Happy Halloween

Lots of excitement on this holiday :)  Tim had to travel again this Halloween...and just like last year, I learned that I would need more than just candy to get through the day.

Insert Mommy running into the store and exiting with two items... Wine and Hotdogs.  

We headed to the Hawks...where the kiddos did a craft (I spray painted pumpkins with chalkboard paint and kid decorated...easy!)

Aunt Erin also did pumpkin things...this is a cheese ball.  Delish!

Grandma and Grandpa came over to enjoy all the excitement :)

FINALLY, it was time :)

Olivia was a flamingo (for the second year - jackpot!), Reagan was a butterfly princess, Logan was a cowboy, and Mason was a fire truck.  

(love how Olivia is standing like a flamingo)

There is a little story about Mason's "fire truck" costume.  Whenever we asked him what he wanted to be, he said "fire truck".  We would ask him if he means a fire fighter...but he was insistent on fire truck.  I spent NO LESS than five hours planning, shopping, and constructing this fire truck, it was even equipped with flashing lights :o!!  Yup, but guess what's not fun???  Walking around with a box.  By house five, Mason ditched the box. 

Oh well. I believe it was on my bucket list to have made one halloween costume.  

CHECK.

Anyways, here is the crew headed off.

 And of course, checking out their loot!

Yes, a successful night!  

Check out all those almond joys i see............

Fall Festival

The kids both had their Fall Festival at their school this week.  I'm so grateful to celebrate with both of the kids.  This year I'm "Room Mom" for both of the kids rooms, so it's a little busy, but I'm glad to help.

Daily Does of Sunshine

Awwww...thank you Tara :)  I will absolutely participate!!

My Questions From Tara...

1) Indoors or Outdoors? Outdoors!!!!Especially in now (fall in texas)

2) Favorite Store to Shop for YOU? I love to shop.  Target...it has everything.  I always find clothes for myself, my kids.  Accessories for my home.  Groceries for my pantry...  Seriously, the list goes on.  

3) Favorite Date Night Activity? won't share.................................... ;)  jk I honestly just love sitting on the back porch talking about our life.  

4) Favorite Kid Activity? hhuummm...I love variety.  It's the only way I stay interested....  If I were to pick one thing, I would say being outside (riding bikes, exploring, digging in dirt, etc).  Close second? Reading books.

5) Current Passion? Boot Camp.  It's a 5:15am class.  I wake up at 4:45am to get my @$$ kicked....and I continue to go back?!?!? I love it.  Please, join me if you are in the area!

6) Favorite Book for You? Kids? Me....wow....this is tough.  I've loved many books.  But, the one that comes to mind first???  I was watching a movie...eons ago.... Serendipity.  It's a cheesy girlie flick, but there is this book they mention repeatedly, Love in the Time of Cholera, and I was intrigued...I mean, it was chosen for the movie...why?  So I read it.  No one recommended it, I knew nothing about it.  It wasn't a page turner, but I finished it and I wanted more (I always want more...).  If you haven't read it, give it a try.  My kids?  My favorite book to read aloud is Edward the Emu - I have no idea where I got it from, but the illustrations are great and the last page is my favorite ;) 

7) Can't leave home without or purse must have? My cellie. I've not even memorized my hubby's phone number??!!!  Tim loves to make fun of me when I think I've "lost" my phone.

8) Nap or no nap? I truly believe we all need at least 7 hours (adults) of sleep a night...10 if you are a kid.  If you don't get that during the night, then you need a nap!!!  Personally, I enjoy a good nap, but that generally means I can't get to sleep at night...which means I start a bad cycle.

9) Favorite food to prepare? There really isn't a favorite... cooking is stressful for me...always.  My blood pressure is always higher at 5pm because of dinner.  If someone offers to cook for me, I always say yes (and the only reason I don't...means I've already made plans to go out to eat).  

10) Wine, beer, or liquor?  Yes, Yes, Yes!!  Depends on my mood, location and company.  I drink white wine in the summer, red in the winter. Beer with almost any BBQ or crawfish/crabs/etc or with pizza.  But always love a G&T, Canadian Club and coke, or a pretty martini. 

The Rules

1. Include the award logo in your post.

2. Link to the person who nominated you.

3. Answer ten questions about yourself.

4. Nominate three bloggers to receive the award.

5 Pose ten questions to your nominees.

My Nominees:

1) Jessica

2) Kristen

3) Krissy

My Questions:

1)  I love middle names.  People invest a lot into the first name...  What is your middle name? 

2)  All time favorite song? Explain.

3)  I don't have a perfume that I wear...  Do you? If so, what is it?

4)  Three things that make you happy :)

5)  Favorite Quote? 

6)  Where is your favorite place to vacation?

7)  What is something you hope to accomplish/do/visit/etc in the next year?

8)  What is the last thing that made you laugh?

9)  What is something you have a lot of confidence in?

