Pumpkin Patch

We took the kids to a Pumpkin Patch last week--the Pumpkin Patch itself was pretty dismal, but it was at a place called "Old McDonald's Farm", and there were lots of fun kid things to do...riding ponies, a miniature train, playgrounds, petting animals. It was a beautiful day for outside play. On the way home, we found a better patch for some more photo ops!

Trunk-or-Treat

When we were in Amarillo, I got some pics of the kids outside the Blackwell's house in their lovely flowers. Then our church had the Trunk-or-Treat last weekend--the kids had a blast, as usual. There were lots of "trunks", including ours, and all the games, activities and trunk-or-treating was very well organized. Callie is Alice in Wonderland this year, Jack a soldier ("army man"), and Miss Macie a Monarch Butterfly. I usually like to coordinate them--I know--silly Mommy thing--but the older two were very opinionated about their costumes! I think it turned out cute, anyway. Poor Macie was still getting over the flu and a secondary ear infection, so she spent lots of time in the car with Grammy! Bryan wore his usual...Texans Jersey--for like the 5th year in a row. The cool Aggie football players are Trace and Carson Campbell, and the little football baby is their baby brother Ian--I thought that was too cute. For those of you with ties to Baytown and Lakewood Church of Christ, the pretty teen girl with Callie is Heather Hankins--almost grown up!

Well, we said that while Bryan was waiting on his job to start, that we would be "traveling the country"--and we are! After Scott and Alli's wedding, we headed to Granbury for a few days, and went to the Fort Worth Zoo, the Fossil Rim Wildlife Park in Glen Rose, the Dinosaur World in Glen Rose. We enjoyed staying with the Wims--they took such good care of us. Jenny and KaeKae were there for a little bit, too. Then we went on to Amarillo to visit some great friends of ours from when we lived in New Braunfels, the Blackwells. They have a son Ryan, who is almost 8, and son Tate, 17 months. We love them dearly and don't get to see them near as much as we would like--we had a great visit! They took us to the Palo Duro Canyon one evening--what a great time getting back to nature! We definately put in some miles on this trip. I am starting to notice that so many of my pics of Macie are of her in a carseat or stroller--poor thing! It won't be long before she's catching up with "the big kids", though; when we put her on the floor at the Wims' house, she started getting up on hands and knees--she'll be crawling soon!

Funny Conversations

Ok, this one has no pictures, but I just wanted to get something written down while I remembered it, since this blog pretty much serves as my record-keeping of our events...Callie and Jack have been very interested in Scott and Alli getting married, since for their whole lives, they have had Alli to themselves (no offense, Uncle Scott!). So, while they do truly love Scott, and have accepted him very well, I think they still aren't quite sure about this new arrangement, especially Jack. Callie and I have had a few conversations about it, and she gets it, or so I thought. In the car the other day, this dialogue took place:
Jack: "Where is Alli?"
Callie: "On her special trip with Scott"
Jack: "Why don't we get to go on the trip with her?"
Callie: "Because it's just for Scott and Alli"
Jack: "But we always go with Alli on special trips!"
Callie: "But now Scott is Alli's new Daddy, so they are going on the trip together!"
Like I said, I thought she got it!

During bedtime prayers, we have been encouraging the kids to think beyond "thank you for all the people, in Jesus' Name, Amen"--which is their old standby. So, Bryan has been talking to them about praying for 1.) things you are thankful for, and 2.), things you need help with. Callie dutifully did it, and so sweetly. Jack piped in, "well, I don't really need any help right now." Mommy, however, thinks there are some things that could use some work....!