The Pumpkin Patch and Fall Festivals

Abby and I joined Carrie, Sybil, Kristy, and Kyra for a trip to a local pumpkin patch. I was pretty impressed with the set up they had out there. First, the girls enjoyed watching a neat video on how a pumpkin starts from just a little seed. From there we headed to a fun maze which even gave the adults some trouble. After that, we petted a pig, and bunny, and fed chickens and goats grass. The kids played on the playground before getting on a hay ride to the pumpkin patch. At the pumpkin patch we dressed a naked scarecrow and had fun taking lots of pictures. The girls got to choose a little pumpkin, too. It was a fun outing for sure! (Avery was in school or she would have joined us. Next year I plan to take both girls.)

The three cutie pies!


They found each other in the maze!

Not sure what to think about the pig.

Abby's new friend.


She sure enjoyed those chickens!


On the bumpy hay ride.

I love ya, sweet Abby!

On top of the world! (or hay)


Abby feeling sorry for the poor naked scarecrow.

The scarecrow looked much better with his clothes on.


That was a lot of fun! We will be back next year!

We had our annual Fall Festival at the preschool. Dad and Gina joined us for this fun occasion. We spotted them in the parking lot dressed as a hobo couple. It was too funny! The girls loved it! Gina even had a stuffed dog on a leash to complete the costume. I was joking when I had talked with Dad earlier that day. The last think I told him was, "Don't forget your costume!" I was totally joking, but he and Gina got their creative minds working and pulled these outfits off in a few hours!

The girls had a ball, as usual, playing all the games, eating hot dogs, and going trick-or-treating.

Let the fun begin!


Grampy and Abby going fishing.


What will Avery catch?

On Halloween we had a terrific time at Park Avenue's Fall Festival. The weather was perfect and the girls enjoyed all the activities. Wes and I even got in the bounce house and jumped with them. It was a good work out! That night we took the girls trick-or-treating around our neighborhood. When we got back home the girls raced to the door every time the doorbell rang so they could pass out candy. As our candy began to dwindle I asked the girls if there was any candy in their buckets they would like to give other kids. They both shouted, "Yea!" so we dumped all their candy out and they picked out tons of candy to give away. That shocked me that they were willing to share their loot.

Good times with the family!

It's apple pickin' time!

Decorating pumpkins.

Thanks for painting my face Jessica!


Kayla concentrating on her lovely artwork.

Brittany was also Tinkerbell. I originally got this costume for Avery to be a butterfly, but she thought it looked more like Tinkerbell. Whatever!

Good To Go Back Home

A couple of weekends ago we went back to Abilene for our ten year college reunion at ACU. Yes, we are that old! I will always consider Abilene as one of my homes. (I guess I have three homes, Kenya, Abilene, and Denison.) I will always have fond memories of the 11 years I spent in that great town. (Notice I said "great" town not beautiful.) It was especially neat to take the girls and show them where I grew up and to show them ACU's campus. We even showed them one of my Christmas trees that we planted in our front yard when I was in middle school. It is really tall now and it brought back sweet memories of Christmas with my family. Wes and I drove them by different places we lived during our college years and shared stories of different things that had happened during our time in Abilene. It was pretty sweet that they actually cared and seemed interested.

When we arrived on Friday I headed to the Queen's Tea, an event that honored the homecoming queen nominees from 10 years ago, as well as this year's nominees. My good friend and old roommate, Holly, was being honored. The nominees got to invite friends and family. It was fun catching up with friends that I hadn't seen in a long time.

The nominees from our year and friends.

Soon after that I met up with Wes and the girls for some shopping at the ACU Bookstore, dinner with Paul and Audrey, Summer and Chad, Julia and Cory, and all their little kiddos. It was pretty fun watching all the kids get along like they had known each other for a while.

Julia, Baby Lila, Summer, Kristin, and I in the Campus Center.

Ava, Emma, Addie, Avery, and Abby had more fun pushing each other in the stroller and sliding in the Campus Center.

After dinner we went to the carnival. Yes, ACU does homecoming very well with lots of family oriented activities. The carnival was lots of fun! I was glad the girls were in good spirits despite the long day and no naps. The petting zoo was the biggest hit. The girls thoroughly enjoyed holding chicks and a bunny and feeding the goats and llama.

