Christmas in Grapevine

Rewind back to the weekend of Dec 3rd.  We headed up to Grapevine, TX with the Wellmann's, the LaBorde's, the Kade's, the Patton's, the Molloy's and the Nieland's for a Christmas adventure.  We stayed at the Gaylord Texan where there were numerous Christmas activities for the kids.  The hotel was decorated just beautifully and we had such a GREAT time!

We were the first to arrive so the kids started taking part of all the activities.  We started with Rudolph's Reindeer round-up where we had to search for all the reindeer in the hotel using our secret decoder.

Then it was off to elf-yourself where we pretended to turn into elves and help in Santa's workshop!

The Kade's and Molloy's arrived and the kids were excited.  We toured the hotel with them, saw Santa and had a nice dinner on "the riverwalk" in the hotel. They were so excited that it was hard to get a decent picture!

I love this one with Ashdin kissing Marlie.  For the record I think she kissed him first.  Still teaching the "play hard to get" tactic.   

Everyone arrived later and the girls had "girls night out" once the kids were in bed.  At this point I'd like to tell some crazy story that involves dancing on tables and carrying someone back to their room, but let's be honest...we are all working Moms and way too tired to put forth that much effort.  So we had drinks and desserts at the coffee shop overlooking the beautiful atrium.  It was so fun and relaxing! 

Saturday we had a big day planned.  We were at the ICE! exhibit at 9:00am!!  It was amazing.  The theme this year was A Charlie Brown Christmas.  I don't think the kids appreciated it as much as the adults but they loved the ice slides.  It was 9 degrees in there so needless to say Marlie was not too happy with her multiple jackets and the cold.  She didn't get much sleep the night before because she spent most of the night kicking and punching me (which is why our kids never sleep with us at home!).  She would not be happy that I'm posting these pictures of her, but looking back it was kind of funny.  I think she was the only frumpy one of the bunch though and I was proud of all the other kids for being good sports! 

By the time our family came out Coach Dan already had hot chocolate waiting for the kids! We had to warm up because then it was off to the SNOW! exhibit.  The kids had so much fun tubing down the hills.  I would say this was probably the highlight of the weekend for them. I didn't get great pictures because it was dark, but you can get the idea!

After a nice lunch and a little nap it was time to get the kiddos in their PJ's for what we were most excited about...a trip on the Polar Express to the North Pole!  The kids were pumped and I think we adults were too.  We had a quick bite to eat on Main street which had tons of wonderful restaurants and shops.  We didn't have time to shop but did manage to find a cupcake place with amazing cupcakes.  

This was our attempt to get all the kids together for a picture but as you can see we failed miserably.  I think all the Patton kids are missing as well as Ashdin and Daniel. 

The kids were ready!  We gathered in a large tent before boarding the train and the kids got to all go on stage and sing.  Avery ran right to the front.  You can see Marlie, Brady and Daniel on the far right and I think the boys are somewhere in the back.  They sang their hearts out!

Then it was time for the Daddy Dance-off and we managed to get them to pick Coach Dan to put on the stage.  He was awesome and a great sport and ended up winning!! Surely Doug will put the video on YouTube. He is the one in the middle - not in PJs.  I really don't think the adults are supposed to wear PJs. 

So we boarded the train and well...were pretty disappointed.  There was a man trying to get everyone to sing Christmas carols who was as excited as my kids are about eating squash.  There was no Polar Express story or even an attempt at a makeshift North Pole.  But we had to laugh about it all and the kids still thought it was very cool!  They did get to see Santa and were very excited about that! 

The guys had "guys night out" that night and I'm not sure what exactly happened.  Apparently "what happens at the Gaylord Texan stays at the Gaylord Texan".  But they looked pretty good the next morning at Breakfast with Charlie Brown.

Breakfast with Charlie Brown was good because the food was amazing!  The kids loved the chocolate fountain and I loved pretty much everything else they served.  It was the perfect ending to a great weekend.

Thank you to Melissa for coming up with the idea to take a trip there and for all our amazing friends for coming with us and sharing in the fun.  I still can't believe how good the kids were and how easy it was coordinating 30 people.  We will have to do this again.  Marlie keeps asking when we're going back! 

Lots of Turkeys!

Turkeys in the fryer, turkeys in our house!!  Thanksgiving was so fun!  We celebrated on Saturday and had all our family over!! Doug was so excited to fry turkeys and they turned out awesome!! The kids had a blast with all their cousins!!   

Funny the most exciting part of the day for them was a trip out to the street to see the very scary ice cream truck.

We are so thankful for our family and our friends!! I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving too!!

