Pre-Halloween Festivities

Phew! We had a busy week! Lots of Halloween celebrations and lots of fun. We started out on Friday with the Book Character Parade at school. My mom found this dragon costume that I bought for Matthew when he was four at her house when we visited during the summer. Mark saw it and loved it instantly so we Brough it back with us to Texas. He still loves this costume. Little did I know back then that we would be moving to Southlake and the boys would be Dragons!

Michael volunteered to help with Rockenbaugh's Color Run and I think he had fun. A great opportunity to earn some volunteers hours and a chance for him to hang out with his friends. These boys are now young men.

On Saturday, we went to Reagan's annual Halloween party. He had so much fun decorating cookies and making crafts.

After the party, we went to Monster Mash and had more fun decorating pumpkins, making crafts and just hanging out wth friends.

That night, Daddy helped with carving our lone pumpkin.

Roses for His Girls

Olivia and Norah invited him to go watch them perform their Jr. Emerald Belle dance routine, so we went to Dragon Stadium last night to watch. It was so cute. The best part was after the routine when Mark was so excited to give his friends the roses he picks out of them.

Waiting for the performers to perform.

He picked out a pink rose for Olivia because it was her favorite color.

A white rose for Norah.

Kindergarten Field Trip

I got to chaperone Mark's first Kindergarten filed trip yesterday to the Dallas Arboretum and Children's Garden and it was exhausting. I had forgotten how much energy these kiddos have. I literally lost track of Mark for a good 10 minutes before I found him again.

We got to see the pumpkins - which was beautiful as always.

We met Mrs. Taylor as we were walking along so we took a picture.

We watched a puppet show with his Kinder friends.

And we had fun just being silly.

It was a great time and it reminded me how old I am. Haha!

Girls Trip to Austin 2017

I was so grateful that my old friends decided to come and visit! We thought this called for a girls' trip to Austin. We had so much fun catching up and reminiscing about our college years. Even though we hadn't all been together for over a decade, it felt like it was just yesterday since we all got together.

On our drive there, we had to make a stop at Buc-ee's to check it out. We decided that it was the mother of all gas stations.

We checked into our Airbnb (I will never ever do Airbnb again-it's another story for another time) and met up with Claudine to eat a a food truck yard and had drinks on Rainy Street. We toasted to Wanda's birthday!

They next morning we went to brunch on South Congress Street, I don't remember the name of the place we ate, but we all thought we needed to have some healthy juices that morning instead of a bloody mary. What were we thinking?!

This is my favorite picture from that weekend.

We went to dinner and I had orange wine for the first time. I can't say I'm a fan but it was worth a try.

I confessed that I alway carry my lucky hundred dollar and two dollar bills in my wallet and all the girls one with with them as well. What a funny coincidence!

After dinner, we walked around Rainy Street and stopped at a few other bars for drinks. Then we had to stop at the donut truck for some cinnamon sugared donuts. It was pipping hot and so good!

Claudine made reservations for a Speak Easy, so we headed over the 6th Street where it was located. Sixth street was packed and there were lots of interesting people to watch. Lots and lots of college kids. After that we felt we needed tacos from a taco truck. It hit the spot! I think were out until 2 in the morning. We were so proud! Haha!

Next morning, we went to South Congress Cafe for brunch. We opted for cocktails instead of healthy juices.

Claudine decided to stay behind in Austin so we drove off without her. Thanda and Wanda wanted to stopped by Magnolia Market, but it was all closed. We got some great pictures though!

We will need to do this again in another year. We waited too long for this reunion.

Grove Games 2017

Today, Mark and his classmates participated in the first Grave Games at his elementary school. What a fantastic day!

These are his best girls in his class. The are always together.

Go Taylor's Team!

Even Charlie the Dragon was there to cheer them on!

Getting ready to get this game started!

Nothing is better than some popsicles after a hard day of playing!

A friend texted me this candid picture to me. I love this picture. Thanks, Uyen!

Birthday Parties, Soccer, Oktoberfest and Homecoming Parade

Yikes, it's been a super busy couple of weeks, but I love it. Lot's of time spent with friends. We celebrated Calista's birthday at jump for fun. Mark got to see lots of friends he went to Pre-K with at CES. He and Luke were best friends and they were so happy robe reunited.

We also celebrated Krish's birthday at California Pizza Kitchen, make pizzas! Mark got to see more CES friends. I am so thankful he made such good friends early and so thankful that he still gets to see them!

With a blink of an eye, Oktoberfest was here again! M opted out this year, and we sort of attended Octoberfest.

We met up with the Morrisons, Grimm and Lang families but 30 minutes into the Oktoberfest celebration, we opted to go eat at Brio instead because it got so crowded. Our intention was to eat a quick dinner and then go out and enjoy the rest of our time at the festival, but dinner took so long that by the time we were done, it was too late. The night ended with poor Sydney having to go to urgent care to get stitches. Poor thing! It was not the ending we were planning on.

 

We also had soccer games. M has been taking Michael to his games and I've been taking Mark to his so I don't have pictures of any of Michael's game. Mark always has his game face on when he's playing. I love watching him.

Every year, our high school puts on a Homecoming Carnaval and Parade to celebrate our schools. So on Wednesday night, we attended for the first time. There were games and lots of activities for the little kiddos. This is one of the things I love about living in Southlake- so many family friendly events! We met up with the Browns but say lots of other friends!

He loved this game. We were at this lacrosse booth for more than 30 minutes!

After all the games, it was time for the parade. Michael was suppose to walk in the parade with his soccer team, but he had an NPL game so he had to miss it. I'm looking forward to seeing him in the parade next year!