Mariana received the news of her acceptance to Texas A&M this past weekend. We are so proud of her and so thankful to have another Aggie in the family. What a blessing!
We "accidentally" discovered it while she was at work because I received a financial aid email from A&M, so we got her some little treats to surprise her when she came home. :)
This guy has been interested in planting a plum tree (and asking for one for his birthday) for a while. We had some dear friends over who are experts in fruit trees, and he enjoyed chatting with them about it. They were so sweet to surprise us with one on our front porch later that evening. He was so excited!
He and Austin planted it today (in the rain!).
Cecilia has been waiting while all her other friends have lost teeth. She finally did it today. It became crazy loose after she bit into an apple, and then this strawberry did the rest of the work for her.
Our parish had it's annual Lock in last night. The kids had a blast but we always wonder why we let them do it when they are so tired for days later. At least it's only once a year! This was taken around 5:30am after they had some talks and activities at church, went to Grand Station for 5ish hours and then came back to church for more fun (can you tell how tired they are?).
Mariana promised to take Anastasia climbing long ago when a new place opened up in town. They finally made it today and had a great time together.
These two really enjoy the Clover Kids meetings before the regular ones. This time they made bird feeders by coating ice cream cones in peanut butter and rolling them in bird seed.
Anastasia attended a photography workshop today. She had a lot of fun taking photos since their photo walk included a dog park, and she learned a lot too.
These girls are in their RE while I teach the preschool class. This is where I always find them when I am finished cleaning up and ready to head home. They have some intensely fun competitions!
In true form (as Gloria has always been eager to catch up to her big sisters, from talking and potty training early until now...) she has been trying to learn to drive for years. Pawpaw has accommodated her a couple of times in a private parking lot, but finally the real day has come. She wanted a DPS appointment today (and spent the week finishing the coursework required), so we made it happen. After breakfast and gifts, she and I headed off. Much to our relief, we had all the paperwork and left with her permit a mere hour or so later. We are excited for her to start learning. Allia treated her to a lunch date, but we had a low key dinner since she was still full from lunch.
She opted for a pajama party this year (which sadly meant no boy friends, but 'tis the age). So we had a sweet group of girls over for dinner, cupcake decorating and a movie. They had such a fun time and decorated some pretty cupcakes. It was so great to celebrate our Anastasia!
We opened family gifts early, then she got Chick fil A breakfast. Allia took her to lunch, and we had pasta alfredo (one of her favorite's) for dinner. She generously let her younger siblings help build her legos and enjoy her other gifts. What a girl!
She and Gloria also opened their gifts from Lito and Lita...fancy nail kits.
We are very thankful for our helpful, adventurous, amazing Anastasia!
After some low key New Year's Eve activities, we headed to Lita's again New Year's morning to celebrate Lita's birthday with family and friends. There was a band with dancing on the back porch, yummy food, and balloons galore.
