The Zoo

Friday, Molly and I went to the zoo with her friend, Evan.  It's been awhile since we've been and we had a good time.

 

This is a giraffe skin and skull they had out to show the kids

Molly petting the lion skin

Molly thought the goats in the petting zoo needed some brushing. 

Our annual pass expires on the 29th, so we'll probably go one more time this month.  Have to make sure we got our moneys worth out of it.

Miss Molly

We haven't been up to much other than our normal things, so I haven't posted much.  I've decided to do updates on the kids and what they're into right now.  First is Miss Molly.  Molly is just fun and pretty happy for the most part.  She does get moody when tired and she can get her feelings hurt easily.  Some days her and Tyler get along well and other days they bother each other.  That's just siblings, I guess. She is at a great age, loves to learn and be creative.  She still loves her preschool and our homeschool preschool on Wed.  She loves playing with friends.

Harry and Mary got her a subscription to Kiwi Crates.  It's a box that arrives every month with crafts and projects in it to do.  She looks forward to getting her box and has really enjoyed the projects.  The first was making a treasure chest and then drawing maps.  One morning, she must have drawn 5 or 6 maps.  Then we'd hide the treasure box and mark an X where we put it, then the other would have to use the map to find it.

This month was water and ice.  She shared with Tyler and they made crystal snowflakes.  We also tried to grow crystals, but it didn't work that great.  She made ice cubes and then saw what happened when she pour salt on them; mixed vegetable water with oil to see the bubbles float, and had a few more fun things. 

Molly still loves all her animals!  She plays with her dogs, but she is also into horses and unicorns now.  As soon as Christmas was over, she was ready to start planning her birthday party which is a Unicorn Rainbow Party.  Look for that in April! She also wants to take horseback riding lessons, but we decided she needs to be a little older for that.

Molly loves to dance around the house and most days is in her leotard.  She only has one, so for Valentines Day, she's getting another.  She has competitions almost everyday.  They're dance, flip, karate, running...you name it, she has a competition for it.  I have to watch and be the judge.  She'll be different people so I can pick a winner.  One day, it was her flip competition.  She was different people and then finally she was herself.  I say-introducing Molly Shobe.  She stops me and says-wait a minute, I have to get ready.  She takes a deep breath and says-the whole state of Texas is counting me. Ok I'm ready.  It was so funny! Another night, she wanted to pray for dinner.  This is her prayer-Dear God, please help me in all my competitions tomorrow.  Help me to drive safely to them. Help me not to get hurt. Thank you that Daddy got home early today.  Please help my competitions to be good tomorrow.  Amen.  She is a hoot!

Tomorrow she has a free trial class at a dance studio to decide if she wants to take dance.

These are her flips.  She sits on the back of the couch and then flips over.

Here she is roasting marshmellows in her leotard.

She loves to draw and paint.  Here are two pictures she made me this week.

The one on the left is her and me surrounded by balloons.  The one of the right is a garden.  The sun is on top and then there are rows of the flowers and plants. 

Molly loves to learn.  She's started sight words with me.  She has a few easy books she can read.  She knows her 0 and 1 addition facts and her doubles (2+2, 3+3) .  She also likes to do bar graphs and measure things.  Her writing is coming along too.  She is excited for kindergarten next year.

That is your update on Miss Molly!  She keeps life exciting over here. 

Shreveport Trip

The week after Christmas went to Shreveport for a few days.  Scott grew up there from 3rd grade on and the kids have never been.  We thought it'd be fun to go.  Scott's friend, Patrick, lives there, so we stayed with him.  It took about 7 hours and was the longest we have ever driven with the kids.  Usually an hour into the 3 hour drive to Houston, Molly wants to know how much longer and Tyler has to go the bathroom, so we were curious how this trip would be.  It went well.  They had their tablets with shows and games to watch, so that helped.  It was pretty chilly the whole time we were there-we wore heavy coats the whole time. 

At Patrick's, we played lots of Rock Band.  The kids loved it and now want it. 

They have some great restaurants there.  Monday night we ate at Superior Bar and Grill.  It's Mexican food that is so good.  I was jealous Scott went back Tuesday night with Patrick and two other friends.