Abby trying to get the bean bag into the wildcat's mouth.


Let's try fishing!


Can we take it home, Mom?


What do you like better, the lollipop or the chick?


Could we at least take the bunny with us?


What a sweet bunny. I was afraid she was going to take off from Abby.


Goats with bandannas? Really?


Reaching up to the llama who is sporting a bandanna, too.

The carnival didn't wear us out too bad, so we kept the good times rollin'. We headed over to Taylor and Heather's house to visit and see even more friends. On a side note, Heather and I were in the same youth group at Hillcrest from 6th-12th grade. I am so thankful that they provided a place for all of us to get together and hang out and just catch up.

We headed back to the hotel pretty late that night which made me even more thankful that I had decided not to wake up for our club breakfast. Sorry ladies!

The next morning we met up with Alexis and her gang and Amy and Ginny for the homecoming parade. We had a good time watching the parade go by. It seemed like a bigger deal when we were actually in it. It seemed like we put an awful lot of effort into our floats for club. Ha!

Watching the parade.

After the parade we headed to Chapel. It was wonderful to worship once again in Moody Coliseum. We felt a little bad skipping out towards the end to meet our Denison ACU students at Betty Rose's Bar-B-Que. Amy and Ginny got to come with us, too. The girls had fun playing while we visited. Seeing all our old youth group members in Abilene brought my heart a lot of joy. Just knowing how much my experiences at ACU helped shape me made me happy that they were getting to experience some of the same things. The relationships and experiences are truly priceless!

I gave in to Wes and went to the football game. Thankfully, Amy and Ginny were there too, and we met up with some other friends once we got there.

Willie the Wildcat and some random boy who wanted to be in the picture. Was he hitting on our girls?

That night we had a special dinner just for our class. Childcare was provided which was a nice plus. About 180 people from our graduating class made it, which is awesome! We had some good laughs and shared some good times.

Best friends since middle school and high school. Lauren we missed ya!


It was wonderful to see Amy again. Her and her family are only in the states for less than a year before they head back to Paraguay where they are medical missionaries.



Hall-mates, roommates, we sure had a lot of fun together!


Cory and Julia - I have fond memories of doing our Bible study together and going on a Spring Break Campaign.


Summer and Chad - lots of fun times with you all, too.


Greg Jones and Wes - these two could get into some serious trouble together.

Crazy guys!

It was was truly a wonderful weekend! It was such a blessing to meet up with everyone again. There have been births, deaths, sickness, health, hard times and good times. But through it all we recognize that God is good. He does have a plan and He will take care of us. Sharing that belief with a large group of friends through the years provides strength and encouragement that really cannot be explained. Thank you God, for blessing us with great friends!

The Magical Hand from God...

OK, so I am struggling with what to title my blog entries these days. I decided on this particular title because of a funny story about Abby. Recently I walked into her room while she was standing in front of her chest of drawers with her back to me. I reached over her to get something off her chest of drawers and this is what she said, "Hey, you snuck up on me. I was like - is this a magical hand from God or something?" She sure keeps us laughing! She has some great facial expressions too. This can be great except if she is sad/mad/frustrated, then the whole world knows and starts asking, "What's wrong, Abby?" which often makes her even more upset.

Last Saturday Avery had her second soccer game. It was a very tight game, but they won 3-2. Avery scored the 2nd goal to tie the game. It was thrilling! We were so proud! I didn't think I would get so excited about a bunch of 6 year olds playing soccer, but I really do. Nana and Paw Paw came up for the game and then took the girls with them to Arlington.

Stretching before the big game.

There she goes...

This girl can hustle.

A proud hug from Daddy.

Snack time after the game.

The girls in their new dresses from Nana.

Wes and I joined Dad and Gina that night to go to a Teen Challenge of Ft. Worth annual banquet at the Bethesda Community Church where Gina used to attend when she lived in that area. Teen Challenge is a Christian drug and alcohol ministry for women ages eighteen and older. Gina volunteered with Teen Challenge while she lived there. It touched my heart to hear the ladies give their testimonies and pour their hearts out. You could tell that God had really been at work in their lives. I was also amazed that they were courageous enough to share their testimonies with such a large crowd. They also sang several songs. They were wonderful! I felt like I was in Sister Act. It was truly a powerful night!

