Trick-or-Treat

We had a busy, but great day as we finished October out with a bang!

While the big boys were hunting, I took the other 3 kiddos to the zoo with Ally's AHG troop for a field trip. We had fun and I'm so glad the weather cleared up. 

In the afternoon we finished carving the pumpkins. Jase designed and carved the traditional pumpkin all on his own! He is getting so big!

Finn was super excited for Halloween. "It is Halloween today?" he would ask. It was the sweetest thing. We got all of the kids dressed in their costumes and headed out for a little trick-or-treating. 

It was a great evening. We walked outside to go trick-or-treating at the same time as our next door neighbor. They have a little girl a year younger than Ally and a boy a year younger than Finn. It was great to go door to door with them and visit. 

We came home and passed out candy to the rest of the neighbors still trick-or-treating. While we enjoyed the fall festival at church for many years with the kids; trick-or-treating has been super fun. The kids really enjoy going door to door and it brings back memories from when I was a kid. 

Right before we went bed tonight, Jase told me "I had fun today" out of the blue. So good to hear that and makes all the craziness worth it. {For the record, we have 4 kids, it is crazy a lot! Ha!}

Oh, taste and see that the LORD is good. 

Psalm 34:8

Pumpkin Patch

For many years we visited a local church that had a pumpkin patch set-up. We would take pictures of the kids there, it was fun, it was tradition. That all changed when we moved last year and no longer had the church around the corner. There are plenty of similar things like that up here, we just have been so busy with extracurricular activities, that we haven't had time. 

Yesterday before dance, me and the kids ran into Walmart for some fruit {for the AHG badge ceremony last night} and a pumpkin and they were completely sold out of pumpkins. Fail big time on my part. I would go to Walmart and sometimes they legitimately would not have any good ones and a couple of times I forgot to get one since they were outside. Needless to say the kids were a little bummed that Walmart was sold out and we were just days away from Halloween. I promised them we would get one.

This morning we got out for a couple of the kids' annual check-ups and after lunch I told them we would find a pumpkin! The first Kroger we stopped at in Frisco had a ton! So much so that I gathered the kids together for their annual pumpkin patch photo...at Kroger! Ha! 

In the picture above you can see a man's reflection in the glass. As I was rounding up the kids for a picture he was trying to walk by. I stopped and told him he could pass by since I was about to take a picture and we might be a few minutes. He stopped and said "no I want to see this!" Then he said "they can't be all yours." I told him they sure were. He made a comment about doing the Texas thing {?} and good for me. He was super sweet and enjoyed seeing the kids. Don't worry, he did not have the creeper factor going on!!

We ended up getting two pumpkins. Jase picked out one and the other was one Mae was hanging onto. We are excited about carving the pumpkins in the next day or two. 

Homeschool Disney Day

This morning I went into my closet to get dressed for the day and I saw a Mickey Mouse shirt at the top of my closet. I decided to put it on. I walked out of my room {the kids were all sitting at the kitchen table} and declared it Homeschool Disney Day! I told them they needed to all put on a Mickey Mouse shirt. No arguments from the crowd, as they hopped up to get dressed. 

I grabbed some Mickey Mouse party hats from Finn's party this summer. 

The kids actually already had the Disney Day underway this morning before I officially announced it. They were looking through their autograph books during breakfast, which they often do. Such sweet memories on the two trips we've taken there.

What you see in the pictures is about the extent to what we did in celebration of Disney Day. It was a spur of the moment decision, so not much planning on my part. The kids did enjoy the theme. I used some Disney washi tape on their work, Finn and I colored a Mickey puzzle together and Finn watched a Mickey Mouse Clubhouse show while the kids finished up school. Jase also wrote about his favorite 3 things at Disney World in his journal: 1) Expedition Everest, 2) Space Mountain, and 3) Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. And he drew a roller coaster as well. So fun reminiscing about Disney World today. It did make the day a little more *magical*. Looking forward to going back one day. 

