The Mezgers

Wedding time

Pam's son Carson married beautiful Gloria in late October. Her family is Egyptian - the ceremony was a traditional Egyptian Coptic ceremony (in a Greek Orthodox church) and the whole thing was black tie so Kyle and I had to get our fancy on. Kyle looks so dapper and I look ridiculous when I try to make silly selfy faces.

Smiling. Smiling is better.

As a TRUE millennial, we all would have thought Alex could take a group pic/selfie but HE CANNOT. He took like 12 photos on my phone and they are all blurry and awful. #MillennialFail. He's letting his generation down. And also making me kinda proud.

He's always looked way too young and good looking for his own good. :)

I dared Kyle to go up and ask the Priest a question after the ceremony - he loves me so much.

Rebecca loves a fancy party, so while we left the others at home, it was fun to have this gal join in the fancy fun. Got herself a Shirley Temple.

The caterers even had a special meal for she and Pam's niece Caitlin - chicken strips and their own personal bottle of ketchups. And you can believe Rebecca kept the bottle in her little purse and we still have it (all cleaned out and ready for re-use when she figures out the right project).

They did the party up right - glow sticks and all sorts of other light-up stuff. Rebecca was in heaven.

Happy happy for Carson and Gloria. What a fun evening.

Kate's Birthday

One reason Halloween was extra fun this year was that it is Kate's birthday! She turned 28 (I know, baby) and the kids and I (and her best friends) got to celebrate her bright and early before carpool. Yes - we woke her up early on her birthday - kinda mean. But even she said it was worth it. :)

Please check the AWESOME shirt the kids made her. Maggie just scribbled blobs of puff paint all over it. Rebecca started to draw one thing, got messed up, and like any good artist turned her mistake into art so drew a witch flying over an erupting volcano. Owen wrote an acrostic: K=Krazy, A=Awesome, T=Totes Fun, E=Epic.

Jaclyn, Chelsea, Dylan + my crew. This gal has some really great friends and it has been such a treat to get to know them through her.

Happy Birthday Kate!

Looking forward to the two years (in a couple of years) when we are in the same decade. ;)

Halloween!

It was another banner for Halloween at the Mezger Casa. Two our our favorite things - hosting the Bridges party for UT international students + trick-or-treating w/ our neighborhood peeps.

Kids wanted us to up our decor game and Kate was all over that - she and the kids add the webs. I love it and think we will do even more next year. Everyone wins.

Not sure who really "won" the pumpkin-carving contest this year, but Rebecca conned Kate into attempting to carve an Enderdragon (her Minecraft character-of-choice and costume for the year) - so actually, that makes Rebecca the winner.

Full house.

Alright - actual Halloween. Mezgers, Bee, Nana, Murrays, Oliver/Clay, Kate, Dylan and Daniel (Polks). What a crew!

Maggie wanted to just be a minion again (bless her) so Bee joined in. And here are my two minecraft big kids - Owen the Enderman and Rebecca the Enderdragon.

I am still really stinking proud of these costumes - THE EYES LIGHT UP PURPLE. Come on!

At one point Rebecca put Vader in the mouth of her dragon. Nice one.

Kyle the hunter plus Ali the deer-on-the-wall. "Mommy Dearest"

Kate = "A Dear Friend"

Dylan = "Oh Deer"

Kate and MaggieMinion

Me and Christal. Last year she had yarn-bun hair for Princess Leia. This year she actually gave herself gray her. She's all in.

Super fun night with really super fun people.

Oh! And we did the movie in the yard thing again and the kids and neighbors loved it. Two years in and its officially a tradition. Charlie Brown The Great Pumpkin FOREVER!

Prepping...

The only big smoke Kyle got to do this fall was to have a bunch of guys over to watch the A&M/Bama game. It didn't end well for the Ags, but the brisket was awesome.

Putting Dylan and Daniel and Kate to work.

Meanwhile...I was making costumes. Lots and lots of costumes. This year was all about the deer and the minecraft entermen/dragons.

When my kids look back on their cool halloween costumes I want to be able to show them the process pictures too! :)

Sept + Oct Randomness

My last post was in October - this is officially the longest I've ever gone in between blog post updates. This stage of life is so much fun - it includes kids who can potty by themselves, buckle themselves, get themselves dressed (or undressed, in Maggie's case) and so many other things. In so many ways it is easier. And in so many ways its harder - they are real (little) people. They stress out about school, they have cranky attitudes (apparent in ways beyond just throwing a tantrum), they want to do more in a day than we are able, OR they want to do absolutely nothing. We spend a lot of time in the car. I spend a lot of time trying to be both mommy and part-time staff at our church. Kyle is juggling work and daddying and eldering. Anyways, all that to say its a great season. We have SO much to be thankful for. But it is harder and busier in a way that is very new. And I'm having to let go of a lot of things and the way I'm used to being able to do them.

Today (Feb 12, 2017) the kids made valentines for their respective school parties on Tuesday. I cut out some hearts from printer paper that Maggie scribbled her name on them - DONE. Same printed hearts - Owen cut his out, colored them and taped a jolly rancher to them - DONE. Rebecca doesn't do pre-fab so she cut her own hearts out of construction paper and wrote little messages on them, taped the jolly rancher - DONE. No pinterest cutesiness. No rhymes or poems or special mom touches. It actually felt like a big mom-win. They were all happy to do the work themselves and are proud (or at least satisfied) with what they made. So, a lot of our life feels like that right now.

I hope the blog doesn't fall into the category of things that I have to totally let go - I love the idea of looking back and remembering what I wouldn't otherwise be able to remember...but I can't hold myself to a standard of taking and editing pics, jotting down every funny story as it happens, and posting it all in a somewhat timely fashion like I used to. So, we'll just take it one day at a time, one blog post at a time.

Here's to at least wrapping up 2016 - with as few wordy details as possible, because, well, its 2017 and I have already forgotten most of it.

Maggie running a little errand with me by the church office - and taking a little break in Ms. Val's desk.

Rebecca made Bee the most amazing hat - covered in Wreck'Em Tech symbols and bees and all sorts of other gems. And don't you know Bee totally wore it to a game - at least for the picture ;)