On Wednesday evening Wes and Abby left for Houston. They picked up Blake and headed down to visit Wes's parents. Wes's dad has been undergoing proton therapy treatment for prostate cancer at MD Anderson. The doctors caught it early and the treatment has been going well.
The house felt empty with the two of them gone. I got a lot done while Avery was at school, and it was special getting to spend some one on one time with her. Right after school we headed to Nautilus for Kid Fitness where we had our first class of the fall. I had 14 kids which was awesome! I have so much fun doing fitness activities with them. My highlight was doing a special version of The Hokey Poky with weights. I would really enjoy being a P.E. teacher someday, I think. Avery was a little sad that I didn't let her participate in all the activities because I didn't want her to be too tired for her game. After Kid Fitness we headed to the soccer fields for Avery's make-up game. Her coach called us after Wes had already left for Houston to let us know that we had a make-up game. Wes was so bummed that he had to miss it. Thank goodness for texting! I tried my best to keep him updated. Her team won for the third time 4-0. The Denison Ponies are undefeated! I love it!

Tomorrow some of our middle school and high school girls and I will head down to the McDermott Road Church of Christ in Plano for Daughters of the King, a special conference for middle school and high school girls. It is an all day affair and I am looking forward to spending time with our girls and learning some new things.

I have to tell you one of my favorite things to eat lately - fruit smoothies. I make it with about 2 1/2 cups of sliced frozen strawberries, 1/2 cup of frozen blue berries and fat free, sugar free vanilla ice cream. I blend it in the blender and presto I have a delicious, healthy snack/dessert. The rest of the family enjoys them too.

Fall Fest... and stuff...

School and fall activities are in full swing around here. We are definitely in a routine now, and I am missing the spontaneity of summer. I am loving the cooler weather we have had lately. Last week we did not run our AC at all because it was so nice outside! It rained almost every day and we left our windows open. I love the freshness of rain and just letting the cool breeze in our house. Those of you who know me well, know that I love saving money too. I figure our retirement fund and the girls' college funds will thank me later.

Last weekend was Denison High School's Homecoming. We enjoyed the game which was, thankfully, not rained out. Some of our youth group girls were Homecoming Sweethearts or a Homecoming Nominee and a few of our guys were the escorts. It was neat to see them all dressed up. We had a blast cheering for them. The girls always have questions about the game. Some are pretty cute - I really need to write them down. As I was thumbing through the sports program I was showing Avery all the sports and band pictures. I told her that she might enjoy being a part of those activities when she got older. She replied, "No, I am just going to play soccer." She really does love it.

We had a great time on Tuesday night cheering on some of our teens who play volleyball for DHS. We have some pretty talented gals. There were some tense and exciting moments. It made me miss being a part of a team sport. Abby enjoyed dancing in the stands to the pregame music. Avery kept us informed of the score.

This Tuesday we started our Ladies Bible Study up again. This year, we decided to join a group from the Western Heights Church of Christ in Sherman. We are studying the book A Spirit for the Rest of Us by Tim Woodroof. Has anyone else read this? I would love to hear what you thought about it.

I had a routine conference with Avery's teacher this week. Mrs. Pughe wanted to go over Avery's TPRI and DIBELS scores. She scored above the goal set for the END of the year of first grade! Woo Hoo! She scored in the 95th percentile and above on several parts of the test. Yay! We were so proud of her. Last week the gifted and talented teacher worked with Avery on some activities to challenge her and she gave Mrs. Pughe some other ideas to use through out the year. We are so thankful to God that both of our girls love learning.

Lately, Abby has enjoyed working in some workbooks that Granny got her. They are just those Prekindergarten-Kindergarten workbooks that have fun educational activities for children to do. I don't ask her to do them. She just gets them out and starts working on them. Often, Avery and her play school and work on them. Avery has her own set for her grade level. I gave them stickers too that they like to give each other when they finish a page correctly. It is pretty cute to watch.

