St. Patrick's Day

All decked out in green!

Spring Break 2013

This was our first true Spring Break.  Jacob was a good boss and let some of his guys take off while he worked, so me and Brenna had a Stay-cation.  My house was a revolving door of kids the entire week with more than a dozen friends passing through.  There was really no one "big" thing.  We just spent the week hanging out with friends at the house, playing in the street, and enjoying playdates.  I even left my camera at home for most of the week.  I figured it was one less thing to have to work on later.  But of course I can't not take pictures, so I captured our entire Spring Break on instagram.  I'm really starting to like this more and more.  Another friend summed it up pretty well when she said you there's much less drama and petty comments.  Everything is focused around pictures and I love that!

It was nice to forget about school, homework, and the many extracurricular activities that clutter our schedule. We enjoyed just breaking free from the routine for a while and doing whatever came along.  However, by the end of the week, I was at my limit of fun and ready to fall back into the even pace of normality!

Here's our Spring Break via instagram!

LMF Family Fun Day 2013

We had fun with friends at our annual neighborhood Family Fun Day.  Brenna won the hula hoop contest!  Here's some pictures from the day!

Birthdays, Birthdays, and More Birthdays!

Over a three week span we hit 5 birthdays!  Keeping up with my daughters social schedule is hard to do!  Oh how we love to celebrate anything with friends!  Here are a few shots from all the fun!

Houston Rodeo 2013

It's Rodeo time again!  Something that we've learned to love.  Brenna geared up in the her new cowgirl duds and we headed out with friends and perfect weather.

Closing Out the 2013 Basketball Season

About two weeks ago we finished up our first season of basketball.  We had a great time with friends!  It was definitely another sports learning experience for Brenna, but she proved to be a versatile little athlete by scoring several baskets through-out the season and snagging a couple of rebounds.  For one brief moment I regretted not signing her up for another sport for this Spring.  I really want her to try softball, but the opening day for it was the closing day for basketball.  All regrets vanished last Saturday when after nearly 8 straight months we finally had a weekend that didn't revolve around clean jerseys, ball bags, water coolers, and pop-up chairs.  We're gonna enjoy a nice break from sports while we finish-up Centershot at church.  Soon we'll be starting swimming lessons and then we'll kick off another sport in the Summer.  So, to close out the 2013 Basketball season, here's the highlights.

Fun with friends!

Streetball

Streetball Long Meadow Farms style!  The kids ganged up on Jacob!

Castle in the Sand

After nearly 2 hours of uninterrupted busy work in the sand box, this is what the kids came up with!  One said it was a princess castle, the other said it was a flower erupting volcano, and Reid being the only boy said "Now, let's destroy it!"

Valentines

Yes, I know that its nearly March and Valentines is already way back in the rear view mirror.  But things have been busy and I have at least 5 posts in the que that are trying to make their way out.  And even though this isn't the oldest one, I figured I better get this one out before it becomes embarrassingly late!

Brenna was super excited about making her own Valentines Box.  So, I wrapped the shoe box with white paper and then complied colors, glitter, stickers, jewels, and ribbon.  The rest is all Brenna!  It took 2 days to decorate, since we had to wait for the enormous amount of glitter glue to dry.  Then she insisted everything be a colored!  She didn't want any white left!

The Run Down

Recently I joined instagram.  Given my love of pictures, it was only a matter of time before I hopped on that band wagon.  Now I find myself using my iphone camera alot more!  So, heres the run down on some instagram fun.

100th Day of School

I didn't even know they were counting the days until we got to day 92!  I never knew the 100th day of school was such a big deal.  In honor of the 100th day, the kids were asked to design their own T-shirts with a 100 theme.  When I asked Brenna what she wanted on her shirt, I wasn't surprised to hear "Raindows!"  Of course!  So, 100 pompom balls later and this is what we came up with.

McAlister Family Fun Day at the Zoo

It's been awhile since just the three of us have gotten away to do something fun and the weather last week was just too beautiful to pass up the opportunity for a day at the zoo.  We got there right after it opened and leisurely enjoyed all our favorite parts.

Brenna crawling through the aquarium!

Fun with Frankie

We didn't have to wait long to visit with Frankie again.  The very next week he went home with Malea and Brenna got to have more fun with Frankie during their playdate!  Here's a picture Malea's mom shared with me of the girls hula hooping with Frankie!

Star of the Week

Brenna was chosen as Star of the Week a couple of weeks ago.  This is an opportunity for the kids to share alittle about themselves and their life.  They get to bring home Frankie the Falcon (their classroom mascot) who visits with them for a week.  They also put together a poster that tells about their life, family, hobbies, and likes.

Brenna was thrilled to bring Frankie home and she faithfully hauled him everywhere we went each day and he slept with her every night.  We worked hard on her poster, as she carefully chose each picture that she thought shared something special about her life.  On the first pass you selected more than 50 pictures, which we negotiated down to just under 20.  Finally, Frankie comes with a journal which "he" makes an entry in at the end of the week describing his visit with his new friend.  Needless to say this turned out to be more homework for Mom than it was for Brenna.  Here's how our week with Frankie went.

Frankie at the basketball game and watching movies with friends!

Brenna's First Basketball Game

A new year calls for a new sport!  Brenna started winter season basketball at the YMCA in January.    They play full court, four-man basketball on 6 foot goals.  She's also the only girl on her team!  Her first game she walked away with 3 baskets and 4 rebounds.  We're so proud of her!  She's really turning into a spunky little athlete!  Check out some of the pictures and video from the first game!

Warm-ups