Family Hunting Trip

This year the kids had a whole week off for Thanksgiving!  To start the week off, Chad wanted us to head to the dear lease for a few days of uninterrupted family time hunting/camping in the fifth wheel.  Saturday we loaded up and made the trek to West Texas.  I was a very proud passenger as I only needed one pit stop along the way.  For those closest to me, you know this is a VERY big deal!  We stopped at the store and got our food for the four days as well as a few odds and ends for the fifth wheel and we were set.  Getting in to Childress that night, Chad pointed out a local diner called Heather's Bobcat Den.  We quickly decided to go ahead and stop there for dinner as it was already dark and we were hungry.  

While we were sitting there I could not help but think how cute their sign would be above my cabinets in the kitchen but since they were still in operation I settled for this sweatshirt.  Luckily, for us they had a tv on with ESPN, which we quickly asked them to change so we could watch the beginning of the Baylor - OU game.

                                            

We watched the end of the first quarter before leaving to make the last leg of our trip while listening to the game on the radio.  Before we left, we made the decision not to take a tv with us, not even to have in the camper.  Instead when we got in and all settled we listened to the rest of the game on the OU network huddled up while hanging on every word to come from the announcer.  It was a close game and Bears were in it to win it.....which they did!  Baylor upset the #5 Sooners for the first time and it was awesome!!! It was at that moment we knew we had to get tickets for the next game against Tech at Cowboys Stadium.

The rest of the week we went hunting, filled feeders, played games in the camper, cooked out, made S'mores went mudding and all in all had a wonderful time.

Am I cute or what all decked out in my camo bibs?

Not sure what this face is

Monday it rained ALL day!  In the afternoon we decided to get out of the camper to go ride around and check things out.  About 30 minutes in when we got to Chad's feeder we decided to go off the beaten path which was a bad idea.  We got stuck for quite a while and it was intense, not to mention we were close to the edge of a cliff and any sliding in one certain direction would have been B - A -D.  I literally thought Chad blew up the engine in his truck once, but thankfully, using his crazy mad skills he got us out.  That was enough fun for one day....so we thought!

We got a call from Josh around 4:30 that afternoon that some guys on the next place over stuck their trucks on their way out and wanted to know if anyone on our place would come help them out.  Unfortunately, we were the only ones there so we loaded into Josh's shiny black Jeep with a winch and made our way to help them out.  The rain had not stopped for a second all day and the mud was quickly building.  The road out of our place was awful.  Chad kept having to stop about every 5 - 10 mins to clean off the windshield.  We finally got over to help them out and 2.5 hours later the Jeep looked like this...

Terrible!  

Chad, looked like this....not too happy, cold and wet

It was an adventure all right!

Veterans Day

A couple weeks ago Carson brought home a flyer that said he was invited to bring a special veteran to school for their first Veterans Day program while we have been at CES.  This is another shining example of the many wonderful ideas our new principals have put into place.  I am so thankful that Carson gets to be a part of it.   The next afternoon, Grandma and Ta Ta came to the house, so we took that opportunity for Carson to invite him to the event, and of course he said yes!  On the morning of Veteran's Day, Ta Ta got to the house at 7:30 am to take Carson to school.  He walked in the door sharply dressed as always and ready for the special time they would get to spend together.  I had no idea what to expect but evidently they had a special breakfast before school started followed by a parade though the halls and flag ceremony.  

Here is a picture of the start of the parade.  If you look real close you can see Ta Ta's head in the doorway leaving the cafeteria.  Students lined the hallways waving flags as their friends with special veterans got to walk in the parade. 

This was such a touching tribute to our veterans and I know something that Ta Ta will never forget!  

Boys Hunting Weekend

Immediately following the superbowl game, Chad loaded Christian with Chad K and Tyler in the truck to head to the deer lease for opening weekend.  Christian could hardly wait to get there and the thought of them having a big boy weekend made it even more special.  Here the boys are in the driveway before they got on the road.  

On the way they stopped to pick up their hunting license and while they were waiting Christian found a camo hat with two built in little headlights he just had to have.  

