Let Me Take you to Rio, Rio

If you've seen the movie "Rio" our costumes might make some sense otherwise we're just birds. GO check out the movie "Rio" sometime if you haven't seen it. It's really fun and has great music. If you have seen it, maybe you can guess who we are. I was so happy with how everyone's costumes turned out. Lots of fun and color! Happy Halloween friends!

Carving Pumpkins

We decided to try and carve some pumpkins before Halloween was upon us. You know, as a mom, when you have these grand ideas and they don't quite play out the way you think? This was one of those moments. So...Nick gets the kitchen covered in plastic as to try and "keep things clean", yeah right! We bring in our two pretty pumpkins from the patch and Nick carves one with great detail and some help from the I phone. I just take a knife and go at it on mine. You'll be able to tell the difference. The kids...where are the kids? They don't want anything to do with this! We finally force Vivian's hand in the seeds, against all her will, but then she kind of enjoys it. Isaac just runs off. I have to tell the latest story to show you how mischievous my little boy is. As we are knee deep in pumpkins, Isaac comes running into the kitchen with a colored-pencil giggling. I ask him to bring it to mommy and he runs off down our hallway, mind you we don't have such a big house, but he can disappear quickly in it. Nick counts 1-2-3 and Isaac is back in the kitchen and very kindly hands me the pencil saying "Here you go mommy." All good, day is done with minimal damage. We finish our pumpkins and get ready to head out the door for some deals shopping with my mom. As I go to open the front door I see my entire storm door is covered in blue pencil mark. Then I look around, so is the washer and dryer. In a matter of 3 seconds my son has marked up all these spaces and I'm not talking one mark but a pretty decent scribble covering a good amount of surface. WOW! Would love to know when the damage monster will retire in this house, from what I hear it will be about 20 years.

Girls & Boys

Sometimes our house swings far girl time and sometimes far boy time. For example, here are two pictures to describe this perfectly. Car time and tea time. Now I need to share two other examples of which I wish I had some pictures. Recently the kids have gotten into "The Clone Wars". So for all of you without boys, this is a cartoon version of Star Wars 3,4, & 5. The kids don't know Anakin is Darth Vader, that's going to be a fun explaining! Vivi looks at me the other night and says "Some girls like Star Wars." On the other side, I'm playing with Isaac in the playhouse the other day and he pulls down all of Vivian's old princess dress ups (which we've kept for little female friends that come over and are into dress-up). Isaac lays each one out carefully and tells me which princess goes with each and who is going to wear these at his birthday, most of which are boys. Then he asks to put on Rosetta, the flower fairy. Oh, the balance of having a daughter and son...oh boy! Enjoy a laugh on us!

Cowboy Up!

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This year, we were able to attend our local Heritage Fest once again. We had a nice short visit there, and we were very grateful they brought back the ponies=truly the hit of the festival. Enjoy our slideshow!

Last Halloween Revisited

Isaac pulled out last year's costumes and combined them into one. I love this shot! Can you guess what we'll be this year? Hmm....

A Fun Filled Pumpkin Patch Weekend

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Two weekends back we had a great weekend with a last minute guest-our Gigi!! It was so fun to get to take her to the pumpkin patch and experience some fall fun. Thank you for the nice visit and all the spoiling Gigi! We look forward to Christmas with you. The weekend didn't end on Sunday either, we had Monday off school. We headed across town to spend the day with our cousin who also had it off. That was such a treat, since Vivi's started kindergarten life has been looking different with visits being limited only to weekends so I think just hanging out was extra special. We snuck over to a local little farm property. Enjoy the pics.

Pumpkin time!!

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It's October and there will be no doubt as you see these next few posts. We've had beautiful weekends to go and see and play with our family as well as plenty of opportunities with daddy's off hunting. The first weekend of October we spent at the Calloway's kids day with the kids all decked out in their matching Halloween shirts. Enjoy the pics!

A Birthday Weekend

Recently we had a busy Saturday of birthday bashes. The whole family got to attend our close family friend's birthday bash at a tea house. It was all princesses and girly. We brought the whole crew because both kids line up with this families children and we thought it would be fun to get to see friends we don't get to see too often. It was a nice time and we had some of the best pizza next door after! Following that party, Vivi and I headed across town to another birthday bash of a new church friend. I mention this because I had a good chuckle. We went from princess tea house to "Phineas and Ferb". Honestly, some of you might think the tea house is more our cup of tea-WRONG! Vivian I think felt more at home with the second party. Either way, we were very grateful to have been invited to both and mommy equally enjoyed seeing how God uniquely makes each of His children. Unfortunately, I only got pics of the first party but here are a few of those.

These are a few of my Favorite Things

Can you hear the tune? We have been hearing it much more at our house these days. This is one of my favorite songs to sing to my kids and I have a lovely book my mom purchased for the kids years ago when she went to the Von Trapp home in Vermont. Every time I "read" it for them we end up singing this song. Recently a friend invited my family to attend a production of the "Sound of Music" at her church, and naturally I jumped at the invitation. I didn't know if Vivi was quite ready but she did really well. She is a lover of music and I think really enjoyed hearing the music live and seeing the story that went with it. Honestly, I was blown away at the production level of this show for a church production and so grateful to have been invited to attend. Thank you Jess and way to go!

