Our Trip to the Pumpkin Patch

Every year, we go to a little church run pumpkin patch in Boerne. It was a beautiful weekend in San Antonio and perfect weather to pick out some pumpkins. I love to get pictures of the kids with the pumpkins. Today, with a little coaxing with candy corn, I actually got some good pictures without much fuss (and we got some pumpkins, too.) Here are some pictures!

Happy 2nd Birthday, Maren!

Maren turned 2 on Thursday! Tate and I went in her room when she woke up and sang "Happy Birthday." She had a huge smile on her face but looked at us like we were crazy. We went to the McKenna Children's Museum in New Braunfels. It's an adorable museum complete with ambulance, art room, rocket, grocery store, hospital nursery and campgrounds. The kids loved it!

We took her to Chuck E. Cheese for dinner and then home for presents. She got a new little baby doll and named her Tia which went nicely with her other one, Mamma Mia:) Where did those 2 years go?!

Howl-O-Scream

On Sunday, while Jason and Nathan jetted (literally) off to the Colts/Texans game in Houston, Jill and I took the kids to SeaWorld, where they are celebrating Howl-O-Scream. The park was decked out in Halloween decor. Lots of skeletons, pumpkins, etc... The kids had a ball except Maren wasn't too happy going through the Halloween maze. It was very kid friendly but the first obstacle did her in. She soon got over it but I realized, as she clung on to me, that she isn't a fearless as Tate--nothing seems to bother him. The kids danced at a Halloween bash, in which, Chloe asked at the beginning if we got an invitation. They were so cute dancing their little hearts out. They have some serious moves.

What a day!

Our weekend started out with a bang! Tate had a soccer game at 9:30. I only took 1 picture because, for some reason, he didn't feel like playing all that hard. He blames it on a mosquito bite. Needless to say, they didn't even score a goal. Maybe next time:)

Next on the agenda was Maren's 2nd birthday party. Our neighbor, Lauren, turned 2 today so they had a joint Dora the Explorer birthday party at Gymboree Play and Music. What fun! After some hokie pokie with maracas, the birthday blast off, getting rolled over by the cookie cutter, freeze dance, bubbles and parachute time, they were ready for some rather green cupcakes. The kids had a blast!

Then off to our friends, Kelly and Ryan's, adoption party. They just adopted 2 adorable children and had a huge party complete with a balloon artist, moonwalk, cotton candy and tons of food. Congratulations, Kelly and Ryan! The kids, once again, played and played and had a ball. They had no problems going to bed!

Jason headed off to play poker with the guys and, finally, peace and quiet!

Nags Head, NC

We headed to Nags Head, NC on Saturday and stayed through Wednesday. We started out our trip with a layover in Charlotte where Tate came across the 24 Jeff Gordon car. He was in love:)

We met almost our entire family there and, all 21 of us, stayed in a condo on the beach!

Tate had a ball playing with his cousins that he rarely gets to see. They range in age from 10 months-13 yrs old. He played and played and slept really well on the airplane ride home :) The weather was excellent! We were able to swim in the ocean every day. The guys got really good at riding the waves on the boogy boards. Jason, Tate and Papaw went go-carting. Tate was thrilled to report that he beat daddy both times. They played putt-putt golf and fished off the pier. We made a trip to Cape Hattaras and climbed up the 200 and some stairs to get to the top of the lighthouse. We celebrated Maren and Ella's 2nd and 8th birthday. Too bad Maren burnt her lip on the candle as she was blowing it out :( We ended the trip with a bon fire on the beach, roasted marshmallows and made smores and enjoyed the beautiful evening. It was wonderful to spend time with our family! What a memorable trip for everyone!

Take my picture, please!

Last night, we were sitting at dinner when Maren points to the camera and says "Mama, picture". OK. This is the child that turns the other direction everytime you point a camera at her. I asked her if she wanted her picture taken. "Yes, mama". So I took the opportunity and snapped some goofy pictures of her and then, of course, Tate wanted his picture taken, too. I think this is the first time they both asked to have their picture taken. So here's a few of the silly kiddos :)

Tate's afternoon teacher loves to use alot of gel and put a mohawk in his hair everyday. He loves it! Probably not my preference but it's cute for the evening then we take a bath:)

QT with the family

We have been so busy lately that this weekend was filled with not much except spending some quality time together.

Saturday started bright and early with another entertaining soccer game at 8am. The weather in SA is becoming quite fall-like which included a chilly 70 degree morning and wet, dew covered benches. What a change from the 102 degree day we had last weekend! The kids may not have been fully awake. We never scored a goal or even got to our end of the field for the most part. The normal 4 yr old behavior came out--chasing our own teammates, sitting down in the middle of the field, and pouring the water out of the cooler just because.

We headed to the Riverwalk for dinner at the Rainforest Cafe, rode the boat around the river, and got ice cream before heading home with 2 extremely tired kiddos. (I am so disappointed I forgot my camera:( )

On Sunday morning, the kids and I headed to church for a very inspirational sermon based on "The Story"(http://www.thestorynow.net/) while Jason worked for a few hours.

We attempted to go to the pool in the afternoon but even though it was 90 degrees, the cool mornings have made the water really, really cold. Maybe that is why noone was there! We ended up leaving after about 30 minutes when Tate couldn't stop chattering. He was the only

one actually swimming anyway. See you next year, pool!

We played and played outside before the mosquitos chased us in and grilled hamburgers for dinner. What a great weekend!