Our Christmas Letter

Some years we send them, some years we don't. This year I managed to pull it off. If you are wondering why you didn't get one with your card, we only send them to our friends out of town. In theory it is because we see the rest of you, although that isn't always the case. We hope you had blessed holidays.

Merry Christmas from the McHorses

Has another year already passed? Wow, time is flying which seems to be the way we function these days. I have neglected the Christmas letter the last couple years, and while there are many things about our lives that have stayed the same, in that time there have been some notable changes.

Kevin’s job is the same although he has begun teaching about injury prevention and general pediatric orthopedic physical therapy in Austin and throughout the country over the past two years. I am still staying at home full time and continue to enjoy my time with the kids and volunteering at our church and the kids’ schools among other things. I recently helped my parents and my aunt move my 94 year old grandfather to Austin from Arkansas. While we are thrilled to have him here in Austin, it has been a huge transition for him. He is a trooper and is doing his best to remember all the names of the little old ladies who he eats lunch with, but in all seriousness, each day does have its challenges. While we know the adjustment may take a while, we are so thankful he is here.

Possibly the biggest event of our year was that Tyler started kindergarten. I continue to be amazed at what a smooth transition this has been. While I was anxious about the change for Tyler particularly since none of his friends from preschool were going to our elementary school, he took it all in stride. I had been nervous about him making new friends and feeling comfortable in an unknown environment. However, a few weeks before school started he said, “mommy, I am so excited to start kindergarten so I can make new friends.” Sometimes they put everything in perspective for us don’t they? After this conversation, it was clear that I was the one who was uncertain about the transition, not Tyler. He is thriving in school and has developed a passion for geography. He has taken it upon himself to learn every state’s location and their capitals along with other interesting facts. It amazes us how much information he absorbs. He is still our athlete and now plays soccer, basketball, and baseball at different times of the year, loving every minute. In his school journal which he is required to write in daily, he almost always works sports in somehow. He actually brought home his first completed journal this week and one of the prompts from the teacher had been “school would be better if...” and Tyler’s response was “if we didn't have journals.” So, while he loves just about everything about school, he could do without the journaling. I can’t say I blame him for feeling that way.

Megan is three and continues to embrace life full force. I find three to be one of the most challenging ages. It is possible that it is just the intensity of the age that is challenging. We love that it brings new independence and discovery. It also seems to increase the already very present stubbornness in our kids. Megan is a true joy and brings laughter into our house daily, but wow does she know how to test her parents! She keeps us on our toes. Megan is having a wonderful time in preschool again this year. We love that she goes into great detail about the events of her day. One of the things her teachers say they love the most about her is her ability to adapt to every situation. One minute, she will be dressed up playing with her babies and the next she will be playing football with Tyler and his friends. She does her best to have fun in every situation. Yesterday, Megan had her first ever program at school. She has been so excited about it and has been practicing for weeks. She was beaming as they sang Away in a Manger and Twinkle Christmas Star. She is so expressive that her whole body exudes excitement or any other emotion depending on how the day is going. She has been intrigued by kindergarten and in ready to start. However, I will take every minute I have with her before she begins elementary school.

Here is our tale of adventure for the year. We were vacationing in South Padre when Hurricane Dolly decided to alter its course to make South Padre the eye of the storm. While staying would have been full of adventure, we never gave it serious thought. We evacuated the storm to the McHorse ranch and then to the Lost Pines Hyatt in Bastrop so now Megan thinks the ranch and Lost Pines are a part of every evacuation route and still mentions it on a regular basis. Despite being different than we had planned, the trip was still great fun.

Throughout the year, we are constantly reminded of the gift of presence and are so thankful for your presence in our lives. May each one of you experience the blessing of Christ this holiday season.

