Halloween 2016

Our green M&M!

Our Werewolf fighter!

baseball in the fall

Tonight was Hayden's last baseball game of the fall season.  It was a great season and the boys only lost a few games.   They ended up losing  tonight in the last inning and it was just so sad.

They played so great though.  We are exhausted from playing 2 nights a week, but it has been an awesome adventure.  I just love watching all these little guys practice and get better with each game.

I am so thankful for this blog and the ability to look back and see how much this boy has grown.  I love watching Layla and Hayden and all their adventures.  I feel like I fall behind keeping up with our memories at times, but I must continue to do it.  I want them to have something to look back on.  I just know they will love it as much as I do!

Oh my goodness what a little toot!

pumpkins and pecans

We did all things fall today.  

We drove around this afternoon house hunting and then the kids were excited to get home to play with pumpkins.

Gary is the pumpkin carver in our family and he always does a wonderful job.  I'm thankful he does it because I don't think my carving skills are up to par.  I'm sure I would embarrass myself if I tried to carve a pumpkin.

Hayden was more than happy to stick his hands down into the pumpkins and clean it out.  Gross.  Layla dug down inside her pumpkin also, but Hayden actually had fun.  Layla had fun painting her pumpkins.  She looks forward to that every single year.

I had fun taking pictures of all our crafts and then I baked a cake.  I found this cake recipe on Pinterest.  It is called southern pecan praline cake with butter sauce.  It is seriously one of the best cakes I've ever made.  Just search Pinterest for the recipe because I can't take credit for it.  You'll love it though, it is so yummy!

It's such a great fall cake.  I wasn't sure if the kids would like it but they did.  

We all loved it and it was a great end to our fun 'fall' Sunday!

Throwback Thursday

This little guy is sporting a Midway Panthers t-shirt!  Gary graduated from Midway 24 years ago.  

Who knew he'd be attending Midway schools 7 years after this picture was taken?   It's crazy how much our lives have changed from when this picture was taken when we lived in Haslet. I wouldn't have it any other way.  I'm loving Waco and do not miss the big city at ALL!  

a fair fish

The fair is in town!

My favorite part is looking at the animals!  I just love this sweet pig nose.

What a cute little lamb.  I had to take a picture because it reminded Layla and I of Layla's lovie...BeBe!

Layla won a pickle and a fish.  A real fish.

Hayden won a stuffed animal banana with dread lock hair, but he didn't let me take a picture of him.

The fair was such a great place for people watching. It was a fun night and now we have a new family member, a goldfish who now has the name Billy. Yes, Layla named her fish Billy.  I think Billy is an appropriate name for a goldfish won at the fair. 

Fall feels good!

We have all settled into a nice routine for fall.  

The weather here in October has been amazing!

On Mondays we load up in the evenings and do baseball.  

Layla is loving the top off the Jeep just as much as the rest of us!

We're loving watching this guy hit the ball!

On Tuesdays we taco or tostada!   You know, Taco Tuesday is the best!

Wednesdays are for ring pops watching HC play more ball!

Thursdays are low key.  

We try to cook something fun and watch Grey's and football.  

I like to throw in a load or two of laundry to keep up with it all.

Lily and dad are having a serious conversation and of course 

Daisy is very jealous. 

Goodness these dogs are sweeties!

Aaaand we burn the fall candles and diffuse ALL the fall oils.

On Fridays we football!

On Saturdays we eat a fun breakfast and we dream of where our future house will be.  We can't wait to buy a home, but we are using this time to explore and plan for all the things we want.  It's fun!  We all load up with the Jeep top off and we explore our area.  Sometimes we want to buy a lot and build a house and other times we want to buy a house already built.  I'm not loving our rental house right now, but I am enjoying every moment.  I'm helping the kids to make memories that will last a lifetime.  Someday we will drive past our current home and remember all the fun things we did here!

After we finish exploring Gary smokes meat and we watch football outside in the backyard.  He missed out on so many Saturday's with the family and now we don't take them for granted!

One week he smoked a brisket and the another he did pork.  He's in his element and he loves it.  He's been cooking more for us every single night since I started working. I love being in the kitchen with him.  We sorta fell back into our dinner routine of him doing the meat and I do the sides.

I enjoy coffee on the porch in the morning.  I love watching the doggies get frisky in the fall air.  I'd rather watch them than browse Facebook right now.  Ugh.  Can the election be over yet?  Sometimes I wonder if some of my friends on FB live in a bubble.  Goodness, the nonsense going on on social media right now has me irritated.  That's why I love Instagram.  It's my happy, peaceful and no drama space!

I was so nervous, but excited to start my new job.  After 11 years as a stay at home mom I was worried about messing up our family dynamic.  We all have good communication.  We're all happy most of the time.  I didn't want my schedule change to effect us all negatively, but it has been wonderful.  I couldn't be happier with my choice to become a working mom.  It's working out great for everyone in our little family.  So far we are thriving in our new normal!