A.J.'s Recital

Disclaimer: I will just get out of my system now, that we had to rush our weekend, which was supposed to be a three day weekend, because Brad's boss decided Monday that he could not take a vacation day the following Monday, as he had previously "okayed" but not done the official paperwork for. (Which means they can get away with it, I guess. Guess he won't be getting any baked goodies at work from me...ever!) So, we felt it was a one-time chance and we were not going to miss the recital and we were going to drive back Sunday night. Needless to say it was not as relaxed as we would have liked for the weekend, but we are very glad we went and thankful for the quick time we had to visit. :)

Now, for the fun. :)

When we arrived Saturday, A.J. was just heading out to go play and march for the football game. The kids loved getting a chance to see him play a few notes for them first, and then play in the leaves. (Which we have none of yet at home...and not that many big trees, so it was quite exciting!) Lorelei loved finding a few bugs and watching them. Makin loved smashing them...so you can see the picture of Lorelei trying to keep him away from her precious bugs. :)


A.J. choreographed the second half of the bands half-time performance, so we were very excited that we were able to see that at the game. He got a good taste of what he probably has coming up teaching with the students not remembering it very well...and we were all bummed that they dressed in costume instead of uniforms. I was impressed by it and can't wait to watch more some day when he is doing this full time! :)



Lorelei did great at the game (for a three year old, with no nap I might add) and loved watching and cheering with the cheer leaders (Yay!), and also playing with another girl in front of us. Makin...lets just say I was quickly reminded the trials of toting a 1 year old to a game...grumpy and crying. I finally drove him around in the car in the parking lot for a quick nap. Then he was still not happy, so Brad decided to try a hot dog, even though he had been refusing the snacks I had packed. That finally worked until after half and his teeth started chattering. Brad and Dad stayed to finish the game and the rest of us headed to the hotel, where we all eventually enjoyed pizza and great visiting.

Sunday morning we enjoyed visiting A.J.'s church (where they even did hand-bells, yep we got to see EVERY job A.J. does around there!) and Lorelei had a nice chat with the pastor during the children's sermon. :) After nap Lorelei loved swimming with Brad, but it was too cold for Makin this time.

The recital was that evening.

The first half of the recital was A.J. performing and then he also did a duet with Mom playing piano (Heather, need a picture if you have one!) as well as one with one of his professors. The second half he did songs with various groups he put together. Have to say he had a pretty good crowd to watch, not to mention all the friends who performed with him. Can't say that I'm surprised, but I am a little biased. ;) So glad he has great support at school!

The kids did as well as can be expected. We were SO thankful to Glenda (some of A.J.'s second family who came to watch as well, she was also my first and second grade teacher if you would like that little info) who had downloaded special games just for Lorelei that she could play on the ipad! Makin enjoyed much of the performance as well, especially the big group!



We were so glad to see what an amazing job A.J. did! :) We are so proud of you!


Great to get a family picture.



After refreshments (Yay for getting to eat some of Mom's cookies!), quick hugs and changing into Pj's, around 10 pm we started driving home and dropped Heather off on the way back! Thankfully the kids slept pretty well, although got to bed very late and did wake up once when we stopped for gas. Brad had a couple energy drinks and we made it home at around 4:30 am, with enough time for him to sleep 1 hour before going into work.

Thanks for the great visit Mom, Dad, Heather and A.J.!

Tiny Stuffed Animals, New Kroger, 10 Bags Of Goldfish, And Lounging

Yeah...that pretty much sums up our Friday. :) Along with laundry packing etc...

Makin loves stuffed animals this size the he can hold in just one hand a piece.

And yes, he is pretty much always as sweet and snuggly as he looks in these pictures, and growing up soooo fast.






The twirly dress phase continued this morning. I decided this was not a battle worth fighting and hoped it would get it out of her system. And then the sweetest thing happened...I got her all dressed up, she twirled around happily and then started to walk out to do something. Then stopped and turned to me and said, "Thank you Mommy. I so happy." Walked back in, twirled again and added, "I look like a princess!" I know. I may just have to buy the consignment store out of holiday dresses with that reaction!

We then headed off the the big Kroger grand opening, which is now the closest store to our house and we have been eagerly anticipating as it will be a great place to stop if needed to get something quickly! They had tons of samples and we got some great deals. Including...




10 Bags Of Goldfish. For $10. We normally get the econo size because these kids are goldfish junkies, but had to take the chance to try out the MANY flavors they have. The kids had a hay-day when I said we could try some of them.















