Emojiville

The Hunt Hound Carnival was last Friday night.  It was the perfect time to bring back Lila's emoji costume from Halloween!

These 2nd and 4th grade girls were all about some emoji love.

While most of the 5th grade boys were too cool to dress up, they still enjoyed cruising around like the top dogs.

The two moms in charge of the carnival did a fantastic job.  It was well decorated, had games, a magician...

pizza and soft drinks...

cotton candy, friends for Cami...

and even a legit airbrush tattoo artist!

All of the kids had a blast.  Love them hounds.

PINSTACK

February 17th!  Happy 11th Birthday to our first born!  We kicked off the day bright and early.  

Jared got some donuts for the fam and then we let J open his gifts.

His sisters gave him a new swimsuit and swim shirt...

and his daddy and I gave him a fun tie from Vineyard Vines with baseballs and baseball helmets on it.  We figured it was made just for him. 

We also gave him this cool new batting apparatus, that he can use to do hitting practice with in the backward.

After all the games, we made it to PINSTACK for his birthday party.  The kids started off with bowling...

and the birthday boy wasn't half bad!

Gigi and Boom came to help supervise and take Cami home early.  Cheers to that!

 

The kids ate pizza and then everyone sang to Jackson.  His cookie cake was a big hit.

Next up, the arcade and attractions!

All the kids played laser tag first, then these kids got in line for the ropes course.

Maddie and Lila went up first, and were soon followed by...

Blake, Dominic, Jackson and Caleb.

Hi Madison!

Hi Lila!

Hi Boys!

There was plenty of games for everyone to play.  Brock and Caden loved the motorcycles...

and then Brock, Cole and Gavin played air hockey.

This place was jam-packed all night long!

The girls tried their hand at rock-climbing.

Lila didn't get too far, but Maddie made it all the way to the top!

The kids ended the night with glow-in-the-dark bumper cars, and by 9:00 that night, we were finally headed home!

The next night was Jackson's family birthday dinner.  Uncle Scott was still on a work trip to India, but Aunt Lyndsie was able to make it.  They gave J new Rangers and Mavs shirts--perfect.

"Happy Birthday dear Jackson, Happy Birthday to YOU!!"

We had a scrumptious dinner and dessert and then called it a night.  We were so thankful that Boom and Gigi could be there...

as well as Memaw and Poppi, too. 

Jackson Warren Hays, I sure hope you know how much you are loved.  You were the first grandchild on both sides of the family, and you will always have a very special place in everyone's hearts. You are an amazing kid and we can't wait to see what all you will accomplish.  The sky is the limit!

A Little Magic

 Friday just had a little something special in the air.  It was the day before Jackson's birthday and time to begin the celebration.  I brought him three brisket, bacon and cheese tacos from R Taco, the new Mexican hot spot in Murphy, as well as 9 dozen donut holes for him to give out to his classmates.

A couple hours after school, it was time for the Murphy Magic end-of-season party.  These girls had a terrific season, only losing one game.  Coach Shannon has done a fantastic job teaching them.

After we had finished eating, we were just chatting about this and that.  All of a sudden, some of his friends begin singing "Happy Birthday to you" and before we knew it, the entire room was serenading him!  His face turned bright red, but he had a huge smile on his face.  It was so cute!

Way to go, Magic!

And way to go #18!  Her trophy collection is getting pretty impressive.

Saturday morning, we kicked things off bright and early.  Jared got donuts for the fam and Jackson got to open his gifts.  Then we ran out the door at 8am to go cheer him on at his first flag football game of the season.

The other team scored first, but then these boys went on a 50 point run!  Cowboys won 50-6. 
Only a few hours later, these boys would be on opposite sides of the court for the basketball championship.

After lunch, this duo was all set for more athletic endeavours.  Lila had her first softball practice of the season, while J prepared to close out his basketball season.

These boys tried hard, but came up short in the championship game.  They got 2nd place in their league--not too shabby for a school team that only practiced once a week!

Another big trophy for the birthday boy's collection.  

Jackson met Gavin and Brock on the baseball field when he joined the Fury.  A few seasons later, Corbin made the team as well.  Since then, they have all moved on, but remained good friends.
I love it.

Up next, the birthday party that was only an hour after basketball ended!

Lotsa Love

Valentine's Day is turning into a week-long celebration.  Not quite, but it's getting close!

We kicked off the holiday with a Valentine party at Reese's house for all the soccer girls.

They made cute cards and then ran around outside in the frigid temps.

At the end, they all exchanged valentines, too.  So cute.

On Monday night, Cami got to go on a date with Daddy.  She picked out a precious heart outfit and wore her best smile.  They dropped off Jackson at baseball practice and then went to eat at Chili's, on her request.  Sometimes being the youngest pays off, especially when your two siblings have practice.  I know it beat sitting at soccer practice for an hour an a half!

Tuesday was devoted to assembling all Valentine gifts, making sure their boxes were fully decorated, and writing notes to teachers to attach to their cookie boxes.  We filled all kid baggies with cookie bars, made by our resident baker--Daddo!  He made four pans of cookie bars just for the occasion.  Did I mention he's a keeper?

Wednesday morning we were ready to give out the goodies.  Mrs. Tillery loved her cookies...

and Lila ran to give her friends in other classes some treats as well.  Lauren was a fan of the emoji cookie bars...

and Calley was too.

 

Lila's class played two games, decorated and ate sugar cookies and then handed out valentines.  I thought Lila and Brooklyn's boxes were so adorable.

After I finished in 2nd Grade, I headed down to see the 5th graders.  These boys were so pumped up and had already had plenty of sugar!

Jackson's teachers all loved his cookie treats for them.  

They made sure to let me know what a pleasure it is to have him in class, 

which is always so nice to hear!

The 5th graders got to have ice cream sundaes...

and play silly games.

Happy Valentine's Day!

We raced out of school just in time to make it to pick up Madison.  She told us that two boys had given her special valentines!  Ooh la la!

We went to Gigi and Boom's next, so that I could get back to my sweet baby girl, who had woken up with fever the night before.  Thank goodness for my mom, who took her to the doctor for me, so that I didn't miss the parties with Jackson and Lila.  Poor girl had a bad reaction to her vaccine from the day before AND had strep.  A bummer of a way to spend Valentine's Day and she missed her party at school.  That night, I made our fam homemade lasagna and we wolfed it down in record time, so that Jared could take Jackson to his playoff basketball game.  Long gone are the days of dates on February 14th, but that's just fine with us!  The Mavs won and I got extra snuggles from my baby girl.  My heart couldn't love these little people and their daddy anymore if it tried.