Two other things we did while in Texas....I wanted to go visit my cousin, who is incarcerated in East Texas, so we took off on a 2 day road trip.  We went to see him, which was very interesting and eye opening for my boys to see a maximum security facility.  After the visit we headed toward Austin.

We spent 2 nights with some lifelong friends in the Austin area.  Our intention had been to drive to San Antonio to see the Alamo and the Riverwalk all lit up.  Well, when we got to our friends' house, the boys had such a great time playing, we ditched our plans and laid low with Nerf gun wars, trampoline jumping, playing and exploring at Nameless Valley Ranch.  NVR is a deserted camp that was bought in recent years for development.  My friend's husband works for the developer so we had access to the land.

This was the old lodge/cafeteria.  They played a cross between shuffleboard and hockey.

One of about 15 abandoned cabins.

They found this contraption and managed to roll it down a hill and into a building.

The old barn

We ventured away from the cabins and lodge and explored the creek.  A bonus was a pack of wild hogs we saw...The boys.  Fun to have our friends with boys the ages of Benjamin and Joseph.

Jacob just hanging out.

They wanted to cross the river but the water was flowing higher than last time.  So, the boys spent about 15 minutes building a bridge with rocks and logs. The bridge was sturdy enough for all adults to cross over.

You can see this outing was ALL BOY!!!!  Although the San Antonio trip would have been nice, some great memories were made and lots of running around was done, versus 4 hours in the car and walking around San Antonio.  (I was dead set on San Antonio so it was a stretch for me to put it aside, but trying to embrace the moment and throw plans out the window when a better opportunity presents itself.)

We also ate at Chuy's.  A local mexican restaurant.  The boys, especially Benjamin, loved it and claimed it the best ever.  I am so glad to see his taste buds maturing.  Then on the way back to my mom's we stopped by Schlotzsky's for a sandwich.  I love S, but my  boys had never heard of them.  Once again, they were amazed and very thankful for the sandwich.  (Because of our S stop, all three of my boys will ask for a ham sandwich now.  I know it sounds silly but we finally have some more options, other than PBJ, when it comes to sandwiches.

There was one gift under the tree that had all the grand kids names on it.  It was the game "Pie Face".  You put whip cream on the purple hand then spin the spinner.  Whatever number it lands on, you have to turn the handle that many times.  You never know when you will get a pie in the face.

On Christmas Eve, we lit lanterns that float up to the sky.  They are really beautiful but we had some technical difficulties.  Several of them ended up in the neighbors' trees.  However, we were more successful on Christmas night and got the rest of them off.

The Saturday after Christmas we headed to Billy Bob's.  The boys thought it was really cool, with all the pool tables and arcade games.  They have already asked to go back there next time we visit Ft. Worth.

We got to see the cattle drive through the streets.

We put our name on the waiting list for the BBQ place (it was 1.5 hours wait and it was right around 4pm).  While we waited, Joseph got a set of balloon horns.

Then the adults watched all the grand kids tackle the maze at the stock yards.  I think most of them made it out in under 25 minutes.

Joseph horsin around

We had a great dinner at the BBQ place ~ while we waited Joseph got some balloon horns.  Then we headed to the rodeo.  Because of the low light, I only got two decent pictures, but they are the best by far.

Happy 2016!  Hard to believe a new year has rolled in!

We had a great trip to Texas.  We bought our tickets back in April ~ long anticipated trip ~ and when the tickets were bought, it was $200 cheaper per ticket to fly out of a nearby town an hour away.  Given the winter storms, we had no problems, but I am convinced had we driven or flown out of our town, we would have it delays.  The only delay we had was coming back.  Because of an incoming storm our flight got diverted to our home airport, instead of the airport we flew out of.  Just created a little bit of a problem, because my car was an hour away, but we were able to pick up the car the next day!

Lots of pictures.  (Probably will put them over several posts.)

This seems to always be our first stop in any airport.....

Croquet seems to always be the favorite game...glad the weather was so nice.

Meet the newest member of our family....my oldest niece is getting married this summer.  He survived a week with my boys ~ that says a lot.

Uncle Mike was not with us.  He had to fly for the first time in many years so we took this photo for him.  We crashed the neighbors lawn ornament set up.

A game of basketball on Christmas Eve.  Playing with 2 guys over 6 ft. gave all the cousins an added challenge.

Santa made an appearance, shocking all the kiddos.

All the cousins.....

We had story time with Santa...very appropriate, he read Twas the Night Before Christmas.

All the cousins decorated the cookie sweaters.  I think it was suppose to be the ugly Christmas sweater, but with some many creative females at the table, they were pretty cute.

 This is more the speed of 'ugly'.

The rest of the Christmas festivities will be in the next post.

