Sock Hop!

Last week, the boys school had their annual Sock Hop, so the boys got out their 50's attire, I slicked back their hair, and we were ready to party!











Brooke loves being included in the fun and craziness around here.









Getting ready to head out....













Drew loves to enter ALL contests of ANY kind, so when he heard they were having a cake decorating contest, he was in. All I did was bake the cake and supply the accesories and he put this face together. I was impressed!

It ends up that the judges were impressed as well because he won the contest for the 1st grade!!! Wow---so cool! Here he is showing off his name :)

Luck was on his side that night because he also won a cake on his first try on the cakewalk. He picked out a giant eyeball and it was delicious!

This year, Jackson kind of took off on his own. We would see him here and there and he and his friends went around and played the games together.

Our friend Katie, who is one of Brooke's best friends, introduced her to cotton candy. I think she likes it!

And...Brooke eating again...Every picture I have of her that night, she's eating!!

What a fun night for our family!

Catching Up....

Last week, the boys ran their annual fun run to raise money for their school. They look forward to this every year. They can get pledges and run as many as 35 laps. Drew ended up running 45 and Jackson ran 55. They were both sweating and smiling!

Brooke and I are their biggest fans. Here Brooke is handing out "high 5's" to anyone who runs by.

Jackson in the zone......

He stopped to take a picture with one of his fans.....

Here he is with his best friend, Will. They kept pace with each other almost the whole time.

On Columbus Day, the kids and I went to one of our favorite places, the Grapevine Arboreteum.

Brooke trying to get in the action with the frisbee...

Jackson is retrieving the frisbee from the bushes. Brooke was dancing on the stage that they have there.

Peek-A-Boo!! (like 20 times before I couldn't take it anymore)

Moving on.....our trip to the grocery store. I just had to get a picture of Brooke and her new loves. She must carry these 3 dogs with her.....to bed, in the car, in the store, to the park, to the baseball games.....oh my gosh, it is getting exhausting to keep track of those 3 dogs, but it is so cute, I'll put up with :)

What Brooke does at baseball games......

Find a seat with the other little sisters and see what everyone brought to play with....

Check out the latest issue of Tiger Beat...

Most of all....cheer on my brothers and look cute!

Texas State Fair

On Saturday morning, we woke up to find it pouring and all our sports games cancelled. So, what would any logical family do? Of course, spend all day outside at the fair! Never mind the rain! Our day at the fair turned out to be awesome. No crowds, no lines, we got in free, and they were practically giving the kids prizes away for any game they would play! Plus.....free ponchos, which seriously were a lifesaver. Here's our day at the fair.

The kids and me sporting our stylin' ponchos. We tied up the back for Brooke and it made her look like she had a tail. It was so cute :)

The boys had to hit the hammer and make the bell ring. They got to try it as many times as they wanted to.

And, look at the lovely prizes they picked out. Gigantic swords which they proceeded to fight each other with immediately. The rest of the day, I was constantly saying, "Watch where you're walking with the sword...you just hit that person..."

It was hard to time this picture....the boys are laying on their stomachs on the handglider ride. They were the only ones on it.

Here we are in the greenhouse which had a cool model train exhibit.

The family in front of Big Tex!

We went to check out the car show (for Uncle Ben) and it was pretty cool! The kids loved sitting in all the new cars and I even changed Brooke's diaper in the back of one a Cadillac Escalade that was kind of in a corner.
No one saw me and I figured...what the heck?

The state fair is known for it's fried foods....Jason tried the Fried Frito Pie which won an award for the best new item this year. I tried it..it just tasted like chili in a frito. It was good! Then, Jason and I split the fried cookie dough. Oh my gosh-that was delicious! There were so many choices....

Brooke's favorite...the petting zoo. She loved this! Here she is saying hello to a cow.

Drew is keeping one eye on the cow....and I don't know what that guy in the back is looking at. Weird.

Farmer Jackson!

Brooke didn't use a scoop to feed the animals like her brothers, she simply used her hands. No fear!

We spotted Scooby walking around and the boys thought they were too big to get their picture taken with him, but not Jason! He grabbed Brooke and posed with Sccoby.

As you can see, the sun came out and we were able to leave our ponchos behind. Here is Drew waiting for the bird show to start. Our last stop of the day.

I had to get the big ferris wheel in the background. Jason and Drew went on it and loved it. They said it was their highlight of the day. The bird show was great too!

The day turned out to be one of the best and the kids were asking if we could go back next week. We told them not for another year. On the way home, we heard Jackson tell Drew "I can't wait til next year!" What fun memories of their first Texas State Fair!

Let's Get it Straight!

A BIG DAY!!

No more "vampire teeth" (a phrase coined by Jackson himself)!

Day 1 of our LONG journey with braces :)

BEFORE---excited and a "little nervous"
AFTER--Dr. said he was a model patient!

Labor Day Fun!

We traveled to Leavenworth to visit the Maupin's for Labor Day. We hadn't been there since Christmas when the snow was 3 feet high, so it was quite a change! We had a cookout (the smoke blurred all my pics. from that night), kite flying, and lots of homeade ice cream!




We knew Grandpa would have lots of tricks up his sleeve and he didn't disappoint! He cleaned up Jason's old bike from when he was a kid and had it ready for Jackson to ride.












There was another bike for Drew that was just his size.....the boys rode all around the cul-de-sac and up and down G-ma and G-pa's driveway.

Just a little cuddle with Grandpa....

G-ma and G-pa got out the tree swing for Brooke who loved it! All the kids loved that swing when they were babies...it has gotten good use :)

Everyone got a tractor ride......Brooke's first ride. She's not too sure!

Jackson's turn....an old pro and it looks like there may not be much room for two on there anymore.

Finally, our future farmer...Drew could have rode the tractor all day. He loved it and didn't want to stop.

Thanks G-ma and G-pa for a wonderful weekend and lots of great memories!

Last of Hawaii...

Ahh....just looking at these pictures again make me miss Hawaii so much. The boys got to try snorkeling the last few days of our vacation. Jackson actually snorkeled right above a group of manta rays and he also held onto a sea turtles shell..how cool!




This day, I went with them and saw all sorts of cool things. It was calm water and we had a great time.







Nana and Brooke basked in the sun from the shore while my dad guided all of us with the snorkeling.








So, another day, my mom surprised us with a trip into the mountains to zipline!! It was definitely one of the highlights of the trip. Here is our group with our 2 guides.





My mom and I resting between one of our ziplines. We stopped halfway down the mountain and had lunch on this beautiful overlook and then zipped our way back down to the bottom.




I'm coming in for a landing...stand back!









Mom, look at your form!










Here's the group with all their safety gear on. We're lookin' good.








And my mom....thanks to her, we got to have this experience. This was something that she had always wanted to do and I'm so glad I got to experience this with her!