2014 Christmas Prep

 Pickout a Christmas tree. Done

 

 Decorate Christmas tree. Done.

 

Tell Santa what you want for Christmas.  Done, but with a bit of nervousness on the part of the 4 year old. 

 

Take pic with Santa with no tears or screaming.  Done, but with a bit of a nervous smile on the 4 year old! 



Thanksgiving

Another fun year, with a bit of a twist on what we've done for years now - Aggie football had to be factored in, so we had an early lunch at the Denson house and then Michael and I headed to College Station for the game. 

 The Thanksgiving cookers, minus Aunt Jean who was taking the pic

 

 The Thanksgiving cookers part two

 

 Hungry cousins making funny faces

 

 We were all 4 smiling at this point, the people in white were not so smiley at the end of the night.  Super fun to have the family rivalry on Thanksgiving now!  Looking forward to watching the game from the couch with everyone next year.  Hopefully the Aggies can pull off a win!

 

This one is a classic!

Space Center Houston

We were excited to have Heidi and Susan in for Thanksgiving and even more excited that they came in early so we had a few days to hang out.  Ella and I met them and Grandpa down at Space Center Houston one day (poor Addy was in school still!) and we got to run around that place.  And I literally mean run around...because that is what a 3 and 4 year old do in a place with wide open spaces!  Not sure how much they got out of the experience but they seemed to have fun.  The only pic I got of the 2 of them was dark, but here are some of me and Ella

Me and Ella and the shuttle carrier airplane that Houston got in lieu of one of the actual shuttles.  Still pretty cool to look at.  Kind of makes the shuttle look small which is strange. 

 

 Ella at the original Mission Control

 

Ella and the really big Saturn rocket.  At least I think it was the Saturn...was definitely a really big rocket.  We mostly walked/ran alongside the rocket, not a whole lot of reading about it. 



Reunion Weekend

Finally it was Michael and my turn to go to a game together - and this time with a lot of friends!  Game was not so great, it was cold and rained the whole time, but we stayed until the fourth quarter to watch the Aggies lose.  Still had a great time hanging with good friends!

 Me and My Girls.
We missed our girls who have left Texas and have more than a short drive to get to College Station so couldn't make it.

 

Cute but blurry pic of us before we put the ponchos on and headed out in the cold and rain.

Mommy-Addy and Daddy-Ella Day

What a fun day we all had today!  Was somewhat of a divide and conquer family day.

Mommy-Addy Day
Michael got to take Addy to her first Aggie game, but I got to take her to her first Aggie game where she actually saw the Aggies score and win!  Granted it was not a pretty game, all that matters is that we got the "W".  Was a gorgeous day to sit outside and watch football.  Fortunately we had a  blanket to snuggle up in when the sun moved and we ended up in the shade.

 We got to watch the corp march in - I got a lot of questions about the corp and I had no idea what the answers were.  I suggested Addy Google them when we got home.  We did conclude that she did not want to join the military when she was older and I told her that I was OK with that.

 Addy in Kyle Field

A game day selfie!

Daddy-Ella Day
A bit further down South, Michael and Ella were having an adventure of their own.  I must say I am a bit jealous too.  They went to Moody Gardens Aquarium and did the penguin encounter.  They got to hang out with penguins and learn about them and watch them do art.  The most fantastic part is that they actually won one of the "paintings" that they watched the penguin paint.  Here is the penguin, her name was "Mo", doing her thing

And here is Ella holding up the masterpiece.  It is hard to see but it is black and yellow footprints.  Super cute!

Happy Halloween

 Elsa and our wizard of Gryffindor

 Yarwell neighbors did not disappoint!  The kids had a blast running up and down the street collecting candy! 

 Here are our spooktacular pumpkins we carved.  Didn't realize how small the cat eyes were until we finally put candles in them!

Let the Halloween Festivities Begin!

First step was a visit to the St. Luke's pumpkin patch to find the perfect pumpkins to carve.  Fortunately there were pumpkins galore to choose from.  I think we looked at every pumpkin before we settled on "the ones".

Then a play date with our wonderful neighbor friends ended up in a big pumpkin carving party that was super fun.  Ella was settled on carving a cat pumpkin, done.  Addison started off wanting a dog then changed her mind 10 times and finally decided on a "W".  I realized we don't have pics of the carved pumpkins, but we'll capture those on Halloween.  

 Ella dove right in and was unphased by the goo!

 Addy the carving pro.

Addison carving with her neighbor BFF Will.

 Then the annual trip to Zoo Boo.  Best part of this trip was that it was the 1st time they got to wear their costumes!  Addy is a member of Gryffindor from the Harry Potter book series and of course Ella is Elsa from the Frozen movie. 

 If you will remember back to our San Antonio vacation last year when we went to the wild animal park and the zebra head in the car that made Ella terrified of zebras - well, I think that she is trying to overcome her fear by riding the zebra on the carousel at the zoo.  It was a BIG step.  In the past she has refused to even look at them at the zoo.  Even sitting on the back of a fake one is impressive. 

