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| CFA Christmas party |
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| Rylie and big bro |
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| Fun pic |
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| Santa! |
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| Santa cow |
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| Tuck and his best buddy Brendan |
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| Carter and Brock |
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| Carter making his ornament at Christmas party |
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| Christmas cookies with cousins! |
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| Christmas with Brooke |
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| Our family Christmas |
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| All the cousins! |
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| Rylie and Ellie |
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| Rylie and her ginormous bear she got |
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| Daddy putting make up on his girl |
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| Tuck sleeping in his golf glove |
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| Cheers! |
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| Happy New year! |
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| This girl |
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| Roland and Samuel |
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| Rylie and Channing |
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| Rylie and Evi! |
Here it is now January 2nd 2018 and three months have flown by. Sure is crazy how that can happen. October we added another foster kiddo to our family. Roland got here on October 27th. He is a sweet little boy that is four years old. He's celebrated all the holidays with us now, so it makes it feel more real each and everyday having him be apart. He loves Paw patrol, pj masks, eating anything, singing and talking. He loves to take baths and play outside with the kids. He loves the water, so this summer I am sure he will be a swimming machine. He joined us for family pictures and did great with that. We took pictures with Astros hats since they won the WORLD SERIES!! I still can't believe it some days. Crazy. My kids love the Astros now, so that is really fun and Carter dressed up as Altuve for Halloween. Rylie was cinderella, Roland was Marshall, and Tucker was a ninja turtle like his cousin Channing. It was a rainy night on Halloween, but we still made it and had a blast. The kids all had a great first soccer season. They all had great teams, and had a lot of fun. It was fun to watch them play every Saturday, and get to coach Carter man. Our cousin Titus turned THREE in October, so the kids had a blast playing at his dump truck party! Rylie is super into dresses right now and painting nails. When she puts on her dress, she always asks us to watch her "scurl" as she swirls around and sees how big it swings open:) It is adorable. She also wants to help me sweep often and will say "Can I broom for you?" I love that. I love that all of our kids still call lollipops, "lillipops" She still after all these years, is still into Umizoomi. She loves it. She loves her school, and cries on days she doesn't get to go. Thankfully, she has BSF on Thursdays, so we just have Tuesday's where she doesn't have anything. She got lots of new dresses for Christmas and her and Roland love their new Y flicker scooters. She also got a make up kit that she always has Bret and I put her "make up" on. Its so cute and sweet. She loves to sing and show us her dance moves. Can't believe she will be four just two weeks from today. Tucker is loving Kindergarten, just this past week over the break, he said "I want to go back to school. I miss Mrs. Jackson." He has had the best kinder teacher and I am so grateful for her in his life and how much he is loving school. He is starting to read and that has been so fun to watch him learn and grow in that. We are so proud of how hard he's working. He's still our super intense and super sweet kiddo all wrapped up in one. Carter man is doing great in second grade. He had a blast playing soccer this year, and did so well in his 3 on 3 tournament he played with his buddies. Its fun to watch him play in tournaments and have fun. He loves playing with all our neighbor friends outside. Those kids are constantly playing baseball, or football in the front yard or jumping on trampolines. So grateful to have so many neighbors around us with kids. That has been really fun to have. Carter was our one this Christmas who got the most into the advent story and could repeat it back to us. Its fun to watch him learn and grow more and more about Jesus.
We had a fall festival at the park by our house this fall and the kids had fun doing a mummy contest with neighbors and getting balloon animals and eating lots and lots of popcorn. My sister and her family came over there with us as well. Bret carved the boys some spider and astro pumpkins that were awesome, just like every year, he has mad carving skills and the kids love it. Bret's brother and his wife and their TWO kids were here for awhile this fall having their second son, so that was fun to see them and celebrate McCoy's birthday party at the trampoline park. The kids loved that so much. Our friends the Clardy's have come in town a few times since we moved and have gotten to see soccer games and we got to go to Mercy House event with them too. That was fun. Carter's class went on a field trip to P6 farms this fall and I loved getting to go with them to that. It was a beautiful day and I love getting to see Carter with all his buddies at school he has made. Our sweet neighbor gave us tickets to the children's festival at the cynthia woods mitchell pavilion and the kids got to ride in bumper boats, touch a truck and run with parachutes. They had a lot of fun at the festival. One of the huge highlights of the fall was right after the Astros won the world series, CFA operators and their families got to go to Minute maid park and the operators got to play a game on the field. The kids were so pumped to run on the field and get to see the stadium. We had a blast with that.
All the kids schools did a Thanksgiving feast. Rylie's was so wonderful, we got to have this awesome meal and sit with our kids to eat it and see all the wonderful things they made for us. Tucker's did all these station rotations and Carter had to memorize a poem they all said for us in front of all the parents. I have never heard kids say a poem so fast in my life, but Carter did it, even though he hated every minute of it. We got to go out to my dad's ranch this fall and take Carter's best buddy, Jackson with us. Then at the beginning of Thanksgiving break, we took all the kiddos to the zoo. The kids literally RAN through the zoo. So much energy.
Thanksgiving we went to Gainesville to spend it with Bret's family. It was such a wonderful time with them. It was relaxing and the kids had a blast playing with their cousin Jackson and the weather was so nice while we were there! When we got back, we went to the Christmas tree farm and cut down our tree. The kids really enjoyed that, and the tree held up well past Christmas so that was a win! Roland started school after Thanksgiving and he is loving that with Mrs. Lindsie and Mrs. Bird. Thankful he is enjoying it so much. We decided to keep our tradition of going to lights of Tejas with our friends every year, and so we went the first weekend in December to lights of tejas with the Biles and Clardy's. The kids love the zip lines there, and cookie decorating, and the black slides, and the hay ride. It was well worth the trip out there and back in one day.
