What "we"do :)

Well, because we are just different.
About 5years ago, maybe more, we stopped celebrating halloween. I grew up "celebrating" halloween - horror movies, haunted houses you name it - we pulled out all the stops. But J & I just came to a point where we felt for our own personal reasons that we didn't want to partake in this 'holiday' anymore and we were going to raise our family differently. Well, we are (esp. me) different to begin with so, it just kinda goes with the territory. Anyhow, it is amazing how many people attack you about choosing not to recognize this day. We are not out to preach anything to anyone, this is just the way we feel and it is our own personal convictions. Some people think we are doing our children such a disservice and "they are going to hate us" -as one guy put it "when they grow up". Give me a break, for not taking them trick or treating? Seriously, so everyone who goes to public school and celebrates halloween has no issues & none of them grow up to "hate" their parents, rrriight. It's funny, the things people say. I think it is because they don't understand and it bothers them..I don't know. BUT anyways, we always do something fun on halloween -because lets face it everyone is having a party and we are not going to hide away and make our children feel like weirdos! So this time we decided to go my moms house and have a huge fire and watch Ice Age 3 outside. My sister is in town and they don't celebrate it either so we all got together and had so much fun! It was really cool, definitely something we will do again & the kids all had a BLAST! The movie was really funny, the company was great, & we had a lot of yummy treats - the evening was perfect. The kids are exhausted and sleeping w/ great memories and a tummy full of sweets!

The Force

I am up making a "purse" cake for a Tea Party for C, so I thought I'd blog a little. (this cake spends a lot of time in the fridge & freezer before it can be finished)

This is E's team The Force! We decided to play Soccer through Keller Soccer Association. We've played w/ them before but it had been a year or so. E's team did very well, there are some talented boys on that team. After the first few games E had caught up and began contributing to the game much more than at first.
It has been a good season. E has grown as a soccer player and a boy. There was one day when he did NOT want to go to practice because there was a bully on the team. J had to work & couldn't be there w/ him for those practices and I couldn't watch him up close to know what was going on. I had the other 3 to keep an eye on. He wanted to quit- but you know, we all have to deal w/ bullies in life. All the way into adulthood. Some people never grow up. I felt this was something E needed to work through and not let some other person ruin something he enjoyed. And we called in Pappa Chewy to sit up where he practiced (for moral support). Thank-you so much Pappa for doing that. It might not of seemed like much, but your presence really made E feel better about being there. We Love you & appreciate you sooo much! Everything was great after he dealt w/ that. This Saturday is his last game & then it's on to Flag Football! It's gonna be good!


Love E's shorts..they are crooked,:). and can the grass be any more yellow?


seriously, these are the worst photos ever (photography 101 - don't take pics in direct sunlight) BUT it proves a good point, people will pay no matter what for a picture of their kid. I know I am complaining - but it's late & I could have done a heck of a lot better on those pics & it'd be FREE!
BTW, E looks so cute! I LOVE that kid. Look at his little smirk.

Blue Angels

R's hair was blowing into a moustache :) hehe !



Went to see the Blue Angels yesterday. I got to say, I get so excited watching them! The maneuvers they can do with those planes are just incredible. I can't help myself, they just make me go "whooohooo" & "awesome" -can't contain my gasps and cheers!! I love the sound they make when the zip past you. I grew up watching the Thunderbirds & going to the airshows. Yesterday because of our schedule, we decided not to pay the $20 bucks to park & walk the grounds. So we just pulled along some cow pasture across from Cabela's & watched it from there - those guys are AWESOME ! :)

