Fall Family Fun

Fall is definitely my favorite season.  It is my favorite for so many reasons:  the weather, football, the weather, pumpkin-everything, the weather.  But one of the main reasons it is my favorite is because of the gorgeous weather--have I mentioned that yet?  

When fall brings the cooler temperatures, I just want to stay outside all. day. long.  Central Texas has the best fall weather ever!  Drew had last week off and has the coming week off as well.  It was sort of a surprise, so we had things scheduled for some of the days already.  However, on Friday, we had nothing on our schedule; so we declared it a fun family day.  And man, oh man, God gave us the most absolutely perfect weather to enjoy it!!!!

We went to the Austin Nature and Science center (which is awesome, beautiful and FREE), we had a delicious lunch at a new restaurant together, and then we had an amazing hike along the greenbelt in Austin. I was just giddy and couldn't quit telling Drew and the kids about how much fun I was having!  We brought the camera along and captured some of our little moments.  

Luke and Abbey are just so precious together sometimes.  They were just walking a long, holding hands at the Nature and Science Center.  Here, Luke is telling Abbey about the Barred Owl.  

Me and my sweet boy at the Nature and Science Center.

We tried to make the day as educational as possible as well.  We tried to interject plenty of learning moments.  One thing homeschooling Luke and Abbey has taught me is that there are so many "teaching moments" if you look for them and be intentional about using them.  We had a contest to try to find the "coolest creation" in nature.  On our hike, this was one of the first we saw.  It was a neat rock with several fossils on it.  Abbey was feeling it's cool temperature and fun textures here.  

just enjoying each other in the beautiful setting and weather.

Abbey loves to give eskimo kisses--even on hiking breaks.

I'm sure you could guess who was always in the lead during our hike!

a message along our hike.

There were even some tricky areas on our hike.  Like this steep one...

And this one along a cliff with a tiny walkway and chain.  2 years ago, I would have never let Luke do this, but he is SO much more careful now.

We also took plenty of breaks to take in the gorgeous scenery:

and just to be silly.

I found a boulder to set the camera on for this self-timer photo.  It was just so pretty in that spot and wanted to capture the beauty.

And Luke ended up finding the "coolest creation in nature" for the day.  We were along a cliff,  and he pointed up.  As soon as we looked, we saw the largest bee hive I had ever seen.   There were thousands of bees swarming and inside.  It was definitely cool--but we didn't stay there for long.  Later, we found out that the cliff is actually called, "bee hive cliff."  

  

I am so thankful for SO MUCH.  Spending gorgeous days with my wonderful family in God's beautiful creation is just one of them.  

Happy Halloween!

We were able to travel to Oklahoma to visit family over Halloween weekend this year.  This is the second year that we have been able to be there on Halloween.  It is so much fun to watch the Oklahoma cousins dress up and trick-or-treat together.  Also, my cousins and Uncle Ronnie/Aunt Brenda have been putting on a super-fun Halloween party for the past few years, and it has been fun to participate in the last couple.

For this post, I am just going to share some fun photos from our weekend there.  There isn't anything much cuter than little kids dressed up in adorable costumes!  Enjoy!

First off though, I must share this photo of Abbey.  On Wednesday night before Halloween, Luke and Abbey had a party at AWANA.  They were allowed to dress up in fun costumes for their party.  Since we were packing their Halloween costume, we just let them pick from dress-up stuff they had in their closets.  Abbey went as a little fairy.   I thought she was pretty cute, and had to snap a quick picture of her--even though she didn't want to look at the camera.  :-)

So, we traveled to Oklahoma the next morning and the Halloween fun began!

a pre-trick-or-treating photo

Luke and Abbey were the lion and puppy (Toto) from Wizard of oz.

I just could not get enough of the cuteness that was Abbey!

roaring, of course!

Lilly was a ladybug

Linnea was a bee.  My sister made both of their costumes.  I think she did an awesome job.

sweet Batgirl, Kaylee

The kids LOVED running to each house and trick-or-treating.

Abbey was pleased with her first candy pick.

I think you can tell here they ran from house to house.  :-)

Telling secrets.

The next day, we got dressed up for the annual Halloween party:

and there is the rest of the Wizard of Oz characters.

I didn't take too many photos at the party--there was so much fun going on.  But, I did get a few of the sack races.  I just thought Abbey was too adorable in the sack race!

The "big kids" even participated!

Abbey was attached to her cousin, Kaylee pretty much the whole time we were there.  It was so precious to watch.  Kaylee is SO nurturing and "took care" of Abbey all weekend.  There were tons of hugs, hand holding and kisses all weekend long!  Drew snapped a photo of one of the precious moments with his phone:

Fun memories made!

Long time, no see. Catching up.

First off, I apologize to those of you who read this blog for my absence.  God has called me to serve in new ways this year--the time involved in this service has consumed my allotted blogging time.  However, it is right where God wants me for now.   But, I still desire to regularly blog.  There is so much that I want to keep as my life's journal--especially so that our kids can read this someday and see what God has taught me, see what fun memories we made and know me even more by seeing different aspects of my heart.

