411 The Walters Bunch

                                                          Our tree is so full of ornaments the kids made, we can't put on regular balls. December, oh what happened. Apparently mother nature missed the memo that this is Texas and we do not appreciate cold weather. Especially cold weather that comes in the form of 4" of ice and takes a week to leave. Our northern counterparts may laugh at us, but I am sorry. How about you show me how great your traction is on 4" of solid ice? Us southerners tend to just ignore your belly aching about your "95 degree day". You know what I would do, with all my kids, if the highest temps of the summer were 95? Probably play outside all day long and enjoy the beautiful spring like weather, maybe even bring a jacket just in case. If your pool still feels good at the end of August, it doesn't get hot where you live, when the pool hits 95 then we'll talk. We also use this great invention called Air Conditioning. Yes, I know

No, this is not a Halloween photo, but that required the TB and what can I say......I'm lazy, so enjoy a Christmas picture. Okay, I promise my first resolution in the New Year will be to update more regularly. It never feels like it has been as long as it has. First things first. The kids decided that they rather do door to door trick or treating this year instead of our church's Fall Festival. The church for the first time was doing a trunk or treat instead of their typical festival. However, the kids use the opportunity of Halloween to stock up on candy for the rest of the year. They feel that door to door trick or treating yields better results. I got T a pirate costume that he was just adorable in, but since the girls are older I made them an offer. I could either buy them a new Halloween costume or they could go as something we already have and use the costume money to purchase new clothes. Needless to say they both opted to get new clothes and wore some of their ball

The awesome view from our campsite! We have been enjoying the nice weather lately. In fact, we headed to Inks State Park for a few days just a couple of weeks ago. We stopped by the Dinosaur Valley State Park on our way down to Inks and were surprised the "river" , really not more than ditch water right now, was so low that the tracks at the rivers bottom were very easily visible. The kids thought the tracks were neat, but had a much better time climbing on the cave at the playground. However, once we arrived at Inks they loved it. The campsites here were huge. Each site was about 1/3 of an acre and we had one right off the lake. The trees were just starting to color for fall and its was picturesque. We found time in our visit to also take a guided tour of the nearby Longhorn Cavern and really enjoyed that as well. This week we enjoyed the State Fair of Texas. Unfortunately for us, it was so busy that it took forever to do anything. We still enjoyed the shows though. The

Sing happy birthday to both at the same time. Of the 6 people in our family, 3 of us have birthdays within a 10 days of one another.  I usually combine the kids birthday party into one big party and then celebrate my birthday with the kids and hubby quietly. We usually throw the kids' party on Labor Day, but this year since the water park was closing we celebrated the weekend before. We had a great time. We slide down the slides, jumped off the diving board, swam the lazy river, and played on the water play structure. T picked Monsters Inc. for his theme and AJ picked nothing, but wanted Boston Creme cupcakes for her cake. T got Mike Wasowski cupcakes. They both turned out really good out even though I wasn't too sure about using the lime jello in a cake mix. I think they turned out pretty cute.  School has been going well and we are 4 weeks in to it. They all start their gymnastics classes back up this week. I am glad because that is one less day of my figuring

My baby's $3000 smile! We have had a fun summer. We usually do not travel during the summer. It just gets too hot to camp so we will start our trips back up in the fall. This also gives us an opportunity to check out different amenities the metroplex offers. This month we did several things. One of our favorite trips was to the Palace Theatre in Grapevine. The Theatre has been refurbished to be similar to what it was like about 100 years ago when it opened. The history there was incredible. I could image the patrons dressed up in their best clothes watching the performance before heading out to their carriages to go home. I love the early frontier period. I find it so fascinating. I wonder if 150 years from now if others will regard us in the same way. We watched a ballet of Wizard of OZ. My 4 year old said he liked it, but prefers it when they talk (i.e. play not ballet).   We also toured the Bureau of Printing and Engraving. It was really interesting. I had no idea how long

Happy July 4th! It has become a family tradition to celebrate the 4th of July on July 3rd at Coppell's annual celebration. They put on a great firework show and have LOTS of free activities for the children. It is geared towards the little kids and up through elementary aged, though the older kids have fun dancing to the live band and throwing a ball or Frisbee around. This is the first year I have ever had a complaint about their set up. However, this year   they decided only two port a potties would suffice for a few thousand people. Well, we all know when little kids decide to stop having fun to go to the bathroom that they need to go right then. This year though they got to wait at least 30 minutes and do it without toilet paper because SURPRISE one roll in each of the two port a potties didn't last several thousand people for a few hours! My only other complaint has nothing to do with the city. It has to do with other parents. I have yet to realize that why when some

Kids loved the gun show and we got to take pics afterwards! Being a homeschool family, we take full advantage of all the perks that the public schools give their students. Most companies, Six Flags included, allow homeschoolers to participate in their reading programs and earn free tickets. We made Monday our Six Flags day, though contrary to popular belief it was still NOT a free day. By the time we bought tickets for the other 2, paid for parking, and food we still spent about $250. However, it is worth it. If you go on a Monday or Tuesday, there is not very many people there. I think the longest line was about 30 minutes (which is really good since sometimes on weekends ride lines are about 1.5 hours!). We learned our lesson last time and started the kids in Looney Toons Land and worked our way up to the bigger rides. The Titan and the Oil Derrick were the only things closed all day when we were there. We arrived around 10:30 am when they opened and rode all the rides we wanted

Mommy and Daddy Turkey with their babes!     My kids are always quick to let me know how much they want a pony, what kid doesn't? We live in the city on less than a .25 acres and it is against city ordinance to have anything other than a dog, cat , or fish, but that doesn't stop them from the constant whining. It is as if they think I can change something and just bring a horse home. Unfortunately for them, even if we could have one I still do not WANT one. They are a lot of work and I like to travel way too much to tie ourselves down like that. Our adventure this week was to a horseback riding clinic. The lady who owns the Sonlight Stables ministry gives free lessons and clinics during the summer. It is a wonderful thing she does since most kids in the city do not ever get to see a farm much less experience it. She holds clinics on how to raise your own chickens and even offers free swim lessons. The girls took a 3 hour class on horse basics and riding. They thorou