Dinosaur Valley State Park

We headed out last weekend for a short overnight hiking and (cabin) camping trip w/ the kids. My dad had come up to visit us for the TX-OU game and I was able to talk him into coming along with us (didn't take much). We had so much fun. The drive out there was short & easy - CANNOT believe I hadn't been out there before! The day was beautiful, perfect weather for what we did. J & I took turns carrying lil'c on our backs (he took the more rugged, slippery terrain)and she LOVED being on our backs, didn't want to get out of it. I thought "this is a GREAT workout!" It was fine to carry her but after awhile it really started to hurt our shoulders. I love that we got to get outdoors, I used to do this all the time as a child. My dad would always take us to some State Park or lake when it was nice outside and we'd go hiking. I am so glad he came along because he has a knack for knowing where to go and we always see something exciting! We saw a snake - which is always cool (little freaky) and we saw a huge dead fish, that C decided to kick and it let out a noise along w/ some foul smelling gas! We also did a lot of fossil hunting :). The dinosaur prints were really neat! I wish I had a better word to describe them..but I don't. I definitely recommend a trip out there to see them. The park is so close and the prints are right there, in the river rock, really amazing! We were hoping to see some other wildlife, but with 4 kids in tow, I am sure any animal around was well aware of our presence and high tailed it out of there. It was fun though, I loved doing this kind of stuff w/ my dad as a child and it was great to now do it w/ my family! We decided to get a cabin instead of camping out, but this is definitely an adventure you can do in a day w/o staying over. The cabin just suited us better since lil'c is still so little. We cooked out, had smores, stayed up late & then fished in a pond the next morning. Okay, I LOVE fishing! In MN we fished just about every single day. It was like our family thing and all of my kids & J enjoy it too. R has been fishing since she was 2 - she began as the 'worm lady' that's what we'd call her because she would grab the worms out of the container, cut them in half & then give them to us!! (all at the tender age of 2, she's a smart/brave cookie) That was her job and she loved it. If you have ever fished, you know just how messy of a job that is. Oh well, we'd scrub our nails out good after we'd fish. But anyways - we just haven't fished liked that since we moved back here. So J & I have decided that we just have to keep doing this together - so we'll be out looking for a lake around here to make our new spot! It was a great time, I look forward to more hiking, fishing and real camping as lil'c gets bigger!

Spider Webs

(if you click on this pic you can really see the detail of this web!)




Took these pictures at my mom's. Spiders creep me out (& she has some big ones) - but I find them fascinating! Their webs are beautiful! The ability they have to cast/create these webs out in the open like that. One of these webs hung out in the open between some trees and the well house, which are about 15-20ft apart, maybe more. AMAZING!
I only wish I had a better camera! One day...

Pumpkin Patch

We went to the pumpkin patch with my sister's family. It was rainy & a little cold, but very much a fall day! I could have done w/o the mud, the kids were full of it and then we had to get in the car!!..kids had a blast :) me too.

Legos & Star Wars !

(For you Grandma Chewy)
E, my amazing 9yr old is a collector of Lego's! He absolutely loves them. He equally loves Star Wars, which I think is pretty cool. He is constantly building new planes, space ships, At-At's, Lair's & all sorts of contraptions. So, I just wanted to post some of his Lego adventures and I had him explain his latest in a video. I just love him! He is very excited to have this on my Blog :).


(i had to tell him to hurry cuz i was running out of video)

J's old Cobra Terror Drome that E likes to play Lego's in.

I love his imagination & the world of play children have, why do we have to lose that as we get older?

Last week the kids all got together & made signs to surprise their dad for the game. I thought it was very cute and sweet. Every time the Cowboys made a good play we'd cheer and lift our signs! (well, I was bleaching things - but after the kids went to bed I finished the game w/ him) :)

Home Nursing..I mean School - Week 4

Looking back on my week-
We had 3 great days of school and then WHAM another two bite the dust. This was R & E's week of being sick. Poor things, I truly thought they had made it through this crud w/ no incidence..wrong! Oh man and what a mess it was. Apparently the virus needed a good 4 to 5 days to manifest itself and of course we couldn't all get it in the same week. So,this has been a hard first month of school.-NOT what I was hoping for..BUT I can only believe that better days are ahead and we are out of this cloud of sickness!! So bring it on WEEK 5, I am ready for you :).