Speaking of "cute" - Abby made us laugh the other night at dinner. She made a funny face or something and I said, "Abby, you look cute!" She responded, "You look cute... but not as cute as God. He is the cutest!" We are pretty sure she came up with that because we often stress with the girls that we should love God over everything and everyone else. Abby has told us several times, "I love you, but not as much as I love God." Ha!

On Thursday I took Avery to the doctor. She has had this ongoing cough for a while. Some days she would only cough once or twice, other days it would be worse. She hasn't had any other symptoms: no runny nose, no fever. It really hasn't slowed her down at all. Two different nurses told me not to worry about it at first, but after a while I finally took her in. The doctor was pretty sure it was allergy related and put her on a prescription allergy pill and gave her an inhaler as well. Hopefully her allergies won't get as bad as mine were in elementary. I started getting allergies and asthma pretty bad in about the 4th grade. We had to get rid of my sister's cat (Heather, thanks for forgiving me for that), and I had to get a series of shots right away. Later on in high school I learned how to give myself shots on a weekly basis so that we wouldn't have to make a trip to the doctor's office all the time.

Friday ended the PTO fundraiser for Avery's school. My friend and I are the co-vice presidents and we were responsible for this year's fundraiser. We had to count all the money and make sure all forms were filled out accurately. We counted about $10,000 and we will have more trickle in this week. The PTO gets to keep half of what was brought in. It was a little stressful counting all that money and being responsible for all of it. I was glad that we were able to hand it off to our treasurer at the end of the day. The whole process took about 4 hours in the library at the school. I had Abby with me and she was awesome! She worked in her workbooks that she brought most of the time. She also ate her lunch and looked around the library. I was so glad she behaved and let us work. You just never know how it is going to be with a 4 year old sometimes, especially one that is missing her regular nap. :)

Yesterday, we went to Sherman's annual fall festival where the girls got to be in the Teddy Bear Parade with their dear friend, Sybil, once again. They had a lot of fun following the high school band around the block waving to the onlookers. We got a hoot out of Abby dancing down the street. She would push her bear in the stroller up ahead of her then dance to it. People on the sidewalks were cracking up too. Soon after the parade Grandpa joined us for lots of free crafts, bounce houses, and lunch.

Sybil, Avery, and Abby waiting for the grand Teddy Bear Parade.


Three amigos having a blast!


Abby and Avery in dance mode.

Abby stopping her jumping to say, "Hi".


Sybil and Avery having fun!


Bouncing never gets old for these three.


Waiting for the clown to make their balloon creations. Don't ask about Abby's meltdown when her strawberry balloon popped when it fell to the ground a few minutes after she got it. The clown kindly made another one for her when he saw her tears.

After lunch we rushed over to the soccer fields for Avery's first soccer game. She was supposed to have one last week. However, it had been raining 3 straight days; and while it looked like the rain might hold off, when we got there it started to drizzle. Surprisingly, the little girls didn't seem to mind and kept practicing and warming up. They were all set in their places to start the game when the ref blew the whistle saying the games were just called off. We were pretty bummed. We were all wet anyways, so a little drizzle wasn't going to hurt us. Oh well. We'll make that game up. Anyways, back to yesterday's game - it was so much fun! Our team, the Denison Ponies (don't laugh) won 6-0! Yay! Avery played great, hustling everywhere and defending our goal well. This was the first sports activity we have had where I got to cheer for our own girls. It was exhilarating! I am sure it is the first of many! We have cheered for our teens on numerous occasions. It is a different feeling when it is your own child. I was so into the game I didn't even get any pictures. Oh well, she has a game every Saturday, so surely I will get some decent pictures sometime. Abby cheered some for her sister, but mostly she played with Sybil and one of Avery's teammate's little brother. The Slechtas and Grandpa were kind enough to come support Avery.

Avery about to make a goal at soccer practice the day before.


Abby patiently watching her sister practice and working in her workbooks.

This next question is for those of you who are going to ACU's Homecoming. Wes and I are planning on attending since it is our 10th year reunion. Are any of you going to the dinner on Saturday night? If you are, are you bringing your kids? I know they have childcare, but I thought it might be neat to see each others children. I am torn...

Here's one last picture of the girls snuggled up together watching Between the Lions. I love how much they love each other.