Field Trips

We've had the privilege to get outside of our 4 walls and go on a few field trips lately. It has been fun meeting up with friends and doing things together. 

The recycling field was more interesting than I thought it would be. We started off the morning with our tour guide explaining how the landfill works. He told us there are pipes ran throughout the landfill that capture the methane gas that is created by the trash. It is then transferred to another part of their facility in the pipes and the methane is used to create electricity. He said this is not a process that every city has and it makes the city of Denton unique.

Before heading over to the recycling center, we stepped onto the truck scale to see how much our group weighed together. I was thinking around 1,800 pounds, but it was 2,620 pounds.

In the recycling center we learned about the process and how the materials are separated. Styrofoam is very similar to a glad plastic container, but it has air puffed into it, which makes it very light and airy. Since the recycling center is paid by the weight, it is not very cost effective to recycle the styrofoam since it is so light, so this is the main reason it is not recycled. He did tell us that at Chick-Fil-A they pull all of their styrofoam cups out of the trash and send them to a recycling center in Tennessee. They do not have to do this, but since they use so many of them, they are trying to be good stewards. Another reason to eat there!

Game Ball

We have been out of town for the past week on vacation in Branson, Missouri. It was such a great time and I will be posting about it hopefully later this week. We arrived back home Friday night, just in time for Jase's baseball game on Saturday. We played a tough team with some good pitchers and in the end we fell to them 6-1, but the boys got 3 outs on them each time and played a respectable game. We are proud of them!

Jase had a great game. He made contact with the ball all 3 at bats and got on base twice. He played shortstop most of the game, except the last inning he moved to first base. While at shortstop he had 2 double plays! Both times he caught pop-ups and threw the ball to the occupied base to get the base runner out. He was playing heads up ball and he was awarded the game ball. Way to go, Jase!

Maebry is 11 months

There is something crazy about 11 months old. Maybe it is that she is 1 month away from being 1 year old. That is so hard to fathom right now. Today I went through her closet and dresser and pulled out clothes that are too small and replaced them with hand-me-downs from big sister. While I'm so thankful to have replacement clothes, it was so hard to remove the smaller clothes from her rotation. I know that keeping her in 6 month size clothing will not keep her little, but I am truly trying to savor every last day with this little one. She is our last little baby in the house {unless the Lord intervenes} and we are soaking her up. 

Maebry has 6 teeth and has been biting me lately. Only me. All of the kids did this: they bit Mama. Rarely is it Daddy. It is the oddest thing and she thinks it is funny too. Little rascal. She is such a happy baby and she loves to smile and giggle. Her preferred method of getting around these days is walking; she is a real champ! She has been sleeping through the night, in her own bed, for about 4-6 weeks, which has been great.

She loves food. There is not one food that I can think of that she does not like. This makes feeding her pretty easy. Mae loves to play with her older siblings. She loves to follow Hank around and he totally ignores her, but she doesn't mind, she just keeps at it. Perseverance my child, learn it young! Happy 11 months! We love you, sweet Mae!

Old Friends

After our first baseball game {it was bad}, I was a little nervous how things were going to play out for the rest of the games. I am happy to report that we put up a "W" this past week. The boys were hitting the ball great and our pitcher was lights out! I know this will not be every time, but it was much more relaxing to watch and the boys had fun. I'm always cheering for our hometown Astros, but I have grown comfortable in saying "Go Rangers!"

 

After the game we drove out to Denton and met some old friends for a late lunch. The Teekels were missionaries overseas for 5 years and recently moved back to Texas. It was great to visit with them. Their family is very down to earth and they have the sweetest kids. Jakob and Jase get along really well and their girls, Alexis and Ariel, are very kind and listen to every story that Ally tells! Ha!

We sat on the balcony for lunch and a local band was playing. The music was good, but it did kind of hinder conversation since we were front row Joe! It was a beautiful day!