Exams and Holiday Fun

 Natalie's Girl Scout troop went to a place where you make signs, start to finish.  She was very pleased with her sign!

 We did one of our Sommer friend group dinners last night. The sweetest group of girls!

Meagan has made a great new group of friends in high school.

She has been surprised, I think, at how much she is enjoying it.

Now, exams, not so much.

Random Stuff

 We went to the FOMO Factory downtown with Lise and the kids.

They had a blast.

 Matthew was excited to go shopping for his Chanukah gift from Uncle Brian and Uncle Brian.

Art is definitely his thing!

Matthew is 9!

 Matthew turned NINE this weekend!

We went to Dallas to Bulloween to celebrate.

Matthew has had a great year.

He has grown up quite a bit and is doing well in school.

He loves art, baseball, and video games.

He still has the two same best friends.

He loves his teachers this year.

 We have had record rainfall in ATX. 

That has brought about flooding.

The flooding brought about a boil alert.

That is a big pain!

 Meagan getting kisses in the kissing booth at Bulloween.

Matthew's artwork.

Eyes are his current faves.

Our Second Teenager! (Natalie turns 13!)

This sweet girl is 13.

That is very hard to believe for many reasons.

She is still our quirky, funny girl.

She works incredibly hard at school and has maintained all As for a year and now another six week grading period.

She LOVES animals, all animals.

Even bugs.

She is still best friends with her sister and brother.

She now is able to babysit Matthew.

She is responsible and kind.

 My coworker and friend Jennifer shares the same birthday as Natalie, so this is our 2nd annual birthday photo!

 She did homework on her birthday. :)

Part of her gift was money to spend at the pet store.

Andy and Natalie share a love of fish.

Party and dinner with grandparents this weekend!

More Colorado Joy

 One of our Colorado traditions is to go to Clint's Coffee House in Breck, get breakfast to go, and sit out by the river.  Perfect.

I grew up very close to my Aunt Jean, so I love that my kids feel the same way.  We love going to Colorado with Aunt Jean and Uncle Steve!

 Andy and I love this photo because it is ironic.  It looks like Matthew is having a blast at the 4th of July parade, but really he pretty much hated it.  I do think this photo is sweet, though. :)

Another Breckenridge tradition is to head up the Gondola to see the snow!  Kids have a blast seeing the only snow they have ever seen.  This year they went on the Alpine Sleds for the first time as well.

Each morning Andy, Matthew, and I took a walk. We discovered an easy hiking area that we liked quite a bit right by our VRBO.

 We got to hang out with Matthew's best friend in Breck!  The boys were so excited to be together out of town.  We went to a gold mine, to dinner, and on an old fashioned train ride.

 Just a funny picture of Nat.

Colorado Joy

 We spent part of our trip in Glenwood Springs and Aspen while the kids got to spend time with Uncle Peter and Aunt Mary. This is the Maroon Bells in Aspen.

More photos of the Maroon Bells, but this one is up at Crater Lake.

We found a deli in Aspen.

 Oh, the flowers in Colorado.  It doesn't get sizzling hot like it does here, so they can grow gorgeous annuals.

One of our favorite places that we went in Aspen was the John Denver memorial gardens. They had quotes and other things with his lyrics on them, but they also had beautiful, peaceful water gardens.  

Andy and I loved the new hot springs, Iron Mountain, in Glenwood Springs. They have a ton of little spa like things over looking the river that run anywhere from 100-108.  Also, they have more of a family style larger pool that is kept around 93 degrees. During the day, the family pool was all that I could handle since it was 90 outside, but we returned for sunset and the warmer pools were much better then. I liked Iron Mountain better than the aging Glenwood Hot Springs Pool.

The School Year is Winding Down

 Charli getting some attention.

 The Braves have had a good season!  They are currently in first place.

 Natalie just had to take a Walmart fake flower photo. 

Some post-STAAR game playing.

My Big Kids

This has been an amazing month.

Meagan won a 2nd place ribbon on a piece of art for UIL.

She won an honorable mention for best actress for her part in UIL JV theatre.

She also is being given Wildcat Pride on Wednesday for her Science class.

Natalie continues to shine academically.

She has a very, very special award that she is receiving next week.

Matthew was selected as Spotlight Stallion this month.

We aren't sure we really want April to end!

Welcome Barney

 Welcome to our family, Barney!

He is the sweetest thing.

 He really likes the tile.

He also loves to play! 

His favorite seems to be tennis balls.

Matthew running and Chloe taking a Ride

 Chloe is special.

She has a stroller.

 Matthew's school had a fun run.

He ran 72 laps.

That is a lot, but not 10 miles. 

It was about 4.5 miles, which I think is pretty impressive for a 2nd grader!

He and his best buddy tied for the highest amount, so they got to "pie" a coach.

He thought that was super fun.

 All 72 laps!

I was driving home and I saw this.

10 years ago, or even 5 years ago, I would have laughed hysterically at anyone pushing a dog stroller.

:)

Meagan is 14!

 My girl is 14. 

She is in her last year of middle school.

High school is next year.

She has grown up so much.

She has learned how to deal with challenges in her life and has matured.

She cares about the world and makes sure to understand it in a way that I was not capable of doing at her age.

She is a loyal and loving friend.

She had a party with her sweet friends.

We did some minute to win it type of games, ate a lot, and had a good time.

We tried to keep out of their hair and let them just hang out like they enjoy doing.

Today we went to Jack Allen's for brunch with her grandparents.

It was a great weekend.