A day in the park

Papa Mike's and Gigi's birthdays are a week apart.  So, on the first day of November, we celebrated  both of their birthdays with a barbecue picnic at Burroughs Park.  It was a beautiful sunny day!

 We all had a nice time hanging out at this local park.  The littles were able to run around like the nuts they are.  They enjoyed playing on the playgrounds and riding their bikes.  Adam and Arden also had a chance to fly the kite since it was windy.

Brian grilled some chicken on the park's fire pit.

Jack on his trike

Arden's current thing is to race down a hill on her bike.  Here, she's about to turn around and do just that.  The "hill" is usually our driveway, but at the park, it was a walkway onto the playground. 

Papa Mike and Gigi are blowing out their birthday candles

Arden digging for worms.  She wanted to fish in the pond really bad.  No worms, though.  :(

the first time of the season to break out the scarves

Jack is almost asleep on Aunt Sarah's shoulders.  Look at that dirty face

poor Halle is freezing. 

Brian was not amused that I was taking a picture of his back side.  This is a good father/son picture, though, so I had to take it.

good times

Fall Festivities

We kicked off the fall season by taking family fall photos.  The first cool weathered weekend, we headed to the neighborhood park.  I suckered my friend, Crystal, into taking our pictures.  They turned out nice!  The pictures on the bridge were taken right by the park, over Metzler Creek.  These are some of my favorites.

Arden washing clothes

Another weekend in October we joined Papa Mike and Gigi in Montgomery for a Texas heritage festival.  There were volunteers dressed like they lived in the 1800s and there were a lot of demonstrations of how the settlers lived.  There were several activities and history lessons for the kids.  Arden learned how to use a washboard, Halle learned how lye soap was made, and Jack played a few old fashioned games.  He was also very intrigued by the longhorn cow.  

They got to contribute to the building of this statue; it's going to be put on display in the historical district.  The kids contributed by adding a piece of clay to her dress.  Their names will be added to the statue.  How neat is that?!

decorating a pumpkin

I turned the pumpkin into a cream cheese pumpkin bread.  I'd never made this recipe before and it was oh, so good....

But I Birthed You!

So I'm trying to not eat sweets.  I completely fell off the Paleo wagon and have succumbed to the temptation that is sugar.  It's a drug I tell ya!
In my efforts to regain control and kick the habit, I have designated Halle as my personal sweets police.

When I appointed her a few weeks ago, she was a little more than hesitant about taking on the job.  See, I've tried to do this before.  I've appointed her as my sweet police before.  I'll tell her to take the muffin/cake/cookie/whatever away from me and go hide it before I can get it.  (My hand has a mind of its own and it will grab it without me knowing.) But, the problem is she's my daughter and is very obedient.  She WOULD hide it, but then I'd bribe her.  Or I'd sweet talk her into it letting me have it back.  She was a push-over and I would eventually get my crack candy back.  So when I told her she had to be my personal sweet Nazi again, she's wasn't too keen on taking on the job again.  She said, "Last time you guilted me into giving it to you by saying, 'But I birthed you!'"

I told her this time she had to be strong.  She had to be forceful and not be a pushover.  She had to be firm and not give into any of my tactics.

Whoa, this girl has done her job!  Over the last few weeks she has brought it.  She'll snatch the sweet away from me or knock it out of my hand.  She's like a ninja.  From the time I can reach down and pick something up until I get it into my mouth, she's there to take it away.  Like, if I would have had just a hundredth second more, it could have passed my lips, and I would have had a sweet victory.  A few times I've managed to get it into my mouth without her knowing.  As soon as she sees it, though, she's forces me to spit it out.

Last night we literally had a fight over the Nutella (Nutella in our family is worth a whole 'nother blog post.) I was armed with my spoon and headed to the pantry.  I opened the pantry door and grabbed the jar of heaven.  I got my spoon and scooped a heaping mound of Nutella on it.  She was there in a flash to stop me.  She yanked the jar out of my hand after an initial struggle.  She got the spoon out of my clutch, too, and after more struggling she got Nutella all on her shirt.  That's okay, I thought, because I'd managed to keep the lid in my possession.  There was a smidgen of Nutella on the lid, enough for me to get my fix.  But Halle was too fast.  We were physically wrestling over the lid.  She was finally able to pry it away from my grip (she's freaking strong!).  Brian was in the bedroom wondering what all the commotion was about.

By this time we were laughing at the madness.  I gave up and after all the fighting my cravings were suppressed.  Halle later said she actually saw a monster come out.  Ha!  So, all I can say now is thanks, Halle!  You saved me from myself.

But, there's always next time......  :)

Sick in bed.

It doesn't get any sweeter than this.  Bear is comforting him while he's sick.

Jack and Bear have been through a lot together.  Bear has literally been through the wringer (many times) and I've had to sew him back up.  But, he's always there for Jack.  ;)

What's behind your back, Jack?

Jack thinks he's being sneaky.  If he has something he's not suppose to have, he will put it behind his back as soon as you look at him.  It's usually something I've already told him no to (marker, thermometer, candy, whatever).

Me: "What's behind your back, Jack?"
Jack: He'll shrug his shoulders and make an "I don't know" sound.
This is when I usually give my well-practiced stern mother look.
Which is then followed by a big mischievous grin by Jack.  Then in his sweetest voice, he'll say, "Hi," as if that's going to make me forget he's doing something wrong.
I continue with an even more furrowed brow and mean look.
This then prompts him to chunk the object away quickly, hoping I didn't see him in the act.
He'll then walk over to me and give me a big kiss to butter me up so he won't get in trouble.

Little Stinker.

Curly Girly

Arden is going to be Merida this year for Halloween.  I practiced curling her hair for her costume.  Isn't it darling?!  

This girl is such a diva.  Miss Priss carries a brush with her to keep her hair looking nice.  I had to convince her that she didn't need to carry a brush in her backpack to school.  She has to make sure she looks pretty before she heads outside to play.  For such a confident little girl, it surprises me how she worries about her appearance.  She reminds me of when I was little.  She loves braids and ponytails, and absolutely hates if there's a single bump in her 'do.   

Jackanenglish?

Jack's Jackanese is slowing becoming more comprehensible.  It's becoming less Jackanese, but not quite English; hence, Jackanenglish.   He has finally stopped saying Hahwah for Halle, and now it's closer to the true form.  He calls her Hi-E.

He's hit a few milestones this week, as well.
1)He learned his colors!
2) He learned many of the animal names
3) He learned to ride the tricycle..... THE RIGHT WAY!

I have worked with him the last half year to learn colors, etc.  He always acted like he couldn't care less about anything he was learning.  I knew he was absorbing it even though it didn't seem like it, and it would only be a matter of time before his vocabulary would start exploding.  This week it did!  I'm a little sad to see a small piece of babyhood chipped away, but happy to see he's not going to grunt like a caveman for the rest of his life.

He refuses to count with me, though.  I've heard him count once, but now he just laughs at me when I try to get him to do it.  little booger.

Jack has also discovered Mickey Mouse Clubhouse on Disney channel.  He is obsessed with Mickey Mouse.  I mean OBSESSED!!!