Friday catch up

Friday was a gorgeous day in Texas. After early morning piano lessons, we packed up our school and went to the park. Stephanie ended up joining us and we had a picnic lunch. The kids did all of their school and rode their bikes on the trail for hours. It was a lovely day. I really like this park. It's 2 blocks from our house and is newly renovated with a huge bike path and nice play equipment.

Chandler became totally independent on his bike that day! He taught himself how to start alone and stop without falling. :) Now he thinks he's ready to ride alone on in the road. Ack! It's one thing when he was learning and I was running alongside. Now my baby is 50 feet away by himself and it's downright scary!! He's not the most observant child... he's always off in his own little world. :) The only way I let him is if I'm standing right there at the end of the driveway to warn him of cars. I didn't have to go through this with Taylor because she is VERY cautious. She was so scared of cars when she first started, she would stop if she saw one 3 blocks up the road. lol Not so with Chandler. I have to be very very alert when he's riding. :)

I got my hair did

I get to have a vain moment here. I cut off my hair, people! I've been wanting to do this for months. Since I went on a color binge this past year then followed that with a perm(!) -- what was I thinking?? -- my formerly great healthy long hair became so damaged that I had to just start all over. It isn't as short as I'd like to have gone, but this was as short as Tom wanted me to go. :) I've only had my hair this short one other time and I never liked it because it was so bulky around my face. I made sure this new girl I went to put tons of layers in it and it came out better than I even imagined. This girl was good. I told her she's my hero for 1. me being super pleased with a short cut and 2. for giving my my healthy hair back. :)

It's more piecey and layered than it looks in this picture...


I just stuck this one in because I was struck by how much I look like my mom here. :)

Can you tell I had fun with my photo shoot? :)

Time for a break

Today after school we met some friends at Kid's Station. It was $2.00 day. We shared pizza and let the kids play for hours while us moms got to visit. It was some much needed down time with the kids out of our hair. :)

Brayden was hitting the jackpot on tickets. :)

Not a great picture, but the only one I got of Taylor. She was rarely around, always off in the tunnels with her friends. :)

Showing off his trinkets that he bought with his tickets.

Piper and Conlan got to play too. Here they're both really tired. :)

Botany project with Daddy

Taylor had to build a light hut for the plants she brought home from ELO yesterday. Tom helped her out and they had a great time building it together. It was a special time for them to work on a school thing together. It was fun watching them. Chandler was interested for all of 5 minutes. :)

Cutting out the hole for the light.

Lining the box with foil.

Cool, huh!?

Finished project with the plants inside. They did such a great job!!

Knock, knock

Brayden loves telling knock knock jokes. He'll say "Mommy!" like he's about to say something really important and then the conversation goes something like this...

Brayden: "Mommy!"
Me: "What Brayden?" (interested)
Brayden: "Ummmm... knock, knock."
Me: "Who's there?"
Brayden: "Boo"
Me: "Boo who?"
Brayden: "Don't cry, it's only me!"

That's his favorite one. It's also the only punch line he knows. So the rest of his jokes end up going something like this...

Brayden: "Knock knock"
Me: "Who's there?"
Brayden: "Diego!" (grinning like he has a new joke)
Me: "Diego who?"
Brayden: "Don't cry, it's only me!"

It always gets a good laugh out of us even though we know what's coming, because he thinks it's so hilarious. :)

It's Fall!!

The first pumpkin muffins of the season! Pumpkin bread is in the oven as I type. :) I woke up this morning at 6 and decided it was pumpkin time. I feel so energized when I'm in the kitchen baking early in the morning. Normally I'm NOT a morning person. But give me a recipe and a hungry family and I'm wide awake. :)

All by himself!

Chandler took me totally by surprise yesterday when he took off alone on his bike! I took the training wheels off for him a few months ago when his friend Jo started riding without, but he never wanted to try it until now. He tried all by himself with a little push from Taylor and never looked back. He was so excited to show me when I came outside yesterday. I was so proud!

