November happenings 2017

November started off with Volleyball tournament!
Brenna got on a team this year that we didn't know, and it didn't go so well. Several members had never played before, so it was a rough season. She and a few others worked their tails off, but weren't able to pull the season off with many wins. They did win their first tournament game, but not the second one to advance. But this Mama was still so very proud of her dedication, determination, and hard work! Even though she was used to being on a team that won games, she never gave up. She left 100% on that court every single game!
This was Macie's first season to play volleyball, and she is now hooked! Her team worked very hard and got 1st place at the tournament!!

I think her face says it all!

We got to go watch the Peaster Lady Hounds in a playoff game one evening. These three little Hounds had a blast!

Report cards came in..... Man!I sure wish I had seen some of these grades when I was in school!!

We traveled to Glen Rose to watch the Lady Roos in their playoff game. They fought hard, but came up short in the end. 

Macie's team had an end of the season Volleyball party at the park. She enjoyed playing with all of her friends.

 The Middleton's invited us over to watch the Cowboy game one night. Little did I know that Jamie had an ulterior motive... As soon as everyone had been fed and settled in to watch some football- she pulled out her CHRISTMAS TREE!! Only the best of friends invite you over and trick all the kids into decorating her Christmas tree!LOL

We did a little decorating in our bedroom after adding the new bed (which we LOVE by the way!). What on earth took us so long to get a King size bed???

My helpers

The finished product!! I LOVE it!!

Josh sent me flowers for my birthday. They were beautiful!! He was working that day- so not much celebrating went on. I had my ADK meeting that night, so I spent my afternoon relaxing at Sara's and then going to the meeting while Nina kept the girls.

But we did celebrate the following weekend! We went to Fredericksburg with the Rileys!!
Our first stop was the winery in Comanche.

I LOVE these people!

From there we went on into Fredericksburg, left our stuff at our house we rented, and headed for the Sister Creek winery in Sisterdale! My favorite winery ever.

Pretty sure I had already laughed till I cried all my eye make up off!

Luckenbach was next up on the list! Schaef had never been, and we had to fix that!

Josh found a friend

Schaef and Sarah- great friends like this don't come along every day.

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We really shouldn't be allowed to take selfies after a certain point in the day.......

It only took 47 pictures to get him to smile for ONE!

We came, we saw, we got a picture to commemorate the occasion!

We ended that night with some yummy Mexican food! But when you go places with Schaef Riley- you have to be on your toes at all times! Otherwise, you look up and the restaurant is delivering dessert and singing happy anniversary....to JOSH AND SARAH! I was laughing so hard I couldn't breathe!

Saturday was our big wine touring day! We had so much fun!
Grapecreek was our first stop, and I will have to admit it was our favorite!

Becker Vineyards was stop #2.

By that time- I may have lost count of which winery was which number! haha!
Fat Ass winery had the most fun atmosphere, but had TERRIBLE wine!

 In fact- to get the taste of their wine out of my mouth, I had to buy a frozen sangria to drink!

Stop #4....

From there.... it all tasted the same! LOL! But we had fun... that's what really matters, right??

Sarah and I ended the touring by sitting on the patio of our last stop. It was a great way to celebrate my birthday! And a great way to kick off Thanksgiving week!
And this is what we came home with! LOL

The fruits of our labor! 

Josh and I took the girls to the parade of lights in Ft Worth to see Pops! It was COLD- and our seats weren't the best, but we still had fun!

My reason for everything.

Hey there RJ!

Pops? Where's Pops??

There he is!!

This may be my new favorite picture!

Santa always ends the show.

The girls and I enjoyed having the week off together. We really missed going to Oklahoma and seeing our family, but Aunt Susan had surgery and everyone was a little busy. So we stayed home.
We went shopping one day, and I let the girls pick our lunch spot.... Yep! They chose Pappasitos. Big surprise...NOT!

