Autumn Memories

As a kid I remember playing soccer in the autumn.. it was always a little cool but when that sun came out it was awesome..
this afternoon reminded me of my own childhood...
short evening
golden glow
soccer
kids
fun
homework was finished quickly just so we could go out and play... it was just too nice to be inside...

man, I got a good lookin' family!!!

Well, we didn't get to the pumpkin patch on my birthday or out of town like I wanted..
we waited till the rains subsided.. at least for 30 minutes..
got everyone together
in long sleeves
and grabbed a shot!!
Thanks to the older lady who mesmerized my kids while the timer went off on my camera..
I never use the thing and had to figure out where it was- LOL!
My sweetie met us at the Flower Mound Pumpkin Patch and we got a few shots, jumped in bounce houses and played in all the pumpkins!! They were so big!!!
There were no whines or tears that afternoon.. it was a perfect family outing..
ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

Fort Worth Stockyards

I just so happened to be at the Stockyards the same time Lady G was there with her class... my friend taught me how to do this..
I am not responsible for others.
I am an extra set of eyes just in case.
I can bring other munchkins.
I get to see what my other school kids are doing.
I can leave if needed.
I can stay longer since I have other kids with me...
it is such a win win situation for me and the kids...

Some day I will be able to give 100% but some days it doesn't work out... soon it will as the Princess A will be able to hang out with others and know she is safe. For now I am the safe haven for her and it's just fine.

lessons learned

so there were lessons learned today...

Mr. T thought that he could hide choc'ates in the potty... my sweetie is STILL plunging... lol

Princess A..

she is another story all together.. being mobile she as the WHOLE WORLD at her fingertips...

new rules applied to her today.. things I thought I would NEVER say...

RULE #1: don't eat dead worms (notice the dirt around her mouth???)

RULE #2: don't bite the toilet seat

yep, these rules apply to my lovely daughter.. think she'll remember???

all 4... the latest of all 4 of our kiddos

each one is such an individual
Lady G is "little mama" always protective and sensative
Queen V is our little sprite/fairy with her head in the clouds
Mr. T is alllllllllllllll boy... today's adventure was flushing choc'ates down the potty to "hide it from mama" nice, huh?
Princess A is just plain happy!! (although this shot would fool you...)

Checkmate

This is life in our house..
laundry will wait and so will the dust..
My honey was teaching our Queen V how to play chess.. and she caught on! QUICK!!!
She is a fast learner when she has her head out of the clouds! lol!

Henrietta Apple Orchard

first grade
apples
books
how to's

yep, my little Queen V has definitely enterred first grade as she tries apples (again.. it's like pulling teeth trying to get this kid to eat fruit!!) and writes a ton of journals and books about apples. She is so excited to grow her apple seed they dug out of the apple at school.. I told her Noah would need to build and ark for all the water in that cup.. apparently Mr. T is "helping" her water the seed... poor thing.. I will have to fix it without Mr. T's "help" so she can grow her tree.. of which she will never eat the fruit! lol!!

I tried to get some pics of Queen V but I had one mama or another jump in front of me so I didn't get as many as I would have liked. It rained most of the time we were there but the kids didn't seem to mind at all. Queen V's bangs dropped a little bit more in her eyes the longer we were there.
She saw butterflies, bugs, bees, a baby pumpkin growing on a vine, chickens, dogs, peach, pecan and apple trees... Queen V had a great time with friends, being outside... and in the rain..

Smiling with Grandpa

out to catch a whopper!

trying to sweet-talk Grandpa into letting her jump ship with him... she can't get enough play time in the water!
Lady G, Grandee and Aunt J... catchin' a few rays :)

"Did you see that fish jump over 'der? I'm gonna catch a whopper!"

No matter how hard she tries Queen V can't catch a whopper.. she loves to try though.... We'll go again soon!

big boy = big toy

look how serious you both are discussing the race car...
THIS is imortant stuff!!!
now this mama knows what is important in her little guy's life... bet I can get toys picked up super fast with this dangling in front of my little guy...
Hey, Mr T, wanna see Grandpa's race car?? better pick up your matchbox!!!!
such a wicked mama....

barefoot in the back

doll for a doll house

what a little doll she is..


I absolutely love this little girl. I still can't believe she is ours... but she is. every smile. every giggle. every shriek of joy.. yep, she shrieks with joy. It took us all by suprise the first time we heard it but she does..
What we all love to see now is that she folds her hands in prayer while we all say Grace before we eat dinner. She smiles ear to ear and then puts her hands together again when we say Amen.. how sweet is that??

shhhhhhhh. don't tell the girls...

when they are at school..
we jump on the bed!!!

just because...

how cute can one little 4 year old be...
no bribery.. he just sat there waiting for me to focus..
such sweetness hiding in this jumpy, excited, funny, crazy, little boy

busy day

The day actually started off with Lady G having an MRI. She has had lots of migraines so we had to get to the bottom of it. Since she is considered a "cured epileptic" the neurologist didn't want to take any chances... She stayed so still, listened closely to the technician and go to jam to music she brought in!!!! They had headphones for her and we had gone to the library the day before just to get music for her to listen to while the knocking and pinging going on. I got to stay in the room and read!!! awesome!!

After the MRI we went and got some dollar sunglasses (my nice ones are broken...) and she got a pair too!!! She is one cool kid- don't you think?

