Happy Girl

Grandma and Grandpa came to town. Grandma took this girl birthday shopping:

The tent and bath time Ariel were part of the birthday purchases. She has had so much fun with both toys. So has Cole, when he can get away with it.

Tessa has been talking about her birthday for at least six months now. She has solidified what she wants, so it's been taken care of for a couple weeks. Then an Oriental Trading Company catalog showed up in the mail. Suddenly she added reindeer antlers and slinkies to the list. I told her that those may not show up on her birthday (or a set of two dozen of them), so when she saw antlers in the dollar section of Target, Grandma came to the rescue on this dream.

But here is a picture of Cole wearing them:

Uncle Jon came too! We were so happy to have him here. Cole loved hanging out with him.

One evening we ran to slurp down some BBQ at Dickies, took a walk around a park lake, and then we made it to the opening night of Tangled. We loved it. I laughed pretty hard at the Snuggly Duckling section of the movie. It's so fun to hear little kids laughing and enjoying a movie along with the adults.

At the park:

This was the day before Thanksgiving. It got to about 80 degrees. What in the world?!? The next day a cold front came in and put things back to normal. That would explain the short sleeves and shorts at the end of November.

It can only last so long, right?

This is me for coming up on two weeks now. Except my hair doesn't look that nice. And my sleeves haven't been quite so puffy...or swirly. There must be a limit to how many times one person can blow their nose in a week. If there is, I want credit in the World Record book for exceeding that limit.

Last night I was finally able to get a pretty good night's sleep, thanks to my mom telling me to get some medicine already. (Why it has to come to that, I have no idea.) I believe I'm on my way out of this. Soon, I will be ready to embark on the adventures Tessa included me in today. Introducing this morning's DoodlePro drawing:

The artist informed me that it is a rainbow with lots of colors. Then it is Tessa and me. Tessa has curlers in her hair, and we are watching fireworks. We are standing on the grass with flowers that will, from what I understand, begin soon to float.

Can I tell you how much I love that I have huge eyelashes and no hair?

We Love Visitors

The Godfreys came to town! And Melissa was the only one coherent enough to pull out my camera the whole time.
We crafted (well, the moms crafted), talked, ate, wandered, juggled naps, talked some more, and then made a wonderfully delicious yet hideous icecream cake.
And Gabe put up with Tessa.
They did collaborate on a performance, which just cracked me up. They walked out to where Melissa and I were chatting and said they were going to do a song. Gabe was on the Barbie guitar while Tessa sang "I am Like a Star Shining Brightly". So cute. Then it was Gabe's turn to sing the Backyardigan's theme song, and Tessa took to the African drum. Cole quickly made his way over to join in on the drum, and we had ourselves quite the show.

Mmmmmmm, peanut butter.

Lake Ray Roberts

We went camping in October.

Since we've lived in Texas, we had only previously camped as a family one time....... at the KOA in the industrial part of San Antonio. It was high time we got outdoors and enjoyed our camping equipment together again.

We went to Lake Ray Roberts in Isle DuBois State Park. At the suggestion of a friend, we got an equestrian camp site. Yes, we were the only ones without horses in that area. The kids loved seeing them.

We were ready to take off on a Friday evening as soon as Jake got home from work. (The weekend before and the weekend after he went camping with the Scouts. So I'm glad he was willing to sleep on the ground for three weekends in a row.)
It was getting dark as we got there and set up the tent. We had a campfire and did what Tessa had been wanting to do for ages --had s'mores. We had Nutella s'mores, though. It's as delicious and messy as it sounds. Sadly, I'm drooling just thinking about them.

The wind kicked up. I couldn't tell if I was hot or cold in that tent. I don't know if I ever really slept that night. Cole woke up early and was a upset by his strange surroundings. I grabbed him to sleep by me so we wouldn't wake up the other campers and the horses.

Apparently when Jake got up later, he documented Cole's first time camping. And my Halloween pillow.

While Daddy-o made breakfast, these two claimed the camping chairs.

Rain was on its way, and we had to get home; however, we took some time to explore and go down by the lake. What a beautiful lake! We will definitely be going back.

Here's to you, Mr. Dickens.

Hope you had a happy Halloween, friends!

From: Ebeneezer Scrooge and the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Christmas Present, and Christmases Yet to Come.

After sewing and putting costume pieces together, one hour of Trunk or Treat in the dark just wasn't fair. We snapped some more pictures at home so I could feel justified in time spent.

"God bless us, everyone!"

The Christmas Ghosts.
Boo.

She is showing him that he wasn't always a horrible miser...I tried to get Cole to point, but it wasn't happening. (By the way, if anyone wants a hooded black gown, size 18 mos. for next year, say, for a grim reaper or death eater costume, just let me know. What?! I'm the only one insane enough to dress my baby in one of these? Bah! Humbug!)

Us.

"Come here and know me better, man!"

I'm so glad Jake embraces the fun that is dressing up.

More of the kids:

Seriously. Shape up, Scrooge. Or else.

Scare on the Square

First, our illustrious pumpkin:

Tessa was so excited to carve the pumpkin with her dad. She picked out the patterns and kept saying, "This is so fun!" And then the carving began. Carving a pumpkin isn't exactly a kid friendly activity. She kept asking if she could cut the pumpkin, and the answer was always, "No." I finally heard her say, "This is NOT so fun."

But when the thing was lit up, she got excited again.

Okay, on to McKinney's Scare on the Square. Friday night. Very busy. Candy given out at all the shops. With friends.

Here is my cowboy and princess (Belle):

I love Halloween! Because of her box of dress ups, Tessa was able to be a superhero at a "festibal" the day before and Belle on this day before even breaking out her official Halloween costume for Trunk or Treat.

Snoopy and Belle:
Cole with a DumDum sucker.

"Pardon me, Ma'am."

You can't tell from the pictures how crowded the place was. We spent quite a bit of time in line waiting for a piece of candy. Then I learned that if we mommas stepped out into the street and walked along with the littler ones and let our girls Oliver Twist their way to the candy, that the process would move much faster and prove more fruitful. And it did.

Tessa was so excited about every piece.

Storm Trooper and Jawa! Picture for Dad. Again, I don't know if there was a line. I just sent the girls to sidle up next to those other kids to get their picture taken.

It was a lovely and crazy time.