Photo Shoot

Windsong brought a professional photographer in to set up a day of photo opportunities at the Commons.  The sitting fee was only $50, so I figured even if we just got one semi-decent family picture, it would be worth it (all the other sitting fees in this area begin around $250!).  The photographer was very nice, but I'm not sure he'd had lots of experience with little kids.  Carter is usually pretty chill, but the only time slot that worked for us had to be between church and nap time.  He was fed, but started getting tired and just wanted to run around.  We did get the one good one...

And the others were pretty funny.  I mean, doesn't everyone pick their dad's nose?!

I also wanted solo picks of the kids since it was a pretty day and got them all dressed up.  None turned out fantastic, but I was satisfied.

I know I'm a bit biased, but I think this two kiddos are pretty handsome, just like their daddy.

Turkey Time

Being the first year we have ever owned a dining room table, it seemed only appropriate to have everyone up here this year!  My folks still hadn't seen our new house, the Frenches were coming for Christmas, and Penny had just visited in the Fall.  Reid was excited to see his cousins and Carter just followed everyone around, as usual.  With cold, rainy weather in the forecast, we anticipated lots of cabin fever and got out every chance we could.  We took a nice hike/walk the first day and it was even warm enough for shorts.

Jason got to use his infrared "fryer" (tastes like deep fried turkey...but without all the bad fat!) and we all giggled from the plethora of thermometers he had plugged in.  Seems like every year we buy a new one because we can't remember which one(s) worked, so he tried 'em all this time.  The outcome was delish!

Carter busied himself with whatever looked interesting.  The big boys were super loud playing something, so he made his own wine cork ear plugs, lol.

Ben showed Grammy a video he'd made on the iPad.  It never ceases to amaze me how kids nowadays totally get technology.  The first year we had iPads at my school, I had to have one of the kids show me how to make all the icons stop shaking.  Talk about being put in your place!

The other big boys enjoyed Jason's handiwork in the media room and settled in for some football on the big screen.  I am still quite impressed that Jason did it all by himself because it was a ton of work...and he did an excellent job researching, building, and putting together. 

Turkey time!!  Carter was the first one ready...sitting all by himself while we got things ready.  He wasn't a big fan of my turkey headband on himself.

The big spread looked mighty fine...and smelled even better.  It didn't take much to convince anyone to jump in.

No kids' table at a holiday would be complete without lots of carbs (pretty sure that's all they ate!), a picture of everyone's eyes going in a different direction, and a fart song. 

We adults stuffed ourselves on all the goodies, not just carbs!  It was so nice to host our first Thanksgiving in our own dining room with an adult table. 

Carter loved it when Ben asked to read to him.  Ben was so sweet and patient with him, even though Carter was trying to turn the pages randomly.

Alex had to get in on the action, too, and had his turn next.  Too bad I can't convince Reid to read to him yet...

It was very quick and probably the last time we'll be able to do it since the tub was full of arms and legs, but we did manage to get everyone in for a traditional tub picture.

It was so fun to have the Shepherd side of the family up to our new house to explore our neighborhood, enjoy family time, and eat ourselves silly.  I'm so thankful for the memories we made on our first holiday here.

We're also so thankful for our fabulous neighbors!  Don't yet have a picture of them, but I do have one of their sweet little guy, Lane.  The boys all love each other (almost like brothers!) and we adults love to hang out.  God definitely heard our prayers :)

November

We love our new neighborhood.  Windsong puts on at least one event a month, some of which will be annual events.  The Wine and Music Festival (2nd annual...but last year's was cold and rainy, so we skipped it) fell on a beautiful day.  About twelve Texas wineries were there selling tastings, glasses, or bottles of their wines.  There were food trucks, events, booths to shop at, and live music.  Nearly every event is family friendly here, so kids were running around everywhere.  Carter spent most of the time in the hiking backpack on Jason's back, so thankfully we didn't have to run around with him the entire time.  Our neighbor Erica and her son, Lane, joined us after his naptime.  We love hanging out with them and all the boys have fun together. 

Reid was very busy adding to his Santa list all month.  He saw things on tv commercials and would run to the table to write it down.  Serious stuff!

Carter has gotten increasingly independent (or wants to be).  He often insists on feeding himself.  Only drawback?  Most everything falls off of the spoon first, so it's best to strip him beforehand.  Hard to do when it's cold....

I didn't get a great picture, but I was chasing Carter around Cici's Pizza during Reid's t-ball end of season party.  Coach Sean and Jason got along well last season in McKinney but it was unorganized, so we joined the Frisco league this time so we could be on Coach Sean's Angels team again.  The boys had fun with a little awards ceremony and got a trophy, but Coach Sean always goes above--he and the assistant coaches had all signed a ball for each player and he'd written something they improved on during the season.

And of course, the kids all enjoyed the game room.  Stupid machines were pretty much all broken, but they didn't seem to mind too much.

Another great event Windsong held was "Wings Over Windsong" where remote controlled airplanes/pilots came from all over the country to show off their planes and flying skills.  It had rained for a week before and everything was cold/muddy, but they'd done their best to lay down hay and had a shuttle from the Commons to the makeshift air site so folks wouldn't get their cars stuck.  They had a flight simulator trailer that anyone could play, food trucks, snow cones, and a DJ.  But the stunt planes had to be my favorite part and were amazing!  Those pilots did all kinds of tricks.  Carter was enthused and would point to each one as it flew by, then clap when the audience clapped.

Reid, on the other hand, could've cared less about the planes.  He wanted pizza as soon as we stepped off the shuttle bus, so we tried the mac 'n cheese pizza from the gourmet truck and got yummy Asian for ourselves.  Pretty much the only other thing he cared about was jumping in the bounce house.  He also liked to play with the hay, catch crickets, and somehow found a crawdad.  Only Reid.

Our Thanksgiving "feast" at school was two weeks before our break.  It's a big deal in kinder because we spend the week before that squeezing in time to make pattern headbands, necklaces, and vests.  Poor Reid had no one to eat with since I'm a teacher and was on duty, but I sat down with him for a little while.  One of my sweet families make sure they sat next to him (and even brought me a Sonic Dr. Pepper) so he wouldn't feel too left out.

I'll devote a whole post to Thanksgiving, but can't resist adding this one for now.  The Sunday after Thanksgiving, we went to At Home after church and found a new Christmas tree.  Our ceiling is so tall now that the old tree would've looked dinky, plus it was about nine years old and has a string that works intermittently...so I gave that to someone in our neighborhood and we opted for a new one.  What we didn't plan on was how exactly it was going to fit in the car with four of us and two car seats!  We did a little rearranging (in the rain) and eventually made it home.  As Jason began to put it up, I started second guessing our 12 foot choice!  He could only reach the top with the big ladder, and even though it's a slim tree, it's so much taller that it took me twice as long to fluff out the branches. 

In the end, we were pretty thrilled with the results.  Our ornaments and ribbon fit perfectly and it's just the right size.