Pumpkin Patch 2011

I told Caden that Halloween is Aunt Wendy's birthday about a week ago and he has been asking me every day "is it Aunt Wendy's birthday today?" He is ready for Halloween! Since we are all getting in the Halloween "spirit", we thought it would be good to get some pumpkin pictures! (I don't need much of an excuse to want to go get pictures of my kids!) The kids smiled pretty well for the most part. I think Brenna's age got in the way of alot of good ones, but that's OK. Here are the best, and I appologize now for the quantity (and sub-standard quality :)

 I'm so glad that Gracie doesn't mind taking pictures! I can always count on her to get some really good shots!

 Caden can only take so many, and then he's DONE.

Brenna's picture with the pumpkins like this didn't quite happen.

 Cheerleader pose! (she looks like she could be 8!)

 I think she was bending over like that b/c I was!

 Cutie pie!

 I've been looking at alot of ideas on Pinterest, and although I didn't see this idea, I think it got my creative juices flowing. I'm sure I'm not the first mom to make letters out of pumpkins and sit their kid inside for a picture :)

 I would have liked to spend a little more time with this idea, but my subjects were not agreeable.

 I think I got some cute ones :)

 She almost rolled over all the way on this pumpkin!

 Sweet Gracie girl!

 Oh, he's so handsome!

LOVE this smile!!!

OK, the next ba-gillian pictures are my attempt at getting a pic with all three kids sitting on a pumpkin. Sounds easy enough, right? HA!

 First, we lost Caden and Brenna is still looking for a pumpkin to sit on.

 OK, everyone has a pumpkin, and we are all seated. Now smile :)

 Uh oh! Lost Brenna! Those are slippery pumpkins!

 Back on the pumpkin, everyone smile and look at the camera!

 Gracie starts doing what daddy is doing behind the camera to get them to smile.

 We tell her to put her arms down.

 THAT didn't go over well. Caden is concerned. Brenna is copying daddy too!

 Time to pout.

 I think we'll be getting ALOT of this look in the near future and beyond. Caden is still worried.

 Daddy is trying to get them all to raise their hands.

He's got 2 of 3!

 Oh, I see a smile! Caden and Brenna's arms are getting tired!

 There we go! Get those arms up Brenna, just a little longer!

SUCCESS!!

He told them to cross their arms! I love how Brenna does it!

We are so blessed!

Hope y'all make it to a pumpkin patch near you!!

The Lord's Prayer

Caden's Sunday school class has been learning the Lord's Prayer. They asked us parents to help them with it, so we've been saying the Lord's Prayer with the kids at night. This past Sunday, Caden was the first kid to get a T-shirt for saying it in Sunday school! He needs some help, as you can see, and he doesn't get all the words perfect, but he knows most of it! And he's soooo cute saying it!

We are SO proud of him!

Here he is wearing his shirt!! He's so proud, but he's smiling that big because I told him "smile big!"!

Funny boy!

July Catch-Up: Girl's Weekend/ Chupacabra Run

I've started running again and needed a goal to help motivate me to continue, so I decided to run in the Los Chupacabras de la Noche fun run in San Antonio! My sister, Wendy, and her friend, Larinda, ran with me. We had a little fun in San Antonio, too!

Ready for the run!

Wendy and I!

The run started at 9PM so we had to wear head lamps! It was set in McAllister park and it was pretty much a dirt bike or walking trail through the trees! Not so good for a someone with bad knees or ankles though. Lots of rocks and tree roots to avoid.

Me, Larinda, Wendy, Allen and Jennifer (Larinda's friends) - the Los Chupacaras de la Noche!

We made it! Such a fun run! Will definitely do it again!

After shopping at the market, we had to eat at Mi Tierras!

And visit the Alamo. I haven't been there since I was little.

And we went on the River Walk of course!

I LOVE the old oak trees at the Alamo. So pretty!

Chinese dinner was so good!

And top it all off with dessert from The Cheesecake Factory with my cousin, Casey, and his fiancee, Lindsey, for company....perfect!

We ate well. Lulu's famous 3lb cinnamon roll was breakfast!!! Yum.

I didn't get any pictures, but I also got to go shopping at the outlet malls in San Marcus! Such a great trip. A much needed get away :)

July Catch-Up: Weekend at GG's

Random weekend at GG's house!

Reid and Gracie

Brenna loves to eat!

Mogan was hungry too!

The boys!

Watching a movie :) GG has lots of movies!!

July Catch-Up: 4th of July Fun

Brian, Laura and Lane came to town for a roping that Brian had entered. It was fun got get to see them and let the kids play! Caden and Lane had so much fun together! We need to get them together more! We need to get ALL the cousins together more! Here are some pics from that weekend!

Lane came over to play one morning, and they were all watching "The Little Mermaid".... for a few minutes anyway.

Brian was nice enough to let us ride Little Joe.

Both of these kids LOVE to ride!

Brenna and I were getting a little wind blown :)

Thanks for letting us ride Brian! He's such a pretty horse!

Then we got to eat some homemade ice cream! Yummmy!

I'm pretty sure Brenna liked it!

What could be more American than playing baseball?

Brian had a little fun roping the kids! I think the kids had even more fun!!

Jason's new grill worked great on the ribs he smoked for July 4th!! Very tasty!

Their cousin on my side came to play too! Well, he watched them play :) Jason had him laughing pretty good, too!

We went to the arena to watch Brian's last roping in the short go. And we got to see the fireworks!

It was getting late, so we packed up the kids and drove a little ways to see the fireworks better and then headed home. The older kids really enjoyed the fireworks and it was a really good show for our town! It was a great weekend!