Friday, December 30, 2016

I Didn't Quit

No, I didn't quit blogging. 
This is just the first chance I've had to sit down at my computer since the last time I posted.

I can't even remember what all has gone on since then, so I will try to start at the beginning.

I put myself in charge of having the parents take over lunch duty as a Christmas present to the elementary teachers the last week of school before break (which was right after JR and I finished up all our shows). 

 Kyle and Reed had their school Christmas party (I was in charge of Reed's) and JR had finals.  (I don't have any pictures of those things.)


Then Jason and I had a Christmas party to go to the Friday school was out.  Don't we look festive?

And then we pulled out at 8:00 AM on Saturday for Colorado.

We stopped in Amarillo for dinner at the Big Texan where we met up with Brad and Cassidy and their kids.  It was 80 degrees when we left Houston and -2 by the time we stopped that night! 



Friday, December 16, 2016

The 2nd Act

The second act of the show was all biblical.  JR and I were both in a couple of the songs.

If we weren't on stage, I always knew I could find JR looking at or hanging out with the animals.  Unfortunately, I didn't get a picture of the baby zebra...and it was the cutest thing ever!

Yep, baby tigers! 

Monkeys





This one was on YouTube, and as you can see, it would be super hard for you to find us...though Jason said it was easier to find JR on stage than me at the show.  

(We are both on the right hand side of the stage. I'm on the stage and JR is on the 2nd level up.)

I'm in this one, but JR isn't.  I'm standing on the left hand side of the stage next to a lady in purple. We had so much fun during this song. Our character choice was to not believe in any of the miracles Jesus is doing (because there were plenty of people who didn't) until he raises the little girl from the dead. You can see that we think we have our own little show going on with how much we are talking to each other.  


On the last night (show 8) one of the angles got sick so I got to take her place.  Everyone who had been to the show asked if I got to be a flying angel, which no, I was a walking angel.  But I was just excited to wear the costume and have the fun make-up.  


I am still recovering from the shows and catching up on my sleep.
It was a fun experience, and I'm glad I did it. 
Ask me this summer if I'm going to try out again.  I'll have to see if I think I have it in me again.

Wednesday, December 14, 2016

Shopping and Elves

I was also a "shopper" in the opening number of the show.  I walked down the aisle like I was shopping and then broke in to dance with a giant shopping bag.

These costumes weren't so exciting. We had to wear red, green, black, or white.  And we had to look like it was cold, so obviously we weren't "shopping" anywhere near Houston.

 It was all my own stuff, except for the red coat, it's my moms.

(you can see how fancy our dressing rooms were)




JR and I were also elves.
I don't have a picture of him as an elf (he was not excited about the costume) but here I am with my elf group.


And here's what we looked like on the stage.  The arrow shows you where JR and I were dancing.


Tuesday, December 13, 2016

Dolls

Though I was in other dances in the show, the doll dance was by far the longest time I was out on stage, the dance I spent the most time learning, and the one most like my personality.


I'm the 2nd doll to walk on the stage so I spend a lot of time as either the end doll on the right hand side or the 2nd to the end. 

JR also comes on at the end of this video with a small light up box.


We put these costumes back on after the show for pictures.







Monday, December 12, 2016

You Know I Love a "Hat"!

JR and I are finished with our 8 shows at First Baptist.  To say that I am tried is an understatement, so I'm just going to post a picture of us in our biblical outfits for now. 

(Yes, I tied my own headwraps...I'm excited at how good I got at it.)




Thursday, December 8, 2016

Texans

The boys took Grandpa Gary to The Texans game for his birthday a few weekends ago.
The Texans can't seem to get it together and win, but fun was still had by all. 


If we could just get our cutie JJ Watt back maybe we could win a game! 

Wednesday, December 7, 2016

Singing Dog

Granny Buffie and Grandpa Gary had their big Republican Women Christmas party on Sunday.  Their dog, Abby, had to spend the evening and night with us because she begs the party guests for food too much.

We love to make Abby sing, and I was able to catch her on video singing with Kyle.
She's so cute! 

Tuesday, December 6, 2016

Christmas Party

Jason and I had our annual Christmas party Saturday night. We sold it in our school auction this year, so everyone paid the school to come hang out with us. 

 Because JR and I are in the 1st Baptist show this was the only night we were able to have it.  Also because we are in the show, JR and I had rehearsal from 9-4 on Saturday so Jason had to pull this party together by himself. 


Jason did a great job, as usual.  So great that our guests starting arriving at 6:00 and the last group left at 1:00 AM.

Here's what we looked like before it started.  (The one and only picture from the night.)



And here's what I looked like all day while Jason was party prepping.  
These are the others elves in my dance group.  Jason asked why I was dancing with kids...I said, "Well, first off they are in high school and middle school, and secondly...because I'm the same height as they are!" 

Sunday, December 4, 2016

Square Dancing at the Beach

The 3rd grade took a field trip to Galveston on Friday to perform their square dancing that they do every year in PE at a physical fitness conference. 


