Demolition Day!

11.19.12

The company Brent works for, WRL, is remodeling the home side of the Gilmer football stadium and Brent is the project manager for this job.  He never in a million years thought that after spending many countless hours on this field that he would end up in charge of remodeling this old stadium.  Boy, did it need it!  The floors in the press box were about to cave in!

The Monday following the last home game, the bleachers and orange seats were removed.  Exactly one week later, I noticed the excavator tearing down the press box on the way to Beck's school.  Schools were shut down this week for Thanksgiving so the timing was perfect.  After I dropped off Beck, Kinsey and I walked onto the field to witness first hand how a building is demolished.  It was quite impressive.  Kinsey was very scared at first but I explained to her the chompers were eating the wood and she seemed to like my story.  Then, we drove to the back side and I ran into Devin and we talked for a bit.  Shortly afterwards, David (superintendent of this job) and I talked about how old the press box is and he said the building started shaking as soon as the excavator touched it which does not surprise me at all.  I also told him this was a big deal for little ole Gilmer and he said he didn't tell anybody about what was going on today to avoid crowds of observers.  Good thinking Lincoln!  Too bad Brent couldn't be here to watch the demo with us.

This is what happens when Daddy takes Kinsey's car seat to work with him...

Luckily, I did not need to run any errands...we just drove around in our neighborhood. I love the pirate hat Beck is wearing! From now on, I need to remind Brent to put all car seats back in my car on Sunday nights.

Family Saturday and Primary Presentation

11.17-18.12

Before we left the house, Beck asked me to take a picture of him which is almost unheard of these days so I ecstatically snapped a picture of this sweet little boy.

We've had so much planned lately that we have not been to Lowe's in forever.  Today, the kids are making Santa's sleigh from the movie Rise of the Guardians and it turned out really cute.  Brent helped Beck and I helped Kinsey.  She loved hammering the nails in the wood.  Ouch!  Mommy got hit a few times but it was all worth it to see both of them flying Santa's sleigh as we were walking out of the store.

But, before leaving the store, we had to look at the Christmas decorations and Beck told us what we needed to get.  Beck absolutely loves looking at Christmas decorations!  We also looked at the live Christmas trees and they sure do look pretty.  The live ones scare me though because I'm afraid they will catch on fire plus they do make a mess as the needles fall off and they don't come pre-lit like ours.  

We ate lunch at the mall then played video games which is another thing we haven't done in a while.  The one thing that made us laugh the most was watching Beck play a race car game.  He was laughing so hard when he crashed!  And, I noticed that as Daddy was pushing the gas peddle, Beck was pushing the brake peddle.  Ha!  We also got little trinkets from the tickets Daddy won from playing one of the games. 

Beck's class picture was in today's Gilmer Mirror for winning first place for the Yam Decorating Contest.

Beck had to dress up for church today because the primary department put on a full presentation during the sacrament meeting.  It was the sweetest thing I've ever seen.  Beck had to stand at the podium and say, "I will teach others the gospel." and he did it so well!  I was up there with him and I was so nervous for him that I didn't get a video of it.  He also stood up a couple of times to sing but I never saw him sing.  However, he did have his faithful friend, Optimus Prime Rescue Bot, with him.

It's been our tradition to put up the Christmas decorations the weekend before Thanksgiving so that's what we did...Beck decorated his tree and Kinsey decorated her tree and they both helped me decorate the big tree in the living room.  Another tradition that we started after Beck was born is that we buy an ornament for their trees and it was cute to watch Beck remember last year's ornament which was a robot.

We also have four blow-ups in the front yard...feel free to drive by if you are in the area.

First Report Card

11.12-16.12

I apologize for the clarity of these pictures...I'm not only using my iPhone but the little window that I peek through to watch Kinsey is very dirty.  Kinsey's teacher, Ms. Staci, has informed us that they have to learn a new dance for the Christmas recital because Mrs. Carla took the one she was using.  I am so bummed because I had worked with Kinsey on learning the steps and the dance was SO cute!

