Eagle Springs Eggstravaganza

I took Carmen and Miles to the Eagle Springs Eggstravaganza. Damon was gone doing a Deacon's Quorum service project, and Olivia was already at the festival. She needed some volunteer hours for NHS, so she was running some of the carnival games.

The kids are getting a little too big for this, but nobody is too old to ride the train.

Miles did the egg hunt, then we did a few more things, like the petting zoo, before walking home.

Pickle Festival

In what is becoming a tradition, we went to the Kingwood Pickle Festival on Saturday.

We had fun sampling and buying pickle-related products. Carmen was offered a spot at Christina McKinney's booth so she could sell some of her crocheted animals.

When we were done, we left her there with Olivia, who wanted to help. She ended up making over $100.

Eagle Springs Eggstravaganza

Saturday was the Eagle Springs Eggstravaganza, but Miles and I were the only ones who were able to go. Olivia was taking a mock AP test at the high school, Carmen was doing solo & ensemble at the middle school (where Amber was accompanying the solos), and Damon had a "Battle of the Books" activity at another school.

After dropping everyone off, Miles and I went to the Eggstravaganza on our own.

He did the crafts, played the carnival games, bounced in the bouncy house, and rode the rides.

He got a balloon hat, and we rode the train and the hay ride.

And of course, he collected Easter eggs. We finished just in time to go pick up Damon from his activity.

Eagle Springs Winter Festival

I took the kids to the Eagle Springs Winter Festival on Saturday. It was old hat for us at this point, having gone to so many of these over the years, but everyone still had fun. We started with the hayride.

Then moved on to the petting zoo.

After that we split up and tried games, bounce houses, crafts, and balloon animals, then joined back up to ride the train.

It was quite a cold day, so we decided to go home to warm up, but not before saying good-bye to Rudolph.

December of Activities

December was just a flurry of activities, and even though I'm sure I'm forgetting some of them, it was enough to make us go a little crazy.

There was the Stake Christmas Concert, where I sang in the adult choir, Amber and Olivia played in the orchestra, and Carmen, Damon, and Miles sang in the children's choir. One performance of the choirs in Humble, another performance with everyone in Kingwood.

Carmen had a school choir performance in Old Town Spring, where we got to ride a train and visit some shops.

There was a party at the Silveria's ranch later that night. A few days later, Olivia had a theater performance and an orchestra concert on the same night.

During all this we were trying to prepare Damon for the spelling bee the day after. The training paid off, and he got 4th place as a third grader, and his friend from his class got 3rd!

The elementary school teachers came caroling in our neighborhood the next day, and immediately afterwards we went to the Alzheimer's Center for the piano/guitar recital.

Carmen had her Living History Museum presentation the day after that.

On Saturday, we relaxed by going to the neighborhood Winter Festival (where we got to ride another train), and the ward Christmas party that night (where I was a volunteer food distributor).

Carmen had a Strikers concert where she got to lead off some of the drum cadences, we somehow got our Christmas card picture taken and cards printed and sent, Amber ran a class party, and we invited Dan's family over to make gingerbread creations.

We were very happy when the Sunday before Christmas rolled around, and I directed and the family sang in the two choir numbers, and then we were done with activities until after Christmas.

Spring Festival

The neighborhood spring festival was rained out, but they still had the Easter Bunny giving away Easter eggs at one of the clubhouses. Amber and Olivia were at Lamb of God practice, and Damon was at a birthday party, so I took Carmen and Miles.

It only took a few minutes, just take a picture and get some eggs, but they were happy to get something at all.

BBQ Festival

On one of our Saturday morning walks, Amber and I found some giant acorns (which we later found were acorns from a bur oak). Carmen wanted to see them and get some for herself, so I took Carmen and Damon on a bike ride to find the tree.

On the way, we ran into the neighborhood BBQ festival and decided to stop and have some fun. The kids tried a mechanical bull, corn hole, bounce house, pony rides, giant Jenga, lassoing, rock wall, and more. I even joined in the fun and got to the top of the rock wall myself.

Here's a compilation video.

After the delay, we accomplished our mission and brought home a handful of giant acorn

Spring Festival

On Saturday we went to the neighborhood Spring Festival. We've done this many times before, so the kids were ready.

We got there right as the line for balloon animals opened, so we got those first.

This is the first year we haven't had a child in the lower age group, so we visited the games while the toddlers got their eggs. The most popular booth was the silly string and confetti egg booth.

When it was egg time, the kids knew what to do.

Miles and Damon competed in the middle age group and Carmen and Olivia in the older age group.

Afterwards we went back to the games. There was a new ride this year, which the kids said was a lot of fun. They like that they could spin the cars themselves.

Winter Festival

Amber was doing schoolwork on Saturday, so I took the kids to the neighborhood Winter Festival. We got there right as it was starting, so we didn't have to wait long to ride the train.

They had a lot of different crafts, and the kids wanted to collect all of them.

Not to mention the prizes from the games. We had our hands full by the end.

We didn't wait in line for Santa, but we did meet one of his reindeer (the most famous of all).

They also had a petting zoo where I saw these adorable kids petting this adorable kid.

We saved the inflatable bounce house and slides for last, but by then the lines were long.

When they were all bounced out, we took our winnings and headed home.

Easter egg hunt

On Saturday morning we walked to our neighborhood's Easter egg hunt. It was very nice weather, and we got there in time to get a picture with the Easter bunny before Miles's age group started.

Miles took his time gathering eggs, but luckily for him he ended up mostly alone and was able to get quite a few, even at his leisurely pace.

Damon was by himself in the next age group up. He knew exactly what to do.

Olivia and Carmen were in the oldest age bracket, and had to fight to get any eggs. Their field was cleared in about 10 seconds.

In between egg collecting, we played carnival games and stopped at the petting zoo.

The kids also did crafts, got faces painted, and got balloon animals (and weapons).

They even had a few rides, which Amber took the kids on.

When we had had enough, we hurried home to watch general conference and see what was in the eggs.

Independence Day

I got the 4th of July off of work, and it ended up being a pretty busy day. We started off by going to the neighborhood parade and festival. In what is becoming a tradition, we had donuts for breakfast while waiting for the parade to come.

Afterwards, the kids enjoyed the foam pit and water slides.

There was also a fun sand art craft, and temporary tattoos.

The girls also participated in a fundraiser for refugees by sewing neck coolers, which sold pretty well on a hot day.

In the afternoon, we were invited to a pool party, which was a nice way to cool off after a hot morning.

That night we did some regular fireworks at home, with a few big mortars for the finale.