Back to School

 The kids had to have one more sleepover together in the game room before summer vacation came to an end. Thankfully they did sleep!

 Macey just moved up to the next age group in gymnastics. She is enjoying this activity still even though she has to go on the big kid equipment now.

 Racquetball fun with Dad.

 The first day of school started early for mom and Alex. He had football practice at 6:45. We did not get a group picture of all 3 kids because of it! But here are shots with the parents for the other two. We've got a 4th grader and a 1st grader in elementary school this year.

Macey was anxious and Ryan thrilled for a new adventure. The first week went OK for Macey and great for Ryan. I know with time Macey will fit in and will be happy too.

 This is the 7th grader after school.

 They willingly posed together for the first day of school picture. :)

 Macey getting ready for bed with all her stuffies. It is awesome to be a girl!

 Friday's are special at elementary school with assemblies every week. Macey got to go up front because her birthday was that week.

 She stood up front to be sung too and to do the fun song. (The girl next to her is also in primary, but a year younger.) I am glad it was a positive experience for her. We also took up pencils as birthday treats. She had a great first week. All she needs are some friends for recess!

Macey's 6th Birthday Party

Macey's birthday fell on the Sunday before school started. She wanted to have a pajama party. We compromised and had a pancake and pajama party on Saturday morning. Frozen Fever is all the rage this season for birthday parties, so I obliged by throwing the cutest little Frozen Fever party for Macey, her old friends and her new friends too.

I made these cute little 'snowgies' as party favors.

I had a friend make the cake. In Frozen Fever there is a monster 3-4 tier cake, but since we were only feeding 12, we only needed one!

Macey was a good sport and did some posing for me. :)

Anxiously waiting for her friends.

We decorated Snackeez cups...

made our own pancakes...

watched frozen fever...

'ice skated' on our socks...

and played 'Hot and Cold' hiding the snowgies.

Mrs Ellis came for a little bit too!

Macey had a lot of new stuffies to snuggle at bedtime! I think her party and birthday were a huge success. We love our beautiful princess!

August doings

The boys were all sent off in different directions, so I allowed Macey to have a sleepover with Megan. They were super cute! And had a lot of fun.

I put their hair in rag rolls for curly hair. Megan's turned out awesome!

I made some curtains for Macey's room. It is the first thing I've done to give her room character! These ruffle curtains are so pretty. I love the way they look.

Sunday afternoon and mom won't let us have electronics. They made Lego cars and had races.

One year since The Illness and Macey is spunky and healthy. Another trip to Children's Medical City cleared her for just yearly visits now.

We took another trip to the water park. Macey is playing by herself instead of on the playground since it is freezing on it!

 Way back when I won an auction to take 10 kids to Lil Ninjas indoor obstacle course. These are the 9 friends we made it there with. It was a really fun adventure.

 Macey really enjoyed this place. The boys liked dodge ball. And Oliver was determined to climb the warped wall (but didn't, next time!).

We finished off summer with fun and happiness with our old friends as we segway-ed into new schools.

Summer Break

 This summer we have enjoyed having a new home, so besides our AR vacation, we have stayed home. We have swam quite a bit, sometimes in the old neighborhood and sometimes at the rec center. Another photo of Sophia and Mace in the pool.

 Brothers.

 Me snuggling with Lucy and her bird.

 Yeah, a lot of minecraft at home and abroad.

 Macey and Oliver poolside.

 Birthday party at a theater.

 Macey was a tiger in the play.

 It was very cute and fun!

 I took Macey and Megan to the mall for shopping and lunch. This was a super fun outing. The girls picked out Frozen action figures and were very happy with their new headbands from the $1 bin!

 Macey is learning to sew. She helped cut, pin, and sew some beanbags. I made these for fort building. All our books that they used to use (dangerously) to hold down the blankets are STILL in boxes. (It hurts me to have my friends boxed away in the garage, where it is hot and there are bugs. Soon, my loves, you'll be on shelves soon.) So I made these 1 pound bean bags for the kids to use instead. I am a little bit awesome.

 Hot? Yeah, it was very hot when we went to the zoo. But we weren't going for the animals. We went for the Nature Exchange. Alex finally got his Mt St Helens ash and Ryan got a very cool rock. Macey got a couple of shells.

 Also, she rode a kangaroo.

 And Ryan fed the birds.

 We met some friends (new friends!) at the zoo's aquarium. It is a tiny place, but they do have sting rays you can feed and pet. The boys loved this activity.

 We have memberships to the zoo and to the science museum. We met the Smith's on this field trip to the Perot. We watched the 3d movie about James Cameron going down to the bottom of the ocean. It was very cool. There were new exhibits on the floor we visited, including this fun robot freeze tag.

 A fox?

 Giraffe's and a sidekick?

 This summer Alex spent 5 weeks building muscles and learning football. He 'needed' these receiver gloves. I hope coach lets him wear them game day!

 Yeah, I spent a whole day making snowgies for Macey's bday party. I'll be spending many more hours doing this activity since these are the party favors for her party. We are going to have a great shin-dig!

 It being summer in Texas, the boys had to bring the soccer goal inside. Am I OK with this? Acutally, it doesn't bother me too much. However, I think the first day of school I'll be hauling it back outside!

 This week we reached a tipping point, that being the kids spent the day having more electronics than any other activity. I am not proud. I came home from grocery shopping to find these fools watching My Little Pony together. Yes, You did watch MLP, Ryan. AND, you liked it too.

And these are the curtains I made for Macey's room. It has been a while since I've made a long project. It took me three days to make this: one full afternoon of hot gluing the ruffles to the backing. Yeah, it is a new sewing low, but it was that or hand sew. By the way, I will not be making another one of these.  Ever. You want one? Buy it! I saved myself $80 making it, but still, it was brutally boring. Alex said that it is good to be bored. I should enjoy it. Yeah, thanks for the parent parroting. (Am I bit concerned that the above snowgies will also hit a boredom threshold? Yes, but hopefully by planning ahead I'll be able to spread it out!)