Family pictures!

I just realized I never posted our family photos.  My awesome friend, Stephanie (the one who did the back-to-school shoot for me), offered to take some pictures for our Christmas cards.  So, one evening a few weeks ago, we drove out to a field and attempted to get a few good shots.  Sam was in full-on Sam mode that evening and would not stand still.  Poor Stephanie. She had to put her camera on action mode and just chase him around.  However, I think the pictures ended up being some of my favorite of our family!

I am now closer to 50 than to college-aged

Last weekend was my birthday weekend.  Y'all know how I love to drag out my birthdays.  I started celebrating on Thursday by going to brunch during my conference period with my mom and sister/sister-in-laws.

Friday, Tom and I continued our tradition of playing hooky for my birthday.  We started off the day with delicious Thai crepes at Nyam Nyam and then to IKEA for a little shopping.  After spending way more than planned at IKEA, we went to a matinee.

That night was girls' night. I have always wanted to do a murder mystery theater, so I got a small group together and we drove all the way to the other side of Houston (1 1/2 hours) to Murder by Dessert.  We started off with dessert and getting the background story before being let loose in the Billiard Room, Library, Study, and Dining room to look for clues and try figure out the murderer and the motive.  Our group was the first to solve it.  I roll with some smart people.

Saturday, I finished up my birthday celebrating by going to the Houston Improv with Tom.  We usually love the Improv, but that night was really disappointing.  The comic was Darryl from The Office (Craig Ferguson?).  He was seriously awful.  I am pretty sure he was drunk and possibly altered by a stronger substance.  He basically sat at a keyboard and did a sing-a-long with the crowd, every once in awhile throwing in a crude joke.  Lame.  Despite the disappointing ending, I still say my birthday weekend was a roaring success.

Thanksgiving Vacation - with too many pictures and too many words

I took down my blog for a bit due to some disturbing sites linking to it.  I think I have fixed it where it is not longer searchable so hopefully that will solve the problem.

Now, I have a lot of catching up to do.  We had a wonderful Thanksgiving break.  The first part of the break we spent at a remote resort in Hill Country.  I have a tendency to over-plan my vacations and make myself a little crazy, so this time I decided we would be more spontaneous.  I still had a list of suggested places to see/eat, but I didn't make my normal itinerary where I schedule every minute of every day.  It was a 4 hour drive to get there and this was our first road trip in the swagger wagon.  I liked spacing the kids out, but I quickly realized that it meant no one was in reaching distance to get Sam's toys/blankets/pacifiers every time he dropped them. Super annoying.

We stopped at Stonehenge II on our way.  Only in Texas would you find replicas of Easter Island statues and Stonehenge in the same place.  No one was there so we had fun playing tag and exploring the area. And, of course, taking lots of pictures.

We told Jack the resort was in the middle of nowhere, so the whole way there he kept asking, "Are we to the middle of nowhere yet?"  But, I wasn't kidding, it really was out there. Partly because it is on a huge expanse of land with beautiful, tree covered, rolling hills.  Once you pass through the gates, you drive a few miles up a long winding road before reaching the resort at the very top. My parents were kind enough to let us use their timeshare points so we didn't even have to pay for the condo.  The condo itself was huge and nicely furnished.  The kids had their own room and bathroom on one side and our room and bathroom was on the other side.

Who puts a drum as decoration in a living room? Someone who doesn't have kids.  Or neighbors.

Once we got settled, we drove to Kerrville for dinner.

Classics Burgers & Moore was recommended on Trip Advisor, but we just found it over-priced.  That didn't stop Ellie from eating her extremely large burger and generous portion of fries.  She also refilled her Sprite multiple times, taking advanatage of the rare opportunity to have soda.  I only mention this because around 11pm, Ellie comes stumbling into our room telling us she is going to throw up.  Never mind that she had a bathroom in her own room. No, she walked all the way across the condo to our room and then doesn't even make it to our toilet, but starts vomiting all over the floors and walls.  I was really regretting letting her eat such a big meal, let me tell you.  However, the next morning she was back to her old self and we were able to drive to Fredericksburg to explore.  We ate breakfast at The Old German Bakery and Restaurant (amazing food and huge portions) and then went to the Pioneer Museum.

Breakfast at The Old German Bakery. 

Playing school at the Pioneer Museum - Ellie says, "No school on break!"

 After the museum, we drove to Enchanted Rock.  It wasn't on our agenda (because I didn't have one) so neither Tom or I was wearing appropriate shoes for hiking.  I ended up hiking to the top with Ellie and Jack while Tom made it halfway with Sam.  It was actually a lot more difficult than it looks!

At the top of Enchanted Rock.  Notice my $3 shoes from Walmart? They held up surprisingly well.

After hiking Enchanted Rock, we drove back to Fredericksburg to explore Main Street.  They have the most adorable working library in a historic building on Main Street.  I told Tom that we were going to retire to Fredericksburg someday and I would work as a librarian at that library.

Ice cream at Clear River Pecan Bakery

After Main Street, we decided to drive to Luckenbach because Tom had once gone to Willie Nelson's 4th of July picnic there.  The town consists of a post office and like two houses, but it is very cute.  We then drove on to Boerne for dinner even though it was still even further out of our way.

The next morning, we decided to hike one of the many trails on the resort.  The trail head was right outside our front door.  It was so beautiful and peaceful hiking with the kids.  We even saw some deer cross our path.  It made me realize that my kids have not had very many experiences in nature.

We only stayed two nights at the condo because we wanted to be home in time for Thanksgiving.  My oldest brother and his family were visiting from Tennessee.  We had a delicious family dinner together at my parents' house and then I talked my sister-in-law and my sister in hitting up the Black Friday sale at Walmart on Thanksgiving.  It was crazy.  I don't think I will do that again next year.

Thanksgiving morning

Black Friday shopping with my sister on Thanksgiving.

Playing at the park with family

On Sunday, I had to give a talk in church and I was a nervous wreck. But not too nervous to skip taking my Sunday Best picture. Haha.

Sunday evening we let the kids decorate the tree.  Only 2 decorations were lost in the process.  I have continued on my parent's tradition of not caring too much about ornaments or the overall appearance of the tree.  It's all about the memories.

The break was over much too quickly and then it was back to work.  Thankfully, we only have 3 weeks between Thanksgiving break and Christmas break!