Happy Halloween

 

Our chubby blow up guy is loving his costume because it blows a steady stream of air on him.  He's loving being cool underneath that black material.

Our little flamingo is twinning with her friend.

What a fun night!

don't forget my favorite

It's that time of the year again.  It's the time of the year when people start putting up their CHRISTMAS TREES!  

What in the world? It's the first week of November!!!  

If you know me you know I love food.  Thanksgiving is my ALL TIME favorite holiday and I just can't forget it!  However, this is my opinion and I'm cool with whatever you do in your house, but dang it..... after the election and all the hateful talk I think we all could use a dose of gratefulness.  AM I RIGHT?!!  

peace.love.thanksgiving.

pumpkins and pecans

We did all things fall today.  

We drove around this afternoon house hunting and then the kids were excited to get home to play with pumpkins.

Gary is the pumpkin carver in our family and he always does a wonderful job.  I'm thankful he does it because I don't think my carving skills are up to par.  I'm sure I would embarrass myself if I tried to carve a pumpkin.

Hayden was more than happy to stick his hands down into the pumpkins and clean it out.  Gross.  Layla dug down inside her pumpkin also, but Hayden actually had fun.  Layla had fun painting her pumpkins.  She looks forward to that every single year.

I had fun taking pictures of all our crafts and then I baked a cake.  I found this cake recipe on Pinterest.  It is called southern pecan praline cake with butter sauce.  It is seriously one of the best cakes I've ever made.  Just search Pinterest for the recipe because I can't take credit for it.  You'll love it though, it is so yummy!

It's such a great fall cake.  I wasn't sure if the kids would like it but they did.  

We all loved it and it was a great end to our fun 'fall' Sunday!

Fall feels good!

We have all settled into a nice routine for fall.  

The weather here in October has been amazing!

On Mondays we load up in the evenings and do baseball.  

Layla is loving the top off the Jeep just as much as the rest of us!

We're loving watching this guy hit the ball!

On Tuesdays we taco or tostada!   You know, Taco Tuesday is the best!

Wednesdays are for ring pops watching HC play more ball!

Thursdays are low key.  

We try to cook something fun and watch Grey's and football.  

I like to throw in a load or two of laundry to keep up with it all.

Lily and dad are having a serious conversation and of course 

Daisy is very jealous. 

Goodness these dogs are sweeties!

Aaaand we burn the fall candles and diffuse ALL the fall oils.

On Fridays we football!

On Saturdays we eat a fun breakfast and we dream of where our future house will be.  We can't wait to buy a home, but we are using this time to explore and plan for all the things we want.  It's fun!  We all load up with the Jeep top off and we explore our area.  Sometimes we want to buy a lot and build a house and other times we want to buy a house already built.  I'm not loving our rental house right now, but I am enjoying every moment.  I'm helping the kids to make memories that will last a lifetime.  Someday we will drive past our current home and remember all the fun things we did here!

After we finish exploring Gary smokes meat and we watch football outside in the backyard.  He missed out on so many Saturday's with the family and now we don't take them for granted!

One week he smoked a brisket and the another he did pork.  He's in his element and he loves it.  He's been cooking more for us every single night since I started working. I love being in the kitchen with him.  We sorta fell back into our dinner routine of him doing the meat and I do the sides.

I enjoy coffee on the porch in the morning.  I love watching the doggies get frisky in the fall air.  I'd rather watch them than browse Facebook right now.  Ugh.  Can the election be over yet?  Sometimes I wonder if some of my friends on FB live in a bubble.  Goodness, the nonsense going on on social media right now has me irritated.  That's why I love Instagram.  It's my happy, peaceful and no drama space!

I was so nervous, but excited to start my new job.  After 11 years as a stay at home mom I was worried about messing up our family dynamic.  We all have good communication.  We're all happy most of the time.  I didn't want my schedule change to effect us all negatively, but it has been wonderful.  I couldn't be happier with my choice to become a working mom.  It's working out great for everyone in our little family.  So far we are thriving in our new normal!

two games down!

We've been practicing baseball and now it is time for the games to begin.  Since it's fall baseball there will be no more practice and only games.  Two games a week every week for a month.  

This week we won both games!!!  

It is so fun to watch these boys play.  I'm so proud of Hayden.  I know he is tired after school.  It was to be tough to focus all day long and then go to baseball and focus on that too.  

We are loving watching him and now I am just hoping for more fall like weather so we can enjoy the games without sweating.  It's this time of the year in Texas that I'm ready for FALL!

fall ball

Hayden has been waiting since March to play baseball again and tonight was the night!  He started fall baseball and he was so excited.  

