A Little Catch Up from 2011

I have not been very good with keeping up with this blog, but here is what the rest of last year was all about in the Thomas house. First up is a little day trip to Fort Worth, Texas. We went to the stockyards to see what was happening there. The first thing that Keely saw were the ponies. Right away she asked Daddy if she could ride the pony. She was so excited to ride, Dallin was a little nervous but was cool when he got on the pony. We stayed long enough for the walking of the bulls down the street. It was a fun little adventure for the day, which we drove their in Bumblebee, the car.

The Pumpkin Patch 

We take the kids here every year. And they love going back. This year we

 let them pick out small pumpkins. They got to ride on the hay 

ride pulled by the tractor. The kids never get tired of going on that ride.

Halloween

This year Dallin decided to be Optimus Prime, and Keely wanted to be 

Cinderella. We opted out of trunk or treat this year and only went around 

our  neighborhood. Keely's little friend Tanner came along 

as Frankenstein to  Trick or Treat with us. All the kids had fun

 and got lots of candy. 

Time for Christmas Pictures

It was that time again to take the kids somewhere to get some pictures 

for Christmas cards. This year I chose to go to another University in town. 

ACU has this place called Jacob's Dream, with stones and many places to 

pose for pictures. I will definitely go back here for other pictures this spring. 

Tarek took this one of Dallin next to Bumblebee, he didn't really 

want to take another picture but I think it turned out pretty good.

Thanksgiving

Dallin had his first kindergarten program and I took the day off from 

work so that I could go see him dance and sing. It was to cute.

 Especially the turkey tango. 

For Thanksgiving this year we went to San Antonio and stayed in an 

awesome hotel and Grandad came too. The kids had fun visiting and

seeing all the lights that lit up the river walk.

Keely Turns 3

This was Keely's year to have a friend party, since we only do

 them every other year. So it ended up being the odd number years

 that they get a friend party. Of course she wanted a Hello Kitty party, 

and I decided to make it small and do it at McDonalds play place. 

We invited some of her friends that were going to be in

her new class at church and most of them came to have fun with her. 

She loved her cake and I think she loved her gifts, by the 

looks on her face while opening them. 

Christmas 2011

This year we decided to stay in Abilene for Christmas.

 It has been a long time since we had a Texas Christmas. 

Mommy and Keely wearing their Hello Kitty 

Christmas shirts. She picked it out for me. 

Christmas Eve

Christmas morning, Dallin woke up Keely and she was 

not ready to get up.

After opening all the presents and destroying the living room with 

paper we had cinnamon rolls for breakfast. I think they enjoyed their Texas 

Christmas. 

Yee-Haw!!!

The kids have collected some western gear over the past few months, and I have been wanted to take pictures of them in it. It has been so hot lately that I only took 1 shot outside and the rest were inside. I even let them pose with their cap guns. The enjoyed it and I have to say that some of these are my favorites. When I went to get some developed at Sam's today I was asked who took them. I told the lady that I did, and she made me fill out a form that said I took them and I can make prints. That was a first. The picture of both of them looks really good in Sepia tone, kinda brown. I only know how to make it that way through Sam's photo printing. But if you ever come to my house you will be able to see it on the wall. Enjoy some new pics of the kids, all ready for a rodeo.

Sacrament Books

When we go to Church on Sundays, it has become a toy fest on the floor of the chapel. I want to get the kids out of the habit I started with bringing a bag of toys to church. So as I was searching the internet and I came across this idea that I thought was cute. I can't remember which blog I found it on, but I totally borrowed this idea.

First I found all my old Friend magazines and tore out all the activities that I thought Dallin and Keely could do on their own, I even found some online.

I then bought two 1/2 inch binders, one for each child

I used plastic page protectors and inserted the coloring and activity pages in the binders.

I bought the kids a set of Dry Erase crayons and a case to carry them in, they came with their own cloth for removal.

I then got some scrapbooking paper and make covers for the binders with their names on them. The original blog with this idea used a cricut machine to cut out the names which look a lot better. But I used my computer and printed right on the paper since that is what I had on hand.

Hopefully these will be able to keep the kids occupied while in Sacrament, I am looking for more reverent ideas to keep them quiet but occupied during church. Any ideas?

Spring!

I took the kids out to take their pictures for spring wearing their
Easter best. I gave up trying to go to a portrait studio and paying
for something that I didn't really like. So for Christmas and now Easter
I like to take the kids outside and let them walk around and try to get
some cute pictures. The kids did really good today, we went to a local college
here in Abilene and they enjoyed playing on the bridge and walking around
the water. Dallin is so good about taking pictures, Keely on the other hand
is a little tougher. She doesn't always like to look at the camera.

Not sure what she was doing in this picture, I call it her Marilyn Monroe
impression.