Wednesday, October 31, 2012

Halloween Fun!

Every year our neighborhood has a big Halloween trick or treating party at the Park.  It always falls on the Saturday before Halloween and pretty much everyone from the neighborhood is there to pass out candy to the kids.

Bailey, our little neighbor Catelyn and Colton

 
Bailey and a couple of friends from School


Kinley deciding that she does not want to walk any further.
 

Since the Park has this huge Party on the Saturday before Halloween, there are no trick or treaters in our neighborhood the actual night of Halloween.  It's usually just another night for us, but this year my friend Vanessa invited us to go trick or treating in her Parents neighborhood.  I was so glad we went.  The whole neighborhood decorates and hands out candy and my kids had a blast.  We couldn't even hit half the houses before it was dark and time to head home.

Sydney and Kinley both were cranky before they realized that they were about to be given candy over and over and over again.  Sydney was scared of Colton's Rodeo clown costume so we had to keep our distance most of the night.


Bailey went as a paper doll.


 My little rodeo clown trying to decide where to go next....
and then I reminded him that it didn't matter which way he went
because there was candy waiting for him at every house. 

Kinley wasn't so sure about this whole thing at first, so we started out in the stroller. 

After about the second house, she fully understood what was going on and had no problem walking right up to the door.  Granted at first, she would knock then run, but then she realized you actually have to wait for someone to answer the door in order to get candy.
I had a lot of fun watching her reaction each time. 
It never got old.

Vanessa's Mom gave her candy a few times :)

 She liked it when they just set the bucket down and let her help herself.

Sydney was the Pink Minnie Mouse.

I thought that it was funny that this wolf had walked up behind Kinley and was patiently waiting for his turn at the candy bucket while she took her sweet little time.
I couldn't wait to see her reaction when she turned around and saw him.

I was expecting a little bit of a meltdown, but instead she turned around and took off running.....
but had a smile on her face the whole time.


Vanessa's Twin Sisters with Sydney


I didn't get many pictures of Colton and Bailey throughout the night because I couldn't keep up with them.
I don't know what I was thinking letting Colton wash down his candy with Big Red.
Colton and Bailey with some of their loot. 


HAPPY HALLOWEEN!
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Wednesday, October 3, 2012

Dear Kinley.....I am a Slacker!

I was cleaning out my Blog History because I use to be bad about starting post and then never finishing them.  It looks like I finished this one, but never published and I'm not really sure why.  So, this post is actually from last December (almost a year ago) and  A LOT has changed.  My Baby Girl is NOTHING like the Monster described in this post, but I want to make sure it makes the cut because it was at one time true.  So, here is my almost one year post............

The other day Colton and Bailey wanted to look through their Baby Books and look at all the old pictures and see how old they were when they did something new.  I wrote everything they did down in their baby books.  I pulled Kinley's out and it was pretty much empty.  I felt terrible.  If it wasn't for the Twins Baby Books I would have no idea how old they were when they first laughed or waved or said Mama.  It's amazing how quickly we forget.  I am so sad that I did not write these things down for Kinley.  So, starting now......I will write these things down in my blog.  Someday, when I turn this into a book for my kiddos, she will know what she was doing at this stage in her life.  Here goes!!!

Dear Kinley,

     You turned 16 months old on Dec. 5th.  You are a MESS!!!!!  Much harder to take care of than Colton and Bailey were PUT TOGETHER!!! This could be because you think you are SEVEN.  The same age as your Big Brother and Sister and this could be because they treat you like you are seven.  I am constantly having to remind them that you are just a Baby.  Don't get me wrong, you can hold your own.  You've brought them to tears many times.  You have a MEAN grip and you will attempt to claw somebody's eye out in a second!!!! 

