We're official

Last week the family was dunked for an official Baptist baptism. Matalley has been asking about baptism since July (I think her camp leader must have talked a lot about John the Baptist). She asked, "Have I been baptized?" And while technically the answer is no since she was only dedicated when she was a baby, she has long believed that Jesus is her Savior. And after lots of discussion, Grayson also asked, "Well, have I been baptized?" And so we took them to see our pastor, Howie. And after talking to them he said they were most certainly good to make a public profession of faith.

It has been a rough transitional year for our family. We have slowly moved from First Pres to First Baptist over the last year. In September, we made it official when we walked to the front of First Baptist to join. We miss lots of things about First Pres and especially the people. Lots of tears have been shed, but we know that there are lots of good people at First Baptist. The great biblical foundation began at First Pres will continue to solidify at First Baptist. First Baptist is big, much bigger than First Pres, so Grayson's Sunday school class of 5 is now 40. It's an adjustment for all of us. We do love the pastor and he has been so good to us. Because I have never been fully submerged, I had to also be baptized and because I was doing it, Matt joined us as well. So we had a family dunking last week. 

Matalley was so happy. She really couldn't contain her excitement. I love her face in this picture. Pure joy.

 Pastor Howie was very kind

I asked her the next morning if she felt any different and she said she felt cleaner:). I dared our friends to bring noise makers and a celebratory toast but in the end settled for a sermon by Pops. He preached on the importance of children and our children/youth pastors loved it!

A time for Thanksgiving

I did it! I'm all caught up on the 2017 blog. Did I leave some things out? Sure I did, but limited time, limited facts, limited mistakes.

We are getting much better at packing for long trips but the actual driving part is about the same. We left on Wednesday to get to Dallas just in time for an afternoon at 6flags. It was a chilly day and the fast rides made it even chillier but the kids had a great time. I thought I might snag a Christmas card photo, but no such luck.

We got done in time to grab some pizza to go and take a quick swim in the hotel pool. The pool was green and extra salty which I remember seeing at the last Summer Olympics. I kept telling the kids, "It's okay, it just looks funny. They only delayed the diving competition because they couldn't see the bottom." I'm not sure that is actually true, perhaps the Olympic competition was delayed because it's not healthy to have green water.

On Thanksgiving, we headed further South to meet up with the McDannel clan in Waco. Matalley was looking forward to the Green Bean Casserole and Millie was excited to see Mac'n cheese. Grayson happened to step in a fire ant pile as we were exiting the car so he wasn't very excited to sit still and be reminded of all his itches. (Poor G is still scratching at those bites). Lola wore a dress my Great Grandmother made for my Mom when my Mom was in 1st grade. I love the pattern and that Lola was so excited to wear it.

We spent the afternoon playing Dutch Bliss, putting puzzles together and eating. Unfortunately the pool at the second hotel was an outdoor pool so we bypassed swimming but enjoyed a Hallmark movie and multiple trips to the van to bring up stuff we'd forgotten.

On Friday, we drove to Groesbeck to see Mimi and enjoyed some good conversation before heading North to Dallas. We ate at a yummy Mexican restaurant named Matt's that had a kid at every table even though there wasn't any kids entertainment. It was the oddest thing to see so many families but also refreshing and a relief to watch other parents chorale itty bitties. We got to stay at Aunt Jackie's new home which was very nice and had a play room. Bedtime was the most difficult of the trip Friday night and I lost my patience several times. Millie kept asking me, "are you mad Mommy?"

We helped prepare a second Thanksgiving meal with the McDannel clan which was also delicious and then headed over to see Santa. Millie was just in awe of the man and kept touching his beard. Grayson said he would take a picture but would not sit on his lap. We attended a story time with Santa earlier and Millie was so taken by Santa and followed every word. It really is magical to watch kids interact with Mr. Claus.

With that, we grabbed a couple of black Friday deals and headed home to Amarillo. We rolled into our garage a little after midnight and claimed it a successful trip. I can't say that I wasn't totally exhausted but I loved having Sunday to relax and put up our Christmas decorations. Whether we are ready for the Christmas season or not, it's on it's way and I'm so grateful we have it to look forward to!

Faces of Millie

In the last year, Millie has grown up so much and before I know it she'll be driving a real car.

She's now dressing herself (those are flesh colored leggings underneath her leg warmers)

and taking on her role as the comedian of the family. I think she technically told me she was putting on lipstick but it's a little clown like.

She is very affectionate and likes to cuddle but can be a little cranky sometimes.

She can entertain herself while I'm packing to get out of town

but is also really good at making big messes in the process. You can't even see the food that she covered in sour cream...it tastes like yogurt to her.

