came in handy!).  We tried it for a little while but in the dark and freezing cold, we decided to wait and try it again Saturday morning - but that didn't work either.  We called a tow truck and when he showed up hours later, he didn't have the right tow for my keyless car.  Another tow truck came and he was able to jump it for free.  He said that it was his 8th car to start that day because of the changing temperatures.  Luckily, all that time wasn't wasted as my car was at the old house and Andy was able to accomplish more moving stuff at the old house.  I guess the positive side is that the car battery died on the weekend as opposed to earlier in the week when Andy was traveling for business and I was toting the kids around.



 Roxy is adjusting to the new house
 Rusty is sporting his summer cut here.  We had to give him a blanket at night to stay warm!


Tuesday, November 12, 2013

Trip to Great Grandmas








































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Tuesday, November 5, 2013

Halloween 2013

























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Sunday, October 27, 2013

Fall in Michigan

Matthew had a field trip to the Dallas Zoo on Wednesday. matthew was so excited to have his mom join the trip. I had a group of 4 to tour around the zoo. It was fun but I was exhausted afterwards.
We headed to Michigan for the weekend. We enjoyed visiting with family, apple picking, and eating lots of pie.
































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