May 2019

5/31 - I flew back from China, and met Greg and Kasey to go to Taste of Addison.  Fun night of food, drinks, some music and a few rides.  Kasey rode the same ride 5 times :)

5/29 - Today Landon took his first solo flight to Tennessee to visit his friend Colin.  They have been friends for a long time and always enjoy hanging out.  They are going to Dollywood for fun amusement park, the lake and hanging out doing some other stuff.  Good times to start the summer.

5/26 - I left for China for the week.  Greg and the kids went to a friends house for a memorial day party.  Landon ended up spending the night and staying up til 3am, and as usual he woke up the next morning early and spent a hour talking to my friend because no one else was awake.   Later that day he ended up sleeping a good bit.

5/25 - Today we mainly hung out.   We got lunch, all 4 of us went shopping.

Landon and I went to get some dinner.  After dinner Kasey asked to go to the pool.  Landon, Kasey and I went to the pool.  We all got in, we swam around, we played marco polo, Landon and I carried Kasey around on our shoulders and back.  Everyone got a long and had a really good time.  So much fun.  Greg and Patch walked to the pool and we all went home together.   Fun night. Sadly I have to leave in the morning for China for the week

5/24 - Last day of school so we now have a  5th grader and 8th grader.  Crazy.   Landon tried to have a few friends over but another friend had invited several kids over but he wasn't invited.  It's hard to see the kids hurting and being left out.  He was ok though.   

Kasey didn't miss the last day of school which was a good thing :)

5/23 - Landon got to go to a friends house after school.  It was the last day of finals they only had a half day of school.

 

5/22 - Kasey had her 4th grade end of year party.   She told me I didn't have to go, she was embarrassed by us but Greg went anyway.  I stayed at work.

I got a picture of Kasey running the really big bounce house to keep some order with a bunch of crazy kids.  That's my girl.

5/19 - We had family birthday for Landon.  We went to Texadelphia and ended having to pay cash for the whole family :)   Cindy and Carlos were here and Nanny was too.  Then we went back to Grandma's house for some dessert.  Greg made chocolate cake with icing and Grandma had several ice creams to go with it.   Good stuff and fun time with family.

5/18 - We didn't do to much during the day, but that evening the boys went to an Eagle Court of honor. After Greg and I went to a wine bar to have a few drinks.  Fun short outing.   

in early May Landon took SAT as a practice.  We got his scores and pretty sure as a 7th grader he scored better than Greg and I :)

5/13 - 5/17 - Monday night I had a work lunch and dinner and everyone else went to Scout BBQ.    I left early (5am early) to catch a flight to Boston for the rest of the week.  We got there and the only car they had was a suburban - Great for Boston roads (not).   I headed up to Manchester for the day to meet with my team up there and have dinner with them.  It was raining a good bit but it all worked out.

I attended a good conference on video.  One of the Keynote speakers was Jade Simmons who is a concert pianist among other things but she had a great story how she went from learning classical music to talking to her audience and creating music in different ways that was enjoyed by her audience.  The keynote was titled How to live like a Maverick.

This week the kids also had STAAR tests which isn't that fun but they got through it.

Friday was Landon's birthday.  I flew back from Boston and worked from home in the afternoon.  Greg did a good job for Landon.   As Landon went to bed he said he had a good day - he got donuts for breakfast, Greg brought him Laynes for lunch at school, we had Mi Cocina for dinner, paciugo for dessert, and  he had a good pretty easy day at school.  We took his picture and both Greg and I posted at 8:02pm that we had a teenager in the house.  

5/12 - We slept in then headed to Abeulos to for lunch with Grandma and Pops.  Yummy food.

5/11 - Kasey had tutoring in the morning and I had Twilight training.   Grammy picked up Kasey from tutoring and we met at Elkes for lunch after.   The special was very yummy - special chicken dish with peppers, onions, mushrooms and cheese.

That afternoon Kasey and I went to the salon to get Mani and Pedis.   That's what I wanted for mothers day :)

That night we met Grammy and Gramps at Wild Salsa for yummy mothers day dinner.   We even went to Braums for some ice cream.  Yum   It was a really fun day.

Friday night it had rained a ton on the boys - so much so that several of their sleeping bags got wet inside the tents.   So they decided after cooking and eating dinner to drive back home.   The good part of that is they got to sleep in their own beds.