THANKSGIVING
As per tradition, Josh and I hosted Thanksgiving at our house for both of our families. It's a lot of work, but totally worth it to step back that night and watch our families visit, spend time together and enjoy each other.
A first for me this year was to make my Mama's apple pie. She created the recipe herself, and I knew I had it written down, and Josh had made it years ago with the recipe she gave him. But when I started actually working on it, I realized that there were NOT exact ingredient measurements written down! In all honesty- this shouldn't have surprised me one bit, but it did fluster this Home Ec major! I need measurements, MOM!!! (and I used to fluster her by measuring EVERYTHING! LOL)
But I conquered my fears, and made the pie! And as I went to put the top crust on it, which Mom always latticed, I pulled out the cheat tool that cut squares in the crust giving it the illusion of a latticed crust I could hear my Mama in my head. She was saying "Jennifer LaNeice! Put that thing away, suck it up and lattice that crust like it is supposed to be done!" Seriously- I heard the words. I wasn't sure whether to be scared that I could hear her voice in my head so clearly, or smile because I could hear her voice so clearly!
So- I did as I was told, and I latticed that crust! And if i do say so myself... it turned out pretty great!

AND I made a Mimi's cherry pie!

But that cherry pie also came at a price!

No- I didn't commit a murder. But I learned a valuable lesson: Red that spills and dries on the bottle WILL still stain your hands! OOPS.

And- I couldn't find cherries anywhere in town. So I had to resort to ORDERING them online. (Something I can assure you that my Mimi never did, or will ever do!)

But despite the pie fiasco, Thanksgiving arrived and was AMAZING! I love having both of our families with us on this holiday. Everyone hangs around, enjoys some great food, visits with everyone, and a great time is had by all!

 Never a shortage of food with this group!

 This picture makes my heart so happy.

DESSERT!

Pops' birthday was right around the corner, so we got him a cake....with the back end of a donkey of course! (There's a story "behind" it! LOL) BUT- I couldn't find any birthday candles! So- as any good teacher would do, I went with plan B! One red candle stick for the win! 

It wouldn't be Thanksgiving without a selfie with my Daddy!

The love this man has for his Nana is amazing.

My big girl.

The Pool girls!

Macie and her Memaw (and Memaw's cast!)

Finally- a selfie where I am not the one holding the camera!

Bunch of goof balls!

All the girls! Minus Nina, who had already left.

Nana and Papa and the kiddos!

It's a Walker sandwich!

And with that- another Thanksgiving was in the books!!

The next day- it was time to decorate for CHRISTMAS! Because in my opinion- as soon as Thanksgiving is over, Christmas starts!

I'll be honest- I love having my house all decorated for Christmas and looking at my lit tree each night...but I flat out despise doing the decorating. Putting the tree up, moving all the furniture to make room, packing up the stuff that is replaced by Christmas decor.... YUCK! But I suck it up and do it anyway!

And it takes everything within me to let these two decorate the tree and not step in and "fix it" when they are done. OCD much?? YES! But- I try to focus on the memories and the fun of decorating and ignore that all the decorations are in one location. HA! And in the end, the tree always looks beautiful!

This view right here is what makes it all worth it.

On Saturday night, we took the girls to the Mineral Wells parade of lights. And to their surprise they got to ride in the fire truck for the parade! (perks of being the Chief's grandkid!) Wyatt also got to ride, but in a different truck than the girls.

It's hard to see- but both girls are in this truck with Reese and Rayden.

This is a better picture- but it was taken after the parade was over...

Wyatt was in the middle on this truck, but you can't see his face.

Walker had a great time looking at all the floats!

AND- we got to see Pops in his little yellow barbie car!

It was a great parade! And we all enjoyed the evening!

Afterwards, we went out to eat with the Carvettes. I wanted a cute picture of all 4 kids, but out of 657 pictures....this was the best one we could do! I love these crazy monsters!

To round out a busy month.... Josh had surgery on his foot. Technically it was his heal.

Never a dull moment......

And that ends our November! WOW! What a month! But December was just as busy.....