We had a funeral to attend but just couldn't get from the MRI to Lindsay for it so we said our own prayers here. My sweetie went to the Rosary the night before and saw cousins he never knew he had and learned a few things he never knew.
about his great aunt.

After cleaning out the van (boy, it needed it!!) we drove up to Gainesville for a birthday party in the park. We loved seeing little CJ for his second birthday!

He was so excited to open each present!!
The crew was invited to his party and gave him some foam toys to stick on the bathtub tiles.. a roadway that fits together like a puzzle and cars and trucks to run up and down the tub tiles!!! (Amanda, I can't wait to see the pics of tub time!!)
Our kiddos had such a good time.. well, minus Princess A... she is cutting teeth again so fussy is her language of late.. if we have music playing she will giggle and dance... I *have* to get a video of that!

The park we were in was one my sweetie played in as a boy. There is a pool right next to it where he learned to swim!! The kids thought that was great and wanted to go for a swim. I only had Princess A's swim diaper (doesn't everyone travel with a swim diaper??? lol!) so we didn't go for a dip!

sweet sunsets

icecream cones 1.25
icecream 4.96
sunset 0.00
+_____________________________________
sweet sunsets to remember: PRICELESS

I could not pass up such a sweet sunset... we sat on the back porch, ate drippy icecream and had lots of chocolate smiles afterwards.. how great is that??

partly cloudy

Isn't it amazing how wonderful life is?
On some days it seems as though others have it easier.
On other days it seems as though we are walking on rainbows.
Either way we need to realize that it is God's will that we should follow.
We need to figure out how important it is to see the good in all.
Kids do it so naturally... we teach them not to...
How can we be more trusting in a world so full of fear? in a world full of wanting what other's have???
How can we protect ourselves while fulfilling our destiny to do God's will...
trust
have faith

I was sent the link to this blog I will be looking more at what he has to say in the future. His thoughts and words are very poiniant at this day and time...

Feed the Birds

Lady G had another big girl discussion with me... seems we need more family time. Other families get to go do things, other families spend more time hanging out.. doing STUFF... So we went to the zoo on Sunday. It was 106* but we went.. and boy did we sweat!!! The whole gang went.... and our tradition is that each kiddo gets to pick an animal and we see that one for sure. Any other animals are a bonus and we can enjoy them but they are not the main attraction for that day. Lady G wanted to see the snakes so we went in and the girls journaled about them. We got into that habit last summer while I was trying to get them to see more details in things and boy do they!!! Queen V drew the scales and patterns of different ones- wow! I didn't have the lens that would let in enough light for that dark building so we just hung out as Mr. T shreiked at every corner about how cool each frog, snake and lizard was!!! so fun!
Queen V wanted to see birds and feed them. We saw birds we had never seen before! I had no idea of some of them because they are either higher in the trees or not there for some reason. The main bids Queen V wanted to see were the ones you feed... Since Mom gave us season passes for Christmas paying a buck for feeding the birds is easy!!! Each kiddo got a stick with birdseed on them and stayed VERY STILL waiting for a dash of color to sit quietly... even Mr. T!!!! Princess A slept through all of this... it was just too hot...

Birthday Girl!

2 years old.
we just found out #2 was on the way... Lady G got to tell Daddy she was going to be a big sister!! lol!

at 3 Lady G started going to The Daddy Store and having just time with Daddy... they made all sorts of things.. including this bookend!

Lady G turned 9!!!

How on earth did we get to this age??? Just yesterday I sat boohooing over a sweet hankerchief that Grandee turned into a bonnet for her Baptism and with a cut of 2 strings back into a hankerchief for her wedding day...

and now she is into fashion, giggling without control, dogs, swimming and American Girl Dolls.

Her favorite color is green.. and that is all my favorite things (so she wants me to write in the blog).. and Elise is her best friend... still... 5 years into school and they love being together!! It's all good...

well, except that there has not been a party yet... seems a skunk has taken residence under Mom's deck... so far we have fed the skunk but not captured it... but we have captured someone's turtle and an oppossum. Oh well... we will have parties for our kids but never when we intend on them.. go figure... it's just one more thing...

She had a great birthday though, she has gone shopping, got a key to the front door, a cool pink hat with sequins, a new Webkinz and Carissa... the newest American Girl Doll.... yep... it was all good! She asked for an icecream cake - so easy to make and she love them! whohooo! No staying up till 2am decorating the cake... but we did have streamers everywhere, lipstick notes on her mirror, 25 balloons and presents to open...

stay tuned... she is going to be published!!! yes, Duchess Bobbe (you got your own name, Bobbe!!) sent her a book so she can be published... how exciting... What a great way to spend 100+* afternoons while the little guys take naps :)

Rockledge Park

so we aren't going anywhere for vacation just yet so we will instead visit all the parks in the area... getting our tax dollars to work for us as we take a weekly adventure to a new park..
this week's park was Rockledge Park. I heard about it via another photographer... it was not anything I knew about except another place to launch a windsurfer when I was in highschool...
It was so hot this day- probably too hot for most people but we were going to go as an entire family and not just me and the kids.. my sweetie was going to escort us... fun for him to see the kids in a new environment and good for me I didn't have to chase all of them at once.. an extra pair of eyes is a great thing!!!
Here are some random pics of our adventure this day..