She enjoys her siblings

A big thing this year is that she is now fully potty trained (I know this picture is slightly inappropriate but I think I missed giving her kudos last winter for potty training so quickly). She likes to visit bathrooms wherever we are but definitely prefers her own bathroom.

She is a little premadonna-ish...insisting on building a bed in Grayson's room for herself so that she could "be in bed" while I read all the kids a story.

She has sayings and words that I know will be missed when she stops using them...it happens so slowly but Matalley doesn't say Lemonlade anymore and so I know the day is coming when Millie will no longer say "hear it up" when she wants me to turn up the radio volume and she will eventually say Kitchen instead of Chicken ("My milk is in the chicken, Mommy."). She calls Bananas, nanna and her friend Porter is called Quarter. She goes to Ms. Jemmifers and loves it. What a blessing Jennifer has been as I reentered the full time workforce. Jennifer takes the kids on a ton of field trips and is so patient. We are thankful for her presence!! These are pics, Jennifer has shared with us from some fun activities.

Looks like Millie enjoys her time there. We love our Silly Millie and are in awe of the year's changes.

Day of the Dead

Jessica invited us to a Day of the Dead skull decorating party. The girls were really into it.

Technically they are supposed to be decorated to represent a relative that you are remembering but the Sadler clan just used as many colors and accessories as we could fit on them.

Lola also got to dress as her favorite fairytale character for school. I tried to get her to go as Cinderellla since we have a really awesome ball gown but she was determined to be Little Red Riding Hood. She certainly is cute enough to be either!

Halloween

Halloween was slightly crazy because it fell on my late day at work. But we managed to get the pumpkins carved (without anyone causing bodily harm...and that's notable with Millie and sharp utensils in the mix),

 and everyone in costume. The kids agreed to go as a theme again this year and chose to do breakfast foods. So here is your breakfast served with a scary dragon.

 We also had our traditional Halloween stew

 and witches brew

Matalley said it was great. Sadly, Grayson opted out of trick or treating this year which was a bummer for me (not just for the lack of additional candy selection but also because that means he's growing up). These seasons are so short.

Albuquerque Again

Life keeps rolling and there is another trip to Albuquerque. This time around, we met YiaYia and Bompa for a weekend of fun (and a couple of soccer games on the side). Our hotel provides free breakfast which is great but it's pretty much a survivor game for the adults. Not only are you trying to protect guests from being overrun by our small crew, but you are also on the offensive for catching yogurt drippings, rolling grapes, and spilled milk. It's not at all relaxing. Between games, we eat lunch and come up with interesting games, like...name the photo subject and it's some obscure relative the kids don't know.

After soccer, we went to a Chinese Lantern celebration. Little Lola got lost after Matalley and I took this picture. She was scared and I was panicked but we found her.

 We also took photos in front of our Zodiac

And we rounded out the weekend with a trip to a windy pumpkin patch.

Balloon Festival!

A great thing about soccer in Albuquerque is that it gives us a chance to explore another city. With a 4 day "fall" break from school and soccer games right in the middle of the vacation, we decided to spend a few extra days in NM and enjoy the balloon festival.

It's something I've wanted to do since we moved to Amarillo and it was well worth our early morning. I will say we were not prepared for the cold. Matalley forgot a coat so she ended up wearing what I was going to wear (hence the picture below) but we needed gloves and hats too.

It warmed up as the sun rose.

The field is just covered with balloons and a strand of them will blow up and lift off right there in front of you.

 We got hot chocolate before loading back up into the bus to grab breakfast at the hotel.

Once we got back to the hotel, it was like starting the day fresh since it was so early. We decided to try a hike and Jessica (who lived in NM for a while) was visiting so she met up with us to show us the sites. We went to Kasha-Katuwe Tent Rocks. This is the base of a tree root from wear the water washed the sediment away but yet the tree is still growing.

 Millie was a trooper but did get some help occasionally. It was a big climb for her.

 The kids loved exploring

 And these are the tent rocks that we came to see. Just random tent like rocks...

 The view at the top was pretty

 Millie's was pretty proud of herself for making it to the top.

 These are the crevices that we had to climb up to get to the top...it's not a stroll up.

 It was cool in the shade and hot in the sun

 We certainly enjoyed the scenery and the time together.

We grabbed a late lunch and then headed back to the balloon festival activities to see the balloons glowing at night. The kids enjoyed the night part a lot more...mainly because it was so much warmer.

 Matalley took this photo.

 They had a firework show to end the night. All in all it was a fun LONG day and we would do it again.