You see the scratches on the Right side of Bailey's face??? You did that!  For no reason, you just reached out and grabbed you some skin.  Your mean like that.  We have all had these same scratches somewhere on our bodies from you.  Not sure what that's all about but I hope you grow out of it soon.
You definitely have your sweet side as well.  I will say, "Give me Big Hugs" and you will wrap your arms around my neck and squeeze so tight.  I love your sweet kisses too.  Sometimes when I say, "Give me a Kiss" You will lean your forehead into my lips.  You pull all of the Tupperware out on a Daily basis.  You are infatuated with shoes.  Aunt Mary gave you 3 pair of Squeaky shoes for Christmas and you LOVE them!!!!!  At your last Dr's appt. the other day, the Doctor told me they were going to do a Standard Mobility test on you to make sure you were doing everything you were suppose to be doing.  By the end of the visit, she said there was no need.  She could clearly see you were mobile.  Thank Goodness we were in a closed room, otherwise you would have torn the place down.  When your done eating, you can't just stop eating....you have to let everyone know that your done by throwing every single piece of food left on your tray on the floor.  I'm not talking about gently tossing it on the floor, I'm talking CHUNKING IT AS FAR AS YOU CAN!!!!  The Broom and Vacuum have become two of my Best Friends.  You help yourself to whatever you want in the pantry.  When Daddy gets off of work and sits down in his Chair, you take his socks off and throw them in the laundry room.  You say, Mama, Dada, Sissy, Bubba, Boots, shoes, keys, Cheese, baba, juice,  night night, eyes, nose, ears, phone....and Daddy and I both heard you say, I love you last night.  You've already had your first stitches.  You love to sit in the laundry basket while Colton and Bailey push you around the house.  You keep starting my dishwasher over after it's done.  You make me laugh out loud all of the time!  You throw things in my bath water while I'm in it.  You've started occasionally sticking food in your ears....not sure what that's about.  All I know is I found a part of a biscuit in your ear the other day, and I had to stop you from cramming Green Beans in there at Christmas.  You wait for somebody to accidentally leave the bathroom door open and then you run in shut the door and try to chow down on toothpaste.  You're a GREAT car rider and stroller rider.  When Daddy comes home from work, you drop what your doing and run to the door yelling DADA!!!!!! 
I remember the Day I found out I was pregnant with you...Pure Panic!!!!.We had no plans on having another little one, but obviously God had different plans for us.  You are a TRUE BLESSING and we Love you sooooooo much!!! I can't imagine my life without you in it.   I love You to the Moon and Back!


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Just Pictures.......

As some of you may know, I intend to make a book for my kids out of this blog one day.  I am AWFUL about getting pictures developed so I just have a lot of memory cards hanging around.  I try to put as many pictures on here as I can so that they will actually be seen one day by my kiddos.  This post has no story.....just pictures that I've come across and need to put somewhere.  Please excuse my photo dump!   (These are in no order....I'm just going from one camera card to the next)

To Colton, Bailey & Kinley.......
My 30th Birthday.  The Girls at work made it really special for me. 
 Sabrina, Your Babysitter and my friend brought this to me at work.

Flowers and Balloons that were delivered from you guys and Daddy.


Bailey, Mommy and Colton (Colton & Bailey, age 2)
Bailey, Age 2


The Next Few Pictures,  Colton & Bailey, you are 4 years old....

 Colton, Bailey and Daddy at the Deer Lease


Katie and Bailey at Papa & Ninny's

Bailey & Papa at the Deer Lease

The First time Colton saw Snow.  We were at the Deer Lease in Fredericksburg and Daddy was already asleep and Bailey couldn't peel herself away from the Cartoons to come look at it. 

 Colton, Bailey & Mommy, Christmas 2008

Colton, I wish I could remember the story behind that big bruise on your face, but I cannot remember for the life of me what happened.

 Waiting for Santa's cookies to be done


Bailey, Corbyn & Colton at Aunt Myra Beth's House

 Bailey and a baby goat at Aunt Myra's

 Our first New Year's in San Antonio.  I think this is one of the only pictures I got because my batteries went dead right after we got there. 