Soccer Season is Over

Last Saturday was our last soccer game...in the rain...and we had our end of season party.  I am SO sad that I won't get to watch Matt play soccer on Saturdays.  He is so good and it was always the highlight of my week.  He asked Dad when the next game was and Doug told him the season was over.  The look on his face was priceless.  It went from smiling to so sad that I thought he might cry. But then Doug and I couldn't help but laugh because it was so cute and that made him laugh too. 

We had such fun as always with this group of awesome kids and super cool parents.  Thank you all for making it a wonderful season and thank you to Dad and Coach Joel for coaching! 

I thought these pictures were too cute...

And the boys were so proud to get their trophies!   I enjoyed the cupcakes!!

Trick or Treat?

Hmmm...sometimes I feel tricked by all my family members but mostly they are a treat!  We had a fun Halloween weekend.  It all started with the kid's Halloween parties at school.  All the kids were adorable.  I had "fun" running back and forth from both parties.  Here are the cupcakes I made for Matt's party which I thought turned out pretty cute...

When I walked into Marlie's class her and Ashdin were dancing like fools while they sang Monster Mash.  It was hilarious.  Her class wore Halloween PJs which makes it easier than kids being in their costumes all day. They loved eating their Halloween cupcakes too. 

Matt was allowed to wear his costume but it was so bulky that I thought it might be best not to wear it all day.  So the night before we scrambled and actually did great with a baseball player costume.  He looked adorable and his friends did too.  Hopefully Hannah will hand us down her costume for Marlie.  It was cute!

After our parties we met a few friends at the park.  It was a beautiful day and I figured they could run for awhile since they were on a sugar high!  Papa and Nona Lisa came to visit and surprised the kids at the park.  Marlie practically jumped out of the swing to run to Papa. 

Saturday morning we were all excited about going to Matt's soccer game.  We played a great team and the game was amazing.  The kids all played so hard (but I think we won...who's keeping tabs...well me).  Matt scored a few goals but he had to really work for them.  Again...a very proud Mom.  Melissa and I were yelling on the sidelines like it was the final match in the World Cup.  I am embarrassed that I yell "go get'em" at a 5 year old soccer game. 

After a nice long lunch at Tin Roof with our tribe and the Wellmann's we headed home for a quick nap.  Then it was off to our neighborhood Fall Festival.  The kids had a blast and we got to see lots of friends.  Afterwards the kids decorated small pumpkins with Mr. Potato Head pieces.  Matt's was a pirate and Marlie's a princess of course.  I thought that checked the list on pumpkin decorating but Doug was still up for pumpkin carving.  So after church on Sunday they carved pumpkins.  The kids reluctantly helped clean them out and Dad and Papa did the carving.  Marlie was very specific that she wanted heart eyes, an oval nose and 3 teeth.  Matt just wanted a mean pumpkin. 

After another quick nap it was time to get ready for Halloween!  Matt wanted to be blue bat man this year so of course Marlie wanted to be bat girl.  I tried so hard to convince her to be a princess of some sort but she didn't want anything to do with that.  They were cute...Marlie's costume turned out cuter than expected and she loved it!  She made this funny mad face, flexing her muscles in every picture.  My little girl!!

It was off to the Hidrobo's 2nd annual Halloween party. They do such a great job with scary and fun snacks and treats. It was awesome and the parents had fun too. Luca plays on our soccer team this year so they invited the whole team which meant we got to hang out with our neighbors and all our soccer friends too. It was a blast. I love this pic of Avery and Marlie...

And here's the rest of the neighbors.  I couldn't get everyone in of course... 

Then it was time to trick-or-treat!  As I suspected the kids RAN from house to house.  Luckily Marlie could keep up a little better this year but not completely.  We had a huge group of kiddos with us...the LaBorde's, the Wellmann's, the Patton's, the Giffhorn's and the Anthony's.  So each house got slammed with about 15 kids all at once! Here's Cole, Marlie, Caden, Matt (sort of) and Avery. 

 And here you can see Ryan, James, Austin and Braden. 

And I saved the best for last...Doug and Larry have been talking for years about wearing Doug's old track uniforms on Halloween.  Well since Baylor beat UT, Doug couldn't resist.  It was only slightly embarrassing and mostly hysterical.  I'm surprised Joel, Melissa and Gayle got in the picture with Doug! 

I love seeing these kids dressed up and the excitement in their eyes as they walk up to each door.  This is always such a fun holiday in our hood!  Thanks to our awesome friends!! So glad Papa, Nona Lisa and Nene could participate in this crazy night with us.