He looked good out there and I think it will be a great fall season.  Fall baseball is pretty low key and that is great because Hayden needs to work on skills before spring.  If he chooses to play in the springtime I've heard it's pretty intense.

  I'm ready for some cooler temps though.  It's pretty steamy out there in the evenings.  We have four practices and then games begin.  I'll be back with more baseball news soon!

Sunday was a funday indeed

We had a fun fall Sunday.  We had a fire to end the day and Hayden decided to protect his head with his motorcycle helmet.  His feet, legs and arms are all bare, but the face is all good. LOL!  

Silly silly boy!

We went to the park and the kids took a pretty deflated soccer ball to kick around.  They ended up playing volley ball and Layla screamed out, "pass interference!!"  Oh me oh my, the children are funny today huh?!?

We ran off some much needed energy!  

I'm going backwards in picture order.  We had cheeseburgers for lunch.  We took a drive and were hoping to find a hidden gem of a burger spot on the back roads of Georgia, but we struck out.  We ended up downtown for a late lunch/early dinner.  We tried a cheeseburger place we have been curious about since we moved here.  

Let me start by saying the food was great.  The fries were crispy and the burger was very delicious.  

I was annoyed by the cleanliness of the restaurant though.  The bathroom was a wreck and we had to ask for toilet paper and the teenager we asked was just rude.  I told her bathroom didn't have toilet paper and she said, "ok!"  She kept on doing whatever she was doing.  She wasn't concerned about TP at all.  When we went to order our food., the boy behind the counter was not helpful at all and it was our first time to eat there.  He wasn't in the mood to answer questions about the menu and in his defence it is a cheeseburger, how do you mess that up?  BUT come on, have some personality.  Anyway, the tables were all dirty and Gary and I were just plain ole disappointed.  We had higher expectations ya know. We just need to open a restaurant!  We'd love it!

After we ate our burgers on the patio we headed to the cupcake shop a few shops down the street.  They were out of cupcakes.  LOL!  We pretty much struck out downtown today, but it's all good.  We still had a fun time.    

After sleeping in we started off our day with coffee by our first fire.  We decided to light a fire to warm up because we had a frost warning.  IT was chilly indeed and we loved it.  As you can see below, Daisy loved it too.  She's such a little ham-bone, posing like a movie start princess puppy!

I'm thankful for a fun Sunday with all my people and furry animals.  I don't take a second of life for granted.  I am thankful and I know I am truly blessed!

driving range date

While I do get bummed out on some Saturdays when Gary is working, I do appreciate our Mondays together.  If he works on Saturday he will take off on Monday.  Monday the kiddos are at school so this is date day for Gary and I.

We weren't able to get in a full round of golf, so the driving range was a great alternative!  The weather was perfect and just look at those puffy clouds.  

I'm loving golf lately and I'm hoping to master my swing.  I feel like golf is a workout and working out is my therapy, so I loved my golf day date with Gary!

pumpkin patch photo overload

Sunday we loaded up and drove to the nearest pumpkin patch.  I've been wanting pumpkins for the front porch, so why not make an event of it.

Gary warned the children about me and my camera.  HaHaHa!  They know I love taking pictures!

Look at my little pumpkin heads.  Oh how I love them!

You better believe I bought one of these white pumpkins.  

I just love them and I love that they're flat-ish!

On our way to the corn maze we stumbled upon these three witches.

The kids giggled like crazy when they saw the skeleton in the witches stew pot!

These two are big buddies.  They're so alike it's crazy!  She looks like me, but acts like him!

This guy never stops running and he insisted on leading us through the maze.

Which way?  This way!!

This sweet donkey was very friendly!  .

The chickens were not friendly.  They were making all kinds of noise and they even pecked the finger of a little girl

Don't stick your finger through the cage...duh!  Hayden just talked to them and squawked back.  He's hilarious!

Every pumpkin patch must have a tractor!!

After we loaded all our pumpkins into the Jeep, the kids insisted on riding in the wagon.  You're never too old for a wagon ride. :-)

Of course Hayden ended up with a pumpkin that looks like a butt!  Goodness!

Downtown Woodstock is bursting with fall decor right now.  I went on Friday to get my hair done and I saw all the scarecrows lining the street and I knew I had to take the family downtown to explore!

I love taking a very quick selfie as we cross the train tracks, but the kids were clearly selfied out.  LOL!  

Businesses all built scarecrows as advertisements.  Layla got tons of pictures, but my phone was about to die, so I only took a few shots.  It was fun looking at all the decorations and walking around on a pretty fall Sunday!

Silly little flexible girl.  She wasn't happy with this split, but she hadn't even stretched.

The kiddos couldn't wait to get home to paint their baby pumpkins.  

I think they loved our Sunday!  I know I did!