For now though, I am going to rapid-fire as many posts as I can and publish them over the next couple of days.  These will likely be short and sweet with lots of photos.  But, it is better than nothing.  :-)

Luke's best friend, his cousin Traber, visited a few weeks ago.  They had a blast, as usual.  They get along so well.  At the beginning of their visit, they sound just like brothers who have been away from each other for a while.  Near the end of their visit, they sound like brothers who have spent a little too much time together--ha!  Either way, they love each other so much--like close siblings.  Luke always talks about Traber to new friends as if he sees him every week.  Traber now has a sweet baby brother--Sawyer.  Here are some photos from our long weekend with my brother, Jeremy, sister-in-law, Brandy and their sweet boys.

We visited the (free) Austin Science and Nature center.  The kids had a blast there as usual.  We always end our trip there with a dig in the dino pit.

  

Little miss expressive Abbey is talking about how she is digging for something here.  Notice her hand--so prissy!

My brother secretly hid real treasures (money) in the sand when the boys weren't looking.  Once they found their first coin, that digging pace picked up rather rapidly.  It was fun to watch the boys get so excited!

Jeremy and Brandy at the Science and Nature Center's Dino Pit.

Silly Traber!

Baby Sawyer--watching the OU game with daddy

Luke is 5!

I'm not sure how it happened already, but our little boy turned 5 on Saturday!  We started the day with an 8:30am soccer game, which he loved.  Grandma and Grandpa were able to visit us for the whole weekend, so they were able to watch him play (and score a goal) and celebrate his birthday with him on Saturday and Sunday. Mimi and Papa were also able to come visit us for a day the previous weekend to celebrate with Luke and watch him play soccer.

 
Here are some recent photos of Luke playing soccer:

taking the ball to the goal

focusing on footwork fundamentals while taking it to the goal.

Then, on Sunday, we celebrated Luke's birthday with friends and grandma and grandpa.  Luke decided a few months ago that he wanted to have a "race car" themed party.  He honestly got on pinterest with me and picked out what types of snacks, etc he wanted for the party.  This is what we came up with:

We had "dipsticks" (pretzels dipped in chocolate).  He also chose to have plates in red, yellow and green to resemble a stoplight.

In lieu of cake, he wanted me to bake donuts, which resembled spare tires.  We made some gingerbread and double chocolate donuts.

Guests could fuel up on antifreeze (maple lemonade) or water.

And, we had other snacks for guests.

But, the most important part to him was the people who came to celebrate with him.  Luke didn't need presents--the party and celebration were the parts he was most excited about.  He loves having people visit us at our home.  So, we played some fun games with friends from our community group.

Lining up for a game of red light, green light.

Luke's friend, Krystal, took a turn at being the stoplight.

tossing bean bags into a spare tire.

getting their carefully selected cars ready to race at the track.

Luke's friend, Josh, pretending to be a race car driver.  He is a mighty cute driver!

An awful photo of me, but too cute of Luke not to include.

Now for the mushy stuff.  My letter to Luke.

Luke, you have grown up so much this past year.  And, in this past few months, the growing up really seemed to compound. You have learned so many new skills!  You are now reading, writing, you've lost two teeth, you've learned to ride your bike without training wheels, you have awesome math skills, you build lego kits all by yourself, you've got terrific soccer skills, and you can make up your own bed (and you do it well--which of course I love).  Although I am very proud of you for all of these new skills, these are not the things about you for which I am most proud.  I am most proud of your character.

• I can't help but smile when I overhear you say sweet big brother things to Abbey--like when you tell her "everything is ok, big brother is here."  I love watching you grab her hand to hold it and caress it.  Of course, I love it when you do the same to mine.  You are a sweet cuddler--and I hope that never changes.  You have a very physical love language--you love hugs, touch and cuddles. 

• You love sweet words of encouragement and you offer them up to others.  
• Your smile lights up a whole room.  

• You love to learn.  You ask lots of questions.  
• You are learning to share and have become quite giving.  
• You enjoy being really silly.  
• You love playing physical games like tag--anything that requires lots of running outdoors.  
• You are competitive and you don't like to lose (we may need to work on that a little bit).  
• You have begun learning that practice makes perfect.   For example, I love that you decided on your own that you were going to ride your bike without training wheels before you turned 5.  I enjoyed watching out the window as you practiced riding your bike all by yourself in the grass in our backyard without training wheels.  You would ride it to one end and then push it back up the sloped yard and ride it down again--over and over.  You persevered, doing that for two full consecutive afternoons and were then able to reap the rewards of that since you now can ride your bike without training wheels.   
• I love that you enjoy helping daddy and me with chores.  If daddy or I mow, you are right there with us with your toy mower ready to help.  If we need to wash our car, you are there, excited and with a helping hand.  You help with the dishes and the laundry, vacuuming, and taking out the trash.  You love being our helper!

• You already believe in the power of prayer.  You notice when a friend or family member is hurting or has a boo boo, and you ask daddy or me (without prompting) to pray specifically for that person at night.  You pray for me and that the cancer never comes back every night.  

I just love you so much, Luke.  I write this letter to you so you know just some of the things I love about you Luke.   Someday, I will not be around, but these words always will and I want you to have them.