USAFA Reunion

A few weeks ago I got a call from our old friends, the Higbee's.  Karen told me that Travis was scheduled to come to Lackland to have refractive surgery on his eyes, and that Matt was listed as his surgeon.  With the Higbee's in town we figured it would be a great chance to put together a little Air Force Academy Class of '99 reunion for those that live here in San Antonio.  The night before Travis' surgery the Higbees came over for dinner as well as Russ and Valency Bastian and Jeff Dillon. 

   

Travis, Valency, Jeff, and I were first class of '97 classmates before our missions and then class of '99 afterwards.  Valency's husband, Russ, was class of 2000.

This is a picture of everyone with their families except for Jeff's wife and son.

The Higbee's lived in San Antonio 7 years ago and our kids would play together, here is a picture of our last time we got to see them before they left.

In this picture Brayden and Brian were 2 and Kylee and Nikita were 4.

Here are Brayden and Brian at the age of 9 with Brian's little brother Taylor.

Here is Kylee and Nikita now at the age of 11.  It was fun to see how much everyone had grown up.

Matt and Travis in the laser suite right after his surgery.

Sit and Be Fit

When I take a shower and Blake is home alone I like to distract him with a show on TV so he doesn't escape on me.  I usually put on Word World because it is one of his favorites.  One day I had taken a little too long because after Word World on PBS it is Sit and Be Fit, an exercise program for senior citizens.  I came down to Blake being completely entertained and doing the exercises along with the host MaryAnn.

Brayden's 9th birthday

Brayden's birthday lands around the Thanksgiving holiday. This year for his 9th birthday it was a quiet family celebration.

With Brayden's love of legos Matt made a lego head birthday cake.  

Brayden chose to go to Red Robin to celebrate his birthday.

 Here are some questions Brayden answered about himself.

*What makes you happy? -legos, being nice to my sister, sometimes church, having my friends around me, when somebody tells me good job at something

*What makes you sad? -when people pick on me or I see  people getting picked on and I can't stop it, Kylee being mean to Oreo, when cousins leave, when Daddy leaves (on a trip), when I can't go to a friends party because it is on a Sunday, mother cat when she abandoned her kittens, when people yell at me 

*When do you laugh? -at funny jokes

*What is something Mom always says to you? -do your chores, Brayden keep on practicing

*What is something Dad always says to you? -bye (because he is always going to work)

*What is your favorite thing to eat? -penne noodles with red sauce and sausage with green beans, fajitas, pizza, and monkey bread

*What is your favorite thing to do? -play legos, play with cousins, castle crashers, watch kittens, eat food, and ride bikes a lot

*What is your favorite TV show? -Garfield, Lego movies, Invader Zim

*What is your favorite story in the scriptures? -Enos, Daniel and the Lion's Den

*What is your favorite video game? -Castle crashers, Star Wars

*What are you really good at? -drawing cartoons, being double jointed tall and flexible

*What is your favorite movie? -Garfield

*Who is your best friend? -Dalton, Aiden, Michael, and Oreo the cat

*What is your Favorite place to go? -Dallas to visit cousins, and Daddy's workplace

*What is your favorite kind of book? -mystery and cartoons

*What do you want to be when you grow up? -lego designer

Dummies on Sunday

Sundays are sometimes considered the "boring day" by the kids.  They are limited to "Sunday activities" which does not include TV, Wii, computer games, riding bikes, etc.  One Sunday the kids entertained themselves by making dummies.

They used toy guns, skeleton hands, pool noodles, pillows, blankets, extra clothes, and anything else they could find.  By dinner time there was a whole extra family of unusual looking people hanging out upstairs.

Witte Museum Field Trip

Julia's Kindergarten class had a field trip to the Witte Museum on November 17, 2011.  Since it landed on a Thursday and Blake was at Mother's Day Out, I was able to go and chaperone.  The lower grades tend to have more parent involvement so there was a 1 parent to 2 students ratio.  It was very different from when I went to chaperone Brayden's 3rd grade class at Sea World and it was only me and the teacher with the whole class of students.  

Julia's Kindergarten class with Mrs. Lehr.

The Witte Museum had a special Shipwreck and pirate exhibition that allowed Julia to practice her pirating skills with some friends.

There was a hurricane simulation with winds up to 70 mph.  It was one of her favorite things and probably went in there 10-15 times.  Julia enjoyed being dramatic every time she went in. 

After the museum the class ate lunch and then went to the nearby Brackenridge park to play.  It was a lot of fun and I was happy I could go along and spend the day with Julia. 

If you dare wear short shorts

Brayden is not always attentive.  He had no idea that he had been wearing his 3 year-old brother's shorts until it was brought to his attention.

Halloween

Matt and I like to choose a family theme for Halloween.  Sometimes it is a little bit hard getting all the children to cooperate.  Kylee wanted to be a vampiress and Blake wanted to be a ghost, so we thought it would be a good year to do a "classic Halloween" theme.  

October 28, 2011 - ward Halloween trunk or treat

Matt decided to be Frankenstein, which left me to be the bride of Frankenstein.  We are really good at procrastinating and working on our costumes last minute.  The last Saturday before Halloween (the night of trunk or treat) we went to Goodwill to look for clothes for Frankenstein and we even braved Party City to look for Bride of Frankenstein clothes.  We were putting our costumes together on the afternoon of the ward trunk or treat party.  Kylee even started sewing a new costume just hours before we had to leave.  

  

Ghost

Witch

Luke Skywaker

vampiress

Enjoying all the yummy treats