Playin' in the Rain

Finally an opportunity to put those raincoats and umbrellas to good use, even if it is just in the driveway... Those boots are way too small, but she insisted on squeezing into them to complete the look- such a girl!
Daddy's home!!!!

If you live in the SA area and are wondering when it rained- I just found this post as a draft from a while back that had apparently never been posted so it's a little old.

Three Forever

Just had an amusing conversation/meltdown with Alli before nap time which is now "rest time" 'cause she rarely actually sleeps anymore.
She saw a toy for an older kid in a magazine and I told her that she was too young for it. She got a little upset, but then I explained to her that she was about to have a birthday and that she would turn 4, hoping that would let her know that she is on her way to being an "older kid".
She promptly began crying and getting all upset saying that she didn't want to be four. "NO, I want to be three everyday. I don't want to be four!" over and over.
She was very adamant about it, had real tears and there was no calming her down. She truly does not want to be 4. She has even been talking about her Ariel party that she wants to have, but I guess she didn't realize that means she wouldn't get to be 3 anymore. I know I want her to be 3 forever but had no idea that she felt the same way.
I thought turning 30 was bad, but apparently turning 4 is worse.
We'll see how she feels tomorrow :-) You never know with a 3 yr old.

Fall Fun!!

Lots of pictures from our fall...

Jack and Alli pretending to be pumpkins and saying "boo" for the camera at the pumpkin patch
Posing with baby Davis, the adorable little turtle. I just love how Alli is so gently helping him hold his head up- that mommy instinct kicks in early.

The Mother's Day Out Fall Festival...

The shirt says it all- and the hair too!

This was such a fun little event. Six stations set up with simple activities like hooping the pumpkin with a hula hoop or sweeping fall leaves and a treat or prize at each one. So perfect for this age.

Showing off some of their prizes from the day.

Picking out pumpkins with mom and dad at the pumpkin patch. Determined to carry them herself.

Doing his best to pick up that big pumpkin but it just wasn't going to happen.

The pumpkins they each picked out says a lot about the difference in personalities.

Alli doing her new girly pose by the pumpkin patch sign. She told Dwaine with a little sass in her voice after striking that pose one day "I stand like this 'cause I'm a GIRL!"
Not sure where she got that from.

The little pumpkin decorators at work.
Pumpkin guts- YUCK!

Showing off the pumpkins after all the decorating and carving. Daddy picked the biggest pumpkin he could find at the pumpkin patch. He's such a kid!

And "Bob" playing in his costume after Halloween story time at the library.

Halloween Night

Once again, we had lots of fun trick-r-treating on Halloween. Getting dressed up in fun costumes and lots of candy- I mean what's not to like?
Oh, well I guess there is head wear. TJ thought he could get away with just letting the pumpkin wear it instead. But, everybody knows that Bob the Builder is just not complete without the yellow hard hat. In fact, people might even mistake him for a farmer- not terrible, but not what we were going for.

TJ happy and smiling for the camera with his hat sitting next to him.

Not so happy after dad insisted that the hat be worn. Alli mad at dad for making TJ upset. A good start to the night. Not to worry- it got much better.

My beautiful little ballerina. Much much better than the "scarecrow pumpkin" (think Spud from Bob the Builder if you have any idea who that is) that she originally wanted to be until mom convinced her otherwise. We already had the tutu after all.

We may just have to start ballet classes again. Mommy misses them (oh and Alli has started asking about them too). But when asked her preference, she says she wants to take gymnastics so we may do that for a while first. See- I do let her make some of her own decisions :-)

Finally- a smile from Bob with the hat on!

Mommy loving on the little ballerina.

So we convinced TJ that people wouldn't give him candy unless he had the hat on and that seemed to work. It often came off between houses, but he would promptly put it on when it was time to knock and would sometimes hold it out to be filled with candy. It didn't fit perfectly so he felt like he had to hold it on with his hand the whole time.

I was so proud that I actually got Alli's hair into a bun. She has very difficult hair to work with. Very smooth with no texture for stayability and naturally falls to one side. It does not like to be pulled straight back. VERY much like her mommy's hair. I foresee many frustrated mornings in her future.

Waiting for Nana Pam- always our first stop of the trick-r-treating evening. And it usually comes with an extra surprise like a book! Thanks Nana Pam and Mr Harry Dean!

After visiting our neighbors and hitting a few houses with super cool Halloween decorations, we headed over to gather more candy with Ironman and a little turtle (Jack and baby Davis), before heading home to fill our bellies with junk and crash! Now that's good family fun.

Daddy's Girl

Just too cute not to share...Both Alli and TJ just love when it's time for daddy to mow. They take turns riding with him or they follow him around on their Gator. Too bad we don't have to mow that much around here, but I guess it makes it that much more exciting when it does happen!