5/10 - The boys headed out of town for campout.  Kasey and I headed to Norton Spring Carnival.  It was raining a bit so the bounce houses were inside the gym.   We had In and Out Burger truck for dinner and then the kids ran around.  Kasey was with a few of the boys from her class and I was walking around.  I found some of the girl scouts and they went looking for Kasey and the boys.   They had a lot of fun on bounce houses, getting kona ice and hanging out.   Kasey said she had a lot of fun.

Since the boys were gone, Kasey and patch slept with me & she actually slept in (shhh don't tell Greg :))

5/9 - Tonight Landon was in a football exposition.   3 Allen middle schools played 7 on 7.  Ereckson 7th grade won.  Landon participated in a kettle bell carry.  He was by far the smallest guy out there but he tried.

5/7 - Tonight Landon had end of year band concert.   They played music from different movies which was fun.  Landon was first chair for french horns :)

5/5 - The kids had their piano recital today and did a good job.  Always a fun family activity.  We also get to see some of the kids friends in the recital.  We came home after since we were tired.

5/3 - This weekend the boys stayed home and we took the girl scout troop for a weekend in Fossil Rim.  We stayed at High Hopes Ranch, and worked on our animal habitat and simple meals badges while we were there.   We also went on a safari tour in Fossil Rim which the girls loved.  They  took us through the park in an open bus.  We got to hand feed giraffes, EMUs and throw food out for several other animals.  Sunday morning the cows were all right outside our house which was pretty cool.

The girls spent time prepping food, cooking, cutting, cleaning up.   They did some skits, they hung out, played games, watched part of a movie on ipad (8 girls on a bed watching an ipad because there was no TV) :)

We all enjoyed the time and had great weather except for an early morning storm on Saturday.   Our meals included - Sonic dinner, biscuit/croissant/banana breakfast, crescent roll pigs in a blanket (with chicken or hot dog), fruit salad, chicken and beef taco dinner.  The girls made s'more cake cookies and strawberry shortcake.    Sunday morning we made eggs, bacon and blueberry muffins.

I was kind of a mess overall - I forgot to put hot dogs on the shopping list, I left my wallet in the car during the safari, I accidentally left chicken out overnight, and then Sunday I dumped several of the raw eggs - but it all worked out ok

5/1 - A few of my managers and I hosted a Greek dinner with colleagues that earned money for United way.   We all stood around in the kitchen having wine, enjoying good Greek food and even some dessert.  There was a storm coming in so several people left a little early. A few people stayed and we talked as the storm came through.

This week Landon got first chair which he hasn't really done before.

April 2019

4/28 - We slept in a little, did a little shopping and waited for the boys to get home.

4/27 - We started the morning a little rocky, but once we got out the door it was better.  Kasey's school was having a Knightathlon.   The kids ran a mile, biked a mile an a half and then ran a 1/2 mile.  Very proud of Kasey for doing this.  She ran and rode her bike with other friends her age.

That afternoon we hung out most of the afternoon, maybe took a nap.   That night there was a loud storm -  Kasey and Patch ended up in the bed :)

4/26 - The boys left for a campout so it was just Kasey and I for the weekend.  

4/21 - The kids woke up and went to find eggs from the Easter Bunny.  They got some small gifts in their basket and Landon asked for small itunes/app store GC.  Kasey got a light up speaker from girl scout store that I thought would be great for girl scout camps.

We had family over for lunch.  Greg made hamburgers, and we had deviled eggs, fruit salad, and some chips.  It was yummy and fun to hang out with the fam.  We also celebrated my birthday again.   Grandma made pecan and cherry pie!  Yum :)

That afternoon Greg went to FC Dallas game.  Kids and I cleaned up, watched Jumanji, and then got pizza for dinner.   Nice day with family.

4/20 - The boys got up to go set out eggs for easter egg hunt at the church.  Kasey went to practice her talent show performance.  Greg, Landon and I went to lunch at Schlotzky's.   Then the boys went to do their scout swim test - they both passed. That afternoon the kids made eggs for the Easter Bunny.

That night Kasey and Greg made steak, salad and green beans for dinner.  We also enjoyed some mini pies that Grammy had gotten us for Easter.

4/19 - We had a nice Good Friday.  I slept in some and went to work out at 9am.  We got ready and went to have some lunch.  That night Landon and Kasey went to hang out with Grammy and Gramps while Greg and I went to get food (BBQ at Hutchins) and then we went to a gun class.  We learned about safety, some about the law and then got to target shoot.  We shot 22, 380, 38, 9mm and 45.   It was pretty cool and interesting to learn.  We had never shot revolvers or hand guns before.

