The girls have been looking forward to having a tea party with Santa all fall, and the day was finally here!  The anticipation was so much fun!

  

The girls made cupcakes for the special tea party with Santa.  Santa got to pick from the cupcakes that did not already have fingerprints, lol!  He’s almost here straight from the North Pole!

 

The table was set!

 

The girls were so giddy!

Although we have only used our china a couple of times over the past 10 years, we took our chances today!  If this wasn’t an occasion to get out the china, I don’t know what is!  The girls did so great.  They drank their tea and ate their cupcakes like little ladies, so prim and proper (minus Rose licking her cupcake plate clean, lol).  I was so proud!

This filter is called pencil sketch.  I love it so much because it looks like it was drawn for an old Christmas storybook!  This experience was different than any I’ve had in my life.  It was like it was not even happening, but a dream instead.  I told my friend Santa Chuck, that this is what fairytales are made of right here!  Such a sweet memory!

 

Here’s some pictures from our fun in the Texas ice!

 

Outfits chosen and coordinated by Noelle.  I love all of the patterns and colors she picked out.  The tights on the littles are super cute too and something I probably wouldn’t have thought of.  Getting ready was twice the fun for her.  She did a great job!

 

A Daddy and his baby. (or as he calls her, his Rose blossom)

 

  

What’s up, girl!?! 

  

This is our Cutie Kate!

  

 

 

 

In this picture, Rose is saying, “I tuck!  I tuck!” (stuck)  Here comes Daddy to the rescue!

  

Snowball!

 

 

We dug a screwdriver into the ice to start cracking it off of our driveway, not for practical purposes, just for fun.

Noelle and Anna Kate were joking around, but Rose was all done with the ice!

 

Fun in the ice headed your way soon!

Mrs. Paula and Mrs. Julie have been all over the city with their lovely kiddos this fall!  Enjoy the pictures of their adventures below!

 

Daddy went on a field trip in October with Anna Kate to the farm!

 

 

  

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

Finding marbles!

 

 

Anna Kate has been looking forward to the Curious George exhibit at the Science Museum since last spring!  She loved it!

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

  

Collecting their art mediums!

 

  

Green’s Produce field trip!

 

 

Mrs. Paula is so funny!  Anna Kate is the sweetest knuckle head there ever was! 

 

 

  

Mrs. Paula has rocked out the art lessons this semester! 

 

Fire drill… stop, drop and roll… and snuff out the fire because it takes oxygen to breathe.  Not only does Mrs. Paula go through what to do in case of emergency, she teaches the science behind it to keep the kids safe where ever they go!

 

Ceramic art!

  

Sorting and measuring

 

It’s zoo day for AK!

 

 

 

 

 

I love this picture Mrs. Paula took of Anna Kate’s reflection in the window with the bird!

 

 

 

So fierce!

 

Yet still a kitten face!

One of Mrs. Paula’s specialties is giving her students the opportunity to play in the leaves!  She rakes big piles for them to dive in; I remember doing the exact same thing below my grandmother’s pecan trees.  So thankful Anna Kate has this memory from her falls in pre-k with her friends!

  

 

 

Mrs. Paula told me Anna Kate has turned into mother hen this year, always watching over and loving on the new students; so sweet!

 

Anna Kate’s hand print letters are absolutely fascinating to me!  Mrs. Paula has a book full of thousands for the kids to choose from each time they work on a new letter.  She also does a scrapbook filled with pictures and their art throughout the year!  I can’t wait to see her book from this year.  I don’t know how Mrs. Paula does it!  She’s simply amazing!

 

Every child should get to experience playing in the leaves.  There’s nothing more freeing than this right here!

 

 

During the week of Thanksgiving each year, Mrs. Paula makes homemade pumpkin pies with each of her students, two at a time, for them to take home and share with their families for Thanksgiving.  Anna Kate is always so proud to share her pumpkin pie with us!  I don’t know how Mrs. Paula and Mrs. Julie do all that they do with the kids during school, but we are just beyond grateful and feel so blessed for Anna Kate to be going to such an amazing school!  I mean, who gets to cook a pumpkin pie for their family at school!?!  That is crazy cool!  Here she is cracking an egg!

 

 

Smelling, measuring and pouring!

 

 

Stirring and… voila!  Time for the oven.  This was the best Thanksgiving pumpkin pie I’ve ever tasted!  Go Anna Kate!

Cheers to a happy fall of learning and fun!

  

Our Santa was in the most amazing rendition of The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe, as Father Christmas in November!  It was literally the best performance I’ve ever seen, including Casa Manana plays and even Dallas Theater.  It was absolutely captivating!

Here’s Father Christmas passing out his gifts of weapons to the Pevensie children.

Mr. and Mrs. Beaver with Peter and Father Christmas.

 

Susan and Lucy receiving their special weapons to keep them safe from the White Witch!

 

Noelle wanted a picture with sweet Lucy after the play.  This was our favorite play ever!!!  When we were driving home, Noelle said, “I didn’t realize kids were so talented!!!”  I didn’t either!  Of course, Father Christmas was as amazing as always. 

Go Bobcats!  We won it all!  The girls had a blast cheering their team on to victory this year! 

 

I’m not going to lie, the championship game was absolutely miserable.  I attended every single football game back when I was in high school, and I never experienced weather like this!  I kept telling Noelle to hold out and that she could do it, but I was aching inside to see her struggling.  It was freezing, raining, and when we got to the car, her fingers were so swollen that she could barely even bend them.  They were completely white (it scared me to death).  We went over to a friend’s house who is a physician, and he massaged them under luke-warm water until the swelling started going down.  And then, when we got home and she took off her shoes, her socks were soaking wet.  I won’t make her do this again.  We aren’t quitters, but this was way too extreme.  I’m glad we stuck it out, but at the end of the day, I learned an important lesson too; It’s not quitting when your safety is at stake.  Noelle has extremely sensitive skin, but I just didn’t realize.  I gave her hand warmers and everything.  That car ride home was awful, and I was full of regret, but you live and learn.

Noelle was smiling because I had just gotten to the game in this picture, but I promised her I would be there!  It was a crazy day juggling all the girls and their busy social lives, lol!

Seeing the trophies helped a little bit!

Our team got the UTA drum line to come out and drum for the Bobcats!  They were so much fun and SO talented!

 

After handing out spirit sticks, our job here was done. (she left her big fluffy jacket at school; I should’ve bought a new one… woulda shoulda coulda, ugh!)

Noelle and Emily being great sports!

 

Go Bobcats!  Although today was rough, Noelle is already asking how long she has to wait until her next game.  She loves to cheer, but we don’t start back up until August; Always something to look forward to around here!

 

Happy Birthday, Brylee!   

 

 

What a fun day!

The girls were so excited to go to an autograph signing by this season’s The Voice star, Brandon Chase, Thursday night after Noelle’s play!  Brandon premiered his talent on this season of The Voice with an awesome rendition of Hunter Hayes’ “Wanted.”  Ever since he made Blake Shelton’s Team Blake, the girls have been dying to meet him!  Fortunately, one of our BFFs, Kara, is his sister!  So Miss Kara helped break the ice, and we got to ask him lots of questions about The Voice and his original songs.  His first album, Country Enough, is a huge hit in our house!  If you haven’t heard it, you should.  He’s got really great messages to his catchy songs, and we are cheering him on all the way!  Go Brandon!