(notice the pointing toe)

(look at that leg!)

(take a bow)

As usual, Kinsey has the biggest smile and she always runs to me after class.  I'm so proud of her!

Tuesday night was the Relief Society Thanksgiving dinner and I took crock pot corn.  I should have doubled the recipe because it was gone pretty fast!  The ladies that decorated the gym did a fantastic job!  It was so elegant!  A couple of ladies demonstrated how to bake a couple of different pies and we ended the night by saying what we are thankful for...such a nice evening!  

Beck's very first report card!  Wow!  There are a few things we need to work on such as "Works well independently" but overall, it's a good lookin' report card.

Sometimes, I take Kinsey to the library on Thursday mornings so I can see my morning library friends and there were so many kids there today.  She really enjoyed making the turkey hat.  Then, we go back in the afternoon so Beck can participate in story time and pick out some books to read.  There were only three kids there and that's including mine!  It's usually a small crowd in the afternoons but I don't recall it ever being this small before.  We think most people are getting ready to go to the Buckeye play-off game tonight.

Neena and Stephen watched the kids Friday night while Brent and I ate dinner at a place that we really like called Newk's.  I had a bowl of lobster bisque and a salad and it was delicious.  Then, we spent the rest of the evening doing some Christmas shopping and we got almost all of it done tonight! Yippee! 

Here's the really funny story about tonight...we all went for a walk around the neighborhood and Brent arrived earlier than he thought he would.  We were almost back to the house and I went straight while Neena, Stephen and the kids turned down a side street which met up with the street that I would have to take to get back to Neena's house.  The kids started running and I totally panicked because there was no way I would be able to walk down my street then turn down the street to get to Neena's house and beat them so I started running.  Keep in mind that I have on boots, jeans, a sweater and a vest...certainly not running attire!  As I'm running, I keep looking back to see if the kids have noticed that I went a different direction and a car drives by probably wondering what in the world is going on!  I called Brent and asked him to drive down the street to pick me up so the kids wouldn't see me.  As it turns out, Neena also knew they would beat me to the street at the rate they were going so she detoured the kids by looking at the ducks in the pond.  Whew!  The things we do!  Anyway, I really enjoyed our date night and the kids had a blast with Neena and Stephen. 

A Celebration for the Mask Family

11.11.12

Last night, Noah said, "I don't want to leave Beck."  Aw, how sweet is that?!  So, I offered to let Noah sleep with me and Beck.  Pops blew up the air mattress in our bedroom but I had a feeling that nobody would end up sleeping on it.  When it came time to go to bed, both boys got on the air mattress and I read two books then we said a prayer.  I crawled into bed and then I heard Beck and Noah whispering to each other and I silently laughed because I sure remember doing that when I spent the night with my cousins.  A few minutes later, Beck said his pillow wasn't comfy and could he sleep with me.  After he crawled in bed with me, Noah asked if he could join us.  Ha!  I knew they would end up in bed with me.

Jeff, Jill and Marcus went to church Sunday morning.  Noah took a bath and Beck took a shower then we went to the park across the street.

It's when I saw these scary looking clouds that I realized I had locked myself out of the house. Luckily, the church is right by Jeff's house if I needed to get a key.  Plus, I knew Kiki and Pops would be here soon with lunch and they had a garage door opener to the house.

We also discovered a creek with fish in it which is always fun...

Lunch is served!  Everybody is here except for Brent and Kinsey.

Ava really enjoyed holding Taylor and she laughed when Beck kissed Ava on her hand.  They are all such sweet kids!

It really was a treat for all of us to be able to spend time with the newest member of the family.

Aunt Sheri helped Aunt Katherine when she was taking pictures of Taylor. She is a doll!

Ava did not want me to take her picture today but Lola gave me the biggest smile!

Oh what fun they had drawing on the sidewalk!

They all enjoyed story time with Aunt Jill...

Kiki and Pops with almost all of the grandbabies...

We are ending our trip exactly how we started our trip...a good ole nap is in order whenever we hit the road. 

