Dean and I were able to spend the entire Thanksgiving break in Houston this year. We left Dallas on Saturday and met mom and dad (who were sweet enough to meet us half way). After lunch we switched cars, said goodbye to Matt and headed the rest of the way home. We were able to enjoy church at AUMC with our family and celebrate Layne’s birthday (late) with a big family dinner. I was also blessed with the opportunity to cook with my mom and sister for Thanksgiving lunch – always a comedic experience and usually requires at least 3 more trips to the grocery store.
Matt arrived on Wednesday in time to spend one night with his family at the Hopkins. On Thursday morning we headed over to Adam and Genie’s house in Katy. They were nice enough to host everyone for the day at their newish house. We had a great time eating, playing, and watching the Aggies come oh so close to beating the hell outta t.u. I even managed to accidentally wake Dean up during one point in the game…whoops – mommy got a little excited! Thankfully his Honey came to the rescue and got him back to sleep. The men enjoyed a few relaxing moments in the hot tub during the game to help digest all the wonderfully yummy food we ate.
On Friday we set out for the Renaissance festival. Ronny planned a special day at the festival for the entire family, including my parents. We had a great time watching shows, gawking at the people (really who wears a chainmail bikini???), eating sausage on a stick, turkey legs, and apple dumplings along with riding the HUGE swing and watching the jousting match. It was an action packed day, tons of fun, and I’m sure we all had many scary dreams after seeing the sights of the festival.
We departed the festival and set out for Livingston. We were able to relax at the lake for a day and half before heading back to Dallas. While at the lake we attended the “Lighting of the Town Square” in Coldspring. The square lighting is a huge small town tradition complete with Christmas music, cookies, wassail, and lights. Emma enjoyed her first funnel cake (well licking the powdered sugar off of) and she and Dean rolled all over the court house lawn while Mom and I shopped the antique stores. We also found time to play and relax.
It was a wonderfully busy week and I can’t wait to do it again.
We finally had a chance to get together with the McLaren’s for dinner. We’ve been trying to set up a time since the summer but due to the start of school and football season we haven’t had a chance. Finally, Thanksgiving break provided us with an excellent opportunity to share a meal. The McLaren’s invited us over to their house for calzones and yummy banana pudding. Dean was a huge fan of their stairs – he went up and down them about 10 times and Matt & I were fans of adult conversation, Miranda’s cooking, and watching our little guys play. We look forward to many more dinner dates with the McLaren’s.
This past weekend our friends Jana and Derek came to visit us for the second time. Jana and I had the Texas Counseling Association conference on Thursday and Friday so, we figured it would be the perfect time for Derek to come up and make a weekend of it. We didn’t have any grand plans for their visit but managed to eat at some great DFW restaurants, take in a high school football game and relax. On Friday night Glenda came over and watched Dean so that we could eat at the Chef Point Café. The Chef Point Café is a 5 star restaurant in a gas station…I’m not kidding! There are not white table clothes or china plates here; it’s super casual but extremely delicious. As if our wonderful meal on Friday night wasn’t enough we decided to enjoy lunch at Babes on Saturday. J & D loved their Babes experience and the finger licking good chicken – minus the creamed corn for Jana (sorry about that girl)!!! After a quick trip to the park we headed to the Cowboy Stadium to watch CHHS play in their first playoff game of the season. Unfortunately Southlake proved to be too much for us to handle and we lost miserably but Jana and Derek had a great time checking out the stadium and the home of their favorite team…the Dallas Cowboys! We enjoyed having our friends visit us for the weekend and look forward to seeing them in Dallas again soon – maybe when the Eagles play the Cowboys??? Thanks for coming to visit guys!
Now that Dean is one we’ve moved on whole milk. Dr. McCoy suggested we go for organic cows milk and let me tell you…Dean LOVES it! We tried a few bottles of formula and milk mixed but we didn’t need it for long. The boy went right for the cows milk. I guess when you compare it to formula it’s gotta be better! No more mixing bottles for us! Such a big guy!