10) What is something you hoard?  (Mine is cleaning supplies)

I would absolutely LOOOOOVE for more people to participate...please answer the questions for me :) 

Pumpkin Prep

We knew Daddy was going to be gone for Halloween again this year (booo...) so we carved pumpkins a little early (last year I almost lost both of my hands doing it myself).  In hindsight, it was too early as I had to throw the pumpkins away by the 31st as they were already rotting, probably due to our humidity.  Once again, Olivia was engaged in the whole process, while Mason found rocks more entertaining.  I prepared a pumpkin to sit outside our door...we will be with my sister for the night.

Soccer!

Upper Left: Her buddy Alison 

Bottom Right: Team Fireflies!

P-6 Farms

ugh friends - what is wrong with me?!?  can't seem to stay on top of it all....and the blog is definitely feeling it.

We've been so busy this Fall, similar to last year, why do I over schedule us?!?!  Really need to remember this next year and take it easy....

Today we went to a pumpkin patch at the P-6 Farms (we went here last year too).

lots of fun and some great pictures.

Foto Friday

Full Service

A Day

Lucky for me, I had Reagan today (the rest of the Hawk's were traveling downtown for Logan's autism evaluation).

 Erin asked me to send her pictures...I may have over done it a little...  But what I realized, is just how many different activities we can squeeze in :o

First it started at 10:30...there was lots of running and stuffed animals.

 Then we piled in the car and headed to....

 Target!!

 where of course we played musical instruments that are now allowed in our own house.

 We came home and ate lunch

 Rode bikes

 Drew chalk pictures

 Swept the carport

 Pretended to be street sweepers

 Took wagon turns

 And went on a wagon walk

PHEW...it's only been two hours.  Gonna attempt naps.

So naps didn't exactly happen, but probably because Olivia has a mirror near her bed and if you stand on her bed, you can see yourself :o

 

After 90 minutes of rest we went to pick up Olivia at school

 

And Olivia and Reagan played some

 

 Always doing the same thing

 There was a lot of playing "kitty in a box"

And good old fashion rock cleaning

 which we had to take turns

more bike riding

 And scootering

 Of course, we love to put people in tupperware caves...

It was at this point that we started to feel the effects of not having Mommy around and no nap...

HOWEVER, The Hawk family arrives back at our house with a gift!!!

Uncle Kevin MADE US A KID PICNIC TABLE!!!!!!!!

Hello AMAZING!  Thank you so much for this very thoughtful and practical gift.  

We love it and use it all the time.

Hands

one day your hands will be as big as mine

Just Play

Today was lovely. 

 There are times when I question if I should have Olivia in preschool more days a week.  Most of her friends/peers attend four days a week.  Olivia goes Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday.  I know that at this age "play" is developmentally appropriate  and encouraged.  Lots of pretend play and unstructured free time for children to explore their ways...to practice social situations in a very nurturing environment.  Yet, even as I type this, I also know that Olivia learns so quickly right now.  If she would be in preschool, she would be improving her "academics" and yes, there is play time there too...

But today was one of those days that confirmed I'm doing the right thing for Olivia.  We woke up and took baths at 800 because I may have put the kids to bed dirty the night before...eeeewww....  After baths, they wanted to go outside.  They played in the mulch for 4 hours.  FOUR HOURS.  There were no fights, or arguments...  Looking back, I can't even remember how they spent their whole time playing.  I typed the paragraph below while I was watching them.

"The flower beds were ships and the sprinkler system was the phones.  Acorns were the treasures that needed planting to grow more treasure.  The sticks were put together to create butterflies and the dust pan transformed into a shovel."

And yes, that did mean two baths before lunch...but it was brilliant, beautiful, play.  I watched my two kiddos play without doing anything else and took it all in.  I listened to them take turns, share, use their manners, problem solve, create troubled situations and victories, discover, explore, and get dirty. 

I was sad for a moment, thinking about how Olivia doesn't have much more time to do this...next year is full time school.  At one point I almost considered telling them that we needed to stop and have lunch...when I decided to let them just play.

Last Day :(

Of course we saved all our awesome pictures for the last day :)

We went to this same pumpkin patch 4 years ago :) 

Here are some Then & Now pictures

2013 ----------------2009

We went back to Kristen's house where Jacek drove out his....

Mason was impressed

Jacek was kind enough to take everyone for a little ride.

Oh and we had the kids "race" up and down Jacek's beautiful front lawn...hello mission "exhaust children"

We then took our Little Hokies picture

The group shot....then&now 

And for some reason, this was the only picture I took of  the three of  us this afternoon?

My dearest friends....thank you for continuing to make the effort to get together.  I truly treasure our time and only wished it was more frequently than once a year.  I love that we share a 15 year history!!!  Already looking forward to seeing you again (soon!) and meeting the newest little one to join the group.

Love and Hugs Friends.