Teach Them How To Read!

My Mom is super smart- and super great at her job. She's a literacy specialist for

at-risk elementary students; she specializes in the little-bitties, K-3 I think. I won't go into boring edu-details, but trust me when I said SUPER GREAT at her job! :)

She started a blog as her new year's resolution to spread her knowledge, education, and experience to help other teachers and parents teach their children how to read. My brother and I were both reading at 3, I think. Maybe more like 3 and a half- but that's still really early! And she was only 25 then- not even an "expert" yet. So she's magic- and I'd check out her blog if you have children or teach children! She posts a lot about resources, ideas, and activities that are useful in your teaching-them-how-to-read journey. Here's the link: http://teachthemhowtoread.blogspot.com/

Rapunzel, Rapunzel, Put Your Purple Dress On

Ada is OBSESSED with Rapunzel after seeing the adorable movie "Tangled" in the theatre.... three times! And we're planning on going a fourth time before the Christmas vacation is over! She got a TON of Rapunzel toys, jewelry, clothes, etc junk for Christmas...
Including this Rapunzel dress-up outfit that she just cannot get enough of. I thought it was too adorable not to post about! :)

Rapunzel mounting her horse, Maximus:

Rapunzel, pooped and napping:

Money Hats

I can't believe I forgot to include a picture of the annual Mobley Money Hat tradition in my last post! MorMor always makes all of us homemade hats- some years they are knit, some are sewn, some are goofy, some are completely wear-able. But they ALWAYS have money pinned to them! :)

Christmas 2010

We had lots of Christmases this year- and I took WAY more photos and film than I'm posting! But here are some cute shots from it all, and a condensed video! (The much longer version will appear on the 2011 Dowell Movie next Christmas!)

CHRISTMAS WITH GRAMS AND PAPA (at Aunt Kendra's):

CHRISTMAS AT MIMI'S:

She got RAPUNZEL jammies!

Goofing off with Uncle Doo Whackadoo!

Drew taught her how to do a somersault...sort of...

MorMor, MiMi, and Drew:

SANTA CAME TO OUR HOUSE!

And here is a shortened, yet still incredibly long video of some of it all! :)

Missing You, Grams and PaPa :(

Yes it is Christmas Eve, and yes I have a ton of other pictures and videos to post about Christmas celebrations thus far... but Grams and PaPa left to return to Dubai today.

You guys are still on your flight, and I wanted this to be uploaded and waiting for you when you got settled back in the apartment- so you know how much we miss you two already!

SwInGSeT! And Monday Night Football!

Grams and PaPa surprised Ada with her very own SWINGSET for Christmas! We did the big reveal today (12/22) since they are returning to Dubai before Christmas Day. :*( But here are some pictures of the excitement!



Scoping out potential swingsets at "Kid Structures" after taking Santa pictures a few weeks ago:

Playing on her OWN swingset in her OWN backyard!!!

Daddy loves it, too-

We also got to go to the Texans Monday Night Football game with Grams, PaPa, Aunt Kendra and Uncle Lu a few weeks ago, too! We tailgated and sat through the game- the game didn't begin or end in our favor, but the 4th quarter and overtime were fun! :)

Sandra and Kendra:

Bill and Casey, the grillmasters-
Casey and I at the beginning of OT- it was about 11pm here, WAY past my bedtime!

LiLi the Alligator

I forgot to mention the best gift yet in my last post- The Alligator Pillow/Sleeping Bag combo from Aunt Kendra! Ada can't get enough of this thing! She's named it LiLi, we think....

1st Plane Ride & An OK Christmas

Grams & PaPa are in from Dubai for a few weeks (more posts on that to come!), so we made a quick trip to Oklahoma to see a lot of Casey's extended family for Christmas. Ada has been into "planes flying in the sky" for a long time, now- and she got to actually FLY in one finally! :) Here are some pictures about Ada's first plane trip and our couple of days in Oklahoma:

As Ada was looking out at all of the planes taxi-ing, our pilot saw her and waved at her from the cockpit-
Then met us when we got on the plane and invited her up! She wouldn't go- similar reaction to Santa. But I got a picture of her peering in!

About to take off!

Ada and Mom on the plane- I had conjunctivitis/pink eye/"skanky eye" as I deemed it:

Checking out the Sky Mall Magazine:

Finally in Oklahoma and at Aunt Marilyn's- making a pallette and watching Christmas cartoons with Casey's cousin's daughters and Grams:

Opening gifts and wearing some of them:

Ada and Hanna:

Family Picture (Rylan, Julie, Hanna, Luis, PaPa, and star of the show Ada):

Grams and PaPa:

Stealing Hanna's headband:

Plane ride back to Houston-

This time with Grams and PaPa sitting behind us!

Aerotek Christmas Party

Casey's company, Aerotek, had their annual Christmas party this Friday- and I usually don't blog about it, but...
Casey won SALESMAN OF THE YEAR this year!! This is actually a super big deal- he won it out of some awesome salesmen out of 2 Houston offices. He works his TAIL off, and deserves it 110%. He goes in early, he works late, he is smart about what he focuses on, and he is just smart in general. And handsome, to boot. :) His boss said some things about him in his speech before announcing the winner that actually made me tear up- I'm so proud of my hubs!

This is him with his award when we got home, after a few beers (LOL!):

And of COURSE Ada and MiMi were hard at work while we were out. They made several art projects, including this homemade Christmas ornament:

And this knit scarf that Ada has not taken off since MiMi finished it Friday night!

*The picture above is of Ada's first plane ride to Oklahoma- which we just returned from. That'll be my next post! This is just a little teaser. :)*

Oh, Santa

We have not had the greatest luck when visiting Old Saint Nick- and this year was no exception! But they make for some classic pictures that I will cherish forever! :)

This is at 3 months old- happiest baby in the hour long wait at the Galleria, then totally passed out 2 people away from sitting on his lap!

This is 15 months old- she has no clue who Santa is, or this creepy old man with a stringy beard:

And this is today, at 2 years old. She WAS excited to see Santa, until reality hit and had to actually go sit on his lap:
But I promise my child will *occasionally* sit for a decent picture! Here is her school Christmas picture this year- love her!