Blue Eyes, and Blue Bonnets! Spring has arrived in Texas!

After a brisk walk around Pflugerville Lake. The wildflowers are out in force right now. This might explain allergy induced croup and other breathing maladies at our house, but they sure are pretty! We will do a dressed up version in the wildflowers this Sunday. We have been enjoying the 90 degree weather. We are going to hit the pool tomorrow! Woohoo!

Leprechaun Noah and the Red Velvet Cupcake- It should have been green! What were we thinking?

Noah has not been exposed to too many sweets. He has the occasional Graham Cracker, Animal Cracker, and Nilla Wafer but nothing as sweet as this. We truly enjoyed watching little No-No go after this cupcake. He was all business. Happy 1st Birthday! You are a joy and a blessing in our lives.

Spring Break- Texas Style

 We went to San Antonio for Spring Break this year. Last year we were in Utah anxiously awaiting the arrival of sweet little Noah. It was total craziness in Texas during Spring Break (never have I seen such crowds). I have been to Disneyland over Spring Break and I think there were more people at the San Antonio Zoo then there were at Disney the one year we were there. We decided to check out The Natural Bridge Caverns. Had a total blast! We took Aunt Lauren along and it was the first time she had ever been in a cave.

 Luke loved the Caverns. They were quite warm inside, wet (aka-moist), and at times a little spooky! We had a wonderful adventure and will most definately go back someday.

It was Noah's Birthday. Here he is getting his Birthday spanking (Grandpa Baxter, I know you loved every second of it). A pinch to grow an inch, and a smile to go a mile! Luckily he is only 1 this year. That little rear end can't handle very much!

Mark and Mindy lovin' it in Hawaii

 The hike (let's call it a glorified walk) to Twin Falls on the Road to Hana. We had such a great time and were lucky enough to spend the afternoon with our friends The Eyre's. The swimming was a little chilly but definately worth it. It was a great time and I was amazed at the vegetation hanging off the cliffs. It looked almost fake. That's how real it was.

 The view from our corner room/balcony at the Hyatt Regency Resort and Spa on Maui. Gorgeous! Loved every moment of our time there. We could see whales surfacing from our balcony. The grounds at this resort are great and I really enjoyed the walk along the beach past all of the resorts. I will go to Maui again any day!

Mark, being well, Mark! Maui truly is a paradise. We were tempted to move there. But no, we had to come home to the great state of Texas! Hawaii's got nothing on the BBQ here. :-)

Going Nuts over Nutcrackers.....

This last Saturday was our Church Christmas Party. One of the Sisters in our Ward asked me to cover for her and set up the Nutcracker Room at the church. Of course I said yes because why would I turn down the opportunity to decorate? I love to decorate. Calista and I spent most of Saturday gathering things, setting up the room, and making treats for the party. This is the mixed theme table. There are sports Nutcrackers, Snowman Nutcrackers, a Mickey Mouse Nutcracker and all kinds of Nutcrackers. I love all of the football player nutcrackers at the back. They were some of my favorites.

 The King and Soldier Nutcracker themed table. I love the Kings with "Bling". I love anything that sparkles. We had a blast setting up this room.

 More Kings and Soldiers. I brought in lamp tables and lamps from the entryway/foyer to give the room a more cozy feel and also because all of the other tables at the Stake Center had been spoken for.

 Kensi had her Winter Program at school last week. They sang songs, danced, and overall put on a great show. Her favorite song was "Snowpants". When you see her at Christmas you will have to ask her to sing it solo. She won't hesitate. She loves it!

Kensi doing her cartoon character smile in front of the Winter Program set. What a cutie!

From the Mixed up Life of......Mrs. Mindy B. Preator

November seemed to fly by didn't it? We stayed in Texas for Thanksgiving and experienced our very first Holiday away from family. We were hosted by The Ginos Family and had a wonderful meal and great company. I baked my brains out for the first time in my life. As practice for my pie crusts I made a quiche at the first of the week (see below). It was delicious if I may say so myself and enjoyed by all.

                                        My very first Quiche Lorraine - Delish!

    These two girls are natural born readers. I think it runs in our family. They participate in a program that tests their reading level. They set goals and when they reach 25%, 50%, 75%, and 100% of goal they receive dog tags. Cali has reached 100% of goal (she takes after her Dad) and Kensi is at 50% of goal for the school year so far. Great job girls! Keep hitting the books!

 This week Calista's class had a field trip to the Blanton Museum of Art downtown. I chaperoned and had a great time watching her interact with her classmates. We ate lunch next to the museum with the Capitol in the background. It was a beautiful day. The art was amazing and as a bonus they also were able to tour the Texas History Museum. I have to say their is a little bit of Texas pride brainwashing that occurs there but it is all in good fun. We had a great time!

