Pumpkin Carvin

We carved our pumpkins last night, I know it's so close to Halloween but that's what you have to do here in TX.  It's still in the high 80's during the day so a carved pumpkin doesn't last very long around here, I'm hoping ours even make it till Sunday night.  Just a glimpse into what it's like getting something done around here....

notice O is the only one helping

feeling the guts inside the pumpkin

O's scary jack o lantern

don't even comment on their hair, it's scary 

the finished products thanks to Kev

Happy Halloween

The kids wanted to wear their costumes the other day so I bribed them, what mom doesn't bribe their kids all the time?  Sure you can wear you costume but only if you let me take some pictures outside and you look at the camera.  All agreed and it went OK, minus the looking at the camera part.  O has finally decided he will be a fighter pilot since we couldn't find a bobcat costume anywhere, go figure.  I think he has worn his "costume" almost everyday since he got it, he even wears it outside to do yard work with Kev.

Anyone want to guess how many houses we'll make it to this year?  Last year we didn't go to a single house, just walked around which was just fine with me since I don't like the whole loads of candy idea.  This year O is very into it and the girls are too, we walk around the neighborhood every night to look at all the spooky stuff, the more gory the better in their eyes.  Kev takes them to the "spooky store" on weekends and they love all the stuff there.  People here in TX really get into Halloween, I mean houses totally decorated and everything, the kids love it.  I better step it up a notch for next year since ours is the most boring house in the neighborhood.  We are having friends over for dinner and then going out trick or treating so maybe we'll last a bit longer this year.

Squadron Fall Festival

We went here on Sunday night with Kev's squadron for the kids fall festival, they had a blast.  It was closed to the public so we had the place all to ourselves.  This squadron has by far the most kids of any so far, it's fun at all the family events and they plan a lot of stuff to do as a family (our last squadron was the opposite).  We had a potluck cookout, took a hayride, got faces painted, played in hay bales and corn tubs and just had a fall themed good time.  Kev made fun of me for dressing everyone in orange but c'mon it's Halloween!

daddy covering Fin in corn

 Fin getting her face painted, so serious

K's turn

K in the hay bales

rubber duck races

Kev is such a good sport since we have an odd number of kids he usually has to go with one of them

 so handsome!

A big game

So O has been a little reluctant to actually play soccer.  He practices the whole time with his team but when it comes to game time he usually hangs with me on the sidelines, I think it's the chaos on the field of 10 4yo's running after 1 ball.  We practice at the soccer field in our neighborhood during the week and he is really good but come game time he is just not interested.  Well this week his team only had 3 players, the only 3 boys on the team and somehow he knew he had to play.  He went right in and didn't get a single break, he had a blast and was so proud of himself at the end.

It just so happened that this was the saturday they gave out medals and the kids were more than thrilled to get them.  Since they only had a few players his sisters got to get a medal too and they were just as happy, he quickly reminded them they could not keep them until they play soccer when they are 4yo.  I hope this has given him the confidence to play for the rest of the season, I could see how happy Kev was and O must have asked a million times how awesome he did at his game.

practicing before the game

so much fun!

 getting their medals

SA zoo

We finally made it to the zoo this weekend since it's cooled off a bit.  It was pretty crowded and the kids were not having the best day (to be expected with 3 of them so young) so we didn't really see that much.  They did seem to like seeing the animals so we'll have to go back on a weekday when it's not so crowded.

Moon Dough

We've seen this stuff advertised on TV a few times and the tag line is that it never dries out, I should have known that was not a good thing.  The kids love playing with play dough but we loose at least half each time all over the place so I figured this was worth a shot.  While the kids did really like it the mess was far worse than play dough and it kind of has the texture of really fine sand, not a good thing to have to clean up.  I would advise others to stick with the play dough at least it's a bit less messy!

notice the mess on the table

Pearls farmers market

We took the kids to a local farmers market on wednesday night, the weather is really amazing here at night and it's perfect to get out and about.  They had live music, food and a big grassy area to do amazing tricks on.  Once O started whipping out his breakdance moves his sisters had to get in on the dancing/gymnastics too, monkey see monkey do.  We stayed a little too late and it was a mad rush to get ready for bed once we got home but we had fun so it was well worth it.

this was an old brewery converted to shops/eateries  

Fin doing her gymnastics 

busting a move

K and O being silly

almost got it

got his face painted at school today

playing with daddy

Cake!

We had O's party on saturday night, not so much a party but we gave him his presents and his surprise cake.  I would never in a million years buy a cake but I had no idea how to make and airplane cake and that is what he really wanted.  While it turned out nice enough I think homemade is so much better and I better practice for next year cause I'm not buying  one again.  We had some of our friends over that we were stationed with in Del Rio, they are in San Antonio for training before heading back to Del Rio again and of course Grammy and Papa were here too.  O was thrilled with all of his gifts, he got a new pair of work boots (rain boots), a dump truck, some books and books on tape for the truck, and a pretty cool race track for cars, a car transporter, an aircraft carrier and a monster truck.  While this year he was fine with our little family party I think next year he may be old enough for a real kids party, better get my thinking cap on.

here is the cake

the audience

Papa helping with the ribbon

the crew ready to dig in

Happy 4th Birthday Big Guy

Today is O's 4th birthday, hard to believe I started having kids 4 years ago.  It seems like he's been with us forever or maybe I just don't remember what it's like without him around.  O came out ready to take on the world, he was never a calm content baby, he has his dad's personality no doubt.  He showed me what patience really meant and I had no idea how much patience I actually had.  I guess you could say he really broke Kev and I in in the parenting department which was a good thing since we had something pretty big coming out way in less than 18mths.  He has grown into an amazing little guy, still super strong headed and stubborn but I think this will get him extremely far in life.  He is smart beyond his age and loves to learn new things,  more into documentaries than cartoons and can't get enough of reading.  He is 100% boy and will find a pile of dirt to play in and be happy for hours, good thing he has plenty of "work sites" here in our neighborhood.  He is very protective of his sisters but like any other big brother is the boss of them at home and loves it when they listen to him (which is not very often).  He is super sensitive and gets his feeling hurt pretty easily although he won't readily admit it.  He has had to grow up faster than your average kid since his twin sisters came along when he was only 18mths old but has done an amazing job adapting to his new role.  We love you O-dog and can't wait to see you grow up to be an amazing young man but don't grow up too fast cause you'll always be my "goosie".

Corn Maize

We took the kids here on saturday afternoon since it was relatively cool for this area (high 80's).  They had a blast although nobody was really interested in the corn maze after about 5mins and we could not find out way back out.  Funny because when Kev and I lived in Del Rio we used to drive past this place a million times on our way up to San Antonio and now we were leaving San Antonio to drive back towards Del Rio to get to the corn maze, not much has changed on hwy 90.  It was a fun little family farm with plenty of festive activities for the kids, ultimately O like the sandbox with dump trucks the best but I could have told you that.

notice Kev and O want to go 2 totally different ways

 O loved jumping on the hay bales, the girls were not as adventerous

 As soon as we got home O was asking when we could go back, success in my book.