Halloween ~ 2012

This year's Halloween was a lot of fun. We started with a fun family party with our Small Group at church. Games, "fishing," crafts, Bingo, and a really fun Photo Scavenger Hunt. We all had such a great time.

Busted....checking the Cowboys score! :)

And now Tate's bucket list has one more item checked off as he was finally able to help carve a pumpkin. I've discreetly avoided it as long as possible. Ironic part...he was so grossed out by the inside goop, he wanted nothing to do with it. But he did enjoy instructing Wade on what it should look like. :)

And then it was finally Halloween. We are now our 3rd year into the tradition of our friends, the Ballards, coming over to Trick or Treat with us. I love that even if it's been months since the boys saw each other, they just pick up right where they left off. Sweet friendships for them and us.

A few successes this Halloween. First one, Will wore a costume! I really had no idea if he would until the last minute. He is not a fan of costumes and definitely hates anything on his head. But amazingly, this Jake the Neverland Pirate costume worked perfect.

The second success of the night was that no one fell and got hurt. Oh wow, the first half of the trick-or-treating, the two big boys were SO excited and running full speed from house to house. Funny enough, as the night went on, they got tired, the bags full of candy got heavier, and the running turned into walking. :)

Oh I wish so bad this picture wasn't blurry. But it still cracks me up. In reality, I remember this family being really sweet and saying that Will was cute. But the picture looks like he's being chased by a crazy candy lady while grandparents in the background watch. I don't know why, but it makes me laugh.

The third success was that as we were walking down the sidewalk, I heard a man ask, "Is that Will?" Turns out it was the neighbor who found him when he "ran away." I was so happy that he recognized us and thankful to be able to tell him thank you in a much more normal frame of mind.

Totally forgot to get a family picture. Frustrating. But in the end, it was a fun night with friends and lots of candy.

Misc. September

A biggie for me and Wade in September was that we started a new small group at church. We have absolutely LOVED the small group we have been in the last almost five years and have developed wonderful friendships. But in recent months, we have seen the real need for more groups and specifically small group leaders. I will be honest in saying that the time between realizing the need to finally agreeing to start a new group was not always pretty. I'm not a fan of change...and especially change related to my friends. And knowing that my "yes" would result in sacrifice and possible discomfort for me and our family...not a fan of that either.

But at the same time, neither of us could shake the feeling that there was a huge hole and need. We have always been big fans of small groups and know firsthand the blessings they can provide. So (being honest) with some serious nervousness, we took the plunge. We had no idea if it would just be the two of us awkwardly sitting in an empty room. Or if people actually showed up, would they talk? Would they think we were crazys? But guess what...they showed up! It's still up for debate if we are crazys or not.

Now two + months into this adventure, I am beyond thrilled and grateful to the Lord for this opportunity and new friendships we are all forming. We have 7-9 families that are meeting with us regularly. It has been great. Most of them did not know each other and barely knew us. So it has been such a neat experience to see all of these families come together for a common purpose of building community.

I'm thankful for that nudge and whisper that wouldn't go away. I'm thankful for the strength, and at times courage, to get past my own desire for comfort and familiarity. I'm thankful for my friendships from the previous group in which I'm confident will continue. And I'm thankful for these new families who I join together with to tackle this crazy thing called life.

In other September news, we got a chance to go back to Marble Falls/Horseshoe Bay for a fun Labor Day Weekend with some of Wade's family. While there we celebrated the birthday combo of Wade & Trip and Wade's parent's 45th anniversary with a sweet video tribute Mary Tish made.

 

Tate's school had a Goodies with Grandparents early morning breakfast. He loved having Mimi & Grandpa there to show around.

And September in Texas is still very much summer time. Tate was ordered outside one night as he devoured a dipped cone. Wonder why? And I'm noticing a theme of the sleeveless shark shirt. It was worn approximately 2/3 of the summer months. He said he liked it because "the shark looked scary and it showed off his muscles." Ahhh....got to love the humility. :)

I had a memorable Date Night with Tate in a monsoon rain storm.

Our alma mater, ACU, played a game at Dallas Cowboys stadium. Purple, white, purple, white...fight, fight, fight!

 

And Will perfected his teeth brushing skillz.

Pumpkin Patch

I love a pumpkin patch. Especially if the weather is cool enough that you aren't sweating. You never know in Texas. This year we seemed to pick the perfect night to go. It was cool and not crowded. A Pumpkin Patch Miracle. 

Now the true miracle would've been if I had captured a decent brother or family picture. Not so much. We'll hope for better results in 2013. Fingers crossed. But we still had a great time at the cutest little pumpkin patch. Will was in his element...running, sliding, and running some more (none of these descriptions include posing for pictures).

 

And on a not-thinking-clearly whim, I suggested Tate & I try out the Corn Maze. Little did I know, this corn maze was not for amateurs. If I had been thinking more clearly, we would've started when we first got there. I would've brought my phone with me. And I would've devised some kind of plan if no one had heard from us after awhile.

This thing was intense. We kept coming back to the entrance. I SO bad wanted to give up and quit. But my super-competitive child did not understand that. Finally we teamed up with a group of adults. And after 30 minutes...30 MINUTES!...we finally made it out. 

I love this tradition. Love this time of year. And love my two little pumpkins!

Misc. August

The eternal catch up...

August was a fun and hot month. It felt like there was a constant countdown...the countdown to Kindergarten. It was such a surreal few weeks preparing for the big change.

Another big change was for one of our favorite babysitters, Shay. She headed off to her freshman year of college. The boys got one more afternoon with her before she left. She was the very first non-family sitter I ever left with Will. We are excited for her new chapter! 

Will found even more ways to crack himself up. This one is often re-enacted.  "Take aaaaaaaaaaaaa drink!"


And he discovered how fun it is to feed Macy her food, Love the saggy diaper, the very patient dog, and the excitement over one single kibble. :)


And much of early August was spent watching the Olympics. I would be scared (embarrassed) to total the number of hours watching. Wade & I are seriously Olympic addicts. Life is quite unproductive for a couple weeks when it's Olympic time.

Tate couldn't get enough either. He would wake up most mornings with the very first question out of his mouth asking who won the gold medal from the night before. This was also right around the time that Tate took up a love of drawing. This came out of the blue, but resulted in a ton of Olympic sports drawings.

And Will was quite entertained by the synchronized divers. Laughed like this every single time.


We got to spend some fun times with friends at the Spray Park. This was Will's Happy Place. He loved the fountains and it is nice and gated in, so he could roam freely. That is the perfect combo for Will. And the moms liked the chance to catch up while kiddos played happily! :)

And the end of August is always a special time when we get to celebrate Wade. Tate picked out the Rangers theme for party decorations. I'm continually thankful for Wade. For who he is, who he wants to be, the father he is to our boys, the friend he is to many, and the incredible partner in this crazy life we live.