Victoria's School and Bella's Last Soccer Game

Victoria participated in a Boosterthon to raise money for her school. This year it rained and they had the kids run their laps in the cafeteria. She ran the exact same amount of laps as last year- 29 out of 36. I took some pictures of her posing with her teacher Mrs. Jamar and her classmates.

I also was happy to go on a field trip with Victoria to Frisco's Safety Town. It's a building right beside the fire station that allows students to learn safety rules. They even get to drive little cars around and practice following rules.

In the begining Victoria was very frustrated with her vehicle. It wasn't doing what she wanted and she caused a small traffic jam.

But when she got the hang of it...

I feel the need for speed.

I'm a little scared as to what kind of driver Victoria will be later in life.

Victoria's class picture

We also had Bella's last soccer game this month. She has really enjoyed soccer and wants to play it again in the Spring.

While Bella played soccer Victoria rolled in the grass.

Bella was thrilled to get her first real trophy.

Paul and Lauren Visit

Paul and Lauren came to visit Texas this weekend. They stayed with us Friday night. We were able to do some catching up. Paul taught me a couple of new things about using my camera- how to take pictures through the screen (getting up close), how to use the longer lens for portraits, and how to use a flash like playing pool (it's all about the angels)- thank you Paul!

Saturday morning was also a bunch of new things for Lauren. We taught her and our kids how to play Black Jack- aka "21". Victoria and Bella are very good adders and won a couple of hands. But Jer, "the House" ended up taking it all in the end, when on the last round Victoria decided to bet it all. Later, we went to the San Salvadorean restaurant Gloria's so that Lauren could try black beans again. I think she liked them. We had a great time with them and hope they come back soon.

Darlene Visits

My cousin Darlene came to visit us this weekend from the Washington DC area. On Friday I took her for a walking tour of downtown Dallas. We saw the 3rd Floor Book Depository Museum where Oswald shot Kennedy-very powerful exhibit- glad I went. We tried to see the Reunion Tower restaurant, but didn't make it up to the top, because we wanted something to eat and apparently it doesn't open until 5pm. We also walked around the Dallas Museum of Art and talked about our favorite pieces. I liked the Monets (blue colors and quick brushstrokes); she likes the Classical arts- Jer and her got along great. On Saturday we went to La Hacienda restaurant and then to a Frisco park about the Shawnee Trail. The kids enjoyed playing around the water. Later that day all the girls gave each other manicures and makeovers. We also got some time to talk by the fireplace and just enjoy this weather. What a fun time!

Halloween

What a perfect night for trick or treating! The temperature was 70 degrees! Julie and Jay stopped by to bring us some chili and tick or treat some houses with little Braelyn (no longer baby Braelyn, since she's turned 4). The next door neighbor's grand daughter Veronica came with us the first lap around the houses. Jer and I took turns handing out candy or going with the kids.

We saw some of the neighborhood kids and posed with them.
After the sugar high, it was time for bed.My only complaint was that there wasn't as many trick or treaters as last year and we have a bag of candy left. I wish there was a "candy diet."

Carving Pumpkins and Block Party

This weekend we carved pumpkins. We had been waiting until a couple days before Halloween, because last year all our pumpkins rotted. However, even this year the pumpkins without being carved had begun to go downhill. So we only carved two of our four pumpkins. Victoria wanted a Princess pumpkin and Jer wanted a Pirate pumpkin. The girls helped pull out the seeds and I made some roasted pumpkin seeds that turned out pretty good.
While Daddy was busy carving, the girls put on some music in their Barbie CD player. I don't know how they found this CD, but we ended up listening to Frank Sinatra. The girls danced in front of the fire place. On the one song "I Get a Kick Out of You", they took turns kicking each other in the butt.

the finished product

Later that day, we made Witch Hat cookies (Kebler Fudge cookies, Hershey's Kisses, and orange icing) for our block party. They did a great job.

We went to the block party after Bella's soccer game (where she scored 3 goals!) Since it was an out door party, Victoria decided she wanted to be a mummy- it was a warm costume. Bella was a Vampire Cheerleader, Daddy was Frankenstein, and Mommy was The Bride of Frankenstein. We had a great time at the block party. The kids ran around while the adults stood around talking and partaking in delicious food, like the shrimp Jambalaya.

October stuff

Victoria's Girl Scout troop went to a pumpkin farm. The girl's ran through a giant hay maze and bounced in a jump house. They learned a new game (kind of creepy, but suits the Halloween spirit) called Dead Man. It's where one person lies down in the middle of the bounce floor, while the others jump around him saying- dead man, dead man come alive, when I count to the number 5- 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. Then the player in the middle jumps up and with his eyes closed and tries to tag someone. Then the game repeats itself. They played this game for about half an hour and loved it. An interesting take on tag.
the hayride

While posing by the pumpkins, the girls bopped their heads together.

The girls chose their pumpkins and Victoria wanted to go sit under a special hiding spot that she eyed when we were walking to the car, so we played some games that they made up- passing pumpkins back and forth and just took it easy. When we got home Victoria decorated her girl pumpkin with Sharpie, sunglasses, and a white felt dress.

Jer and I got to have a night out on the town with other grown ups in style. We were picked up in a limousine (a first for me) and went appetizer hoping from restaurant to restaurant (my type of food:) It was so much FUN!

There was an unusual fog bank that rolled in one morning, so I took a picture of our spooky Halloween house.

A Boo Story- This year I was introduced to the term "Booing" a neighbor. I got "booed". Basically it means that someone leaves a treat on your doorstep and rings the doorbell and vanishes without being seen. The treat has a ghost picture along with it that says that you got "booed" and need to do the same thing to two of your neighbors/friends. Well the girls were so excited to do this to our friends. We loaded into the car with our treats and made it to the first house. It was dark outside and I drove the car. Victoria was suppose to take the treat to the doorstep, Bella was suppose to ring the doorbell, and they both were suppose to run back to the car (Mommy driving with with side panel door open for a fast get away). That was the plan, until Bella fell running up to the house and got a boo-boo (ironic) and I ran to get her, we dumped the loot and all ran to the car and drove a block away, while I tended to the Bella's hands. She's fine, just a couple of scratches. Our next house went more according to the plans. We even drove by it 5 minutes after ringing the doorbell to see if the treats had been taken in. The girls were so excited to see the treats gone. What a neat prank!

Cheerleading

Yesterday was last day of a 6 week cheerleading class for the girls. They had fun learning some of the basic moves of a cheerleader- like the kicks, jumps, how to walk, and cheers. I had fun watching them. On the last day I let them wear their Halloween costumes- cheerleaders, one a Dallas Cowboy cheerleading one- Go Cowboys!