4/14 - We slept in some.  Landon took Patch for a walk and I went to pick up Kasey.  They had so much fun hanging out and playing together at the sleepover.

We cleaned up the house today, got organized for the week, and did some relaxing too :)

4/13 - Today the boys were at shooting tournament, Kasey and I had some things to get done.   And it was raining pretty good all day.  It was about 3:45am and Patch woke me up with storms.  I thought she wanted to go out, but think she really just was scared some.   With the thunder and lightning Kasey also came down around 6am.  We all slept in some.   Kasey and I headed to the nail salon for manicures.  Then we headed to Justice for a little shopping.  We got a birthday present and they had Kasey's size shirts on sale for $3.99.  Apparently Corgi's are the new big deal :)

After that we grabbed a bite and came home to Patch.   We finished watching Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2.   We hung out in the afternoon.  The boys got home and they were wet and tired.

I dropped Kasey off at birthday party and then Landon and I went to dinner while Greg went to FC Dallas game.  We went to La Madeleine and enjoyed a quiet dinner.  Landon and I are the only ones that like that restaurant.

4/12 - Greg left early to help out for overnight and clay shooting tournament.  Kasey stayed late at school for a Harry Potter event.  One of the dads read to them in different voices and they took a quiz on the content.  We have the best librarian.

Grammy and Gramps got Kasey, went to pick up Landon, get him food, and then get them home.  I got home from work just in time to get Landon to scouts for him to ride up with a friend.

Kasey, Grammy, Gramps and I went to Durkins for dinner - yummy!

Kasey and I came home and started watching Sisterhood of the traveling pants 2.  Then I watched the last few episodes of Game of Thrones getting ready for the new season. 

4/7 - Greg had a crazy day with camp cards including a guy confronting him about how bad scouting is and several schedule changes.    I had PTA transition meeting, the girl scout meeting, then we had birthday dinner with my parents.

At the girl scout meeting the girls earned their photography badge.   They did a really good job.

For dinner we went to Stampeed 66.  The adults enjoyed it but the kids didn't as much.   yummy food even on a night it was raining.  We got a few good pictures and had a pretty good waitress.

4/6 - We had a busy night.   We took Kasey to grammy and gramps for dinner and hanging out.  Landon got dressed up to go to his first school dance.  Greg and I went to dinner with some friends to celebrate and start planning our Napa trip for this summer.

Landon went with 3 other guy friends that he want to elementary with.  He had an ok time, but most of them came home early.

4/5 - Started a fund birthday weekend on a Friday.  I had lunch with my team at work.  I got home from work in time to just hug the kids necks.  Landon had a birthday party and Kasey and Greg were going to dinner.  I had dinner and drinks with some girlfriends.  We had a good time with good food and drinks.

March 2019

3/30 - Today was pretty busy.  Landon had merit badge university from 8-5pm.  Kasey had Journey in a day - Agent of Change from 10-3.  After Landon got home he changed and went straight to a birthday party.  Greg, Kasey and I went and had dinner at Pane Vino which was yummy.  We even got a cupcake from Bliss.  

Landon came home pretty tired from a full day.  He earned 2 merit badges and had fun with friends.

3/24 - We slept in again, went to pick up Landon and let him shower while we went to get lunch.

In the afternoon Greg went to Sidekicks game, I went to a fun ladies tea, and the kids got some stuff done at home and hung out.

We decided to go have some pizza for dinner at Grimaldi's.  While we were there some dark clouds came in and it got really windy.    We paid and headed to the parking garage for some cover.  Where we were there was a lot of rain and some lightning, but just North of us was major hail that fell and looked like snow on the ground.  We were lucky.  Gramps got his car under cover just in time for hail at their place

3/23 - Landon was camping so it was just Greg, Kasey and I.  We all slept in, we tried a new burger place for lunch and relaxed in the afternoon.   That afternoon we took Kasey to Grammy and Gramps new place.  They made tacos for the first time there and Kasey and they watched Moana which she really liked.

Greg and I headed North to Camp James Ray.  Landon was selected by his peers and Scout leaders to be tapped out into the Order of the Arrow which is a leadership opportunity for him.  We are proud.

3/22 - I got home from work just in time to say goodbye to Landon who was headed on a campout.  Greg, Kasey and I headed to get some hibachi for dinner - yum!

