halloween

For months, Brooke talked about being a dancer for Halloween.  Her idea was to wear one of her old dance costumes, more specifically, the one with all the sequins.  Colby changed his mind every day, depending on what costumes he saw on display.  I constantly reminded him that he was going to be a pirate since we bought him that fancy hat and sword from DisneyWorld :)

About a month before Halloween, my mom called asking if I wanted her to order any more dress-ups from Little Adventures. I quickly looked at the site and saw THE cutest witch costume, and a little farther down the page I saw a girl's pirate dress.  I loved them both, but felt like it was unnecessary since Brooke already wanted to be a dancer. Her and Colby were taking a bath, but I went in and asked her if she could rather be a dancer, or a pirate like Colby. She thought for a moment, and decided on a pirate. I showed her the dress and she literally squealed with delight. My mom ordered the dress and it arrived a week later.  When we opened the package, it was the witch costume, haha.  I assumed that my mom had misplaced the order since we had talked about both costumes, but when I asked her about it, she even had the order confirmation for the pirate dress.  Mom called Little Adventures customer service and they assured her that they would send the correct pirate dress, but that we could keep the witch costume as well.  

We totally scored!!  Brooke wore the witch costume to "Storybook Character" day at school (since they can't call it Halloween), and she looked adorable!  She was especially in love with the spiders I drew on her cheeks and hands. 

On Halloween, the kids dressed as pirates and I loved that they were matching!  I made Colby's sash from an old black/red rose bandana and used some of Brooke's old leggings to make some pirate pants for him. But the icing on the cake was the facial hair I gave Colby and the scar that he insisted on. "Every pirate needs a scar" he assured me, and he was completely in character for the pictures.

I love his personality! And the hooks I ordered from Amazon :)

I had also found an eye patch set with gold clip-on loops and it made the greatest addition to Brooke's get-up. Looking at these pictures really is a testament to what a fun age these kids are at.  They have their own ideas and opinions and have enough spunk and sass to make things interesting :)

The many faces of two pirates...

They were both excited to pass out candy again this year, and the trick or treaters started early in the evening.  At some point in the evening, I remembered about these capes Nay Nay had sent them about a year ago, so we pulled them out of the closet and added them to the ensembles.

Once we were done with dinner, we were off to go trick-or-treating!  Kevin was super fun and dressed up with the kids, while I didn't, haha.  I had another eye patch, but it was so cold and I just wanted to wear my big coat and stay warm :)  We walked the neighborhood with the Hawkins again and enjoyed every minute.  Except for the cold, I didn't particularly love that! Several of the homes were completely decked out, and one house had a whole pirate theme that was seriously impressive.  I'm talking full size pirates and a pirate ship, fog machine, and tons of displays.  It was too dark for a picture, but I considered dressing my kids up the next day just to go take a picture! (I did a drive-by the next day and ALL the decorations were gone, so I was glad I checked before going to the effort of getting them all in costume again.)

It was a great Halloween, full of memories and fun!

green meadows petting farm

I feel like i'm starting every post stating that "this is a favorite fall tradition", but Green Meadows is definitely right up there with the rest!  I love fall traditions because they are low key, low stress, and don't involve any preparation or clean-up.  You show up, enjoy the time together, and head home :)

Last year, I picked Brooke up early from school since they close at 4 PM daily. I planned on doing the same thing this year, especially since they moved locations and were now in Dallas rather than right at Lynn Creek Park.  Brooke was thrilled when I picked her up, but I was somewhat worried about the weather.  My weather app showed no rain, but the sky looked pretty dark and moody. But the next few days definitely showed rain, so this was our only opportunity.  

As we climbed out of the car, I felt tiny sprinkles on my head.  The place was empty, so I figured we would just make the most of it. You can't skip out on traditions!! We paid the ridiculous admission price and headed straight to the corn bins.  This was a new addition this year and the kids were anxious to check them out. 

As you can see, it was a big hit.  One other little girl (probably 2 years old) was there with her mom, so of course Brooke made friends with her. Brooke and Colby made corn angels, buried themselves, and were just silly together. 

The corn bins were right next to the goat enclosures, so it made sense to head there next.  One of the employees gave us each a cup of feed and told us which animals we could feed before walking away.  Colby was a little hesitant at first, but Brooke jumped right in and fed them all!

As I stood watching the kids, a goat came up behind me.  It totally freaked me out because the goats were supposed to be INSIDE the gates, but this guy had somehow escaped.  I tried to coax him back towards the gate with my cup of feed, but once we were at the gate, all the other goats were trying to get the feed. I was trying to open the gate, push the goat inside, and make sure the other goats didn't escape.  All while it was sprinkling, haha.  I was about to give up when I heard a guy yell from across the lot, "It's fine, they know where to go.  We're just getting a kick out of watching you try."  The farm employee was just standing there with another dude laughing at me.  Thanks a lot, guys.  I was trying to do a good deed and instead they were mocking me ;/

But at least the kids had the chance to be up close and personal with one of the goats. 

We checked out the enormous pig...

The miniature donkeys...

Took a hay ride...

Touched the bunnies...

