a SUPER special day

Big sister spent yesterday away from home, so me and little man went out on a few fun adventures.

 

 

You don't raise heroes, you raise sons. And if you treat them like sons, they'll turn out to be heroes, even if it's just in your own eyes. 

~Walter M. Schirra, Sr.~

 

Yesterday was an incredible day and I absolutely loved spending my entire day with this little boy that makes life so much fun.
 

 

I laughed hysterically and often times just watched him, in awe of his imagination as we navigated through trails, picked up sticks, threw rocks in the water, morphed into superheros, chased squirrels, climbed trees, hunted for pine cones and looked in every hole we found along the way.

 

 

No doubt, he is ALL boy.  He picked this stick up along our hike and said, "don't worry Mom, I will protect us."  Look at the shape of this tree trunk we found that has recently been cut down, he thought it was the coolest thing ever.

 

 

There were times he was a little too brave for me and your looking at one.  He would walk up to these hollowed out trees and just start digging around with a stick or his hands.  Helloooooooo Gavin, there could be a snake in there.
 

  

 

This boy was determined to climb a tree and I helped him get started, he made it up about 4 feet and held on for dear life. 

 

  

 

After our nature walk we watched some men catch about 200 fish in a casting net behind our house, we call it a ditch they call it a fishing hole. They were nice enough to walk up the bank of the canal ditch and show Gavin their bucket of fish.  Pretty sure they were over there limit since they brought in about 30 fish with every cast, it sure was fun to watch. 

 

We decided to head to the lakes in the front of our neighborhood and feed the ducks after watching the fishermen for about a half hour.  Gavin enjoyed feeding the ducks and it was a "one for me, one for the ducks" kind of day.  I love this picture of him eating the bread.

 

 

We can never go to the lake without him chasing a duck in hopes of catching one.  He got pretty close to this one and it turned around ready to get him, he backed off.

 

 

At the end of our special day we headed out to get ice cream and Gavin said he wanted cake. This boy loves ice cream so I was a bit surprised that he chose a bundt cake.  We headed towards Nothing Bundt Cake and he was talking about the chocolate chip one he would pick.  We went inside and he placed his order and shouted, "Yummy, Thank you" and then told me "Ladies first Mom" as we were headed out the door.  I love this kid beyond explanation.  When we walked out the door he said, "Mom, I have a good idea.  I want to sit down right here and have a picnic with you."  We were no more that 5 steps out the door when we sat down on the concrete and proceeded to have a bundt cake picnic.  I have never been one to care what people think and time seems to be flying by these days, so without hesitation we both enjoyed each others company right there in front of the busy shopping center.  This was the PERFECT ending to a PERFECT day. 

 

 I love you Gavin Thomas Frazier! 

 

 

Playdate with HC

My sweet girl has been so excited about this day and could hardly sleep last night.  She is off to an all day play date with her special friend Hannah Claire.  Daddy is picking her up at 5:00 when he gets off work.

 

 

Last night when we put her to bed she prayed the sweetest little prayer for Hannah Claire and about their special little play date today.  She told us, "I have quite possibly been friends with Hannah Claire since I was 18 months old, that is when we started preschool together."  Of course we chuckled at her choice of words.  It is a special treat when these two get together because they no longer attend school together and live an hour apart.  One thing is for sure, their little friendship is like no other and they both glow when they are together.  So thankful that Emma values her friendships and her friends so much.  Last week she made necklaces and bracelets for Hannah and Gracie and had me mail them  (both are from her MDO).  Have fun sweet girl and don't worry Hannah Claire will be coming to see us soon, pinky promise!

My BIG Pirate Boy

Tonight is a special night in our house because my almost 4 year old is sleeping in his big boy bed tonight.  For the past 5 years 9 months we have had a crib in our house, so I was a little sad tonight to tuck my little man in his new bed.

 

 

His room will be a work in progress for a few months while we have curtains made, pillows added, buy a few more decorations and create a new closet door.  Daddy is working hard to make this little Buccaneer have the perfect Pirate room, therefore we will "walk the plank" until we find the perfect finishing touches.

 

 

Can you tell he is super excited?  When the bed was delivered today he walked behind the installers saying, "duck it down, good job, you got it man, duck it down" as they passed through all the doorways.  We were laughing hysterically.  When they began putting the bed together he shouted, "let me get my tools" and ran to get his screw gun to assist. 

 

Gavin loves pirates, has an amazing imagination and has had a special pirate friend named Will for over a year now (we have yet to meet or see Will, but Gavin loves him).  After the bed arrived he said, "Mom, I can not wait for Will to sleep in my Pirate bed with me tonight."

 

 

Before we put him to bed he was talking to me and said, "I sure hope a dragon comes to see me tonight and I hope he is nice to me."  I love his little mind and I assured him that I was certain the dragon would be nice to him.  I can not wait to hear about his and Will's adventures in the morning.

 

There was no hesitation at bedtime, he was more than ready to climb up in his bed and "batten down the hatches" for the night.  Sweet boy, we are so proud of you and hope your dreams are filled with pirates, dragons, and big adventures tonight.

