November

We started off the month celebrating Jeff's birthday.
We played pub trivia (and won!), visited The Back Dough for midnight doughnuts,
and showered Jeff with fun gifts, like a ukulele. 

The boys had the opportunity to participate in a handmade market at Arrow.
They each worked hard to come up with just the right product and were thrilled
that they sold everything they brought and made some serious cash.
Max made molded chocolates. Clay produced many artistic masterpieces.
And Weston had homemade hot chocolate, marshmallows, and whipped cream. 

After the market closed, Clay's Arrow dance class put on a lovely performance.

Clay read about homemade drums in a science book and decided to make his own set.

We celebrated Clay's half-birthday with a few small gifts, doughnuts, and The Grinch

Ruth marched in the Veteran's Day parade in Roanoke,
and Clay and I got to watch the parade while trying to stay warm.

Clay decided to make giant pumpkin doughnuts.

Clay got a few plants for his half-birthday
and has been a very attentive gardener.

We had an eggnog taste test.
(I snapped the pic after the almond nog, which was everyone's least favorite.)

We introduced the kids to Bob Ross, and they are now huge fans!

Playing The Worst-Case Scenario Game was probably
one of the most hilarious game nights of all time! 

Weston has gotten really into debate and had the opportunity
to observe a debate competition, where he dutifully
"flowed" (took notes) so he could improve his skills. 

I happened to be up at Arrow one day
and in the vicinity of Clay's robotics class,
so I caught him in action.

Jeff and I had a super fun, spur-of-the-moment date night in Denton.
We saw Little Shop of Horrors at the community theater, visited East Side Denton
and Paschall Bar, and picked up unique doughnuts at The Back Dough.

Weston had a grand adventure camping and hiking for a week in Palo Duro Canyon.

Along with my parents, we made a little trip to Rusk for the Thanksgiving holiday.
This was our first day at the KOA. We had the cutest little cabin and my parents
brought their RV. The little boys rocked at finding the golden pinecones the
campground staff had hidden, and they were rewarded with ice pops.
Papa taught Weston how to make specialty sandwiches on the griddle.
And Weston delivered his fire building/safety talk and helped us get the fire started.

Thanksgiving Day was gorgeous! We took a walk in the woods, rented quad bikes
from the campground, tossed the football around, had plenty of snuggles,
roasted marshmallows and made s'mores, and wore ourselves out. 

I made gratitude journals for each member of my immediate family,
which had entries for every day from last Thanksgiving to this one,
and I presented them to the family on Thanksgiving Day.
They all said it was one of the best gifts they have ever received,
and making them was truly beneficial and joyful for me as well.

Thanksgiving, KOA style

The day after Thanksgiving was spent playing games,
racing bikes, and chatting around the fire. 

We had a great time in the town of Rusk, visiting the longest footbridge in the nation
(according to the city of Rusk) and seeing some murals and historic homes.

Mom and I slipped off for a lovely hike through the Piney Woods.

On our last night at the campground, we cooked gigantic steaks,
had a mini birthday party for Weston, and stayed up literally all night 
watching the Fightin' Texas Aggies execute an epic win against LSU.

Weston became a teenager, and we had fun celebrating with gifts and Wolf'ems.

I had my first ever experience with Jury Duty
and am now much more knowledgeable about the Voir Dire process.

Ruth achieved the CAP rank of Technical Sergeant.

We kept our annual tradition of having an "Average Birthday Party"
(for those with birthdays and half-birthdays in November) at a Brazilian steakhouse.

We celebrated Ruth's half-birthday.

We made models of water and alcohol molecules
for the boys' Arrow science class.

Days when the kids were away

Almost accidentally, Jeff and I ended up childless for several days last week while the kids played with grandparents in the far reaches of Texas and Oklahoma. We made the most of our time and put together a brilliant staycation. On Tuesday, we headed to downtown Dallas, where we checked into the W hotel and then headed over to Happiest Hour for lunch. It was such a cool place, and we definitely want to go back sometime. From there, we braved the intense Texas heat and walked over to the Nasher Sculpture Center for some culture. After that, we went back to the hotel and spent several lazy hours lounging on the awesome pool deck, which has spectacular views of the city. Tuesday evening, we had dinner at The Rosewood Mansion on Turtle Creek, a place we have always wanted to visit. We tried the tasting menu with wine pairings. The food was wonderful, the atmosphere was elegant, and it was an overall excellent experience!

W Dallas Victory

Happiest Hour

Nasher Sculpture Center 

Rosewood Mansion on Turtle Creek

On Wednesday, we came back to Flower Mound in time for me to do my deliveries for Meals on Wheels. It was fun to have Jeff ride along, and I think he enjoyed getting to participate in an activity that is important to me. When the deliveries were done, we made a beeline for McKinney, where we had lunch and visited wineries and shopped around the historic square. Later, we had dinner at Sol and then visited Trader Joe's and Half-Price Books.

McKinney

On Thursday morning, we hopped up before the sun so we could meet our hot air balloon flight crew and check an item off our bucket list. Just as the sun was coming up, we became airborne and flew around for about an hour, enjoying the peace and beauty all around us. It was spectacular! And, with the whole day still before us, we then headed to Jeff's parents' house to pick up our younger boys, stopping for lunch at George's in Waco.

Hot air balloon flight

George's

We love hanging out with our kiddos, but we were definitely glad for a chance to spend some quality one-on-one time together enjoying some of the wonderful things DFW has to offer!

Girls' Weekend

Less than 36 hours after we arrived home from South America, I hopped in the car and headed down to Fredericksburg to meet up with my mom and sister for our first-ever Girls' Weekend. We had so much fun shopping, eating, visiting wineries, catching up, and laughing. I'm so thankful to have such wonderful women in my life!

