Winter Girls Trip to Waco!

Ever since I had the spring trip to Waco with my sisters, my mom talked about wanting to go there as well. We saw the special event Christmas at The Silos that was happening in December, so we surprised her soon before leaving with the announcement that we were going to Texas for their special weekend! Again, I look back on this with bittersweet memories because we don't know when we will be able to travel again, so I am thankful for the time with my sisters and mom on this fun getaway we had again.

Of course we had to take mom to Magnolia Table a few times!

Lavender donuts-mmmm....

We took her to some of our other favorite eateries (such as the delicious steakhouse we visited the last time) and of course, shopping at our various spots multiple times!

A new coffee shop added on to our list

Can't forget the bakery

Shopping!

I met Joanna Gaines' mom at Magnolia Table while she popped out a minute

It was a great few days of eating, taking naps, shopping and quality time. I'm definitely looking back very fondly at these memories currently! 

November Events

Time to catch up a few more months.

I believe I mentioned how our school does a special Thanksgiving type meal for the school. Here are the pictures of Aaron going, as Nate felt under the weather.

Aaron's teacher, Mr Morris and students

We love this school tradition.

Jaxon started at a new doggie daycare. We love it. We wanted to get him used to it for future travels...now whenever those will be. They have special events which we love, too. Makes it fun for the pups.

Thanksgiving Feast day

They both go to NASCAR twice a year now

 We hosted Thanksgiving for Josh's family and went over to my sister's for my family. To look back at spending holidays and time together is now bittersweet. More on that a few posts down the road. 

Halloween 2019

Just a short little blurb about Halloween this last year. Continuing to take advantage of Nathan being willing to dress up (and family dress up at that). This past year we dressed up as the crew from Peter Pan. I'll let you see who was who!

Preston is definitely enjoying the holidays more each year which is so fun. He was very excited and into "trick-or-treating". 

Other Fall Break Fun...meet Jaxon!

The first week of Fall Break included some of our trip to Florida. The second week of Fall Break brought a trip to a pumpkin  patch, one where older brother would be entertained a bit more with rides.

We went to the zoo with my parents one day. Nathan has been on a kick about getting a dog, in particular a husky. I started to get the itch to have another dog again, but had wanted to be sure the boys were ready to take on some responsibility in taking care of one. I promised Nathan we would see the husky at the shelter but wasn't going to promise that we would bring him home unless we agreed it would be a good fit. 

Well, while we didn't think the husky was a good fit for our family, we did find another dog that we thought would. Peanut as he was called there was described as a one-year-old lab retriever mix. Much like our last dog, Lily, he was quiet in the kennel but was excited to see us and licked our hands. We took him out and fell in love- he seemed sweet and was playful, another important part for the kids. We decided to bring him home! That day, the kids agreed on the name Jaxon (and to make it short). He had accidents for the first month, consistently getting better each week, but you could tell he knew some potty training and some basic commands. He sleeps in Nathan's room and goes right into a crate with no problem. We were preparing that he may not sleep well, but he surprised us with quiet nights from the start. He is definitely still puppy like. 

So happy with their dog, they carved him in a pumpkin

Enjoying his first Starbucks puppucino

Comforting his doggie at his first vet visit

Now, four months later, he knows his family and whines when we leave and excitedly pees when we get home. He seems to be a good guard dog, barking when there's noise or when he sees people/animals outside the window. The last two months we have started to take him to a doggie daycare/boarding facility to start getting him used to that. It has been so helpful in socializing him and burning off some of that puppy energy! This will be the first time we will be needing to use a facility for boarding as we travel this year. 

Over the last four years since Lily passed, what I've learned is that we will never get any less sad over our loss. So, if we're waiting for that to ever get better it won't. With my days still mostly at home, it's nice to have a companion back. We finished our Fall Break on a happy note!

Disney World!

 As I mentioned before, we left on Preston's birthday to Orlando, Florida for a week full of Disney World fun! Nathan, as he's grown to be an adrenaline junkie, has wanted to go to Disney World for a quite a while and has been discussing it for quite a bit. It had always been an idea that my brother-in-law, a fellow roller coaster rider and sister would join us. Well actually, the original plan began that Nathan drew a name from a hat (which happened to be my sister), and that person would get to go on the trip with us ;) We had a lot of fun and it was handy to have four more hands than those of Josh and I to help go in different directions with each child, basically. We went to each park with 1-2 parks where we spent two days. We discovered it is a better place to go for older kids, unless you do plan to just do Magic Mountain which seems to have a bit for everyone (and is most like Disneyland). Everyone had differing opinions on their favorite land. Some highlights!

On our least busy day, we went to the Medieval Times for a big meal and jousting. The kids enjoyed it!

Waiting on brothers, daddy, Aunt and Uncle

Main Street Magic Kingdom

Aunt Angie and Aaron were besties. They enjoyed the same type of rides. 

It was warm and humid some days in particular (that was my excuse)

That was Aaron's excuse too. 

The best $25 toy while we were there - entertainment while waiting for brothers on rides. 

It's safe to say we came some for the food.

Meet the Characters buffet in Animal Kingdom

Food in France

Visiting China

We had lunch at a German restaurant. The kids enjoyed the entertainment and the adults enjoyed...the beverages. 

Fun desserts

One of the hardest reservations to get - that we got lucky to get on cancelation - Be Our Guest! Eat a French meal inside the castle of Belle and Beast

Such a beautiful atmosphere inside - ceiling 

We sat in the main dining/dancing room. Snow was falling outside the windows. Basically my sister and I were in love.

This was a fun restaurant we had lunch one day : we sat in classic cars as sort of a drive in atmosphere

Toy Story land was neat, had some of the longest wait times for rides

Epcot! We liked one ride but enjoyed the different countries to experience their food.

Disney World : where donuts are as big as your face! Nathan earned Student of the Month for September, so this was a good celebration the day of the ceremony he missed 

Preson knows Mickey Mouse!

Have to try the blue and green milk in Star Wars land

Star Wars riding crew

We enjoyed the hotel's hot breakfast (where we filled up on Mickey Mouse waffles) and spent the day at the parks, but were mostly back at the hotel in time for early evening to decompress before bed and enjoy their nightly snack/adult beverage happy hour. Nathan stayed with my sister and husband in their room, which he enjoyed a lot - getting that time away from his brothers and getting a bit of independence-minus the incident where we will now not let him use a microwave unsupervised as he put his leftover pizza in a bit too long and almost caused a scene....

We came home tired but happy. Josh and I were very happy with how the kids behaved over those seven days; waiting in lines, not complaining over the walking...we're excited for our 2020 adventures!