Birthday Girl

KatieLynn is such a monkey!!
She is always having a good time!!

I love to snuggle with Katie before bedtime.  She tells me secrets and special things at this time. For Katie's 7th birthday party, we 'partied' at Hobby Lobby. Darren has been burning the midnight oil getting all our cornfields bedded and planted. In order to keep it simple, we invited KatieLynn's best buddies to a painting party. They drew, painted, and decorated crosses, plus had cake and snacks. Below are their finished products; there is real artistic talent here!

My favorite food is: queso

My favorite sport to play: tball

The best show on TV: Doc McStuffins
The coolest person on Earth: God
My favorite thing to learn in school: recess

The thing I do the most awesomely: play games

If I could go anywhere, I’d go: Mountastia

My favorite color: pink, turquoise, purple

When I grow up, I’ll be: vet

My favorite song: Going to God’s House Today

The book I love right now: Cam Jansen

3 Words that describe me: funny, cute, fashionista

When I was little I used to: chew on my toes

My favorite season: summer

My favorite snack: marshmallows

One food I dislike: quacamole

If I had one wish it would be: to fly

My best memory: Sea World

Farming!

Darren started planting a couple of weeks ago, but unfortunately the seed was ruined by all the rain we've had in the last 2 weeks. So, now he's replanting, and hopefully soon planting the remainder of our acreage. We have been blessed by the rain, and I know God will bless the labor of Darren's hands this year. Dean is a great helper, especially at lunch time!
The Lord has filled up our lake! Dean and I enjoyed watching the ducks, turtles, and other wildlife.

Papoo lets Dean drive the Gator

KatieLynn gets turn too!

For Dean & Emma, nothing beats playing in the dirt

Goat Dairy

In February, Katie's Girl Scout troop went to a Goat Dairy in Field Store. The kids loved playing with the goats!It didn't take long, and Dean was on top of this bale in the background!
(but I had him get down quickly)
I think all the kids enjoyed it!
Dean milks a goat! & got a good stream of milk!
KatieLynn also milks the goat! The kids wanted me to do it too, so I did. It brought back memories of me working as a milkmaid, on the (cow) dairy when I was in college!

Monster Jam

We might be rednecks, but we do enjoy the monster jam!! This is the 3rd year that we've gone to all 3 shows in Houston. Our first show had to be rescheduled because the Texans made the playoffs, and the trucks that were originally supposed to be there didn't make it to the make-up night... but the other 2 shows were awsome! Grave Digger flipped!
Toro Loco did some amazing jumps!

Grinder crashed for the 2nd time
(this was Katie's favorite, since it was a girl driver)

Superman does a wheelie!

January

We went with Daddy to the deer lease in early January. The kids had a blast exploring all over the ranch! In the afternoons,the kids took turns sitting with each of us in the deer stand, though I wasn't allowed to shoot a deer (he doesn't trust that I will shoot the right one). In the mornings, Dean and Darren hunted, though I might as well of gone out...it's not like I wasn't up. The guys aren't exactly quiet, plus the sunrise happens about 30 minutes later out there than at home.
Dean was more excited than Darren was when this bobcat showed up at their stand one morning. After Darren made the shot, and they climbed down (Dean first), Dean highfived Darren, and said, "Now that was teamwork!"

He has already asked if it can go in his bedroom!Katie was pretty pumped up when Darren shot a hog. Here's our little girl scout! KatieLynn is a Daisy this year, and is enjoying learning, spending time with friends, and participating in lots of hands on activities. Thanks to everyone who bought girl scout cookies!!

We celebrated Gigi's (Darren's mother) birthday. A good time was had by all!

cousins: Dean, Emma, Aiden, & KatieLynn

Gingerbread House

The kids had a large time assembling and decorating the gingerbread house. They each did one side, and then the ends together. Of course, the favorite part was eating the leftover candy!

Quilting

I made 2 rag quilts for KatieLynn's school auction. The black one is for her class, and the red one is for the other first grade class at her school. Her school has a gala each year, and every grade has to have an auction item, with part of it being student involved. The first grade is donating a weekend getaway to Lost Pines, along the school colored red & black quilts that the students handprinted. Whomever bids the highest, can choose to keep all three things, or they might put one or both quilts back into auction for someone else to bid, and the school to make more money.

I enjoyed making the quilts; I hadn't really sewed in a couple of months, and it felt good to be productive on the sewing machine!

Pre-K Christmas Program

Dean had his Christmas program at pre-school. He was a little nervous, but seemed comforted by the fact that Daddy and his grandparents (& of course KatieLynn & I!) were going to be there. Once he got into his classroom, he was hyped up and ready to go. His class is split evenly with girls and boys, but for some reason, lots of girls popped up for this pic!

You can tell that Dean is nearly a head taller than most of his class; actually he's about the same size of most of KatieLynn's classmates. Dean and friends sang 5 songs, and even though he didn't sing all five of them, he stood nicely on stage, did the hand motions, and sang 3 of the songs. I was pleased with his performance!

Christmas at John Deere store

The first weekend in December we went to the John Deere store in Navasota. The kids got to window shop, race, visit Santa, and eat! Below they are waiting for tractor races to start. Early on, Dean is in the lead, but his wheels start spinning as he drives through the loose gravel.

KatieLynn missed the gravel, so wound up coming out ahead. Dean wasn't that disappointed that she beat him, but he did miss getting a prize.

KatieLynn drives!

Dean asked Santa for a train set, and KatieLynn asked for Bizus. Santa asked what a bizu was? Katie laughed and said it's a bracelet-animal!

Haying the Cows

We went with Darren to check on the cows. We were looking to see if we had any new baby calves, and decided to give them some fresh hay while we were there. Dean didn't wear his warm coat, so wasn't up for riding on the tractor, but KatieLynn was willing! Miss KatieLynn strikes a pose
Dean still loves digging at the dirt pile!