Buckle Up, It's a Long One

I have been so bad at keeping up lately! I started thinking the other night that if I didn't start writing again (soon) this was going to turn out like scrapbooking. I haven't scrapbooked since 2009. Time to buckle up for the events of the last four months!

In September Ainsley's high school choir held a Disney Princess (and Prince) tea party as a fundraiser. Ainsley was Belle and was in charge of creating a Beauty and the Beast themed table. The choir students dressed up and acted like their characters and each sang a song from their Disney movie. It was so cute!

In October Chris took Landon to the Texas Book Festival. This is usually something we try to attend together as a family, but the girls both had other things going on that day. One of Landon's favorite authors was there (Brandon Mull) this year. He had the opportunity to watch Brandon speak about writing and also got a book signed. Chris said by the time they arrived at the speaking engagement all seats were taken, so the authors on the panel invited some of the kids to sit with them. Landon sat one seat away from Brandon Mull. He was thrilled!

Right before Halloween we went to a Dr. Who library party. Kaylee was excited to meet the tenth doctor even if he was a cardboard cutout. Landon preferred meeting Amy and the eleventh doctor. Ainsley and her friend were off somewhere roaming the streets of downtown Round Rock.

At the end of October we celebrated Halloween of course! Ainsley wore her Belle costume to our ward party. On Halloween she decided to be a sugar skull. She did a great job putting together her costume and makeup, and I had fun fixing her hair. Kaylee made an adorable Pikachu. It was a fun costume to sew. Landon designed his own costume based off of a character he created for a book he plans to write. He gave me a list of items he needed (cardboard, a copper chain, copper and teal paint) and made his own costume. Meet Bennet! The kids asked why Chris and I never dress up. I have this dream of making Jack and Sally costumes for us, but by the time I've finished with the kids I have no energy or money left! Ainsley went to a party Halloween night, and Landon and Kaylee went trick or treating with a few friends. They also carved pumpkins. 

Fall sports included volleyball (Kaylee), gymnastics (Landon), and ballroom dancing (Ainsley). I assistant coached Kaylee's team and am now finding myself really trying to learn volleyball because I'm the head coach this season.

There were projects. Landon really liked his sugar cube Alamo and wanted to donate it to the real Alamo. We took a picture instead.

It was just the five of us for Thanksgiving. Everyone helped make dinner, and Kaylee volunteered to be the table setter. Notice the flower petals scattered around the table.

We took family pictures in December. Our family pictures usually consist of me putting my camera on a tripod, positioning everyone, setting a timer and running into the picture.  I think we got our money's worth.

December was full of performances (choir, dance), too much homework, finals, and then school was finally out for two weeks. My family came for Christmas and Chris' mom came right after Christmas. I was really bad about taking any pictures this time. Thankfully my dad was snapping away on his camera. Unfortunately no one was snapping away while Chris' mom was here

On New Year's Eve we said goodbye to Grandma Yarbrough, took Ainsley and her friends to a dance, had our own dance party at home, ate junk food, watched a movie, got a fire pit going for Ainsley and her friends and brought them all back to our house, let them make s'mores and play games, toasted in the new year with sparkling cider, took a few of the friends home and went to bed about 2am. Phew! Happy New Year!