Abby and Daddy weekend

Waiting on our burgers and drawing on the wall


At Casa Manana-- outside and inside


Pillow Fight!!!


Abby imitating a prize fighter and exploring the Water Gardens


Nothing like sweet tea for breakfast; also, getting ready for the bobsled ride at Six Flags







***This is a guest post by Greg***

This fall has been very busy for our family. Reese played t-ball and I was a coach for his team. The rain caused the season to get drug out and we ended up playing about a month longer than originally planned. Abby was a good sport about it but she was definitely ready for the season to be over. I decided that since I had spent so much time with Reese during t-ball that I'd take Abby for an Abby and Daddy weekend.

My original plan was to go out of town, but then I figured if we stayed close to home that we'd get to do more and drive less. Sooooo....after I got off work Friday we went to downtown Fort Worth and checked into the Sheraton (they remodeled it recently so it's not a dump like it used to be...actually kinda classy). We dumped our bags and headed to eat. We went to the Love Shack over off 7th Street. Abby is a sucker for a cheeseburger and they make a pretty good one. I had the Dirty Love burger that has a fried quail egg on it. Mmmmm. They had a band playing so we listened to music while we ate, then Abby found chalk and a wall where you can draw. She thought drawing on the wall was pretty sweet.

After dinner we went to Casa Manana and saw "Santa Claus is Coming to Town". We sat 2nd row and Abby liked the show. I'm always glad to support live theater, especially when it's good for the whole family, but...I wasn't a big fan of this show. It had some corny numbers and it was kind of slow. I give it 2 1/2 out of 5 stars.

The hotel had a pretty nice indoor pool so I figured Abby would want to swim after the show, but all she wanted to do was get a Dr. Pepper from the vending machine and play in the hotel room. So, for the next hour and a half she spent jumping between the two beds, drinking Dr. Pepper, and having a pillow fight. I think this was the highlight of the weekend for her. Then we watched a show on Food Network about Gravy and went to bed.

The next day we woke up, packed up, and checked out of the hotel. We dropped the bags in the car and walked across the street to the Water Gardens. Abby explored around there for a while until we got hungry, and then we drove down to the Paris Coffee Shop. I'd always heard of it but had never been so I figured it was worth checking out since we were so close and needed to eat. The food was decent, not the best, but the service was good and the place was packed with locals. It was a good change of pace from the typical chain restaurants. The best thing was the cinnamon roll-- Abby let me eat some of hers and it was pretty good. She said it was good until the seventh bite. Not sure what she meant by that.

After a big breakfast we headed to Six Flags. Abby is quite the thrill seeker so she was thrilled that we were going. She's never been to Six Flags but she's ridden a lot of roller coasters at Disney and with her grandparents in Missouri. It was a great day and there weren't many people so we didn't have to wait very long to ride. I think we rode everything in the park that she was tall enough to ride-- some of them we rode 2 or 3 times. I had been telling Abby throughout the day that there is a loop-de-loop ride that we could ride if she wanted to (the Shockwave). I didn't figure she'd want to but after we'd been there a couple hours she decided that she'd give it a try. She was pretty nervous when we buckled in, but we rode it once and she wanted to get back in line and ride it again right away. The second time she didn't like it as much for some reason so we set off in search of corny dogs.

We got 2010 Six Flags season passes for our whole family and they have a special where you can come for the rest of 2009 for free on your 2010 pass. So Becky and Reese came out there too and we rode a couple rides with them before Abby and I set back out on our own. Becky later reported that she and Reese rode the Judge Roy Scream seven times in a row. There weren't any lines so they just stayed on the ride all the way through.

At the end of the weekend I was worn out but it was a great time to give Abby some one-on-one attention.

Apple Cider

Today Abby and Reese have been begging me to make some apple cider...ALL DAY! :)
I told them I would as soon as I got a few things done. Well they didn't get the hint that it might take awhile so after them asking a hundred times I told them not to ask again and to just trust me that I would get to it. Well while I was "getting some things done" Abby walks up to me and gives me this piece of paper.

It reads:
how long is it gonna take for the apple cider to bake

She says, "Mommy, I didn't ask!" Then when I began to laugh she walks away saying, "I knew that would work!" -Sneaky little snake:)
Well it did-- I made some apple cider and it was yummy! Guess my kids know me better than I thought;)

Reading Abby!

