Texas Entertainment

We had lots of down home fun while we were in Texas. It started off within minutes of our arrival in the huge piles of leaves that Grandpa had just raked up. Ahhh, the crunch of leaves on a cool autumn day. That is one of my all time favorite sounds.
Spencer loved looking for birds, turtles, beavers, and alligators on Mercer Bayou. We probably "did in" poor grandpa by the time we were done, but you can't tell by the smile on his face.

Siena got to learn how to drive the tractor while we were at the farm. I was very conscious of keeping Spencer out of the way of Siena and the tractor because I kept having flashbacks of nearly smashing my brother John when he was two. She is looking forward to trying out the truck next time we visit.

Tree swings... oh, the dizzying fun of it!

My man, supplying dinner!

Grandpa kept so busy making sure all the grand kids had worms on their hooks. Then he kept busy helping them take the fish off the hooks. Then he kept even busier still trying to get their line out of the trees.

He spoiled Siena. I don't even think she had to get her hands dirty.

Spencer hung around long enough to catch one fish then he was off to jump on the trampoline with his cousins.

This water moccasin was hiding right beside us all. It is a good thing my dad looked down as he reached for the can of worms. He shot it with his pistol before it slithered back into the lake, then he fished it out. It was a big one!

Lily absolutely loved it out there. It was peaceful and the weather was so pleasant. She was definitely in her element.

Lily's little cousins just love her. Julia loved tending to her every need.

Three generations. See the family resemblance?

A hunting we will go, a hunting we will go...

Look what's for dinner!

Paul loves country life.

We also got to see our friends, the Johnsons.

One thing I enjoyed while I was in the back woods of East TX was not knowing where my kids were every second of the day and being OK with it. They could entertain themselves for the most part.

Thanks Dad and Mom and the rest of the family for the fun and the good eats!

Thanksgiving Festivities

For Thanksgiving we decided to make the 22 hour trek out to Texas to visit my family. My sister Sally hosted all the TX family at her house for the main event. She and her family outdid themselves getting ready for the occasion. (Thank you, thank you! It was wonderful!) We had 5 out of the 9 siblings in our family so it was quite a gathering for one place. Everyone pitched in with the food, each bringing some of their holiday favorites. One of the after dinner highlights was when Grandpa told one of his famous "Brer Rabbit" stories. What could be better than that? We also had lots of fun making flower barrettes for everyone.We all enjoyed it, but little Madelyn was the pro. She loved it and made more than anyone else.

Then we had a marshmallow shooter war. I had never tried out the guns before, so we were a bit worried that it wouldn't work. However, after a few puffs, we were all over it. The biggest doubter, my brother Sam, ended up having more fun than anyone, I think.

Paul ended up using a left over pipe and it worked just as well.

I made safety goggles for the kids out of soda pop bottles. I had read on the Internet that you could take some body's eye out with a marshmallow.

Here my sister Kate got shot in the ear. It was all wet and gooey, but can deliver a sting.

Here's Uncle Sam with the newest member of our family, little Cyrus. He is such sweetie!

Grandma and Grandpa

The second to the oldest- Sally with John and Todd. Bailey and Kelly are in the Marines so they couldn't be there.

Fifth child- Jennifer with Joey

Sixth child- Sam with Crimson, Hunter, Madelyn and Madison

Eighth child- Kate with Casey, Grace, Julia, and Cyrus

911

My poor Siena was about to walk out the door for school on Tuesday when she dislocated her knee. I didn't know how to move or lift her, or how to pop it back into place, so I called 911. I was just hoping that the paramedics would put it back in place and then I would take her to the doctor, but they said it was safer to take her to the hospital so that her injury wouldn't be worsened, and so that an orthopedic surgeon could be called if needed. Of course, by the time the ER doctor finally got it back into place it had been an hour and a half since it happened. So that couldn't be good. Anyway, after X-rays and a tantrum from Paul (about the way hospital staff aren't always under the same insurance plans as the hospitals) we were back home by 1pm with crutches and a knee immobilizer. She has to use them until she sees the ortho surgeon on Mon.

