Christmas Train

My goodness I am so behind on my blogging :) On December 16th Derrek and I took the kids down to Alvin to ride the Christmas Train at Living Stones Church. To make this event even better our good friends The Smith's went with us. Mason was so excited that he was going to get to take a train ride (kid loves riding trains heehee). Anyways, it was a cute and inexpensive christmas activity for us and fun was had by all. When you got there they had snacks that you could purchase and a little ( i do mean little) shop that you could browse through. In the back of the buildign they had Santa's wonderland set up for pictures with Santa.

Here is my attempt to get a picture of the kids with the pretty decorations. Samantha is very hard to photograph these days. Child does not want to stand still.

We went and bought our tickets and waited for our color to be called (all the tickets were color coordinated to specific times that the train ran).

Here is Mason showing me his ticket

Hunter, Mason and Barrett standing in front of a decorative train holding their tickets.

We were the second train ride of the night so once we realized that it was almost our turn we headed outside to wait for our color to be called. It wasn't long after we got outside that we were able to get on the train, but how cute do they all look waiting patiently in their rocking chairs?:)

This is the one and only picture I have once we got on the train b/c my camera died but here they are all excited and ready to go :)

The train ride was about 12 minutes long and it drove us through a bunch of light tunnels and scene set ups of gingerbread homes and nativity scene's. The kids loved all the lights and made it a point to scream out every single thing they saw. haha.

The church has a pizza parlor on site too so after our ride we all went over and had some pizza. It was a great family fun night with great friends. We will definitely be going back next year :)

Hope you all had a safe and happy holiday!!

Attending our first Christmas program

Now that Mason is in Pre K-3 its a little bit more like real school instead of just mothers day out. So this year his class got to participate in a Christmas program. Wahoo!!! I was finally getting to attend my first program for my son. I was so excited!! Would he sing? Would he cry? Would he pick his nose? haha I was very pleasantly surprised to see that he did sing and he did all the hand motions that went with the songs. They only sang 4 little songs b/c lets face it, when you are trying to get 20 or so 3 year olds to stay still and sing while their parents are watching you gotta make it short and sweet. I have yet to figure out how to get my video camera to transfer to my computer but here are some pictures of the day.

He was actually front and center

Giving a little wave :)

Smiling it up

The best I could get of the two together

My handsome boy. I was bit shocked that he agreed to wear the reindeer sweater but I am glad he did b/c he looked so cute!!

Happy Holidays!!

Our new Winter trend

Now that it has gotten a little bit chilly outside we have had to cover some little heads. But dont worry it has not stopped me from still putting bows on Samantha's head :) Thus our newest winter trend

Funny thing is that I thought that everybody did this, but we have gone multiple places where people have commented about what a great idea it is to get a hat that you can still attach bows too. Look at me starting a trend that I'm pretty sure already exists. haha :)

Stay warm friends!

Where's Samantha?

I was sitting at the dinner table talking to my mother in law the other night and we were lost in conversation. Mason was up stairs and I had seen Samantha walk into the den and didnt think much of it. So in the middle of our conversation my mother in law asks "Where's Samantha?" my first response was that I had put her to sleep but then I remembered that I hadn't so we get up b/c it was really quiet in the whole house and I say " I saw her come into the den" and low and behold she was going through my whole wallet and pulling EVERYTHING out.

(i had pictures but you could see on of my Credit cards and my license which is not safe on the internet :) )

But, oh what fun rummaging through mommy's wallet can be :) I kid you not she was perfectly silent for like 15 minutes just going through all of this stuff. I have to admit that it was pretty funny. So if ever want to entertain your child...j/k this is so not my recommendation of how to do it :)

A family photo shoot

We have never had a family photo shoot (crazy I know) so needless to say it was definitely time. Lucky for me I have two talented friends who were running a holiday special. A full session with Amy Garret of Sweet Pea Photography and a christmas card created by Julie Melancon of Sweet Petite Designs . Both Ladies did an amazing job. I loved them all but here are some of my most favorite shots.

The picture at the top of the blog is also one of my favs. Thank you again Amy and Julie!!

Happy Thanksgiving!!

What a wonderful day we had. This was our 1st annual GRWL Thanksgiving Celebration. What does GRWL stand for you may be asking yourself? G-gonzalez, R-rapp, W-Woodward, L-LeRouax. All of the families put together :)

We headed over to my sister Ronnie's house at about 11 am to help with the cooking and so the kids could play. We ate our Thanksgiving feast at 2pm and it was so delicious.

Here is the kids table

The adults table

How cute is this turkey? This was the appetizers for the kids

All of the cousins dont get to play together very often so it is always a great time when we can get them all together. They are certainly on their way to being the best of friends :)

Nathan, Samantha and Madison

Mason, Matthew and Zachary

Not the best picture but this is all the kids together

My little family

We did desserts about 2 hours later and my goodness we had some major yumminess. Cheesecakes, cake balls, pecan pie, pumpkin creme caramel, pumpkin pie, chocolate creme pie and the list could still go on and on.

As I type I am finishing my day off by watching the Aggies beat the longhorns (now thats a great ending to a great day if you ask me heehee)

Happy Thanksgiving to you all!!

Wedding Weekend Fun

Two weeks ago my best friend Lynda got married in San Antonio. We had the best time! It was so nice to have a little vacation and to not have to worry about the kids (who stayed with my mother in law for the weekend).