3/16 - We slept in some.  All of us got shower, and skipped breakfast.  We enjoyed the view of the pool with big aTm on the bottom.   We headed down to checkout and ended up being about lunch time.  We headed to Wings n More for some good lunch before the baseball game.

Then we headed to the game.   We got some tea, then supported a local girl scout troop by buying ice cream.  We stayed for the whole game even though the kids wanted to leave.  It ended up being a great game.  The aggies came back to tie in the 7th and ended up winning bottom of the 9th.  Great Aggie baseball - which Greg and I love.

After that we walked back to our car and headed home to sleep in our own beds.  

3/15 - I took the day off.  We got up and all go showers.  We finished packing for one night and headed out.  We to Patch to Grandma and Pop's house then went to flying biscuit for some breakfast.  Then we headed to College station to try out the hotel on campus and go to a few baseball games.

We got down there and went to a few of the Aggie stores for some shopping. I think we all got something except Greg.  Then we decided to go to the Dixie Chicken for a little while.  We had free parking for a while so we ended up staying there a while.  We played dominoes, got some drinks and had some dinner with Tijuana fries.

Then we went to check in at the A&M hotel and convention center which this time of year  is pretty reasonable.   I saw one of my sorority sisters there and another family from the elementary school.  Great minds think alike :)

After checking in we walked over to the baseball field for the game.   Greg and Kasey left early in the 6th inning and Landon and I stayed about an inning longer.  The aggies tried to come back but lost the game.  As Landon and I walked out there was a foul ball that went into a truck right by us.  Landon got the ball which was pretty cool.  There was a guy in the car next to it that got out of his car wondering what the sound was.

Kasey was going to bed and Greg and I wanted to try out the block T bar in the hotel.  They had a really good bartender, and it was cool to look across the way and see Kyle Field. 

3/14 - I worked during the day and Greg and kids had piano, did laundry and hung out at home.  Patch had a really good time at the cabin (though she woke us up several times in the night), but she was glad to be home and be able to get on the bed.

3/13 - Today was our day to check out.  We all took showers, had leftovers for breakfast, got packed up, loaded the car in the rain and we headed home too.

3/12 - Today we all got up a little earlier, had biscuits that grandma made and eggs for breakfast.

Grammy and Gramps got all got packed up and were heading home to take care of some stuff on their house.  The rest of us went for a ride around the area.  We went to a few look out areas to walk around and take a few pictures.  After that Grandma and Pops headed back too.  We all had some good times on vacation and all think we should do it again.

After the grandparents left we decided we would go to lunch in town.  We went to Mountain Fork Brewery for lunch.  We had some good wraps and Greg and I tried some local beer.  After that we went to get ice cream and play some putt putt before going back to the cabin for the rest of the afternoon.

That night we enjoyed leftovers from earlier in the week for dinner and worked on getting packed up.

3/11 - Today was a french toast breakfast day.

We took it easy again today.   Kasey, Pops and Greg went fishing again - still didn't catch anything but they had fun.

Back in the cabin we were relaxing and watched Gardians of the Galaxy II which is a fun movie.    

Landon and I took Patch for a walk around the neighborhood - its basically a bunch of rental cabins that all look pretty new and nice.

That night we made tacos.   We made our own chips, tortillas, cooked the meat and got all of the side stuff ready.  Kasey even made guacamole again after fishing.  Tacos are always a favorite with my family.

That night we spent some time in the hot tub and afterwards Grammy, Gramps Grandma and I watch trouble with the curve which is a good baseball and love story movie.

3/10 - Grandma and the kids made pancakes for breakfast. 

Greg, Kasey, Pops, Patch and Gramps went to drive around the area to find the lake and streams.   Later that day Greg, Kasey, Landon, Pops and Patch went to try fishing.  They didn't catch anything but got to be outside.

That night Greg cooked burgers on the grill which were really good.  We also started getting into some of the other desserts.  It was pie week for Kasey's school so we tried the banana cream pie and a few of the smaller ones like key lime and apple pie.

That night we tried to start a fire - Landon and Kasey both used their scouting skills to light the fire.  Unfortunately the wood wasn't catching well.   Several of us still had s'mores from the fire which is yummy.

