April

What a whirlwind of a month!  Where do I start?  Maybe the biggest change of the year (so far) for us is a good place.  As of the 1st of April we partnered with 2 other couples for Games2U.  One couple has been operating for about a year, approximately an hour drive from us.  The other couple joined us at the same time as new franchisees.  The merger enabled us to gain more protected area throughout Dallas (specifically Flower Mound to McKinney to Highland Park).  This means no other current or future franchises can operate in our territory, thus taking our customer base.  This was a big concern because over 50% of our parties were outside our little territory of McKinney and Frisco, so protecting a larger territory was essential to our "making it".  

It has been more of a blessing than we first realized it would be.  Neal and I really wanted to do this on our own, but *sometimes* God knows a better way. (he he)  It's always a little hard to meld many different personalities together but it has also been a wonderful orchestra of this person who's good at this and that person who's good at that. 

 

Speaking of people who are good...we were so grateful to have had Courtney (Neal's sis) help us with booking parties this past year.  She was truly awesome at the job and I can't express enough appreciation we have for her working so hard for so little pay.  She helped us provide for our family (and help us keep our sanity!) more than she knows and I hope we will have an opportunity to pay her back someday.  She handed over the phone at the time we merged and is enjoying time well spent with family again.  It was good timing for us all, I think.

So now Neal is responsible for scheduling Game Coaches, 2 Game Theaters (van style), 1 Game Trailer and whatever other vehicles are necessary to cover Hamster Ball or Laser Tag Only parties, as well as maintenance, and damage control (poor thing!) which is inevitable when working with the public.

I didn't pay close enough attention when taking this picture to be

sure I got all 4 screens.  There's actually one more to the right you can't see.

I am slowly turning over the accounting and trying to have absolutely no job description, other than team support, so that Neal doesn't have to wash his own clothes anymore and maybe have a home-cooked meal more often (yeah, still working on that one)!


Back to the beginning....

I had to look at pictures (thankfully I have some - I just love pictures!) to remember what all we've done this year.  I hate that I haven't had time to write and post pictures, but that's just the way life is now (working on that too : ).  Anyway, we went to Dallas to see the New Year's Day Parade.  I was surprised what a big deal it was - not sure why, but I was.  

My favorite parts of any parade are the dancers and bands who boogie down with their instruments!  There were a couple who REALLY got into their music.

Then, we bought yet another business!  I know, I know.  We're completely crazy!  Just wait until you hear what we bought....

....a mobile stuffed animal filling station.  Here's Neal learning how to do what we call "surgery" on one of the animals.

We offer this service mainly to schools as a fundraising events.  First, kids pick the animal "skin" they want...

Then, they get to pick an outfit...

And they get to help stuff their own animal by stepping on the foot pedal, sending fluff into it.

Then they dress it and take it home with a birth certificate.  It is truly a fun time with the kids.  Even the 6th grade boys get into it!  I'm thinking maybe we need to hit up the high school students!


Valentine's Day

I always love celebrating with Colton's class any holiday, but this time was especially fun for me because I was asked to provide the games for the party.  Yea!  And I can tell Colton loves having me there, doing something for his class.  I hope that doesn't fade away too soon!

We finally built the Gingerbread House we got for Christmas in March:

Got outta town for a couple of days to hike the Oklahoma Ouachita Trail.

Colton took his stuffy nose with him on this trip, so we took a break along the way.

At which time the boys found a "natural" catapult sticking up from the ground...

And a hillside to bat things off of, like acorns and pinecones...

Or throw over the edge....

And a raging river to cross! (ha ha)  

Oh, and we got to stay the night in this cute little cabin.

As we prepared for the 2 weeks prior to Easter, Austin joined us for our annual Resurrection Eggs.

The boys enjoyed taking turns opening each of the eggs and being reminded of each little item they've seen in years past and what they've learned about the death of Jesus.

Colton read related scripture for the

first few items.

Let the hunting begin!

Impossible to get all 4 looking at the same time!

Steve & Courtney enjoying a picture.

 

Cousins Pete & Brittany came up for the holiday

and brought their *kids*, Turbo and Rocky. 

They were ready to go!  After all of the

craziness from all of those people, I

don't blame them!

Natalie, Sam & Lizzy

Matthew, too, is ready to go!

This was Rachel's first year to be too old to hunt.  It's hard to believe but she sure has grown to be a beautiful girl, inside and outside.  I don't have anymore pictures because my camera batteries died and I didn't have any back ups. So sad.

I think it's time for a new washer.   What do you think?

Sweet Little Puppies

Colton's 1st attempt at his volcano project.

Gravity kind of took hold, though.

The second attempt was just as much fun as mixing dough for the first one, but much more successful this time!

Sheeeew!  All caught up....for now.


 Heather