Pumpkin Carving with Daddy

After much discussion and debate about what our family Jack-O-Lantern would
look like this year Austin and the girls carved a very "scary" (Madison's description)
Jack-O-Lantern. The girls were not into sticking their hands in to help clean the
pumpkin out- it was "yucky" and "gross"! My favorite touch are the freckles that Madison requested. Austin even got out his power tools to drill the freckles into the pumpkin!

The Pumpkin Patch!

A Trip to Love Creek Orchards

Last Saturday we took a trip out to Medina to Love Creek Orchards. As you can tell by the pictures Emmry LOVED it! She loved the animals, the hay ride which she called the "roller coaster" ( I know we need to take her to see what a roller coaster really is!), the maze, and playing in the "Hillcountry Orchestra". Madison tried to act like she was to old for these type things and avoided having her picture taken. Both girls really wanted to have their faces painted so much that we waited in line for an hour! It was worth it because Madison said it was her favorite thing we did. My favorite thing was spending the day with my 3 favorite people enjoying the beautiful fall weather and time together!

A Family Trip to the Beach

Austin's parens took the family to the Coast for the weekend. The girls had so much fun! I hate to admit, but this was Emmry's first trip to the beach and only Madison's second... Sad since we live so close! Aside from the fact that I was in the midst of some bad morning-all day sickness it was perfect! We did have one dinner experience that will forever be remembered... by me at least! I was feeling very pregnant when we ended up eating at a restaurant called The Crazy Cajun. I walked in to the overwhelming smell of seafood and started to pray right away. We were seated 2 feet away from a man playing a banjo, an accordian, and a harmonica, all while singing songs including "C" is for Cookie Thats Good Enough For Me. The specialty of the restaurant was a pot of crawfish, crab, shrimp, sausage, potates, and corn- dumped on your table! So I continued to pray and hold a lemon up to my nose as the rest of the family used hammers to smash seafood sending guts (or something) flying! I think this restaurant experience will go down in my book as one of the worst meals to be present for during pregnancy! We did decide to try to get the kids back to the coast more often only next time we will not go when I am pregnant and we will not try to repeat that eating out experience!

Emmry Got a haircut...

and she looks so cute!!!

A Visit From the Toothfairy!

For the first time we were the lucky hosts to the toothfairy! Twice! Madison lost her first two teeth during the past month. Austin worked on them every night for quite some time and finally the first one came out during the first week of school. The second one followed a couple of weeks later. Without her 2 bottom teeth Madison looks like a kindergartener! So grown up! It was a little bitter sweet for me as I thought about how excited we were to see those first two little teeth pop through 5 years ago and now how excited we are to see them gone. I know it sounds a little gross but I thought about keeping those sweet little teeth... we worked hard to get them in and hard to get them out just to throw them away! Well now we are working on #3... I keep you posted!

Back to School Sprinkler Party!

To celebrate the new school year we had a sprinkler party! It was planned by my personal party planner Madison. She planned it for months! Last April she had the idea and she spent the last 4 or 5 months planning it. She picked the menu (goldfish, candy, fruit- "to be healthy", and juice boxes), helped design the invitation, and planned where the 3 sprinklers and little pool would go in the yard. It was fun until God turned on the "big sprinklers" and the rain sent us all inside. I think this will become an annual event as Madison is already plannning next year's party!

Coming this Spring...

Another addition to the family! (This one we planned on and prayed for!) Praise God! "From the fullness of his grace we have recieved one blessing afer another..." John 1:16

Come April we will be a family of 5!

The First Days of School...

Madison went to kindergarten and Emmry went to preschool! Both girls did great! Madison loves being in school everyday and Emmry misses her best friend. For the first week or two Emmry cried every morning when we dropped Madison off. She was not the only one who shed a tear... Madison just looks so grown up walking into school with her big backpack on her back! Emmry's school did not start until a couple of weeks after Madison's but now both girls are in school and loving it! Emmry goes 2 days a week and I have enjoyed my one on one time with her on the other 3 days. Precious time... They are both growing up so fast!

A new addition to the family...

We had not planned on this little addition to our family but what can I say... We got a dog! I know it seems a bit unlike me and a little crazy but Max walked into our lives and well, he has not left! Thanks to our good friends the Garrisons, who thought Max would fit in nicely at our house we are now dog owners. Not to worry, we have not crossed over to the other side completly. Max is not allowed on the furniture and DOES NOT sleep in our bed! He is really a very good dog and even helped the girls overcome their fear of dogs during his first week here. He is a yellow lab and is about 6 months old. He came to us house trained and kennell trained... This was to his advantage as he tried to move into our home and hearts because without these things in his favor I don't think he would have stayed! So next time you call or come by don't be surprised when you hear Max welcome you!

Just Like I Predicted!

Well... just as I predicted, more than a month has gone by and I never got back to this! So tonight I am going to cheat and enter all my posts for the past month on one night! I thought I might be able to just change the post date but if you can, I can't figure out how... So, everything that has gone on in the past month (and let me warn you we have had a busy eventful month) is going to be posted today October 12! Just use your imagination and pretend along with me that I did this in a more timely fashion...