Calista's Fourth Grade Class at the Blanton Museum. The blue tiled walls in the foyer/entrance are a piece of art. I love it! Very cool!

Our life is a Zoo.....and a little bit of Sea World too!

You would think that in November we would be wearing sweaters, long pants, and heating ourselves up from the inside out with hot cocoa. Not in the Great State of Texas. Last Friday night we drove down to San Antonio to spend the evening with our Dad who had been working at a Conference there. Saturday he worked some more and I took all the kids to the Zoo! When Mark was finished with his work day we managed to squeeze 2 hours at Sea World in to the already packed and exhausting day. The kids had a blast! Journey to Atlantis at Sea World is their favorite ride.

 Kensi, hanging out in the Reptile House with these lovely little crocodiles.

 Checking out the new Africa 2 Exhibit at the San Antonio Zoo. We loved the bug display!

                                                      She's a Butterfly! Oh, and he is too!

 Sea World is decked out for the Holidays already. Had to pose in front of their giant Christmas Tree.

Drenched at the Shamu show. Luke was so upset that he got wet that he cried for 20 minutes. We are not sure what those animal trainers told Shamu and his sidekick but they nailed us three times. They must have promised a gigantic cupcake. That would have motivated us! It was funny to get this wet. Noah was saved by the blanket I held over him. The rest of us looked like we took a shower with our clothes on. After getting this wet we ran and hopped on Journey to Atlantis and added more water to the mix. After that it was off to the roller coasters to dry ourselves off. All in all, a fun filled weekend. We love our Season Passes!

Spooktacular, Spooktacular 2!

I just wanted to post these two pictures from the carving party that we went to on Saturday night. It was very fun and we have to give props to The Stewart Family for hosting such a great party! The food was delicious, there was fun decor, themed music, and great company. Thanks again!

Spooktacular, Spooktacular!

We had an exciting and packed Halloween Weekend! We partied, and partied, and partied some more. There were cookies made, games played, pumpkins carved, meals devoured, costumes finished, worn, and worn some more. We decorated sugar cookies, wrapped Mummies, trick or treated, danced our hearts out, participated in a fire drill :), and loved every minute of it! Our Mummy is going to spend the next few days Resting In Peace. She is exhausted from all of the fun! See the pics below of the kids with all of their spoils! They are happy.

I want my Mummy!

 When we began to play the Mummy game at the party the children were hesitant about being "The Mummy". After they watched Cali and her friend Brie get wrapped up and laid to rest they began jumping up and down for turns as "The Mummy".

 These are our Super Hero Mummies! Batman and Superman are excellent mummies don't you think?

How fast can you eat a donut hanging from a string with your hands tied behind your back? This is a fun game to play and watch! The kids had a blast and left with full tummies.

It's Spooky.......

How many things we have going on this weekend to celebrate Halloween. Last night we attended our Ward Halloween party where there was trick or treating door to door in the building (we decorated a room for the trick or treating and it turned out fabulous!), a dance, a Spook Alley, costume contests, and more! The kids danced, and ate, trick or treated, and ate some more. It was fun but we were missing our Dad. He made it home late last night and attended a Halloween Party with us this morning.

The Hippie-Flower Child, Superman, Cowgirl/Sharp Shooter, and Lil Duckling were excited to get to wear their costumes again! We played a potato gun shooting game, mummy wrapping races, donut eating relays, and had lunch. We are home now for some afternoon R&R before we head out to an evening pumpkin carving party.

Pumpkin picking

Every fall we get excited about picking out our pumpkins. I think it is interesting to watch and see what the kids pick. This year we went to a pumpkin patch on Pecan Street that the Methodist Church runs. One thing I have to say about Texas is they seem to have a very wide selection of pumpkins. We love Fairytale pumpkins, and Cinderella pumpkins. I really like the white pumpkins and there seemed to be quite a few orange pumpkins with wart growths on them perfect for carving a Witch face!

See Captain Pumpkin Searcher Luke in the picture above. He took charge on this excursion. If he had his way we would have come home with 20 + pumpkins. We rented a scary baby for this photo. His eyes even glowed! Doesn't it just look spooky? :-) Poor Kensi has Bronchitis and would have preferred to be home in bed but we were out delivering dinner to a family in our Ward that just had a baby and we decided to stop for pumpkins. I didn't want to miss getting the perfect one for carving. Of course I took home all four of my silly pumpkins and the gourds they picked out!

Crazy Hat Day?

