Santa Photos

Here are the photos with Santa from our neighborhood party, O didn't want to sit with him which is fine with me (he was having too much fun playing with his buddies).

Norah was intrigued but would not go too close, notice the grip she has on my boob...

I feel like this photo will end up on an awkward Christmas photo website someday, just my luck!

CC winter party and arctic swim

 We had our annual neighborhood party with the amazing face painters, balloon artists plus an amazing Santa, I love this neighborhood!  This is december in Texas, so much for the "arctic" swim part. Only O and Keira participated in the swim, Fin was still waiting for her balloon.  I'll post the Santa photos as soon as they email them to me.

Fin picked rudolph

O wanted a jet of course

 Keira got Aerial

waiting for the swim with all her friends, yes it's that warm out

O testing the water

Color Me Rad run

I registered for this race a while ago with the intention of Kev running it with me, I had a different running partner than planned.  O did a great job and probably ran about 80% of the race with a few breaks here and there (it was a 5k).  All the color you see it some type of colored corn starch mixutre aka "color bombs", the kids loved the stuff.  We ran with a few of my friends and their sons and the boys had a blast, what boy doesn't want to get dirty?  No lie the stuff was hard to get out, all four kids were covered and we had to really scrub in the shower but it was well worth it.

before we even started to run

the aftermath, notice my blue teeth

Ft Sam quadrangle

A friend had told me about this place a while ago and I kept forgetting about it, we finally checked it out las weekend.  This explains in depth what it is, a pretty unique and fun place for kiddos that is totally free (perfect for us).  The animals inside are fairly tame (except for the goose that Norah pissed off and chased her like crazy) and really like to be fed.

the peacock were everywhere and so beautiful

Norah has no fear

 now she decides it's a good idea to pat the deer, Kev not so much

This is what happens when Norah is not listening, she has some serious listening issues

I so wish I had a photo of her goose encounter, it was so funny I nearly peed my pants laughing.  We were leaving and of course she didn't want to come and proceeded to do her own thing, tormenting the geese.  I told her a few times to get away from them but she decided it was in her best interest to not listen and try to pet the geese, not such a good idea.  One of the them got mad, nipped at her and chased her.  I've honestly never seen her move so fast and with such a look of "I'm in trouble" in her eyes.  She tripped and I scooped her up just in time but I did allow it to chase her for a little bit in hopes that she would learn a lesson, better start listening.  She was so mad at that goose and I can still remind her when she's not listening "remember what happened with the goose" and she sure does.  Maybe I should buy a goose for the backyard?

What I am most Thankful for

While I am thankful for many things these five people are at the top of my list {love them}.

Chinese Tea Garden {take 1}

While Noni and Popi were here we discovered this beautiful place, looking for things to do in the area with just the girls (O was in school).  The train stops right out front so we got off and decided to explore a bit, well worth it. (all photos taken with the iphone so please excuse the lack of quality)

train ride at Brackenridge Park

Fall iphone picts

Since I almost always have my phone on me I get a lot of random photos that way.  Unfortunately I forget about them and don't plug my phone into the computer nearly enough.  Here are a few random iphone picts that have been "living" on my phone.

Can you believe they sell pumpkins for this price?  Sure the toddler must be included for that.

The St Thomas Pumpkin patch (kids school last year)

Yes my kids were at the pool in October, crazy!

How cool is this costume?  The girls loved it.

I can't believe she actually sat long enough for the face paint

How creepy are they?  At the Pearl farmers market on a saturday before Halloween.

Keira was totally in awe, she was the only one who would even go close.

Basil soup

My garden didn't do so well this year, it's so hard to actually grow stuff in this heat.  My basil did do awesome and I had some big beautiful plants that I was oh-so-gently taking care of.  We use a lot of basil in cooking, esp in Kevin's pasta sauce and homemade pesto right before the cold weather hits.  Cut to wednesday afternoon while I was making dinner, the girls were playing outback:

Yes, that's all my delicious basil in our firepit being turned into "basil soup".  I took the photos from the porch so they didn't see me, the damage had already been done so I just had to catch them on camera.  I wanted to cry but also had to laugh because when they knew I was mad they took it all back out to "plant" in the garden again.  Of all the stuff in the yard they could have made into soup they just had to choose my basil....  Isn't the last picture hysterical, Keira is mad at me for looking at them, huh.

Halloween 2012

This year for Halloween we had an army guy, witch, snow princess and stubborn toddler.  This neighborhood is the BEST place to trick or treat.  People go all out, sit outside with all their decorations and goodies and give out tons of candy.  There are so many kids running around everywhere it was actually hard to keep track of the four of ours.  I think O counted his candy and he had over 200 pieces and that was after I had confiscated all the sugary junk (non-chocolate).  The kids get to keep some and we donate the rest to a local dentist that in turn sends it to deployed troops (I'm sure they need the sugar a whole lot more than my kiddos).  I think they would have kept going all night long if we had not persuaded them to come back to the house and start giving some of our candy out, they had a great time.

O scores some for Norah, what a nice brother

O and Miles, best buds

Norah wants in on the candy, didn't take her long to catch on