I can't wait to get home and see my little angel and my hubby!  I've said it before and I'm going to say it again, we are all so very happy for the Mask family and for Taylor. What a truly emotional and blessed experience!

Taylor Elizabeth Mask

11.10.12

Taylor Elizabeth was born on Thursday, November 8th in Allen, TX and Madison, the birth mom,  picked Jody and Jennifer to be the parents many months ago.  I was dying to meet this lucky baby but Kinsey has a terrible cough and a runny nose so we had to come up with Plan B. Brent said he would stay home with Kinsey so that Beck and I could drive up to Dallas.  (Our second trip up there this month and we'll be back for Thanksgiving.)  So, this is how our Saturday afternoon drive to Dallas started...a nice little nap.

When we arrived at Jeff and Jill's house, they went out on a date while Kiki, Pops and I watched Beck, Marcus and Noah play their little hearts out.

Madison had 48 hours after giving birth to change her mind so that meant she should relinquish her rights at 6pm tonight.  By 8pm, Jody and Jennifer were still at the hospital waiting.  I had given up and thought the girl had changed her mind.  Luckily, that did not happen and Taylor was blessed to be in the arms of two loving parents walking out of the hospital by 9pm.  I will say that those three hours were very grueling and stressful for all that was involved with this adoption.  I am so, so happy for the Mask family!

Friday Night Lights

11.09.12

As we are about to hit the door to go to the last home high school football game, Kinsey insisted on wearing the blue necklace and her sunglasses.  She will one day sing the song, "I Wear My Sunglasses At Night".  We thought this was really funny considering it was so dark outside.

Kilgore's drill team which consisted of 50 girls were impressive before the game even began!  The little routine they did before the football players ran out on the field was sharp and concise.  I really enjoyed all of the little moves they did and the uniforms were super cute!

I look like I'm ready for wintry weather while Brent looks like it's a warm evening...he is always hot and I am always cold.

Beck is not happy at all with me taking pictures of him.  Oh well, he'll one day appreciate my love of pictures.  We picked out a jacket for Beck to wear tonight but neither of us grabbed it and we sure regretted it because he was cold by half time.

Beck and Kinsey are either watching a movie or playing a game on Daddy's phone because Mommy is using hers.

We left after the half time show as we usually do but we heard the game on our cable network and the Buckeyes ended up winning which means they are in the play-offs.  Since this is the last home game, Brent's company will begin demolition on the home side beginning on Monday morning.  It'll be exciting to watch since I drive by the football field every day.  And, this may be the last time we follow the Buckeyes since we will be moving to Bullard next year.  I spoke to Mrs. Lane to tell her the good news of our move and she insisted that I come back to the Stars Spring Show.

Thanks for another Friday Family Fun Night!

Dance, Walks and Shopping

11.05-08.12

Kinsey is loving her dance class and I'm enjoying watching them learn the routine for the Christmas recital.  It is too cute!

She gets so excited when she sees me after class.

The kids wanted to hang out with Kiki since she will be gone for the next 10 days so we went to her house Tuesday afternoon.  Of course, Kinsey found Kiki's shoes and pranced around the house.  This girl still loves shoes!  I already found a pair of fancy dress-up shoes to put in her Christmas stocking since she has almost worn out the ones she has now.

We like to take walks when it's nice outside and today was a beautiful day.  However, I did notice that Kinsey's diaper was a bit swollen.  Guess I should have changed it before we left the house.

Beck and Kinsey love wearing my boots around the house!

We went shopping with Neena Thursday morning and Kinsey found what she wants for Christmas.  The Minnie Mouse car is so, so cute!!! 

We took a walk Friday afternoon and ran into Sarah's boys walking home from school.  The oldest invited us over to play so we went inside for a bit.  However, Beck was petrified of their dog! He begged me to put the dog inside when they were on the trampoline which is why he is not enjoying jumping today.  Needless to say, the dog bothered Beck so much that our play time wasn't very long but that's ok because we had to get ready for the football game tonight.