Deep Fried Lard

Okay, so we didn’t eat any of that — or deep-fried twinkies, or deep-fried oreos, or deep-fried coke (huh?).  We did have Aggie Fries (and fresh-squeezed lemonade, cotton candy, roasted corn) yum…

Yummmmm

We fed some of our friends.

And rode some rides

Some of us liked some rides better than others.

But Molly loved driving the tractor.

Ballerinas!

Ready for drama!

Molly started her first ballet class a few weeks ago.

Barre Work

Jumping over the "moon"

The Amazing Ms. Mary

The same day Jane Anne started her fourth year of ballet.  She’s trying out Jazz this year as well.

Leaping

And more leaping

Striped is the New Black, Take 2

You’ll remember when I took Molly to her first day of Rainbow Bible School in the Zebra class and had a dead camera battery.  Now, look closely into your computer screen <flash> you don’t remember anything about that anymore, do you?

So here is Molly on her first day of school:

You might also notice that somehow I managed not to get a picture of the adorable striped leggings that she just had to wear because they “made her look like a zebra” and inspired the title of the post.  Oh, well, she’s cute enough to make you forget that, too.

She and I walk from my office to school every morning, which is the highlight of my week. We chat, talk about pecans, flowers, cats, and other things we see along the way.  Here she is on the way to school.

And here she is showing off one of the lovely flowers she picked.

Go Wildcats!

The best part of any football game. Ice cream.

Some keep the Sabbath…

One Sunday night recently, we headed out to the Abilene State Park for the evening.

We hiked.

Looking for wildlife -- it's always important to accessorize when hiking. Molly brought along her purse.

Hiking with Dad

Still on the lookout

We explored.

We were silly.

They love to get pictures with mom

Hitching a ride

Then we had a picnic and collected leaves to do some leaf rubbings.

Inspecting

Working on the rubbing

Checking out a book on leaves

It was really an absolutely perfect evening.  (At this point, my husband may remind me that the older child was a grump for much of the hike and dinner, but her mood turned around with leaf rubbings, and we really did have a delightful time.)

Why, oh why don’t Saturday morning cartoons start until 9:00?

Bill was out of town today, so I was FORCED to get up with the girls, who really don’t believe in sleeping in.  I started to the day with a Starbucks run.

With a little caffeine in my system, I was feeling inspired, so we loaded up and went to the West Texas Fair and Rodeo Parade.  My children were thrilled (well, one of them was — the older one cried because she wanted to stay home and watch cartoons and I was a cruel mommy to drag her away from them).

Here they are watching the parade:

She got over having to leave Willa's Wildlife in the middle of the show

One of the highlights of the parade was the Six White Horses from HSU

She'll be comin round the mountain....

But the real excitement….

Can you believe it?!?! It's, It's a...

A FIRETRUCK!!!!

After the parade was over we walked to the library — nothing motivates me to get to the library like videos that are due and the $1/day late charge.  There were microscopic drops of water falling from the sky, so the girls decided to take precautions.

Singing in the Rain

Eventually, Bill got home and we had a relaxing interesting dinner.

Um, really I have no words for this one

Mornings with Molly

On Monday, Wednesday, Friday mornings I am at home will Molly until I head into the office at 1:30.  We’re very busy, you see…

Building block towers and knocking them down

Bug hunting

ACU to the Zoo, Zoo, Zoo

ACU sponsored a family night at the zoo.  We ate BBQ, visited with friends, and walked around the zoo.  The weather was coolish and so pleasant!  A wonderfully fun night!

Divvying up the crackers for the fish and ducks

Such a cutie -- good thing I'm not biased

Lighting the Night for Tatum

I posted here before about our three-year old friend Tatum who was diagnosed with Leukemia in July.  Last Saturday night was the Light the Night Walk for blood cancer awareness, and over 100 people came out to walk for Team Tatum.  All the walkers carried red balloons with lights in them to “light the night” in search of a cure.  What a wonderful night to see all the love and support for little Tatum!

If you’d like to donate to Team Tatum.

Walking

Molly

JA