Great Fall Days

Welcome Fall!!! What a breath of fresh air (literally)! We've so been enjoying this fall season especially after the unbearable summer we had in Texas. So in order to take advantage we've been outdoors as much as possible- the zoo, parks, patches, garden stores and our back yard like never before. Here are a couple of pics of Isaac on a walk and at the zoo. Get ready for big time fall shots!

A School Carnival...preview of a future birthday bash!

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Vivian had her first school carnival. These are the kinds of things this cheesy mom has looked forward to for years! Although, I have to admit it's never quite how you envision things. There was lots of running around and sugar involved but some of that is to be expected and honestly what makes it fun for everyone. The kids really, I mean 15 minutes of really, loved going through the bouncy obstacle course and slide. Vivian was thrilled to get her hair painted orange by some older girls. Both kids had a yummy dessert of cotton candy. Enjoy the pics!

Isaac's 1st day of Preschool

I'm sifting through pictures and realized I hadn't blogged about Isaac's first day of preschool, so here it is. Here are a couple of shots. He's at the same preschool Vivi was at last year, and I think really loving it. We are all making adjustments and he has his aggressive moments, but we are daily working on that with him. His teachers are AWESOME and he does really seem to have fun! I'm so grateful for finding this preschool thanks to a friend. I feel so much more at home even after one year there. It will be fun to watch him go through the years here.

A Rant about Time

As most of you know we have many changes yet again this year, Vivi starting big girl school and Isaac starting preschool. This also means 2 days a week I have all kids in school!! You ask, what are you doing with all of this spare time? Napping? Working out? Getting some major organizing/crafting/cooking accomplished? NO! The time just flies! First of all, I'm trying to work one of the days. The other I'm trying to be involved in a Bible study. Between that I am up at Vivi's school at least one of those days if not both for a short time. It always shocks me the endless amounts of "opportunities" we have to be "involved", yet my inability to feel like I'm really accomplishing anything. I'm sure if you are in my season of life this makes sense, otherwise I probably sound like a crazy person! But I'm telling you, if any of you are not here yet, let this be your honest friend telling you how quickly time flies. This is in general, as in I can't believe I already have one child in big girl school 5 days all day! Also, I thought once they are in school I would have lots and lots of time to do all the things listed above and more. I do have time but I also have more expectations for involvement some of which I admit I put on myself. All that to say, we all have the same amount of time to get xyz done and it's amazing that no matter how well I organize/plan my day it never turns out how you think. I do believe there is a lesson from God in this. I'm sure He is calling me to more dependence again. Some days I'm better than others at this. But I write all of this for therapy for me, but also to say to anyone who takes the time to read this, to really try your best to appreciate your season whatever it is. God has a gift for this day, and I'm really trying much more to find those little moments to STOP and thank Him. I'm afraid if I don't now I'll have lived my whole life running, running, running and really what will it show for.

Happy Wedding Joel & Kammie

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We had the awesome privilege to attend my brother-in-law's wedding out in California over Labor Day weekend. It was truly like a vacation. We so enjoyed the time with Kammie and her family as well as Nick's family as always. The scenery was a perfect backdrop for this wedding and we thoroughly enjoyed the relaxed pace, the cooler temperatures, and getting to be a part of their special day. Enjoy the slideshow.

Getting ready for Isaac's big Ring Bearer moment

In preparation for an upcoming wedding, we tried on Isaac's ring bearer attire. What do you think? About the cutest thing I've seen in awhile!

Gearing up for a Good Season- Go Ag's

I had to post this shot of Vivi. Gig'em Ags! P.S. Yes, those are Nick's old Corps boots!

A Birthday Celebration

Thank you to friends and family for my fun birthday celebrating. Thanks to my sister Em for the fun weekend down 35. Thanks to my mom for the lovely cupcakes/cakes. Thanks to my friends for the fun visit and sweet treats. Thanks to Rachel for dinner and jewelry. Thanks to Angie for a great movie night and some good fashion advice. Thanks to Jaime and Amber for a fun shopping weekend. Thanks to my hubbie for my first namebrand bag since middle school. Really thanks to ALL for your friendship- to this Sanguine girl it means a lot!!

We have a Kindergarten Girl!

Okay...drum roll....Vivian is now in Kindergarten!!! WOW! I'm not too sure where the last 5 years have gone, but I guess it's time. She has handled the transition beautifully and really mommy has too. I do miss our time together but I do feel she was ready and I was too in some ways. She is doing so well, no tears, and really no complaints. She is tired but overall I think she enjoys it. Here are a couple of shots from her first day.

A Hunting they will go

As we prepare to enter hunting season, the guys start warming up their aim. They had an opportunity to take their targets out the other day and had some helpers in arrow retrieval. Check out this cutie!

10 Years It's Official!

For our 10 year anniversary Nick and I got to go on the beautiful cruise back in May, but our actual anniversary was on August 18th. On this day, we celebrated 10 beautiful years together of fun, pain, love, and growth. I am so thrilled to have spent 10 fun years with the love of my life and I look forward to more decades to come. Happy Anniversary babe!