Wednesday for lunch we went with Patrick, his mom, Jeff and his family and mom, and then Nathan to Monjuni's.  Again, so delicious!  It's Italian.  When Scott and I were dating, we'd go there when I'd fly into visit.

These shirts were Patrick's gift to the guys.  Jeff is on the end in the hat.  Some school's mascot is called the Jeffs.

 

Wednesday night we brought home a strawberry and chocolate pie from another place I can't remember right now, but they were amazing too!!

Patrick lives close to the elementary school they went to, so we walked over there and the kids played on the playground.  We drove by Scott's middle and high schools. We saw the house he grew up in too. We went by the country club they belonged to where Scott and Brett would golf all day.

Patrick's Dad owns a construction company, we went to one of the sites and the kids got to ride in a backhoe loader.  They thought that was fun.

 

 We went to McCary's Jewelers. Scott's friend, Lyn-her family owns it.  Scott used to play doubles tennis with her.  She's older than us, had kids that are 30.  She's super sweet and Scott has always bought my jewelry from her.  She had never met the kids, so we went by.  She was nice enough to let the kids look at several different gems under the microscope and ever let them pick one to take home. Scott let me pick out something for my birthday.  I got a new pearl bracelet.  I love it!!

We took the kids to a trampoline park to hopefully tire them out for Wednesday night.  They had a blast!

 

Thursday morning, we headed back home.  It was a fun trip and we all enjoyed it.  Friday-Sunday we took down Christmas decorations and did some cleaning.  Then Monday was back to work for Scott and school for Tyler.  It's nice now to be back on a schedule and have our routines down. 

Christmas Break

The first week off school, we were pretty busy leading up to Christmas.  Monday, we went hiking with our friends at Friedrich Park.  We hiked for about 2 hours and had a great time. 

 

  

Tuesday morning we went caroling at a nursing home with a group of friends from

church

That afternoon Molly had a playdate with her friend, Kaelyn from preschool.  She was beyond excited.  Tyler had to come with and he thought it'd be terrible, but he managed to have fun.  They have land and some fun things to do.

 

This kids ATV was neat, but super fast and a little tricky till you get the hang of it.  Tyler had fun, but after he ran into a bush, he mostly rode the jeep pictured behind him.  They also had a trampoline and big playset, so Tyler stayed occupied. 

Wednesday, we headed to Sea World to see all the lights.  We saw a few shows too and they played in the kids area for awhile. It was crazy, that two days before Christmas they were in shorts and I had to bring sunblock with!  We have had a cold front come in since Christmas and have been in long sleeves, pants, and jackets, and sometimes coats in the morning.

Thursday was Christmas Eve and then Friday Christmas.  It was a fun and busy week. 

Christmas 2015

I'm a little late, but here is our Christmas post.  Christmas was just our family here in TX.  The kids were up early ready to open gifts. 

Christmas Eve we went to our Christmas service at church, then to some friend,s for dinner.  When we got home, they each got to open one gift.  They got new pj's and a book.  Before bed we always sprinkle reindeer food on the yard and then Scott reads them The Night Before Christmas.

Their stockings were filled and presents left from Santa.

Tyler was excited to get his very own tool set

New rope and canteen

When I got Molly this horse, Scott said-do you really think she needs another stuffed animal? But look at her, the minute she opened her, she gave her a big hug and was so excited. 

Molly was also so excited to get Star Lily!

Tyler was thrilled to get this punching bag-it's actually stationary and is up in the game room

 

 We can't forget the dogs.  They love opening gifts too!

Molly also wanted a cowgirl hat, which she got.  Scott got her a ukulele, which she just loves.  Here she is with all her new animals around her playing for them.  By the end of the day, Tyler was about done with the ukulele.  Unfortunately for him, it also came with on the 7 hour drive to Shreveport a few days later.  I'll have a post about that trip soon.

Later in the day, my friend, Rachel and her family came over.  We had dinner, the kids roasted hot dogs and then we played games.  It was fun!

Molly is serenading everyone while the roast their hot dogs.

All in all it was a nice, relaxing Christmas.