THE NEWTON'S

We decided to end our spring break with a quick unplanned trip down to Dallas. We decided on wed night to do something, then Thursday finalized our plans, packed in about an hour and hit the road southward. A stop at our favorite buffet we don't have up here in Oklahoma- Sweet Tomatoes, and then to the hotel to get some sleep for our adventures on Friday. Friday we got up, filled up at breakfast and headed to Six Flags over Texas! The forecast was for possible rain in the morning warming up to 67 by afternoon. When it was still in the 50's around 2pm we decided we needed more layers. So we went back to the hotel and layered up and stopped at Walmart and hit the clearance racks to get more sweatshirts to layer on... Then headed back to the park to enjoy the rides. There's a big difference between 67 and 52 degrees which wound up being the high that day! A few more hours of rides and we were ready to thaw out and get dinner, and then most of the family ...

We have been staying busy this year.  Alyssa has finally been able to start her great love in life... gymnastics.  She has been cartwheeling and back bending to her hearts content every Tuesday night the past two months.  Tuesday is her most important day of the week right now that she makes sure she goes to school (not going to try and say she doesn't feel good) and gets things done so her Tuesday night is free to go to gymnastics.     After last year with no snow at all... everyone was thrilled that we were expecting snow this year... we had four times they thought we would get some snow, and unfortunately for the kids every single time the ground was so warm it melted within a day and we only got traces of the white stuff....  At least with our driveway they could still have some fun with the trace of snow we got. :) I was able to be a chaperone with Alyssa's class at the Oklahoma Science Museum.  Us mom's had kind of complai...

The day was finally here... the moment the kids had been waiting for all year long, and they thoroughly enjoyed it... :)   The remnants...    

The month of December always get's busy.  Sometimes I feel overwhelmed with the choices we have to make between something good, and something better and what to spend our individual time and family time doing.  I'm always so happy when the pre-Christmas parties and activities wind down and we are able to have some quiet time and enjoy the time together as a family. We had to make our traditional gingerbread house "village"  I love the creativity that our kids show and how they really take ownership of their houses and make them reflect their own interests.   One Sunday after church Rich, Alyssa, Angela and I drove down to see the Festival of Light down in Chicasaw Ok.  It's about an hour and a half drive down, and it was cold... we choose to just do the drive through of the light exhibit.  It was really neat, and I think next time we will plan better with warm clothes and get out and walk through and take more time.

Please enjoy some catch-up posting.  I am so far behind and that doesn't mean that I don't want to blog anymore- just that I need to get organized about things a little more at home and make the time for it. Thanksgiving is always a favorite holiday of mine.  I LOVE spending a day in the kitchen making yummy foods and not worrying about anything else going on. Cabinets are open, the counters are full of food and gadgets, I've got my recipe's at hand on the laptop and I'm in "my zone" Bright and early on Thanksgiving morning Ashley and Rich ran the turkey trot.  Ashley ran with a bunch of the YW and YW leaders from Church.  It's a great tradition they are forming and maybe next year I'll get myself in gear and join them. :) For our Thanksgiving dinner we were happy to have friends come over and join us.  It is always so fun to get together with friends and celebrate together.  We had a great day and it was gorgeous outside and th...