Christmas Pictures for the family

Here is a quick load of some pictures from this morning...I believe the American Girl dolls were the biggest hit! Sissy really loved the Hannah Montana Dance Mat that came with a wig and headset! Sugar has enjoyed her My Little Pony Musical Tea Set along with all the Barbie gifts.

Who loves surprises?

I know I love surprises...you know the kind you don't find out about until it actually happens. Well a couple of weeks ago we planned a huge surprise for Sissy's kindergarten teacher.

See there are eight kindergarten teachers in Sissy's elementary school and 6 out of 8 of them have reading lofts. Of course Sissy's teacher was one of the two without one. So for a Christmas present to her, all the parents got together two weekends ago and custom built her a reading loft for her classroom!

We were so excited! The dads pretty much did the physical labor of building it while the moms rearranged her classroom to make it fit. We had to move her desk of all things to make it fit. Plus we had to rearrange and move some bulletin boards that were in the way. Overall, it turned out perfect. The principal told Mrs. P--- a lie that there was a leak in her room and not to arrive until 7:30 - this way all of us parents and students would be in her room waiting for her when she arrived.

Needless to say she was shocked and at a loss for words!

The Catch up List

So I've defaulted to the ole "list" since I haven't blogged about all the fun and crazy things that have gone on over the past month and a half in our family.

1. The new Wal-Mart opened up 2 miles down the street. We're talking about 203,091-square-foot Supercenter with two Dunkin Donuts, a Coffee bar, a Sushi Bar, a Soup bar, freshly made pizza while you shop and the smell of fresh baked artisan breads. Now that's my kind of Wal-Mart!2. My mom, sistor and newphew came in town to visit. Our visit consisted of a taste of North Texas. We managed to hit Chick-Fil-a, Whataburger, Dave and Busters, American Girl, Hobby Lobby and many nights "coyote hunting". :-)
3. I've spent LOTS of time working for my very first craft show(s). I've been busy making and selling Hanna Montana and High School Musical magazine purses. They were a huge hit and I still have three more orders to fill. I also sold Bag Tags which kept me very busy.
4. Taking a rode trip to Memphis with the dogs in tow to see family over Thanksgiving. We actually missed Dallas' first snow while we were there. :-(5. Last week Sugar learned how to ride her Tricycle or she finally grew tall enough to reach the pedals. I'm not sure which one happened first.6. We cut down our own Christmas tree at the Wall's Family Farm and went Pecan picking on their 100-acre pecan farm. Sugar would of been in the pecan picking picture but her time was cut short after she stepped in an ant hill! Poor baby!

Well there is much more to post but this is all for now. I hope to post a little sooner next time for those that still stop by and actually read this little blog of mine.

So until then...Ciao!

American Girl hits Dallas

The fun has just begun...only the fourth store to open in the country and American Girl landed right here in Dallas this month. So without a second thought, Daddy loaded up his three girls and drove us to the land of awwwww!

For the first time, the girls and I beamed over beautiful dolls and bazillion of accessories. We literally were in the land of Oz. For those of you who do not have little girls I'm sorry you have to be bored with today's post. But Mommy's this place is just as fun for you too. We observed other girls getting their dolls hair done in the store hair salon. They also had custom high chairs so they could eat with in the bistro upstairs. After examining every inch of the store and playing with all the display dolls and accessories, we finally left about two hours later. Even though we did not purchase a doll, we definitely scored with Coconut, a high chair, an American Girl Dallas T-Shirt...

and, Elizabeth on Sissy's Christmas list! :-)

Fall Fun Continues

If you haven't noticed by now, we are BIG Halloween fans.

Look I'm still posting about it and it's over already! I mean who really visits two pumpkin patches, has fall pictures taken, buys nine pumpkins, builds a haunted house and dresses up themselves? We do!

Hubby and I attended a Halloween costume party and guess who we dressed up as?

I made hubby's shirt and the collar, sleeves and buttons on the front of mine. Since I couldn't find saddle shoes anywhere in my size I made my own with black felt. But of course you can't see those in the picture.

The girls dressed up as Barbie cheerleaders during our neighborhood "Monster Mile". The kids walked along the main street while folks from the HOA passed out candy. They had lots of characters like, Spiderman, Strawberry Shortcake, Elmo, Cinderella, Minnie and Mickey Mouse, etc.
Then there was our Trick or Treat night where hubby and I set up a haunted house that included two rooms and then into our garage. We had some friends dress up as scary monsters in the haunted house, LOUD scary music, multiple fog machines, and tons of strobe lights. If anyone made it all the way through the haunted house into the garage then you had to reach in a large bowl full of spider web to get your candy. Now it doesn't look that scary because the pictures were taken during the day, but trust me the neighbors are still talking about it. We had a blast!



Our neighbors were just as festive by dressing up in costumes and setting up a tent at the end of the block. They had Kool-Aid for the kids, Swamp Punch for the adults and lots of snacks, candy, and cupcakes. The cake in the picture was called Kitty Litter Cake. It really did look like kitty litter with all those tootsie rolls buried in there! :-) The last and I promise final picture for Halloween was my Blog-O-Lantern this year. Sissy wanted to carve a Minnie Mouse so that's what we did.

Phew, now it's time to get ready for Thanksgiving!

October Fun, Part III (last one :-)

We saved the best for last.

My all time favorite pumpkin patch is the "Pumpkin Express" This pumpkin patch has an original 1950's train that takes the kids on almost a one mile train ride. And when the children enter they get to choose a free baby pumpkin and sucker.

The best part is the location (it's on one man's property) and the set up is just beautiful. The train ride takes you all over his wooded lot and over a couple of bridges.















I think the girls had the best time going down the bounce house slide. Just look at those faces...priceless!













On the train heading out of the tunnel...

October Fun, Part II

It was Columbus day and school was out, so the neighbors girls and mine headed to our local pumpkin patch for a day of total fun! By the request of Sugar we took her picture with all the board characters. I only posted Dora but trust me when I say, we've got Barney, Baby Bop, BJ, Scooby Doo and Boots too! :-)

They also hit all the bounce houses, haystacks and took a hay ride and barrel train ride. After feeding the horses and turtles (yes turtles) we headed to Chick-Fil-A for some well deserved air conditioning and lunch.