December 31 - Radio Tave

It's the last week of winter break so you know what that means...forced "family fun"! We went to Meow Wolf Houston the other day. It's an interactive art experience and the theme is a radio station that disappeared as it found portals to alternate dimensions. It's hard to describe the experience but if you find yourself in Santa Fe, Denver, Vegas, Dallas or Houston (the cities with Meow Wolf's, all different theming), definitely go! 

Local artists design exhibits and you can try to solve the mystery as to what happened. I walked around with Jillian so there was no solving going on, we just explored all the different spaces. Since it was a radio station theme, she LOVED all the equipment (and you get to play/experiment with pretty much everything there). JD and Luke solved a few puzzles. Cool experience!

Meow Wolf Houston "Radio Rave"

December 27 - Santa Hustle

Jillian, Adelyn, Guinevere, Ella

When Julia was in elementary school, we did the Santa Hustle for several years with her Girl Scout troop. The event was at Moody Gardens and we followed it with breakfast at Cracker Barrell. We are keeping the tradition alive with Jillian's troop. This year was their first ever Santa Hustle in Galveston! The girls did the half mile kids run and it was at a new location, on the seawall. Everyone except Jacqui was able to come and they had so much fun. My favorite memory was the girls "warming up" for the race with Jillian doing karate kicks and punches like she was heading into the boxing ring. Hilarious! Afterwards, we went to Cracker Barrell for breakfast and the girls came back to the house to play for a little while. Great day and happy to restart the tradition with the littles. 

Love these girls! 

Beautiful morning

Moms taking a quick break from the run for a pic LOL

December 26 - Zoo Lights

Houston Zoo Lights! It's been years since we've been (9 to be exact) so we took the kids and Riley the other night. Parking was a bit of a nightmare but once we entered the zoo, it was incredible. 

Houston Zoo Lights

December 25 - Merry Merry

We wish you a Merry Christmas.

We wish you a Merry Christmas.

We wish you a Merry Christmas,

and a Happy New Year! 

Merry Christmas Dimpled Munchkin readers. JD cooked an amazing Christmas Eve dinner yesterday (ham, scalloped potatoes, mac and cheese, green bean casserole, rolls..everything homemade including the rolls) and we had pumpkin pie for dessert. I baked most of the day, dozens of chocolate chip cookies, peppermint cookies and oatmeal cookies (as I type this, I have peanut butter cookies in the oven). Jillian wrote a note to Santa and Julia read 'The Night Before Christmas' to Luke and Jillian. 

This morning, Louie woke up most of the house (the adults at least) around 5am when he got his head stuck in a gift bag and started running around the house like a wild man. JD was able to get the bag off his head and all was good. Jillian woke up around 7am and finally roused the teenagers around 8am to come downstairs. The kids had a magical Christmas morning and we are so thankful for all the gifts.

Merry Christmas everyone!

December 24 - Welcome Ava!

Bryan and Ava arrived on Saturday and it's a joy to have a little puppy in the house again. She looks like a perfectly toasted biscuit  and 'Biscuit' would be a perfect nickname! I can't remember Amelia or Bella ever being so skinny but I guess they were at some point. She isn't cuddly/snuggly like Bella but she's very playful and loves being around the kids. The girl scouts came over on Sunday and she had so much fun playing with the girls! She also loves to steal socks and is a counter surfer, but overall I think she's pretty calm for her age. 

Welcome Ava!!

December 22 - Snow on the Beach

Winter Formal 2024! 
Theme: Snow on the Beach
Location: The San Luis Resort, Galveston

Julia & Jonathon

Winter Formal is a Sadie Hawkins dance. Last year Julia asked one of her friend's from middle school who went to a different high school. This year, she went with one of her good friend's boyfriend's best friend (get that? LOL). Unfortunately, a last minute basketball game and wrestling match were scheduled for the same night as the dance, so her friend's boyfriend couldn't even meet them for pictures or dinner. Julia's date, Jonathon, (who she barely knew) ended up being the only guy at pictures and dinner. 

Devlyn, Julia, Madi, Mia, Gabi, Tanner, Addie

The big thing in our area is renting beach houses for homecoming, prom and winter formal. Julia's friend's parents rented a house in Galveston, not on the beach, but close by with a pool and hot tub. After school Friday, I drove Julia to the house to get ready with her girlfriends and then we met Jonathon at the picture location. We were at "the" popular spot for pictures and saw a lot of classmates there (some with professional photographers on hand, craziness!). After pictures, the kids had dinner at Landry's Steakhouse. After dropping them off at dinner, I headed to the hotel and worked the registration table for the entire dance. It was great checking in everyone because I saw all the dresses. So fun! 

After the dance, they all went back to the house to go swimming. Jonathon and Andrew (Madi's boyfriend) left at midnight while the girls stayed the night. What a great weekend! And after the last several weeks of last minute planning of this event, I am so glad it's over. Now, time to shift to Christmas planning!

Picture dump....sorry, I have so many good ones!

Beautiful Jules

Julia & Jonathon

Girl Scouts! (Kennedy, Reese, Julia, Kendall, Hannah) & (Lexi & Lauren)

ChrisCo!

Memories with Friends