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September 2010
- Mason and Maggie went back to school. Mason started the 1st grade and his teacher's name is Ms. Lara. Maggie is in her last year of preschool and her teacher's name is Ms. Sherry.- Mason turned 7 this year. Holy cow! He is getting to be such a big boy. Thank goodness he still likes to snuggle though. :)
October 2010
- We attended the No Company Company Picnic. This was Kiai's grand idea and a great idea it was. Kiai was thinking about how companies these days don't seem to have the budget to have company picnics anymore. I remember going to my mom's company picnics back when she worked for the bank. She was always in charge of the events and I have fond memories of the bubblegum bubble blowing contest. Not sure that I won, but I do remember telling Mom that I had to practice a lot and with different flavors of Bubblicious; grape and original flavors were my favorite. Anyway, we went to Emma Long park in Austin and had a potluck picnic. The pavilion we were at was nicely shaded and the food was very good. Kiai had a couple of pinatas with plenty of candy. Our kids played with buckets and shovels in the dirt, kicked balls, played Ladder Golf and had a great time for over 6 hours with no electronic devices what so ever. There was no fighting and no one got hurt. Very fun and we look forward to the next No Company Company Picnic.
- Maggie turned 5 this year. She had a make-over party here at the h
ouse and Grandma Brenda came up to help out. Maggie invited 5 of her little friends and we had our big-girl friends (Cindy, Monique and Terese) come over to do the actual make overs on the little girls. Hair, make-up, nails, toes, and even a craft. Each girl took home her own make up and nail polish. Maggie and her friends had a good time and it was way cheaper to do it here at the house than go to one of those party places. And Daddy was a huge help in keeping Mason, Megan and Morgan away from the "salon". Thanks Daddy!
- Halloween - Mason was a storm trooper, Maggie
was Cinderella, and the twins were both Minnie Mouse. Matt and I took all 4 kids trick-or-treating to about a dozen houses and then I came home with the little kids while Matt and the big kids continued on for a little while longer. I bought several bags of candy and we ran out again this year. I even used most of the candy from the pinatas at the NCCP (picnic earlier this month) and I still didn't have enough.
- Thatcher - Probably the most exciting thing that has happened in the McMillan household over the last few months is the cat we adopted. Yes, you read correctly, we adopted a cat. Yes, I know, Matt is allergic to cats. But we have been doing a good job of vacuuming up the cat hair a couple of times a week and so far so good. A neighbor of ours has several cats and one little kitten kept coming to our front door. One day while Matt and Mason were gone to the bus stop, Maggie, Megan and Morgan laid down on the front porch and pet this little kitten. When Matt got back and saw the girls, so happy and immediately in love, we both said we needed to get the kids a pet. Matt and I are not dog people. It's not that we don't like dogs, we actually do. And we've thought about getting a large dog, we have the yard for one. However, we don't have the time. Dogs require a lot more maintenance than we are ready to give at this time. A cat fits our schedule real good. We don't have to walk or bathe a cat and he's already litter box trained. We got him a handful of toys and he gets his exercise in. The kids all love him a lot and Thatcher is real good with them. Thatcher does have his claws, but so far we've had no major scratches to anyone. I like that the cat is very independent. He comes to us when he wants attention and leaves when he's had his fill. He's an indoor cat only, and when he wants to get away, he has plenty of space to go. But one of his spots is up on top of the cabinets in the kitchen. There is no way any of us people could get him up there. Welcome to the family Thatcher!
November 2010
Not a whole lot happening in November. Our plans for Thanksgiving changed a couple of times and pretty late in the game. We had been invited to our good friends and neighbors, the Combs' for Thanksgiving dinner but we had planned to have Thanksgiving here at our house with my parents and the Villagomez family. Neither of our guests ended up coming and so we donated all the food we had bought, a full Thanksgiving dinner (uncooked), to a less fortunate family. I took the big kids with me to drop the food off. They asked a lot of questions: Why did we give those people our food and why can't they get their own. I explained that even though some families still work and make money, that times right now are hard and that money doesn't always cover everything it needs to. And since we had a full meal and we had been invited to be guests at someone else's home for dinner, that we were able to help out this other family. This is the second year we've adopted a family for the holidays and it's one way we're trying to teach our kids about giving and helping out less fortunate people. I hope that my kids understand.
So we accepted our invite from the Combs' family and had Thanksgiving dinner with the neighbors. It was a real treat to not have to cook everything, not have to do dishes on end for three days straight and not have to spot clean my house in preparation for guests. It was very relaxing. The food was great and the company even better. Thank you Bill & Ileana!- I almost forgot, our friends from California, the San Nicolas family, came out for a visit. We hadn't seen them since we moved to Texas in 2006. It was good to catch up with them and introduce the newest members of our families. They hadn't seen the twins and we hadn't seen their newest, Kian. We have known the San Nicolas family for many years, back when Matt used to work with Mike at Baucsh & Lomb.
December 2010
- The Neopost Holiday party came the first week of December. This is one of the very few nights of the entire year that Matt and I go out without the kids. It's always nice to get out just Matt and I and we know we need to do it more often. But the cost of a babysitter for 4 kids plus the cost of say dinner for Matt and I often times out weighs the enjoyment we'd actually have. This year we were able to go out and not have to pay a sitter, thanks again to some good friends, and Matt and I had a good time.
- As the holidays approached, the kids got 2 weeks off for Winter Break. I took Mason to the library and checked out 24 books for him to read while on break. He read all of them and a few of them multiple times. That boy is a reading machine. We kept busy during break and I rarely heard "I'm bored" from the kids.
- Grandma Brenda and Papa Bob came up for Christmas. We bought a gingerbread house about a week before they came, but the kids really wanted to build it with Grandma, so we waited. It's nice that my parents are close enough to visit every month or so. Christmas morning the kids were up bright and early to see what Santa had brought them. All four kids got new bikes. That was the biggie. Grandma Teri and Papa Aland got the babies their tricycles and Grandma Brenda and Papa Bob bought the big kids their bikes. 
(Santa got off easy this year.) Santa brought Mason a chess set and some chess kids books. It's a new hobby that the whole is enjoying. Mason is real good at it and Maggie is taking an interest. Matt has been taking the big kids to a Chess Club once a week too.
- Maggie Lost her first tooth! It had been real loose for a long time and she was scared to let Matt or I touch it. But we know the BEST tooth puller in the world, Auntie Char. Auntie Char came over and Maggie let Char pull her tooth. It was out in less than a second and Auntie Char gave Maggie a piece of gum and a dollar! Cool!January 2011
Happy New Year! With the start of the new year, the kids went back to school. Yeah for being back on a regular schedule again. Sometimes it's harder when things aren't scheduled because we find time gets away from us. The big kids started playing basketball at the YMCA. I'm not sure either kid really likes basketball, but we're in it for the exercise and the group participation. It's also funny and cute to see Maggie "prance" up and down the court. She is such a dancer. Matt is getting more involved with Chess club with the big kids. Cub Scouts is back in full swing, with the Pinewood Derby coming up next weekend. (This is the whole reason Mason wanted to join Boy Scouts.)
- Mason just finished his Science Fair Project for school. New post coming soon.
- And I just completed another sewing class. - New post coming soon.
So that pretty much wraps up the last few months in the McMillan household. Sorry I've been a blog slacker. My New Year's resolution for 2011 is to get better at my blogging. The posts may be short, but at least they'll be more frequent.
