Texas Rangers

Zach and Jess set up a TV and fire pit on Halloween so we could do some post trick-or-treating visiting. We were watching the Ranger’s and it was too bad that they lost.

Halloween Night

Sam took the kids trick-or-treating. I got to hand out candy this year. Gavin lasted longer than Renée and Carter, so he kept going with friends. Our tradition is to dump it all out on the table and enjoy. So far the kids are willing to share with us. It is fun trying some of the obscure candy. Every one went to bed sugared up.

Gavin was a demon.

Renée was a ballerina.

Carter was a skeleton.

Sam grew out his beard and tried to make it pointy.  It curled on it's own.

I even wore these to church. 

Enjoying the candy!

Carving Pumpkins

We carved our pumpkins on Halloween morning before going to church. It is hot in Texas, so we can’t do it too early but this is the latest we were carving. Life is busy with Sam’s school schedule. One of our pumpkins rotted, so we ended up with two. Gavin in Renée each designed one.

Air Show

The last time we took our kids to an air show, Sam lost Renée. You can read about is here.  I wasn’t taking any chances this year, so I wrote my cell number on each of their hands in permanent marker. Luckily no one got lost. We meet some friends at the air show and enjoyed walking around and looking at the planes. The Blue Angles were the best part.

When we woke up our kid’s looked like this.

I made the mistake of leaving Gavin’s Halloween make up on the counter. On a positive note, we can now sleep in longer than our kids. We thought these days would never come.

Ward Halloween Party

Career Day

The kid’s aren’t allowed to wear just any costume to school. It has to be what they want to be when they grow up. Luckily a ballerina is a profession so Renée got to wear her Halloween costume to school. Gavin was going to be a demon, so that wouldn’t work. I ended up buying him a second costume so he could be a surgeon. It is actually a doctor costume, but he didn’t wear the lab coat because surgeons just wear scrubs.

Preschool Halloween Parade

Alycia hosted preschool the week of Halloween. The last thirty minutes of school we dressed the boys up and had a parade.

Trey, Carter, Claire (Coen's sister). Liam, Preston, Nolan, and Coen.

Carter leading the way.

MIA

You are probably wondering why I haven't posted in a month.  Well, I finally reached maximum capacity for what I can handle in my life.  Some things have to be put on hold, and blogging is one of them.  Don't worry, I will come back when I feel like I can breath again.   I hesitate to post this because I like to have it all together, and usually do, but right now I am far from, "having it all together."  This is my effort at honestly and letting those of you who are overwhelmed know that you are not alone.  A sweet friend told me that sometimes we carry and other times we need to be carried.  I have done a lot of carrying in my life so I am trying not to feel guilt over needing to be carried right now.  Thank you to my friends and family who are helping me through this tough time with kind words and gestures.  I truly feel blessed.

What do you count?

“I’m counting myself.” – Carter while standing on the scale.

More Inventions

“I am going to use whale blubber to make winter coats.”- Gavin
“Are you going to kill whales to get the blubber?” – me
“No, I am going to get the whales killed by the Japanese.” - Gavin   

Mystery Dinner Theater at the Gaylord

We went to a Mystery Dinner Theater with a group of friends. It was really fun and the food was really good.

Laura, Josh, Amber, Eric, Jen, Joe, Sam, me, Wendy, and Doug

Butts

As I was putting Carter to bed he asked, "did you know horses have butts?"

Palo Duro Day 4

We woke up to balloons being launched. We got to watch about six launch and fly over us. It was really fun to watch.
After hot chocolate and a hot breakfast we hiked to Lighthouse rock. Carter and Trey made it to the look out point but Nick decided to head back with them so we could head home at a reasonable hour. Sam and I forged on with Gavin, Blake, Syd, and Renée. It was a really difficult trail but the kids were troopers. It is six miles round trip and the four oldest didn’t complain at all.

Can you believe they climbed up this?

lighthouse rock

Down was harder than going up.

Palo Duro Day 3

The reason for our trip was Alycia and I were running in the Palo Duro 20K (12.5 mile) Trail Run. It was Alycia’s first time running more than 10 miles and my first time running in a trail race. We got there late and barely made it to the starting line in time. The first three miles were rough because we couldn’t pass people and we weren’t even going close to our normal pace. Eventually we passed enough people that we were able to break away. The trail was beautiful and I only fell once. We did it in 2 hours and 10 minutes. We were girls 8 and 9, so not so bad for our first trail race. We loved the trail running atmosphere and look forward to doing another one.
Alycia and I got to relax at camp while our husbands took the kids on more hikes. We did do a short hike that took us from the top of the canyon into the bottom. We brought two cars so we wouldn’t have to hike back up. That night the kids had a ton of fun playing Frisbee and with the fire. We had wonderful warm berry cobbler. I am getting hungry thinking about it.

At the finish line.

The kids came to cheer us on.

We earned these hats as finisher's prizes.

Carter sure loves to play in the dirt and be dirty.  This whole we next to our camp and he spent most of his time there.

The view from the rim of the canyon before our hike down.  It is the 2nd largest canyon in the USA.

Man, 120° is really hot!

Carter loves fruit punch!

All the kids playing Frisbee.

The girls eating their cobbler in the firewood boxes.

Palo Duro Day 2

Our first night didn’t go so well because Renée threw up in the tent, twice. Our air mattress deflated so we didn’t sleep well even when Renée stopped throwing up. The next morning I drove the 30 minutes to Walmart to get Renée new PJs, a sleeping bag, and a new air mattress for us. She wasn’t sick, just too many smores.
That afternoon we went hiking again. We made it about 4 ½ miles. Carter had to be carried a little bit, but everyone did great. The canyon is so beautiful.
Alycia and Nick with their kids met us there that night. Alycia and I went to the prerace dinner to carb load.

Carter called this camo hat his hiding hat.

Gavin sure loves to climb.