The Sno-Globe Towers

An abstract art sculpture by Alli in which she very creatively placed her subjects atop perfectly constructed and balanced cardboard brick blocks. A beautifully artistic use of materials, color and space. Wouldn't you agree?

The artist posing by her prize winning piece (the prize of course being words of praise from her somewhat biased and proud parents).

TOO WOUD!!!

We have recently discovered that TJ apparently has some very sensitive ears. He hears every little noise and will ask "wa dat?" He also very often exclaims "TOO WOUD!" and is sometimes found watching TV like this even when it is at a very reasonable volume...The funny thing is that the volume of his voice is actually much louder than most of the things that he complains about. Go figure! Dwaine says that he can remember not tolerating loudness as a child also (his older brother's rock music for example).

I just love the silly little oddities of their personalities that make them unique.

Port Aransas Trip- September

Took a trip to Port Aransas for some family fun at the beach back in September....

The beach was the prettiest I've ever seen it down there. Crystal clear water, super smooth sand, no seaweed, and knee deep or less water for a long way out- perfect for little kids!

TJ and Daddy splashing in the surf having a blast!!!

TJ putting sand on daddy.

Alli promised us she would get a little dirty and get in the water this time. She definitely held up her end of the deal.

I absolutely love this pic- the 3 people I love so dearly hand in hand in such a beautiful setting. Makes my heart melt!

Playing on the dump truck sand dunes- I think they were having to redistribute the sand a little after Hurricane Ike.

Enjoying the window unit AC at the beach house. TJ kept putting his face right up to it, but he never would stay long enough for me to get a pic.

You never know what you might see at the beach!!

Haircuts

Took the kids to a real salon to get haircuts back in September. Didn't want to spend the extra money it cost to go to the kids salon and thought they could handle the real deal. Both of the kids did great, but not sure I liked the stylist too much. Poor Alli was sitting as still as possible for a 3 yr old but her little chin kept drifting down and the hairdresser kept telling her to stop moving and I could tell the lady was getting frustrated. I think it bothered me more than it did Alli though- I was just so pleased with how good she was being and was really wanting one of those stylists who is used to dealing with small children.

She had been with Daddy a while back to get his hair cut and I think she thought it was cool to be the one in the chair this time. We don't do haircuts often in this family, so this is still a new thing for the kids.

I just thought this was so cute!

And the finished product- shorter than I had intended, but it has worked out really well and I like it (after I added a little layering on the ends so it looked a little softer - not sure why hairdressers don't do that for kids or do I need to ask for that next time?)

TJ's hair had gotten a little out of control as evidenced by this picture. But as I have mentioned before, I am just terrified of losing his curls and I really like the surfer boy look on him, so it is very hard for me to trust someone not to cut too much off. This particular visit did nothing but validate my fear.

His hair had been in his eyes so I told the hairdresser that all I wanted was to take a little off of the front to get it out of his eyes but not to take any length off the rest. Well she didn't take any length off the sides or back like I asked, but she got way too carried away with the front and top. My heart sank a little when she took the scissors to it the second time and it was too late for me to say anything.

As you can see, it just looked silly. I thought maybe after I got him home and scrunched his curls that it would get better, but I think it just got worse. He looked like he had a girl's do with wings from the 80's. I ended up having to even it up myself in the bath one night and that helped. And of course now it's to the point that he probably needs to have it cut again, but I think I'll wait just a little while longer!

Another Wheely Fun Day

If I'm going to get caught up on this blog, I'm gonna have to recycle some goofy titles, so no judgement please.
So, we met up with Jack and our new friends, the Davis clan, for a super fun bike playday. You just can't beat getting together with friends and trying out all the super cool rides. The kids just eat it up...

At the start line: Jack (4), Alli (3), Tug (4), Austyn (3), and TJ (2)TJ thought it was fun to go "super fast" on the downhill slope of the driveway. That's me trying to catch him from behind before he crashes. It was a very close call.

Alli really enjoyed Austyn's new big girl bike. I think I know what Santa Claus might be leaving by the tree this year. How is it that we have already surpassed the tricycle phase? She is growing up way too fast!

Visit from Ike Evacuees

There's nothing like a hurricane to allow for a visit with family that otherwise might not be able to come out in the middle of a work week. My cousin Jeff, his wife Kelly and their two adorable boys were without electricity for awhile after Ike so they retreated to San Antonio. And while we couldn't convince them to actually stay with us, we did have them over one evening for pizza...

Jeff and TJ

Alli (flashing a very cheesy grin) with Kelly

Henry enjoyed lots of backyard play. Is he not just the cutest thing?

What's a trip to Alli and TJ's without getting a little dirty in the sandbox?

Alli saying her goodbyes.

Unfortunately I didn't manage to get a good pic of Henry's new little brother, Kyle, but trust me- he's precious. I really enjoyed loving on him.

I hope we don't have to wait for another hurricane before we do this again. We had a great time!