They had to be at school at 6:00, so they could perform at 9:00.
I was excited that I wasn't able to chaperone this field trip because they weren't getting back until after JR and I had to be at our rehearsals.  
(I'm not a fan of 6:00 AM bus trips or Moody Gardens...which is where they were going after they danced.)


I heard that fun was had by all, but that they loved the chartered buses more than anything because there were bathrooms on them.


They reported that they danced great, and that Moody Gardens was "boring", which I know they were right about both! 


These are some pictures I was able to get from the poor parents that did have to go. Bless their hearts.


Kyle's dance partner was Audrey (front and center) that make 3 years running that these two have been square dance partners! 

Thursday, December 1, 2016

Is It Already Time for this Elf Again?!

I really felt like I had my act together with the elf arriving on time this morning. 
There were no excuses needed about him being late and coming after school.


I'm guessing it doesn't have as much to do with having my act together as it does Reed saying, "Mommy, can you please make sure our elf comes in the morning" as I was putting him to bed.

Wednesday, November 30, 2016

The Back Yard

We had a patio/outdoor kitchen built on to our house this summer. 
 Our builder featured us as the "project of the month" on his website.  The after pictures are so good I didn't even recognize my own house at first! 

Before


 After



Monday, November 28, 2016

Prettiest Birthday Girl Ever

While Jason was celebrating his birthday, guess who turned one?

That's right,
Chloe!

Chloe's birthday just happens to be the same day as Jason's (so was Hunter's if you can believe it).

We all love our little one-year old baby so much!








Sunday, November 27, 2016

Camo for the Big Day

Jason celebrated his birthday by going hunting with the boys.  They saw a bobcat, but missed it. And 2 doe, but didn't shoot at them. 



 JR chose to sleep in and watch the UT game instead of hunting. 



Saturday, November 26, 2016

Thanksgiving

We had a very nice Thanksgiving here at our house with my family and Jason's family.
Jason did most of the cooking (thank goodness!) and even made the turkey.



The kids said they were "most excited to eat rolls", though Reed got pretty excited about the "kid wine" I got for them (caramel apple sparkling apple cider).

We have lots to be thankful for this year, including a new president, which Paw-Paw thanked God for in the blessing before the meal. 

Wednesday, November 23, 2016

Birthday Week

Poor Jason.
I always say Kyle and Reed have a terrible birthday of January 7th, but I still say a Thanksgiving birthday might be worse.

Jason's birthday falls the day after Thanksgiving this year, so we celebrated with Granny Sherry last night.


 He. requested an "ice cream pizza" from Baskin Robbins for his cake, it looks like a pizza, but it's really ice cream. They were sold out of his favorite, Oreo Cookies and Cream, so he had to settle for Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough. 


Tuesday, November 22, 2016

Lots of Singing

I don't think I've mentioned it here, but JR and I are getting ready to be in Houston's 1st Baptist's Christmas show.  The 1st Baptist Christmas show is a really big deal here. People have been going to it forever.  My parents used to go before I was born.

 I decided I'd audition with JR (way back in August), and we both got cast as dancers.  
(We are also other non speaking/non solo, but singing parts.)

I will be dancing in the opening to "Most Wonderful Time of the Year", JR is in a routine with the other middle school/high school kids to "Winter Wonderland", I'm a tap dancing doll in a medley of Christmas songs, and then we are both dancing elves in "Rockin' on Top of the World" (from Polar Express).

Then in the second half of the show we are dressed in Biblical costumes and sing in different songs. We end the show dressed in white robes like we are in heaven. 

We've been going to dance practices since September, and we've been staging Friday nights from 6-10 and Saturdays from 9-2 for the last 3 weeks. 

This past weekend after JR was at these practices on Friday and Saturday, he had to be back at church at 8:00 AM on Sunday to sing with the youth choir in all 3 services.  
It's quite a commitment to be in the youth choir.  They practice every Sunday from 3-4:30, and for a church that is 175 years old (Yes, the church is older than the state of Texas.) with 28,000 members, you'd think there would be lots more youth in the choir. It just goes to show how dedicated they expect these kids to be.


Here are some shots of JR from the big screen.


And a little bit from one of their songs. 


Sunday, November 20, 2016

Definitely on the Naughty List

I finished getting all my Christmas decorations up on Friday.
With everything going on I've been working on it since before Halloween.  It was a long, slow process this year.


But for some reason, Chloe has a problem with Santa Claus.
These are the remains of the second Santa she's chewed up! 


She's actually taking them off the shelves to destroy them.

I was able to find this Santa's face, but there was no way to put him back together.
Sorry Santa. 


I wanted to get mad at her, but then I found her like this.
(If you look closely at her arm you can see some Santa beard still on her!) 
And how am I supposed to get mad at that?


But, I'm pretty certain this means Santa won't be bringing Chloe any presents! 

Friday, November 18, 2016

Deer Hunt

This post got lost in the shuffle of everything going on here lately.

Kyle and Reed left right after their last football game to go deer hunting with Jason and Grandpa.
They have both been with JR before, but have never gone to hunt for themselves.


Kyle got a deer on Saturday evening.





And while Kyle was sleeping in on Sunday morning, Reed got his.


They were both very happy.