A Tradition Continues

Well it looks as if Mariah will be following in her mom's footsteps as a UIL Ready Writer. Thanks to her story about Tom the Turkey, she made the team! Now begins the work to perfect the art of creating winning essays. Serena also had good news in that she made the Oral Interpretation team (formerly known as Oral Reading). I also did that event but was not very good at it. I've always been a better writer than speaker- that's the introvert in me I guess. We'll keep everyone posted on how they do at their first tournament.

More Adventures with the Green Machine

Well, after about 28 years, I finally got back on the Green Machine and as they say, it's like riding a bike. Mama did a 180 right off the bat- had to show those kiddies how it was done, you know. We actually rode that thing in my parent's driveway for hours- definitely a good investment. I would highly recommend one for every family.

Turkey Day Weekend Valley Style

The Smithville Segels packed up and headed back to the Valley for their Thanksgiving Weekend. We spent the day Thursday at my folks house cooking (me) while Jason and the kids fished then we headed over to Jason's cousin Lorie's house for the meal with my parents. As usual, the food was great and we ate til we were miserable. We even got to get a little summer preview when we went to South Padre Island Saturday afternoon and strolled through the arts and crafts festival they had set up and ate some yummy coconut shrimp all in weather that was in the 80s. Enjoy the pics!

Blake Turns 5!

The baby of the family is now officially a big boy. Blake celebrated his 5th birthday on November 18th with family by eating his favorite meal of corn dogs and mac & cheese with chocolate cake. He had his party with his friends the following Saturday. We did a flag football party that turned out awesome and was a lot of fun for the kids. I even managed to make a fairly impressive football cake even if it was amateurish. My best friend Andrea and her children Jonas and Carleigh joined us and we had a lot of fun just hanging out. I'm including some pictures for your enjoyment.