With the big boys away, Carson and I made time to play.  We went to the Balloon Festival where we stayed for hours. Initially, Carson was a nervous wreck and he really did not want to ride much so he ran around with his friends, jumped on the bounce house, went down the slide and hung out in the petting zoo. On our way out we ran in to Lisa and Jennifer with the kids so turned back around and did it all again before heading down to Chili's for a late dinner.  

Sunday Carson spent the day on the farm with Grammy before we all met for Ta Ta's birthday dinner.  The boys had a great time at the deer lease and can't wait to go back for another weekend! Here are a few pics Chad sent me from the weekend.

WE ARE THE CHAMPIONS

The boys did it!  They finished their 3rd grade football season undefeated with a 6-0 win over Sherman to win the Superbowl for the second year in a row.  It has been an incredible season as they finished up the season scoring 286 points and only giving up 6.

In preparation for the big game on Saturday, we spent Thursday night at practice making noisemakers to shake in the stands and painted up all of our cars.  Christian loved that I painted the burb and it was fun to see the reaction of he and his friends as they walked off the field.

Saturday morning we got to the stadium in Gunter and I finished watching the second grade superbowl game while Chad and Christian went over to warm-ups.  By the start of our game the stands were full and Christian pretty well had the whole family there in his cheering section.  Grammy and David, Grandma and Ta Ta, Aunt Leslie and Uncle Patrick, Yai Yai, Paw Paw, Aunt Tawnie, Shea Shea and Jay!  Unfortunately, I could not relax.  It was the only close game we have had all season and after a fumble late in the fourth quarter it was stressful to say the least.  Like we knew they would, the defense stopped them in their tracks and the final seconds counted off the clock.

 Carson and Monkey, his class pet, before the game

Boys running through victory line before game

Jake's touchdown!!

Kneeling for injured player

Let the celebration begin!! I love this pic I snapped of Chad the moment the game was over!

Being presented with the trophy

Christian, Leslie and Patrick (in orange :))

Celina 3rd Grade Football Team

Proud dad and coach

With Shea Shea and Jay

Brock and Christian

Individual Trophy Shots

Proud Grammy

The fam....minus a few

Skin and Bones

Celina 3rd Grade wins the SUPERBOWL!!!!!

Taj Mahal

Well, the hubby has gotten back into deer hunting full boar and as of last week had checked everything off the list except for the deer blind.  After scouring Craigslist day in and day out and not wanting to spend the money that most people were asking (eye roll), he finally decided to head to Home Depot Wednesday night to purchase the material needed to build his blind.

I pretty well left him in the garage all night (it was freezing) to do his thing and occasionally when he absolutely needed me he would call me out to hold something straight while he nailed in the initial structure.  Seeing him take a pile of lumber and turn it into something like this was pretty impressive but not enough to sit out there and freeze with him all night.  Sorry honey.

Christian snuck out of bed and some point in the night and went to help dad.

On Friday night the boys and I came home from the football game to find the somewhat finished masterpiece.  I call it the Taj Mahal because when Chad was MIA building this thing during the week and someone would ask where Chad was, my response would be "oh, he's home building the Taj Mahal of deer blinds."  

Trick or Treat

The crew all gathered for trick-or-treating at the Kennemers this year.  The boys are always very eager to trick or treat with their friends so this was sure to be a great night!  

GG's in the house

I took mummy dogs (minus eyes) for the kids and they were a huge hit!  I started dabbing on some mustard but quickly gave up knowing the kids would never know the difference.

After dinner we all gathered in the front yard to take pictures

and off we went.  Can you imagine opening your door to find this?

Jedd, Carson and Christian

Christian and Carson aka Bones and Robin

I asked and asked and asked Christian what he wanted to be for Halloween and every time he said he wanted to be a bobcat football player.  At first I was a little surprised and thought he was just being difficult but nope, he really wanted to be a bobcat football player just like he is every Saturday.  I told myself not to worry with the idea of people thinking I wouldn't get my son a costume and go with the fact that his costume cost me an additional zero dollars and zero cents.  When we got the 7:00 am call from the Ubes that morning confirming football jerseys, Christian was even happier and I have to admit so was I.

Merritt and Carson

The kids had a spooktacular night that ended with a hay ride on the polaris.