Looking Back at October

It's crazy to me that October is almost over!  We've stayed busy this month.  Coleman has been playing soccer this fall, Spence joined Boy Scouts, and Allie is getting ready for her ballet recital in a few weeks!   The first weekend in October, Brian and the boys went to the Houston Grand Prix.  It was HOT, but fun for them.  They even got to see a crash or two!

They got the Grand Prix tickets when Spence joined Boy Scouts.  He had decided he didn't want to play any sports, but we wanted him to have an activity that was his own.  He has several friends in his pack and is enjoying all their activities!

Oral ID was a sponsor in an Oral Cancer Walk in Houston, so Brian had t-shirts made.  Sure, Spence and Allie wore their t-shirts backwards, but they were there representing for Oral ID!

Allie's class took a field trip to a pumpkin patch, which is one of my favorite things!  It was even a tad cool that day!  I'm realizing that we're doing a lot of "lasts."  This was my last trip to the pumpkin patch with a preschool class.  I'm trying to cherish all these moments this year!

Last Friday the weather was gorgeous, so we decided we had to go to a high school football game.  Unfortunately our high school wasn't playing at the field that's less than a mile from our house.  But fortunately there are lots of other high schools around here and there was a game there.  All we have to tell the kids is that they'll get a treat from the concession stand and they're ready to go! Coleman is really into football so he and Brian watched the game and talked about plays.  Spence played with his popcorn bucket and Sprite bottle, and Allie enjoyed the marching band.  We saw one of Allie's preschool teachers and a family from our church.  It's fun that we've lived here long enough that we see people we know almost every place we go!

Fall Carnival

In the next few days I'll try to catch up with the activities of the last month or so, but for now I'll share the pictures from our Church carnival tonight.  We had a great time!

Let me give a little background on their costumes. About a month ago I started thinking about Halloween costumes and how much money we spend on them.  So I told the kids that we would give them $15 each for their costumes, and if they wanted a costume that cost more they would have to use their own money.  Spence thought about this for a while, then asked, "If I wear an old costume can I have the $15?"  Why not!  Then Allie ran upstairs and found a Spider Girl costume in the closet and asked to keep her $15 also!  Coleman couldn't decide what he wanted to do, and I really don't think he wanted to wear his costume from last year, so he didn't dress up.  He's never really been into costumes, so I don' think it bothered him at all.  Plus he has $15 now!  Brian and I told him he has to dress up for trick-or-treating next week if he wants candy!

The kids LOVE the song "What Does the Fox Say" so I tried to get Coleman to wear a fox mask, but he said, "No way!"  So I made a shirt and mask and wore it myself!  If you haven't heard the song, go to You Tube and search for it.  Too funny, but it will definitely get stuck in your head!

Pony Rides have been a big hit for the last few years!

And later in the evening Allie visited the face painting table to be transformed into Hello Kitty.

Oh, and see that inflatable behind Allie?  It's an obstacle course with two sides so kids can race each other.  Spence was awesome at it and beat kids who were 7th graders!  Coleman and his friend hung out there almost all night.

If My Kids Were Minifigures

The kids are very into LEGOS right now.  Very.  I think I've posted pictures of entire surfaces of my home covered in those small bumpy blocks.  Their friend Paul David is having a birthday party tomorrow and we got him a LEGO set, so I decided to make a LEGO themed card for him.  Of course this involved creating LEGO minifigures of my children.  I may or may not be normal, but it sure was fun!

Sweet and Sour

In parenthood, there are moments of sheer joy that you want to bottle up and remember forever.  Then there are moments you'd rather move past and not ever look back on!  And thirdly there are the moments that fall somewhere in between those two extremes.  These are most likely the ones that make you laugh and want to write about.  Today I had two very different moments with my boys.  I had gone to school to have lunch with Spence.  When it was time to go I said goodbye and started to leave.  He said, "Mommy!  I want a kiss!"  Right there in front of all his friends he wanted his Mommy to kiss him goodbye.  I want that to last forever!

Fast forward a few hours, when he had just arrived home from school.  On the car ride, we had been listening to a CD of the Christmas musical that the kids will be performing at church this year.  I asked Coleman, "Are you going to be in the Christmas program?"  To which he replied, "Can I just make myself barf?"  I think that's a no.

We are on the brink of Fall weather here!  This evening we were able to eat popsicles while sitting on Brian's tail gate.  It's a little sad that that's our indicator that Fall has arrived!