Happy 8th Birthday Party

 Addy got to celebrate her actual birthday with a trip to College Station, but Sunday she got to celebrate with her friends.  It was  "Magical" party!  I was originally thinking a small girlie  get together, but she really wanted to have a magic show at her party, so magic show it was.  The magician was super and a fun time was had by all, young and old. 

Addison's 1st Aggie Game

Let the brainwashing begin in full force - Addison went to her first Aggie game on her birthday.  The game on the field was terrible, Aggies lost miserably, but Addison seemed to have a great time.  Michael took Addison and they got to experience some of the on-campus pregame festivities we've never seen and then they stayed through halftime.  Unfortunately the game didn't start until 8:00 PM so it was a long night, but she says she had a great time and wants to go back!

Michael had read about the new cannon we have to go with the new stadium setup and actually saw it.  It is pretty serious.

And here is a little game day "selfie" in the stadium.  I think that she has the gig 'em down pretty good!

Yarwell Kids

We love our neighbor friends and they are the cutest group when they get together.  They pretty much act like brothers and sisters at this point.  So fun having the kids run between the 2 houses.  My house is oddly more calm with the 4 of the vs. my 2 alone! 

Rowan

My job is not glamorous and very few people have a clue what I do even after I explain it to them, but most people understand when I tell them I work for an offshore drilling company.  Few perks come along with working for an offshore drilling company, but one fun opportunity is getting to go on one of the drilling rigs.  Not something your average Joe gets a chance to do.  One of the rigs was in the Sabine Pass Yard for some repairs and inspections, so my group took a trip to visit.  Was actually my 3rd time on a rig, but I think that this may be the 1st photo I've taken on one. 

 Group photo on the helideck.  The structure directly behind us is one of the legs on the rig.  Bethany with a mildly crooked hard hat..

Photo from the yard with the rig in the background.  The rig is in the water jacked up about 10' above the water line.  It is a big chunk of steel that can still float somehow.  And in this one my hard hat is really crooked.  Nice.

Orange

 The first Friday of October was a "fall break" for HISD so we decided to make a quick trip to Orange to visit with Granny.  We were all excited for the trip, but Ella and her lack of calendar concept seemed extra exited and asked about the trip daily for a solid 2 weeks.  There were a lot of conversations that went a little something like this
Ella:  "When are we going to Granny's?"
Me:  "Next Friday"
Ella: "Tomorrow?"
Me:  "No, not tomorrow, next Friday"
Ella:  "In two days"
Me:  "Sure, whatever, yes, in two days"
So finally our trip to Orange was here.  Us girls had a great time shopping, park playing and relaxing.  Highlight for me was possibly dinner at Casa Ole!  It was also fun when Ella found the pictures on Granny's coffee table in the living room and we went through a lot of pictures that I had not seen in a long time.  Always a good time in Orange - we love you Granny!

Labor Day Weekend

Bit more rain than we would have liked, but it kept the crowds away a bit which was nice.  Fortunately we got some playtime on the beach and it must be hermit crab season (if there is such a thing!) because there were tons of them.  Michael collected a couple and then taught Addison how to feel for them in the water and pick them up.  Before long we had quite the crab collection.  The weather was making the currents really strong so there wasn't a lot of water play so the crabs were quite the source of entertainment!  Here are the girls and their crab friends

Not sure when we'll get back to the beach and it is a bit of a bummer that we didn't make it down more this summer, but this was quite the summer of travel for the Wolf family and we still had tons of fun. 

First Day of 2nd Grade

Kolter Elementary - Ms. Reardon's Class

First Day of Pre-K

And last first day at Bertha Alyce! Ella is in the owl's class with Ms. Laura and Mr. James.

Denson History

We made a stop by Great Grandma Brewster's house in Meridian, MS on our way back home. There were people sitting on the front porch so we felt a little funny taking too many pics and lingering but we can now say we have seen it at least. Little bit of family history for the record books.

Uncle Jack

On Wednesday Michael made a passing comment about the Jack Daniel's distillery. A bit of internet research later and next thing you know, our first destination on Thursday is Lynchburg, TN.  We now know a whole lot more about whiskey making, very cool tour and impressive facility.  Girls did remarkably well on the tour. They did remarkably well on all of the tours we did this week, we actually got compliments from other people, so it isn't just us being biased!!  

Here are the girls and Jack

Ella being silly

Michael and his girls in front on a whiskey barrel at the actual Jack Daniel's facility.  We also learned more of the history of the Jack Daniel's barrels we have as planters in our back yard. Too bad ours don't have the brand on them like this one.

Final Day In Nashville

We had a nice relaxing final day in Nashville. We were excited to have Denise and Connie join us at Belle Meade   Plantation. We learned about the horse farm and saw some cool old buildings, including a pretty swanky mansion. Then had a nice lunch at the plantation followed by a great family dinner to end the visit.

The family on the front porch of the mansion

The girls relaxing with Aunt Connie

Yummy Italian family dinner

We can't thank Denise, Steve and Aunt Connie for the generous hospitality. We had a wonderful visit and loved spending time with family.  I am pretty sure that the girls will continue to talk about Cousin Laura for a very long time!