Needless to say, she is exhausted from hobbling around school and up and down the stairs in our house, but she is improving each day.

Halloween '09

Halloween was fun this year. I tried to keep it easy. I skipped the trunk-or-treat at the church because there are usually so many Halloween parties that I am sick of Halloween by the time it actually arrives. The only party we had this year was for Spencer's preschool. Unfortunately, the only picture I took has Spencer's fingers in his nose. Then Halloween night I had plenty of energy for trick-or-treating at home. Siena went to a friend's house, so I only had Spencer and Lily with me. They were done after just going down our street, so it was an easy night.
I bought Lily's princess costume instead of making it. I called her the Princess and the Pea because she has a hard time sleeping. We already had everything but a red scarf for Siena's pirate costume, and the only sewing I did was to make a lion's mane for Spencer's super hero costume. He had been telling me for months that he wanted to be a superhero with whiskers and a mane. Since he already had the cape, I decided a mane wouldn't be too hard. I made it out of a fuzzy novelty pillow. It looked more like a wig than a mane, but he was happy.
I thought he looked like a character from "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe." Paul thought he looked more like the "Greatest American Hero."
The video clip is a song that Spencer learned in preschool. He likes to strip down at home because he is always hot. I asked if he would prefer to get sing with clothes on, but he could care less, so here he is!

California Vacation

For the kid's fall break in October, we took a trip to California. We visited Paul's Aunt Sally and Uncle Jim in San Jacinto, and then we spent the rest of the week in Huntington Beach with Paul's parents, his Uncle Andy, and my brother Tom. We had such a great week. It was filled with lots of excitement at Knott's Berry Farm and Disneyland, and most of the remaining time was spent at the beach. We also went to the Irvine Park Railroad for a fall festival and to the Ocean Institute in Dana Point to learn about sea life.

Tom, if you read this I wonder if you can send the picture of you and me that you took on your cell phone at the beach.

My baby is a Teenager!

I can't believe it, but Siena just turned 13! She seemed to be little for so long and then in the past couple of years she has just shot up and became a young woman.
She had a fun birthday party a couple of weekends before. She invited a couple of friends to go get a makeover and manicure at the local beauty college. Luckily, they got some girls that were quite talented and did a great job making the girls happy with their look. I, on the other hand, probably had the sweetest girl there, but her style was a little beyond me. I just told her to have fun with it and she did! I wish I had a picture with my eyes closed so you could see the whole effect.

After the makeover, we went out for pizza and rented a movie. We were all laughing so hard at my having to be seen in public, but it made it more fun. They didn't even try to not be seen with me-- well, maybe they stood a short distance away from me.

At home they decorated candy boxes, ate pizza, and ice cream cake, and watched "Confessions of a Shopoholic". It was a fun night!

Then Siena's birthday was nice with just the family. She liked her presents, but was most excited about joining Facebook.

Spencer is in Preschool!

Spencer started preschool at my friend Beckie's house on Sept. 1st. He was really excited and nervous. We bought him a super hero backpack, but after the first day of school he said he wanted a princess backpack. Well, I told him he would have to wait till next year and then we would see if he needed a new one.

On the way to school he asked me, "Mom, will you come and pick me up because I don't know how to get home by myself?" I assured him I would be there when he was done. I even showed up a little early just to be safe. He had lots of fun and learned a new rhyme for the number one.

Then for the second day of class (he goes on Tues/Thur) he was sick with the flu and couldn't go. He was sad to miss out, but loved that his teacher gave him the worksheets to do at home.

Then today he came home with a flag and a flag pencil. He said he wanted to show Jesus and wanted to know how to show him. I told him to just hold it up and wave it and that Jesus would see, but he said, "No, I think we need to get on a spaceship and take it up in the sky to show him." I just said "hmm" because what else am I going to say to that.

He also told me the other day with his face full of concern that he didn't want to go to a school like Lily and Siena because he wouldn't know what to do or where to go. I, of course, reassured him that I would take him and show him around and that he would have a teacher that would take good care of him. Hopefully, he can put that worry aside for a while since that is still a long time from now.

I love this age because they are learning so much and have so many clever ideas that they work out in their heads.