I have really enjoyed being back in BSF and getting to teach the four year olds. I love hearing all my kids singing "Good morning God, this is your day, I am your child, show me your way" Really fun.
At the beginning of December it also SNOWED!! Our kids were freaking out, waking up to snow. It was so fun to watch them go run around in it and try to build snowman, before school started. The kids had a Christmas program at church, so they had been practicing joy to the world for weeks and were so adorable up there on stage. Tuck is definitely our performer, Rylie and Roland did well, but he shined through. Carter hates every.minute of being in front of anyone. We had our first CFA Christmas party with our team here and had a blast loving on everyone and getting to play games with all of them. Our kids got to meet Santa cow, Rylie had a day with her best girl Evi while Bret and I had to go to a funeral :( and then we had all the kiddos school Christmas parties.
Christmas break was wonderful and fast and furious. We started a new tradition with my sisters, making Christmas cookies, and that was fun. Jack came over that evening and we did Christmas with him, LaDawn and Brooke. We love that we are closer to them. We did our own Christmas Friday morning with our own kids, it was fun watching them get new rollerblades, and paw patrol for Roland and new kitchen stuff for Rylie. We did Christmas Eve down at my dad's house and my kids loved getting to spend the day with my dad and see Christopher. Carter got his hover board he had been wanting so that was fun! My mom got the kids a new trampoline and scooters, so that was a huge highlight and they all had matching pjs, so those pajamas were adorable on all the grandkids. After Christmas we celebrated the New year with Bret's parents and did Christmas with them. That was so great and Rylie got her cinderella dress and new clothes, the boys got their precious bey blades they are obsessed with, and Roland got all the paw patrol dress up characters. We just hung out here on New years, drinking ginger ale and making toasts. My sister came by. I asked the kids what was something they hoped for in 2018, and they would say things like less homework and Roland said "I want a new family". Wow. I am still in shock that he said that. Its just so crazy because we all just want to belong and be apart. We want to be apart of something. I don't know whats in store for him, but I hope he always feels that here.
This past week after New years and everyone has left, it has been soooo cold, so we have been playing at indoor play parks with friends, going to CFA and my aunt and uncle came down for the day too. We had dentist appointment and my niece, Ellie turned two today. So we will head down to her birthday party tomorrow in Friendswood. Kiddos go back to school on Tuesday and while it has been a great break, I think we are all looking forward to the routine.
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| family pics |
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| Bret and I |
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| Rylie girl at 3 |
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| Carter man at 7 |
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| Roland at 4 |
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| Tuck at 5 |
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| All the kiddos |
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| All of us |
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| Go stros |
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| Night with the Beakley's at cracker barrel |
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| Out |
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| Tuck and his friend Matthew at school |
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| Catheryn and Rylie |
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| Rylie in her first soccer season |
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| Add caption |
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| Family coming to the game |
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| Titus is 3! |
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| Rylie and Ellie coloring |
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| At the park |
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| McCoy's birthday party |
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| Carter taking care of his cousin |
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| soccer game for C |
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| Carter with his astros poster for good luck |
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| Still falls asleep on us when he's tired |
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| Carter's soccer team |
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| Roland's first night at our house |
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| Roland and Rylie |
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| Soccer Saturdays |
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| Pumpkin carving |
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| Daddy carving his pumpkins for the boys |
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| Fall festival fun |
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| Supposed to be making a mummy |
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| Don't move Tuck |
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| Double trouble |
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| Ha |
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| Sleeping Rylie |
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| Halloween parade at school |
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| Rylie's bestie Evi |
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| Add caption |
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| new dress |
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| Halloween costume |
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| About to go trick or treating |
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| Rainy halloween |
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| ALTUVE |
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| Dinner with Troy and Holly and their boys at grub |
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| Astros day at school! |
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| Uncle Bret and Channing napping |
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| Mercy House Market |
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| The girls |
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| CHEESE |
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| Evi and Rylie swimming |
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| First dentist appt |
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| 2nd grade field trip |
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| Carter and his buddy Luke |
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| Carter and Brock |
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| Big chair, little Carter |
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| 2nd graders |
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| Last soccer game |
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| Rylie getting her medal |
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| Soccer party |
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| So excited! |
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| Tuck and his buddies Eli and Aidan |
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| Parachute fun |
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| CFA softball game |
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| Cheering daddy on |
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| so fun! |
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| These two are buddies |
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| eating some muffins at Thanksgiving feast |
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| saying hi to big brother at school |
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| Eve's birthday party |
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| 2nd grade field trip with Jackson |
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| got himself all dressed for church |
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| At home running errands with these goobers |
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| Zoo trip with cousins and friends |
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| First time to the zoo! |
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| Christmas at Grams and Pops |
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| Lincoln log building |
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| Grams got her Astro shirt |
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| With the littles |
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| Saying bye after Thanksgiving |
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| cutting down the Christmas tree! |
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| dragging it over |
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| Daddy putting up the Christmas lights |
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| Decorating the tree! |
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| Putting the star on |
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| All done! |
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| Mrs. Julie painting Rylie's nails |
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| ornament exchange |
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| Lights of Tejas with the girls |
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| Carter and Roland |
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| Bray's, Clardy's, Farris', Biles crew |
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| sweet sweet siblings |
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| hating the cold and rain |
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| Showing us their dance |
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| SNOW IN HOUSTON |
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| CRAZY! |
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| LOVING IT! |
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| Let it snow! |
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| Built himself a mini snowman |
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| 3v3 tournament with these boys |
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| Little Rylie and Titus |
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| breakfast date with daddy |