Last night Abby came home from school and told us that she was going to read for Mrs. Hyde's class. Mrs. Hyde was her teacher last year and her cousin Charlie is in that class this year! Well first let me say- Abby is not our most outgoing child...now she is pretty nutty, sporadically crazy;) and has a wonderful personality but she's not the "front and center" kind a girl if you get my drift:) (So we were shocked to say the least:)
Anyways Greg and I were thrilled to hear she initiated the whole thing! She practiced ALOT last night and decided to read "Marley-The Big Adventure" She is reading so well and has been learning so much lately-- it's amazing! So anyways today went really well and tonight when I got home I had email from Mrs. Hyde. It was so sweet and I wanted to share and let someone else brag on Abby for a change;) We absoluetly LOVE Mrs. Hyde and hope next year that Reese has her too!!! Thank you Mrs. Hyde and Mrs. Piland for letting her do this...she will never forget it!!
Here's the email:

Wow! Do you know how proud of Abby I am? She came to read to my class today, and I was so impressed with her reading! She did such a great job of reading so everyone could hear, and also remembering to show the pictures after each page (because you know they freak out if you forget to show a picture... :)). And Charlie was so proud to show her off- he kept saying, "my cousin Abby is coming to read to us today," and when she knocked on the door he said, "I bet that's my cousin Abby coming to read to us," and then when she walked in he said, "That's Abby. She's my cousin." It was really cute. I miss y'all and I can't wait for next year!
~Mrs. Hyde

Bedtime Silliness!

Rock Star with wet hair!

Nice pose!

What are you looking at?:)

Got Bubbles???

Putting the kids to bed is always action packed here at our house. I am honestly super tired by the time it rolls around but the kids always have something up there sleeve to put a smile on my face:)
Abby got some new PJ's from Maw Maw and she LOVES them... well except she told me before bed that she didn't like that I couldn't scratch her back as easy...not sure why she thought that?? In the pictures she is posing...she's such a ham! Oh and no worries about her back because I was able to scratch with no problem;) Silly girl!
Anyways--Reese had a little too many bubbles in his tub and he was in heaven! Abby started the bath for me and she put about a cup of bubble bath....geez!!! Reese sure didn't seem to mind and Greg had fun decorating Reese as Santa Claus! Fun, fun....gotta love bedtime! Ha!

Here's a few more...

Kortney got so many great pictures I will be posting forever!:)
These are some of my favorites of the kids. They had such a great time posing for all the pictures and can't wait to do it again!

Family Pictures Sneak Peek!!!!!!!

Yesyerday my friend Kortney took our family pictures at Nash Farms! I wanted to post a few or the many great pictures she captured!!! I am so excited how great they turned out and can't wait
to get them all up here for you all to see---enjoy!

Sweet Picture!

This past weekend while my Mom and Dad were in town we went to Joe T's to eat (great Mexican place) Every time we go Abby and Reese want to go take pictures by all the fountains and plants. My dad brought the camera and got a ton of adorable pictures....they both love posing for the camera:)
This next weekend we are gonna have family pictures taken and we are all so excited....it should be tons of fun! I will share those pictures real soon!

Happy Birthday Cowgirl!

Mommy and Daddy with the birthday girl! I was so happy I got to wear my hat:)

Ready to party!

Jumping on the trampoline with her friends!

Abby riding Princess Fiona--her favorite horse. Look how they decorated her...so cute!

Apple bobbing! None of the kids had ever done this before...they had fun! We did have one kid say, "My Mom says that this spreads germs!" I had to laugh because that was exactly what I was thinking!:) I just decided to live a little ya know?

The kids going at it....they all were able to do it!

Reese on his first horse ride! He LOVED it and now wants to take lessons!

Abby and Greg taking a ride together...very sweet

Abby blowing out her imaginary candles! I kinda forgot them but also it was too windy to light them anyways! Now this year we bought our first store bought cake. Abby really wanted to buy one this year and I was completely fine with that....it made for less stress for sure:)

All the cowgirls together

Hay Ride!

Feeding the horses

I love this picture! It's all of us Mom's watching the kids--very cute!

Saturday was Abby's 7th Birthday! I still think I'm not old enough to have a 7 year old but she's proof I am huh?:)
Well we all had a wonderful day celebrating our sweet girl! We started the day off with a bang at Cracker Barrel for her favorite breakfast- bacon, cinnamon apples and a biscuit! She then had a birthday party to go to. Ok so normally I would never have wanted her to go to someone else's party on her actual birthday but it was one of her best friends from school and she would have had it NO other way:) She had so much fun and I was able to run some final errands which worked out just perfectly! After the party we only had about an hour before party time so we headed home to load the car and get on over to the ranch! She had a horse back riding party this year and she was ecstatic!!!! We have some friends from church that just happen to live on one of the only 15 acre lots in town and they were so sweet to offer to do her party for us! All the kids were able to ride the horses a few times and they also got to go on a hayride! We had so much fun and we feel so grateful the McCarty's did this for Abby!
As Abby was going to bed last night she said, "I had the best party and got the best gifts ever!" I am so glad she liked it!
I must say though that Greg and I are both relieved that the birthday season in the Stamps home is over! I am not sure what we were thinking having them so close together but...well it's done and now for the rest of our lives we will have a crazy Fall--what can you do but strap in and enjoy the ride, right?:)
Happy Birthday sweet Abby..."you're the best above all the rest";) ~this is a little chant a sing to the kids!
We love you!