Recently the homeschoolers had a field trip to the recycling center.  It was very interesting and great for kids to see what happens to the trash.

They even take animal hides in exchange for a new pair of gloves.  They recycle antlers and pay about $13 a pound, so there is lots of money to be on those.

I can't remember the exact number but I think this bale of aluminum cans weighs 6,000 pounds.

The magnet on the end of this crane weighs like 700 pounds and picks up anything!  Unfortunately, their car crasher was down, but they enjoyed seeing everything stacked up.

This is my resident bike mechanic.  Anytime a bike needs fixing, which is very often, he is my go to guy!

Benjamin recently had a session with his 'employer' on decorating cupcakes.  He enjoyed it a lot and if he practices, could be quite the designer.

We have a half fence in the back yard and this is Bree's favorite post.  She has not tried to jump the fence in a long time!  Of course now there is a lot more snow and she really enjoys running in it!

We head out to Texas tomorrow.  Not sure if I will be posting things or not.

The day after Thanksgiving JR and Benjamin went hunting.  Due to attitudes, the trip got off to a bad start.  They were going to end things early.  As they were driving off, they spotted some deer.  They were fortunate enough to each shoot a buck.  JR took his at 200 yards with 2 shots and Benjamin took down his buck at 194 yards with one shot.

This was Benjamin's

They went hunting on private land ~ one of JR's clients.  The plan was for them to sit in a tree stand.  HA.  That lasted about 2 minutes!  This picture was taken by the land owner.

Both Jacob and Joseph have had their Christmas programs at school.  Always fun to see all the kids. 

The countdown for Texas has begun.  We fly out in a week.  We are hoping to make a very quick trip down to Austin/San Antonio for an educational trip to the Alamo/River Walk.  Christmas is a beautiful time of the year down there.  

Bree continues her chewing!  If she was not such a cute, fun dog, she would have been gone by now.  The other day I ran her 3 different times then I felt so bad because she had done something to her front paw.  She limped and laid low for a day and a half but now is good as new. 

We don't have a Christmas tree up this year since we won't be around for 10 days.  When we came home today, there was a large Christmas tree branch in the street.  I had Benjamin pick it up and then we brought it into the house.  He put it by the front door and Bree went crazy barking.  She did not know what it was.  I held it up and was pushing it towards her and she would inch closer, only to scoot away backward, barking loudly.  The things that freak her out are hilarious.

A few appts round out the week, as well as Christmas caroling with 4H and the church Christmas program.  Last weekend I attended a ladies Christmas program at church.  About 30 of us loaded up on a hay wagon and drove around the community singing carols!

Benjamin finishes his basketball 'season' this weekend.  Hopefully I can get some pictures.  Then the other 2 start just after Christmas for a short 6 week league.  

JR is gearing up for arriving clients, with the holidays coming.  The snow has been light so far.  The last couple of days we have been in the mid 50s.  Today I washed the car without a coat on and wearing a short sleeve shirt!

Hopefully I will get one more post up before we leave for Texas!

Thanksgiving was a wonderful time.  We spent the better part of the day with some friends and all of their extended families.  The boys had a blast playing with other kids, I enjoyed lots of card playing and Jose enjoyed swapping hunting stories.

 The new principal at the elementary school is focusing on reading with the kids.  They recently held a Camp Read Alot where the whole day was spent either reading in the classroom or in the gym, which was converted into a campground.  There were tent set up everywhere, trees on the walls, fake firepit, etc.  I went up to read with the boys' classes.  Joseph's teacher snapped this picture of us.

Benjamin worked this past week with Connie ~ he was educated on splitting and stacking firewood.  He seems to be enjoying the work and the money.

A recent trip to the dentist for the boys.  Two of them were cavity free!

I brought some cereal home today and the boys were so excited ~ we have not had cereal in a while.  Anyway, it is a cereal with small pieces and they tend to make a huge mess with it because the older two refuse to put milk in it.  I told them they had to put at least a table spoon of milk in the cereal.  Lo and behold, they were actually surprised how good it was.  I have worked years for my boys to put milk in their cereal!  We are family of five and since none of us drink milk, a half gallon can go bad in our fridge.

Today I accidently left a bedroom door open.  Bree got in there.  I have small teacher gifts lined up on the floor.  She managed to sniff out the 3 that had food stuff in them.  She ate 24 Hershey kisses and 3 packs of gum.  Wrappers and all!  So far it does not seem that she is having any side effects.  I feel like I am becoming the lazy dog owner.  Although I take her to the dog park several times a week to run and run and run and play and play and play with other dogs and walk her in the field, she still has energy.  I have upped the mileage I run her with the car.  Today she ran 3.3 miles and maintained about 12 mph the entire time.

I have pictures on my phone that I am not able to get off the phone!  UGH.  One day I will be posting lots of pictures!