Happy Thanksgiving!

Tyler is thankful for our house.

Daphne is thankful for elephants.

Carnival

Tyler's big school carnival fundraiser was a few weeks ago. It was wet and unusually cold for November in Texas but that did not deter the kids from having fun. It helped that some of the events were moved inside.

Purple hair to go with her purple track suit

Elephant walk

Train ride

Daphne really liked the bunnies
in the petting zoo

Mischievous Monkey

By the time we get to the checkout line at the grocery store Daphne is usually pretty restless. On our most recent trip to the store, lines were particularly long and Daphne was exceptionally restless. Daphne sat on the floor playing with the low-mounted mirrors while blocking traffic. She wandered off to the next checkout line. Daphne took off her boots, abandoned them, and refused to put them back on. She tried to scale the shelves in our checkout line. Ultimately Daphne crawled onto the bottom of the shopping cart. Then she behaved and put her boots back on with the promise of Buddy Bucks from our cashier.

Kiddie Acres

Daphne went to a fun birthday party at Kiddie Acres last weekend for her classmate Tate. Kiddie Acres is a small amusement park with rides that are perfect for the little ones. Daphne had a blast!

The pony ride was Daphne's favorite thing.
She also enjoyed riding the horses on the carousel.

Boating with her friends. It's a good thing every seat
has its own steering wheel.

Pilot time

Cake time!

More frosting please! Tate actually took a forkful of frosting
off the side of her cake. A few minutes later I saw Daphne
moving in with her finger to take frosting off the top of the
cake but I stopped her just in time.

Soccer Season Wrap-Up

Tyler's last soccer game of the season was this past weekend. He really enjoyed playing and wants to sign up again in the spring. Since it was season's end there were inflatables at the park.

Tyler in action

Post-game huddle

Coach Shawn, The Ball Girl (Diego's sister), and The Dinosaurs
Gavin, Jaden, Tyler, Jacob, Diego, and Angel
(Zachary not present)

The real personalities emerge

Tyler is very excited about
his new medal

Abuelito and Daphne

Tyler, Isabella, Angel, and Gavin

Angel and Daphne

Tyler and Gavin must have climbed to
the top of this slide at least 10 times!

Let's go again!

Too Many Monkeys Sleeing in My Bed!

Lately one or both of the kids have been crawling into our bed in the middle of the night. I need to start herding them back to their beds but I'm usually too sleepy to muster the energy. I don't mind Tyler crawling in so much because he sleeps in the middle very peacefully. Daphne snuggles right up against me and gradually nudges me to the very edge of the bed. The kids are amused by the poem I wrote below to the rhythm of "Five Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed".

Usually the kids wake up first but yesterday Michael and I snuck
out of bed to start getting all the gear ready for Tyler's soccer game.
And yes- I was sleeping between Daphne and the edge of the bed!

Too many monkeys sleeping in my bed
Daphne climbed in and pushed Mama towards the edge
Mama said, "Daphne go get back in your bed!"
But Daphne just pushed Mama closer to the edge

Too many monkeys sleeping in my bed
Tyler climbed in wearing black and red
Daddy got a pillow for his sweet little head
And Daphne pushed Mama even closer to the edge

Cowgirl

Renee, age 2-1/2; I got the cowgirl outfit for Christmas
and wore it quite a bit!

Daphne wearing my outfit. Tyler says she looks
better than little Renee because of the hat and boots.

Shopping with Minnie Mouse

Big Boy Room

Back in August we painted Tyler's room and got him some big boy furniture before he started kindergarten. I finally got around to taking some photos. Tyler really wanted a basketball theme and fell in love with an orange accent wall with a basketball player silhouette that we saw on Pinterest and so we copied it in his room. We still need to add some more sports art and maybe some hooks for Tyler's baseball hats and Spurs jersey. Tyler is pretty happy with how his room turned out.

Yes- the basket is real. Although the ball that came with it is way
too hard for indoor use so we keep a Little Tikes ball in the room.

Tyler's alarm clock wakes him up on school mornings.
Daphne likes to come in and play with Tyler's work bench.

Tyler really likes doing his homework at his desk.

Tyler wanted us to paint the walls black, but we compromised
with grayish blue walls and black curtains.

Attack Hug!

Daphne and Michael have their own special hug that they call the attack hug. Daphne runs at Michael from far away and knocks him over. And it's hard to stop at just one attack hug. Daphne usually wants to do at least 3, if not more.