Christmas Baking

Hey People we're gonna tell you about our baking day. This is a picture of Marlee from Thanksgiving, I love it so much I had to use it! Lane was excited about our plan for the day. He loves to help me cook and bake. He helped me with all of dinner last night and was ready to get going this morning.Hands floured up and ready to go.Marlee entertained us with her skills on the piano. She was busy busy while we worked.Superman, I mean Lane insisted on helping with every step of the process.Half of our rolls cut and ready to bake. Lane ran with Clint to get a haircut over his lunch so I finished the baking and frosting while they were gone.And after lunch my taste testers got to work.Marlee liked hers so much that she finished before Lane.And Lane wanted seconds when he finished his. Now when Clint gets home tonight we'll get our Cinnamon Rolls delivered to our neighbors, I can't stand the temptation of having them in the house!

Christmas Fun!

Tonight was RR's annual Christmas Festival downtown. We got there and went straight to Mrs. Claus' house for a cookie.
Marlee was so excited!

Then Lane got a really cute rocket from the ROTC kids.

It was pretty crowded so Lane spent most of the night up on Dad's shoulders.

Marlee saw lots of kids with balloons and every time she saw one she made sure to let us know she wanted one. We finally made it over to the area where the balloons were and she was a happy camper. She didn't make a peep the rest of the night!

Lane did a little prize wheel.And made a candy cane with a pipe cleaner and beads.He was very proud of it. When we got home he ran straight to the tree to hang it where he could see it.Lane and Marlee went with Dad to see the Elves workshop. The Elves left out bells for the kids to ring.Lane couldn't pass up a chance to get his face painted. He got a blue snowflake.And Miss Marlee leaned upside down to get a red nose like Rudolph.Before we left we stopped to warm up by the fire.

We had a great night! The only person we didn't get to see was Santa. He was there somewhere, we just never ran into him.

A close up of my little Rudolph on the way home.Lane said he was Snowy Flaker.And a couple of cute videos from the night...

Lane and Marlee ringing their bells in the Elves workshop.

The Express had a booth. Of course we had to stop to see our friends. We let Lane try to hit the ball thinking he would just swing at the ball for fun, we watched several big kids ahead of us swing and miss the ball. Lane got up and got a hit right away - it was in the wrong direction, but it was a hit.

We moved him to hit left handed and he got another hit. Little cutie.

Tarleton State

Friday afternoon we made a quick trip to Stephenville for Clint to announce a Basketball Tournament. We stopped for lunch at the Golden Arches. Lane and Marlee went out to play and Marlee had a little fan club. The two girls in the picture followed her everywhere. Lane walked up to them and put his arm around Marlee and said "this is my baby sister". So cute!
Marlee would try to walk away to get a minute to herself...

And the girls would turn to follow her. It was really cute.After lunch we got back in the car to drive another hour. All the excitement on the playground wore Marlee out. Our kids rarely sleep in the car so we were very happy Marlee napped.While Marlee slept Lane played with our phones. When I turned to take a picture of him, he took a picture of me. Once we made it to campus Clint had to go straight to the gym to get ready for the games. The kids and I wandered around campus. Touring campuses is an addiction of mine, poor Lane and Marlee! Lane posed for a picture outside the student center. Showing off the muscles.We found the Science Building and two amazing dinosaur skeletons. Lane really likes the show Dinosaur Train. I'm not sure if he really made the connection, but I tried.

After the Science Building we went to the Student Union and the kids ran around.

Then we loaded Miss Marlee back up in her stroller and headed to the game. While we walked Lane kept saying he wanted to go back to the High School. Clint announces basketball at the High School near our house so I guess he just thought Basketball was a High School thing. We talked about College and I told him I went to College to be a teacher and Daddy went to College to be an announcer (not really what his degree is in, but it was easiest to explain to Lane). I asked Lane what he would like to study to be when goes to College and he said "an Announcer". Once we got to the Arena Lane and Marlee shared a water. I LOVE this picture.And, to prepare for his future in announcing, Lane sat with Dad during the games. Every once in a while Lane would turn to Clint and repeat whatever he had just said over the mic.The cutest little guy at the scorers table.

Muss Tree Service II

Today we spent the afternoon taking down 4 dead cedar trees in our neighbor's yard. Clint rented a pole saw and he even let me try it out. It was soooo heavy that I didn't last long.

I didn't get to take many pictures because I was busy hauling cedar branches out of the yard. This is Clint cutting the last of the four trees down.Our awesome neighbors helped us! The guy that owns the house couldn't help us so they volunteered. We had a lot of fun and they were so much help! I don't usually post pics and videos of myself on the blog, but this is too funny. Maybe funny isn't the word, maybe goofy. All I know is I'm going to be sore tomorrow.

Carni Fun

Last night we lived it up at the Carnival! We went with our neighbors and Lane and Marlee's buddies JJ and Bella. JJ goes to the carnival every time it comes to town, so he's a carnival expert. We thought JJ could show Lane the ropes.

One of the boys first rides was the bumper boats. We thought they would have fun going together, we didn't think about them fighting over who would get to drive. They did not have fun on that ride!The flying pink elephants were Marlee's favorite. She went three or four times and smiled the whole time she was on them. We went on the Ferris Wheel as a family. Marlee sat back on Clint's lap and almost fell asleep. She was completely relaxed while I pretended not to mind the heights and creaking sounds so Lane would be afraid.Lane and JJ had so much fun riding all the rides together.Marlee ate almost an entire box of popcorn by herself. She was content to be in her stroller as long as she had popcorn.Clint on the pink elephants. He took Marlee and Lane but you can't really see them, so let's just pretend that Clint went on the ride by himself. We saw this face a lot last night. So cute!lane insisted on riding on the front car of the train the few times he rode it. He said he was the conductor. He was so fun to watch he looked back at all the kids riding from time to time to "check on them".

I took a little video of Lane and JJ before we went to the carnival. I've decided I need to get more interviews of Lane talking, so here you go!