3/9 - we didn't get up to early but we had some eggs, bacon and toast for breakfast.  We hung out during the day, relaxing.  We had some sandwiches for lunch.  Greg and I headed to the store to get a few things and we stopped at the Greatful Head for a few local beers before heading back.  We got back right after Grandma and Pops showed up.   That night we had grandma's chicken enchiladas.  Kasey made guacamole and wrote Family in it :).  We had a really good meal together.  We had some of Greg's dessert for Pop's birthday - that probably only makes sense to us :)

We enjoyed some more time on the patio, and even got to see some Opossums out back - Patch was going a little crazy.

3/8 - I went to work out early, went to work for meetings all morning and left mid day for spring break.  We were getting packed up and headed out to Broken Bow with kids, the dog, and Grammy and Gramps around 1pm.  Its about a 3 hour drive.  We got up there, but settled into the cabin we rented - My Happy Place.  That evening we went out to dinner at Greatful Head.  Yummy pizza and local beer, and it was nice outside so we got to sit on the patio.

After dinner Kasey enjoyed getting in the hot tub, and we enjoyed some wine while sitting on the patio with the fire place and some wine.   Patch enjoyed the new smells and being outside too.

3/5 - Grammy and Gramps moved into their new house today.  They had movers and Greg helped get some things set up like washer/dryer, and getting bedroom furniture set up.  We had dinner at Joes then Landon and I went back to help out.  Grammy and I started unloading the kitchen and Landon got their bedroom TV working and tried getting their Dots working.    Everyone was pretty tired, but I think they like their place and are in no rush to get everything put up.

3/3 - Kasey helped lead a detective badge for the girl scout troop.   Proud of the girls taking the lead and going through it with the other girls.   Landon got to go to Sidekicks game with friends for a birthday party.

February 2019

2/23 - Today was busy.  Landon was gone on a campout.   Kasey and I had 10am cookie booth where we sold 58 boxes.    We came home and ate lunch Greg had gotten us.  Then a few of the girls came over the fill Cannolis for world thinking day.  The girls did it in less than an hour.  We hung out for the afternoon.  Grabbed a quick dinner and then headed to world thinking day.  The girls did a really good job preparing and presenting their booth - we had pizza swaps and stamp, cannolis which were  awesome, and a posterboard about Italy.  Fun night, proud of the girls  for preparing and splitting up the roles.

2/17 - We went to Cowboys Club and had brunch with Grammy and Gramps.  Very nice of Doug to take us.  Yummy brunch and always a cool place to go.

At 1, Landon went to a friends house and Kasey and another friend went to plan a girl scout badge.   Greg and I basically hung out and took a nap.  Seemed like a good thing to do for a few hours.

2/16 - Landon worked on an Eagle Scout project, Kasey and helped our Girl Scout troop make 200+ swaps, and then we had dinner at Zorbas with friends.  Fun talking about some trips later this year.

2/15 - Cindy and Carlos came in town.  Greg got some Mexican food and we had dinner at the house.  Good food and company, it was nice to relax at the end of the week.

2/14 -  My friend had helped me get mini bundt cakes for the family for Valentines Day!  It takes a village.   Greg made dinner for us - Steak, mashed potatoes and baked cauliflower. 

Landon got a gift card for itunes, and Kasey got a new pink electric toothbrush.

Nanny was taken to the hospital after a fall.

2/12 - Kasey made her cookie goal at booth today!  After the booth I brought Kasey and a few friends with me.  We met Greg and Landon for dinner at Chick-fil-a.  Then I headed to PTA meeting to talk to parents about volunteering for PTA.  The kids wanted to stay and watch the kindergarten music program that was really cute. 

2/11 - Scouts had court of honor tonight.  Landon received his Star rank along with Travis and Kyle.  Proud of the boys and their accomplishments.

2/10 - Kasey is 27 boxes away from achieving her goal of selling 750 boxes of Girl Scout Cookies.  She has a few booths left so she should make it :)

2/1 - Landon came home from school with fever and ended up having the Flu.  As he got better and returned to school on Wednesday Kasey woke up with a fever and also had the flu.  Poor Greg was stuck in the house most of the week.

January 2019

1/26 - Kasey had her first booth sale at grocery store.  the girls sold 100 boxes and got almost $50 in donations.  Pretty good booth sale

1/21 - Kasey did some door to door cookie selling which went well, she  was sending email to family and some of my co-workers.  The kids were off for the day on Monday so we had lunch together and then Kasey came to the office to sell.  She sold 72 boxes which is pretty good for 2 hours.  Proud of her.