We headed out early Friday to make sure we had time to check into our hotel, rest a little and get to the rehearsal on time. We stayed at The Hotel Indigo at the Alamo. We really really enjoyed the hotel and its location. We could see the Alamo from our window and were literally only about 2 blocks from the Riverwalk. Yes, we totally did the tourist thing and took pictures at both places haha :)

Derrek and I at the rehearsal dinner

Me and the bride (my bestie for 23 years and counting)

Derrek and I did some walking around after the rehearsal. Here we are at the Alamo.

The day of the wedding we got up and got to take our time. We went down to the riverwalk and had a nice leisurely breakfast then came back to the hotel and watched some gameday on ESPN, then we got ready for the wedding.

The Riverwalk. Derrek refused to be in this picture with me.

The bride and groom at the reception

Me and the hubs :)

Lynda and I with our men :)

Another great part about this wedding was that almost all of my family was there too. It was great to get to see them.

Joshua, Ronnie, Me and Michael

4 out of 6 kids with my parents

Overall we had a wonderful weekend. The wedding was beautiful and the reception was a blast. The dress I wore was absolutely flattering and a beautiful color. We got to hang with the family and feel like we were on vacation all in one :)

CONGRATULATIONS CHRIS AND LYNDA!!!

Halloween Weekend (picture overload)

Holy crazy busyness is all I have to say about our Halloween weekend. But it really was a BLAST!! It started the morning of Friday the 29th. I dropped Mason off at school and then Samantha and I headed off to Zoo Boo with my mom's group. For Zoo Boo she was dressed as a ballerina (this was her back up costume). It was a super cute event and we will definitely be hitting it up every year. Friday evening I dressed Mason up in his Buzz lightyear costume and we headed to my sisters house for Halloween party #1.

Here they are getting ready to go and all dressed up

To infinity and beyond!

Saturday morning we met up with our friends The Smith's and went to the Pumpkin Chunkin Festival at Mason's school. Yes, it really is all about pumpkin chunking. It was so cool to watch the giant trebuche launch those pumpkins. This is festival #1 of the weekend.

Samantha in her Halloween themed outfit. Aren't those baby legs so cute??

A close up of her cuteness

The boys watching the pumpkins fly through the air (from left Hunter, Mason and Barrett)

Mason, Samantha and Mommy on the train

look how cute she looks standing up in the train car

A shot of the whole train

Mason playing some of the games

Then a fire truck pulled up ( the firefighters must have needed some food or something b/c they were not there for very long) so we took the opportunity to go and take a look.

When the excitement of the fire truck wore off it was back to the games and fun activities

And what better way is there to end a morning then getting an ice cream that is practically the size of your face :)

Saturday evening we once again met up with our friends The Smiths and hit up the fall fest (aka festival #2) at FUMC. Mason was again Buzz Lightyear but Samantha was now in her real costume and was Minnie Mouse. At the end of this festival the kids were going to go around to the sunday school rooms to trick or treat and I volunteered to decorate the door to our sunday school classes room.

It really did come out cute and the best part was that I had all of the stuff I used in my house and didnt have to buy anything :)

here are the kids in front of the door

When the Smiths arrived all cuteness took over b/c (and I will shamelessly take all credit for this idea) Hunter (who is betrothed to Samantha) was the Mickey to her Minnie! These photos are going to be 100% priceless one day in a wedding slide show. We got so many compliments about how adorable they were together.

With all the fuss over how adorable Micky and Minnie were we certainly dont want to leave out the other big brother, Barrett. Here he is as Spiderman.

Another one of Samantha in all her cuteness as Minnie Mouse

Sunday morning was pretty low key but at 3:30pm th efun began again as we headed to The Rutledge House for Halloween party #2. It was a great shindig and the kids had a blast unfortunately I have no pictures of this fun event though :( Sorry Carey! As 5:15pm rolled around we headed off to Halloween party #3 at the Harris household. This party was being thrown by some lovely mommies that I unfortunately dont get to hang out with very much. I use to work out with them in the mornings before school started up again. Oh how I miss those workouts b/c I am very much needing them. Anyways, they too did an amazing job decorating and throwing a fun filled bash. Here are some group shots of the kids.

When we got there Mason was excited that his friend Hayden (who he goes to school with) was there. Small world but Hayden lives next door to the Harris's. Not sure if you can see it on his wheel chair but Hayden had the wheel of fortune game on the wheels. It was so cute (and creative) he even let Mason spin the wheel. heehee!

The little ones

Our one and only family picture from Halloween.

We were only able to hit about 2 houses with our friends at this party b/c Samantha was getting restless. So, we came home and put her to bed and I took Mason trick or treating in our neighborhood (big thanks to Valerie for the embroidered trick or treat bags).

We were so excited to see so many kids out and about this year. We even got rid of ALL of our candy. Wahoo!!!

On Monday (Nov 1) (thats right the fun is still not over) after picking up Mason at school I dressed them up one last time (at least we got our money's worth) and headed to my mom's group halloween party (aka party #4). I again have no pictures of this one, but it was also a ton of fun with a bounce house, pinata's and crafts.

Well there you have it, a fun filled and extremely busy Halloween weekend. We managed to make it through in one piece and we are anxiously awaiting all the fun festivities that next year may have to offer.

I hope everyone had a safe and fun filled Halloween!!