November phone pics

I was going through my phone and there were so many pictures from November that I didn't blog about so, I decided it might be worthwhile to do a phone picture dump for the month...so, here it goes!

Kinley is always down for a photo op. Here she is in her gymnastics leotard. Ty does not always love it so much. but, if you can get him to do it...he has the cutest cheesy smile ever. This one is little like elvis...but, he was practicing his guitar.

Linds had the most precious angel girl in the world, baby Maddox. If I go without seeing her for a few days I have to get in there and get some snuggle time.

The aggies beat bama on the road this month. That was a pretty big deal in our family. Every so often Uncle Matt Matt will just randomly text..."Aggies beat Bama on the road." And he says if you ask him in a year how he is doing he says he will say, "I'm fantastic...the Aggies beat Bama on the road."
Well, we watched that win from the tailgate of the TCU vs. KState game with these precious ladies. And KState pulled out a win so it was a good day all around for the Howes & Harrisons.

I had a donut date on the way to Bible Study one morning with these angels.

It has been hot in Texas most of the month of November and Kinley decided to dress in her hawaiian outfit. (And don't be alarmed..I don't just banish Ty to his crib like he is being punished...he just loves to get in there and snuggle with his blanket and pacis sometimes so Kinley and I keep him company)


We didn't do much crafting besides the pinecone turkeys and thankful trees but, we did make these gumball favors for Kinley's class for Thanksgiving.

Kinley can now do her hair in "big girl" pigtails. That means they are on the lower part of her head instead of up high like puppy dog ears. It was a pretty big day in our house and she loves them.

We decorated for Christmas the weekend before Thanksgiving. We just knew the week of would be crazy and we wanted to have it up to enjoy before we leave town for Christmas.
And the kids got into the Christmas spirit with their matching pj's that were delivered.

ooh...they just melt my heart.

What a wonderful month. Decemeber here we come!

Disney on Ice

Last weekend Kinley and I had a mommy-daughter date with some of our playgroup friends to Disney on Ice! I was not really sure what to expect when we bought the tickets, I just thought it would be something fun for us to do together.

But, I seriously loved Disney on Ice.

 The only other "kid theatre" show we had seen together was Dora Live and although we had a great time the Disney on Ice production blew that one out of the water.

It was so fun!

All the kids came dressed up as their favorite Disney character.

(sorry, most of these are phone pics which aren't great but, I did steal some off FB from Stacee)

 

Maverick was the most precious Flynn "Eugene" Rider, complete with frying pan, (Rapunzel's love from Tangled for those unfamiliar), Annabelle Grace was Alice in Wonderland and Kinley was Cinderella.

 One of the most fun things was just riding all the way to the event together with all three of these kiddos. They were so excited and so fun to listen to on the way.

We met up with Arabella (AKA Snow White) and Mila and Ella (also as Cinderella). Eugene could not be bothered with a picture on the bench and Kinley did her best sitting down posing.

Stacee bought all our tickets together and they were Row A...like the front row. It was beyond exciting. All the characters would skate right up in front of us and step up on this elevated platform and wave right at the kids.

 They were thrilled.

When Dopey came out for the Snow White story AG literally gasped with excitement. It was so cute. And Kinley, Mila, and Ella were thrilled when this princess showed up in the finale. Well, most were thrilled the whole time.

Kinley and Mav were a little scared of the noise at first so we decided to sit in a few seats we had on the second row. Not a shocker for me with Kinley. Pretty much any announcer and any kind of group applause are scary for her. Who knows?? She sat like this much of the show and wanted to call Daddy during intermission to tell her she missed him and was scared. But, even though she tried as much as she could to bury her head in my chest and cover her ears, she could not take her eyes off the show.

 

She braved her way back in for the second half and by the end she was standing up with applause and excitement. This is something I would totally do again and recommend to anyone. And if you want to pay the extra $15 and get on the front row it was totally worth it!

Thanksgiving

A little late, but better than never...here are a few pics of our crazy Thanksgiving.  I am sick to say that I never even busted out my real camera the entire week.  But, I had my phone so I managed to somewhat document what we did.  It was the BEST week and full of so many play dates and family time and food.  I loved having Kinkey home from school all week and having Ben home a few extra days. 

The Fogles were in town and Kinley and Eden got to spend some time together.  Even though I don't have one picture of them, they played and played like they haven't missed a step in the last couple months and had so much fun.   Their imaginations are so alike.  One would roll up in a blanket and say "I'm a hot dog." and the other would without flinching say "I am going to put ketchup and mustard on you and then say yum, yum, yum, that is delicious!"  I mean, who does that!? 

Kristen came in town and we had such a fun play date with Avery, Ben and Sassy.  I love that they are growing up knowing each other like Kristen and I did.  My mom brought to my attention the other day that I was Avery's age when Kristen and I met.  It is crazy how time flies and life circles back.  I stole one of Kristen's pictures of Sassy and Kinley in princess dresses and cooking dinner in the kitchen.

Then we had a play date with all the Knowles' at Lois and Jack's to spend some time good quality time with Sean, Camila, Winlon and Speight since they were in from Atlanta.  It really was the most peaceful day with 6 kids.  They were so polite and played so well together.  I wish they lived closer and we could play all the time!

These girls are pros at the hug and smile pic.

Grammy fixed a wonderful picnic lunch for everyone...complete with mini ice cream cones for dessert.

Thanksgiving Thursday we started with a bang at the Ft. Worth Turkey Trot.  It was my first time doing a turkey trot and I really did love it!  I think it might be a new Thanksgiving tradition for us.  It was just nice to get outside and be active and all be together as a family. We had quite the brood with us on the trot.  12 adults, 2 kids, and 2 dogs. 

And we got to see friends there too! Kinley, Ella and McKenna out ran us in no time!

That afternoon we had Howe family thanksgiving at Lindas house.  She cleared out an entire room in her house to be a playroom and that was such a fun thing for all 9 great-grandkids.  They had dance parties and face painting by Jes. 

We took some family pics and tried our best to get a good one of the great-grandkids with Inie and Bull. 

Winlon and Speight's favorite spot was right by Camila's tummy with that soon-to-be baby girl inside.

 

And speaking of soon-to-be's Aubrey and Grady are going to have another little brother or sister in June.  Kid #3 on the way for Kristi and David.  It was perfect timing when Aubrey announced to the family right before lunch that "my mommy has another baby in her tummy" in the quiet room after when Linda asked if anyone had anything else they would like to say.  I don't think it was quite planned to let the cat out of the bag yet but, she did it perfectly.

Friday we had Thanksgiving #2 with the Joyner side of the family.  Everyone was there and it was a total blast as well.  I did not take one pic and was starting to feel sorry for Kinley and Ty that they didn't have any other kids to play with on that side of the family until Amy and Danny dropped a bomb on us and let us know she is 13 weeks pregnant with TWINS!  I immediately burst into tears and was uncontrollable with excitement.  It took me totally by suprise how emotional I was about it.  But, I totally was.  I just can't wait to hold those precious angels in my arms in May.  We will be praying for healthy pregnancies all around for our sweet cousins. 

We are so thankful for all the family that we have and that everyone loves to get together and spend time together.  It is such a special time of year to be purposeful in our thanks and inentional with our time.  I can't wait for the rest of the holiday season to unfold.