Regan's 12th Birthday Party

We went SUPER EASY this year, and just reserved our neighborhood pool! It was very easy and she invited some neighbor friends, from kids from school, and that's about it. It was fun though, she wanted the ginormous Costco cupcakes, so I got those, she wanted a giant submarine sandwich, so I got some sub rolls and made a bunch, and chips/drinks, and we were set. I got a bunch of pool toys and water guns, and they had a blast. They got out of the pool to eat and open presents and that's about it! There was a bit of a cupcake war thanks to David! Little Bella was licking the icing off her cupcake and David smashed her face in it, she thought it was hilarious, so everyone else wanted in on it, and it ended with Tony wiping his face off on David's back! It was fun, the kids loved it.

So here's the million pics I took of her and her friends.

Regan's 12th Birthday Party

K1 Speed

Our Girl Scout Troop was planning a weekend camping trip but we got rained out! So, at the last minute, we had to plan something to do to make up for it, so the girls voted on indoor go-karts. It was really fun! We ordered pizza and had ginormous Costco cupcakes and had a party! The girls had fun, Riley and David came so Riley could race too, and Regan came in 3rd place from her whole troop. Riley came in 2nd in his race. It was a neat place, we will have to go back sometime this summer, good way to beat the heat!

Yee-haw! The Rodeo is in town!

David took Thursday and Friday of Spring Break off, and we took the kids (+1) to the rodeo carnival. We didn't get to go last year because of Regan's broken arms, so she was really wanting to go this year! This was David's first time to go with us, so it was nice. We got the kids wristbands and sent them on their way. David and I went to the other side of the fairgrounds and got to spend time together walking around and checking things out, and a friend of mine's daughter is doing a Flat Stanley project, so we took a bunch of pictures of Flat Stanley with Texas Longhorns, and all the rodeo animals. It was a lot of fun just being goofy! The weather was great, nice and cool, until we got home and realized we got sunburned!

Gattiland

It's Spring Break and I'm in spring cleaning-purge mode! After cookie season, the house is a wreck so I got a wild hair and just have been going crazy! I've cleaned out the pantry, the kitchen, closets, drawers, cabinets, everything that isn't nailed down has either been tossed or is going to Goodwill. The kids have been getting in on it too, Regan cleaned all the stuffed animals off her bed and has been straightening her room (miracle)!

But, I took a break and took Regan and friends to Gattiland for Mom's Eat Free. It wasn't too crazy. I brought my iPad and read while they played video games. They had a good time and then I got home and got back to purging! Working on #40bagsin40days!

Radiant Conference

The Radiant Conference this year was AMAZING!! I really enjoyed it, and was so happy that we managed to sell out of our cookies right before the conference started, so I could go and not worry about anything but volunteering! It started Thursday night with Priscilla Shirer, who is one of my absolute favorite speakers, and then Friday morning, Friday evening, and Saturday morning, with Lisa Bevere, and our Pastors, Joe and Lori Champion. The music was great, the specials were awesome, it was just really top-notch. I really enjoyed it, and getting to spend time with friends and have lunch and just have a kind of "girls weekend"!  (David did campus support)  Here's a recap video:
 http://celebrationtx.smugmug.com/Events/Radiant-Conference-2014/Videos/i-sWtTzzF

Marathon Selling!

Regan has almost always sold over 1000 boxes of Girl Scout cookies. The first year we didn't, but every year after that we have. She loves being a "top seller" and getting recognized at the awards ceremony at the end of the year, and of course, all the prizes that go with being a 1000+ seller! Well, she's been wanting to UP that goal for a while now, and I've been dragging my feet. I get tired of people thinking I'm MAKING her do all these booths, poor child! But this year, we have a different baker so we got some different cookies, and I thought this might be a good year to try a higher goal.

Well, then we had all the bad weather and they canceled a lot of our good booths, and I didn't think we would make it. THEN, they extended the sale by 2 weeks, and I said, "Let's go for it!" Well, not the 2000 she was WANTING!! But, we are so close now to hitting 1500!!

But of course, that includes a few days of marathon cookie selling! We spent the day bouncing back and forth between Walmart booths with other crazy cookie friends! I actually think the 8 hours of booths was harder on me than on her, since I was coming down with a cold. And our last booth, from 6-8, the birds attacked and I got pooped on a couple of times, but so did the table and our boxes, and everything, it was SO gross! Thankfully our partner had some wet wipes so we were able to clean everything off. Overall, it was a pretty "crappy" booth :)

So here is Regan and her friend Natalie at the beginning of the sale, and Regan and Marillah at the end.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Regan told me the other day, "Mom, no more homemade Valentine's, okay?" Ugh, shot to the heart! It was bad enough that this was my very last school Valentine party to go to, now I can't even make fun Valentine's!? So, I bought her some Fun Dip and called it a day. She signed up to bring Ranch Dip (the good kind, she said) and David had the day off work, so I figured we would both go.

