First day of school, Fall 2010

I cannot believe they are starting into their second year of school (after a January start last year). But now they have moved up to the big 3 year olds class! They were really excited to go back to school, and we were so excited to learn that their teacher this year was one of their favorites from last year! And even more exciting, Jax is going to Spanish School this year too. So we have a great carpool arrangement where I take the kids to school, and Uncle Dave picks them up. This is extremely helpful for me and fun for the kids! Spanish School has been a great find for us, and we are planning on at least one more year beyond this one there. Then we will be faced with the big dilemma of kindergarten, and for that we have no idea!

Mommy and Daddy also have their own first day of school, Fall 2010, but we did not document ours with pictures. Chris is starting his LAST semester of his Masters in Professional Accounting degree. It's been a long road, but I am so proud of him! It will be great for him to be finished though. With the new job at On the Border, he is stretched pretty thin this semester.

I was blessed with a daytime schedule this Fall. My first day schedule since probably 2004 or 2005. I got moved to principles (from advanced) and while it feels a little like a demotion, the schedule is much better. I miss the quality of the upper level students though. We are all looking forward to a great Fall.

Girls' trip to Napa!

I got to take a trip out to Napa to see Ali, who is working out there. I flew out on Friday and returned Monday morning. We had a lovely time! My first night in town, we ate at a French place that Ali is very fond of. I even ate escargot (not a favorite of mine, by the way) but I am always game for a little adventure! We called that an early night, as we had a big day ahead of wine tasting. I was SO excited. I did feel a little guilty that my first trip to Napa was not with Chris, but now when we do go, I think it will be even better. So Saturday was a full day and started at Joseph Phelps (top right pic), and it was amazing! We then headed to Alpha-Omega. This was one of my favorites. I think lunch was next then to Cuvasion and then to Dutch Henry. Seriously a full day!! Got back to the hotel in time to nap. Dinner was another French restaurant. A really cute place to eat, with lots of character. We then headed to a bar where there was live music and took that in until quite late. The next morning came early. We packed up and hit one more - Merryvale. This was the most amazing, guess we saved the best for last. Thanks to a friendly relationship between Ali and the tasting guy, we were treated like absolute royalty. We had our own tasting, inside a barrel (middle pic), complete with food to compliment each flavor. It was really quite an experience! I actually joined that one, so we will get to enjoy Merryvale wines for years to come!! Thank you Ali, for showing me such an amazing "first time" in Napa. Can't wait to go back...

Sweet cousins

Dave and Sabrina took a week-long trip to Mexico this summer and Jax and Savanna stayed with the (senior) Andrews. We thought it might be nice to give them a night off so we took all the kids out to Chuck E Cheese. That was actually plan B; we were planning to see some dancing dinosaurs over in Arlington, but that got rained out. But no kid turns down Chuck E Cheese, right? We went to the one over in Arlington, and it was totally dodgy. There was a guy passed out in one of the booths!! Yikes! So we just sat somewhere far from him and had a great time! The kids play so well together. It is really amazing. They just love each other so much, and I think we are really fortunate!

No place like home!

Well it was a long 8 weeks. But certainly it was worthwhile. We demo'd the entire upstairs. The only room that remained structurally the same was the kids' bathroom. We took it from 3 bedrooms upstairs to 2. The master was made into an actual master suite, and it's beautiful. After 8+ years of marriage, we finally have nice (matching) bedroom furniture! The kids got to "pick" their furniture so they are super excited too. We are happy as can be with all the work, and to be back in our own home. We were at my mom's from April 20 - June 20. The kids really did great, but as everyone knows...there's no place like home!

Charis and Price turn THREE!!!

My sweet angel babies are just growing up so quickly! They are both such characters! And boy were they excited for their birthday party. Coincidentally, this fell on moving day too, which made for a pretty crazy day. We decided to do their birthday party at My Gym again this year. This actually ended up not being so great. The girls working the party were a bit too high-strung for a kids' birthday party. It was awkward. But the kids did not know the difference and had a blast of course! It was, however, the end of our long relationship with My Gym. It was good while it lasted. The party could not be scheduled at an ideal time so we tried to get them to nap early and as a result they seemed to be almost falling asleep when the party started. So crazy. But we had yummy Chick Fil A nuggets, a fruit tray, and cupcakes by April (from our hometeam). And they got some neat gifts as well. We are so grateful for the generosity of our friends!

Chris' birthday....35!

Wow, 35 sounds really old. I feel like we are still 25, or maybe even 30, but 35? Ouch. We got 2 grown-up nights out to celebrate Chris' birthday. The first was at Central Market. We had dinner on the patio and listened to music by Brad Thompson (who played for our 30th birthday party).

Our second fun night out with friends was at Axiom sushi in Montgomery Plaza. Super-fun evening! We are so blessed with great family and great friends. (Pictures are reversed from the order of the descriptions.)

Nash Farm

Seems like we had a lot of animal-centered activities this summer. Nash Farm is a "working farm" in Grapevine. It was open to the public on certain days this summer so we took advantage. We'd pack a lunch and head over. There were cows, a "hay ride", a corn field, scarecrows, a little garden, chickens, some old tractors...all sorts of stuff. But by far the most exciting time we went was when there was a petting zoo, complete with goats, and PRICE GOT TO MILK ONE!! It was so cool. Charis wanted no part of that, but she cheered her brother on! It was a really neat experience for him.