1/15 - Kasey and I went to PTA meeting and got to see the first grade music program which was cute about crayons.

1/11 - Start of another Girl Scout cookie season.  Kasey has a high goal so we will see how it goes.

1/5 - Greg and I took Kasey to Grandma and Pops house for dinner while we went to Del Friscos downtown.  We went early and picked her up on the way home

1/4 - I started laser hair removal today.  We will see how the process goes :)

1/3 - Landon left with scouts for ski trip to Ski Apache in New Mexico.  He was excited even though it is a long drive 

1/1/19 - Today I got up and made it to 9am work out.  We thought it would be easy but was pretty hard.  We did enjoy mimosas and bloody mary's after work out :)

We had a pretty lazy day.  Greg watched football and kids and I hung out.

December 2018

12/31 - We slept in some.  Grammy came over to get few gifts while Gramps was at physical therapy.   The kids went to piano and Greg and I went to lunch just ourselves.   We hung out most of the afternoon.

We actually hung up some stuff in our house :)   We hung up several pictures from around the world in the dining room, Paris pictures in the hallway, and hung up a few things in Kasey's room.

Greg made hamburgers for dinner then we watched the Aggies beat NC State.  After the game we went to our friends house for New Years party.   We enjoyed some wine and hung out then brought in the new year for both New York and Dallas.  The kids were tired so we went home after that.  Fun times.

12/25 - Kasey woke up about 1am and got sick.  Ugh.   Then they woke us up around 8am.   Kasey was super excited to get a keyboard for her ipad from Santa, and Landon got amazon and itune GC to go with his new phone.  

We spent the afternoon with Greg's family.   Great food and we had 4 generations there.  Kasey had a great time playing with her new toys as the adults visited.   Landon mainly played on his new phone.   It was good to catch up with the family and I got some good pictures of Nanny and families

12/24 - I got to sleep in some.  Greg and the kids were cooking away in the kitchen.  They were making pecan pie, chicken enchiladas, cookies for Santa and chocolate cake.   I was finishing wrapping gifts for everyone.

We went over to Grammy and Gramps for the afternoon and dinner.   We had a few snacks and drinks.   We all opened our presents and the kids played for a little while.   Then we started getting dinner ready.  We have tacos and Greg made enchiladas for dinner.  So good to hang out and enjoy food and good company.  Great Christmas Eve.

During the evening Kasey kept asking Alexa where Santa was.  Alexa would tell us and see if we wanted a fun fact.  At one point she said Santa liked to sing and so did she and she started singing a Christmas song.  Pretty funny.  Kasey decided Santa was real because Alexa knew where he was and you could track him online.

We got home and put cookies out for Santa.   We read the Night before Christmas.

12/23 - We had a fun day.  We had an early lunch at Even Stevans which is a cool non profit restaurant in Richardson.  Then we went a few doors down to try Pop bar.  Basically popcicles that you dip in chocolate and a topping.  Yum!

After that we went to see Phantom of the Opera at fair park.   Greg and I have always loved Phantom.   Kasey was a little scared, but they both enjoyed it.

12/22 - Kasey and I went to the salon, did some shopping while Landon did service project with Scouts.  Kasey had fun getting me a Blue Ray of Mama Mia, getting Landon fortnite monopoly and she got Greg a 2 foot leg lamp like the one from Christmas Story.  :)  We have fun shopping together.  

12/21 - We took Kasey back to digestive Dr.  He thinks the medicine is working but that she's growing out of her dosage.  We'll see how it goes.  That night we went out for Hibachi and then some Pacuigo for dessert.

12/16 - Today was our 18th wedding anniversary.  Landon was gone.  We got up and made it to breakfast by 9am at Eggquisite.    We did some stuff around the house and Kasey and I watched some of the CW crossover while I did laundry and worked on calendars and other stuff.

Greg went to get Landon after his campout who really needed a shower.   Greg took Kasey and a friend to ice skating with Santa.  Landon and I cleaned scout stove top and did laundry and got stuff in place then watched a little TV before dinner.

Apparently Mi Cocina was closed for their staff party so we went to Mexigo for a margarita and mexican food.   

12/15 - We had a small party for Kasey today.  We had pizza from one of her friend's restaurant, Greg and I made unicorn cake, the girls got Kasey awesome unicorn presents.  They watched a movie, hung out and played on their devices together.  They also all exchanged info so they can text each other.  So fun.  A few of the moms came over near the end to have a glass of wine which is always fun.