First, David made surprise lunch reservations for us at Fogo de Chau! The kids have separate things tonight (Riley and David are off to Ft. Hood, Regan and I have a cookie booth) so we figured we would celebrate early. It was nice! After lunch, we ran to the store to get the good dip, then went to Regan's school, where David surprised her with flowers.

I think she liked having her daddy come and bring them to her too! Then we came home and took a nap before we had to run pick up kids, get cookies, and go our separate directions. Ah, true love. It's not all hearts and flowers, it's the day to day commitment of being there for each other through thick and thin and still being able to have a conversation over the lunch table (that's not about the kids!)

Merry Christmas!

I won't bore you with all the Christmas pictures, but here are a few. I don't know how it happened, but it looks like I only took pictures of the kids when they opened  clothes! They really did get more than clothes. First, I made my cinnamon rolls that I make every year, they are so yummy! Then we opened presents upstairs so Hunter wouldn't drive us nuts. Instead he just sat on the other side of the baby gate and whined the whole time! Riley got Beats headphones, some Navy Gear (sweatshirt and t-shirts and a guidebook to the Naval Academy), some paracord, and some stuff from Old Navy. Regan got a One Direction gift basket filled with 1D pencils, pens, stickers, magnets, AND...TICKETS to see 1D in September at the Alamodome in San Antonio! She was super excited to open that one. We will be going with some friends, and making a whole girl's trip out of it. She also got a new iPhone 4s (and a 1D case for it). Her phone has been messed up for a while, so she really needed a new one anyway.

I got David a Fitbit Flex, and he got me a new tea cup and some Christmas tea that I love. And I had to throw in pictures of Elise too, she had a great Christmas! She is such a doll!  The only bad part, was one of David's and Riley's MAIN gift was caught up in UPS hold. Thankfully Riley is old enough to understand! After we opened presents, we went to a friend's house for some appetizers. The kids (and guys) played a bean bag game and we just sat around and visited and had appetizers and sangria! It was a great day.

Christmas Concert

Regan's Winterfest Christmas Concert was tonight, as well as an annual Christmas party at a friend's house that we always go to! So it was double duty. We went to the concert and left early to head to the party. Regan stayed to see the dancers and went home with her BFF to spend the night. The choir did a great job, they sang a ton of songs, and I did record a couple, so I will put them on YouTube soon, and post here. It hit me while we were sitting there, this is our last elementary Christmas event! More than likely, our last elementary event ever. My babies are growing up!!

The party was fun, it's a White Elephant gift exchange, and I brought the funny gold Yoga frogs I got there last year! We also brought a Potty Golf set that Riley REALLY wanted, and he ended up with it! He loves it.

Came home, watched some TV with the boy, and was awoken early the next morning by a sick girlie. I have been having major allergy issues, so she and I laid around all weekend taking care of each other.

And just because I think this is the absolute cutest thing ever, here is a before and after picture of Elise, and her first time meeting Santa. Trista said she stood there talking to Santa and Elise loved him, she was all smiles until Trista put her on his lap and backed away. So funny!! I so love that baby girl!

Safari Champ

Today my new Mom 2 Mom small group from church had a meet up at Safari Champ. It used to be called Jungle Java and I took the kids there all the time when they were younger. But now, everyone else in my small group has little kids but since it was a school holiday we all met up there so the kids could play. A couple of the kids are in Regan's 2 year old class that she works in on Sunday's, so she enjoyed playing with them. One little boy wanted her to carry him around the whole time, it was cute (and she did).

Regan had spent the night last night with Piper and Brooklyn, so I took them with us to play too. They all had fun, and we played for a few hours before coming home to a Minecraft marathon.

Regan still has a little bit of swelling, but she's starting to get a black eye. She's afraid her eyes are crooked now. 

(Riley had spent the night with his friend Yash on Sunday night too, so David and I had a church thing to do, and after that we went to see Gravity in 3D at this really cool theater that has motion seats. He hated the movie, but I loved it, but more than that, I loved the seats! They move you around so you felt like you were floating in space when they were floating in the movie, or when there was debris flying around, the seats vibrated, and made you feel like you were getting hit too. It was so cool.)

National Night Out

Our HOA hosted a Pool Party/Fish Fry for National Night Out. I took Piper and Brooklyn and the kids and headed up there. The water was cold, but you know my kids, they are fish and did NOT care! There was a lifeflight helicopter there for the kids to look in, a fire truck came by, they had fried catfish and french fries and chips and cookies. Hey, I didn't have to cook, and got to lounge by the pool, it was a great night for me!

Regan's 11th Birthday Party

Regan turns 11

We decided to have Regan's party a little early this year, usually being in the middle of June, people are already leaving for summer vacations. And since school isn't out yet (grumble grumble) we thought this would be a good weekend.

We started the day with breakfast at Cafe Java, her favorite (or our favorite) and then headed to the horse party!