                                                         My Sweet Little Hunter

 Bailey

 Valentines Day

Bailey in Daddy's work clothes


O.k. I guess that's it for now.  I've got a lot of Camera cards to go through so I'm sure these post will continue to pop up here and there. 

I love You guys so much and am looking forward to many more Memories with you.

Love,

Mom








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Monday, October 1, 2012

Jackson Hole, Wyoming!



When Greg came home about a month ago and told me that he and I would be going to Jackson Hole, Wyoming for a week, my stomach immediately started turning.  I love to go on trips with my Husband and they are very few and far between, but the thought of getting on an airplane and being that far away from my kids always gets me worked up.  My immediate thoughts are that we are both going to die and my kids will be left without Parents and I will never get to see them grow up.  I know, I know it's silly, but I can't help it.  So, when I found out that we would be boarding three planes just to get there and three planes to get home which in my mind increased my chances of dying in a plane crash even more than I thought, I was pretty sure I would most likely have a nervous breakdown before our bags were even packed!  I spent the last week before our trip staring at my kids faces and taking every moment in that I could, I gave my blog password to a friend so she could turn my blog into a book for my kids and I prayed A LOT!!!!  Needless to say, after we touched down in Wyoming and I knew that I would probably live for another week, I decided to enjoy myself and the alone time that I had with my Husband.  Once we got to our Hotel, which was Beautiful by the way and unpacked it was past time for lunch so we drove into town and ate with some of Greg's co-workers (I forgot to mention, Greg won this trip along with some other guys and we all know free trips are the best!) and then we came back to our room.  Apparently after a plane ride from San Antonio to Houston, from Houston to Colorado, from Colorado to Wyoming, lunch where I may have had a watermelon margarita that was the color of watermelon but tasted like straight tequila I found out that I can't hang anymore.  I was in bed by 6:00pm.  I was convinced that I had become a lame Mom that couldn't hang until I found out the next day that everyone was in bed either by six or before.  Phewwwwww, Maybe I am still a little cool :)
Here's a few pics of our Lodge.....


This Picture doesn't do it justice at all.  It really is amazing!
 
Here's the lobby.......or part of it anyway.
 
 
Our Living Room

 
Our Bedroom....or bed anyway....


Part of MY Bathroom...Yep, that's right, we had our own Bathrooms :)


Greg's Bathroom.  It had a shower as well. 
He enjoyed having his own bathroom just as much as I did.

Moving on.....

Our second day there started bright and early.  Greg's body just doesn't let him sleep past 6am so we were up and ready for breakfast by 7:30.  We were pleasantly surprised with the restaurant in the Hotel and the Yummy Breakfast they provided in buffet form.  Here, Greg and I realized throughout the week that we must be speed eaters because we would walk in WAY after some of the others and be done and out the door before the people that were in there way before us.

The Second day we were there was a pretty busy one.  We had a Fly Fishing trip planned and at 9:00am we were on our way to Snake River.  After a few lessons we were out in the boat trying out our new skills as fly fishermen.  I have to pat myself on the back for a minute....the Guide said that I was a natural :)  I'm sure if Greg is reading this, he is rolling his eyes right about now. Our guide, Tripp who by the way was extemely knowledgeable about EVERYTHING and pretty entertaining to boot, told us that they had lowered the water the day before and he wasn't very optimistic that we would even catch anything, so when I threw my line out and hooked a fish within about 2 seconds, he was Super Excited.  So Excited, he hugged me and  announced to everybody in a boat within a mile radius that I had caught a fish on my first try.  He was like a proud papa!  Here's my proof!


The River was just Beautiful.  There were times that I wanted to put my pole down and just take it all in. 




Once we neared the end of our fly fishing experience, the view was not so great.  We ended in a part of the River where the Scenery had been burned years ago, but still showed the devastation. 
Here we are at the end.  You can kind of see behind us where everything had burned at one time.

