Thanksgiving

Several of our family members alternate spending Thanksgiving with their spouse's family. This year happened to be a year where several people were not going to make it. So instead of our usual big lunch at my aunt's house, we decided to break in our new house and host Thanksgiving! Don't get too excited...it was just my parents, my aunt, and my sister. ;-) But that was stressful enough for me! I've never even cooked a turkey!

 

All dressed and ready to cook!

My mom came over the day before and showed me how to clean it out (gross) and season it. Then Mondo and I got up at 0600 and put it in the over. And you know what? It turned out delicious! Now I'm proud that I know how to cook a turkey.

Tables all set.

 

Love this pic of my mom showing me how to prep everything!

It was all SO GOOD! Of course it wasn't all cooked at my house. My mom brought stuff and my sister.

 

 

Caleb was reluctant to hold a greasy wishbone but he did it. ;-)

Stockyards

So, I didn't feel like a true Texan since I'd never been to the Stockyards! We made a spur of the moment trip to check it out and had a great time! Most of these pics are just random shots.

 

 

They really enjoyed meeting a real Indian! He gave a long speech about his ancestry and even posed for a picture even though he wasn't supposed to. I love how Ethan is looking serious like the Indian and Caleb is smiling ear to ear. ;-)

 

It's getting harder and harder to squeeze us in a selfie!

We found a cool candy store with random and GIANT candy!

This was in a cool record store.

  

There was a great set up for photos so we did a few poses.

We found these original drinks in one of the stores. Dr. Pepper for Ethan and Gingerale for Caleb.

Grandparent's Day at FWC

The boys were super excited to have both sets of grandparents this year at Grandparent's Day. It's a BIG DEAL at their new school. They were especially excited that Papa made it since you never know how his back is going to behave. So what is Grandparent's Day? Well, we started in the middle school building where Ethan took them to ALL of his classes to meet his teachers (he has SEVEN). Then we walked to the elementary school to meet Caleb's teachers (he only has two). After that was a quick bite at the big breakfast prepared by the PTA. Then it was off to the gym for an amazing (and a bit long) program that highlights choir, band, orchestra, and class presidents. Whew, it's a busy morning!

 

Momo, Nana, Papa, and Ethan.

Caleb was so excited to show them all of the special things he had been working on.

I really loved his salt map of Texas that he made out of homemade playdoh!

Showing off the science room.

Ethan preparing to play for a gym full of people!

The elementary sang a special song...good luck finding Caleb in there! He's toward the middle left.

That's a LOT of grandparents!

Thanks again for making the trip over to the school Momo, Nana, and Papa! They boys loved showing off their school for you! :-)

The Fair!

As you know we LOVE the Fair! I've gone every since I was a kid and Mondo started going with me in high school. I love carrying on the tradition with our kids. Our main goal when we go...to EAT! :-)

 

The boys with Big Tex.

Always have to get a corny dog! Yummy!

Watching the taffy being made.

Ethan really loved checking out a war museum. We had to drag him out of there.

It was cool to see the old hospital stuff.

This was the outside of the war museum. Ethan wanted to pose.

So Caleb had to as well.

One of Caleb's favorite things at the Fair is a giant slice of cheese pizza.

Mmmmm....momma always needs a fried Snickers!

Butter statue!

Caleb found these swings at an outside restaurant last year and now it's a yearly thing that he has to go swing in them.

Trying out a virtual reality experience.

Another thing always on the list...tornado tators! Yummo!

They love, LOVE checking out the cars!

So does Mondo. ;-) That's his dream van. Not gonna lie, it's SUPER nice!!

I just love my boys. They will make friends wherever they are. Mondo was walking around looking for food so we were standing and waiting for him. They boys saw a little boy playing with a ball and they walked over to play with him.

Craziest thing! We ran into Mondo's sister and her family. Random that we went the same day and extra random that we ran into each other! That's Ethan's cousin Jacob.

Caleb loves to do the obstacle courses. I was sad that Ethan didn't want to do it this year. He's growing up. :-(