My Pinterest Inspired Scarves

I've liked scarves for the past few years, but I'm always hesitant to buy them.  I'll think, "What would I wear that with?"  or "How would I tie that?"  or "It's too long." or "It's too short."  or "Hey wait, it rarely drops below 60 here.  Therefore I probably shouldn't spend $$$ on a lot of scarves."  All good points I suppose.

These days I get all my outfit inspiration from Pinterest.  And what does almost every fall outfit include?  A scarf!  Many of them are just way too big and fluffy for South Texas weather, but some are really cute.  I'm especially liking the infinity scarves at the moment.  I found several tutorials that show how to make your own infinity scarves from old t-shirts.  I immediately went to dig through my pile of clothes I'd set aside to donate.  The bigger the shirt, the better scarf it will make, so I found one that I was getting rid of because it was too big.  It made an OK scarf.  Then I decided I could probably find some not-so-great t-shirts that would make oh-so-amazing scarves at Good Will!  And I did!  I totally wasn't expecting Good Will shirts to be $5.99, so I was a little disappointed at that.  But I found what I was looking for and just had to limit myself to two shirts.  If I really wear these scarves I might have to start canvasing garage sales!  Cause you know I want to say, "Look at my scarf!  It cost me $.75!"

Here are my two Good Will finds.  I went in not looking for cute t-shirts, but interesting patterns that I thought would be unique but could be worn with several different outfits.  Both these shirts are size 1X, which worked great!

Brown paisley pattern

Pretty grey and off-white pattern

I laid out each shirt flat, then cut the hem off the bottom and straight across under the arms.  I can't even cut straight, but I managed to do it!

What you're left with after you've cut the scarf portion out

After you make the cuts, you're left with a big loop of material.  Stretch it, stretch it, and stretch it some more!  I actually wrapped one end around a door knob then pulled on the other end until I thought the material might rip.  In the pictures I just wrapped the stretched out material around my neck twice.

The brown paisley

The grey and white

I like that they aren't too bulky and hot.  Now I can't wait to find more cheap t-shirts!

If the Shoe Fits

This little girl loves shoes!  Of course, I think all the women in her family have quite an admiration for shoes, so I'm totally not surprised.  Grandma really likes to support Allie's shoe habit, so I had to get a picture of the shoes that arrived in the mail from Grandma just yesterday!  She wanted to get Allie some pink crocs, but there weren't any in Allie's size.  Grandma, I think she's fond of the blue and green ones!  Then when she's feeling "girly" she can change in to these awesome pink boots we picked up on our last trip to Castle Rock!

The crocs that Grandma sent!

This picture has nothing to do with shoes, but was too cute not to include.  These two were entertaining themselves at the park during Coleman's soccer practice.  Maybe it's the angle, but Allie looks older than Spence here!

New ways to play with the baby swings

Ketchup

We are finally getting back into a routine around here, which has been totally exhausting!  On August 29th, Allie and I went to her school's Meet the Teacher.

Then on Labor Day, it was the last day our neighborhood pool was open.  I completely understand why they have to close once school starts, but it's a shame since September is just as hot as August!

September 3rd was Allie's first day of school.  My baby's in her final year of preschool!

 

Last Saturday, September 7th, was Coleman's first soccer game.  I know next to nothing about soccer, but it was fun to watch him and his team!  Before the game began, I had to take Spence and Allie over to the playground.  We're out in the heat, might as well enjoy the park!

Her sense of style never ceases to amaze me

And a picture that was actually taken today!  Every night Brian has "fun night" with the kids.  They take turns getting to choose what they play.  Tonight was Spence's turn to choose, and he chose parkour!  Daddy helped him run off the side of the house and turn a flip.  I wonder how long until fun night lands us in the ER?  Seriously though, they are so blessed to have a daddy that comes home from work and makes it a priority to spend time with them and do fun things (and crazy things that Mommy would never do) with them.

 

Great Things

The Lord has done great things for us, and we are filled with joy.  Psalm 126:3

Summer is over, and I am a little sad about that!  But don't these boys look sweet and ready for school?  Yesterday was their first day of 3rd grade and 1st grade.  We don't really talk up the beginning of school around our house.  That seems to cause unneeded anxiety.  Of course they know when school is about to start, but we don't make a big deal out of it.  I am so thankful that our kids like school, even though they may not admit it!

