Ch Ch Ch Changes

We have a few changes going on around here besides Camden coming soon! 

Before Christmas break Jason got a call about a head coach position that opened up in Argyle.  He thought it was going to be for next school year and didn't think to much about it at that moment.  He soon found out it was for now and he needed to jump on the opportunity if he wanted to apply.  He literally applied one day, told his Athletic Director at Flower Mound in case he got a call about Jason applying, and told his principal.  A day later he met with Argyle's Athletic Director and the interview went better then ever expected.  The next week he met with the Principal and Superintendent.  This was the week we were getting out for Christmas break so he anxiously waited over the break to hear something.  He got a call the week we all went back to school and they offered him the job!  He was filled with emotions excited, nervous to switch mid season, sad to leave the great group of kids he had, and more. 

He told his current students this past Friday and they were all excited for him, so tears, and he has received numerous text, calls, and emails of families of the students just thanking him, wishing him the best of luck, and saying they will miss him. 

Last night was the big night to see if the school board would approve him.  That's all we have been waiting for, was the final yes.  Well, he got it!  He went today and signed his contract.  So, it's official - he's the Argyle Eagle's Head Tennis Coach. 

We are so excited for him and can't wait to see where he takes his teams.  We know he will do great!  As Drew would say "YAY DADDY".  We can't wait to celebrate with him when he comes home.

This was totally God's timing and a God thing for sure.  He has blessed us with so many blessings and we are very thankful.

"The Lord has done great things for us and we are filled with joy"  Psalm 126:3

Christmas time

Our Christmas season began early with going to Ice at the Gaylord mid November but the true celebrations begins with a Christmas party with our close friends the first weekend of December.  It's always a fun time.  In order to get ready for this event and others that we hosted this year at our house, we had to do some prep work.  We went and picked out a tree, Drew helped daddy get it all ready to decorate.  We also had to go see Santa before the lines got long because of course Drew needed to tell him what he wanted...a skateboard aka scooter.  Drew gets those mixed up!

 Above is Drew helping with the tree set up and riding the carousal at Bass Pro after seeing Santa.  This was Drew's first time on a carousal and he loved it!

After the tree was set up, it was time to decorate!  Drew truly enjoyed helping decorate all 5 trees we have this year.  We saved the main tree for daddy to help with and Drew enjoyed every minute of it.  No ornaments were broken by him...just mommy :(

 After our Christmas party with friends (We didn't take any pictures) we had those terrible ice days which kept us in and couldn't do much.  We always celebrate Christmas in San Antonio the weekend before Christmas.  This year plans were changed and we offered to have it at our house the same Saturday we would've been in San Antonio.  We all met at Pappadeaux (this is a must for Christmas weekend with this side of the family and we happened to have a new one here in Grapevine).  After lunch everybody headed to our house to enjoy opening gifts and hanging out.  Drew loved helping, passing out gifts, and umm opening EVERY BODY'S gifts.  This was something Jason and I had thought would happen but not this extreme.  I think it bothered us more then anybody else but it made present time more hectic and I couldn't enjoy it.  I missed everybody opening the gifts we gave them and had to ask at the end if they got them.  Anyways, Drew had fun and loved seeing his family. 

 After a wonderful time with Jason's family we had to get ready for my family the next day!  They were all planning on coming over for dinner and presents.  Everybody showed up around 5 and we ate and just enjoyed each other's company.  We didnt' get together with this group for Thanksgiving because of the ice so it was nice to finally get together.  Some still couldn't make it and they were missed.  Drew loved his gifts and just being silly.

 We then had a day to recuperate and get ready for Christmas Eve the next day.  With Jason's brother and sister's families we rotate every year between the three of us as to who hosts.  This year it was at Jason's brother's house.  Drew loves these cousins and is still talking about how Jack and Morgan played with Drew.  We don't see them enough with our crazy life styles and he enjoys it every time.  We met late afternoon and enjoyed a yummy meal, time together, and of course gifts.  This time Jason and I were prepared for the madness that might happen with Drew.  I'd say he did a little better and I enjoyed it more.  He did good passing out gifts and ripping into his.  He loved everything he got and wanted to open it all right then.  Sadly we had to leave and head to Rockwall for Christmas Eve dinner with my family. 

We arrived in Rockwall just in time for dinner.  After dinner the kids soon begged to open gifts.  Drew enjoyed the gifts and playing with his cousins.  They all got John Deere tractors and they immediately took them out of their boxes and began playing.  Drew even showed his baby cousin Trenton all the cool lights and sounds his made. 

 Once we got home we put Drew down and then had to wake him up because we forgot to put out cookies for Santa.  We got him up soon after he went down and he sat at the cookies and milk.  He wasn't too happy at first but then started smiling and we were explaining to him what he was doing.  If you pay attention in the background is what Santa really likes...not those homemade cookies we didn't have time for :)

 Drew actually slept until 8:30.  Jason and I were up and ready at 7:30 because that is when Drew usually gets up and we didn't want him running into the living room without us.  He usually comes to where we are when we call him after opening his door but just to be sure we were ready.  We got all the cameras ready and walked him into the living room.  He was overwhelmed/shocked/excited...who knows but he had a big smile on his face.  He went right to his table and all the goodies sitting on the table.  He didn't even notice his skateboard aka scooter.  Once he saw that he had to take it for a ride around the house.  He took off like a champ and did just great!  He has been riding it around ever since.  We enjoyed our gifts to each other and Jason made breakfast.  We took our time getting ready and headed to my parents soon after with the scooter in tow.

