Fun Times

Raylee has officially started walking. She isn't very proficient yet but she practices all the time. I'm just always glad babies have so much padding for all of the falling. :)We carved our pumpkin tonight. Ryland brought it home after his visit to his Pappy and Grammy's. It was very green at the time but has turned a nice orange (mostly). The boys had a good time carving a nice happy face (per Ryland's request). My husband the photographer got this great pic of Ry.

The kids and I joined Leland and his students on a UIL trip this weekend. They were competing in Richardson for this practice meet. We traveled there on Friday arriving much later than intended but eventually ended up at the mall. The kids and I had a great time. We did all the kid friendly things - smashed a penny at the Rainforest Cafe, went put-put golfing in the glow-in-the-dark place, made a bear at Build-A-Bear, and rode the rocket. We had a great time. Saturday while the students were competing my aunt Donna picked the kids and me up and let us hang out at her house. It had been a couple of years since we had seen her so it was a much needed visit. We had a good time playing and catching up. It was a very good trip. We got in late last night so we were all appreciative of the extra hour last night. Unfortunately I didn't take any pictures this weekend, so the story will have to do.

And to end just cute pics of the kids. I hope you have a great week.

What to write about

I feel like there is so much but nothing at the same time. My boys had a good trip to San Antonio. Ryland had a great time with his Grammy. They rode the river taxi at the riverwalk, visited the Buckhorn Museum, and went to Sea World. Great fun for a 4 year old. Leland said his 3 students had a great time also. Just a good trip overall. The big ending was that they beat me to the house by about 5 minutes. Leland hadn't taken his house keys and Ryland was desperate! Fortunately one of our windows had been left open to let in some fresh air so in went Ryland to unlock the doors and run to the bathroom. That was the first story he had to tell me when I got home. Oh he is such a boy. :)

We have a very exciting trip coming up in about 3 weeks. We are headed to Nashville, Tennessee! The national convention of one of the journalism organizations is at the Opryland hotel in November. We are taking 14 students and 5 other sponsors. We are getting so excited about this trip. The plans are coming together, sightseeing tours have been booked, and the schedule is nearly set. We are going to have so much fun. The good thing is that I have family there also. I have 2 cousins that do/did go to Lipscomb University and my sister-in-law's parents are there also. Her mother will be shuttling the women sponsors around some of the time. It's going to be a great trip. I'm sure I'll have plenty of pictures to share afterwards.

I'm very excited about Friday. Not because it is my birthday but because I don't have to go to work. My boss told me when I started working there that I either get my birthday off or a party. Obviously I choose the day off. My kids will be at CDO so I plan to do a little shopping all by myself - what a concept. Then we just plan a relaxing family weekend at home. Maybe we will get out and do something fun together at some point on Saturday but just hanging out will be great.

I do need to wish my sister-in-law Kelly a happy birthday tomorrow. (Lucky for her I actually remember hers since it is right before mine.) I hope she has a great day on the 19th.

Doo-Wap Babies

We had a great time at the Fabulous Fifties Party today. As usual they went all out for the decorations. Here are some pictures of the festivities.

Lauren and I with our finished products. Aren't we cute?

These are blurry but here we are singing. We sang My Boyfriend's Back, Lollipop, Mr. Sandman, and The Yellow Rose of Texas. I thought we sounded pretty good myself. :)

Here we are with our friend Abby.

Stuff

Life is and will be crazy this week, but we did have a nice weekend though. Leland had Monday off from school so the kids got to spend the day with him. Also, Leland's sister Lesa came in Sunday evening to visit. We had a good relaxing time.

Raylee has finally taken a few steps! Sunday during lunch she was standing at the chair at the table and suddenly walked to the door. She's done that several times since but hasn't totally commited to walking, but I'm sure it won't be long.

Lesa took the kids with her back to Artesia this afternoon. We have a major deadline at my office on Monday so it is very busy and stressfull there, so I needed less to worry about. Their Grammy is bringing them back later in the week since she is joining Leland, Ryland, and 3 of Leland's students on a trip to San Antonio.

Lauren and I will be finishing our poodle skirts this evening. I'll post the finished product after Saturday's Fabulous Fifties Party.

Sorry for the randomness. Lots going on this week. I never understand how so many things can pile up on one week. But I guess we don't know any other way to do it. Have a great week.

Raylee's new found toy - the piano.

Sorry it's been so long

Oh I am not liking this predicament that I can't update my blog at work. I think best early in the morning and have time when I first get to my office. Oh well. I guess I'll have to just try harder to update at home.

Ryland - He has developed a big interest in writing his letters and numbers lately. He enjoys getting a piece of paper to write all the names of all the people we know. He's really taking off in understanding letters and how they form words. Even as I type, one of Leland's students is helping him type words on the computer. He's also just so much fun. He is constantly making us laugh and brightening our days.


Raylee - She is really taking off lately. She is SOOO close to walking. She will stand all by herself and has even taken a few steps chasing my hands. It won't be long before she realizes how much quicker walking is. She has also said a few words. Cat is the most noticable. She looked at Pumpkin the other morning and said "cat." Then yesterday I was walking with her in my office and she proclaimed "cat" while we passed the stuffed bobcat. (Yes, my office is full of dead animals. My boss is an avid hunter.) She is getting more opinionated lately, but we are attempted to keep that in check.

Lauren and I began working on our poodle skirts for the Fabulous Fifties luncheon at our church on the 14th. We are going to be so cute. Our singing group is sounding pretty good also. It's going to be lots of fun.

Pumpkin helping Lauren cut the poodle skirt.

Leland got on a "our house is full of junk and we are going to clean it out" kick last weekend. We did successfully go through our kitchen last night. We found things we had forgetten we had. I don't know if she is glad about this or not, but Leland's sister gets first dibs on our stuff. There is lots of good stuff in the pile, we just don't use it enough to justify it taking up space.

You need to look at Lauren's blog to see pics of our kids at the homecoming parade and football game. We had a great time last Friday.

Well, we are just busing doing the usual Mallett things. I hope everyone is well and enjoying life.

I have more sewing pics but blogger won't let me post them. Maybe another day.