Thanksgiving Day!

What a busy day it was trying to fit two holidays into one! We had our Thanksgiving dinner early in the afternoon after cooking all morning and decorating cookies with Lydia. When she woke up from her nap, we started all over again with our Christmas celebration!

Lydia has become a "gift expert" in the last year and couldn't wait to begin opening her Christmas presents! We did a "princess" theme this year and she really seemed to enjoy herself. Her favorite gifts were her "princess wish stones" and her talking "magic mirror". Little Joshua didn't have any idea what was going on, but he sure watches his big sister all the time...if that's any indication, he'll get the idea very quickly, I'm sure!

Wednesday, November 26th

Although we had lots of Thanksgiving preparations ahead of us, we decided to take the day and go to Sea World. I'm so glad we did because it turned out to be a perfect day...they had the whole park decorated for Christmas and even the shows all had a holiday theme. We all loved feeding the dolphins and the whale show was outstanding!

In the evening, Larry put up the smaller tree in the living room so we could celebrate our family Christmas on Thanksgiving evening. It was so much fun having Lydia there to decorate the tree with...there's nothing like the joy of a child at Christmas time!

Tuesday, November 25th

Although the weather has been cooler than it was last year at this time, it's still much nicer than it is up north, so we took off today to show off the beautiful city of San Antonio. After a wonderful breakfast at Magnolia House, we stopped at the HEB arsenal and then went down to the Riverwalk. Because there's so many of us, Larry and I took the motorcyle while Josh drove Larry's car. On the way home, Shannon rode with Larry on the bike and seemed to love the ride!

In the evening, we babysat while Shannon and Josh went out to dinner. We decided to take the kids to the Bass Outdoor Store to see the Holiday decorations. They had a great set up with Santa, Christmas trains and numerous outdoor scenes. Although we did make a stop to see Santa Claus, Lydia's favorite thing was the shooting gallery!

Grandkids Visit!

Shannon and Josh arrived on Monday and we've been so busy I haven't had a chance to spend much time on the computer, so I'll try to catch up on all that's happened. After a long travel day, the kids needed some down time, so we just hung out at home and spent time catching up. Baby Joshua has grown so much since we saw him in August. Although he's still less than twelve pounds, he's smiling and is developing his own little personality. Lydia has a great memory... she immediatly went into the house and and took out all the toys she remembered. Of course Grandma has spent time shopping, so there was lots of new stuff to discover as well!

Another Fun Weekend...

Weekends have been so much fun since Larry got the bike and now that fall is here, there's lots to do and nice weather which makes it even better! Saturday, we took a trip up north to run a Christmas errand before we went to church. Then on Sunday, we went out to visit someone that Larry knows from work and I ended up going horseback riding for the afternooon. I hadn't ridden at all for over four years and although it was just riding western around the ranch, it felt great!
I just got back a few minutes ago from the school where my fourth graders put on a patriotic musical for Veterans Day. They looked so cute in their costumes and I'm always amazed at what parents in this district do...the kids looked like professionals! I love all my students and it's fun to be a part of things like this.

Mrs. King...Art Teacher?

When I was told I was going to teach Art this year, I was really kind of apprehensive. I've never really seen myself as "artistic" and I wasn't sure what I had to offer the students in the way of creativity. It's actually turned out much better than I expected...I love teaching anything and because I'm limited to Kindergarten through fifth grade, I can even pass myself off as an "artist" (well, to the younger students, at least!) I've had fun putting my room together, although I still have a lot of things I want to do. Now I'm kind of hoping I get to continue this...maybe I'll become an artist in my old age!

San Antonio Autumn...

We've had really unusual weather for this part of the country this year (or so I'm told). It actually has felt like fall, although not as cool as up north. This weekend we rode the bike up into the hill country and found some beautiful color in addition to a great fall festival. The festival actually is a craft fair/ antique show with over 470 vemders that occurs on the first weekend of each month, but I wouldn't want to go there in the summer! It's set up like a little old village that winds up through the trees...very cool, but we couldn't buy much because we had the bike. (I wonder if that's why Larry likes the bike so much.)

Then after church and our Bible class on Saturday evening we joined some friends to celebrate October birthdays.

Then on Sunday evening we had a "Goodbye" party for our good friends Dan and Joan who are moving back east. It was a fun evening, but sad to think they're going to be so far away.