happy halloween!

halloweens past

The first few years of the boys' lives I was able to pick out their Halloween costumes. I took full advantage of this by dressing them as cute as I could before they want to be zombies, Frankenstein or some other awful creature. We have had a frog, monkeys and skunks so far. This year they decided they wanted to be pirates months ago. Once their minds were made up, that was it. I am very excited to see them in their costumes and am looking forward to taking them trick or treating this year. Hopefully Austin will enjoy his costume more than the skunk costume last year!

How are you?

I'm finally feeling really good now at 22 weeks. I have energy and sometimes even forget I'm pregnant. Someone asked me a week ago how I was doing and my answer was "great" for the first time in 5 months.

I can really feel the baby moving now. At first I could just feel the little thumps every once in a while, but now they are getting stronger. Yesterday Eric felt her kick for the first time. It was exciting! I'm trying to savor each moment of this pregnancy since it will be my last. I'm also really trying to enjoy feeling good since I know before too long I will have heartburn, won't be able to sleep, and my sciatic nerve pain will get worse. Who knows, this pregnancy has been so different, maybe those things won't come. Hey, a girl can dream.

fortune cookies

We had Chinese food tonight and apparently Ethan and Austin's fortune cookies were written just for them. Ethan didn't want me to read the fortunes because he wanted to read it to us. Here is what my big boy said...

"Dear Ethan,
You are a good boy. You do good at school and ride your bike like a big boy."

"Dear Austin,
You need to learn to go poo-poo and TT in the potty."

What a cutie pie!

LNO weekend away

I spent this weekend with my old friends I used to work with back when my brain worked and I got paid to use it. We left Friday morning and headed to Fredericksburg for shopping and lunch. It was fun to browse all the cute little shops. Would you believe I only bought two monster stuffed animals for my boys? Pathetic, I know. That afternoon we headed to Roddy Tree Ranch where we had rented a 4 bedroom house. It's a really neat ranch with two pools, petting zoo, tree house and dances in the summer. It would be the perfect place to host a family reunion. There were graffitied rocks in the kitchen of the house, so we had to leave our mark too.

We had dinner in Kerrville at a great restaurant called Jazz. They had the best fried shrimp and I got to watch everyone else enjoy the adult beverages. The fried shrimp helped to ease my pain of not having a margarita.

Saturday we slept in and spent the morning relaxing. It was so nice to chat in our pajamas as we leisurely ate breakfast. We finally decided to get dressed around 1 and headed to town for some shopping. We soon learned that there is no shopping in the ghost town of Ingrahm.

On our way back to reality, we dropped our leftovers off with the ranch animals. They were very happy to munch on our tortillas and pasta salad.

I had such a great relaxing weekend and I feel so lucky to have such good friends and a husband that's willing to let me go. I came home to a perfectly clean house with flowers on the table. I sure was lucky when I found Eric!

fun at the park

We met some friends at the park yesterday. As soon as we got there, the weather changed. All of the sudden the wind started blowing really hard, the leaves fell from the trees and the air turned cold. Too bad we were all in shorts and T-shirts! The kids didn't' seem to mind and had a great time running around playing together.

Ethan and Grace played together for the first time. They ran around together and had little conversations. It was so cute! I love the age Ethan is at right now!

Freezing mommas

blue no more

We repainted Lauren's room this weekend from blue to green. The boys had fun starting off the painting. They have a very brave daddy who helped them draw shapes on the wall. Eric painted the entire room and didn't complain once. He is not a painter, so this was a big deal. He is already spoiling his little girl and she is not even here yet!

Here is a sneak peak at her room. I want to have it done before the holidays so I can concentrate on that instead of obsessing over it anymore. We still have some work to do, but it's coming together nicely and it's been so fun!

Look what is blooming outside her window. It hasn't bloomed all summer and it just started this week. It's so pretty!

like father, like sons

breakfast of champions

queso, chips and donut holes

Some days

I'll admit it. Some days being a mom is harder than others. Some days I feel like the luckiest mommy in the world and just want to eat my kids up. Some days I feel like every other frazzled mommy out there who wants to pull her hair out.

Some days the kids cry about every little thing. Fighting over toys, crying for juice instead of asking for it and having temper tantrums sometimes fill my kids' days. Some days they play peacefully in the yard, share toys and have little toddler conversations with each other.

What makes the difference in the kids behavior? Sometimes their moodiness can be caused by hunger, sickness or being too tired. Or, it could just be the toddler years. The challenge as a mom is to figure it out and try to help them get in control of their emotions.

When the kids cry or whine to get something they want, I usually ask them not to cry and instead to ask for it like a big boy. I usually rephrase their demand in a nice way with a happy voice so they understand. It makes me smile inside to see my wet-eyed kid ask for something with a fake smile and voice just to get it. Hey, at least they are learning and I'm not loosing my mind as much.

Today I'm making a conscientious effort to play with the kids more. It's easy to give them half my attention as we rush through our day. Today I have uncomfortably sat on the floor to play with them a lot. It makes my day better and theirs too. Sometimes it's hard to get up with my ever expanding belly, but it's worth it. I sure love these kids even on their not so great days.

my first baby girl project

Any time I have made anything for a baby girl, I've always dreamed of making something for my own daughter. I've made lots of boy things, but there is just something about making something sweet, soft and pink.

I made these burp cloths out of pillow cases Eric's great-grandmother embroidered. She sent them to us when Ethan was born. I think they are so sweet and I've always wanted to use them for something special. I have many more projects to do before baby Lauren gets here!

sweet berry farm

Erica and I took the kids to Sweet Berry Farm yesterday. The kids had a blast, while Erica and I dealt with the drizzling rain, mud and carrying scared 2 year olds through the corn maze. It's a really cool place and I can't wait to go back when the weather is cool and Eric can carry Austin around if needed.

There are lots of fun things to do there like ride ponies, run through a giant corn maze, take a hay ride, paint pumpkins & feed goats. We learned that goats are pretty smart and don't like to be given "fake" food.

Lake Georgetown

This weekend we headed to Georgetown camping for the first time. It was a really nice campground with beautiful views. We had a lot of fun hanging out with 10 adults and 10 kids. We had so much fun we didn't head back until early Monday morning. Here are some of the fun things we did...

Woke up to beautiful sunrises...

Threw rocks in the lake...

Played with friends...

Watched entirely too much football...

Played with rocks painted like animals...

Created fun memories.