Kevin, Beth, Tyler, and Megan

Kindergarten Funnies

Yesterday, Tyler brought home his first completed journal from school, which is a spiral notebook. They are required to draw and write in the journal daily and the teacher often gives them a prompt on what to write about (by writing I mean a sentence or so). Some days it is something they like about themselves, others it is about something they would like to do. I was looking through the journal this morning. On one of the pages was, "school would be better if," (the prompt)... we didn't have journals (Tyler's response). I found myself laughing out loud at such honesty. I just love it; it is such a great age.

It's back!

This post is long overdue, but I had to update everyone on the status of Megan's favorite "night - night." Eight days after we lost it and a couple days after the original post, we found Megan's "night-night" in our house no less! We were playing in our playroom, I looked up at the bookshelves, which I had looked in over and over again, and there it was peeking out above a picture album. I wish you could have seen Megan's reaction - she was ecstatic and overjoyed! These pictures were taken shortly thereafter. She is just admiring her favorite"night-night" and is so happy that it is back with her. The sun is kind of interrupting the picture, but it seemed appropriate to me given how in Megan's eyes the return of her blanket might as well have been a gift from God. We have instated a few new rules regarding the night night since it's finding. It now doesn't leave our house unless we are leaving town. Because of the trauma of the initial loss, Megan is happy to abide by the new guidelines.

Halloween Pictures

Just a quick note with our halloween pictures. Megan was a very excited Cinderella and Tyler was a Houston Astros baseball player. We had a great time trick or treating in our neighborhood and even managed to recover after the gorilla jumped out to scare us (not a big hit with the younger crowd). Here are some pics of our evening.

It is Gone!

Yes, that's right, Megan's "favorite night-night," the one she is holding in this picture, is gone. We lost it a week ago today and spent hours and hours searching for it. I still have no idea what happened to it. I think it must have fallen out of the car at Tyler's school or at church. I was hoping she would take it in stride like her friend Caroline did when she recently lost her prized elephant. Not so much. She was devastated and shed many, many tears about it. However, after she saw her parents frantically searching for days without success, I think she got it. She realized that it was really gone. She still asks where it is from time to time, but has found another blanket to attach to. I think it may have been more traumatic for me than for Megan although I am not sure. It is amazing how resilient they are though. Once she accepted it was gone, she has become very attached to the new one. We do leave it at home more often though. Neither one of us could handle losing another one so soon after the first.

Austin College Reunion

Last weekend, Kevin and I went back to Austin College for my 10-year reunion. It is unbelievable how much the school has changed. We always liked the campus, but now it is state of the art. New buildings, stadiums, academic programs - it was exciting to see the progress of the school. It was also wonderful to reconnect with old friends - some who I still see regularly and some that I haven't seen in 10 years. While Sherman has made progress too (they now have an Old Navy and a Target), it is still very much the same. We were glad to be back there for a weekend and look forward to taking the kids with us next time.


Kevin and my girls Lannie, Marissa, and Christel
My former roommates Marissa and Christel. The house we lived in is now a parking lot. It was a school owned property. They actually made us move out after finals before Christmas so they could begin demolishing it. The only good thing about that was that they provided us with a much nicer house since we were forced out. We missed Lee street though!
Ashley, Christel, me, Marissa, Lannie, Amy




Many people may not know that I spent two years on the Austin College swim team. One of my former roomies, Marissa and I took a tour around campus reminiscing and she insisted we capture my old swimming locker and the pool. I had a love/hate relationship with my membership on the team. There were times I really enjoyed it, but also many times when I remember hating it! The hating part could have had a lot to do with the 2 hour 5 day a week workouts. I am definitely glad I experienced it, but was also glad to have two years without it. It was fun to be back there though.

A Boy and His Dog

Tyler loves our dog Kanga so much. Here are some pictures of them loving on each other.