I started thinking that I haven't written anything about what's going on in life for quite a while, and that's a shame because "The Lord has done great things for us, and we are filled with joy!"  There was some anxiety in May when Brian was told his last day at his job would be May 31.  His employer wasn't getting as many contracts as they were expecting.  We didn't have enough savings in the bank.  Thankfully our trust is not in the company or ourselves.  God's timing is so amazing!  Almost as soon as Brian worked his last day at his job, his new company started demanding all of his working hours!  He and his partner were doing so well, that they began looking for office space and moved in as soon as we returned from our trip to Montana.  There are of course still some uncertainties, but we will continue to trust God and praise Him for everything!  In addition to getting an office and making more sales, Brian is happy.  He's happy with his work!  That is such a huge praise!  Oh, I am so blessed.  God is so good.  He has done great things for us, and we are filled with joy!

A Lost Tooth!

Spence woke us up this morning crying because his tooth fell out in his sleep and he couldn't find it so he was convinced he wouldn't get money from the tooth fairy!  I told him we'd leave her a note to let her know what happened and I was positive she'd leave him the money.  I know these things, you know.  Then after I woke up a little more and Spence stopped blubbering through his tears, I learned that he felt the tooth on his tongue in the middle of the night, took it out and put it under his pillow, then couldn't find it this morning.  And he was wondering why the tooth fairy didn't leave any money.  I told him she must have already made her rounds by the time his tooth ended up under his pillow!  So tooth fairy, I know you tend to be forgetful, but please remember to put money under Spence's pillow tonight!

Seems my kids' teeth are in no rush to fall out.   Coleman was well into first grade before he lost his first tooth.  So Spence has him beat there!  Check out this big smile!

Can't Do That When We Fly!

It's nice to fly to Montana and get there after half a day of traveling, but I have to admit driving was fun!  We got to see family that we rarely see, and parts of the country that we'd never seen before.  We stopped at places that otherwise we'd never go, like an extinct volcano in the northeastern corner of New Mexico.  After convincing the kids that lava would not be spewing and endangering our lives, we started our drive up the volcano.  No guardrails and a very narrow road made for an extremely nervous Momma!  But we made it!  The rangers gave the kids booklets to complete activities while exploring the volcano and after completing they were awarded honorary ranger badges and certificates.

 

Ready to walk down into the vent

 

I always seem to wear flip flops to go hiking

There was quite an amazing view from the top

 This was really a neat stop that everyone enjoyed!  I mean, how often do you get to drive up a volcano and then walk down into it? We drove on to Wichita Falls, TX and spent the night there.  We made it home the next day, July 22, 15 days after we left!  What a journey!  Can't wait to see what we'll find on our next road trip!

Cousins!

On our way home from Montana, we drove through Wyoming, Colorado, New Mexico, and Texas.  We stopped and visited Uncle Brent, Aunt Dre, and Rylan!  Allie and I went to see Rylan last summer, but Brian and the boys had never met her.  It's so fun to have a cousin!

Making it to Grandpa and Grandma's

After four days and 2000 miles we made it to Grandma and Grandpa's house!  I love love love our visits to Helena.  It is such a beautiful place, and the people we are there to visit make it all the more wonderful!  Several years ago Grandpa bought treasure boxes for the kids.  Every day of our visit the kids look in their treasure boxes and find a small toy or tokens for the carousel.  Now that the kids are older and, ahem, pickier, Rita asked them to give her some treasure box ideas.  Of course their ideas were "the coolest toy ever" and a "100 inch plasma TV."  Ha!  One day their treasure was a combined gift:  an inflatable ball that you get in and roll around in.  They loved it and played with it all week!

At the big hill at Carroll College (this is where we sled in the winter)

Spence ready for his ride

The weather was absolutely gorgeous!  Summer at our house involves lots of air conditioned activities or trips to the pool.  But in Montana summer is the time to go outdoors!  The kids played outside and at parks (virtually unheard of at home from late May to early October).  We ate lunch and dinner outside every chance we got!  Brian and I are already planning to summer there when we're retired.

Concert at the park

We planned our trip so we'd be in town for Brian's 20th high school reunion.  There were two dinners for the adults, and one family day at a lake.  The water was sooooo cold!  But Allie enjoyed it!

One day we visited a ghost town.  The old buildings were pretty cool! 

Leaving the ghost town we stopped at a little stream and the kids played around.

I'm so thankful for a beautiful place to vacation and for amazing family who we love and enjoy visiting!  Thanks for letting us stay an entire week!