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We celebrated a great season of Sooner football with our great teammates and their families in early December at a restaurant called Prairie House.  After all the time visiting during practices and cheering our boys on together, it was good to celebrate one more time and say goodbye.  Some of these boys have been together for years, and this is the last year they'll be able to play together as 6th graders.  Jacob has been on the team for 2 years and LOVED every minute of it.  We loved the coaches and the other parents and had an altogether wonderful experience in the league and especially on this Sooner team.

Each player was recognized for their contributions but at the end Coach Todd gave 5 special awards including one that Jacob got called "Mr Hustle" for his relentless energy and effort.  It was such a surprise to Jacob (and us) and much deserved and appreciated.  Way to go, Big J!

Our ward had a Christmas breakfast for its party this year.  The highlight was the many musical numbers (8 or so) by the youth, including the Primary children singing "Silent Night".  Valerie Sauter and Amy Lebaron worked hard with these groups to help them learn their music and be ready to perform.  Our bishop also shared a Christmas message.  It was so fun!  Jacob was part of the percussion ensemble that played Pat-a-Pan.  I hope to post a video soon.  Pancakes, bacon/sausage, eggs, fruit and a packed cultural hall.  It was a great time.

The Circle Ten Council of Boy Scouts sent out a notice in September that they were re-districting in our area and they were having a contest to see what the name of the new district should be.  Any boys within the new district were eligible to enter.  Derek and I both decided to throw our ideas in the ring via our boys!  ;)  The current district is called Southern Sky.  I wanted to name the new district Bluebonnet Hill because of the state flower.  The boys laughed at my idea - too girlie.  Caleb said we could submit that name under him. What a gent!  Derek and Jacob decided on "Ironhorse" which was a nickname for the train back in the day – and the link that the 3 cities have within the district is that they were all used as train stops for the original Frisco line.  We had forgotten about the contest, but were excited to get an email that Jacob (and Derek) had won!  This is the picture I took of Jacob (in front of the train replica) to give them – they want it for their next newsletter when they announce the new name.  Jacob won a FREE trip to Scout Camp next summer.  Very cool!

Jacob and I dropped Sam off with a friend (to take him to preschool) and headed off to the Frisco Family Services holiday store set-up to serve a 3-hour shift this morning.  When I started homeschooling, this is one of the things I envisioned for us…more opportunities to involve ourselves with serving in the community.  They don't usually allow children, they told me.  But because I'm a friend of one of their regular beloved volunteers (Phoebe), they made an exception. 

Jacob in front of the tree he helped decorate

This boy was so cute.  He helped put together bikes, decorate, haul boxes, hang clothes, and sort toys.  There was about 8 of us working on setting up their holiday store, and he spent very little time by my side.  He was off asking people if they needed help or inserting himself in such a way that allowed him to participate.  Several of the women commented on how respectful and mannerly he was.  And another commented about how independent and comfortable with adults he was.  I had a few moments of wishing he would come work with me (selfish, I know) but mostly I was tickled that he was so confident and helpful.  As we left, he said "we need to come back – I could do this everyday".  I enjoyed the physical nature of it and the opportunity to leave the busy-ness of the month behind for a few hours.  It feels good to help others and forget about yourself for a few hours.

When I finally got the tree decorated (with the boys help, after it sat in the living room bare for a week), we let Jacob finally put the star on (the boys take turns each year).  Love this pic of J on D's shoulders.  I also love this picture of us reading a Christmas story together – notice Maggie in the corner (cracks me up).

Fun at the park (and a run for me) – the guys played in a pick-up football game

Great food!

Football games on tv

And a relaxing day with the family.

I love our visits to the Farm.  And the boys think it is absolute heaven.  With fishing out as an option for fun, the big boys spent HOURS walking around with their bb guns – shooting at things that moved, things that didn't, things that …well, they shot at everything they were allowed to shoot at.  And they loved it – a free day with free reign, what could be better?!  Samuel loved feeding the horses that are staying out there.  Maggie was curious about the horses too!  She had the time of her life running every which way (getting burrs in her fur).  She would run and run and run – a true country dog (with a city-girl hair-do).  Mimi and I found an antique shop that kept our attention for an hour or so – beautiful but overpriced.  It was a fun day.

It was an especially sweet day considering what was happening exactly one year ago – Dad was having open heart surgery.  One year later he's healthy and active and going strong – washing his tractor, shooting bb's with his grandsons and hanging out at the farm.  What a blessing.

I have felt the drought of this year in Dallas, as we are under severe water restrictions and felt every day of the 100-degree record setting heat this summer.  But it wasn't until I saw our family "farm" yesterday that I realized what they meant by the term "severe drought".  Yikes!  I've never seen it this parched.  No fishing this year – the ponds were completely dry.  No grazing for the cattle – there's nothing to graze on.  It's gonna take a lot of rain to restore this place to it's natural state.  But I still think there was beauty to be found in the starkness of it.

The only things thriving were the cactus and the thorn bushes…ouch! 

I love this close-up of the old rotted out tree…

On Sunday night, Mom had everyone over for a Thanksgiving celebration before we all left to go out of town (M&O to Oklahoma, M&A to Bermuda, and Smith's to Austin).  We had glorious mess and lots of yummy desserts.  And plenty of baby time.  We  missed Derek who was bishop-ing.

Samuel is such a goof-ball lately and he loves the attention he gets from it.  He LOVES school and asks every day if it's a school day.  His Dalamation class teachers (Ms Tami and Ms Jennifer) report that he's a great addition to the classroom and very "on-target" with all developmental things.  They did say he can be somewhat inflexible at times when other people don't follow instructions/rules just "so".  He's been like that since he could walk!!

I love these pictures of him the day he could wear a Halloween costume to school (fall festival) – SO tired from a big day of school.  He was saving the world one minute, and dead to the world the next.