12/14 - Landon left for Scout campout.  They were driving down south, going to Nasa on Saturday and heading back sunday.  Landon helped plan and lead this campout which is good.  Hopefully he didn't get to cold.

I got there in time to give Landon a hug before they left.  Greg, Kasey and I went to bowl place for dinner together.   Greg had made cake for Kasey and when we got home he made icing and I started decorating, with wine of course.

12/12 - Landon found out that they want to move him up to symphonic band 1.  He was really excited about it.  His schedule will have to move around but its a good opportunity for him.

12/11 - Today was Landon's Holiday band concert.  Fun to see and watch.  They wear all black and got to wear santa hats if they wanted.  Landon didn't.  They played well.  All 4 middle school bands played.  

12/9 - we slept in some, cleaned up the house, had simple lunch, worked on girl scout.   Landon and I went to see Potted Potter which was great.  Parody of all 7 Harry Potter books in 70 minute.   I thought I was going to pee in my pants a few times I was laughing so hard.   It was 2 guys playing parts and going through the books.  Lots of comedy in between.  Very fun.  Landon laughed out loud several times as well.  It was fun

We didn't get Thanksgiving food over Thanksgiving so Greg and Kasey made mini thanksgiving for dinner and Kasey bday celebration.   Grandma and Pops came to join us as well.  After dinner they cut Patch's nails.  Poor puppy 

12/8 - It was so nice not to have to focus on cleaning or being somewhere early.   Kasey had a party, but thew a fit and ended up losing it.  That night we had dinner with friends.  Grandma and pops came over to eat dinner with the kids and watch them.  We went to Cowboy club to have a drink  (saw Dat Nguyen and Moose Johnson :))with Doug then met friends at D Lincoln's restaurant at the Star.

12/3-7 - This was a crazy week.  I had my WW team in town.  Tuesday night we had dinner at our house.  We ordered Zorbas and had wine and beer.   Greg made his chocolate cake, cherry cobbler and homemade whipped cream.

The dinner went well, we had 17 people over and all of us stayed in the kitchen.  We decided to put food and drink along the edges which worked well so we could all stand around the large island.

Wednesday night we went out with a partner 3P and had some good mexican food.

Thursday we started with doing Day of Impact or volunteering at Big Brothers, Big Sisters.  We worked on their mailer which mom used to do a lot when she worked there.  Then several from my team went down to the basement to help organize and clean out their storage room.   The whole team took a big picture then they realized we were missing.   We finished up a few things and all headed to lunch.  All of us had lunch together in our TI shirts, and then my team stayed a little longer because we didn't have to be back for meetings until 2pm.    That morning at the office someone tried to break into the site, hit someone who called 911, broke a window and got tackled in courtyard.   Little scary but everyone was ok.

That afternoon after 4 days of meetings I had a holiday party with my contractors.  It was raining and I was tired, but I went for a little while.  I'm glad I did.  It's good to get the team out of the office sometimes.

Thursday morning Kasey got sick in the morning, and ended up with a little bit of fever.  She stayed home for the day.  Friday Greg had Dr appointment Friday.  I came home from work mid day to watch her.  Because she still had slight fever Thursday night she stayed home Friday too.  She felt fine other than getting sick and a small headache Friday morning.

12/2 - I have a work dinner at the house on Tuesday so we are really trying to get ready for it.   Kasey and I also had Allen parade that we walked in with girl scouts.   Its fun to walk and hand out candy to kids who are attending.

Kasey took the lead and started putting Christmas lights outside.   Kasey kept asking us to come help her but it took a little while.  Greg and I went out to help her and we got them up.  We decided after dinner we needed to get new blow up decorations for this year :)

12/1 - We spent a lot of the day working on the house and getting Christmas stuff up.   Kasey and went to the salon for our nails while Landon and Greg went to ring the bell for SalvationArmy.   Kasey and I weren't thrilled with what they did on our nails.

That night Grandma and Pops came over to watch the kids.  They had pizza and Greg and I went to friend's house for a Holiday party.  We had a good time visiting with friend, eating good mexican dinner and having a few drinks.  We were also outside watching the Ohio State football game.  Greg spent a good part of the day watching football conference games.

Christmas letter 2018

Hello family and friends:

I hope this letter finds everyone doing well.  We’ve had another blessed year and hope you have as well.