Longing for Summer

I realize people in Texas feel like summer lasts well into the fall given the never ending high temperatures. However, while it is only October, I find myself missing some of the simplicities of summer already. I appreciate a schedule and routine, but also love the freedom of summer. Summer just lends itself to simple fun at our house. I find I really miss these things when we settle into our routine of the school year. A few weeks ago though, it was very hot and the kids got back into summer mode for an afternoon. They got water bottles to spray with and Megan stripped down (I am sure the neighbors loved this) and just ran around the back yard playing with each other and spraying things for quite a while. It was one of those moments you can't create, you just have to enjoy. We definitely enjoyed it!

Our Weekend in San Antonio

Kevin was teaching a course in San Antonio about a month ago, so I decided to take the kids to explore San Antonio. Actually, we didn't explore all that much - Sea World on Saturday and two parks on Sunday. The kids absolutely loved Sea World - it was "one of my favorite things ever." Tyler even decided to ride his first roller coaster and enjoyed it (Megan rode her first at the rodeo thing year). Thankfully, I had decided to bring the stroller. It ended up being quite a blessing. Megan has very little concept of getting lost. At times, she would just start walking, not to be disobedient (which is sometimes the case) but just because she was ready to move. The stroller became a great way to corral her when there were large crowds or things were really chaotic. Since I was there without Kevin I didn't take too many pictures, but here are a few from our day at Sea World and the next day at the park.

All About Megan

I was worried that Megan would be a wreck the week Tyler was in school and she hadn't started school again yet. All summer, if he was at a friend's house, she was so miserable, constantly asking when he would be back. I assumed the same would happen with Tyler being in school. I could not have been more wrong - she fully embraced her time at home. We had a week of very girly play. We took very good care of her babies and she was sure to let me know that I needed to focus on play if my attention diverted for even a minute. We really did have a great week together but I was exhausted at the end of it. We were all ready for her to start school again too!


Here Megan is doing her "homework." Tyler has homework occasionally so Megan enjoys working on something too. At this particular time, I think Tyler was playing while she "worked."
LOOK! It is a real ponytail!!! It may be small, but it is Megan's first real ponytail. We have had a lot of pixies on top of her head but no ponytails until now. Her hair is growing more and more but she still has almost none compared to her classmates. Maybe a haircut by 1st grade!

Cousin Camp

The last couple summers Kevin's mom aka Mimi has organized a Cousin Camp for a few days. They do all sorts of fun activities and get to be together, which they always enjoy. Given the busyness of all of our summers, we fit cousin camp in the last week of summer for two days. Thank you Mimi for making it such a special time. The kids had a blast as always!


We took the kids on a Duck Tour which travels through parts of Austin and ends the trip with a trek through the lake. The kids loved it and especially enjoyed their duck quackers.

After the tour, we headed to Spaghetti Warehouse. While the boys entertained each other, Megan kept Jacob occupied. She talked to him, fed him , and gave him her undivided attention.

Catching Up

While school is now well under way for both kids, I am once again trying to catch up on the posts that I have yet to do.

In August, we went to Mo Ranch in Hunt for a church retreat. We went with Covenant, the church where I grew up. My parents, Clark and Meredith, and our dear friends the Skaggs all still go to church there and encouraged us to come even though we no longer belong to their church. I am so glad we went. Mo Ranch holds many wonderful memories for me - family retreats as a child and multiple winter retreats there as a youth. It is the first time I had been back since my freshman year in college. There were many great activities for the kids, adults and everyone together. We even got a number of ideas to take back to our own Sunday school class for a family retreat. Thanks to everyone who made the weekend to great. We hope to go again next summer!


Tyler and Megan are very eager to take Kanga to Mimi and G'Daddy's so we can go!


This might be Christmas card worthy if Megan's hand wasn't in her mouth.
Cousins and friends on the covered wagon outside the dining hall. The food hasn't changed much in all the years since I was there - it is still terrible.
Samuel gets up close and personal with this tree.


