Twelve: The Final Tween

Lijee's first gift of his 12th birthday was located in the fridge. It had been in there for a few days, so he was curious to see what it was.

This boy is all about the ca$h.

He had to share his birthday with high school events. Truth be told, Eli wasn't too happy about it, but that's what happened. Daisy had an early morning soccer game that I attended,

while Zeke had an afternoon winter guard competition that I watched.

Daisy was able to join Eli and his friends Alex and Sam for laser tag and bowling at Main Event.

Both siblings made it home in time for video games

 and birthday cake.

Daddy, the Birthday Boy, Zeke, Daisy, Sam and Alex

Eli pooled his birthday money together for a VR game that he had been wanting.

"12"

It's official: I am the shortest in the family. 👍

Clay and Vivia joined us for a family birthday dinner at Eli's choice of Golden Corral the following day.

This boy marches to the beat of his own drum and I love that about him. He adores his family, being at home, and playing video games. And we all love him.

[January 21] 

Let It Out

 My acting career is back, and I'm 'letting it out!' I applied to be an extra for a music video called Let It Out by L.A. Edwards. The song was in a recent episode of Yellowstone and they want to make a music video now that it is a hit. The secret location for the shoot was not far from our house. Bonus for me!

The video was shot in a tiny bar connected with a small rodeo venue. The extras holding bay was located in bleachers above the rodeo rink. There were actually horses below us in their stables that we could hear and smell.💩😝

As extras we don't get a lot of information. Just things like, "Sit at the table and enjoy yourselves," or "Walk past the bar," and stuff like that. The gist of the video were two couples, one young and one old, and the young couple took advice from the older couple. Or something along those lines. The rest of us were spirits of people who have passed, and we were enjoying a night once a year that we get to come back to the bar and let loose. Or something along those lines.

Some people were dressed in modern day clothes, and some of us wore period clothes, from the olden days. I was a period girl. I was in about 5 different shots, but since I am in the background, who knows if I will even be in any frames. I might be like, "There's my elbow!"  or "I was sitting right beside that girl right there." We'll see when it gets released.

I'm gonna be rich and famou$!

[Jan 15]

Hold Your Horses - FWSSR Parade

Zekers marched to the beat of his own drum, along with the other drums and band members, in the Fort Worth Stock Show & Rodeo parade.

We made it a family event by heading downtown to watch.

Pre-parade we got a head nod of acknowledgment.

We watched over 2,000 horses, several wagons, lots of riding clubs, and a few bands march as they kicked off three weeks of Fort Worth's annual Stock Show and Rodeo. 

It is basically a horse parade, with a few bands sprinkled throughout. Fort Worth likes to claim it as the 'One and Only, Equine-Powered, All-Western Parade.' With the first stock show taking place in 1896, it is the city's oldest event.  It is also Cowtown's largest public event, hosting over 1.2 million guests a year.

This little guy on this little horse put on a show with the pony raising his front feet off the ground and then kicking his back legs up.

Here comes our band!

There is our favorite drummer! He even gave us a smile as he marched by.

The horses who pranced by with their special steps to the beat of their own drum were quite impressive! Yee haw!

 [January 14]

Gingerbread Disasters

Zekers had mentioned we should do gingerbread houses at Christmas. When I found a kit for 75% off, I thought we could get it done before Christmas break was over. Better late than never, right?

Daisy's friend Haley was over so she made one with us.

Zeke tried to get fancy and cut out the window. It just broke.

Daisy got the award for the prettiest house.

I gave Eli the award for being the first eaten.

Zeke got most creative for the window design, although it accelerated the house demise.

Haley got the award for making words. She spelled 'Do not' with sprinkles. Her building was looking more like a haunted house than a gingerbread house. Her plans were to say 'do not enter' but she ran out of room and quit with do not. 

Daisy was inspired by Haley to write welcome. With that, welcome to another year, everyone!

[January 2] 

10th Annual Hourly Envelopes of Fun

2022 was a big year for DanFam5. We ushered it out with our 10th Annual Hourly Envelopes.

As per usual, things got kicked off at noon.

🕛

lunch at Raising Caine's and writing fake resolutions 

(to be read later in the night)

🕐

obstacle course

This one is a staple. Different activities, but always a staple. Daddy's favorite. Not, however, the kids' favorite. We blew leaves, swiveled in chairs, serpentined between trees, carried things, threw balls, climbed the fence, dribbled balls, did push ups and sit-ups and army crawled.

5th place: Eli 

4th place: Trish 

3rd place: Daisy 

4th place: Zeke 

1st place: Abe 🏆 

🕑

tic tac toe

One person had to run one down and drop their mark, then come back and tag their teammate. We switched teams several times. I'm gonna brag and say that I'm pretty sure that whoever was on my team won the most.

Chuey agrees.

Abe got artsy with the sidewalk chalk.

He left me a love letter.

🕒

most likely to...

At three o'clock we played 'Who's most likely to?' We read a 'most likely to' card and then we each held up a card with a family member's name. Chuey won most likely to be voted cutest. Not really, but she is cute.

🕓

blind scavenger hunt

We placed leftover ketchup packets from lunch in the yard. Your partner had to find it and then verbally lead you to it.

Both people heard the clues and were blindly fighting each other to feel for it.

🕔

go to Grannie's

🕕

Chase The Ace card game

We learned a new game with blindly swapping cards with your neighbor to try to avoid the ace, or the lowest card. Not literally blindly swapping cards, like the scavenger hunt, but figuratively by passing without knowing what you might get in exchange.

🕖

roast marshmallows over the fire pit

🕗

We made a fire by gathering leaves and twigs from the yard.

Afterward the kids made hot chocolate bombs. For some reason Zeke was standing on the counter to watch the milk get warm.

🕗

fish bowl game

This game has three rounds. First we brainstormed three nouns each and placed them in the 'fish bowl.'

The first round we played it like Taboo, where you describe the word. The next round we put them back in the bowl and you could only use one clue to describe the word. After each word is guessed the second time, they are placed in the fish bowl again for the final round, which is played like charades.

🕘

blind folded cotton ball scooping

Played pretty much like it sounds. It was funny watching people scoop spoonfuls of air into the bowl.

🕙

specific karaoke

I wrote several songs that everyone knows (Mary Had A Little Lamb, Jesus Loves Me, etc.) and placed them in a bowl. On a different color paper I wrote various ways to sing (opera, yodel, like an ogre, etc.).

We all laughed pretty hard, mostly at ourselves.

We were proud of Daddy for staying up so late!

🕚

It's In The Bag game

Doubles or a combination of 7 allowed you to grab a prize from the center and place it in your bag. 

We poured champagne and sparkling white grape juice while prepping to enter the new year 'on the right foot.'

Luck would have it that Abe woke up right at midnight so he got to ring in 2023 with us after all.

After midnight we popped the fireworks that we won during the game.

🕛

assign fake resolutions

After the excitement of the midnight countdown, sparkling toast and poppers, we opened our final envelope. 

Remember those fake resolutions from noon? We wrote things like 'I am not going to clog the toilet this year,' and 'I will not pick my wedgies in public.'  I read them aloud and we assigned them to each other.

Happy 2023! May you find adventure and surround yourself with love from your friends and family.

[December 31]