January 2020

First sleepover at our house!

A trip to Sea World. 

 A trip with friends to Brenham to eat Blue Bell Ice Cream.

 Jane received an award for perfect attendance for the first and second quarter of school. 

Kate received an award for perfect attendance for first and second quarter of school and for having A's and B's.  Good work girl!

We went to a LIVE showing of Wild Kratt's in Austin.  The girls loved it! Thanks mom and dad for the Christmas present!

December 2019

Jane and her cute friends at her pre-kindergarten Christmas party.

 Jane was awarded the Super Star for the month of December.  I love her stance, she is so proud of herself.

 We visited my best friend in Louisiana. I had the best time and she had so much planned for out short stay.  Can't wait to see you again Jennifer! (All our races got cancelled because of COVID-19, so I don't know when we will see each other again. Plus, Texas makes those from LA quarantine for 14 days!)

 Waiting in line at the Holiday Express Train in Leesville, Louisiana.  

 Bryan went duck hunting with Ryan.  Came home with lots of meat!

 Besties!

 Bryan's holiday ball.

 The theme was the roaring twenties! I loved dressing up!

 Kate had a piano recital at Chick-fil-A.  She did so well! Very proud of her!

Cindy Lou Who hair for school.  Jane did not want to participate.  

 Meeting Santa at the YMCA.

 Jane got a bike for Christmas.

She learned how to ride 2 days after Christmas.  Thank you balance bikes!

 Both of the girls got sleeping bags from my parents.  

 Bryan got a shot gun.

 And I got some gift cards and Christmas decorations from the girls.  

 Hiking with the family at Chalk Ridge Falls Park. 

September 2019

Well, I am stuck in the house for another 30 days due to COVID-19, so I figured I would update my blog from September 2019- April 2020 (I don't have any of Bryan's photos because he had to reboot his phone in March 2020 and lost everything).  

We took the kids to a motor derby at the Belton Expo Center.  It was a first for all of us and super fun!

Kate got to ride on her first roller coaster at the fair. 

Bryan started to work on the floors in our house.  We had been living on concrete for about 3 months waiting for the tile to be made.  I guess it was a popular color and on back order.  He did an amazing job.  I love the floors now.  I think it was around 1200 sqft of the downstairs area. 

I was able to walk around the elementary school with my girls as a memorial for 9/11.  I am so grateful to have a flexible job where I can go to their events. 

 Jane was really sad to see me because she knew I wasn't taking her home afterwards.  

 I was also able to go to their fun run fundraiser.  Doesn't Jane look super happy in this photo? She was waving at my friend Rebecca.  No way would she be this happy for me.  She is good with the pout face for me. 

 Look how cute my Kate looks too!

For my birthday, I took the girls to the nail salon.  They were unimpressed with their service as they watched all the different services I received.  It was still fun for them though. 

 Opening my birthday presents.  

 Eating out for my birthday dinner.

At the end of the month, Bryan and I competed in the Kerrville half Ironman.  Debbie and Robert came out to watch the girls while we raced.  I think Bryan finished in 5 hours 48 minutes and I finished in 6 hours and 4 minutes.  I was awarded 2nd place in my age group. 

Kate's last month of Kindergarten

All of the kindergarten students learned and performed "Suessical the Musical" for graduation.  Kate has proven to be quite the actress.  I might need to look into singing and dancing lessons for this little missy.  

Kate got some flowers from us after her graduation ceremony. 

Mrs. Rich

After graduation, we took Kate to the PX.  Her friend talks often about the store and Kate has been begging to go.  I think all her dreams came true.

In April, Kate was supposed to be presented with the Silver Star Award.  Unfortunately, she had to miss the ceremony because she was sick.  She was sad to miss being recognized in front of all her classmates and parents.  Luckily, her teacher was able to add her to the May award ceremony.  She loved being the center of attention and having her parents at school for lunch.  She even got Chick-fil-a for lunch.

Kate's class had a picnic in the classroom during the last week of school. 

Field day.  Water fights, relay races, water slides, and running around outside.  Kate loved it.

October 2018

Bryan turned 36 at the beginning of October.  We got him an inflatable eye with glasses to put in our yard for Halloween. He thought it was pretty cool.  It gets harder and harder each year to find a good gift for him.  Mostly because we don't need more stuff, but also because we purchase what we want anytime. We enjoyed some pumpkin cheesecake for dessert.

 Kate participated in her elementary school's run-a-thon. She ran 27 laps to help raise money for her school.  We sure appreciated everyone that helped donate to make this a fun event for her.  She did her best.

We traveled to Muenster, Texas for a 1/2 marathon.  It really was the worst race ever!  It was so hilly and we pushed the stroller. 

Mostly we wanted to wear our running Trachten and go to an Oktoberfest.  The towns folk running the show really liked our gear and asked if they could use our photo for their website.  We could be famous!

The girls really like the face painting. 

After the race, we went and visited our cousins in Ardmore, Oklahoma.  My girls always LoVe seeing their family!

My Volvo was gradually costing us too much money in repairs.  We traded it in for a Jeep Grand Cherokee.  Pretty much the same car, minus the brand and a few upgrades.  I LoVe it!

We went kayaking on Stillhouse Lake, which is about 8 minutes from our house.  There had been lots of rain over the past couple weeks, but we didn't realize how bad it was until this adventure!

We took the girls to a church in Robinson, Texas for a fall festival.  It was rather small and the weather was awful.  We had to go indoors for a little because of a potential tornado.  Maybe next year, we will attempt the fall festival in Marble Falls.

This year we dressed up as Goldie Locks and the Three Bears.  Everyone was happy with the decision.  It is always hard pleasing everyone, especially when both the girls want to be the princess.  Maybe you could give me ideas for next year? Or maybe I'll be a prince and Bryan will be a prince, and the girls can choose a princess??

I am pretty sure we did the pumpkin cutting on Halloween.  I know how Texas rots the pumpkins real quick!

Happy Halloween! All of our loot from 2 hours of trick-or-treating.  The weather was cold and rainy, and I think all the neighbors just wanted to get rid of candy, so they dumped it into the girls bags by the handful.