I did a horrible job of keeping up with our pictures last year. I've rounded up pictures that I want to remember, and I'm dumping them all in one place. Then 2018 will be done with!
August
Texas summers are hooooooot. So before school started we spent our days looking for places to stay cool. (Unfortunately our house's AC doesn't get all that cold.) We spent a day at the trampoline park, explored an indoor playground, another place with big blow-up things called CooCoos, and a big jungle gym/climbing place with a zillion kids from summer camps crowding it up. I think the trampoline park was the biggest hit.
Tiago went to his pre-K open house. His school is only a 4 minute walk, and he started the year with a pretty good foundation of letters/numbers and knowing reading basics. I guess there are benefits to repeating pre-K twice! He walked right into the classroom confidently because he knew just what to expect.
I had to laugh when I saw this picture, because it just as easily could've been taken this past week. (It's the toy aisle of Target.) We go there ALL the time. My kids know they can get a free cookie from the bakery, so whenever we have nothing going on they ask to go to Target. Then they want to spend an hour looking at toys.
One Sunday afternoon we acted out the story of Samuel the Lamanite. (We were trying to work our way through some popular scripture stories.) The kids loved dressing up like Samuel and having Nerf "arrows" shot at them. After going through it at least a dozen times, they had the details down perfectly.
We bought a new sofa! Which was great, because I was really getting tired of looking at sofas in every store around. I saw this one at Costco, but there was only 1 in stock. As soon as Hyrum got home from work I sent him to check it out, pretty sure I wanted to buy it. He agreed, and had to bring it home in two loads because it didn't all fit. He picked up the second box about 30 seconds before the store closed. (It's 20 minutes away). It was quite the evening, but such a relief to be done with it. Our old sofa sat in the corner of the family room for several months, waiting for me to get motivated to sell it.
Friends that live around the corner have a swimming pool. They invited people to swim every Wednesday, and afterwards the kids loved swinging in their front yard.
September
The first weekend in September I was in Waco with my sisters, so Hyrum took the kids on a little adventure, and one of their stops was the Dallas temple. (I think their first time seeing it.)
Here's a snapshot of the girls' Joy School class. A group of moms decided to rotate pre-school between our homes, so I teach one week of the month on Tuesday/Thursday. I think this was our first class. I have absolutely loved not having to pay for my girls to be in school, and it's great having something built into our schedule to keep the girls busy and socializing. Do I love teaching 3 year olds? Meh. I find it mentally exhausting and my girls are always very poorly behaved when they're doing school with me. (Lots of tantrums, time-outs, etc.) I'm glad they have such a good time at everyone else's houses.
Hyrum's 'backson' costume. (It's a monster from one of the Winnie the Pooh movies.) He dresses up and chases the kids around the house while they scream. Not my favorite game.
We spent one Saturday exploring Dallas a bit more. We went to the Sixth Floor Museum, the building from which JFK was shot. They've turned it into quite an expensive museum with way more details than I could ever take in with 3 kids tagging along. But here's the view out the window onto the grassy knoll. After, we walked to some fountains nearby and let the kids play.
I did the Keto diet for 3-4 weeks in August/September (until I think I had a super early miscarriage and then just gave up.) But these mushrooms from Costco were a great find. They're really high in calories but perfect for Keto. So good.
No idea what this is all about (maybe an FHE lesson?), but over the last few months I've caught them playing 'missionaries' together. They put hymn books and water bottles in backpacks and run around the house.
We went to the Interurban Railway Museum in Plano. It's along the old train line that ran North from Dallas at the beginning of the 20th century. It's interesting to see what existing before the modern train system, and the role it played in day-to-day life (like delivering mail.)
October
I wrote about all the Halloween things we did during the month already, but here are a few more things. While I stayed home with Mila and Tiago decorating cookie skeletons, Hyrum took Siena on a date to the Perot Museum. I wanted them to check it out and see if we should buy a a membership. (Which we did.) It's funny how Siena was begging to stay home, and have someone else go with Hyrum, but quickly realized she was having a lot more fun on their adventure than we were at home. They even rode the train downtown.
Another Saturday we tried to go to a pumpkin patch about 25 minutes west of Richardson, but when we got there found out it was closed due to rain/mud. That was a disappointment! We couldn't really find any other patches (just pumpkins set out in parking lots) so instead we explored the Nash Farm, which is a free museum showing off a historic home built in 1869. You get to learn about the time period and how people lived, plus they still have livestock on the small farm.
Tiago participated in the Spanish ward primary program. He did a great job memorizing his part in Spanish and said it quite confidently. (Dios es mi Padre Celestial. El me conoce y me ama.) They handed out these cute felt ties to all the boys to wear, and the girls each got bows.
Hyrum celebrated his birthday, turning 37! The kids 'helped' me make this soccer ball cake the day before, and we kept it a surprise until he got home from work. We got him some new soccer pants, and my mom gave him a bunch of Colombian soda. Tiago was eager to help write cards to label who the presents were from.
We went to visit Hyrum at his office. Last time we went he'd been busy doing ceremonies so we didn't get to see him. This time he had us come when it wasn't so busy. This is the room where they do the oaths of enlistment. Pretty fancy. The kids were excited to pick out a candy (and toy!) each at the USO.
We attended the Hispanic Festival in a neighboring town. There were some fun elements, like a bounce house and face painting, but it ended up being much more of a gathering of all the services available to people who are low-income or don't speak much English. Less of a cultural celebration.
At school the kids in Tiago's class each got a coupon for a free donut. Tiago's teacher was thoughtful and gave him two extras, for his sisters. That made for a fun afternoon.