Just got a big smile on our faces to see this guy lounging in the little rocker. He is just getting more and more grown up each day and we can't believe it. He is so good about doing his own thing and apparently figured out this is the perfect size seat for him. :)

And now...off to visit Uncle A.J.! :)

Ear Check

Makin double fistin it with his banana chocolate chip muffin as we were about to head out for his ear check. No more infection! Yay!
















And boy have we had a drama queen the last couple of days. Lorelei is currently enduring quiet time in her room after her VERY early nap due to constant whining/crying etc. I knew I opened my mouth too soon about liking this three year old thing.

And one part of the drama this morning? Lorelei's choice of what to wear, which had to meet one requirement. Twirly. To her this narrows it down to her Christmas dress, last years Christmas dress, or her flower girl dress. Seriously? With a high of 50 today and going to the pediatrician? Thankfully she begrudgingly agreed to her only sort-of twirly jean skirt with leggings. Greeeeat. Juuuuust great. Please be a phase. A very short phase.





The cute story of the day: as we were driving home and it was raining Lorelei said, "Mom, I can't see out my window. Turn my wiper on please." :) And then since she didn't have a wiper, she insisted that I roll it down. And it is much easier to just roll it down than argue about it for 10 minutes. Thankfully it was not a downpour so she just got spit on for a bit. :)

Waiting On The Sun

Yep. They are looking out the window waiting for the sun to come up because I said we had to wait to go out to the sandbox until it was light out. My early risers. Very scared of daylight savings this year...

One side note, we met new friends at the park later that morning. I tried to tell Lorelei it wouldn't take so long to wait until 10 to meet friends if she didn't get up so early. ;) She loved getting to meet up with someone at the park though!

MMMMMMM

Makin's reaction to his first beater lickin. :)

And why did he get to lick one? Because his sister argued in his defense. "They no have eggs Mommy." Well, couldn't argue with that. Good thing I made my ONE vegan recipe for muffins. :)

But I would really like to know why this girl had yet to learn her ABC's but can retain information like...babies can't have batter because they have eggs in them. Hmmm.

Anyway, he was beyond thrilled at his treat. :)

Pumpkin Carving Day

We so enjoy this day since Brad has a lot of fun doing the carving. I love to see the kid's different reactions each year. Makin was content just watching as long as I kept his hands full of food. When we had him try and reach in the pumpkin, he would touch it, and then look at us like "okay, now what?" :) Lorelei was more hesitant at first, but then dove right in. She was my official "squasher" since she would squash all the orange gunk and help get the seeds out of it. Eventually we broke out the paint and let her paint some of our smaller pumpkins.


We decided to throw in drying out some apple slices to agenda as well. Really needing some healthy snacks to take along each day, so since its apple season, we bought a bag and dried out most of it. Will probably need to do a new batch soon! In the picture of Brad, he is holding up the skin we took off one small apple with the apple slicer (Thanks Mom! Made this job SOOOOO much easier!) and we couldn't believe how long it was! :) The slices the kids have in the pics are not dried out yet, but somehow they taste better as circles?! :) Makin love love loves apples, so thinking this is one of the easiest ways for him to eat them! Otherwise he wants to eat the whole thing like big sis!

Enjoying the finished pumpkins!

Good Luck Grandma!

A Fun Visit

We were very excited to have the Rogers family come for a visit on Friday! Amanda and I were very anxious to get to see each other's kids who have grown so much since the last visit. Thankfully it worked out that they could make a very quick trip up to help out John's aunt who lives in the area, so he dropped off his girls to hang out for a while.

The kids really enjoyed each other and Lorelei loved getting a chance to play with Amanda! And of course we loved getting a chance to visit too!



I just so happened to find Lorelei a poodle shirt at a consignment sale and then found one in Sydney's size too! Couldn't resist getting them to match!



Had to get a picture of the kids together in their costumes! :) All looking...well that is nearly impossible.



So, SO thankful for their visit. We look forward to the next one! :)

Flower Mound Pumpkin Patch

Starting our our morning with...pumpkin cookies! We love them. Makin REALLY loves them.

I am the kind of mom who would take her kids to a pumpkin patch every day if I could. So, since there are quite a few to choose from around here, we decided it would be great to fit in at least two this year. And even have at least one more to check out next year! We also thought it was about time to get together with Auntie Di, so I suggested meeting up at a pumpkin patch...WELL, turns out Auntie Di had never been to a pumpkin patch before...very glad we finally got this girl to experience something we enjoy so much. :) And how nice is it for me to be able to have help at something like this too!