I'm still at TI but my job has recently changed.  I have taken on additional responsibility and I'm now the director for training and technical documentation across the company.  I'm very excited about this new challenge and look forward to what it will bring in the coming years.  I traveled to China for almost 2 weeks this year, Houston to meet some of my new team and I'm headed to California and Tucson for a few days to meet more team members.   Next year I will travel some more but mainly domestic.   I still did a lot for PTA that was very heavy in the fall.  I did spirit wear at the middle school which was interesting if nothing else to be allowed there during lunch for a few days ;).  At the elementary school I did fundraising, took on corporate sponsorships,  and still helping with the web page.  I'm also still co-leading Kasey's Junior girl scout troop.  Its been fun this year because we are having the girls plan the badge work and then present it and get the other girls involved.  We even did some badge work at TI this month which was fun.   I'm still enjoying working out at the gym in Plano - such a fun group and working out always makes you feel better.

Greg has gotten a lot more involved in Landon's Boy Scout troop.  He's in charge of adult training (administrative side), he works with all scouts and adults to set up board of review - each scout has to talk to group of adults in interview type format before receiving their next rank.  He's also taken on being clubhouse coordinator for our neighborhood.   Its been interesting :)  Most of all he's home helping get the kids where they need to go, making sure we have dinner during the week, and helping out where he can.  We've still been going to A&M football games this year at least home games.  We enjoyed renting houses for games we went to which makes it nice to get kids to bed and let the adults hang out with some football and a few drinks.

The biggest thing from this year is that we remodeled our house this summer.  We completely redid the kitchen, redid all floors, painted most rooms and redid the kids bathrooms.  It was a major project that took 10-12 weeks.  Since it was summer we were very fortunately to have several friends who let us stay at their house while they went on vacation.   With this project we haven't traveled anywhere this  year as a family.  That's been weird.  

Over the summer, both kids went to sleep away camp for a week at Pine Cove. They had fun.  Landon also went to Tennessee with Scouts for summer camp.  Afterwards he went to Knoxville to visit with a friend that moved away for a few days.  Needless to say Landon was gone most of June.

In October, Greg and I went to Napa for about a day and half to get away for a bit and go to an allocation party at one of our favorite wineries - Allora.   We needed to fill up our new wine fridge that was part of the kitchen remodel :)  We had fun at the allocation party.   One of the activities was wine stomping - competition between most of the people.  We stomped grapes, filled up a jug and took turns helping.  Somewhere along the way I lost my Aggie ring.  We tried to find it on the grounds that night and the next morning but no luck.  Later that week we heard back from the grape stomping company.  Luckily they had not gotten rid of the grapes and found my ring.   It took a little while to get back but I was very thankful to have it on my hand.

We are looking forward to traveling somewhere next year as a family

Kasey is now 10.   She's in 4th grade.   She's taking hip hop with one of the other girl scouts and still taking piano.    She's still doing Girl Scouts and is a Junior now.  She's been helping since last year to plan and give some of the badge work which is a nice change for the leaders, and good for the girls to take on more responsibility.   Kasey has now decided she doesn't like Hallmark movies anymore, but she's watched the entire series of the Flash and really likes that.  She loves unicorns, has been encouraged to believe in the magic of Christmas, and puts a lot of importance on her friends.   There is definitely more drama with girls, but we will get through it.  Kasey is very spirited and will be a good leader some day.   This year she was pretty vocal that Christmas music and decor should not be until after Thanksgiving - I think mainly because her birthday is around there.

Landon is now 12 1/2, and in 7th grade which is the first year of middle school for us.  Landon played football this fall - he played right tackle and linebacker and he enjoyed it even though the team didn't win to many games.  He's also in band which is a big deal in Allen. He's playing french horn and was just notified that he'll move up to the next band starting spring semester.  He was pretty excited about this but will cause his schedule to move around a bit.   Landon has made a lot of progress in Scouts this year.  He is done with his Star (after Star he will have Life and Eagle) requirements and working to finish up scoutmaster conference and board of review.   He was patrol leader for his patrol the last 6 months.  Now he will be one of the quarter masters working to take care of equipment and trailers.  Landon and I really enjoy watching superhero TV shows and movies together.  He plays Fortnite and online games with his friend likely to much, but he enjoys it.

We hope that everyone has a wonderful Christmas and Happy New Year.  May God Bless you this 

coming year.

Love,     Dana, Greg, Landon, Kasey & Patch Myers