 

On our way back to the Lodge, Greg noticed a Moose by the side of the road and seeing our excitement,  Our guide pulled over and Greg jumped out of the truck with a camera.  At one point Tripp said to me, "I don't know if I would get as close as Greg is getting so we concocted a plan that if the Moose started chasing Greg that we would step on the gas and yell to Greg to jump in the boat on the back.  I know, it's silly but we just wanted to make sure we had a good plan in place :)

Here it is!

Once we got back to the Lodge we had to start getting ready for Dinner.  The Owner of Greg's Company has a house a few short miles from our lodge and he had invited all of us over.  You would think this man would be a little stuffy, but not at all.  Down to Earth and Nice as could be.  The Minute we got there, he wanted to take pictures of everybody that was there.

This was in his back yard.  Wouldn't it be nice to have this as your Vacation home.  We were treated like royalty while we were there.  There were servers following us around everywhere we went with trays of food for us to try.  I must say it was a first time for me try bison sausage and goat cheese.  The Sausage was Great, but I could have passed on the goat cheese. 
He showed us around his yard which was GORGEOUS and we walked down the River which was also in his back yard. There had previously been a Bear hanging out down the River so a bunch of us walked down a little ways to see if we could catch a glimpse of it. After no luck we headed back where Greg decided it would be funny to throw a big rock in the bushes next to where me and a Group of girls were walking.  Needless to say, we thought we were under attack and one of the girls almost mowed the rest of us over trying to get away. I thought for sure we were Bear Food!  Before we headed in, we all had to try out  ax throwing.  I AM NOT a natural at this sport, but Greg was.  It was really fun to watch everyone try it out.  We had some good laughs!


I wouldn't mind having this running through my backyard!

We sat down for Dinner and it was completely relaxed and he basically let us ask any questions we wanted.  I also had Salmon, Apple Salad and Elk which were also a first for me.  All Yummy!
After Dinner was over, we headed back outside and sat around the fire pit and just hung out for a while. It was a perfect evening.

The Next Morning, we had no real plans so we headed into town for some shopping and of course this is the first place Greg pulled into.

                       Seriously???????  Moving on!

Greg is no shopper so I knew I had limited time to look around before he was ready to go.  Needless to say I didn't get to go into EVERY shop I wanted to, but I'll take what I can get. 

At least there were some things there that were apparently appealing to Greg.
This picture came from his phone :)
 

 
 
Greg finally said, "I can't waste anymore time shopping!" so it was off to Yellowstone Park for the Day.  It was nice, but not really worth the drive especially since half of it was spent in a little rent a car on the side of a Mountain while raining.  I had some nervous moments!
 
 

 
I was hoping to see a Bear, but we didn't see any animals in the Park.
On the way back, we stopped at a Gas Station so Greg could get some Water and I must say it was the first time that he and I had ever been in a gas station where they sold everything BUT Water!
We were told if we wanted Water we would have to get it outside.
 
So that's what we did.  Luckily we had an empty water bottle in the car to fill up.
We were pretty tired once we got back so we ate dinner at the Mangy Moose which was SO GOOD and settled in for the night.
 
Ready to go Night Night....
 
The Next Morning we decided to take the Tram up the Teton Mountains which was AMAZING!!!!!
 

 

 

This is one of the many people that were jumping off the Mountain right next to us.  I'm thinking this isn't something that I feel the need to put on my Bucket list anytime soon.
Did I mention how high we were????
 
Too High for me to be jumping off of a Mountain!
 

I was a little sad to be getting back on the tram to head back down to our Lodge because I knew we had to pack up and start our journey home.  I was ready to see my kiddos but Jackson Hole, Wyoming was Beautiful and I could have stayed a few more days.  Hopefully one day we can go back and take the kids with us. 
 
Airport....
 
 
Goodbye Jackson Hole, I will miss you!
 
PS.... A Big Thank You to My Mother and Father in law for watching our Kiddos for the week!
 
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