I must admit, I was a little sad to say goodbye to our crib after all these years.  I might have even asked the HOTY if he was sure we wanted to get rid of the crib or if we should save it and become the Frazier Five.  Needless to say he gave me several reasons why we should/would remain the Frazier Four (never hurts to ask, right?).

Sweet dreams to our sweet boy tonight as he counts down the days until his 4th Birthday. Only 42 more days Gavin Thomas, we love you buddy!

Star Student

Our sweet girl was picked to be Star Student this week by her teacher and she was super excited that it was finally her turn.

 

 

Her wonderful teacher announced Star Student at the beginning of the year, but the students were not ready to fully engage in the activity until about a month ago.  Emma was so excited every Friday when she announced the student and ecstatic when her name was called last week. She was so proud to bring George (the class pet) and the Star Student pack back home that was filled with George's wardrobe and the class journal.

 

 

We had to entertain George all weekend and take him with us where ever we went.  We took him with us to Target, Salt Grass, Academy, Tutti Frutti, Church, HEB and to movie night. 

 

 

Emma was so excited to take him to church with her and introduce him to Jesus, she got him dressed in his "dressy sweater and fancy shorts".

 

 

Star student was alot of extra work (on top of our regular 8 pages of homework a week), but so fun.  Emma had to take care of George, journal about everything we did, take pictures and include them in her journal, create a story map presentation of her life, bring something for show and tell, read her favorite book to the class and read George's journal to the class.

 

 

Thank God he blessed us with a wonderful Daddy.  I will be honest and say that I suggested that we load her life story presentation on her Ipad and send her to school with it, we had a super busy week and this just seemed easy.  Daddy was not okay with that, so he used his lunch break to print pictures out for Emma that they picked out together.  On Monday night while we were gone to dance, Daddy got busy and when we came home he had made this poster for Emma to present to her class. He was so thoughtful and bought two small posters he taped together so it would fold in half and be easy for Emma Lou to carry.  She was super proud and thankful her Daddy had done this for her.

 

 

Emma's Star Student week ended with a special lunch date with her Daddy.  Curtis picked up Chik Fil A and had lunch with Emma at the Star Student table at her school. 

 

Emma will always be a Star Student in our eyes.  She is such a lover of her school, her friends, her teacher and learning.

 

Last week she had a new boy named "Zach from Alabama" join her class and Emma came home everyday talking about him.  Every night she asked us to pray for him because she knew it had to be hard to come to a new school. On Zach's 2nd day of school Emma asked him if he wanted a friend and invited him to eat lunch with her, she even told him it might be a good idea for him to bring his lunch instead of buying because you get more time to visit at the lunch table (oh my social girl)!  Emma was thrilled that others decided to be Zach's friend after she invited him to eat lunch with her.  I was so PROUD of her for so many reasons last week and I was especially proud she decided to "be a friend to someone who doesn't have a friend" (those are my last words to her everyday after we hug and say I love you).

 

It was a busy week at our house, but we are never to busy to slow down and enjoy the STAR STUDENT God has blessed us with!

Only in Texas

There is no place like Texas and it is pretty safe to say that Emma Caroline is proud to be a Texan.

 

 

You can only get away with wearing your cowboy boots and jean jacket to dance class in the Lone Star State, no doubt.   This little girl would wear these boots every single day to school if I would let her, she loves them.  Our smiling little cowgirl is looking forward to the Rodeo coming to town and has her fingers crossed that she will be chosen to participate in one of their special events this year.  In the meantime, she will keep parading all over town in her favorite little boots. We would not change a single thing about you Emma Lou!

Final Cold Christmas



We celebrated our last Christmas yesterday with the Carnes family.   Uncle Wayne, Aunt Debbie and Kaiden came in town, so we all got together at Marla and Dwain's (we missed the rest of the crew).   We had the best time and ended up not getting home until midnight, which equaled cranky kiddos today.

 

 

Even though it was 36 degrees outside the kiddos and the Daddy's ended up getting in the hot tub and having a blast.  You would think Emma never gets to swim because she was so excited about swimming all day long.

 

 

This is just part of the crew that participated in the late night swim. I was freezing just watching them and unfortunately hardly pulled my camera out all day.  We ended up with about 8 of the little cousins there that day and they screamed and played nonstop.  We missed the ones that were sick and could not join us. 

 

It was a sad goodbye because Marla, Dwain, Peyton and Preston packed up and went back to Steamboat the next day, they will not come back until June.  Hoping we get to see them a wee bit sooner.  

 

Our final Christmas celebration for 2012 was a good one filled with food, family, friendships, laughter, stories, pictures and lots of hugs.

Emma's First Sleepover

Started out as a play date with their American Girls to a Basketball game and turned into a trip to American Girl, dinner, late night snacks, movies and these two staying up until 1:30 in the morning. 

