Mavericks Game

There are times that I have less than positive feelings about Shawn's job.  He can have long hours, doesn't get a ton of sleep and vacation is usually taken up by some sort of conference.  This is not one of those posts though.  This year has been a little rough but overall a great schedule and there are some great perks to where he is working at.  People will randomly donate tickets to various sporting events and its a first come first serve basis for the fellows there.  So last night Shawn snagged some great tickets to the Dallas Mavericks preseason game.  He was tired from work and someone had to stay home to watch George so I took the big kids to the game and we had a lot of fun!  At first Devin wasn't excited to go.  In fact when I asked him at first he said, "No."  We really need to do a better job of exposing the boys to sports they have no idea how to play any of them, and don't know the difference between a lot of them.  It has been so fun getting to do random free activities this year.  It makes the small spaces and hot weather totally worth it!

It was so cool to get to sit so close!

I did manage to get a picture of all of us, a terrible one but better than none.

Devin and Caroline.

When I asked Graham if he was having fun he looked up and said, "Not really because all you do is watch them."  I love him.

Devin was so excited that one of the Mavericks is also named Devin.  It made his night, and he scored 11 points before we left.  I hope we get to have a few more fun nights like this before we leave!

Ashley's birthday weekend

This last weekend the Peterson's came up to visit for Ashley's birthday.  We had great plans to go to celebrate with cake and tacos on Friday, then head to the State Fair on Saturday and out to dinner that night.  Friday was great we all gathered at Ashely's house to eat and bust open a piñata.  This was the highlight of the night for the kids, they loved it!  I have a great video of Devin going after the piñata with a running start.  It was hilarious.  Then Saturday comes and we decide to take the DART down to the fair grounds.  The ride down was pretty fun but a little too cramped for my liking.  Still it was fun to try something new.  Then we finally get into the fair, which isn't cheap, and we try and find stuff to do.  Well we didn't find much.  It was so terrible!  All games were at least $5 to ride and had lines and there were so many people at one point we were shoulder to shoulder.  It was awful, my personal version of hell.  On the bright side we didn't loose any of the kids and we found 2 free activities, that were still really crowded. The petting zoo was the saddest thing I have ever seen jam packed with too may people trying to feed over fed animals in tiny enclosures, sad.  We couldn't figure out why so many people thing the fair is a must see.  I can tell you now, it stinks!  Save your money and go to the rodeo in Houston instead, way better.  We left and headed to TCBY to celebrate surviving the fair and then cleaned up for dinner.  Shawn and Brandon watched the kids while Ashley, Bethany, and I went out to dinner.  We had a great time laughing, eating and shopping.  I love my sisters!  I"m so glad Bethy and her crew were able to make it out for the weekend and so glad we get to be so close to family this year!

Leah taking her turn at the piñata.

Having dessert for Ashley's birthday!

The Peterson girls are the only girls Devin will play with, they are pretty cool.

Caroline showed no mercy on the piñata.

George was happy to play on the slide.

Devin was more strategic about his hits to the piñata.

Annie put in some hard hits too.

Mabel got in on the action too.

And I'm just glad Graham didn't hurt anyone while taking his turn, he's nuts.

Open House Night

The kids school had an open house a few nights ago.  I'm not sure why they felt they needed one since they had orientation a few weeks ago.  Well I told the kids we would go and was ready to have everything ready for bed when we got home.  I was feeling pretty good until we actually got to the school and realized we only had about 7 minutes to see Graham and Devin's teachers.  We stopped by Graham's class first because its closest to the exit and then raced to Devin's room.  His teacher was already gone but the teacher he switches with was still there so we were able to talk to her for about 2 minutes.  We finally made it to Caroline's classroom and when we got there I made the mistake of letting George get down.  Well he thought it would be fun to try and run out of the room so I had to hold him.  He hated it, and screamed the rest of the time we were there.  I would have brought a stroller  but since the school is so old its two stories and doesn't have an elevator that fits more than one person.  Yuck.  I was so ready for bed by the time we got to the car, and even though it felt like we were only there for a few minutes we somehow managed to spend an hour there.  Luckily by the time we got home it was bedtime and there was very little prep for it.  I need to make a mental note to not try and attempt these things when Shawn is on call, its not a good move.