 We got to my parents and had a late lunch and then opened presents.  Drew was struggling towards the end because he was exhausted.  Poor guy all this running around was getting to him.  He enjoyed everything he got and also enjoyed opening others gifts too.  We know it's just a phase but we want others to enjoy opening their gifts too and if they are okay with Drew opening that's one thing but we just didn't want them to think he was taking over.  He just loved unwrapping the paper.  He accidentally opened one of my gifts labeled to him and he loved it!  It was a piece for my Kitchen Aide mixer.  He had no idea but it looked cool to him.  Soon after presents he went to take a nap.  Then he woke up, he got to play with all his fun new toys and of course ride on his scooter.  Auntie Adalee wanted to test the scooter out too!

 

This is a wrap up of all of the Christmas's we have had so far.  We still have one more to go!  We hope you all had a Merry Christmas and got to enjoy your friends and family as much as we did. 

Big Boy Bed!

We knew we wanted to get Drew into a twin bed soon before we had many other adjustments coming in February (baby brother).  So, the plan was to switch him during Thanksgiving and start potty training (something he has been ready for but not us) at Christmas.  Well we switched Drew the Friday of Thanksgiving break that way we had a whole week off to adjust to him not wanting to sleep in his bed if that was the case.  Just something I feared.  HE DID GREAT!  He slept the whole night, actually woke up later then his normal, and had no problems transitioning.  Thank goodness!

The last two days at preschool (that same week - the Thursday and Friday) he told his teachers every time he needed to go to the bathroom.  I still wanted to wait but others kept saying he was ready.  He got sick that Saturday (my birthday) and we had to stay home from church.  I decided why not try and do the potty training since he did so good with his bed.  I am proud to say he is doing great and well on his way to being diaper free (knock on wood)! 

I am very thankful that these two BIG steps in his toddler life haven't been as bad as I thought. 

I do love how he wakes up in the morning and opens his door and comes running down the hall to wake us up if we aren't already.  If he can't get out of his room for some reason, he knocks!  Love this little boy!

Preschool Fall Program

Drew had his first Preschool Fall Program at school and we had no idea what to expect.  I knew they had been practicing songs, which I could never get him to sing to me at home.  He loves to sing so I knew he would either enjoy every minute of it or get overwhelmed by all the people starring at him and his friends on stage. 

His group was first and they walked out with their cute turkey hats they made.  He didn't see us until the middle of the first song and just stopped singing and waved and said "Hi momma".  Then he realized daddy, auntie, and Gigi were there and he just kept smiling.  He got into one song and we still sing it at home "I got spoons". 

After the program we all went to eat Thanksgiving dinner and there was a silent auction.  Of course Gigi took him to pick a basket he wanted and she won it for him.   He loved everything about it and still has a year to enjoy going to a local bounce house place too.

ICE ice baby!

We took Drew to see ICE this year at the Gaylord.  I just love walking around the Gaylord during Christmas every year and this year we added ICE.  I was excited because it was the Nutcracker and walking through they said it also had scenes from New York in there and umm, that's the 2nd best place on Earth to me so I was really excited!

 

 

I think Drew was a little overwhelmed with all the huge ice sculptures and the freezing cold.  He loved the slide and went back a few more times! 

Weekend Getaway

This weekend, we did a getaway as one of our last ones as a family of three.  We took Drew to the Great Wolf Lodge.  He has been asking to go swimming randomly and I was excited when the day had come that we could take him and not just to a pool but a whole indoor water park.  I didn't know what to expect from the resort, what all he could do, and how he would react to all of it.  He has gone through a phase and he will tell you he's scared.  I think Saturday night was a bit overwhelming, it was new and there were ALOT of kids there.  The place was a little much for all of us but we kept playing and having fun.  We arrived and we straight to the pool an played until dinner time.  Drew loved the yellow slide, mini green slide, and jet ski's.  We couldn't get him to do much of anything else. 

After swimming we went and changed clothes to grab something to eat.  We ate at a restaurant inside the Great Wolf Lodge.  Drew got to watch the airplanes come and go from their big windows while we waited for our food. 

The next morning we headed back out to the pool.  The pool had less people and was more of what we all had pictured.  Drew had warmed up to the idea of what was around him and took off like he owned the place.  He even tried the blue twisty slide that he was scared of the night before.  We actually couldn't get him off and he started just going up the stairs and doing it himself without daddy walking him up there.  He didn't know how to wait in line and we tried telling him to wait.  He would get to the top and tell the lifeguard where he was going and take off. 

We dried off around lunchtime and went inside to grab some pizza and head home for a good long nap.  We took some pictures around the place since the crowds weren't as bad.  Drew kept asking to see the "wolf" because that's all he could remember from the name of the hotel when I told him where we were going.  We did some characters and he gave them a high five but didn't want a picture with them. 

Overall we had a great time!  We plan to make another visit at some point but it will be awhile and baby brother will need to be old enough to join in on the fun!

Operation Christmas Child

Drew got to help shop for his 2nd year to do Operation Christmas Child.  This is something I did as a kid and love that he gets to do it too.  Every time we went shopping, I told him this was for his friend in Africa.  I'm not sure where they go but Africa sounded good.  He loves friends, everybody is his friend, so this helped out.  Of course, one thing his friend got, he needed too! 

So, off we went shopping with a list in mind of what we did last year and things we thought our 2-4 year old friend would like.  It was fun and daddy got to join in on the shopping this year too!

We then came home and put the box together.

I traced Drew's hand (it was a permanent marker so I was a little careful not to get it on him) on the inside of the lid.  His hands look a little chubby but his friend won't care.  We filled the box to the max and then Drew wanted a picture.  We tried many times and he kept shaking it.  We also pray for our friend at night.  We sure hope he loves all his goodies he will be getting soon for Christmas!