She's been wanting a horse party for FOREVER so I found this stable near our house, and thought she would love it. A friend of ours from church makes the most awesome cakes, so I had Regan pick out her flavors and colors, and left it to Jennifer and the cake turned out perfect! Regan, and all the kids, loved it! And it was delicious, the kids all loved eating the "apples" and Regan saved the horse and the bucket of apples, she said they were too cute to eat.

The girls started in the barn and looked around at all the horses and helped get them saddled up, and headed to the covered arena to ride. The rode for almost an hour and then we went to the party room for cake and presents. Then they went back to the barn and saw some babies and just spent some time with the horses. Regan is very excited that Mimi and Papa are getting her a few horseback riding lessons for her birthday! And she can't WAIT to get started!

It was a great party, not too crazy, even if it was crazy hot, and Elise ended the day by falling asleep on dada. The party was right during nap time, and she was cranking up a little, but they both got a little cat nap.

Girl Scout Christmas Party

I can't believe it's our 6th year in Girl Scouts! Tonight we had our annual Girl Scout Christmas party and we did something a little different than what we usually do. We met at Austin's Pizza and had dinner (they have really good gluten free pizza too BTW) and then they had a jewelry exchange. Then we walked across the street to the movies and saw "Rise of the Guardians". It was a really cute movie, the girls loved it. We got a lot more patches for her vest too. It's filling up, last few months to be a green-vest Junior, next up is the brown vest!

Christmas Choir Concert

Regan has enjoyed choir so much this year. I think it helps that 2 of her friends from the neighborhood are in it with her, but she really loves to sing. They have been practicing a lot for the Christmas concert and they did a great job! (Click here to see the video). They sang several songs, and ended with a sing-a-long of Christmas Carols. It was fun, and they looked so cute up there!

Jellystone Park

Our first Girl Scout trip of the year!I can't believe this is our 6th year to be in Girl Scouts, and mostly with the same girls. We have a great group of girls and I love that we get to do so many fun things throughout the year.

This was a super fun camping trip! We had 12 out of 15 girls that were able to make it. We had it planned for a while, but then it started raining and I got a text the night before that the trip was canceled. Regan was SO upset, and I hadn't even started getting any of our stuff together, so imagine my surprise when the next day around noon I get another text, the trip is back on! Well, then it was flight of the bumblebee to get packed for me and for Regan, and get to Krista's to load up. We were leaving at 4:30 and another van load was coming later.

So we got to Jellystone Park and got our tents set up as quick as possible. The girls do most of it, and then we let them take their sack dinner over to the outdoor theater and watch Puss and Boots while we finished up.

Of course it took a while for them to settle down and go to sleep, so I wasn't asleep till close to 1am, and the girls were up bright and early around 6:45am! We got up and got breakfast going (baggie eggs, breakfast tacos and fruit). By the time we got it all eaten and cleaned up (Girl Scout rules means no paper plates or plastic utensils, but using a "mess kit" and washing dishes with boiling hot water and bleach water after each meal!) so it's a little more time consuming than the easy way out! Then we went to Candy Bar Bingo, and you pay for your bingo card with a candy bar! It was fun, and I even got a bingo!

Then we headed over to the pool, with the awesome 6 person super fast water slide! The girls rode that thing over and over and over! They also had a new 4 person water slide, which was really fun, but I think hard for the girls to carry the huge tube up all those stairs. We swam until lunch time, where we had sandwiches real quick so we could head back to the pool again. After more swimming, it was time for an ice cream social. The park had a daily list of activities, so we were trying to do as many of those as we could. We then headed back to the pool for some more slide time.

After the girls were completely water logged, we had our first official Girl Scout meeting of the year, where we talked about some of the community service projects we have coming up, brainstormed some ideas for our Bronze Award, and planned an activity for our sister Brownie troop to help them earn a Try-It. For dinner it was Frito Pie (gluten free, yay for me!) and the girls got it all cleaned up in time to go watch the outdoor movie again, while we grown up took our showers and got ready for S'mores.

By bedtime that night, we were all pretty exhausted and I head that it rained a little, but I never heard it, I was out cold all night! There was the cutest little dog that hung around camp, the girls named her Cocoa, and she was so sweet. Regan cried wanting to bring her home and adopt her and take care of her.  The next morning it was time to pack up, say goodbye to Cocoa, and before we left we stopped and said the Pledge of Allegiance with Cindy Bear at the Flagpole, and took some pictures with Yogi Bear. It was a really neat park, and the girls want to camp there again! They had some pretty cool cabins that I wouldn't mind staying in sometime too.

I just love Girls Scouts :)

Jellystone Park

Tammy's Farm!

I usually stop in at Tammy's, or in this case, spend the night at Tammy's, when I have to go get Regan from Camp Texlake. She lives about 5 minutes from Camp, and it's over an hour from my house, and since I had to get Regan at 9am, I spent the night! Kenzie rode with me to drop Regan off at camp, and then we went to check out Tammy's farm, and then I went back Friday night since the guys were out of town on a deep sea fishing trip, so Regan and I spent the day helping her milk the goats and feed the menagerie!