Early Christmas mornings have never been a problem at our house, but because of Carter’s excitement, we told him that he couldn’t come wake us up before 6:30 on Christmas morning. At 6:30 on the dot, the kids broke through the wrapping paper covering the archway at the end of the hall and jolted us awake!

Carter’s first task was to build one of his lego sets.

Raine immediately snuggled down into her beanbag chair and read a book.

Daddy cooked us a perfect dinner (even using my new Instant Pot to cook the sweet potatoes).

After dinner, we played some Wii games (cause we’re old-school like that).

Oh the bribery that it took to get this photo! And my camera remote stopped working so I had to do it old-school, with the 10-second timer followed by a mad dash into position.

Carter was so excited for Christmas (i.e. presents) this year, so I wrapped up some new jammies that I found on sale at Target and let them open those on Christmas Eve.

They were so excited . . .

At least until they got the boxes open!!!

Then, we all put on our jammies and piled in the car to look at Christmas lights.

People who not only take the time to put up lights, but also choreograph them to music, are the BEST!

So are people who wrap lights around every last inch of a giant tree!

After putting out the cookies for Santa (the plate had 3 cookies when it left the kitchen, but somehow only had 2 when it arrived on the hearth) the kids went to bed. (Although Raine had to re-brush her teeth first. And then Carter remembered that the reindeer needed oats. But after all that, then they went to bed.)

11/18/17 father-son archery
Daddy finally cashed in the archery outing that Carter gave him for his birthday. (Raine and I went to see the movie “Wonder” while they were gone, but we didn’t take any photos.)

11/19/17 Carter harvested his sugar snap peas

11/21/17 snow tubing, Texas style (indoors at the Gaylord Texan)

While they were sledding, I was in court. They were sending me tubing photos, so I sent one back that summed up my day (I won, but it was exhausting).

11/23/17 our thanksgiving “feast”
We only cook what we like for Thanksgiving, and we only cook as much as we need, so it’s a nice relaxing day without a bunch of stuff that nobody wants to eat later!

Another soccer season is in the books.

U10 Peppermints

Hannah, Madison, Erika, Claire, Amber, Leighton, Josey, Maddy, Piper, Raine, and Eugenia

U8 Great White Sharks

Coach Paul, Branson, Blake, Owen, Luke, Carter, Jacob, Conner, Coach DJ

Soccer family

Some pics from the season:

11/11/17

11/4/17

10/28/17

10/14/17

9/9/17

8/26/17

11/15/17 Sharks’ end-of-season ice cream party (DJ was out of town for Raine’s party so there are no photos of hers)

10/28 Ward Trunk-or-treat

Carter, eating one of the cupcakes that I made

Raine and Lydia in the costume parade

10/31 Trick-or-treating

Halloween always seems to involve some tears for Carter. I think the stress and excitement of it is just a bit too much for the poor kid and it always results in a meltdown right about the time they are supposed to leave for trick-or-treating. After we sit quietly for about 10 minutes, while Daddy takes Raine out, he is able to pull himself together enough to get out there to collect some candy. Good thing the threat of wet weather kept many people away, so he could calm down without interruption. I think our doorbell only rang a couple times all evening.

10/14 Fall Festival

(The only photos I got of Carter were blury because he stayed inside where it was cool.)

Raine was wearing a butterfly shirt, asked for butterfly face paint, and then got a butterfly airbrushed on her arm.

Red Ribbon week

10/23 Crazy hair day

10/24 Pajama day

10/27 Favorite book character day

Raine is dressed up as the Queen of England and Carter’s favorite books are non-fiction books about sharks

Biking to the park

Pumpkin patch and corn maze

Saturday soccer games

Raine wanted to go to Six Flags for her birthday this year, so instead of a birthday party, I bought season passes for our whole family. She invited her best friend Mackenzie to come with us the Saturday before her birthday. It was blistering hot, but we survived a few hours of riding rides.

(Raine convinced Carter to ride the Conquistador before we left — one of those pirate boat rides that swings back and forth. He is definitely my kid and doesn’t like anything that drops your stomach so he was screaming and crying the entire ride. He was so mad at Raine for suggesting that he go on it, he yelled at her the entire way down the ramp!)

Raine’s actual birthday was on a Thursday. Daddy and I brought Subway sandwiches and ate lunch with her and her friends.

Zoe, Raine, and Mackenzie

Thursdays are soccer practice day so there wasn’t much time to do anything else. Raine loves breakfast foods, so we had puffed pancakes for breakfast and baked french toast for dinner. Then we had cake…

…and presents.

Current stats:
Height 4’9-1/4″ = 97th %-ile
Weight 68.8lbs = 60th %-ile

Raine is a bookworm! She reads at least a thousand pages every week. Her favorite books are spy/mystery novels, e.g. Genius Files, Fun Jungle. She also loves “floofy” books, i.e. Dork Diaries, Goddess Girls. Raine does very well in school and LOVES being a library helper — she even talked about wanting to be a librarian when she grows up but decided against it because they don’t get paid very well. Her other career ambitions include fashion designer or nature conservator.

Raine is always writing — she never finishes books, but she is constantly starting them. She’ll get 5-10 pages written before moving on to her next great idea and they are always really great stories. Once she finally finishes one, it will be fantastic!

Raine is a very headstrong kid. She truly believes that she knows everything and is always right. She can also be extremely sarcastic (I blame myself for that). Generally, however, she just wants to tell you about her latest great idea.

The 2017-2018 school year started August 21.

Raine started 4th grade.

Carter started 2nd grade.

Just like that, the summer was over and they were off to school.

Daddy dropped by the school at the peak of the solar eclipse to pull them out so they could watch it. The school didn’t let the kids go outside during the eclipse for fear they would burn their retinas trying to peak around the glasses. There were a number of other parents who pulled their kids out so they could watch it in front of the school. It was a fun experience, although Carter didn’t think it was THAT special.

A little good-luck high-five on Saturday morning as Daddy geared up for his triathlon.

The start of Daddy’s swim wave.

Daddy is the one with the black sleeves.

Exiting the swim.

Climbing up to the bike course.

About halfway through the bike course.

The run course was the opposite direction from the bike course so we just waited near the finish line.

After the race, the kids cooled off in the lake. Here is Carter’s victorious emergence from his swim!

Preliminary results

Daddy took 1st in the Master’s division. He didn’t realize that he was a master and was wholly confused when they called his name, but he turned into a “master” about 1 week ago (40+)!

We take cheering very seriously, it was exhausting!

After the awards ceremony, we picked up a drive-through lunch and headed to the swimming beach to cool off.

Later that evening we went out for dinner at the Cracker Barrel and then just hung out at the hotel.

The next morning we packed up and headed home. This stick bug tried to hitch a ride.