It is Drug Free week at the elementary school. Every day is a different theme. Yesterday was Crazy Hat day. My kids don't really own any crazy hats. I mean, the thing is, at this house we are the crazy that wears the hat right? ;-) We decided to have the girls wear their Peruvian hats that Grammy Su brought them. They look super cute in them. It was 90 degrees outside and they were wearing these hats. Calista decided to put hats on the boys too! Very funny! Don't ask why Luke is wearing a pink robe. Your guess is as good as mine.

I love that Kensi is throwing up the Longhorns fingers and some other message. She has all kinds of attitude that girl!

Cookie Monsters

 We are Cookie Monsters at our house. We love cookies of all kinds. Luke decided he wanted to make Cookie glasses today. I was glad that I did not have to eat them after they had been played with. I have to hide the cookies that we make if I want them to last more than one day. Sometimes, it would be good if I could hide them from myself.

This is a picture of the Kiss Cookies that I made last night to take to church today as the October birthday treats in Young Women. I used the recipe from the Preator Family Cookbook courtesy of Kathy Terry and switched out regular kisses for the pumpkin spice kisses that are in grocery stores for the Fall season. Then, I drizzled milk chocolate over the tops of the cookies. They received rave reviews today at church. You have to be a pumpkin spice fan to really love them though. Delish!

Fall Carnival

 I just couldn't help but laugh and love this Carnival game! We attended the kids school Carnival today and they had a blast. There were trackless train rides, laser tag, ring toss games, mini golf, rock climbing towers, but my personal favorite was the TP toss.

As you can see in the picture above Calista has a great arc in her TP throw (I see many TP trips in her future) and she made all of her shots. The kids got candy for every shot they made. What candy you ask? Tootsie rolls of course! :)

Noah listening to some tunes

In the morning while I am getting ready Noah kicks and bounces in his chair. Two mornings ago when I stepped out of the shower Noah had donned a headset (with the help of his three year old brother) and was quietly listening to tunes. I had to take a picture. After capturing the shot the headset was removed. We don't want to damage those little ears!

Mark, Noah, and I at the TCU vs BYU game last Saturday. They have a beautiful campus and I loved being in the stadium full of people dressed in purple. It was my kind of heaven! We all know how the game turned out but our kids loved cheering for BYU and seeing Cosmo and the cheerleaders. It was a hot and sunny day. We had to purchase a baby hat for Noah so he was the only Preator cheering for the wrong team. The kids had a great time, left Forth Worth exhausted, and we enjoyed the quiet drive back to Austin.

Noah is pretty selective about laughing. Basically, if you were a stand up comic you would not want him to be your audience. I don't know how I started this dah, dah stint but it seemed to work and just proves the lengths we all go to, to get our children to laugh.

A fun Saturday at the State Park. Who can complain about 90 degree Fall weather?

FALLing into life in Texas

We have officially settled in to our new life here in the great state of Texas. After one year and many life changes (too many to list) the dust has settled and the storms have passed. We are loving the warm fall weather. The kids are enjoying their new school that opened this August and Mark and I are enjoying the fact that it only takes five minutes to get them to school instead of half an hour. Woohoo!

Mark is making his second trip to Utah for the month of October to hunt for the elusive "BUCKS" that taunt him in his dreams. I am holding down the fort and hoping that he comes home empty handed again. I wouldn't mind the jerky (after all it is a lean meat). We are all jealous that he gets to experience Fall in Utah but we know that we will be there soon enough. We can't seem to stay away for long.

The kids are getting ready for their fall CARNIVAL at school and they can barely contain their excitement about dunking their Principal in the Dunk Tank. We have a packed weekend and will post pictures and video at the first of the week. The Primary program is Sunday, we are finishing up the gathering of accessories for Halloween costumes for next weekend and planning our trick or treating routes. Noah is making progress in his journey towards mobility and I am hoping that he stays put! It becomes much harder to manage the little ones once they are on the move. He is enjoying eating real meals and reaches for any and all food items that we put in our mouths.

Luke is staying busy playing, running, tackling, and rock star-ing his way through life. He is constantly inventing new things. His latest invention was an extra long recorder made with the extension for the vacuum hose. Too funny! He is going to be Superman for Halloween and when we arrived home from the store with his costume he promptly declared "I can fly" to which I replied "Uumm, no you can not fly and please don't try it". I know somewhere in that mind of his he was planning to jump off of something to test the cape. Ugh, just the thought!

I am staying busy being a full time MOM and learning to enjoy it. I have cooked, decorated, cleaned, and exercised more in the last four months than I did in the last five years. I am making friends, getting in touch with old friends, and learning that our family members are our best friends.

We are excited for the coming Holiday months and can't wait to experience more of Texas!