Our houseguests

We're babysitting this week!


This is Chanel, a Great Dane who thinks she is a lap dog


And Chaisey, a puggle who thinks she is a wind up toy

The kids & I are loving them. Shaun, not so much.

Some Ben Updates

It's mostly been Faith updates lately, so I assume it is due time that we get some Ben updates as well.

A pre-election Ben story:

Before we went to go early vote, Faith asked me about it and I explained it a little to her how we have to go pick the president.

Ben then says "We are going to go be pirates!!!" He was so excited and kept insisting on pirates. (For those who don't know, he is pirate obsessed.)

I asked him how we can be pirates and he said "Because you said we are going on a boat!"

Needless to say, big room, long line, and little computers were a huge disappointment to the boy.

And in other Ben news, school is still going, well, it's going. He is not a huge fan and spends most mornings announcing how he is not going to go. If you ask him after school what he did, he says "nothing" and if you ask him if he had fun, he says "no." However, he isn't crying and he's going willingly, so I'm taking that as a win.

He is also getting really stuck on the routines in his life. Friday was a huge issue because my coworker was out of town. On Fridays, we pick up lunch at McD's, go to my school, eat with Sandra, then she & I lesson plan for the following week and Ben gets to run around in the playscape. However, since Sandra wasn't there, I skipped getting lunch and staying, which resulted in huge drama from the boy. Because, we *have* to get McD's and eat with her. Because Ben said so. It ruined the better part of his afternoon.

And don't get me started on how we are supposed to go to Whataburger after softball. Yet another meltdown because I played two games and there is no way I'm going out for food at 11pm.

Otherwise, he's still cute and cuddly. Which is lucky for him, it's prolonged his life substantially!

He also got a few new dress up costumes after Halloween:


Thomas the Train Benjamin



And my personal favorite--Harry Potter Ben!!!

Faith's Volleyball Banquet

Tonight, we had Faith's end of the season volleyball banquet. To be fair, we'll play another season starting in January and same with the fourth grade team since we play at PSA, but our middle school team (since they are in a school league) is done for the year. So to celebrate, there was food & friends & fun.

Faith was, as usual, thrilled with the whole thing. She got to dress up and sit with *her* teammates during dinner while Daddy, Mommy & Ben sat at a different table with the other families. She got a medal, a rose and a bracelet with her name on it with volleyball shaped beads from her coaches. And she'll play for them again in January which is good because she is loving it so far.


Faith with some of her teammates (Emily Faith, Waverly, Jenna, Audrey, Isabella & Faith)


And again with one of the coaches (no clue what happened to the other one at this point)


Faith and her buddy Anna who is one of the stars of the fourth grade team

Faith's American Girl Adventure

Today, Faith and I (and Benjamin and my coworker Sandra & her friend Taina) headed off to the American Girl store in Dallas. Faith has been on an AG kick lately and desperately wants a doll. Sandra collects them and needed gifts for her niece. The rest of us were just along for the ride.

The store is adorable and I swear Faith was in heaven from the moment she walked in. Minus the fact that I could buy *me* clothes for what some of the doll outfits cost, I really liked it as well. Faithie had to check out all the displays and books and we discussed how my dad could probably build her furniture instead of paying, oh, $65 for a little wooden table and chair.

However, that still left us the doll issue. I had originally told her that she could use the money that her grandfathers had given her for earning 100s toward a doll for herself. Daddy, who was on the phone while we were driving to the store, told her that he would pay half the price of a doll if she paid the other half. She decided on Samantha even though the Josefina doll kind of looks like her. As we were in line to check out, she pointed out that Nellie (Samantha's friend) is retiring at the end of the year too and she won't be able to get her later on.

I did remember that she had birthday money leftover from Auntie Carolyn & Grandma Carm, so I told her that if she wanted to use her $80, I would give her the last $20 for Nellie from me. She jumped on it. The store also had a special where you could get both dolls and their accessories for something like $205, so we made an executive decision and walked out of the store with Samantha, Nellie, and two hat boxes of accessories. She seems happy with her decision and at least we aren't stuck with the dolls as a Christmas gift (I knew she would not be happy once she saw what Ben would get if she chose to get the doll for her gift).


Faith takes in the store, check out the tree house behind her!!!


With her new Samantha doll


And back home with Samantha & Nellie