Fossil Hunting

If you know Cason then you know he LOVES rocks and fossils. For his birthday he asked for a fossil digging kit and for Christmas he asked for a Geode kit. All Christmas Day he would break open a geode and then record his findings in his notebook. The teacher in me LOVED this! A while back one of Toby's coworkers told him about this dry riverbed where people went to hunt for fossils. They actually found a dinosaur skeleton there about 4 years ago. So the day after Christmas we drove an hour and a half to Ladonia, Texas to hunt for fossils in the "dry" riverbed. It was literally in the middle of nowhere. Our GPS couldn't even find it and we had NO cell service. We got there about 10:30 in the morning and spent a couple of hours hunting for fossils. In the pictures you will notice that the river was not dry, it was actually flowing. So it was MUDDY!!!! We all had to ride back home shoeless and the kids pantless!  Even with the mud we still had fun. We ate a picnic lunch in the rain, under the bridge. Luckily the kids were good sports and we managed to find some small fossils and some really pretty rocks. We will probably go back some day!

Can you see the amount of mud this child has on his shoes!? There was probably 2 inches caked to the bottom!

Christmas 2014

We enjoyed another wonderful Christmas! Toby and I always stress the true reason for Christmas to Cason and Molly. For years I have been looking for some kind of kid friendly devotional or advent to do with the kids. My only criteria was that it had to be biblical and very low-key. I didn't want to mess with making something or giving a small gift each day. Ain't nobody got time for that! Thanks to my wonderful sister we discovered The Storybook Bible Advent plan. 24 devotionals starting when God created the earth to when Jesus was born. The kids looked forward to reading the stories each night!

This year we had Christmas with my family. We went to our church's Christmas Eve service, went to my parents house and had our traditional tortilla soup, pajama opening and bible story.

Miss Molly all dressed up for the Christmas Eve service. 

There is only 1 word to describe this guy. CRAZY!

Our family picture on Christmas Eve. We look like giants thanks to having to set the camera on the couch to take a timed picture!

Getting ready to open our pajama's

Cason and Reid are not excited at all. 

Camille and Molly

Uncle Toby showing the kids where Santa is on the Santa tracker map.

Grandad reading the story of Jesus' birth. 

 Christmas morning was fun! The first time Cason woke up and wanted to open presents was at 3 am. That didn't happen. We held them off until 6:40. We opened our family presents, played with them for a while, ate breakfast and went to Grandad and BeBe's for more celebrating.

Waiting to see what Santa brought

A Snackeez!!! Who knew a cup with a snack compartment on top would be so cool? 

Santa brought Molly an Elsa doll that lights up and sings. Yay us :)

Cason got a remote control dinosaur. 

And a whole bunch of Skylander stuff.

After changing into her Cinderella dress, Molly tried out her Frozen bicycle. She loved it!

I could hardly contain my excitement. 

Singing happy birthday to Jesus

Molly got the hang of riding her bike really quick! She loves it!

Since both Molly and Camille got new bicycles for Christmas, everyone brought their bikes to Grandad and Bebe's and rode around a cul-de-sac for a while. It was a perfect end to a perfect day!

Tis The Season

The month of December has been busy busy busy! Here is a run down of what we have been up to.

Dodd Elementary hosted a Christmas themed pancake breakfast. Each grade level performed 2 songs, the kids got to make reindeer food and take pictures with Santa!

The Kindergarten Singers

Every year the Kansas Northern Express comes to Wylie pulling the Holiday Express. This was our first year to go. It is totally free and only open 1 day from 4-7. Then it moves on to another city. I had read to get there early because there would be a long line. We got there at 3:15 and stood in line for 2 and half hours in a cold drizzle! The line stretched all over downtown Wylie. I am pretty sure a lot of the people never got to go on the train. You didn't get to ride it (we new that going into this) you just walk through 4 train cars looking at the holiday decor. Toby and I were very underwhelmed but the kids enjoyed it.  This was probably a 1 time deal!

The engine of the Holiday Express

Poising with a very happy elf.

Cason acting like a nutcracker.

Inside one of the cars

Grandad and Bebe are members of the Dallas Arboretum so we are fortunate enough to go with them several times during the year. This year was the first time the arboretum had a Christmas display so we met the McFarlands and spent the day there.  It was a 12 days of Christmas theme. They had 12 large music box's each with the items from the 12 days of Christmas. They were beautiful and the kids had fun looking at them.

Where's Cason?

Cousin love

Looking at the view of White Rock Lake

Bebe and Grandad with all 5 grand kids. This time next year there will be 6! I'm not pregnant, my sister is having number 4!

Looking at the koi.