Catching Up

I can't believe it has been so long since I have blogged. The longer it has been the more I have dreaded having to play catch up with all we have done and with all the pictures we have taken. I figure I probably can't put it off any longer and it will just be harder to summarize everything. So this post is going to cover our trip to the Dallas Zoo, Halloween, Elyssa and Joshua's 5th Birthday and Christmas.

We went to the Dallas Zoo in October and had a great time. It was a beautiful day and we all had a lot of fun.

Machella studying the zoo map so we can decide where we want to go and so we don't miss seeing anything (especially the elephants for Elyssa).

I love this picture of David and Joshua as we are leaving the Zoo.

Halloween was fun this year. Joshua was a cowboy and Elyssa was Tinkerbell. David and Machella decided they were too old to go Trick-or-Treating this year and Donnie was out to town so it was just the two little ones and me knocking on doors and we had a blast.

Elyssa and Joshua turned 5 at the end of November. Donnie's parents and sister, Jennifer were visiting for Thanksgiving so we celebrated it early. Elyssa and Joshua really wanted to go to Chuck E. Cheese this year and it had been forever since the last time we had gone so we decided to be brave and go for it and it turned out to be a lot of fun. I can't believe that Elyssa and Joshua are 5 years old and that they will be going to Kindergarten in the Fall. They definitely aren't "the babies" anymore (even though we still find ourselves referring to them as that).

We actually didn't take a lot of pictures this Christmas but I had to share my all time favorite Christmas picture of Elyssa and Joshua sitting in front of the fireplace on Christmas Eve.

Well I think I am pretty much caught up and hopefully I can stay more up-to-date with the blog. We wish everyone a very Happy New Year and we are truly grateful for all our wonderful family and friends.

Retiring our Picture

I finally decided to retire the picture that we have had at the top of our blog since we started this blog. I kept it as long as I did because I love the picture and it brought back great memories. The kids have changed so much and they are so much older now. I guess they won't stay young forever.

Machella is 11!

I can't believe Machella is 11 years old! We asked her what she wanted to do on her birthday and she told us that she wanted to go bowling, eat hot dogs for lunch, go swimming after lunch, eat BBQ pulled pork sandwiches for dinner, and then open presents and have an ice cream cake (chocolate cake and mint chocolate chip ice cream). Well, we did what she wanted to do and it was a really fun day. It was fun watching everyone bowl (especially Joshua and Elyssa). When we went swimming Joshua decided he wanted to try to swim without his floaties and he pretty much learned to swim in less than an hour. He is actually a pretty good swimmer now and can swim the width of the pool without stopping and he is great at taking breaths as he swims. Machella got a lot of fun presents and it was fun going shopping for her. I thought it was cute because she really wanted a crimper for her hair. I just smiled whenever I thought about that. I never had a crimper before but since her birthday she has crimped her hair quite a few times and it actually looks really cute. She is growing into such a wonderful young woman and I absolutely love being her mother and love how loving she is to me and our whole family.

Arena Football

Donnie took David and Joshua to an Arena Football game to watch the Dallas Vigilantes. They had a lot of fun. The game is a lot more fast paced than a regular game because they play inside at a basketball court (at least here in Dallas they play where the Dallas Mavericks usually play) and there is no out of bounds. Joshua always talks about being a football player when he grows up so he really enjoyed watching the game.

Our Trip to San Antonio

For Memorial Day Weekend we decided to take a trip to San Antonio. We left on Friday and it was about a 4 1/2 hour drive but we stopped in Austin on the way. We made a stop at the University of Texas at Austin where Donnie graduated. The kids liked walking around the campus and also going to the bookstore. We showed the kids where we had our first kiss (on a bench near the clock tower) and where Donnie had some of his classes.

(sitting on "our bench")

We then continued on to San Antonio and after we got settled in our hotel we drove to the San Antonio Temple. It was beautiful. It was hard to capture how beautiful it was in the pictures because the sun was really bright but we tried our best. The kids loved seeing it and the view from the top of the hill was great.

(in front of the fountain inside our hotel)

On Saturday, we went to Sea World. I had been there when I was probably 14 years old and it had changed a lot. They still have the fun shows, but now they have a huge waterpark and rides and a big Sesame Street area for the younger kids. It was tons of fun for everyone.

On Sunday, we spent time downtown and went to the Riverwalk and saw the Alamo. We then went down to El Mercado (the Marketplace) and Donnie and I loved eating the Mexican food from the street vendors and listening to the music being played in the streets. That was probably one of our favorite times on our trip. The food was amazing and the music and the atmosphere were so fun.

We came back Monday with wonderful memories and we are already trying to decide where we want to visit next in this great state of Texas (probably NASA in Houston and Galveston - stay tuned).

Also, we bought a Mexican dress for Elyssa when we were in San Antonio and she wore it to Church today. It definitely brings back memories of our trip and the fun we had.

Texas-Sized Hail

Two weeks ago we had a big hail storm and tornados. Luckily we only had some hail damage on Donnie's car because I know other places got it so much worse than we did. However, it was a big storm for us and what we are used to. After it was over we had the kids pick up the hail from our yard and we put it in the freezer. I have finally gotten around to posting about it and still can't believe how big the hail was.

Father/Son Campout

Last weekend Donnie took David and Joshua to a Father/Son Campout. They had a really good time. This was the first time that Joshua has ever gone camping and he loved being outdoors and sleeping in the tent. He was so excited to eat marshmallows.

Joshua also loved the chocolate bars that they brought for smores (as you can tell by the evidence on his face).

David and Joshua had a great time but I think they were ready to sleep the next night in their own beds.