National Night Out

On Thursday, October 15 our neighborhood hosted 2009 national night out. In years past, we haven't been able to attend. However, I wasn't going to miss it this year!

So, Jarrad got home early and we went out for National Night Out to hob-knob (Mom, that was for you) with our neighbors. Our neighborhood is big, so there are a lot of families that we haven't had the chance to meet.

We had a great time. I met tons of new people and most of them had children Meg's age. We're looking forward to building great relationships with our neighbors!

The set up was fantastic. Target donated cases of water and juice boxes for the kiddos, as well as beach balls, games and raffles. There was plenty for the kiddos to do. Hula hoops, three-legged races, ring toss, beach balls, and a bounce house. A few of the boys even put together a pick up football game. It was so great to see the kids playing together - it was like they had been doing it for years.

Meg made a new little friend, Anna (who is four). They were connected at the hip. As it turns out, Anna has a twin sister and a little sister. I was able to visit with their mom for a lot of the night. I look forward to getting to know this family better.

***sponsored by Target***

***Meg & Bailey***

***Meg playing ring toss***

***right-handed ring toss***

***nope, better stick with the left***

***Meg, Addie & Bailey***

***Playing catch with Bailey***

***the bounce house was about an hour late. The kids were so excited when it arrived. I love how Meg and Bailey are holding hands and waiting so patiently***

***almost ready for bouncing***

Ramsey Look-alike Meter

Is anyone really buying this??? Meg is equally like mother and father?

MyHeritage: Family trees - Genealogy - Celebrities - Collage - Morph

Botanical Gardens Assignment

This falls, I enrolled in a Digital Photography class at UTA with two other girlfriends. I'm having a blast in the class. I'm even going to enroll in Digital Photography II in the spring.

For our field trip, we went to the Botanical Gardens. We had a list of things we were supposed to photograph.

***continuous motion***

***stop action***

***blurry backgrounds***

***lines***

***blurry backgrounds***

***more blurry backgrounds***

***stop action***

***motion***

***stop action***

***so you know what the next picture is***

***in focus background***

***lines, blurry background***

My poor baby!

Meme and Poppy's visit must have worn Megan out. Tuesday morning when I woke her up, she was running a 100 degree fever. She looked so pathetic. Poppy said she had been up four times that night. Isn't he so wonderful, he tended to Meg and didn't even wake me up. Meg has such a wonderful relationship with Poppy!

I tried to convince Meg that it would be ok to stay home for a little while, but she insisted on going to school. So, off she went. I did walk her into her class and tell the teacher. Mrs. Kelly said that she would call me if anything happened. By the time I picked Meg up from school, she was back to her normal self. Fever free and running around like a crazy kid.

***Meg sitting at the table after waking up*** ***there were a few smiles...

....and a couply of giggles....

....but they didn't last long***

***poor girl***

American Girl

On Monday, the girls went to meet Nawnaw at American Girl. We dropped Poppy off at the car wash and he and Jarrad went to Cabelas and drove out to Weatherford.

The day was a gloomy day, but the girls still had a lot of fun. Nawnaw treated Meg to a new doll from American Girl for her birthday. This time around, Meg chose a bitty baby so Reagan could have a baby sister. Meme was shocked at the American Doll store - I tried to warn her about it, but I don't think she believed me! I could kick myself for not taking any pictures while we were in American Girl...but, I did take some at lunch.

For lunch, we walked over to the Grand Lux Cafe. After lunch, we walked around the mall for a little while visiting with Patty. It was a perfect girl's day out!

***Meg at lunch*** ***Meg and her new baby***

***Nawnaw, Meg and her new baby***

*** We must have worn Meg out because she fell asleep in the car on the way home***

Meme & Poppy visit

Two weekends back, my parents came in for a visit. Meg had a school holiday (Columbus Day), so they made the trip to hang out with us. They arrived on Friday just in time to go with me to pick Meg up from school. She was so excited to see them.

That night, after Jarrad got home, we ran a few errands then went to Hoffbrau Steak House in the Arlington Highlands. Jarrad and I had tried it a few weeks ago and thought that my parents would love it.

We got back to the house, opened a bottle (or two or three) of wine and visited with them. We thought we were going to have to get up early on Saturday morning for Meg's soccer game, but because the fields were too wet, her game was cancelled. So, we just got out of the house and ran around town.

Sunday, mom, dad, Megan and I got out after breakfast to run a few errands before I had to go to the botanical gardens for my photography class field trip. Originally, they had planned on coming with me, but Meg fell asleep in the car and I didn't want to deal with a grumpy butt while I was having to take pictures for my class.

***Meg & Gunner******sweet Gunner***

***Poppy serving Meg tea and food***

***dinner on Monday night at Outback***

***playing around with the camera***

***the dogs love Poppy***

***Old man Gauge***

***playing with my white balance***

***Dixie Belle***

Monday, Meme, Meg and I met Nawnaw at American Girl...details to come in another post.

Letter of the week...."H"

Every week, Meg has a "letter of the week" at school. A few weeks ago, the letter was H...if you have a child, I'm sure you can see where this is going...

So, Meg was in the man cave talking to Jarrad and me about words that start with the letter H. She was sounding things out; horse, house, hamburger, etc, when Jarrad said "Hair starts with H, you should cut some of your hair off".

I could have kicked him!!! Seriously, you can't plant that idea in the head of a 5-year old girl who has access to scissors. So, he said "Meg, you know you shouldn't cut your hair right?" Well, he was too late - the seed had already been planted.

The next morning, when I was helping Meg in the bathroom, I noticed it...the section of hair that was shorter than the rest of her hair. When I asked her about it, the very first thing she said was "Don't tell daddy". She knew she was busted and she knew she shouldn't have done it. I'm just thankful that it was a small section and she didn't cut it off at her scalp.