Between Here and There

Kathleen Joy takes another stride toward 35. Happy birthday, Katie!

Lillian was part of a program in her last week of school.  It was short and sweet.  On Christmas Eve, Jack and Lillian were part of our church's Christmas program.  Wesley opted not to participate. We had a pretty relaxed Christmas Day.  After breakfast we went to a short service at church, to Cameron Park for a bit, and then to lunch at El Ranchito.

We're a bit behind here, as you may have noticed.  Here are some pictures from the weeks prior to Christmas.  We had pretty mild weather, so we were able to get outside some. 

As some of you know, we were (and still are) very excited about the BU football season.  Katie's enthusiasm has increased quite dramatically over the last couple of years.  Other than some lingering confusion about the ball breaking the plane of the goal line, she knows pretty much all there is to know about football.   We made it to a number of games, and here are some of the pictures. BU-Wofford: way too hot, as you can see BU-ULM: front row of the end zone, which put the kids right in the action since we made it through the whole game, we went out on the field afterward BU-OU: a cool night, 'Black Out'; just Katie & Kyle thanks to a friend watching the kids TT-BU: Kyle and a friend went up to this game at the Cowboys' stadium BU-UT: freezing cold (20s); for the BIG XII championship; last game at Floyd Casey Stadium Be sure to watch the Bears in the Fiesta Bowl on the eve...

We squeezed into the Civic for the somewhat short drive.  Kyle took pics of the kids during a made up game of "Pretend to be an animal."  They were assigned different animals.  Any guesses? Before checking in to the hotel (in time for the game), and after an indian lunch, we visited Cottonwood Park.  It's an older park located along a long and skinny pond.  It was a perfect fall day.  Some running around, walking on the rocks, feeding the ducks, sliding, swinging, throwing the frisbee, and lots of photo opps. We finally found the perfect set-up for hotel staying.  The kids were ready to move in.  It had a separate bedroom, a kitchen (including a 12-cup coffee pot, utensils, pots and pans), living area with sofa bed, and free breakfast.  The pool area was awesome too, in an enclosed courtyard but it was outside so we didn't swim, this time. Back for another visit to the Fort Worth Water Garden.  It tests my courage as a mot...

He still has his beautiful long eyelashes and curly-Q at the top of his hairline and extra cute little nose.     A whole five years.  This kid is getting old.  

Wes has been afraid of automatic sliding doors for a year or so.  It's reasonable since one time they shut on him.  Usually he grabs a hand and makes sure he goes through with someone else.  Kyle and I watch him sometimes to see if he'll remember his fear.  Sometimes we'll even purposely not hold his hand to see if maybe he'll forget and walk through alone.  Never works. What will he do this time?

Pictures from the first day of 2nd grade at Hillcrest PDS!

We started for home on Saturday August 10 and after a night in OK we made it home Sunday afternoon. It felt really good to be home! Kyle started teaching that Wednesday so he had to get right back into things. We spent the week unpacking and settling back in.  It was hard to make meals when we return to a completely empty fridge.  We got in some visits to the pool and visit with friends. Monday the 19th Lillian had an audition for a play at the Waco Civic Theatre.  A touring company cam into town to present "The Secret Garden" and she and 40 or so other kids came out to participate.  Tuesday - Friday she had rehearsals for 4 hours a day.  Saturday was the show and she was there from 11-6:30 with 2 shows. She had a ton of fun and I'm glad she got the opportunity. Lillian and the other 7 year olds were Fireflies