Hayride
We can't get enough hayrides. Growing up my parents had one every year, so they are something dear to my heart. Auntie Di was giving me the thumbs up for her first-ever hayride!

Pumpkins

We enjoyed our picnic lunch at some tables they had. Yummy peanut butter and jelly (butter for Makin) sandwiches
cut out like a pumpkin of course!

Bounce Houses
Lorelei had a blast. Total blast. She did the slide probably at least 10 times and did the bounce house for quite a bit. On her second round, Makin wanted to join in. I ended up going in with him and he had the hugest smile on his face. :)

Cut Outs and Tall This Fall

Animals and Pumpkin House
There were only three animals here, but the kids were fascinated with the two of them. The 25 year old turtle finally came out and let her see how huge she was. And the horse was eating a pumpkin! I should also mention the pig...of course he just laid there, so Lorelei kept saying, "Hiiii Piggy!!!" They also had a little pumpkin house and Lorelei was playing check out girl and would say "beep" for us to buy our pumpkins.

Haybale Maze And Just Cheesin
And another huge hit was the haybale maze. Another activity that was enjoyed many, many times. The picture of her with her mouth open was her saying "pumpkin patch" or something I told her to say. She asked to sit there with the scarecrows. :)

Our Little Pumpkins

Only $5 for parking (yep, all of this was free, you only paid parking) and four hours later we had two worn out ladies and two worn out kids who slept all the way home. :) Love the fall!

Bathtime Giggles...a few weeks later. :)

Wanted to give it its own post for now but will probably move to the original a couple weeks ago while Brad was gone...anyway had to share. :)

Latest Lorelei Again :)

I took this picture per Lorelei's request...when I was told "Take picture of me with graham cracker in my mouth." All said while she had the teddy graham in her mouth.

And she keeps us entertained each day with all her chatter. A few I managed to jot down...

"Mom. My hair making me coo coo nanas (bananas)."

"Makin gonna hit me with that!!!" (Very commonly heard around here these days.)

Me: I win a million dollars and a trip to...
Lor: College!!!
(Perhaps I'm playing this college thing up a *little* much.) :)

She also is getting very into having phone conversations with people. She talks to Brad most days a bit on the phone before/after work. And when she is done she simply says, "I let you talk to Mommy now, okay?"

We also get corrected quite a bit. For example when we accidentally use the word "hate" or anything else we have forbidden we now get "We not supposed to say that word."

And another one that cracks us up and we have no idea where she got it...anytime Brad and I are having a conversation, and no, not arguing, just talking she says "Everybody, settle doooowwwwnnnnn." Took a video of it the other night.

Hut Hut

Had to carry on the tradition of pretty much the only football you can play with a 1 year old. :) And it makes me smile.

Funny story to go along with these...Brad was amazed when he was talking to his coworkers soon after we moved here. They asked if he was going to redshirt Makin when he goes to Kindergarten...after his "huh" they explained one common practice in Texas we were amazed to hear about...people intentionally holding their sons back so that they would be older/bigger for playing football in high school. Yep. Welcome to Texas. :) Well Mr. Makin will not be redshirted in Kindergarten...and he can play football or not play football. :) We are just having lots of fun for now! :)

October Family Picture

And yes, its three days late. And yes, we were at the pumpkin patch on the 15th so would have been perfect. But hey, it took me until October for that to happen. Oh well. :)

Tuesday Morning

Banana bread (and much-needed coffee for mom) on the patio in the cool fall weather. (Finally!!!)

Followed by picking out books at the library and story time! They even had a special puppet show today. Lorelei's face just lights up during this class when they are doing songs and activities. Love taking her and being a part of it with her. :)



And a little pre-nap coloring together. :)

Getting Better

We found out Sunday afternoon that Makin has a double ear infection. Yuck. He had a fever over the weekend which is what made us take him in and we are glad he got started on his antibiotics earlier than if we waited until Monday. He is back to eating (although not quite his astonishing amount of usual meals) and throwing things on the floor. He is a little extra whiney and last night was a little rough, but hopefully continues to just get better. :) Ear check on the 27th.

Professional Pictures Are In!!!

So hard to choose favorites! The good thing is, we can get as many as we want since we just print whatever we want from a CD!!! Grandparents, we will send you copies...Brad says he knows how to just send them to your computer...hopefully soon. :) Anybody else, let me know if there is one you want and I'll try and get it mailed soon. :) Can't wait to get some frames on the walls in this house! :)

Saturday Night Dress Up

With the Furr Girls!