Trick or Treat!

Our neighborhood has an annual Halloween festival in the neighborhood park and then we trick or treat on the walking trail. It's much easier than driving door to door (we're too far apart to walk door to door) and lots of fun. The first step to Alex & Zachary's costumes this year - hair!
They loved their new temporary hair. Without making you wait any longer....introducing Harry Potter and Ron Weasley!
We somehow ran a little bit late getting ready for the festival despite the fact that the boys whined about it all afternoon. They are not very patient when it comes to waiting for something fun. We missed the first of the costume contest categories, which was group or family costumes (I was dressed as Hermoine). We did make it in time for the under 5 category but didn't win anything. First place was a toddler dressed as a baseball player and his dog dressed as a hotdog.

We had to wait around a bit to get through all the contest groups before the trick or treating got under way. Some people were just sitting in lawn chairs along the path giving out candy but others set up card tables with decorations, lights, or games. Very cool.




I was a little disappointed that everyone thought both boys were Harry Potter. I mean come on - no glasses and no scar = not Harry Potter. Just like last year we had a good time, got tons of candy, plus we even got to meet a real live scarecrow!


Happy Halloween!

Pumpkin carving

The boys were so excited to get started on our pumpkins today. But my parents came today while the boys were still in school. We ate lunch, walked around some shops, and happened to find (well, maybe I knew it was there *wink*) a cupcakery. I'd never been in it so we had to check it out. We could hardly decide what we wanted so we got several thinking we'd eat half of this one and half of that one..... We got espresso, pumpkin, red velvet with chocolate chips, and rolo (like the candy). Oh my goodness!
After our after school snack we got down to business. First the boys got to decorate their own mini pumpkins with markers. Alex drew faces on the front and back of his. Zachary wanted to cover every square inch of his with different colored scribbles.


When it came time for carving the big pumpkin my dad took over. At first Alex & Zachary both seemed to enjoy pulling out the ooey gooey pumpkin guts but then Alex decided he had enough and washed up. Zachary loved it and did a great job pulling out handfuls of "guts" and seeds. Papa carved a regular Jack-o-Lantern face. We decided not to go to crazy with it this time.

We've named him Jack and instead of putting him on our front porch where nobody will see it (and the deer will more than likely eat it) we've put it in the living room.

Next we roasted up the seeds. Zachary loved them but Alex ate only one and had to spit it out! Chris asked us to mail him some so if I can keep Zachary out of the bowl he may just get a few after all.

The pumpkin patch

Boy were we late getting to the pumpkin patch this year. I kept thinking we had plenty of time and here it is three days before Halloween already! On the other hand our pumpkin won't rot in the Texas heat before Halloween. Zachary fell asleep after school so we headed out right at the perfect time to have the sun shining in the boys faces the whole time. We searched high and low for the perfect pumpkins. There were tons of warty ones and several different colored ones.

The boys finally chose theirs and then I found a big fat one for me.
The plan is for the boys to draw faces on their own small pumpkins with markers and then we'll carve the big one. Tomorrow my parents are coming over so that'll be the perfect time to make jack-o-lanterns and roast the seeds!


Happy fall, ya'll!

More soccer for daddy

We had a make-up soccer game tonight because our last game was rained out. We did pretty well. Zachary made one goal at the very end of the game that I think was kind of an accident. The ball was near the goal and he was running and sort of just ran into the ball. When the game was over and I congratulated him he told me that his goal was magic! Although Zachary made a goal Alex had more ball time. He couldn't seem to get one in the goal but he had lots of good kicks. He's getting better at "getting in there". Zachary still tends to hang around behind the group going at his own pace. I didn't really get any good pictures of him tonight but here's a few of Alex.

He looks tough, doesn't he?

Meet Zacharina

My beautiful daughter with gorgeous flowing hair.
O.K. so it's really Zachary. He got a kick out of trying on the wig I got for Halloween today. Alex put it on and couldn't stand the feel of it and pulled it off right away. He wouldn't even let me take a picture.

