Turkey Day 2009

Yummy turkeys that John did

Mollie having fun with Mr Matt (mommy's teacher friend)
The boys playing some poker after our great meal

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving yesterday. John fried 2 turkeys and smoked one and all 3 were DELICIOUS! We are having so much fun with Bob and Tracy here and can't believe it's already Friday. Yesterday, we had 11 people over to eat the huge assortment of food we had and some even stayed after to watch the Horns beat up on our rival Texas A&M. Mollie had fun playing outside with her Pops and Gran and snacked all day.

Today Tracy and I braved Toys R Us, Kohl's and Carter's but not until 9, which was nice. Tonight we are going down to Galveston to the Festival of Lights with Christina and her two girls and my parents and I am very excited! Mollie is going to be so much fun this Christmas season and that makes it even more exciting for John and I. Love to all!!

Trick-or-Treat!

Getting some candy

Getting ready to head out

Me and my Mommy

Switching to my next costume

Trick or Treating with Aunt Julie

I'm a fairy princess!

Well Mollie made it through her first official "Trick-or-Treating" Halloween and loved it! We had a little party with close family and friends last night complete with jumpy thing for the kids (thank you Emmie), a new fire pit and lots of food. After throwing down some hot dogs, chips and cupcakes the kids were ready to get some candy. I am so happy that our neighborhood loves Halloween because cars were parked everywhere and tons of families were out. We were able to meet some of our neighbors and Mollie went around with about 5 kids that came over.

She did really well, walking about halfway of our route, but then was okay with John putting her in her stroller and wheeling her up to the people with orange sucker in tow. She had so much fun and didn't have any problems asking for candy. I think she caught on by the 3th or 4th house. I am proud to say that I dressed up as an angel and was able to get into my wedding dress!! Pretty good for 3 and a half years later and one baby down. Everybody loved it and couldn't believe I could still get into it. Hope everyone had a wonderful night and kisses and hugs to everyone!

Picture Time

Baby Isabell and Uncle Jason

"Like my pumpkin?"

Me and Victoria

My Auntie Nina...she's so cool!

Mommy and Victoria doing Victoria's pumpkin

Me and Daddy looking at the monkeys at the zoo
Hit the "Older Post" link under this to see more pictures.

Fun Weekend

Petting Zoo...You can never be too clean with the animals.

Like my new pet? His name is "Elmo"

This past weekend was very busy but lots of fun. Friday night John's school played a very big rival , Clear Lake, and we won 49-21! Mollie and I left during the 3rd quarter when it was tied 14-14, so needless to say we missed lots of touchdowns. Mollie had a blast at the game running in the grass area off of the endzone with her buddy Trenton and also some of my students who loved playing with her.

Saturday Christina, Victoria and Isabell came over in the morning while John was at work and we hung out, ate donuts and watched College Gameday. John got home right when the Horns took the field against our big rival OU and we watched the game. We didn't do much else Saturday but sit around and watch football. But for me, that's a perfect Saturday; my family and college football!
Sunday was a really big day. We got up and went to "Boo Zoo" up in Houston. It was so much FUN!! We took Mollie to the zoo when we were in Knoxville this summer and just seeing how much she got into it this time as compared to last time is amazing to me. A lot of kids were dressed up in Halloween costumes and they had "Tattzoos" for the kids (yes, she got one), "Trunk or Treats" throughout the park for candy, a petting zoo, and all sorts of things. She had so much fun looking at all the animals and we worked with her on their sounds. She can bark like a dog and quack like a duck and she said "cat" for the first time while we were looking at the cheetahs so that was exciting for us. Afterwards, we went and got her princess dress for Halloween and then Christina and the girls (and eventually Jason) came over and we carved pumpkins. Victoria and Mollie love being around each other so they had a wonderful time. This year I bought lights to put into the pumpkins instead of carving and they turned out really cute.

Needless to say we all 3 crashed out Sunday evening but a wonderful weekend was had.

Catching up

Gameday in Austin - Me and my baby girl


Family picture for Clear Brook football media guide.

Gameday in Austin - Daddy and his girl

This was my mommy's and now it's mine. I LOVE it!!

We have been so busy that it feels like today is the first time I've been able to sit and breathe on a Saturday morning. John's football season is about half way through and Clear Brook isn't doing so well but we're keeping our fingers crossed. I'm really enjoying my school year, love my schedule and kids so that makes it more enjoyable for me. Mollie is doing wonderfully! She is now in the 18 month classroom at her school and flourishing every day. She can point to her nose, eyes and head when asked where they are, she's RUNNING and babbling a ton more. She can say, "ball, Elmo, Daddy, Ma Ma, gain (her version of again), hey, hi-de, and there." She's really starting to point at things she wants and getting into more stuff all the time.
She's so much fun and we love every minute more than the next that we spend with her. We went to Austin to celebrate my birthday and got to see our good friends Elizabeth and Brendan and meet their twins Luke and Miles. ESPN Gameday was in Austin for the UT-Tx Tech game so we made it in time to see the end of that and meet Kirk Herbstreet. Mollie hung out with my aunt and uncle that afternoon and night so the four adults could relax and have some "adult time." Needless to say, she got spoiled by Martha and James but that's okay!
Nothing else has been happening around here, just work and sports. We're getting really excited about Bob and Tracy's visit in a few weeks and also for some cooler weather. I bet we'll see Bob and Tracy before the cooler weather comes for a visit. Love to all!

Misc...

"Like my new 'do?"

"I'm cool."

Mom...I'm trying to watch Elmo.

Feeling better, sort of

Mean 'ole flu
We have been super busy with teacher in-service, school starting, football in full swing and the weekend before school started Mollie came down with the flu. Luckily we caught it early on and were able to get her the tamaflu but it took her a good week to get back to being the Mollie we all love so much. We are so fortunate that with school starting neither John nor I could take off so Jason, her Godfather, and my mom watched her while we were at work. She's back to normal now and walking and talking all the time. She's learned to open the doors so we've bought, and installed, safety handles so she can't get around without us knowing where she is. She's doing really well at her school and is moving up to the 18 month room within the next few weeks.

Our school year is going pretty well. I have 6 classes with about 150 kids total and am very impressed by what I am hearing from them already. They seem like a really cool group of kids and I'm excited to see how I can challenge them this year. John's super busy and had his first football game this past Friday down near Corpus Christi. They won and spent the night down there so Mollie and I had a girl's night for the first time since we've lived here in the house. I am proud to say that both of us did very well.

Here are some pictures of Mollie. The ones of her laying on the couch are from when she was sick. She laid here a lot while she had the flu but has since gotten an Elmo "recliner" (pictures to come) that she absolutely loves.

Hugs and Kisses to all!!