Today he told me I had to take pictures to show Grandma and Grammy on the blog. :) He does so well, he just needs a push to get started and takes off. He falls occasionally, but gets right back on. :)



Small battle wounds. This was after a pretty bad fall -- he hopped a bit in pain and said he needed a bandaid. Then gave it a second thought and said, "Never mind, Mommy, I can just pull the white stuff off and it's ok!" :) My brave little dare devil. :)

Happy Birthday, Tom!

Today is Tom's 32nd birthday. He doesn't like to "do" birthdays and for once I heeded his wishes. I tried planning a party and when he vetoed that, we tried to take him out to his favorite restaurant after church.... but he would have none of it. He wanted to spend the day at home with his family, he said. That was all. So we picked up McAllisters take out and spent the day resting. The kids also decorated a big sign to give him. It was a very understated day, but he loved it.

I was planning on making cheesecake but that required a trip to the store and he wanted me to stay home with him. :) So that will wait until tomorrow. All he wanted today was a vanilla shake from Sonic. Check.

Such a simple guy. He is the best husband, daddy, friend, and son anyone could ever ask for. All too often I take his quiet strength and steady nature for granted. His love and care for me and the kids is overwhelming. He is so kind and giving. He is the most unselfish person I have ever met. I love him so much.

Thanks Pam, for bringing him into the world 32 years ago.... and for not taking him out of it just as fast. Even when he deserved it. ;)

I love you, Tom. Happy Birthday.

Sonic Treat

We had a great week of school and the kids had a perfect score on their "daily duties" chart, so as a surprise reward they got to go to Sonic and order anything they wanted. Needless to say, they were thrilled with that. :)

Fair time!

Fall always makes me giddy. It signals pie making and I just love the smells and decorations... and that it's the start of the holiday season!!! (Has anyone but me thought about the fact that there are only about 14 weeks until Christmas???)

Well, nothing says fall like the fair. :) We had planned on having this be a family night, but Tom's knees have been killing him, so he sat this one out. I almost left Brayden home with Tom, but he kept talking excitedly about the fair and got huge tears in his eyes when staying home was mentioned. I'm so glad I took him. He had a blast. It was a much better deal to get armbands so the kids rode tons of rides. I got to go on a few with them when Brayden was too little to ride alone. The people running the rides were really nice about it even though I didn't have an armband or tickets. :) We were having so much fun, we stayed all the way up to close.... 11:00!!!! I was exhausted and so were the kids. But we all had huge smiles on our faces when we left.... I just love being a kid with my kids. :)

Happy and Melody the Clowns

Chandler was fascinated by the boy on stilts... he kept touching his leg. I was so afraid he was going to make him fall! :)

First ride of the night!

Brayden DID NOT like the llama getting into his personal space!! lol

More fair fun

Chandler rode as many "big kid" rides as he could sneak onto. lol He was just under the 46" required height. He got on a few, but most told him he was too little. He handled it fine though and had fun watching Taylor enjoy the ride. This one was their favorite. They rode it three times. :) The tiltawhirl was their second favorite and the last ride of the night.

Fair treats.

Fun on the swings.

This was a really cool kids ride that I got to ride with Brayden. It was a tame version some of the bigger rides - hot air balloons that went in circles and each one you could spin with the center wheel. Brayden loved it and insisted we ride it twice. :)

Learning is fun!

Chandler painting his pig mask - they read the story of the Three Little Pigs. :)

Brayden having snack time. It was hard last year leaving my baby for half a day... he didn't like it much either but he always got over it quickly, which made me even more sad. lol This year, I'm one of the teachers in his class and we're both doing so much better. :)

Taylor in art class.

With their friends after class.

First day of ELO!

The kids were so excited about their first day of classes with our homeschool group. It went very smoothly - even after accidentally setting the alarm for pm and waking up later than I wanted - we got out the door on time and even got to take a few pictures. :) Gotta have pictures!