Hugs for Lael and Kennedy

A Typical Ride in the Car

Megan is our talker, singer, you name it; she likes to be heard. In the car, she often talks and sings to us or herself. So, today on the way home from Target, this is what she came up with:

"Eeny Meeny Miney Mo
My mommy lets me go
She is the very best cleaner"

I asked what she was saying and she repeated

"Eeny Meeny Miney Mo
My mommy lets me go
She is the very best cleaner"

The only explanation I can give is that we bought cleaner today at Target. Their little minds are so fascinating. I do prefer this version to a previous one (when she was not very happy with me) where the second line was my mommy doesn't know...

The First Day of School

We made it through the first of many first days of school. In all honesty, it couldn't have gone much better. Tyler has been increasingly excited about starting kindergarten and all of that was evident today. An early riser by nature, the 7:45 start time is not going to be a challenge for us. Today, he woke up before 6:00 but actually fell back asleep for a little while and got up at 6:30. We had talked about how the morning would go and planned to leave the house a little early to show daddy all the cool things about the school. While Megan has had a difficult time the last week or so with all the kindergarten talk and attention, today she was excited to help send her brother off to school. When they opened the door to his classroom, he put his backpack where he was supposed to, and headed inside to put his lunch box where it belonged. He then came and gave me a big overly sympathetic hug. I may over attribute actions to kids instincts but sometimes I feel they know exactly what their parents need at a particular moment. This morning was one of those moments. Tyler gave me the sweetest hug and just about the time he would normally let go, he gave me an extra squeeze as if to say, "it's all good, mommy." It may have been just as much for his sense of security as it was for mine, but it was just what I needed to let him go. After that, hugs to Megan (I am pretty sure Kevin got left out of the hugging scene but I could be wrong; I was doing my best to keep my emotions at bay). Kevin wanted me to clarify that he did indeed get a hug. Then, he walked into the classroom without a second glance.

While I am sure there are some boys who are very talkative about school, Tyler is definitely not one of them. Thankfully, after 5+ years I have grown used to this so I knew not to expect much detail after school today. However, I do know that he will tell us if something is not right. So the "I had a really good day at school today, mom," and "my teacher is so cool" were sufficient. He enjoyed the day, got to see his cousin Lael in the hallway, and started making some new friends ("I can't remember most of their names"). While I would love the essay description of the day, I am thankful he provided me enough detail to know that he is happy. In many ways I can't believe we are already here, embarking on 13 years of schooling. However, when I think of how I imagined this day a couple years ago versus now, it is apparent how much Tyler has matured. He was so self assured and excited about a new adventure, how can we not jump in and enjoy the ride?

Here Tyler is with all his gear before we head to school.

A quick hug for Megan

Adios family. I am ready to start having fun!

Angels Sleeping

I find pictures of sleeping children so precious. Here are a couple that I just have to share.

This is actually from our South Padre vacation. After we left and went to the ranch, the kids wanted to sleep together. Megan actually fell asleep first that night, which never happens. Tyler had a harder time going to sleep. After I hadn't heard him a in a while, I went in to check on him and found him cuddling up to Megan. So precious!
I can not describe how much our kids love our dog, Kanga. The feeling is reciprocal too. She often goes to sleep in one of their beds each night. This is the way she and Tyler fell asleep one night recently.

Megan is 3!!!

Megan celebrated her 3rd birthday a little over a week ago. She loves all the attention her brithday brings and was on cloud nine. As always, she has changed so much this past year and now resembles much more a of little girl than a toddler. Megan has truly embraced 3 and I am remembering why I think 3 is much more challenging than 2 ever was. We have days that are full of fun and excitement and then we have days that are full of attitude. Thankfully, every day has the potential to be different. While I do find 3 a challenging age, it is also such a joy watching Megan learn new things and become even more of who she is. She is so fun and full of life. She definitely keeps us on our toes. Happy 3rd, Megs!

The birthday girl ready for her party!



Megan loved the bouncy slide. I am not sure how she was still standing by the time they came to take it away; she was in to so much!
Megan's party was held on G'daddy's actual birthday. She made him a sand cake, sang to him, and had him blow out his candle.