 

As soon as we got to the game the whispering started and I knew they were up to something. Emma finally put her little hands on each side of my cheeks and said, "Mom, it would be so special to me if you would let Lauren spend the night, please, please, please!" How can you ever say NO to that?  I called Curtis and told him Lauren would be staying the night and he responded, "Oh that is great but they are not going to expect Emma to stay the night over there anytime soon, are they?"  My sweet husband would rather have kids piled up in our house rather than ours be away from home and I am right there with him.

 

The game ended pretty early so I thought it would be BIG fun to surprise them with a spontaneous trip to AG.  I shamefully admit this was our 3rd trip over Christmas break, we love this place so much that Emma is begging to have her 6th Birthday there.

 

 

The new Girl of the Year, Saige was released on Tuesday so there was all kind of excitement in the air over her appearance.  She is so cute and she has already made her way on Emma's 2013 Christmas list.  Saige is a 4th grader from New Mexico that loves arts, horses and hot air balloons.  We bought her book last night and are looking forward to learning more about her.

Surprisingly the store was not crowded at all so Lauren and Emma got special treatment.  They were able to hold Saige in her different outfits and Emma was jumping with joy, she fell in love instantly.

 

Lauren wanted to hold Saige in her fancy dress with her hair down.  These girl share a love for so many things and it makes my heart happy (dance, swim, school, Jesus & dolls).

Of course they got all their dolls ready for bed after we got home.  They played house with them, Sunday school, ate snacks and watched movies.  Poor Lauren had a late night nose bleed which panicked me a little, but I handled it without even waking up Daddy.

I thought they would never stop laughing, squealing, giggling and running through the house.   It was  like a sudden burst of energy hit them and they were WILD.  Gavin managed to keep up with them and was so excited to have "Wauren" staying the night.   At 1:30 I went in Emma's room and found them watching the AG movie McKenna on Emma's IPAD.   I made them pinky promise they would not get out of bed and then I went to sleep.  Truth is, I have no clue what time they finally crashed but it is pretty safe to say they had a BLAST.  Not bad for Emma's first night to have a friend stay the night and Lauren's first night away from home. I am sure this is just the beginning of many long nights with my little SOCIAL girl.

Just because...

Emma Caroline certainly has a style of her own.  She is so picky about her clothes and rarely lets me have a say so in her "get up" these days.

 

 

Some days she matches and other days we just consider it overrated (hence the necklace that her boy-friend Callen gave her)!   Today she has decided to squeeze her foot in her size NINE open toed gold Belle shoes to go with me to a Basketball game. I have learned to pick my battles and love her just the way she is which isn't hard to do at all.  Thank you for always making me smile and marching to the beat of your own drum Emma Lou!

Skating in the New Year

This little bundle of joy has been begging to go ice skating for years, so today was the day.  Daddy and Gavin opted not to skate before we got there, they just wanted to watch.  On the ride down, Gavin fell asleep so Daddy stayed in the car and let him sleep until we had our skates on.

 

 

Emma was so excited and ready to get her skates on as soon as she saw the rink and all the skaters.  I was just praying I did not break a leg or fall with my camera around my neck.

 

Oh I love this little girl so much and her willingness to try anything once.  She continues to keep her 40 year old Momma active, that is for sure.

 

 

Waiting in line to get our skates and wondering who wore these before us.  Relieved to see the guy squirting Lysol in them as they were turned in (ha ha).

Look at that face, she is ready to get those skates on and give it her all.  Oh goodness, I knew this was going to be very interesting.

She finally made it to the rink and started hugging the wall for dear life.   It was super crowded, so people were a little pushy and the more advanced wall huggers were really wanting to go around us.

 

About 45 minutes into our skating adventure, we had only made it HALF way around the rink and Emma declared she had enough.   She refused to go any further, realized that it was not as easy as it looked, would not let me help her and just stood there saying, "get me out of here, please get me out of here."  I admit I started laughing hysterically and begged her to keep going until we got to the exit.  She was not moving at all!

 

I asked her to let me carry her, but I knew we would probably both be taking a trip to the ER if I was her mode of transportation off the ice. I did the only thing I knew to do and that was raise my hand and flag down the man from Guest Services.  He was so sweet and told Emma he would be happy to get her to safety. Thank goodness because my feet could not have stood on those skates for another hour.  When he skated off with my baby girl, I did figure out how to skate and followed behind him quickly (look at Emma's face, laughing just blogging this... it was FUNNY!).

 

She was willing and ready to turn in her ice skates and told her Daddy she did not want to do this again for a long time.  He sweetly told her, "I am so proud of you for trying Emma."

Poor Gavin was freezing and we could not get him warmed up.  We even put an extra scarf I had in my bag around his little neck, but he was still shivering.

 

After we finished skating we walked around and admired all the decorations and played on the hill. These kids crack me up.

 

I think this is our little version of Central Park in our big city.  It was a fun little family getaway and one more thing for Emma Lou to mark off her bucket list. 

 

This sweet boy was a trooper while he waited for us to finish skating.  He enjoyed the artwork, water, lights and sculptures.

The ice rink was buried in the middle of all these beautiful buildings and lights.  I was so glad we opted for the outdoor ice experience.  Perhaps we can stay on the ice a little longer in a few years, what a great memory.