Snake surprise

This morning the boys and I went to our front porch to water some plants. As I'm about to water the top plant on my plant stand next to the front door I see this. Look closely at the right side of the pot.
Now do you see it?
See it's little head from this angle? It just didn't want to let go and get down from it's perch on the plant stand. I keep trying to scoot the stand away from the wall and scare him down with the tip of the shovel that was still on the porch from the last time we worked in the yard.

I finally pestered it enough (with my shovel) to get it to slide down. This picture makes it look big as it slithered off the porch but it wasn't.
When it finally got off the porch to try to escape I whacked it's head off with my shovel. (Sorry if there are any snake lovers out there but I'm not one of them.)
See, it's not all that big. The boys thought it was pretty cool how it kept moving around and opening and closing it's mouth while it was dying. When I couldn't stand looking at it anymore I tossed it into the uncleared side yard where I'm sure something will gobble it up. All in all the snake was probably only about 10-12 inches long. I have no idea what kind it is - all snakes are scary to me and must die. I'm only glad it wasn't bigger because I'm not sure I could handle a big one by myself without crying and/or wetting my pants.

Soccer day

This morning was a great soccer day! I don't know which team would have won because they were pretty even but both Alex and Zachary scored goals! (I don't count the two Zachary scored for the wrong team in the last two games.) Here's a peak at what goes on at our soccer games.

I tried to upload a video with both of the boys in it but it was too large.

Yard workers

These guys love working in the yard but are just too slow.

I think I'm going to hire professionals.

Weekend at Mimi & PaPa's

This weekend both of my sisters were going to be at my parents so the boys and I (and the dog) loaded up and headed that way after their soccer game Saturday morning. We were very glad to see that my cousin and her little girl were there too. Lisa brought her S'more maker and it was a hit! There's nothing like ooey gooey marshmallows.
Lisa and Tyler got into the hot tub with the little boys at the end of the day (the girls were gone). My boys loved it but Owen though the water was too hot I guess. He preferred to sit on the ledge by Pa Pa.
The boys before church. They are all eight months apart in age - Alex then Zachary then Owen. They look like such big boys here to me. Something about long pants and nice shirts instead of t-shirts & shorts.

We'll see you all again at Thanksgiving!

A full day

Yesterday was a busy day for me and the boys but it was a good one. First the boys had their soccer game. The game went so much better than the first one. I think we would have won if the score was kept. Neither Alex or Zachary scored a goal (well, Zachary did score one for the other team - oops!) but Alex kicked it right to the goal line and a teammate tapped it in. It didn't matter, it was still fun. The coaches know that Chris is gone and sweetly volunteered to video the games for him. How nice is that?
I know that this picture is of another player but check out Alex in the back. He looks so determined and his eyes are on the ball. Good job!

A friend invited us out to lunch and to the San Antonio Children's Museum in the afternoon so as soon as we got back from soccer we had to get cleaned up and out the door. We met for lunch at the Rainforest Cafe. It's such a fun place. We just had to order the volcano dessert but even with the five of us there was a lot left over.None of us had ever been to this Children's Museum before but I thought it was a good one. The airport and airplane were an especially big hit with my guys.
Alex told me he was going on a vacation to Iraq. I told him I didn't think that was a very good vacation spot and suggested Hawaii instead.



There was a really great grocery store sponsored by HEB (that's a grocery chain down here). The boys went through it several time, sometimes being the shopper and sometimes being the checker. There were about three teenage/college aged guys that worked in that section of the museum alone restocking the shelves every time a child was finished with a cart. I wonder how many hundred times a day they do that? With our three boys alone we had to have gone through at least 10 carts/baskets!



There was a "milkable" cow. It had rubber milking parts and the pail underneath had some water in it. It didn't work for us though. The boys got a kick out of it. Zachary had to check it out up close.


We had a good time but were worn out at the end of the day. Zachary fell asleep in the car before we'd even made it out of the parking garage! I think we'll have to make the drive to San Antonio to go there again sometime.