The Token Halloween Post

I know you've all been on pins and needles waiting to see what the Van Halen wig was going to be used for this Halloween...well, wait no more.

This, my friends, is the beast (as in Beauty and the Beast)...can't you tell? I bet you didn't know that the beast was a Ranger's fan too!

This is my beauty!

And here's my sweet pea ladybug. If you've been around this blog long enough, you know that Annalee was this same ladybug on her first Halloween. We resorted to an oldie, but a goodie for Grace this year. She started out in the wagon at first, but didn't last long. This girl figured out the routine quick! She proudly walked up to each house, held her bag out, gladly receieved her candy and even said trick-or-treat (although it sounded more like tickle tickle!)

Walking home...she could have kept going and going!

So Happy

A certain someone is overjoyed that JoJo and Papa are back from Africa!

Not Cool

Ever tried taking a 3 year old to the doctor having promised her that she wouldn't get a shot, only to have to retract your promise when said doctor is "out" of the flu mist and a shot is the only option???? Not cool. Broke my heart hearing her say how sad it was making her and how the shot was going to hurt so bad. Major drama, tears, struggles, but we made it...barely. Let's just hope and pray that we don't get the freaky strand of the flu that wasn't covered in the vaccine, that might just put me over the edge!

Go. Seek. Love (and some pumpkin carving)

Alrighty, only one more week to order your t-shirts that benefit Summer and Jason's adoption. I just ordered ours. It worked out great because Annalee knows all about Africa since that's where JoJo and Papa have been all month. This morning she was riding her little car and giving herself directions, "go north on African, and then go to North Richland African!" It cracked us up. Anywho...get on over to Summer's blog and check out her give away this week!

We carved pumpkins last night. I use the term "we" very loosely. Micah is the artistic one around here and Annalee is following in his footsteps. He takes his pumpkin carving pretty seriously...there were power tools involved, ok. My job was to supervise the impending mess and to roast the pumpkin seeds, which turned out quite yummy. Without further ado...here's the pumpkin family.

Grace, Mommy, Daddy, and Annalee

Her best impression of her pumpkin!

Smelling the mums.

Another great give away!

Have you checked out Summer's blog for another great give away? She also uploaded photos from her (very successful) garage sale! Don't forget, October is the month to order your Go, Seek, Love t-shirts for her fundraiser...they're very cute! Let's help a sista out!

Pumpkin Express

We went to the cutest pumpkin patch with some friends from church yesterday! Right off the bat, you load up in a miniature train and take a nice ride around the property. We went through some trees, over a little pond, and all around the pumpkin patch. We enjoyed all they had to offer...bounce houses, seesaws, pumpkin houses, spooky scenes, hay mountains, and finally a nice picnic lunch.

Grace was NOT happy about sitting on the hay!

But, she did have a blast running around like a wild monkey.

Summer's Garage Sale

Ok friends, the time has come to shop! Summer's ginormous garage sale is this weekend, Friday and Saturday. She has a ton of stuff. I'll be there all afternoon on Friday helping (and shopping of course), so stop on by and do some shopping. If you need her address, you can e-mail me or go to her blog. Also, don't forget to check out her give-away this week...a free custom cake!

Baby's First Tailgate

This weekend we had a fun family day of tailgating. Micah's sister, Rachel and her husband Blaine, as well as his cousin Josiah and his new wife Sarah all came down from Arkansas to hang out. We loaded up the cars and headed out for some good ol' tailgating. The girls were phenomenal! I must admit, I was a little leery of taking them to hang out in a parking lot for hours on end, but they were loving it! Thanks to everyone who pitched in to help out with them!


We managed to break not one, but two of our camp chairs!

#1



#2



By the end, Grace needed to stretch her legs and all she wanted to do was walk up and down the strip of grass.



Annalee loved hanging out in the back of Rachel's car in the shade.




Ready to go in our Ranger shirt....good thing it still fits (mostly) Papa!

Where's Waldo?

Last weekend Micah and I participated in the Great Urban Race that benefits St. Jude Hospital. Basically, it's a race/scavenger hunt through the city. You're required to dress like your teammate and costumes are highly recommended. We went as Waldo because it was cheap and comfy. The race took us through downtown and into the cultural district and back. We covered about 8 miles in all and it took us just under 3 hours. We had to solve clues and riddles to find all of the locations and then perform a task at each location in order to get proof that we were there. It was lots of fun, but I was definitely sore the next day. Of course, Micah was yelled at repeatedly by people who had "found" Waldo. He also had lots of pictures taken of him.


Where's Waldo?

Take your picture feeding each other a cookie...check.

Take your picture pretending to dive into a fountain...check

Take your picture with 2 strangers near a Texas flag...check

There's Waldo again!

And again.

Many of you know my BFF Summer. We've been friends for 20 years! She has two precious boys and now her family is on a journey to adopt a sweet baby girl from Ethiopia. This month marks 3 months that they've been on the waiting list. They have partnered with another adoptive family to raise funds for the two trips they will have to make in order to finalize the adoption. Check out her blog to see easy ways that you can help support them. She is doing several give-aways this month, so be sure to see how you can win something!

http://coxragamuffins.blogspot.com/

Happy October 1st!!

Is anyone else totally pumped that it's finally October!! I love, love, love fall! Today we kicked off a great start to the October month-o-fun by meeting up with the Maxeys for a little pumpkin pickin' and decorating. We let the girls each pick out a pumpkin to paint. Who knew you could have so much fun at Calloways (that was our patch of choice today!)

We didn't intend for the girls to match today, but aren't they adorable! Check out Karson's blog for a hilarious picture of me and Karson from back in our teaching days...we wore the exact same outfit to school one day on accident. Teaching Twinkies we were.

The lovely pumpkin creations!

We had such a fun day today Karson! Thanks for hosting our first pumpkin day of the year! And thanks for the great pics!

Then, for dinner Annalee was able to experience her first Free Birds burrito. She was a huge fan. Of course, we had to make some foil creations!

Nice sunglasses and ring!