Week End

In our house we paint pumpkins. I haven't worked up the courage to do the scooping out the guts and carving  thing. Although with Carso around I know that will be a highlight for him. Maybe I will just buck up and do it this year with a big bertha pumpkin. But for now, we paint.

Yesterday I registered BOTH kids  for flag football this fall. I just wanted them to do something other than soccer. We will see how it goes. Carson was throwing his "bubble football" around the family room the other night. And he had great form, brought it up right by his ear. I was impressed. Now I may be way off about them liking this but I figured we will give it a go. Kate was so cute. The first thing she asked me? "Mom, do they have pink jerseys?" Um no sweetheart. Oh this should be interesting!

I made a pumpkin streusel coffee cake today. My kids both LOVED it. I did not have pumpkin puree but I did have pumpkin pie spice. Why I had that, I have no idea. But I'm glad I did, or it would have just been coffee cake.

I caught Kate dancing with the foam Joseph that she made at Summer Spectacular this summer.

Mommy and Carson selfie. Love the tongue and love that he has his little arm wrapped around my face.

I know I say this all of the time. But I just look at this picture and can't come up with anything other than, "I love him so much. He is MINE ALL MINE!"

I'm reading this book called Setting Limits with your Strong Willed Child. Kate is the opposite of a strong willed child. She is what the book calls compliant and eager to please. So by the powers of deduction guess who I got the book for? But it turns out he is not firmly in the strong willed camp.  Anyway. We have a rule in our house that there is no eating in our family room. Kate pulls her chair up right to the edge so that she can still see the TV but still be in the kitchen to eat. Resourceful.

I came downstairs and found that Carson had taken this enormous slice of cake for himself. I'm so glad he likes it..but come on!

Every Little Moment

It seems like my life these days is made up of these little moments. Lots of "I love yous" and "Can I cuddle with you?" and "Mommy come sit by me" and Kate's most endearing "Thank you for knowing me Mom." LOTS of these moments lately and I am so overwhelmingly blessed. And sometimes I think what if my life had turned out different? What if I had been absent from work that day he and I  met? What if right at the beginning I would have said this is too much and I'm out? I wouldn't have my Kate and Carson. And the thought of that puts a huge lump in my throat and painful tears come to my eyes. Painful tears. I just can't imagine doing this any other way. Even if I knew everything I would have to go through I would still have stepped on this path with out another thought if it meant I would get to meet Kate and Carson. If I would get to be their Mommy. There's no price I wouldn't pay, no experience I wouldn't walk through just to be way where I am today. I think my kids will need to know this someday. I think they will need to know. "You were worth it." Worth everything. 

My most favorite girl in the whole wide world.

My most favorite boy in the whole wide world

A Moment

We walked Kate to the front of the school this morning and I actually stayed outside the door and watched her walk in, but Carson had to go in: He stood at the end of that long hallway and watched her until she turned the corner. He craned his neck and body up and down so that he could be sure he saw her every step of the way.  Then he stuck his hand in his pocket and strolled out saying, "Well, she turned the corner." and then softly almost to himself he said  "I'm always gonna watch over her." I am so blessed to be a witness to these little life moments.

Fall Wreath and Mantle 2013

Yesterday I made my Fall wreath and decorated my mantle. I really push it when it comes to this stuff because I love cooler weather so much. I just want to say that this has really played with my kids heads and they continually (and I mean every 5 seconds) ask me when Halloween is. That was Carson's first question when he woke up this morning. Ah the burden of having a Mom who decorates too early! But I wanted to get maximum mileage out of this ensemble that will be up through Thanksgiving. I found out the key to saving money on this project is 1)recycling what you have and 2)remembering where you put the decorations from last year. This whole project cost me around  $13 because of those 2 things. Oh and because Hobby Lobby has 40% off all Fall decorations. Which will probably end soon as they move onto Christmas. And I think that I decorate too early? That place is insane! And I'm so glad they are:)

The wreath is made up of a wire wreath with fall garland wrapped around. The great thing about this wreath is that is has bendable wires on it so you can attach anything you want with out glue. I'm definitely going to recycle it for Christmas. I also bought a little glittery sunflower add on and popped it right in there.

My new candle from Bath and Body works. This is the best candle I have ever owned. I highly recommend it!

Decorations from last year. The only thing new is the Burlap ribbon. I like it simple and natural:)

I wrapped my summer wreath with burlap ribbon and used some flowers from a bouquet that I've had for 6 years. I cut some left over khaki fabric into a ribbon to hang the wreath and voila!

And Another One Bites the Dust

As we were walking into school Friday morning Kate said "Oh my tooth is out!" We were running late due to a cereal mishap in the wagon as we were walking to school. So we scurried to her room and her teacher put the tooth in this tooth necklace. I told kate to please hold onto it so that it wouldn't be missing in action like her first tooth. And sure enough she came walking home with it securely tucked away in her lunch bag that afternoon.

The tooth fairy money ($5!) was in her possession for exactly 4 hours and then she heard the siren call of the Tastee Freeze truck. She was so excited to buy an ice cream cone for her and Carson. In a 5 year old's world that's money put to good and delicious use:)

The Last Vacation Post...I Promise:)

Well, this is the last of them. Our vacation was wonderful. Not with out some bumps in the road but definitely just what I expected with a little bit of the unexpected thrown in. I wanted lots of hugs and kisses and laughs and smiles and I love yous   and those wishes were fulfilled and then some! I'm just so thankful that were able to do this and so thankful that we came back home  safe and sound.

I finally discovered the trick to going to the beach with little kids...on the last night.. Which is when you usually find the best things to do and how to do them. Going in the evening was perfect for us.  The air was cool and the weather was perfect and the sun setting was just a perfect back drop for our last night there.

Our new friend Courtney had spent all day with her brother building this sand castle.

That's Courtney at the top there. She had dug these wonderful tunnels in the sand which my kids were over joyed to share. They ended up ruining all of her hard work in their exuberance but she was sweet and didn't mind. Turns out she was from Coppell. I wish she lived closer because I would have definitely asked her if she was in the business of babysitting.

Then she buried them in the sand which they thought was the greatest thing ever.

One of my favorite pics of the trip. The joy on Kate's face is pretty unmistakable.

Sweet Courtney. I really think I could have saved my money and driven to ANY beach and just buried the kids in the sand. They got such a kick out of it.

Another favorite

Triumphant.

Working together

God's beautiful sunset

They had such a great time laughing together.

The next morning we said our good byes and drove back home.

Me and my amazing brother Burke. He has a Heart of gold. He makes me laugh like no other.

Love this girl. I am so blessed in the sister in law department. So very blessed.

And this is indicative of Burke taking our picture. He started taking pictures in the fast shutter mode so I think there are about 50 pictures of Stacey and I. I am saying "What are you doing?!?!?!?" And Stacey is just rolling her eyes which is an essential maneuver when married to my brother.

We rolled through this tunnel on our way back home. My kids loved it. So the tunnel and being buried in sand. Save your money parents. This is all my kids really needed to make their trip.

Cousin Pic....Take 134

I think Stacey and I will be a little bit sad when these 4 grow up and take an actual good picture together. It just wont be as fun to see them smiling in unison with their arms around each other. Sweeter maybe..but definitely not as fun. Take a look...

It's a good thing we got this sweet shot of Kate and Marin...

Because this is what Carson and Hollis were doing on the other side of the picture. Doll girl and Michael Jackson.Oh dear.

Oh son...please stop

I'm starting to see who the culprits really were. Look at sweet Marin and Hollis. And then there's my two...

When will I ever learn? Probably never. I will just keep trying.