Fiesta Winery

Lunch at Vaudeville's underground bistro

Samples at Quintessential Chocolates

Four Point Cellars

Pontotoc Winery

Dinner at Rathskeller

It was way too hot to hike, but we enjoyed the drive out to Enchanted Rock.

Celebrating National Ice Cream Day at Clear River

Back in Texas

We flew all night and were terribly spoiled in the First Class cabin. We finally made it back to DFW around 5:30 this morning. Even at that early hour, Summer took us into her sweltering embrace, and it was quite a shock since yesterday Winter had us firmly in his grasp. Since some of our people stayed up all night watching movies on the plane instead of sleeping, they were completely wiped out when we got back to the house and crashed immediately. Those who remained awake were in a flurry of activity, checking the mail, cooking, buying groceries, unpacking, and taking care of the neglected business of the last two months.

So spoiled in First Class

Five minutes prior: "I'm not sleepy. I just want to play."

Our first order of business was to shower and store up some water to use throughout the day because we had a notice attached to our front door stating that the city would have our water off from 9:00 until 4:00 today. Ironically, our list of things we were especially looking forward to contained both "hot water" and "flushing toilets" since our last place in Santiago was a little inconsistent on both of those points.

Later in the morning, Jeff took Ruth to the DMV to try to set up an appointment to do her driving test so she can officially become a licensed driver. The first available appointment was a month from now, which was obviously disappointing. But, when they got home, Ruth searched around for other appointments at other offices throughout the state of Texas and finally found one for Monday...in Wichita Falls.

In the afternoon, when everyone was rested up, we celebrated Max's half-birthday by seeing Incredibles 2 in the theater, picking up donuts and ice cream, and watching a couple of other movies at home. 

April

I can't get over how quickly the months are rolling by! I feel like it was just January, and now here we are at the end of April! (Part of the confusion there may be that we've had some January-like weather this month, which is just ridiculous, if you ask me!) Here are the highlights of another full and fun month:

• We got to spend time with my grandmother and parents in Haskell on Easter (and I managed not to take a single picture).
• Clay and I got to go on a real date.

Date night at Chick-fil-A

• Weston attended the Camporee with the Scouts, where his troop engaged in friendly competitions against some other local troops. And, he got to do that in freezing temperatures! But his troop got second place overall, so he didn't mind too much.
• Ruth marched with the CAP Color Guard in the Medal of Honor parade in Gainesville, also in freezing temperatures.

Nighthawk Color Guard
(Ruth is carrying the blue CAP flag)

Enduring freezing temps is worth it
if you know you're going to load up on candy!

• Clay earned his yellow belt in his "croty" class.

Proud of his yellow belt

• Clay attended the Cub Scout campout, where he finished up the last few requirements to earn the Tiger rank he has been working on since he started in the Fall. 

Our sweet Tiger Scout

• Weston got to go on a tour of Love Field with his Boy Scout troop. He was most impressed with how quickly the safety slides could be inflated. (3 seconds, if you're curious)
• Ruth's CAP flight assisted with an equestrian special olympics event, and she marched with the Color Guard for the opening flag ceremony. (Again, I managed not to get any pictures!)
• Ruth went to Six Flags with one of her best friends as an early birthday celebration.
• Ruth and I got to have a special mother-daughter breakfast at Mango's.

Fun times!

• Max and Clay participated in a Ninja Warrior contest at the gym where they take their lessons.

Taking the leap into the outdoor course

Tire hopping with a little guidance from Coach Josh

• Weston and Max presented their Faces of History research papers at CC. The FOH project involved doing research on a person important in U.S. history, writing a paper with at least five paragraphs, coming up with a costume, preparing a snack representative of the person they were writing about, and presenting their papers in front of a fairly large audience. They worked many weeks on this and did a fantastic job!

Abraham Lincoln

Thomas Jefferson

• Nana stepped in and helped with 3rd grade Math one day, which impressed us all. 

Special math teacher

• Jeff and I booked a trip to Costa Rica for a week in August. We will be celebrating our 20th anniversary and wanted to give each other a new country. 😊
• We visited Mimi and Grandpa and got to play in the lake. 

Clay was more interested in collecting
bluebonnets than playing in the chilly water

Max and Weston had the best time
cruising around in the tubes

• Max, Weston, and Mimi ran in a Foam Fest fun run.

Before...

...After

• We attended the Llano Crawfish Open, and I ate crawfish from their shells for the first time.

A "flat" of crawfish

• We attended Nana's birthday party and had fun celebrating this wonderful woman and spending time with family.

Clay did an oil pastel drawing for Nana's birthday

• Ruth received a promotion to the rank of Cadet Airman First Class with CAP.

Cadet Airman First Class Watts

• Jeff travelled to Washington D.C. for the third round of Foreign Service Officer testing and the in-person interview. He got a very high score and has now moved into the security clearance stage. 

So proud of this handsome FSO candidate!

• Ruth had her wisdom teeth out, which wasn't any fun.
• Max participated in a Mud Run with his Ninja Warrior team.

Running plus getting dirty? Yes, please!

• Ruth enrolled at the local community college for the fall semester.
• Weston received the Boy Scout rank of Star, which he has been working hard to complete before we leave on our summer trip. Very few 12-year-olds achieve this rank, and we are so proud of him!

Star Scout

• We wrapped up all our school work for the year and can put 4th, 6th, and 10th grades behind us for now. 1st Grade is behind us for good! 

Max taught Clay how to play Multiplication
Squares on the last day of class