Friday, December 30, 2011

Hanging with the Callaways

I think for the last few years, Lori & I have tried to get together during the holidays without much success. This year, thanks to a cub scout campout at the Dallas Museum of Natural History (think Night at the Museum), we pulled off a FUN little visit earlier in December! Lori was the ultimate hostess of course and showed Jonathan and I a FABULOUS time!

We had known about this campout for months, so we were so excited for the weekend to arrive. Lori was too thoughtful and put together an equally awesome weekend for Jonathan so he didn't feel like he got the short end of the stick since big brother always gets to do cool scout stuff.

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Here are the photos David texted me from the museum campout:




And of course, in usual Kristi fashion, I went a bit overboard with photos from our day:

Started off the fun with a trip to Legoland for the boys! Jonathan and Jackson (Lori's son) had a BLAST! 

Getting ready to watch the Lego 4D movie. Lori & I concluded that to be a FOUR-D movie, you must get actual "stuff" on you (i.e.: snow, rain, that sort of thing). It was hilarious. And, for the record, Lego people have their own language which is not too different than the adults from Peanuts. ("WaWaWaWa")

J-man on the ride at the beginning of Legoland where the car takes you through the castle & you shoot the bad guys (VERY cool!). All four of us went on this one...the photo they take of you during the ride (surprise) was probably one of the funniest I've ever seen. And definitely one NOT to be purchased. Yikes.

Jonathan and Lori on the big spin-ride thing. Lori was too cool to take my place on this one since this mama can't handle a spin around ride for the life of her. Bleh.

After dinner, we headed down to see the lights in Frisco square. LOVED this. So fun. It's one of those where you tune your car radio to their station and the lights are all choreographed/synchronized to the holiday music (which made taking photos a bit challenging, since they only stay on a few seconds at a time!). We also parked and walked around a bit to see the sights. Little sister came along with us this time. Pictured above is Jonathan, Jackson and Madelyn.

Santa was there! Seriously considered Photoshopping Benjamin into this one and calling it good for the year. Don't worry...I'm not that mean. We made it to the Killeen Mall to see our Santa, too, with big brother in tow.

There's a big, beautiful tree in Frisco Square, too. 

I tried really hard to go flash free on these, but haven't mastered that, nor did I bring a tripod to reduce movement. But...you get the idea! ; )


Frisco even made SNOW for us to enjoy!

Thanks for a great time, Callaways!! We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves! 

ON A SIDE NOTE: One of my favorite parts of this trip was the hilarious conversation that developed between Lori & I while all three kiddos were in the backseat of her car as we headed to Frisco. One kiddo was having a mini-meltdown and the other two's comments regarding said meltdown were cracking us up. The car was loud and busy and full of both laughter and tears all at the same time. I looked at Lori and said, "Picture us fifteen years ago, in the front seat of a green Camaro or black Explorer driving through McDonald's in Abilene to get hot fudge sundaes. What would those two girls have done if they had seen this scenario in their future?" We had a GREAT laugh on that one and shared it later with Bobby, who also couldn't get over it! Life certainly takes you down lots of wonderful paths. Love having good friends like Lori that, although they may live a few miles away now, we can still have the same great times as always. Love you, Bestie. 
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Wednesday, December 28, 2011

Thanksgiving in New Mexico

We had a nice Thanksgiving with David's family. We headed over to Hobbs, where his brother, Daniel & his family live. We were able to hang out with all of the cousins & grandparents and had a great time!

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The 2011 Dominguez Family Photo


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Grandma & the gang hanging out & playing

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Spider-Nathan

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Great Grandma & Great Grandpa with Uncle Daniel

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Thanksgiving dinner at the Davidson's home. Fun times were had by all.
Doug & Debbie (our sister-in-law, Syndi's parents) were so gracious to host us all.

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Poor Everet...the tryptophan kicked in fast.


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Our boys with Grandma & Grandpa

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All the grands!

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David snapped this sweet pic of Benjamin.

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We ended our Thanksgiving with a swim with the cousins at the hotel pool! Doesn't everyone end their Thanksgiving with a dip in the water?

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Monday, December 12, 2011

A Career in Acting...

I know I said I would be posting Thanksgiving pics....and I will, these are just already edited and ready to go since the preschool requested them (that's what I get for arriving 45 minutes early and sitting in the front row...deemed the photographer). So I pulled these out of iPhoto first and already edited them (and by edited, I mean that I use the easiest Photoshop preset action and call it good).
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We were so excited about Jonathan's role in his preschool's Christmas play this year, he was Joseph! And he did a wonderful little job. Mary was played by a sweet friend of his, and they just ate it up! Instead of walking down the aisle, tired, weary and looking for a room at the inn, these two were busy waving and smiling to all of their adoring fans. Awesome.

Last year, he was one of the shepherds, which I posted about here.

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The children put on a fantastic show! We were just so proud of our little Joseph. Just one more reason we will miss St. Christopher's preschool so very, very much!
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Saturday, December 03, 2011

Catch Up, Part 2: Cub Scout Ceremony

I somehow neglected to post about Benjamin's award ceremony at Cub Scouts from October. I had the photos ready and everything! ; )

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Benjamin was pinned with his Bobcat Badge which makes him an official Tiger Cub Scout.
The patch is pinned on upside down. Once the scout has done a good deed on his own, the parent may turn the patch right side up and permanently attach the patch to the uniform. 
(With all these patches, I may have to learn to sew. Our bill at the tailor is adding up from Benjamin's uniform alone!)


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Getting his Bobcat face paint during the ceremony.


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Our official Tiger Scout!
(There's blue paint under his right eye & gold under the left...the colors of the cub scouts)
Heehee...love the buddy rubbing the paint off on Benjamin's left! ; )
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Catch Up

Our one month blog absence quickly turned into two. I decided to participate in one more bazaar on December 1st which ended up keeping life a little hectic. I think I'll just get the highlights down so when I'm reading this in twenty years I don't wonder what happened to the fall of 2011. I'll have to do our Thanksgiving photos in the next post...the following is everything up to Thanksgiving.


Jonathan's preschool participated in the St. Jude Trike-a-Thon at the beginning of October...we {painfully} realized that JonJon has way outgrown the good ol' bike. Santa has already purchased a new one to leave on Christmas morning.

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All of the friends in Jonathan's class this year have a really special bond...it's so sweet. They are all really close friends and the mamas are getting close, too! Love this class so much!!


Football season didn't come to an end without the Dominguez boys hanging out with Ellie the Eagle...we brought our buddy Owen to one of the games with us...
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The boys could barely take their eyes off the game....at least not the ones on the DSIs:
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Running (& being silly) on the field after the game:
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David & Benjamin went on a cub scout campout in October. Although I didn't get too many photos, I've heard a great (& chilly) time was had by all. Benjamin earned lots of belt loop awards on this trip.

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Jonathan was a bit sad to not go along....but we had a fun weekend of our own! ; )
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We also made it to the pumpkin patch (we didn't get to our favorite patch, but we still had fun):
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It was actually a really HOT afternoon...
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John & Owen and their mama, Sandy joined us for the fun!
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We had lots of Trunk or Treat fun on Halloween with John, Owen & Sandy again (their dad was actually at a training in SA for a bit)
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November brought Jonathan's sharing feast at his school:
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A good time was had by all!

Up next....Thanksgiving....
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