Here we are at Tiago's school, after eating lunch at the cafeteria. All pre-k students in Texas have access to free breakfast and lunch. I'm not sure the reasoning, but we definitely take advantage. In the fall we were going at least 3x a week. I'd pack lunch for the girls and Tiago would eat cafeteria food.
In the fall I spent a lot of time walking in the evening while Hyrum put the kids in bed. That was my main source of exercise, since my back couldn't quite handle higher-impact stuff. I listened to podcasts and audio books. Several people in my family joined in a 6-week health challenge with several goals to meet each week. One was regular exercise. I was excited and did some actual exercise the first few days, and then spent a week basically unable to move. So I changed strategies.
Hyrum and I have attended more than a handful of military balls in the last 10 years, some better than others. One perk of his current job is we got to attend a really fancy one, best of all, for free. (Normally they cost about $40 per person, though I'm sure this one cost more.) The Sky Ball is a big fundraising event they do each year at an AA hangar at the airport. Part of the program was to have a group of new soldiers do the enlistment oath on stage, so Hyrum helped coordinate with the recruiters and they offered tickets to him and other colleagues who wanted to attend. The event was full of two types of people-- those of us who obviously didn't pay for our own tickets, and those who can spend thousands of dollars on silent auctions. Some people were single-handedly donating 10-20K. The food was awesome-- celebrity chef Robert Irvine flies in each year to run the show. They had speakers highlighting several military-related charities, and honored all the living Purple Heart recipients. That was quite amazing!
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November
Hyrum had a big soccer game he wanted to watch, so he let Tiago stay up late watching with him. Unfortunately, he couldn't find a good place streaming it, so he watched a sound-less video on youtube with an audio stream coming from his phone. I think that made Tiago lose interest, and he spent the evening reading books. I couldn't believe he was able to just pick up these library books and read them on his own.
A few days after Halloween we went to Target and they had a bunch of stuff on 90%-off clearance. (In the spirit of full disclosure, we were also there
the day after Halloween, and it was still only 50% off.) Anyway, we certainly don't need any more costumes, but I bought both of these for a few bucks each and they're adorable.
Hyrum didn't have to work on Veterans Day so we woke up and went to Dennys for free breakfast. Then he went with Tiago to the cafeteria for lunch, and took Mila out to eat Mexican food. That night he went by himself to a steakhouse where he got a free meal.
I spent a good deal of time last fall trying to line up primary care doctors and dentists for everyone, then make and keep appointments. That's one adult task I hate, and it repeats itself every few years when we move. The kids all did great getting their teeth cleaned by the new dentist. The office isn't quite as awesome as the last place we went, but they had stuffed animals with teeth you could brush so they enjoyed it. Best of all, no cavities, so we don't have to return for several months.
Hyrum was dying to go camping, so we made a deal that we'd all go together for the day, and then I'd take the girls home to sleep in their own beds. (That's generally how we've camped the last few years.) The first state park we drove to was full, but we found a campground a bit further away with openings. Hyrum and I managed to not have any arguments while putting up the tent (we've come a long way in that regard) and we all enjoyed camping food and a walk to the lake.
Of course there was hot chocolate the next morning for Hyrum and Tiago.
To lead up to Thanksgiving we added feathers to this gratitude turkey. Tiago was into drawing elaborate pictures of stuff, some of it was completely unrelated to what he was thankful for, but it made for pretty feathers.
We spent Thanksgiving break in San Antonio. Then a few days later my parents came to visit during a long layover (on their way home from Australia.) Tiago told his teacher that his grandparents were visiting from Australia, which I think confused her.
Tiago recieved the school pictures we bought. Cute boy!
At the end of the month I was itching to cut all my hair off. Maybe since the dentists and doctors had all been visited I was feeling up to the task of finding a salon. I wanted to get it lightened, since it had been about a year. After so many phone calls and internet research I found a lady with reasonable prices. I thought I was getting some of my hair lightened, but it ended up being pretty much bleached blonde. Quite a change! It took a while to get used to it, but now I'm happy. It wasn't as short as I was going for, but it feels so much better than having it long. (Down a few pictures you can see the new color.)
Here we are at tithing settlement.
December
While the girls are in Joy School, I have some one-on-one time with Tiago. Sometimes we hang out at home (and try to fit in piano lessons), sometimes we run errands, and this particular day I took him on a date to Subway. He thought that was special and insisted I have more than half of the cookie we bought. He's recently started taking an art class once a week during the girls' preschool time, so that takes care of Thursday mornings for us.
When we visit the school for lunch time, we get to see artwork hanging up from Tiago's class. His castle is the one in the top row, right above his head.
My mom also has a weakness for cute costumes, and sent this one for my kids in the mail. I call it the 'flamenco costume' but the girls call it the flamingo costume.
We sent out Christmas cards (in a bit of a rush) and Tiago drew this picture to put in one of them.
That Princess Peach wig was another Target find (for about $1). My kids felt compelled to dress up, and then Tiago read books to them nicely. :)
Christmas came and went. After Christmas we decided to start looking into new mattresses. We didn't buy one until the end of January, but the kids had a blast climbing all over the beds.
On one of the days Hyrum had off work, we took the kids to the Perot Museum again. We explored some of the different floors. This sand box had elevation lighting.
And to close out 2018, our New Years was pretty uneventful. We had sparkling cider, I forgot to buy grapes (Colombians eat 12 grapes to celebrate New Years) and the kids danced around with Hyrum to some music. The kids and I definitely didn't make it to midnight, but I think Hyrum did.
