February 2015

This year, Bryce and Caitlin again went to the Daddy Daughter dance.  Caitlin loves to dress up and be fancy so she was thrilled. And a date with Daddy... nothing gets better!

He took her to Firehouse Subs for dinner (her favorite) before going to the dance where she danced a lot! I got to take my two boys on our own date... dinner at Mighty Fine!

Also this month, Evan had a first grade music performance. He did a great job. I'll try to post the video at a later date if I remember to upload it.

After the music show, they had Family Math night at school. We enjoyed playing lots of fun math games. Caitlin especially like the tangrams!

We also had a bit of tragedy.... Evan broke his left arm. He was playing at a neighbors house and fell off their trampoline (no net, too many kids).  He was such a trooper though. It was a pretty bad break (both the ulna and the radius, about 45 degrees). He was in a cast for 7 weeks almost!  But now he is doing great. It kind of ended our basketball season though and he was out for all activities.  

Mommy also ran the half marathon again! This year, I was the fastest Freescale woman to finish the half marathon and I beat my goal, finishing in a time of 1:54:55.  It was a great run. I even met the Mayor at the finish line!

Evan also had a first grade field trip to the Austin Science and Nature Center. I got to join along and we had a great morning learning about animals!

And that was our busy and eventful February!

More January

This year, Evan decided to try out basketball at the YMCA.  It was great because a bunch of his friends were all playing on the same team.

Team picture

Action shots

Unfortunately, his season was short-lived as he broke his arm after just 2 games and was out the rest of the season. But, he still enjoyed going to practice and dribbling and cheering on his teammates!

Also this month, Evan got some awards at the First Grade Fall Semester Awards.

He was a Rising Star in reading, math, and got the citizenship award!  Way to go Evan!

We are proud of how much you are learning this year and being a good role model.  It truly is amazing to see how far he has come in reading especially.  It just clicked in November and since then, he's really taking to it and loves to read chapter books!

Caitlin's Birthday Party

This year, we did Caitlin's birthday party just after New Year's while school was still out and since we had family in town.  We had her party at a jumpy place called Pump It Up.  It was great because the kids got to get LOTS of energy out, and I didn't have to do a ton of work!

Avery loves playing with Ryan which is always a big help to me!

Caitlin got to go in this wind tunnel machine

Girls!

Racing on the obstacle course

The birthday girl!

Lots of friends!

Daddy and the birthday girl

Happy 5th Birthday Caitlin!

The Star of the Show

Caitlin was so excited for her Christmas program at preschool this year. I'd heard a lot of the music as she was constantly singing it.  This year, they did something a little different for the 4 year old classes.  They did a mini-musical.  Caitlin was the "Star"!

Prior to the show, we went to her classroom to see all the things they had been working on.

Caitlin with her teacher Ms. Kara

Family photo!  Evan and Bryce had come straight from a boy scout activity so they were in uniform.

Mema and Papa got to attend since they are here all winter. How lucky!

There is our star!

Caitlin with her friend AJ.  She was the star on the Christmas tree.

So glad Mema and Papa could come.

And here is a video from the play. This is the video of the full show (it's about 9 minutes long).  Below that is a shorter video of just her "starring" role!

(If you can't see the video above, click HERE - FULL VIDEO )

(If you can't see the video above, click HERE - SHORTENED VIDEO)

Christmas!

Christmas Eve is a day of family. And lucky us that everyone was in town for Christmas this year (there were a few people sick throughout the holidays but we still got to spend time with everyone)!  We always make sugar cookies for Santa on Christmas Eve so that was the big task for the day.

Here the kids helped me roll out the dough and cut the cookies to bake. Oma helped too!

After baking, then it was time to decorate!

After that, we went to church for the Christmas Eve Family mass. It's always packed and hectic but what we are really celebrating so important to go.

After mass, we went to Mema and Papa's house for Christmas Eve dinner. Then, it was home and off to bed so Santa could come!

Fortunately, the kids didn't wake up too early but boy were they excited to see all the presents under the tree!

I think Santa outdid himself this year!  The kids had a blast opening their gifts. The highlight was definitely the Ipad Mini that Santa gave to Evan and Caitlin.

After that, we got to try out a few of the gifts since the weather was so nice.

Evan got a skateboard and pads! It's still a learning process...

Caitlin got roller skates! 

Overall, it was a wonderful Christmas made better by spending it with so much family. That evening, we got to go to the Matz house to celebrate Chelsea's birthday too!  Thank you for a year of blessings, your friendships, and your love. We are a very lucky family.  Hope you all had a Merry Christmas and have a great 2015!

Zilker Trail of Lights

Still playing catch up on the blog! It's been taking forever because I need to upload some videos from our camcorder and just haven't done it. I'm skipping that post for now and will come back to it (it's Caitlin's Christmas concert at school!).

So, onto the Zilker Trail of Lights.  This year, Freescale was a sponsor so we got free VIP tickets which was great!  We got to go in early and stop for some hot chocolate/cookies.  Plus, Mema and Papa and The Matz' joined us!

We are ready to go in!

Caitlin loved the Little Mermaid display

Having fun

Family pictures with Mr.and Mrs. Claus

Standing under the snow with Mema

More fun on the trail

After walking the trail, we went up to the Zilker tree to spin beneath the lights. 

Caitlin spinning with Mema and Papa

Ryan having a good time

Looking up at the tree

Mommy and Caitlin

After that, the kids went on the huge Ferris Wheel (new this year).  

Overall, it was a great time. The weather held out for us and it wasn't too cold. A great Christmas tradition.