Said hi to the cows...

Watched this mama lick her nostrils, which was SO funny...

Checked out the hairstyle on this guy...

Posed with the beautiful Jersey cow...

Then took pics in the cut-out signs before heading BACK to the corn bins.

I had to take this close-up one of Brooke because she had a major snaggletooth.  That thing was SO loose, and she had commented that it had been bothering her all day. 

We stayed until closing time, when I had one of the farm hands take a few pictures.  I love these pictures each year with the hay bale girl :) It's tradition, and you don't mess with tradition!

We almost forgot to pick our "free" pumpkins on the way out, but luckily I remembered.  I am learning that my kids are pretty dang particular when it comes to picking pumpkins, so it always takes way longer than I think it will :)

It was another great year at Green Meadows :) It was a little cold and damp, but at least we weren't sweating or dealing with a crowd!!

julia's blessing

Mid-October, Kevin's cousin Katelin messaged me and invited us to Oklahoma for her daughter Julia's baby blessing.  We haven't been able to drive up to the last few things they've invited us to, so we were excited that it worked out this time.  Katelin's parents (Roy and Celine) were also flying in, as well as her brothers (Cameron, Quinn, and Evan).  I really enjoy spending time with their family, especially Celine, so I was looking forward to the weekend.

We made our hotel reservations, and as soon as I was home from a baby shower I was attending Saturday morning, we packed the last few things in the car and made the 3.5 hour drive to their house in Edmond, Oklahoma. (It took us longer than we thought to get on the road because we had to bring the IVF injection supplies with us since we were starting injections that night.  We had already watched all the injection videos, but when it came down to it, we were both unsure whether or not we understood all the needles and supplies we would need for each injection.)

We checked into our hotel, which the kids thought was AMAZING, haha.  It was new and really clean, but not as fancy as the kids thought it actually was :)  We met up with everyone at Earl's Rib Palace, which was actually really delicious.  I held Julia for the first time and she was precious!  Brooke was in heaven and kept asking to hold her.  

Then, we were off to Main Event to go bowling together. Colby has been dying to go bowling, and even added a reminder on my phone a a few weeks ago that said, "Remind me to go bowling with my Dad."  Needless to say, the kids loved it, as did I.  

I was especially proud that they practiced bowling the "big kid" way rather than relying on the dinosaur ramp every time.  

Poor Kinley was home sick with Jeff, but Brooke loved all her time with Aubrey. 

The boys: Kevin, Evan (fresh off his mission), Quinn, and Cameron. 

Quinn and Cameron are so good with my kids and because of the way they interact with them, my kids think they are literally the best.  They came last year for Thanksgiving, and Brooke and Colby still talk about how fun they were.

It ended up being a late night out, so when we returned home, we let the kids crawl into bed and watch a show since we needed to do my injections right at 10 PM and we knew that we didn't have time to get the kids asleep by then.  They were easily distracted with the show, which gave Kevin and I the time we needed to figure out the injections. More about that to come!

Sunday was the blessing, and Katelin's husband Ryan did a beautiful job.  Right before he started, I grabbed a pen and paper to jot down the words of the blessing.  I should have given my kids a heads up because Colby kept asking me why I was writing stuff, but I didn't have time to explain it because I didn't want to miss anything.  When I gave it to Katelin later, she was totally surprised and grateful.  Since our kids were blessed at home, I was able to audio record everything on my Ipad, but I know how important it was for me to have the blessing recorded :)

After the blessing, they were hosting a luncheon at the Air B&B her parents were staying at.  I helped with the final preparations while the kids had a blast outside. We literally couldn't have asked for a more beautiful day!

Hammock time with Daddy :)  He always puts his arms like that and says, "This is the life!"

We really enjoyed time with extended family, and especially meeting little Julia.  She was a sweetheart and Brooke was officially smitten.

Even Colby couldn't resist and came over saying, "Julia" over and over while she made the cutest faces at hime. Luckily, Celine caught a picture of the whole adorable encounter.

Thanks for inviting us, Katelin!!  Hopefully we can see you all again soon :)

arlington patch

Another week, another pumpkin patch! We've been meeting the Arlington friends here for years, and this year was no exception. We were the first ones there, so I had plenty of time to get pics of Brooke and Colby on their favorite horses :)

It was super bright, can you tell?? Hahaha!

Our friends arrived shortly after and the kids all ran and played while I chatted with Danielle and Tracy.  That's the perfect playdate if you ask me :)

Brooke collected a bunch of pumpkins, but wasn't thrilled when I told her that I wasn't buying any of them.

After an hour or so, the sun started to soften and I was able to get a few really cute pictures of Tracy's kids for her since her phone was dead.  The lighting was so perfect, so of course I made my kids pose for a few more pictures :)  They were happy to oblige when I reminded them about the brownies we brought to share.

Danielle took a really cute one as well :)

I love this group of kids so much, and I love the friendships I've had with Danielle and Tracy for the past 12.5 years!

Friends for life!!  These traditions are so important to me and I'm grateful that we can keep it up!  Andreia didn't make it this year, but she's hit or miss on this outing anyway, haha.